This Master’s thesis investigates the application of dynamically generated procedural terrain textures for texturing 3D representations of the Earth’s surface. The study explores techniques to overcome limitations of the currently most common method – projecting satellite imagery onto the mesh – such as insufficient resolution for close-up views and challenges in accommodating external lighting models. Textures for sand, rock and grass were generated procedurally on the GPU. Aliasing was prevented using a clamping technique, dynamically changing the level of detail when freely navigating across diverse landscapes. The general color of each terrain type was extracted from the satellite images, guided by land cover rasters, in a process where shadows were eliminated using HSV color space conversion and filtering. The procedurally generated textures provide significantly more details than the satellite images in close-up views, while missing some information in medium- to far-distance views, due to the satellite images containing information lacking in the 3D mesh. A qualitative analysis spanning six data sets from diverse global locations demonstrates that the proposed methods are applicable across a range of landscapes and climates.

La génération de formes naturelles a été le sujet de nombreuses recherches depuis plusieurs années. Plusieurs méthodes ont été proposées afin de générer des objets naturels et réalistes tels que des terrains, des plantes et arbres, des nuages, etc. Les modèles itératifs sont très connus dans ce domaine de recherche grâce à leur capacité à générer des formes rugueuses et complexes qui sont adaptées à la représentation d’objets naturels. L’inconvénient majeur de tels modèles est le manque de contrôle sur le résultat final. Ce dernier peut venir de la méthode de construction stochastique interdisant tout contrôle par définition. Pour les modèles dont la construction est déterministe, les paramètres de générations sont souvent non intuitifs et limitent ainsi le contrôle. Pour ces raisons un grand nombre de recherches ont port sur le problème du contrôle de ces modèles ainsi que sur la possibilité d’utiliser des modèles non-itératifs (esquisses, basés exemples, etc.). Bien souvent, le contrôle introduit par ces modèles est un contrôle global, c’est-à-dire sur la totalité de l’objet final et ne prend donc pas en compte les détails locaux de ce dernier. Dans notre travail, nous nous attaquons au problème du contrôle sur les formes naturelles en tenant compte du contrôle local. À cette fin, nous introduisons deux modèles différents. Le premier repose sur un formalisme itératif avec notion de détail qui se dicline en deux sous-familles, l’une basée sur les IFS et l’autre basée sur les surfaces de subdivision. Le deuxième modèle permet l’édition de caractéristiques d’un terrain sous forme de primitives vectorielles puis la génération du terrain par une méthode de diffusion guidée. Cette dernière fait l’objet d’une implémentation parallèle sur la carte graphique (GPU). / The generation of natural shapes has been the subject of much research for many years. Several methods have been proposed to generate realistic natural objects such as terrain, plants and trees, clouds, etc... Iterative models are well known in this field of research due to their ability to generate complex and rough shapes that are adapted to the representation of natural objects. The major drawback of such models is the lack of control over the final result. The latter can come from the stochastic construction method which prevents any control by definition. For models whose construction is deterministic, the parameters of generation are often non-intuitive and thus limit control. For these reasons many studieshave focused on the problem of controlling these models as well as the possibility of using non-iterative models (sketches, based on examples, etc). Often, control introduced by these models is a global control, on the whole final object and therefore does not include local details of this object. In our work, we focus in the problem of control over natural shapes, taking into account local control. To this end, we introduce two different models. The first is based on an iterative formalism with detail concept which is divided into two subfamilies, one based on IFS and the other one based on subdivisionsurfaces. The second model allows the editing of terrain features under a form of vectorial primitives which one used to generate the terrain by guided diffusion method. The latter is the subject of a parallel implementation on graphics card (GPU).

I have in my thesis produced a start of a multiplayer, voxel, strategy sandbox game with advanced AI. The world is made out of voxels in the form of blocks that both the players and other units can affect and change. In a world where every block follows the laws of physics for both fluids and physics. The game is designed for several players that fights for controll over land and resources. / Jag har i mitt examensarbete producerat en början av ett flerspelar, voxel, strategi och sandlådespel med avancerad AI. Världen är uppbyggd av voxlar i form av block som både spelaren och andra enheter har möjlighet att påverka och förändra. En värld där varje block följer fysiska lagar för både vätska och fysik. Spelet är designat för flera spelare som strider om områden och resurser med hjälp av sina AI kontrollerade bybor.

