Dallas, August 18-22 Volume 20, Number 4, 1986

III

The D e f i n i t i o n and R e n d e r i q ~ of T e r r a i n Maps

Gavin S. P. M i l l e r

Cambridge . university Engineering Department

Cambridg e , England.

Abstract A n a l t e r n a t i v e a p p r o a c h is to use texture

mapping methods on a few simple
This paper examines three methods, two primitives. The texturing is defined
e x i s t i n g and one new, for the g e n e r a t i o n procedurally, which means that the
of fractals based on recursive t e x t u r e d e l e m e n t s m a y be e x p a n d e d without
subdivision. Both existing methods are loss of h i g h f r e q u e n c y detail, or s h r u n k
f o u n d to h a v e defects, which are not without the occurrence of aliasing
p r e s e n t in the new method. A parallel artifacts. Such t e x t u r i n g h e l p s to b l e n d
p r o c e s s i n g a l g o r i t h m is p r o p o s e d for the t o g e t h e r the crude approximate surfaces
r e n d e r i n g of h e i g h t f i e l d s w h i c h is e x a c t [12].
and d i s t r i b u t e s the load evenly between
the p r o c e s s o r s . A m e t h o d is d e s c r i b e d for However problems remain. Fractal
the 'fan-tracing' of height fields to subdivision methods are s l o w and g e n e r a t e
a l l o w the r e a l i s t i c simulation of water d e f e c t s due to what is known as the
reflections. ' c r e a s i n g p r o b l e m ' w h i c h is the o c c u r r e n c e
of c r e a s e s or s l o p e d i s c o n t i n u i t i e s a l o n g
boundaries. Texture map methods, on the
other hand, display visible
d i s c o n t i n u i t i e s in t e x t u r e g r a d i e n t where
K e y w o r d s and p h r a s e s : computer graphics, two s u r f a c e s i n t e r s e c t . A l s o the o u t l i n e s
terrain, h e i g h t fields, fractals, s c a n l i n e are s m o o t h r a t h e r t h a n i r r e g u l a r .
algorithms, parallel algorithms.
True parallax cues are important in
generating a s e n s e of m o v e m e n t and v i s u a l
realism. Unfortunately, the texture
m a p p i n g of a few s i m p l e p r i m i t i v e s does
not g i v e c o r r e c t local h e i g h t variations.
A typical state-of-the-art flight
I. Introduction s i m u l a t o r can r e n d e r a b o u t 5000 polygons
in real time whereas a detailed terrain
The rendering of terrain models using m a y c o n s i s t of one q u a r t e r of a million
computer graphics is an i m p o r t a n t p r o b l e m elements. To achieve this degree of
b e c a u s e of its relevance to flight d e t a i l in r e a l t i m e w i l l r e q u i r e a c a r e f u l
simulation, animation and CADCAM, to p a r t i t i o n i n g of the computational load
m e n t i o n b u t a few applications. Special between hundreds of p r o c e s s o r s w o r k i n g in
problems are posed by the realistic parallel. Fortunately the special
r e n d e r i n g of landscape because of the geometrical properties of height fields
amount of detail required. Fractal a l l o w this.
methods have been proposed to allow
database amplification, which is the
g e n e r a t i o n of controlled random detail 2. A New Fractal Method
f r o m a f a i r l y s p a r s e d e s c r i p t i o n [9].
Recursive subdivision methods are
p r e f e r a b l e to Fourier transform methods
b e c a u s e t h e y are l i n e a r in time with the
Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted number of elements rather than NlogN.
provided that the copies are not made or distributed far direct R e c u r s i o n a l s o a l l o w s the c o m p u t a t i o n of a
commercial advantage, the A C M copyright notice and the title of the s u r f a c e to v a r y i n g d e g r e e s of detail in
publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by different regions based on the current
permission of the Association for Computing Machinery. To copy projection. The two methods current in
otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee a n d / o r specific permission. the literature are triangular edge
s u b d i v i s i o n , a n d w h a t for this p a p e r will
© 1986 ACM0-89791-196-2/86/008/0039 $00.75 be c a l l e d d i a m o n d - s q u a r e s u b d i v i s i o n [9].

