Real-Time Terrain Rendering With Incremental Loading for Interactive Terrain Modelling

Abstract

Abstract:Real-time terrain rendering techniques usually employ static data structures and do not allow interactive modification of the terrain. In this paper we describe a real-time geometric clipmapping terrain rendering technique for large terrains which allows incremental updates of the underlying data structure. We have combined the method with an interactive sketch-based terrain modelling technique. The clipmap data structure is updated during runtime to synchronise the terrain visualization with changes to the underlying digital elevation map.Tests and examples demonstrate the advantages of our method over traditional approaches. Disadvantages and limitations are discussed and suggestions for future work are presented.