Skip to main content

Voxel Column Culling: Occlusion Culling for Large Terrain Models

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Eurographics ((EUROGRAPH))

Abstract

We present Voxel Column Culling, an occlusion culling algorithm for real-time rendering of large terrain models. This technique can greatly reduce the number of polygons that must be rendered every frame, allowing a larger piece of terrain to be rendered at an interactive frame-rate. This is accomplished by using a form of 3D cell-based occlusion culling. A visibility table for the terrain model is precomputed and stored on disk. This table is then used to quickly bypass portions of the model that are not visible due to self-occlusion of the terrain model. This technique improves performance of real-time terrain simulations by reducing the number of polygons to be rendered.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Airey, John M., John H. Rohlf, and Frederick P. Brooks Jr.: Towards Image Realism with Interactive Update Rates in Complex Virtual Building Environments. Computer Graphics (1990 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics), vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 41–50, March 1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bresenham, J. E.: Run-length slice algorithm for incremental lines. Fundamental Algorithms for Computer Graphics, R.A. Earnshaw, ed., NATO ASI Series, Vol. F17, pp. 59–105, 1985.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Clark, James H.: Hierarchical Geometric Models for Visible Surface Algorithms. Communications of the ACM, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 547–554, October 1976.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  4. Cline, David and Parris K. Egbert.: Terrain Decimation through Quadtree Morphing. To be published in IEEE Transcations on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

    Google Scholar 

  5. DeFloriani, L. and E. Puppo.: Hierarchical Triangulation for Multiresolution Surface Descriptions. ACM Transactions on Graphics, vol. 14, October, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Falby, John S. et al NPSNET: Hierarchical Data Structures for Real-Time Three-Dimensional Visual Simulation. Computers and Graphics, vol. 17, pp. 65–69, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Greene, N., M. Kass, and G. Miller.: Hierarchical Z-Buffer Visibility. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 93 Proceedings), vol. 27, pp. 231–238, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hoppe, Hugues.: Progressive Meshes. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 96 Proceedings), vol. 30, pp. 99–108, 1996.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Hoppe, Hugues.: View-Dependent Refinement of Progressive Meshes. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 97 Proceedings), vol. 31, pp. 189–198, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kumar, S., D. Manocha, B. Garrett, and M. Lin.: Hierarchical Back-Face Computation. Proceedings of Eurographics Rendering Workshop 1996, pp. 235–244, June 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lindstrom, Peter et al:. Real-Time Continuous Level of Detail Rendering of Height Fields. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 96 Conference Proceedings), vol. 30, pp. 109–118, 1996.

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Luebke, David, and Carl Erikson.: View-Dependent Simplification of Arbitrary Polygonal Environments. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 97 Proceedings), vol. 31, pp. 199–208, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Luebke, David P. and Chris Georges.: Portals and Mirrors: Simple, Fast Evaluation of Potentially Visible Sets. Proceedings 1995 Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp. 105–106, April 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Schroder, F. and P. RossBach.: Managing the Complexity of Digital Terrain Models. Computers and Graphics, vol. 18, pp. 65–70, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Schroeder, William J., Jonathan A. Zarge, and William E. Lorensen.: Decimation of Triangle Meshes. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 92 Proceedings), vol. 26, pp. 65–70, July 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang, Hansong, Dinesh Manocha, Tom Hudson, and Kenneth E. Hoff III.: Visibility Culling using Hierarchical Occlusion Maps. Computer Graphics (SIGGRAPH’ 97 Proceedings), vol. 31, pp. 77–88, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2001 Springer-Verlag Wien

About this paper

Cite this paper

Zaugg, B., Egbert, P.K. (2001). Voxel Column Culling: Occlusion Culling for Large Terrain Models. In: Ebert, D.S., Favre, J.M., Peikert, R. (eds) Data Visualization 2001. Eurographics. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6215-6_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7091-6215-6_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Vienna

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-211-83674-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-7091-6215-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics