Time-Critical Rendering of Huge Ecosystems Using Discrete and Continuous Levels of Detail

We present a novel level-of-detail selection method for real-time rendering, which works on hierarchies of discrete and continuous representations. We integrate smoothly represented, point-rendered objects with discrete polygonal geometry and demonstrate our approach in a terrain-flyover application. In this testing application the digital elevation model is augmented with forests in accordance with satellite data. The vegetation is rendered as a continuous sequence of splats generated from a procedural description. Further, we discuss enhancements to our basic method to improve its scalability.

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