Method, system, and computer program product for managing terrain rendering information

摘要

The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for managing terrain rendering information. The terrain rendering information includes a data structure of render blocks. The data structure represents a three-dimensional terrain topology of a virtual world with a set of two-dimensional terrain topologies. Each render block includes primitives that define samples of a respective area of terrain to be rendered. A render block manager manages the allocation of render blocks in the data structure based on current reference point information and allocation criteria. Terrain data at higher levels of detail (that is, a greater resolution) is kept closer to the reference point information by adding and removing appropriate render blocks. In this way, appropriate terrain rendering information is maintained efficiently in the data structure during movement of a reference point. Terrain data to be rendered is managed at interactive rates for a large terrain area having a complex shape, such as, a sphere.