39
 S I G G R A P H '86

I m a g e ib i n d i c a t e s a plan view of a
randomised version of the p y r a m i d w i t h H
e q u a l to 1.0. T h e s h a d i n g m o d e l u s e d is a
s i m p l e s c a l i n g of t h e X - c o m p o n e n t of the
s u r f a c e normal. The c r e a s e s p a r a l l e l to
the X a n d Y a x e s a n d along the diagonal
are all too a p p a r e n t . However, rotated by
60 d e g r e e s about the X-axis with Cosine
Law shading the mountains look quite
respectable and very detailed. See
I m a g e ic. I n d e e d the creasing artifacts
do m u c h to make the mountains dramatic.
H o w e v e r it w o u l d be m o r e d e s i r a b l e to h a v e
o Iferafion N random detail generated which could be
considered to look natural from all
o Iteration N+I
directions.
Figure 1 Triang!e Edge Subdivision

T r i a n g u l a r e d g e s u b d i v i s i o n is i l l u s t r a t e d
in F i g u r e i. Each triangle is divided
i n t o four new ones. T h e e d g e s are e a c h
divided equally into two. The midpoint
then has a Gaussian random variable added D/It ~I
to it. T h e s t a n d a r d d e v i a t i o n of this is
g i v e n by:
O

-iH
S=k2

o fferation N
o lferation N+ 1
W h e r e i is the iteration level, k is a
× Iteration N * 2
scale factor and H is the fractal
dimension. ~guqe ? Diamond - Square Subdivision

N o i n f o r m a t i o n is p a s s e d b e t w e e n adjacent The second method in [9] was the

triangles, so this m a y b e t e r m e d to be a diamond-square lattice illustrated in
'context independent' method [18]. This F i g u r e 2. Rather than subdividing only
is i m p o r t a n t since it leads to w h a t is edges a square is used to g e n e r a t e its
k n o w n as the creasing problem. An centre point which then leaves holes which
important measure of a randomising are surrounded by data in a diamond
i n t e r p o l a n t is w h a t it looks like if the arrangement. The diamond is used to
r a n d o m i s a t i o n is turned off, i. e. k is g e n e r a t e its c e n t r e p o i n t a n d this level
set to zero. For the sake of later of s u b d i v i s i o n is complete. This method
comparison a simple test case is of s u b d i v i s i o n does take values from
considered. T h e f r a c t a l s are defined to n e i g h b o u r i n g r e g i o n s a n d so it is ' c o n t e x t
be p e r i o d i c and to have their control dependent' However, because of the t w o
points lying on a square matrix. The tier iteration scheme artifacts do occur.
vertices of the square and the edge Again with the randomisation turned off
m i d p o i n t s are all set to a c o n s t a n t level. I m a g e 2a i n d i c a t e s the rather peculiar
T h e m i d p o i n t of t h e s q u a r e is r a i s e d a b o v e surface which results. Note that the
the c o n s t a n t level. original control points have the surface
p a s s i n g t h r o u g h them. T h e s u r f a c e is v e r y
I m a g e la illustrates the effect of pointed towards the peak and t h e r e are
subdivision for k equal to zero. A b u m p s a n d d e n t s in the surface depending
p y r a m i d is the result. This is because on the local curvature. These are, of
below the f i r s t level of s u b d i v i s i o n e a c h course, innate in the interpolant and
t r i a n g l e is merely divided into other n o t h i n g to do with fractal randomisation
triangles which are coplanar with it- w h i c h is not present. I m a g e 2b again
Thus rather than rolling hills we have indicates the X-component of the s u r f a c e
'rolling pyramids' which are normal. Tell-tale vertical streaks
unsatisfactory for terrain. Also note indicate a persistent creasing problem and
that the original control points had I m a g e 2c s h o w s pointed p e a k s n o t o n l y at
square symmetry whereas the surface is the c o n t r o l points but also at other
skewed. The skewness can be o v e r c o m e b y i n t e r m e d i a t e p o i n t s as well.
placing the control points on an
e q u i l a t e r a l t r i a n g u l a r m e s h r a t h e r t h a n on
a r e c t a n g u l a r one, b u t the d i s c o n t i n u i t i e s
in s l o p e w i l l remain.

