The terrain rendering tag is used for questions about the creation of terrain.
40
votes
5answers
3k views
What's the newest trend / method for terrain rendering?
The last time I checked in on terrain rendering, ROAM was the new hotness. Yes, that was a long time ago. I liked ROAM a lot, though, because it was extremely simple to program, and gave pretty ...
31
votes
3answers
13k views
How are voxel terrain engines made?
A few days ago I found something called voxel terrains and I think that they're pretty cool. But I don't know anything generating them. Do you model it in your modeling software or use something like ...
22
votes
4answers
2k views
Where to start when building a 3D terrain editor?
I'm looking to build (for start) a simple tool, that could raise, lower, smooth and texture the terrain.
So, what are the things I have to go through in order to make such terrain editor?
And maybe ...
13
votes
3answers
2k views
What is a good algorithm for fractal-based procedural city layout?
Background
I run a minecraft server where I'm going to design a starter city of fairly large scale. I have a series of things, like rule signs and mob cages, I would like to put in buildings there. ...
13
votes
2answers
6k views
How can I make huge terrains in Unity?
How can I make extremely huge terrains in Unity? It seems like I can set width and length to large values. But the Heightmap resolution only goes up to 4097 and the Detail resolution only goes up to ...
11
votes
3answers
1k views
Pretty open source game/rendering engine?
It might be outside the domain of open source (as there isn't much in the way of open source games that would want/need to implement all these) but is there an existing open source game or rendering ...
11
votes
1answer
405 views
What are some current techniques for rendering deformable landscapes?
What are the current techniques than can be used for efficiently rendering 3D heightmap-based deformable landscapes?
For example, in the non-deformable landscape problem, ROAM used to be the way to ...
10
votes
2answers
3k views
Heightmap, Voxel, Polygon (geometry) terrains
In relation to Heightmap, Voxel and Polygon (geometry) terrains:
What are the main differences between all these three?
Can you form a "smooth" terrain with Voxels, I mean, can you for example get a ...
10
votes
1answer
824 views
Why are there lines in between my tiles?
I'm making a top down XNA game. The maps are created by tiles. A problem I recently noticed is a 'grid' of lines between the tiles. It only shows up sometimes and only depending on the camera ...
10
votes
1answer
818 views
Simple Terrain Rendering
For some reason I can not find a good example of terrain rendering, as in like "bare bones". Im reading Introduction to game Programming with DX10, and i've seen some other tutorials....but they all ...
10
votes
2answers
2k views
Quadtree terrain splitting - I don't get it
Most of the papers i've read base their terrain in some form or another on a quadtree. See this at page 38:
...
8
votes
1answer
551 views
What is “ROAM” related to terrain rendering?
I saw it mentioned on this question, but no one explained what it is.
8
votes
2answers
833 views
Render rivers in a grid
I have created a random height map and now i want to create rivers. I've made an algorithm based on a* to make rivers flow from peaks to sea and now i'm in the quest of figuring out an elegant ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
2D Procedural Terrain Generation - Guaranteeing connectedness?
I'm working on a 2D platformer in XNA. One of things I'd like to be a main design characteristic is procedural content generation. The first step of that is to procedurally generate the terrain. So, ...
7
votes
2answers
684 views
How to orient a surface normal to a cubic surface
The immediate question is: in HLSL, how can I orient a surface normal generated in UV space so that I can apply it to a cube face?
The overall project is that I'm trying to build a procedural planet ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
XNA Quadtree with LOD
I'm looking to create a fairly large environment, and as such would like to implement a quadtree and use LOD on it. I've looked through numerous examples and I get the basic idea of a quadtree. Start ...
7
votes
0answers
232 views
Which is the best LOD method for planet rendering?
I'm currently working on my thesis, it is an engine to render terrains of planetary size.
I'm still finishing my research and I have encountered a lot of stuff about this subject, the problem is that ...
6
votes
2answers
911 views
Smooth terrain rendering
I'm trying to render a smooth terrain with Direct3D. I've got a 50*50 grid with all y values = 0, and a set of 3D points that indicate the location on the grid and depth or height of the "valley" or ...
