Photorealistic procedural terrain generation methods

• Main Author: Muhammad Taufiq Fharhan Mohamad Basri
• Other Authors: Chua Hock Chuan
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/67707
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the increasing popularity in computer games, there is a demand for bigger size game worlds filled with more contents. This has attracted many game developers to search for better alternatives to increase productivity and efficiency in content generation. One solution to tackle this problem is through the use of Procedural Content Generation (PCG). Procedural Content Generation (PCG) refers to creating content via automated process like algorithms instead of through hand-crafting. This project will introduce and provide a detailed comparison of some of the algorithms used in generating terrains like Perlin Noise, Midpoint Displacement Algorithm, Worley Noise. The project will then, provide information on which is the best use of algorithm for certain situation. On top of that, other PCG techniques such as texture-blending and object placement methods are also discussed and implemented. Through the implementation of these algorithms, a short virtual reality game was also created to immerse players in the realism of the procedural terrains. This project was created through the use of the game engine, Unity, with C# programming language in Microsoft Visual Studio environment. This project also resulted in producing a simple Unity editor extension that is capable of generating a complete terrain environment.