40
Dallas, August 18-22 V o l u m e 20, N u m b e r 4, 1986

3. A Parallel Algorithm for Rendering

Height Fields
[H . . . . . . . . . 5a . . . . . . . . . []

F o r the p u r p o s e s of this paper a height

,3 ,,~ I f i e l d is a s u r f a c e w h i c h in o b j e c t s p a c e
~<3o c o o r d i n a t e s is d e f i n e d by a single value
of Z for every X and Y. We have a
~. • 1 ,)
v i e w p o i n t P and a v i e w direction V. We
T w i s h to be--able to c o m p u t e an image--of the
height field for any v i e w d i r e c t i o n and
position. T h e u s u a l a p p r o a c h to this is
to c o n s i d e r a p l a n e i m a g e w h o s e s u r f a c e is
perpendicular to the view direction
D Iteration N vector. A 4x4 transformation matrix is
sufficient to project from the object
<> Iteration N ÷ I s p a c e into the i m a g e space. The surface
Figure 3 Square-Sq_uare Subdivision. e l e m e n t s are t r a n s f o r m e d into p e r s p e c t i v e
a n d t h e n r e n d e r e d i n t o the image. The use
of o c c l u s i o n - c o m p a t i b l e ordering allows
The new method here proposed is one the e l e m e n t s to be r e n d e r e d f r o m b a c k to
adapted from the field of CADCAM. In f r o n t w i t h p i x e l o v e r w r i t e , or f r o m front
o r d e r to g a i n f i r s t order continuity in to b a c k for a n t i a l i a s i n g [5]. A general
the interpolant we sacrifice the polygon-based system explicitly computes
r e q u i r e m e n t of h a v i n g t h e s u r f a c e passing this order from the polygon data, or
through the control points. Figure 3 d e r i v e s it from a precomputed data
i l l u s t r a t e s the s q u a r e - s q u a r e subdivision structure [ii]. With height fields,
r u l e of [4] a n d [7]. T h e n e w p o i n t s are however, we may divide the surface into
g e n e r a t e d on a s q u a r e w h i c h is half the four r e c t a n g u l a r r e g i o n s w i t h i n w h i c h the
size of an existing square. The new o r d e r i n g can be g e n e r a t e d trivially. We
v a l u e s are taken in the proportion split the object X-Y plane into four
9:3:3:1, the nearer points having the r e g i o n s u s i n g lines p a r a l l e l to the X - a x i s
greater weighting. This leads to an and Y-axis which intersect vertically
interpolant which in the limit is a b e n e a t h the viewpoint. Each region may
b i q u a d r a t i c surface. This is a surface t h e n be r e n d e r e d u s i n g p o l y g o n s generated
w h i c h is s m o o t h and c o n t i n u o u s in s u r f a c e in the correct row by row or c o l u m n b y
normal. N o t e that w i t h this method the c o l u m n o r d e r [i]. We then need a fast
control points d e f l e c t the s u r f a c e b u t do m e t h o d of s c a n - c o n v e r s i o n , b u t this m a y be
not n o r m a l l y lie on it. difficult to distribute evenly between
parallel processors. In particular, a
I m a g e 3a i n d i c a t e s the form of the height field in perspective may not
interpolant. First order continuity is project to singly valued screen y
achieved but the surface is rather coordinates. The importance of this is
c o n s e r v a t i v e in the w a y it is d e f l e c t e d by e x p l a i n e d later. Another problem with
the c o n t r o l points. I m a g e 3b shows no this m e t h o d is that if s e v e r a l d i f f e r e n t
creasing artifacts and I m a g e 3c is well view directions are required, then the
behaved. H o w e v e r the s u r f a c e looks r a t h e r visibility calculations must be
bland compared with I m a g e Ic, but the recomputed. S i m i l a r l y it is d i f f i c u l t to
v a l u e of H can always be decreased to p r o c e s s s c e n e s for w h i c h the v i e w a n g l e is
create more roughness, and the control g r e a t e r t h a n 180 d e g r e e s .
p o i n t s m a y be e x a g g e r a t e d in Z to make a
more pronounced peak. With this An established technique for the
square-square fractal method we may projection of planar textures into
generate terrain which is anything from p e r s p e c t i v e is to use a r o w - c o l u m n access
r o l l i n g h i l l s to rough mountains, since method. In this a p p r o a c h p i x e l s are read,
the roughness is due to the fractal t r a n s f o r m e d and stored for each row in
s t a t i s t i c s and is not produced by the turn. The columns are then each accessed
underlying interpolant. and transformed. The net result is a
planar texture which has been transformed
W h i l s t so far we h a v e o n l y c o n s i d e r e d the into perspective with antialiasing [3].
use of fractals for terrain, the This scheme may be thought of as a
g e n e r a t i o n of c l o u d f i l l e d skies is also parallel algorithm since each row could be
an important problem. As demonstrated p r o c e s s e d by a d i f f e r e n t p r o c e s s o r at the
l a t e r the n e w f r a c t a l m e t h o d leads to the s a m e time. Each column could then be
g e n e r a t i o n of acceptable clouds, b e c a u s e processed similarly. The advantage of
of the lack of u n n a t u r a l a r t i f a c t s . It is this m e t h o d is that t h e r e is no executive
w o r t h noting, h o w e v e r , t h a t for texturing processor allocating fragments of the
purposes, fractal subdivision methods may e n t i r e i m a g e to e a c h subprocessor. Also
be replaced by Perlin's stochastic each processor does n o t n e e d to s t o r e t h e
m o d e l l i n g a p p r o a c h [17]. e n t i r e image, b u t o n l y a single row or
column. The difficulty w i t h this m e t h o d
is the dual a c c e s s of the d a t a first for
the rows and t h e n for the c o l u m n s . If the

