NEOGEN: Near optimal generator of navigation meshes for 3D multi-layered environments

Abstract In this paper we introduce a novel automatic method for generating near optimal navigation meshes from a 3D multi-layered virtual environment. Firstly, a GPU voxelization of the entire scene is calculated in order to identify and extract the different walkable layers. Secondly, a high resolution render is performed with a fragment shader to obtain the 2D floor plan of each layer. Finally, a convex decomposition of each layer is calculated and layers are linked in order to create a Navigation Mesh of the scene. Results show that our method is not only faster than the previous work, but also creates more accurate NavMeshes since it respects the original shape of the static geometry. It also provides a significantly lower number of cells and avoids ill-conditioned cells and T-Joints between portals that could lead to unnatural character navigation.

[1]  Marcelo Kallmann.  Shortest paths with arbitrary clearance from navigation meshes , 2010, SCA '10.

[2]  Nancy M. Amato,et al.  Roadmap-Based Level Clearing of Buildings , 2011, MIG.

[3]  François X. Sillion,et al.  Volumetric cell‐and‐portal generation , 2003, Comput. Graph. Forum.

[4]  James J. Kuffner,et al.  Goal-Directed Navigation for Animated Characters Using Real-Time Path Planning and Control , 1998, CAPTECH.

[5]  Carl-Johan Jørgensen,et al.  From Geometry to Spatial Reasoning : Automatic Structuring of 3D Virtual Environments , 2011, MIG.

[6]  Daniel Thalmann,et al.  Space Discretization for Efficient Human Navigation , 1998, Comput. Graph. Forum.

[7]  Steve Rabin,et al.  AI Game Programming Wisdom , 2002 .

[8]  Roland Geraerts,et al.  A navigation mesh for dynamic environments , 2012, Comput. Animat. Virtual Worlds.

[9]  Nuria Pelechano,et al.  Automatic Generation of Suboptimal NavMeshes , 2011, MIG.

[10]  Blas Pelegrín,et al.  Algorithms for the decomposition of a polygon into convex polygons , 2000, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[11]  Dinesh Manocha,et al.  Real-time navigation of independent agents using adaptive roadmaps , 2007, VRST '07.

[12]  Elmar Eisemann,et al.  Fast scene voxelization and applications , 2006, I3D '06.

[13]  Elmar Eisemann,et al.  Fast Scene Voxelization Revisited , 2006, SIGGRAPH 2006.

[14]  Fabrice Lamarche,et al.  TopoPlan: a topological path planner for real time human navigation under floor and ceiling constraints , 2009, Comput. Graph. Forum.

[15]  Okan Arikan,et al.  Efficient multi-agent path planning , 2001 .

[16]  Norman I. Badler,et al.  Controlling individual agents in high-density crowd simulation , 2007, SCA '07.

[17]  D. Hunter Hale,et al.  Full 3D Spatial Decomposition for the Generation of Navigation Meshes , 2009, AIIDE.

[18]  D. Hunter Hale,et al.  Automatically-generated Convex Region Decomposition for Real-time Spatial Agent Navigation in Virtual Worlds , 2021, AIIDE.

[19]  David H. Douglas,et al.  ALGORITHMS FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE NUMBER OF POINTS REQUIRED TO REPRESENT A DIGITIZED LINE OR ITS CARICATURE , 1973 .

[20]  Dinesh Manocha,et al.  Way portals: efficient multi-agent navigation with line-segment goals , 2012, I3D '12.

[21]  D. Thalmann,et al.  Fully Dynamic Constrained Delaunay Triangulations , 2004 .