Generating Terrains via Marching Cube Algorithm

for Games

Kethan Tellis Adam Smith

Chris BarakianRavi Vaishnav

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Game Terrains

How can we create more interesting game terrains?

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Game Terrains Methods

Height maps

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Game Terrains Methods

Height maps

Procedurally Generated

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Game Terrains Methods

Via Geometry Shaders

Height maps

Procedurally Generated

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Game Terrains Methods

Scanning Models

Via Geometry Shaders

Height maps

Procedurally Generated

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Game Terrains Methods Drawbacks

Heightmaps• Lack of complexity in environment (No caves /

tunnels)

Procedurally Generated• Can’t be saved and reused. Gameplay is inconsistent

Geometry Shaders• Difficulty in collision detection • High computational costs

Scanning Models• Difficult to create• Costly in time and resources

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Complex, Reusable, Cheap Terrains

Perlin Noise

Marching Cubes Algorithm

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Perlin Noise Implementation

Octaves• Number of octaves increases the amount of

the jitter around the lowest frequency

Alpha• Increases / Decreases amplitude of certain

frequencies, bigger changes in terrains

Beta• Changes how much weight is granted to higher

frequencies, more sharp deviations in terrain

Frequency• Amplifies the fluctuations in the amount of

jitter

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Achievements DemoTask

Perlin Noise Implementation

Octaves• Number of octaves increases the amount of

the jitter around the lowest frequency

Alpha• Increases / Decreases amplitude of certain

frequencies, bigger changes in terrains

Beta• Changes how much weight is granted to higher

frequencies, more sharp deviations in terrain

Frequency• Amplifies the fluctuations in the amount of

jitter

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Achievements DemoTask

Perlin Noise Implementation

Octaves• Number of octaves increases the amount of

the jitter around the lowest frequency

Alpha• Increases / Decreases amplitude of certain

frequencies, bigger changes in terrains

Beta• Changes how much weight is granted to higher

frequencies, more sharp deviations in terrain

Frequency• Amplifies the fluctuations in the amount of

jitter

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Marching Cubes Implementation

Algorithm / Look-Up Table• Actually algorithmically described all 256 cases

Face Normals / Winding Order• Correctly had face normals face away from

bounded density areas

Vertex Normals• Achieved weight averaged normals for

verticies by comparing to neighbors

OBJ Export• Allowed surface to be exported as OBJ file for

loading into Maya and eventually games

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Marching Cubes Implementation

Mesh Construction• Built lookup table of each case• Built final mesh by adding position

OpenGL Implementation• Used Vertex Arrays for speed increase• GLSL for custom shading

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Q & A

Demo

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Q & A

Questions?