Multiresolution Triangulations in Terrain Modelling

Abstract

This thesis describes the most common methods for view dependent multi-resolution triangulations for use in terrain modeling.

A visualization program based on the algorithms presented by P. Lindstrom and V. Pascucci in “Visualization of Large Terrains Made Easy” has been implemented. Their method is extended to manage several tiles each containing a vertex tree, with no discontinuities in the terrain surface between tiles. By using this method, the extra effort made to prevent discontinuities between tiles requires very few extra computations during visualization.

A new indexing method for vertex-trees is also presented. This indexing method is made to minimize page fetches when traversing very large vertex trees. The central parts of the algorithms and their implementations are described, and results from the test program are presented.