A weather simulation system that generates and distributes weather data to simulation subsystems for the real time simulation of weather conditions, from three-dimensional real world data. A real world database is accessed to obtain a dataspace of weather data elements, each having a set of various weather-related parameters. For "out-the-window" weather displays, these data elements are preprocessed to obtain color and transparency values for each data element. The preprocessed data elements are further processed to obtain a prioritized display list of those data elements that are in a field of view. Each data element in this list is assigned a graphics primitive, whose alignment is determined by a wind vector of that data element. Pixel values are assigned to the graphics primitives, using color and transparency values of the associated data elements.
Bruce C. Montag; Dennis J. Wenzel; Richard P. Weyrauch