Procedural Planetary Multi-resolution Terrain Generation for Games

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel technique for generating and rendering large-scale, multi-resolution planetary terrains in real-time, combining procedural content generation with scalable rendering for improved visual quality at various scales.

Contribution

The paper presents a new method that integrates multi-resolution terrain modeling with procedural generation, enabling efficient rendering of large planetary terrains at different scales.

Findings

Supports real-time rendering of large-scale terrains

Provides high-definition details at various zoom levels

Enhances visual quality without performance loss

Abstract

Terrains are the main part of an electronic game. To reduce human effort on game development, procedural techniques are used to generate synthetic terrains. However rendering a terrain is not a trivial task. Their rendering techniques must be optimal for gaming. Specially planetary terrains, which must account for precision and scale conversion. Multi-resolution models are best fit to planetary terrains. An observer can change his point of view without noticing any decrease in visual quality. There are several proposals regarding real-time terrain rendering with multi-resolution models, and there are game engines capable of generating large scale terrains with fixed resolution. However for the best of our knowledge, it was noticed that there are no techniques which combine both aspects. In this paper we present a new technique capable of generating large-scale multi-resolution terrains, whichcan be rendered and viewed at different scales. Rendering large scale models with high definition and low scale areas with finer details added with the aid of procedural content generation.