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Data-driven authoring of large-scale ecosystems

Published: 27 November 2020 Publication History

Abstract

In computer graphics populating a large-scale natural scene with plants in a fashion that both reflects the complex interrelationships and diversity present in real ecosystems and is computationally efficient enough to support iterative authoring remains an open problem. Ecosystem simulations embody many of the botanical influences, such as sunlight, temperature, and moisture, but require hours to complete, while synthesis from statistical distributions tends not to capture fine-scale variety and complexity.
Instead, we leverage real-world data and machine learning to derive a canopy height model (CHM) for unseen terrain provided by the user. Trees in the canopy layer are then fitted to the resulting CHM through a constrained iterative process that optimizes for a given distribution of species, and, finally, an understorey layer is synthesised using distributions derived from biome-specific undergrowth simulations. Such a hybrid data-driven approach has the advantage that it incorporates subtle biotic, abiotic, and disturbance factors implicitly encoded in the source data and evidences accepted biological behaviour, such as self-thinning, climatic adaptation, and gap dynamics.

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    cover image ACM Transactions on Graphics
    ACM Transactions on Graphics  Volume 39, Issue 6
    December 2020
    1605 pages
    ISSN:0730-0301
    EISSN:1557-7368
    DOI:10.1145/3414685
    Issue’s Table of Contents
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    Publication History

    Published: 27 November 2020
    Published in TOG Volume 39, Issue 6

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    Author Tags

    1. ecosystem simulation
    2. natural phenomena

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