Real-Time Editing, Synthesis, and Rendering of Infinite Landscapes on GPUs
Jens Schneider, Tobias Boldte, Rüdiger Westermann
Computer Graphics and Visualization Group, Technical University Munich, Germany
Background
Recent advances in algorithms and graphics hardware have opened the possibility to render large terrain
fields at interactive rates on commodity PCs. Due to these advances it is possible today to interactively
synthesize artificial terrains using procedural descriptions. Our paper extends on this work by
presenting a new GPU method for real-time editing, synthesis, and rendering of infinite landscapes exhibiting
a wide range of geological structures. Our method builds upon the concept of projected grids
to achieve near-optimal sampling of the landscape. We describe the integration of procedural shaders
for multifractals into this approach, and we propose intuitive options to edit the shape of the resulting
terrain. The method is multi-scale and adaptive in nature, and it has been extended towards infinite and
spherical domains. In combination with geo-typical textures that automatically adapt to the shape being
synthesized, a powerful method for the creation and rendering of realistic landscapes is presented.
Some pictures generated with the described system at over 60fps.
Click to enlarge (1.5 - 2.2MB per image).
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