Hello everybody. I am interested in writing some level of detail code, such that I can scale back polygons if I want to decrease the detail level. If one had a regular algorithm to do this, as opposed to resorting to simply having several models of differing detail levels, I believe it would be better. With the latter technique, more disk space and memory would be taken up, and frankly I think there''s a better way to do it, with use of an algorithm. I have had some thoughts about how to achieve such LoD rendering, most based around having a regular 2d array of pts which polygons are formed between. In such a case, you could skip every other point when you wanted to render at a lower LoD. You know what I mean? The desired result would be to render all aspects of the rendered world in varying levels of detail (this would be for a game, btw) such as rendering the characters of a LoD inversely proportional to their distance from the camera, and rendering far off areas of the area in less detail than closer areas. Also, if a frames-per-second counter was kept, the program could lower the overall LoD to get a better frame rate if necessary, or increase the overall LoD if the FPS rate is high enough to allow for it. Certaintly this would be a great thing to accomplish. Has anyone here given it much thought? If so, what do you think could be done to achieve this sort of goal? Also, if anyone knows of any good sites that offer information about similar processes, please do inform. Thank you for your time. - Hai, watashi no chichi no kuruma ga oishii deshita! ...or, in other words, "Yes, my dad's car was deliscious!"

Hi Bucket_head,

Sounds like the ROAM project would be right up your alley
I''ve been wading through this sort of stuff for a couple of weeks now (working on a terrain engine), and there''s some pretty damn good ideas out there.

Here''s the address:
http://www.llnl.gov/graphics/ROAM

This one explains ROAM a bit more clearly, and has other links:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20000403/turner_01.htm



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squirrels are a remarkable source of protein...

Oh crap, it lost my name on the previous post (somehow). Sorry, its just that some people get annoyed by Anonymous Posters (mostly when they make abusive comments though... gutless wonders)... hmmm, could be time for some medication. Getting a bit off track. Reminds me of the time when I caught the train to Sydney and blah blah blah blah......

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squirrels are a remarkable source of protein...

Yes ROAM is good for terrain, but it sounds like you''re talking about other kinds of objects too? You may want to check out Paul Heckbert''s page:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/ph/www/heckbert.html

He has a LOT of information on multi-resolution modeling, surface simplification, etc.

Hope this helps some.