Study On Visualization Technology Of 3D Seafloor Terrain Based On Fractal Theory

With the acceleration of ocean exploring and exploiting, the visualization of three dimensional seafloor terrain is increasingly significant. The improvement of computer graphic hardware capability, promotes the development of the algorithm of three dimensional terrain, and how to quickly and efficiently achieve the three dimensional seafloor terrain rendering becomes the research focus. In the description of real terrain, calculating and processing the hugeness terrain data is time-consuming, and puts a burden on the rendering ability of the general computers. Therefore, how to quicken the speed of rendering while keeping the reality of terrain, becomes the research hotspot.The paper is based on the idea of level of detail (LOD) algorithm, and the fractal theory is used in the terrain rendering. According to the distance between the viewpoint and the region, different regions will be processed with iterations fractal interpolation of different level. It can enhance the efficiency of rendering availably and keep the reality of terrain by this method.The paper gives an introduction of the technique and principles about the three dimensional seafloor terrain producing, including terrain modeling, coordinate transformation, LOD algorithm, fractal algorithm, and their implementations. Through the platform of Visual C++ with OpenGL and the application of the above theory, three dimensional terrain based on fractal theory is produced. Meanwhile, texture mapping is used to improve the reality of terrain rendering.Finally, a suit of software for rendering three dimensional seafloor terrain is developed. After running the software, the seafloor terrain data is read and loaded first, and then, the three dimensional seafloor terrain is displayed on the screen.