41
 S I G G R A P H '86
II II

p r o c e s s o r s are connected by a common bus

t h e n the i m a g e may be flipped about a
d i a g o n a l in o n e f r a m e time.

It w o u l d be attractive to apply a
row-column algorithm to the r e n d e r i n g of
height fields. The rows would be
s t r e t c h e d l a t e r a l l y in a c c o r d a n c e w i t h t h e
perspective projection a n d then the z>
columns would be transformed to the
c o r r e c t view. Unfortunately this a p p r o a c h
is o n l y e x a c t for p e r s p e c t i v e p r o j e c t i o n s
if the v i e w v e c t o r is p a r a l l e l to the X-Y
plane. For other view directions the
projected height field is not singly
v a l u e d in s c r e e n y c o o r d i n a t e . I n d e e d the Figure 5 Cartesian Io Polar Conversion.
process collapses if the v i e w v e c t o r is
straight down along the object space A w a y t o a c h i e v e this with a row-column
Z-axis. H o w e v e r this i n e x a c t a p p r o a c h h a s a l g o r i t h m is to split the object plane
b e e n u s e d to g o o d e f f e c t in [i0]. into wedge quadrants. T h e s e a r e + or - 45
d e g r e e s f r o m e i t h e r the X or Y axes. We
T h e n e w a p p r o a c h p r e s e n t e d in this paper s t r e t c h e a c h r o w u n t i l the v e r t i c a l p l a n e s
is to a b a n d o n the p l a n a r p r o j e c t i o n a n d to of constant Phi become columns. See
u s e an i n t e r m e d i a t e v i e w i n g sphere. (This F i g u r e 5.
is an e x t e n s i o n of the m e t h o d d e s c r i b e d in
[8] w h i c h was restricted to h a v i n g v i e w
d i r e c t i o n s p a r a l l e l to the X - Y p l a n e ) . We
c o n s i d e r the v i e w p o i n t to be s u r r o u n d e d b y
a sphere onto which have been projected
the s u r f a c e s from all directions. This
s p h e r e m a y t h e n be t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o s c r e e n
c o o r d i n a t e s for v i e w i n g on a flat screen
or d i r e c t l y projected onto a spherical
s c r e e n for w i d e a n g l e work.

