"Andrew Coppin" <orp### [at] btinternetcom> wrote:
> (They have a charicteristic "anvil" shape; it would be hard to get that
out
> of a random number generator...)
>
> (This is where someone goes and proves me totally wrong ;-)

I won't prove it, but I'll offer a mechanism for somebody else to prove
it...

All you would need to do is this (pseudo-code, of course):

z = rand(minheight,maxheight)

min = min = hammer_min_width( z );
max = max = hammer_max_width( z );

x = rand(min,max)
y = rand(min,max)

Where:
  rand(min,max) returns a pseudorandom number between min and max
  hammer_min_width( z ) returns the minimum size of the cloud's cross
section at elevation z
  hammer_max_width( z ) returns the maximum size of the cloud's cross
section at elevation z

Granted, this would yield a group of objects that would have a square
sillhouette if viewed from above, but that could easily be solved by using a
slightly different equation for x & y, e.g., x = rand( min , max );  y^2 =
x^2 - 1;

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