Cette thèse a pour objectif de créer et évaluer un modèle narratif pour les jeux vidéo émergents dont une part importante du contenu est générée de façon procédurale. Elle propose pour cela une application dans le jeu vidéo Minecraft. L'approche classique de la narration dans les jeux vidéo s'adaptant difficilement à des expériences de jeu plus libres nous proposons de donner au joueur les moyens de transformer le récit en temps réel et de manière explicite grâce à une forme narrative modulaire et adaptative au contexte de jeu courant. Dans un premier temps, la thèse explore les liens entre narration et interaction par le biais de l'étude des rôles de la narration dans les jeux vidéo. Puis, dans un deuxième temps, nous identifions les propriétés qui caractérisent les jeux vidéo émergents afin d'exposer les enjeux narratifs de ce type d'expérience de jeu. Dans un troisième temps, nous détaillons notre proposition d'un modèle narratif adapté aux jeux vidéo émergents ainsi que l'architecture logiciel permettant au joueur de transformer le récit en temps réel. Finalement, nous présentons deux expérimentations visant à vérifier nos hypothèses et à évaluer notre modèle narratif. / This thesis aims to create and evaluate a narrative model for emergent videogames that make extensive use of procedurally generated content. As such, an application of this model is presented within the videogame Minecraft. The usual approach to narratives in videogames can hardly be applied to experiences of play that involve more freedom from the player's perspective, such as what offer emergents videogames. Thus, we aim to provide players with the means to explicitly alter the story in real time, thanks to a context sensitive and modular narrative form. First, we explore the relationship betweenstorytelling and interactivity by studying the various roles held by narratives in videogames. Then, we identify the properties that define emergent videogames to better expose the narrative challenges they represent. Next, we detail our proposal of a narrative model suitable for emergent games as well as the architecture allowing players to transform the story in real time. Finally, we present an experiment in which we evaluate the validity of our narrative model in the context of emergent videogames.

This thesis deals with procedural generation techniques and its use in the creation of voxel models. The techniques that have been used are Perlin Noise, Voronoi diagram, L-systems etc. This knowledge is then used to create a world generator for computer game with open world. This game provides players with the ability to modify this world and use its creativity, for example, in building construction. The game, however, will not give to the player all options for free, but for example for build, he or she will first have to find and mine the material. The game has been written in programming language C++ with the use of libraries Boost, SDL and OpenGL.

This master thesis deals with creation of library for volumetric clouds. The paper describes specific techniques for creation and rendering volumetric clouds as clouds and atmospheric scattering. For rendering this type of effects we have to cover theory for participating media.

This thesis explores the procedural generation of 3D buildings from the floor plan all the way to the fa¸cade and building’s details such as doors, windows, and roof. Through this, the study explores several techniques and approaches to create different layers of the building generation pipeline. The focus is on implementing a set of algorithms that, when running sequentially, are able to create complete 3D buildings in a short time (so they can be used in online generation), could be used in any open-world game, and with a limited count of triangles per building. Furthermore, the tool provides a clear and easy-to-use interface for designers in Unity, where they can interact with the multiple parameters of each building layer, giving designers a high degree of controllability. The tool is evaluated using the resulting buildings based on different metrics and how individual changes to different parameter starting from a template affect the output of the generator in terms of the metrics and the resulting building. The result from the analysis show that the polygon mathematics is well suited for generating 3D buildings for games.

This thesis explores the possibilities of creating landscapes through procedural means within the game engine Unreal Engine 5. The aim is to provide a flexible procedural landscape tool that doesn't limit the user and that is compatible with existing systems in the engine. The research questions focuses on comparison to other work regarding landscape generation and generation of procedural roads. The process to achieve this was done through extensive implementation adding modules that both builds upon and adds to the source code. The implementation was divided into five major components, which was noise generation for terrain, biotope interpolation, asset distribution, road generation and a user interface. Perlin noise, utilizing Fractal Brownian Motion were a vital part of generating terrain with varying features. For interpolation a modified version of Lowpass Gaussian filtering was implemented in order to blend biotope edges together. Asset distribution and road generation were implemented in a way that uses pseudo-randomness combined with heuristics. The user interface was done to tie everything together for testing. The results shows potential for assisting in procedural landscape creation with a large amount of freedom in customization. There is however flaws in some aspects, namely the interpolation methods suffer from clear visual artefacts. Whether it is suitable for professional standards remains to be fully proven objectively as the testing in this thesis work was limited.

