How fast time has passed and its now week 3! Anyway, will attempt to answer the questions posed in Worksheet #2
Formulate a research question for your project.
I have decided to forward my research question or rather research topic as ” An investigation into real time lighting effects for procedurally generated terrain “. I could have phrased this in a question format such such ” What are the techniques involved in real time lighting effects for procedurally generated terrain? ” but I feel that the former is more suitable since I will be in fact investigating the various techniques, and perhaps come to a conclusion of an optimized one.
What is the focus of your project?
The focus of my project is to investigate and implement shadows in a procedurally generated terrain. I would hope to generate them dynamically and also implement shadowing by objects placed in the terrrain such as trees and also clouds.
(2)What information do you need to find out about?
I would first confirm if what I am planning to implement is realistic and achievable. If it isn’t I will narrow my scope towards something more realistic. I would then have to find out in detail of various techniques currently used to generate shadows and also for lighting in a dynamically generated terrain. I would also have to research which algorithms is most efficient and suited to what I am trying to achieve.
(3)What experimental work do you need to perform?
I would need to set up a simple procedurally generated terrain framework. I will then try to implement several popular methods of lighting to see which is more suitable to carry on with my research. I might also need to create other separate frameworks to test further issues.
Can your research question be refined in the light of answers to 2 and 3? (the two questions above)
I believe it can be. Right now I only have basic information and idea of what I am trying to research. I believe with the correct information and exposure gained by implementing steps 2 and 3 I would be able to visualize my aim more clearly.
How will the information in 2 allow you to answer the research question?
The information in 2 not only allows me to answer the research question but also helps me to fine tune my aim. A lot of background reading is important to understand and plan the research path. It is a crucial step to undertake before beginning the experimental work.
This sounds like it could be an interesting project to investigate into. You say that you are planning to impliment shadows from various objects and scenery in realtime, would you also be developing any form of lighting scheme to compliment it? or would u be just implimenting a basic lighting model, and focus on the shadowing?
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the comments 😉 The lighting will be a basic multi directional light (trying to simulate sunlight) that the user have some control off. Its going to be difficult to simulate real sunshine since I have to factor in atmospheric scattering etc as the sun will be emit different colours throughout the day. I am not sure if I have the time to do that but right now the idea is a single multidirectional light source moving at the user discretion through a predefined arc.