Designer-Friendly Methods for Manual Changes of Procedurally Modeled Terrains

Wivelsted, Toke Andresen

4. term

Computer Science, Master

2016

2016-05-31

68 pages

The following report was written as part of a 10th semester project at Aalborg University, Computer Science. Procedural Modeling (PM) is an algorithmic technique for generation of virtual content. When used for generating terrains, the outcome of PM can be hard to predict, often causing designers to choose a purely manual approach instead. However, the time saved by using PM can be quite signicant, and it is therefore worth considering how the procedures can be steered and made more predictable. Based on the framework prototype created during my 9th semester project, this report proposes a solution which lets the designer steer the modeling process. This is implemented by having the designer specify locations on the terrain, where different ecosystems should appear. A Voronoi diagram is utilized for storing the placement of ecosystems. The ecosystems, which are also created by the designer, hold elevation values and information about terrain features. The characteristics of the various ecosystems are then extracted from the Voronoi diagram when the terrain is procedurally generated. This method is preferable to the sketch-based approach implemented during 9th semester, as the influenced areas of the placed ecosystems are immediately visible. The designer is no longer moved from the terrain construction process, and the trial and error testing of mapping ecosystems to colors are no longer present. Furthermore, the generated Voronoi diagram can be utilized by known interpolation methods to determine the final elevation values of the terrain. Two tools are introduced, intended to help the designer alter a procedurally generated terrain: a brush for sculpting the terrain, and, a river tool for carving rivers into the terrain. Terrain alterations caused by these tools are stored in layers, which can be toggled on or off, or have their strength adjusted. The method for steering the terrain generation process, in conjunction with the custom tools and layer functionality, makes the procedural approach a viable alternative to manual terrain creation.

The following report was written as part of a 10th semester project at Aalborg University, Computer Science. Procedural Modeling (PM) is an algorithmic technique for generation of virtual content. When used for generating terrains, the outcome of PM can be hard to predict, often causing designers to choose a purely manual approach instead. However, the time saved by using PM can be quite signicant, and it is therefore worth considering how the procedures can be steered and made more predictable. Based on the framework prototype created during my 9th semester project, this report proposes a solution which lets the designer steer the modeling process. This is implemented by having the designer specify locations on the terrain, where different ecosystems should appear. A Voronoi diagram is utilized for storing the placement of ecosystems. The ecosystems, which are also created by the designer, hold elevation values and information about terrain features. The characteristics of the various ecosystems are then extracted from the Voronoi diagram when the terrain is procedurally generated. This method is preferable to the sketch-based approach implemented during 9th semester, as the influenced areas of the placed ecosystems are immediately visible. The designer is no longer moved from the terrain construction process, and the trial and error testing of mapping ecosystems to colors are no longer present. Furthermore, the generated Voronoi diagram can be utilized by known interpolation methods to determine the final elevation values of the terrain. Two tools are introduced, intended to help the designer alter a procedurally generated terrain: a brush for sculpting the terrain, and, a river tool for carving rivers into the terrain. Terrain alterations caused by these tools are stored in layers, which can be toggled on or off, or have their strength adjusted. The method for steering the terrain generation process, in conjunction with the custom tools and layer functionality, makes the procedural approach a viable alternative to manual terrain creation.

Procedural modeling ; Voronoi ; Inverse distance weighting ; Natural neighbor interpolation ; Nearest neighbor interpolation ; Layers ; Custom tool ; Terrains ; Computer games

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