Ok, So I'm experimenting with various terrain generation methods, primarily in Unity, but i'll admit to not use all its features because I started learning about Game Dev in XNA YEARS ago. So, I made a blocky setup like minecraft several times, and made it ineractive. Kool Beans... I did it in chunks, not an Octree method. I've also had a broken version of Marching cubes, but it really wasn't broken, it made the look I was going for at the time.
So I've never really worked with Octrees, and I started reaseaching Dual Contouring and Surface Nets, and a lot of em talk about Octrees. I get the idea logically, but I kinda don't understand some basic "Mechanics" of Octrees, and finding "basic" answers to some of these topics is rough.
So, sticking really to just Octrees, what kind of data to really store in em? I mean, I get I literally could break up a 3D array of strings, but I'm asking about best practices and practicality. I've been using an array of bools generated by another object, really because I'm really trying to make something that does more "computing" than "hashing", and I was thinking bools would be the smallest type to store if I'm going to "blow it up" with other techniques.
So, when I first create this bad boy, and give it a 3D array of data, Do I really go through a method of recusivly testing each value before I "break" the "Master Node" into "Children nodes"? Or Do I start by testing each value in pairs, building Up to larger children nodes?
Any other pointers would be appreciated.