Figure 66 ProMotion of Slice onto Viewing Sphere.

TO p r o j e c t o n t o the v i e w i n g s p h e r e w e t h e n
process each column using inverse
trigonometric functions to c o m p u t e v a l u e s
of Theta. S e e F i g u r e 6. From a Phi-Theta
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of the viewing sphere we
p r o c e e d to p r o j e c t o n t o the v i e w i n g p l a n e .
See F i g u r e 7.

F~gure C ViewJng._.Spherewith Axial Planes.

T h e a d v a n t a g e of this m e t h o d is that the

visible surface calculation for the
viewing sphere is independent of the
viewing direction and the p r o c e s s i n g m a y
use p l a n e s w h i c h pass vertically through
the t e r r a i n map. See F i g u r e 4. If w e
c o n s i d e r the f a m i l y of p l a n e s which pass
t h r o u g h a line d r o p p e d v e r t i c a l l y f r o m the
viewpoint, then the planes will have
i n t e r s e c t i o n s w i t h the t e r r a i n which are
s i n g l y v a l u e d in Z. Figure ? Projffction of Viewir)g__Sphere onto Image Plane.

42
Dallas, A u g u s t 18-22 V o l u m e 20, N u m b e r 4, 1986

Image 4 illustrates this process. Top t h e y are s l o w a n d r e s t r i c t e d to a certain

left is the original terrain map with class of surfaces. In general the k e y
areas within the wedge quadrants of u s e s in t e r r a i n m o d e l l i n g for ray-tracing
interest highlighted in grey. Top right like e f f e c t s would be the c a l c u l a t i o n of
is the s a m e terrain after it has been s h a d o w s and r e f l e c t i o n s in w a t e r . Usually
expanded row by row in X by a f a c t o r of w h e r e s h a d o w s are r e q u i r e d the sun m a y be
I/Y. B o t t o m left is the s a m e r e g i o n a f t e r considered to be a point light source.
a s u b s e q u e n t c o l u m n s t r e t c h by a f a c t o r of T h i s is e q u i v a l e n t to c o m p u t i n g a second
1/Cos(X), where X has been scaled to lie hidden surface calculation. A more
between -Pi/4 and Pi/4. Note t h a t the difficult problem is the reflection of
b o t t o m h a l f of the d a t a w a s then flipped l i g h t in w a t e r . For distant regions there
vertically. The top and bottom halves now m a y be many water waves per pixel. Thus
correspond to two opposite wedge m a n y rays p e r p i x e l w i l l be required for
quadrants. Bottom right is a polar raytracing rippling water. Also each ray
representation of half of the viewing m u s t be separately traced against the
sphere. Phi is a l o n g X, T h e t a is a l o n g Y. whole terrain.
The two wedge quadrants have been
projected onto the viewing sphere. The The approach adopted here is to assume
lack of v i s u a l d e t a i l for near parts of t h a t rays may be p e r t u r b e d v e r t i c a l l y by
the t e r r a i n is r e a d i l y a p p a r e n t . the w a t e r b u t n o t l a t e r a l l y . This allows
us to model the actual appearance of
I m a g e 5 d e m o n s t r a t e s the a d d i t i o n a l u s e of r e f l e c t i o n s of distant hills in lakes
a two-dimensional version of Perlin's quite realistically w h i l s t r e d u c i n g a 3-D
fractal texturing technique. In this a ray trace to a 2-D one. Since these
bandwidth-limited f u n c t i o n of X a n d Y is v e r t i c a l p l a n e s are e q u i v a l e n t to t h o s e in
successively scaled and superimposed in the previous section this procedure may be
accordance with the viewing i m p l e m e n t e d in p a r a l l e l as a n a t u r a l p a r t
transformation. T h i s is u s e d to c o m p u t e a of the h i d d e n surface algorithm. Since
normal perturbation for the shading reflected light is scattered vertically
function. W i t h this n e a r e l e m e n t s remain b u t not h o r i z o n t a l l y , the l i g h t w h i c h w i l l
detailed despite their expansion b y the be s c a t t e r e d towards an observer lies
spherical projection. Top right is an w i t h i n a r a n g e of v e r t i c a l a n g l e s f r o m the
orthogonal spherical projection taken p o i n t on the water surface. This may be
a l o n g the Y - a x i s . T o p left is the same t h o u g h t of as a 'fan' of light rays
projection taken looking straight down incident on the water. The reflected
a l o n g the Z-axis. Image 6 shows a l i g h t i n t e n s i t y is m e r e l y the i n t e g r a l of
perspective projection of the viewing the i n c i d e n t l i g h t l y i n g w i t h i n the r a n g e
s p h e r e t a k e n a l o n g the X - a x i s . of the fan.

