Multiresolution BSP Trees Applied to Terrain, Transparency, and General Objects

We present a system for incorporating multiple level of detail (LOD) models of 3D objects within a single hierarchical data structure. This system was designed for a scientific visualization application involving terrain and volume rendering. Our data structure is a modified Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) tree. We describe how our tree construction and traversal routines may be used with a variety of LOD methods. This is demonstrated with two different LOD methods: a new method specialized for terrain elevation height fields, and an existing method for general objects. Images, timings, and storage data for our implementation are provided.

[1]  P. Hanrahan,et al.  Area and volume coherence for efficient visualization of 3D scalar functions , 1990, VVS.

[2]  Murray Hill.  Constructing Good Partitioning Trees , 1996 .

[3]  William E. Lorensen,et al.  Decimation of triangle meshes , 1992, SIGGRAPH.

[4]  Joseph S. B. Mitchell,et al.  Automatic generation of triangular irregular networks using greedy cuts , 1995, Proceedings Visualization '95.

[5]  Peter Shirley,et al.  A polygonal approximation to direct scalar volume rendering , 1990, SIGGRAPH 1990.

[6]  Mel Slater,et al.  Computing Dynamic Changes to BSP Trees , 1992, Comput. Graph. Forum.

[7]  Theodosios Pavlidis,et al.  Hierarchical triangulation using cartographic coherence , 1992, CVGIP Graph. Model. Image Process..

[8]  Bruce F. Naylor,et al.  Set operations on polyhedra using binary space partitioning trees , 1987, SIGGRAPH.

[9]  Bruce F. Naylor,et al.  Interactive solid geometry via partitioning trees , 1992 .

[10]  Michael Zyda,et al.  Simplification of objects rendered by polygonal approximations , 1991, Comput. Graph..

[11]  Henry Fuchs,et al.  On visible surface generation by a priori tree structures , 1980, SIGGRAPH '80.

[12]  Jarek Rossignac,et al.  Research issues in model-based visualization of complex data sets , 1994, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[13]  Enric Torres,et al.  Optimization of the Binary Space Partition Algorithm (BSP) for the Visualization of Dynamic Scenes , 1990, Eurographics.

[14]  James T. Kajiya,et al.  Rendering fur with three dimensional textures , 1989, SIGGRAPH.

[15]  Pat Hanrahan,et al.  Hierarchical splatting: a progressive refinement algorithm for volume rendering , 1991, SIGGRAPH.

[16]  Michael Zyda,et al.  NPSNET: constructing a 3D virtual world , 1992, I3D '92.

[17]  William E. Lorensen,et al.  Marching cubes: A high resolution 3D surface construction algorithm , 1987, SIGGRAPH.

[18]  William Ribarsky,et al.  Level-of-Detail Management for Real-Time Rendering of Phototextured Terrain , 1995 .

[19]  Michael Zyda,et al.  NPSNET: Hierarchical data structures for real-time three-dimensional visual simulation , 1993, Comput. Graph..

[20]  A. T. Campbell.  Modeling global diffuse illumination for image synthesis , 1992 .

[21]  F. Frances Yao,et al.  Binary partitions with applications to hidden surface removal and solid modelling , 1989, SCG '89.

[22]  P. Hanrahan,et al.  Area and volume coherence for efficient visualization of 3D scalar functions , 1990, SIGGRAPH 1990.

[23]  Gavin S. P. Miller,et al.  Hierarchical Z-buffer visibility , 1993, SIGGRAPH.

[24]  David R. Pratt,et al.  A software architecture for the construction and management of real-time virtual worlds. , 1993 .

[25]  Carlo H. Séquin,et al.  Visibility preprocessing for interactive walkthroughs , 1991, SIGGRAPH.

[26]  Daniel Nüesch,et al.  Automated generation of visual simulation databases using remote sensing and GIS , 1995, Proceedings Visualization '95.

[27]  John Amanatides,et al.  Merging BSP trees yields polyhedral set operations , 1990, SIGGRAPH.

[28]  Mel Slater,et al.  Shadow volume BSP trees for computation of shadows in dynamic scenes , 1995, I3D '95.

[29]  W. Stürzlinger,et al.  Generating Multiple Levels of Detail from Polygonal Geometry Models , 1995, Virtual Environments.

[30]  William Ribarsky,et al.  Virtual GIS: a real-time 3D geographic information system , 1995, Proceedings Visualization '95.

[31]  Ross T. Whitaker,et al.  Direct visualization of volume data , 1992, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications.

[32]  Kalpathi R. Subramanian,et al.  Applying space subdivision techniques to volume rendering , 1990, Proceedings of the First IEEE Conference on Visualization: Visualization `90.

[33]  Michael Garland,et al.  Multiresolution Modeling for Fast Rendering , 1999 .

[34]  Carlo H. Séquin,et al.  Adaptive display algorithm for interactive frame rates during visualization of complex virtual environments , 1993, SIGGRAPH.

[35]  Donald S. Fussell,et al.  Adaptive mesh generation for global diffuse illumination , 1990, SIGGRAPH.

[36]  Peter L. Williams.  Visibility-ordering meshed polyhedra , 1992, TOGS.

[37]  Lee Westover,et al.  Footprint evaluation for volume rendering , 1990, SIGGRAPH.