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Procedural Tectonic Planets
Author(s) -
Cortial Y.,
Peytavie A.,
Galin E.,
Guérin E.
Publication year - 2019
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.13614
Subject(s) - geology , lithosphere , tectonics , plate tectonics , planet , subduction , landform , rift , scale (ratio) , collision , computer science , seismology , earth science , geophysics , paleontology , geography , cartography , astronomy , physics , computer security
Abstract We present a procedural method for authoring synthetic tectonic planets. Instead of relying on computationally demanding physically‐based simulations, we capture the fundamental phenomena into a procedural method that faithfully reproduces large‐scale planetary features generated by the movement and collision of the tectonic plates. We approximate complex phenomena such as plate subduction or collisions to deform the lithosphere, including the continental and oceanic crusts. The user can control the movement of the plates, which dynamically evolve and generate a variety of landforms such as continents, oceanic ridges, large scale mountain ranges or island arcs. Finally, we amplify the large‐scale planet model with either procedurally‐defined or real‐world elevation data to synthesize coherent detailed reliefs. Our method allows the user to control the evolution of an entire planet interactively, and to trigger specific events such as catastrophic plate rifting.