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Large Scale Terrain Generation from Tectonic Uplift and Fluvial Erosion
Author(s) -
Cordonnier Guillaume,
Braun Jean,
Cani MariePaule,
Benes Bedrich,
Galin Éric,
Peytavie Adrien,
Guérin Éric
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
computer graphics forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.578
H-Index - 120
eISSN - 1467-8659
pISSN - 0167-7055
DOI - 10.1111/cgf.12820
Subject(s) - stream power , landform , geology , terrain , fluvial , erosion , tectonics , digital elevation model , scale (ratio) , geomorphology , elevation (ballistics) , remote sensing , cartography , paleontology , geography , structural basin , geometry , mathematics
At large scale, landscapes result from the combination of two major processes: tectonics which generate the main relief through crust uplift, and weather which accounts for erosion. This paper presents the first method in computer graphics that combines uplift and hydraulic erosion to generate visually plausible terrains. Given a user‐painted uplift map, we generate a stream graph over the entire domain embedding elevation information and stream flow. Our approach relies on the stream power equation introduced in geology for hydraulic erosion. By combining crust uplift and stream power erosion we generate large realistic terrains at a low computational cost. Finally, we convert this graph into a digital elevation model by blending landform feature kernels whose parameters are derived from the information in the graph. Our method gives high‐level control over the large scale dendritic structures of the resulting river networks, watersheds, and mountains ridges.