If the v i e w i n g s p h e r e is t r a n s f o r m e d such
t h a t the p o l a r a x i s lies a l o n g the c u r r e n t Z"
rotation axis of the observer, then
r o t a t i o n a l m o t i o n b l u r m a y be c o m p u t e d .
b l o c k or r a m p f i l t e r is a p p l i e d a l o n g
Phi direction
of the v i e w i n g
same scene
with motion blur
as
due to a barrel
is
the
of the p o l a r r e p r e s e n t a t i o n
sphere. Image 7 the
t h a t s h o w n in I m a g e 6, b u t
roll
A

<
a b o u t the view vector. Image 8 shows a
wide angle projection of the viewing
sphere after it h a s b e e n t i l t e d a b o u t the
X-axis by 45 degrees. Image 9 is a
perspective projection of the rotated ~.qure 8 The Bear~ Georgette'.of Water Ref[eOion.
v i e w i n g sphere.
To e a s e the c o m p u t a t i o n a l load the water
T h e d e t a i l s of the row-column algorithms is treated as flat with a normal
for a r b i t r a r y spherical-to-spherical and perturbation. The waves are modelled as
spherical-to-planar transformations will superimposed sine waves which aids
be the subject of a later work [15]. c l a m p i n g , i. e. the b a n d w i d t h - l i m i t i n g of
H o w e v e r it s h o u l d n o w b e a p p a r e n t t h a t by the n o r m a l perturbation texture [16].
using a spherical projection as an However since we are interested in
intermediate representation it is p o s s i b l e r e f l e c t i o n s of a fan rather than the
to c o n s t r u c t a row-column algorithm for p r o j e c t i o n of a t e x t u r e the w a v e s h a v e t w o
the perspective rendering of height effects. The first is to perturb the
fields. c e n t r e of the fan b a s e d on the slope of
the w a v e s u r f a c e . T h e s e c o n d is to s p r e a d
4. The Fan-tracing of H e i g h t Fields the fan based on the curvature of the
wave. See F i g u r e 8. The fan centre
Recently some work has been done on perturbation is clamped to zero for
ray-tracing fractal surfaces defined by d i s t a n t w a v e s w h i l s t the fan s p r e a d is set
the t r i a n g l e edge subdivision technique to maximum. An alternative to
[2] a n d [14]. While these methods work superimposed sine waves would have been

43
 S I G G R A P H '86

the w a v e m o d e l in [17]. Perlin's model a l l o w i n g m o r e d a t a to be stored in the

uses several p o i n t s o u r c e s of d i s t u r b a n c e rows and columns it may b e p o s s i b l e to
and so a v o i d s the p e r i o d i c i t y i n h e r e n t in include features such as the textured
the s i n e wave approach. It gives very e l l i p s o i d s of G a r d n e r [12] and [133.
realistic pictures and the incorporation
of t h a t m e t h o d i n t o this s y s t e m is an a r e a
for f u t u r e work.

