GPU Pro 6

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Dynamic GPU Terrain

David Pangerl

1.1 Introduction

Rendering terrain is crucial for any outdoor scene. However, it can be a hard task

to efficiently render a highly detailed terrain in real time owing to huge amounts

of data and the complex data segmentation it requires. Another universe of com-

plexity arises if we need to dynamically modify terrain topology and synchronize

it with physics simulation. (See Figure 1.1.)

This article presents a new high-performance algorithm for real-time terrain

rendering. Additionally, it presents a novel idea for GPU-based terrain modifica-

tion and dynamics synchronization.

Figure 1.1. Dynamic terrain simulation in