| Current graphics hardware is now capable of rendering vast numbers of triangles, but geometric throughput to the hardware remains a bottleneck. Two techniques for overcoming that bottleneck are to submit the data in a specific format and once submitted, to leave the data unchanged for as long as possible. Real-time level-of-detail (LOD) algorithms for terrain involve processing massive amounts of geometry. However, most published algorithms are not able to supply this geometry to the graphics card in an optimal format, and must re-submit the geometry each frame. We present an efficient LOD algorithm for terrain rendering that is capable of supplying the graphics card with geometric data in an optimal format and leaving it unchanged over the course of many frames. As well, texture synthesis is performed for the terrain, creating unique textures to cover the rendered surface. |
