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HONS 01/08

GPU Based Algorithms for Terrain Texturing

Kris Nicholson
Department of Computer Science
University of Canterbury

Abstract

Three dimensional terrain rendering is used for various computer applications such as mapping software, flight and other simulations, and computer games. Rendering these terrains at a real time frame rate, with a continuously changing view point can be difficult since they contain a large number of polygons. Techniques have been developed to simplify the rendering task. Level of detail (LOD) algorithms can be applied to these terrains to reduce the detail when it is not required. Effective texturing and lighting is usually applied to keep realism while decreasing the polygon count. Using available graphics hardware for these techniques is very useful for increasing performance. Current programmable graphics hardware allows much greater performance for graphics applications than traditional algorithms running on the CPU. Previous research has shown various improvements in terrain rendering performance using GPU programmming. In the report, we investigate GPU based procedural texturing and lighting techniques on three dimensional terrain using real terrain data. We implemented some of these techniques and comment on the visual result to help developers consider which techniques to use.