An efficient Ray Casting method for terrain visualization

This paper proposes a novel algorithm for terrain visualization. The algorithm is based on QTA algorithm (Quad-tree Atlas Ray Casting). It simplifies the iteration process of the QTA by removing the branch structure of the original algorithm and replacing the rasterization part of it with a simpler and more efficient one. These operations make the algorithm break through the limitation of only fitting for planar terrain. The simplified algorithm also fits for spherical terrain. The experiments show that our algorithm has the highest rendering rate and precision among the newest few algorithms.

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