5
votes
2answers
625 views
what options do I have for rendering “large” terrains?
I am trying to design a game with some interesting features but one question I have is regarding terrain. I want a terrain that will make for a very large game world, and I want to be able to have ...
5
votes
1answer
167 views
Two graphical entities, smooth blending between them (e.g. asphalt and grass)
Supposedly in a scenario there are, among other things, a tarmac strip and a meadow. The tarmac has an asphalt texture and its model is a triangle strip long that might bifurcate at some point into ...
5
votes
1answer
589 views
Perlin noise - copying the algorithm on the CPU?
I have successfully made a Perlin noise algorithm on the GPU. It works as expected, and generates great results. Now, as part of the physics calculations in my game, I need to replicate the exact same ...
5
votes
1answer
160 views
Generating a physics body for 2D Worms-like Terrain
I wrote a processing sketch that generates hills for a scorched earth clone, like this:
I'm trying to figure out how to make this a physics object in libgdx, but I'm having problems figuring out ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
How can I generate a terrain heightmap from the perlin algorithm?
How can I generate a terrain heightmap from the perlin algorithm? I am trying to make a terrain generator (like World Machine). This is the source code I have for the perlin. The only thing that I ...
4
votes
1answer
163 views
Best practise for representing large spaces in a scene graph
I'm attempting to represent a procedurally generated world in a scene graph, specifically in the Jmonkey engine (Jme3). To make this managable I have broken up the world into smaller chunks. Each ...
4
votes
2answers
374 views
Using Python what is the best way to perform heavy tasks in the background?
I'm generating large amounts of procedural map data on the fly, however my game engine doesn't rely on them to render the scene and I'd like to build it on in the background and pop it into the world ...
3
votes
3answers
957 views
How did they do it: Trine 2.5d terrain?
How did they make the terrain in trine? I think they took a polygon approach. It doesn't seem that they used a heightmap because it is in all three vectors, or a voxel method because it doesn't have ...
3
votes
2answers
470 views
How to deal with procedural terrain, pre-load or real-time calculation?
I have developed an algorithm that generates 2D terrain coordinates for my iOS 2D game. This may be a possible visual output:
The coordinates are stored in a 2D array.
mVertices[i][0] = ccp(sx, ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Voxel heightmap terrain editor
I've recently been experimenting with a simple Voxel-based 3d engine (think Minecraft) which uses heightmaps to define terrain in the following format:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heightmap
Does ...
3
votes
1answer
425 views
How is the terrain generated in Commandos and Commandos game clones/look-alikes?
The Commandos series of games and its similar western counterpart, Desperados, use a mix of 2D and 3D elements to achieve a very pleasing and immersive atmosphere. Apart from the concept that alone ...
3
votes
1answer
250 views
Tweaking Heightmap Generation For Hexagon Grids
Currently I'm working on a little project just for a bit of fun. It is a C++, WinAPI application using OpenGL.
I hope it will turn into a RTS Game played on a hexagon grid and when I get the basic ...
3
votes
1answer
878 views
State of art shadowing technique for OpenGL on isometric terrain?
What's the most efficient way of creating shadows for object on a isometric terrain with OpenGL and JOGL? Note that this terrain is not flat and is not heightmap generated. Think it as another model. ...
3
votes
2answers
207 views
Techniques for reducing terrain shader complexity
My terrain shader does quite a bit, but I don't know how to break it up in any way that will reduce my instruction count without removing key features of the terrain. It does the following:
...
3
votes
1answer
854 views
(real) 3d map rendering in wpf without an engine - how to handle the map data?
I'm just doing some research before embarking on rendering a 3D map inside a wpf app. I've never delved into 3D before, and hence the question..
I have map data (in several formats, and many files) ...
3
votes
1answer
668 views
Help with “Cannot find ContentTypeReader BB.HeightMapInfoReader, BB, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral.” needed
I have this irritating problem in XNA that I have spent my Saturday with:
Cannot find ContentTypeReader
BB.HeightMapInfoReader, BB,
Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral.
