Frequency-Based Creation and Editing of Virtual Terrain

We present a sketch-based toolset for asset-guided creation and intuitive editing of virtual terrains, allowing the manipulation of both elevation maps and 3D meshes, and exploiting a layer-based interface.

Authoring virtual terrains can be a challenging task. Procedural and stochastic methods for automated terrain generation produce plausible results but lack intuitive control of the terrain features, while data-driven methods offer more creative control at the cost of a limited feature set, higher storage requirements and blending artifacts. Moreover, artists often prefer a workflow involving varied reference material such as photographs, concept art, elevation maps and satellite images, for the incorporation of which there is little support from commercial content-creation tools. We present a sketch-based toolset for asset-guided creation and intuitive editing of virtual terrains, allowing the manipulation of both elevation maps and 3D meshes, and exploiting a layer-based interface. We employ a frequency-band subdivision of elevation maps to allow using the appropriate editing tool for each level of detail. Using our system, we show that a user can start from various input types: storyboard sketches, photographs or height maps to easily develop and customise a virtual terrain.