Environment modeling in a flight simulator

Abstract

An approach is proposed to the height and displacement maps normalization from the spectra described by J. Tessendorf. Techniques are considered to avoid some rendering artefacts with projected grids when the viewer is (1) far from the origin of a coordinate system and (2) near the waterline. Modeling and lighting of the water surface is described. Techniques based on volumetric models using screen-space raytracing for rendering various atmospheric effects (clouds, fog, rain, snow, etc.) are proposed. Approaches to implementing these techniques applicable to a wide range of real-time applications are described.