Create wind over sand effect!

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vga-10-uncharted-3/708329

This Video displays the effect i want to create!!

A weak wind, which smoothly blows over the sand (with a few sand particles)!

I know that i have to use the particle system, but i really dont know, how to create this wind effect!

Or just basic tipps to create a better desert environment(if sum1 got a good one!)

Suggestions??

Celofa

(I know the result might be not as good as the effect in the video! The video is just for better understanding)

This could probably be done with shaders. Like how people make rivers that look like they have flowing water using a static mesh and a shader that transforms the texture to make it look like it’s moving. You might also want to use some kind of billboard effect so you can see sand moving in the distance that’s at the same ground level as you.

I think this could largely be done with particle effects much like smoke is done, blowing horizontally rather than vertically, and with a very transparent brown kind of particle texture. I would not make them the size of sand grains! You may also want to look into volumetric shaders, I’ve seen a few that look pretty ok for doing clouds.