Made in Houdini using a height field data structure.
Main solver is written in OpenCL using a variation on Werner's dune modeling.
Sim time ~ 1 seconds / frame.
Rendered in Redshift.
Initial setup is some random terrain bedrock. A layer of even sand is added on top then slumped down. From there the dune simulation forms the sand dunes naturally based on a wind vector.
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3PXHpsQtdcU/maxresdefault.jpg)