It throws me that when I ...
2
votes
2answers
838 views
XNA Seeing through heightmap problem
I've recently started learning how to program in 3D with XNA and I've been trying to implement a Terrain3D class(a very simple height map). I've managed to draw a simple terrain, but I'm getting a ...
2
votes
2answers
791 views
Dynamic Terrain Texture
I've been looking at a 2D physics game called 'Hill Climb Racing' (Android and iOS) and was wondering how they went about texturing the terrain?
I've had a think about it and I've come up with ...
2
votes
1answer
505 views
Rendering skybox in first person shooter
I am trying to get a skybox rendered correctly in my first person shooter game. I have the skybox cube rendering using GL_TEXTURE_CUBE_MAP. I author the cube with extents of -1 and 1 along X,Y and Z.
...
2
votes
4answers
128 views
create terrain with some vertical cliffs, natural arcades, caves using octree
I am about to start creating the first terrain. I would like to create a terrain with vertical cliffs, natural arcades and caves.
For instance in one point the terrain might look like this.
I want ...
2
votes
1answer
107 views
unlimited (wraparound) 3d terrain
How can I create a wrap around unlimited 3D terrain:
To make it clear:
If I step out of terrain in (1) or (A) I want to get to (2) resp. (B)
|B
V
+----------+
2 -->| ...
2
votes
1answer
634 views
Voxel terrain rendering with marching cubes
I was working on making procedurally generated terrain using normal cubish voxels (like minecraft) But then I read about marching cubes and decided to convert to using those. I managed to create a ...
1
vote
1answer
343 views
Perlin noise example the same on CPU as GPU?
I am looking for an example site with a Perlin Noise implementation in both CPU and GPU, that generates somewhat the same results in those two places.
I see many CPU implementations of Perlin Noise, ...
1
vote
3answers
739 views
Optimizing perlin noise generation
I have a perlin noise generator as shown below.
public class ImprovedNoise
{
private const int GradientSizeTable = 256;
private readonly Random _random;
private readonly double[] ...
1
vote
1answer
292 views
Are there any preexisting maps for a Minecraft-like level I could use in my engine?
I am working on a tiny cube-based engine like Minecraft. I was wondering if there is a way for me to get large blocky terrain in a text format that I can use for rendering on my engine?
I don't want ...
1
vote
3answers
585 views
Methods of procedural terrain generation that can work using DirectX 9 (SM2.0)?
I'm working on a simple game / fun project that I want to be largely procedurally generated. At first I started by using boxels (Similar to Minecraft, but not textured) for the terrain and it came out ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
Mixing Bump mapping and Detail mapping
I wonder if I create bump mapping for my terrain is it good to add detail mapping too? Does such mix improve realism or make it even worse (because there is "too much" of it)? If this improve realism, ...
1
vote
3answers
789 views
Any ideas on reducing lag in terrain generation?
Ok so here's the deal. I've written an isometric engine that generates terrain based on camera values using 2D perlin noise. I planned on doing 3D but first I need to work out the lag issues I'm ...
1
vote
1answer
179 views
Error inserting new pass entry into PassGroupRenderableMap
I started playing around with terrain and I am getting this assertion in
QueuedRenderableCollection::addRenderable: "Error inserting new pass entry into PassGroupRenderableMap"
I am trying to find ...
1
vote
0answers
191 views
Map terrain generation to texture instead of color
I have some terrain being generated using the following algorithm
double rand1 = rand.NextDouble() + 1;
double rand2 = rand.NextDouble() + 2;
double rand3 = rand.NextDouble() + 3;
float offset = ...
1
vote
0answers
536 views
XNA 3d Terrain using rectangular elements [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Creating a 3D map for XNA ?
I am developing using XNA, a simple 3d tower defense game. I wanted create a 3d terrain.
Here is how I am doing it:
fundamental element ...
0
votes
1answer
567 views
How to make a 2D Terrain with opengl?
I want to make a simple 2d terrain with just a few bumps and height changes:
I thought about just using random numbers to describe the height of a certain vertex, but I don't see how I can make ...
