Time-Critical Rendering of Huge Ecosystems Using Discrete and Continuous Levels of Detail

We present a novel level of detail selection method for real-time rendering, that works on hierarchies of discrete and continuous representations. We integrate smoothly represented, point rendered objects with discrete polygonal geometry and demonstrate our approach in a terrain flyover application. In this testing application the digital elevation model is augmented with forests in accordance with satellite data. The vegetation is rendered as continuous sequence of splats generated from a procedural description. Further we discuss enhancements to our basic method to improve its scalability.