If t h e r e w e r e n o n e of the height field

protruding above the w a t e r level t h e n the Acknowlegments
i n t e n s i t y for a fan c o u l d be c o m p u t e d f r o m
an e n v i r o n m e n t m a p of the sky. For each T h a n k s to J o n Hunwick who designed the
vertical slice this environment map would y a c h t in I m a g e i0 on the DUCT surface
be o n e - d i m e n s i o n a l , and a precomputed modeller. T h a n k s to my Ph. D. supervisor
integral table could be used to speed Dr. D. P. S t u r g e for encouragement and
c a l c u l a t i o n s [6]. However, since the support and to Deltacam S y s t e m s L t d and
height field can obstruct all or p a r t of S i g m e x L t d for the l o a n of e q u i p m e n t .
the sky c o n t r i b u t i o n to the fan, a more
c o m p l i c a t e d a p p r o a c h is r e q u i r e d .

For each water pixel a fan is generated

based on the projection distance, the References
p e r t u r b a t i o n and the s p r e a d of the wave.
The plane slice of the h e i g h t f i e l d is [I] A n d e r s o n D. P., Hidden Line
p r o j e c t e d a n d c l i p p e d to t h a t fan a n d the E l i m i n a t i o n in Projected Grid Surfaces,
i n t e n s i t i e s are averaged over the fan. A . C . M . T r a n s . G r a p h i c s , Vol. I, No. 4, O c t
T h u s t h e r e is one fan per water pixel 1982, p p 2 7 4 - 2 8 8 .
rather than m a n y rays. F o r I m a g e i0, the
view direction was taken parallel to the [2] B o u v i l l e C., B o u n d i n g Ellipsoids for
negative Y-axis. Also the height field Ray-Fractal Intersection, SIGGRAPH '85,
was painted onto piecewise flat vertical Computer Graphics, Vol. 19, No. 3 (July
e l e m e n t s for r a p i d i t y of p r o j e c t i o n . This 1985).
l a t t e r s i m p i f i c a t i o n d i d l e a d to u n n a t u r a l
vertical streaks for some i m a g e s and is [3] C a t m u l l E. a n d A. R. Smith, 3-D
not r e c o m m e n d e d . H o w e v e r the r e s u l t s w e r e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s of images in scanline
quite encouraging. The clouds were order, C o m p u t e r G r a p h i c s , Vol. 14, No. 3,
generated using the n e w f r a c t a l m e t h o d as pp 2 7 9 - 2 8 4 , 1980.
w e r e the m o u n t a i n s . The snow line was
prevented from being too r e g u l a r by the [4] C a t m u l l E. and J. Clark, Recursively
use of n o r m a l as w e l l as height data to generated B-spline surfaces on a r b i t r a r y
d e t e r m i n e the s n o w t h r e s h o l d . topological meshes, CAD Vol. I0, pp
3 5 0 - 3 5 5 , 1978.
By d i v i d i n g a 3-D problem into a 2-D
problem a great speed saving was achieved [5] C o q u i l l a r t S. and M. G a n g n e t , Shaded
thus a l l o w i n g the simulation of quite D i s p l a y of Digital Maps, IEEE Computer
realistic effects on a small machine. Graphics and Applications, Vol. 4,
I m a g e I0 took 6 h o u r s on a P r i m e 250 for No. 7. J u l y 1984.
5 1 2 x 5 1 2 r e s o l u t i o n , i n c l u d i n g the t i m e for
the g e n e r a t i o n of the t e r r a i n data. [6] C r o w F. C., Summed-area tables for
texture mapping. Computer Graphics,
5. Conclusions and Future Developments. Vol. l, No. 3 (July 1984), p p 2 0 7 - 2 1 2 .