This Master s thesis proposes a non-assisted procedural method for 3D canyons scenes generation based on techniques of computer graphics, computer vision and graph search algorithm. In order to define all the features to be reproduced in our scenes, we have analyzed several images of real canyons and have categorized them in two canyon features models: a recursive and an ordinary one. The proposed approach manipulates a heightmap, created using Perlin noise, in order to imitate the geological features formation previously analyzed. Several parametrizations are used to guide and constraint the generation of terrains, canyons features, course of river, plain areas, soft slope regions, cliffs and plateaus. This work also uses the Mean Shift algorithm as mechanism of segmentation to define regions of interest. A binary mask, with plain areas, is defined based on a threshold operation by a given data set provided by the Mean Shift algorithm. Thereafter a connected-component labeling algorithm is executed using the previously binary mask. This algorithm finds all plains centroids. Right after that, the Dijkstra s algorithm is performed in order to connect all plain areas, creating a valid path between the centroids. The Dijkstra s algorithm is executed again to define the river s course. Finally, a Gaussian smoothing operation is applied to interpolate the soft slope regions. The combination of all those techniques produces as a result automatically generated feature-rich canyons. / Esta dissertação propõe um método procedural não assistido, baseado em técnicas de computação gráfica, visão computacional e busca em grafos, para a geração de cenários 3D de cânions com foco em jogos digitais. Para definir as características a serem reproduzidas, foram analisadas diversas imagens de cânions reais chegando-se em dois modelos, um comum e outro recursivo. A abordagem proposta manipula um reticulado gerado com ruído de Perlin, moldando assim as características inerentes a essa formação geológica. São levadas em conta as diversas parametrizações necessárias para permitir que o algoritmo construa cânions com curso de rio, áreas de planícies, regiões de encosta suave, estruturas de penhascos e, por fim, planaltos nas regiões mais altas. Para atingir o resultado final, o trabalho utiliza o algoritmo Mean Shift como mecanismo de segmentação, definindo dados e regiões de interesse. Munido dos dados do algoritmo de clusterizacao, é definido um limiar para a criação de uma máscara binária com a definição das planícies. Em um segundo momento, um algoritmo de rotulação de componentes conectados é executado, extraindo-se os centróides de cada planície. Por sua vez, o algoritmo de Dijkstra encaixa-se na definição de rotas que conectam estas planícies. O algoritmo de Dijkstra é, então, executado novamente, tendo por base uma função de custo de inclinação, para definir o curso do rio. Por fim, uma filtragem espacial baseada em um filtro Gaussiano é aplicada para interpolar as regiões de encostas de declive suave. A combinação dessas técnicas gera terrenos com grande variabilidade e com as características inerentes à formação geológica de cânions.

Procedurell generering är ett kraftigt verktyg för att kunna skapa en stor mängd spelvärldar utan att själv behöva manuellt designa spelplaner en och en. Med bra programmerade algoritmer kan man få tillgång till en nästan obegränsad mängd av unika spelvärldar med mycket mindre arbete. Vårt uppdrag är att skapa spellogiken och spelplansgenerering till ett spel som ska skickas in som bidrag till Swedish Game Awards[1], som är nordens största tävling för spelutveckling. Vi samarbetar med en annan grupp som ska göra Nätverk och Server-funktionalitet. Deras uppgift är att skapa en huvudserver-applikation, och ett klient/server-system där två spelare kan spela mot varandra med en av spelarna som agerar server. Slutgiltiga målet är att integrera de två olika projekteten till en slutgiltig produkt. Spelet vi tänker skapa är ett schack-baserat spel som utspelar sig i en 3D-miljö. De två spelarna kommer att ha en mängd olika enheter som de kan välja att köpa för sina pengar, kallade för credits i spelet. Spelarna använder sina enheter för att förstöra motspelarens enheter, och målet är att besegra motståndarens kung. Spelet pågår tills någon av spelarnas kungar är besegrad eller tills en av spelarna ger upp. / Procedural generation is a powerful tool for creating a large set of game worlds without having to design each one individually. With the proper implementation, this can allow an almost unlimited amount of unique game worlds using far less resource and time. Our task is to create the game logic and game map generation for a game that will be entered as a contestant in Swedish Game Awards, the biggest competition for game development in the Nordic Countries. We will be working in parallel with a separate group who will be implementing the networking side of the application, where the goal is to have a server where two players can play against each other from separate end systems. As the deadline for the competition approaches, we will then combine the two projects to a finished product. The game we are creating is a chess-influenced game that takes place in a 3D world. Two players will have access to different types of units that can be purchased by the in game resource known as credits, and the main objective is to defeat the enemy king. One game session continues until either of the two kings is defeated, or one of the players surrender.