Renderização de terrenos em escala planetária

Abstract

Although a thoroughly researched topic, terrain rendering still presents challenges. For instance, many applications rely on accurate visualization of highly detailed and vast terrain, requiring the efficient use of both GPU and CPU in order to provide real-time rendering. Additionally, the increased availability of high resolution global coverage elevation datasets demands rendering systems capable of accounting for the shape of the planet. Even though previous techniques are capable of rendering such datasets, most target visualization only and do not account for interactions between the terrain and simulated objects. Therefore, in this work we present a rendering technique for spherical terrains that is capable of visualizing extremely detailed terrains while also supporting interactions with simulated objects. We adapt a continuous levelof- detail technique to the spherical domain and employ procedural generation techniques to produce sub-meter elevation data at run-time.