Internet Terrain Engines Page

This page contains a collection of links and information about terrain engines.
Last updated Jan 18, 2003, due to the large number of images on this page, it may take some time to load the page

Articles

Real-Time, Continuous Level of Detail Rendering of Height Fields Peter Lindstrom. 1995
Terrain Illumination
Fast Horizon Computation at all Points of a Terrain with Visibility and Shading Applications James Stewart, 1997
TIN Terrain VisualizationLawrence Lau, 1997
Real-time Optimally Adapding Meshes Mark Duchaineau et al. 1997
An Algorithm for the Visualization of a Terrain with ObjectsFlavio Szenberg, MArcelo Gattass et al, 1997
Smooth view-dependent level-of-detail control and its application to terrain rendering Hugues Hoppe. 1998
The Genesis Terrain Renderer Technology Charles Bloom, Dec 4, 1999
Real-Time Dynamic Level of Detail Terrain Rendering with ROAM Bryan Turner, April 03, 2000
Voxel Landscape Tutorial Alex Champandard
Continuous LOD Terrain Meshing Using Adaptive Quadtrees Thatcher Ulrich, Feb 28,2000
Visualization of Large Terrains Made Easy Peter Lindstrom, Valerio Pascucci. 2001

Tools

Daylon Height Field Editor supports many formats and features, excellent product.
Terrain and Landscape Generation Software good list of tools to create/edit terrains.

Data

USGS Geographic Data Download DEM data.
Micropcomputer Topography DEM data and satellite images.

Implementations

Please note, if you want your engine listed let me know what you want for the fields, sometimes it is very difficult to determine the Algorithm and other info from a website.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Geomantics Algorithm: Raytrace Type: Visualization Engine Source: No Render: Image Commercial: Yes Platform: PC Notes: Photorealistic rendering. Not Realtime. Author:
Gemini Realms Algorithm: CLOD/ROAM Type: Demo Source: No Render: Commercial: No Platform: PC Notes: Author:
GenScape Algorithm: Unkown Type: Game Engine Source: Yes Render: D3D Commercial: Yes Platform: PC Notes: Based on Genesis3D Engine Author:
Gizmo Algorithm: realtime ROAM Type: Game SDK Source: Yes Renderer: OpenGL Commercial: No Platform: PC Linux Notes: Author:
GLEngine Algorithm: Brute Force Type: Demo SDK Source: Yes Renderer: OpenGL Commercial: Freeware Platform: PC Linux Author: Jesse Laeuchli Notes: Also renders planets. Author:

Paratrooper Algorithm: CLOD Type: Demo Source: No Renderer: D3D Commercial: No Platform: PC Windows Notes: Adam Moravansky generated terrain. Author:
Pierre Terdiman's Terrain Engine Algorithm: CLOD Type: Demo Source: No Renderer: D3D Commercial: No Platform: PC Windows Notes: Author: Pierre Terdiman
Power Render Algorithm: Type: Demo Source: No Renderer: Commercial: No Platform: PC Windows Notes: Shadows Author:
Pulsar Algorithm: Voxel Type: Demo Source: No Renderer: Commercial: No Platform: PC Windows Notes: Author:

T5 Algorithm: RTIN CLOD Type: Game Engine Source: No Render: DirectX? Commercial: Yes Platform: PC Notes: Pretty high quality, long range vistas with dynamic texturing. Author:
Terragen Algorithm: Raytracer Type: Visualization Engine Source: No Render: Image Commercial: Yes Platform: PC Notes: Not realtime, public version available. Author:
Terra3D Algorithm: Brute force mesh. Type: Demo Source: Yes Render: OpenGL RealTime Commercial: No Platform: PC Notes: Small demo. Author: Steve D. Wortham
Terrain Engine Algorithm: 3D Mesh Type: Terrain Editor Source: Yes Render: OpenGL Commercial: No Platform: PC Notes: Not realtime . Author:Antonio Ramires Fernandes
TerraViz Algorithm: Type: GIS Source: No Render: ArcView Commercial: Yes Platform: PC Notes: Realtime Author:
TerraVox Algorithm: Voxel Type: Demo Source: Yes Render: Software and OpenGL Commercial: GPL Platform: PC Notes: Realtime Author:Alex Champandard
Thor's 3D War Machines Algorithm: quadtree LOD TIN Type: Game Engine Source: Yes Render: OpenGL Commercial: No Platform: PC Notes: Author:
3D Game Engine Algorithm: Brute forge Type: Game Engine Source: Yes Render: OpenGL Commercial: No Platform: PC Notes: Author:
Tread Marks Algorithm: ROAM BinTree hybrid Type: Game Engine Source: No Render: D3D Commercial: Yes Platform: PC Windows Notes: Author:
Torqe Game Engine SDK (Tribes2) Algorithm: Hybrid Quad Tree LOD Type: Game Engine Source: Yes Render: OpenGL/DirectX Commercial: Yes, inexpensive Platform: PC Windows/Macintosh/Linux/OpenBSD Notes: Part of a complete commericial quality Game Engine with many other features. Author: GarageGames.com
Typhoon Algorithm: Quadtree based CLOD Type: Demo Engine Source: No, but downloadable demo. Render: D3D Commercial: No Platform: PC Windows Notes: Has reflections, trees, skydome. Realtime texture generation. Author: Stefano Lanza