This paper has presented a new method for [7] D o o D. a n d M. Sabin, Behaviour of
the g e n e r a t i o n of fractals by r e c u r s i v e recursive division surfaces near
subdivision, which does not create the extraordinary points, CAD Vol. I0, pp
a r t i f a c t s of p r e v i o u s l y p u b l i s h e d m e t h o d s . 3 5 6 - 3 6 2 , 1978.
It has a l s o p r e s e n t e d a p a r a l l e l a l g o r i t h m
for the perspective rendering of h e i g h t [8] F i s h m a n B. a n d B. S c h e c t e r . Computer
fields which uses an intermediate D i s p l a y of Height Fields. Computers and
spherical projection. This algorithm was G r a p h i c s Vol. 5 (1980) p p 5 3 - 6 0 .
e x t e n d e d to include an approximate but
convincing method for the s i m u l a t i o n of [9] F o u r n i e r A., D. F u s s e l l , L. C a r p e n t e r ,
r e f l e c t i o n s of t e r r a i n and s k y in w a t e r . Computer Rendering of Stochastic
M o d e l s . Comm. of the A . C . M . , 25, 6, (June
The common bus architecture mentioned in 1982), pp 3 7 1 - 3 8 4 .
this p a p e r may be replaced by a more
c o m p l e x one, to s p e e d up the d i a g o n a l f l i p [i0] F o u r n i e r A. a n d T. M i l l i g a n , Frame
process. Buffer Algorithms for Stochastic
Models. IEEE Computer Graphics and
Also, the h e i g h t f i e l d r e n d e r i n g a l g o r i t h m Applications. October 1985. Vol. 5,
as g i v e n d o e s not a l l o w the inclusion of No. i0.
collections of trees or bushes. By

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Dallas, August T8-22 Volume 20, Number 4, 1986

[Ii] Fuchs H., G. D. Abram and

E. D. Grant. Near Real-Time Shaded
Display of Rigid Objects, Computer
Graphics, Vol. 17, No. 3 (July 1983).

[12] Gardner G. Y., Simulation of Natural

Scenes Using Textured Quadric Surfaces.
Computer Graphics Vol. 18, No. 3 (July
1984) pp 11-20.

[133 Gardner G. Y., Visual Simulation of

Clouds, Computer Graphics, Vol. 19, No. 3
(July 1985), pp 297-303.

[14] Kajiya J. T., New Techniques for Ray

Tracing Procedurally Defined Objects,
Computer Graphics, Vol. 17, No. 3, (July
1983).

[15] Miller, G. S . P . , Author's

unpublished P h . D . dissertation - work in
progress. Triangular Interpolant.

[16] Norton A., A. P. ~ockwood and

P. T. Skolmoski, A Method of A n t i a l i a s i n g
Textured Surfaces by Bandwidth Limiting in
Object Space. Computer Graphics Vol. 16,
No. 3 (July 1982}.

[17] Perlin K., An Image Synthesizer,

SIGGRAPH '85, Computer Graphics, Vol. 19,
No. 3 (July 1985).

[18] Smith A. R., Plants, Fractals and

Formal Languages. Computer Graphics,
Vol. 18, No. 3 (July 1984).

lb. Triangular Fractal Normal Map.

Ic. Triangular Fractal Mountain.

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 S I G G R A P H '86

2a. Diamond-Square Interpolant. 3a. Square-Square Interpolant.

2b. Diamond-Square Fractal Normal Map. 3b. Square-Square Fractal Normal Map.

2c. Diamond-Square Fractal Mountain. 3c. Square-Square Fractal Mountain.

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Dallas, August 18-22 Volume 20, Number 4, 1986
II

4. W e d g e Q u a d r a n t s to V i e w i n g Sphere. 7. V i e w A l o n g X w i t h M o t i o n Blur.

5. V i e w i n g Sphere W i t h Texture. 8. W i d e Angle V i e w Down Incline-

6. P e r s p e c t i v e V i e w Along X. 9. P e r s p e c t i v e V i e w Down Incline.

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 ~. S I G G R A P H '86

i0. Sailing By.

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