Beyond factual to formulated silhouettes

When sketching terrain, a view-dependent framework of silhouette-related cues is required. This framework is prominent in manual sketches and is especially important in small-scale depictions viewed obliquely from above. Occluding contours, namely the lines delineating depth discontinuities in the projected surface, are insufficient for forming this framework. The role which the occluding contour, or Factual Silhouette, plays in structuring the sketch becomes increasingly minimal as more of the terrain becomes visible, as the viewpoint is raised.The aim of this research is to extend the set of occluding contours to encompass situations that are perceived as causing an occlusion and would therefore be sketched in a similar manner. These locations, termed Formulated Silhouettes supplement the set of occluding contours and provide a successful structuring framework. The proposed method processes visible areas of terrain, which are turning away from view, to extract a classified, vector-based description for a given view of a Digital Elevation Model. Background approaches to silhouette rendering are reviewed and the specific contributions of this thesis are discussed.The method is tested using case studies composed of terrain of varying scale and character and two application studies demonstrate how silhouettes can be used to enhance existing terrain visualization techniques, both abstract and realistic. In addition, consultation with cartographic designers provides external verification of the research. The thesis concludes by noting how silhouette contours relate to perceived entities rather than actual occlusions

Single-picture reconstruction and rendering of trees for plausible vegetation synthesis

State-of-the-art approaches for tree reconstruction either put limiting constraints on the input side (requiring multiple photographs, a scanned point cloud or intensive user input) or provide a representation only suitable for front views of the tree. In this paper we present a complete pipeline for synthesizing and rendering detailed trees from a single photograph with minimal user effort. Since the overall shape and appearance of each tree is recovered from a single photograph of the tree crown, artists can benefit from georeferenced images to populate landscapes with native tree species. A key element of our approach is a compact representation of dense tree crowns through a radial distance map. Our first contribution is an automatic algorithm for generating such representations from a single exemplar image of a tree. We create a rough estimate of the crown shape by solving a thin-plate energy minimization problem, and then add detail through a simplified shape-from-shading approach. The use of seamless texture synthesis results in an image-based representation that can be rendered from arbitrary view directions at different levels of detail. Distant trees benefit from an output-sensitive algorithm inspired on relief mapping. For close-up trees we use a billboard cloud where leaflets are distributed inside the crown shape through a space colonization algorithm. In both cases our representation ensures efficient preservation of the crown shape. Major benefits of our approach include: it recovers the overall shape from a single tree image, involves no tree modeling knowledge and minimal authoring effort, and the associated image-based representation is easy to compress and thus suitable for network streaming.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Efficient view point selection for silhouettes of convex polyhedra

AbstractSilhouettes of polyhedra are an important primitive in application areas such as machine vision and computer graphics. In this paper, we study how to select view points of convex polyhedra such that the silhouette satisfies certain properties. Specifically, we give algorithms to find all projections of a convex polyhedron such that a given set of edges, faces and/or vertices appear on the silhouette.We present an algorithm to solve this problem in O(k2) time for k edges. For orthogonal projections, we give an improved algorithm that is fully adaptive in the number l of connected components formed by the edges, and has a time complexity of O(klogk+kl). We then generalize this algorithm to edges and/or faces appearing on the silhouette

Shadow Mapping or Shadow Volume?

In this paper two techniques of shadow generation are described. Volume shadow is geometric base but shadow mapping is image base. Silhouette detection is a most expensive step to create volume shadow. Two algorithms to recognize silhouette are introduced. Stencil buffer and Z- buffer are two other tools for creating shadow by volume shadow technique. Both algorithms are implemented in virtual environment with moveable light source. Triangular method and the Visible-non visible method are introduced. The recent traditional silhouette detection and implementation techniques used in volume shadow algorithm are improved. With introduce flowchart of both algorithms, the last volume shadow algorithm using stencil buffer is rewritten. A very simple algorithm to create volume shadow is proposed. The last shadow mapping algorithm is rewritten. These techniques are poised to bring realism into commercial games. It may be use in virtual reality applications

The Visvalingam algorithm: metrics, measures and heuristics

This paper provides the background necessary for a clear understanding of forthcoming papers relating to the Visvalingam algorithm for line generalisation, for example on the testing and usage of its implementations. It distinguishes the algorithm from implementation-specific issues to explain why it is possible to get inconsistent but equally valid output from different implementations. By tracing relevant developments within the now-disbanded Cartographic Information Systems Research Group (CISRG) of the University of Hull, it explains why a) a partial metric-driven implementation was, and still is, sufficient for many projects but not for others; b) why the Effective Area (EA) is a measure derived from a metric; c) why this measure (EA) may serve as a heuristic indicator for in-line feature segmentation and model-based generalisation; and, d) how metrics may be combined to change the order of point elimination. The issues discussed in this paper also apply to the use of other metrics. It is hoped that the background and guidance provided in this paper will enable others to participate in further research based on the algorithm

Extended edge silhouette detection algorithm to create real-time shadow volume

A new algorithm to recognize occluder silhouette to generate shadow volume with some improvement of the traditional shadow volume algorithm is proposed. We named the new algorithm as Extended Edge Silhouette Detection (EESD). Silhouette detection is one of the expensive processes of shadow volumes. The triangular algorithm and visible-non-visible algorithm that are famous algorithms to detect the outline of occluder are renewed. An accurate comparison between these algorithms and a new algorithm has been done. The algorithm is to detect silhouette and decreases the cost of implementation of shadow volume. The obtained results confirm superiority of the proposed algorithm in terms of processing time compared to the previously used traditional algorithms. The last shadow volume algorithm using stencil buffer is rewritten and an algorithm for shadow volume with silhouette detection together is proposed

Hybrid Silhouette Detection for Real-Time Shadow Volume

In shadow volume, the most expensive computation is silhouette detection. In this paper, the triangular algorithm (TA) and visible-non-visible (VnV) algorithm that are famous algorithms to detect the outline of occluder are renewed. In this paper, we proposed a hybrid algorithm based on TA and VnV, namely Hybrid Silhouette Detection (HSD) algorithm. HSD is an improved algorithm that can recognize silhouette for generating real-time shadow volume. Our algorithm involves detecting silhouette and decreases the cost of implementation for shadow volume rendering. The last shadow volume algorithm using stencil buffer is rewritten and an algorithm for shadow volume using HSD with respect of culling invisible parts of scene is proposed. An accurate mathematical comparison between TA, VnV and HSD algorithms is undertaken. The obtained results confirm superiority of our proposed algorithm in terms of processing and rendering time. Our algorithm can be used in virtual environment to increase the frame per second and to enhance the realistic of games programming

Towards sketch-based exploration of terrain : a feasibility study

CISRG discussion paper ; 1