Procedural generation of content for 3D city models



AbstractIn modern computer-games, thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars are spent on creating realistic city models.

This project examines the possibility of creating city models procedurally, i.e. automatically by a computer program. The report examines the subject of procedural content generation in general and sets up a model for what constitutes a realistic city. It is argued that it is important for a city model to reflect the historical development of a city. A method is proposed where different areas of the city is defined to be from different time periods. These areas are then initialized with parameters reflecting that period. The city is then developed through a number of iterations to simulate changes during these periods.

In addition a model for road generation is proposed where an L-system-like method is used to develop a road graph.

A geometry generator has been implemented to construct and visualize a city from the generated data. This geometry generator combines objects from an object library to produce a varied geometrical model of a city.

A proof-of-concept demo program has been created to implement the model. This program is written in C++ and the finished model is visualized in realtime using Direct3D.

The output from the combined system is evaluated against criterions of realism, and it is concluded that procedural generation of content for 3D city models is feasible.
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TypeMaster's thesis [Academic thesis]
Year2007
PublisherInformatics and Mathematical Modelling, Technical University of Denmark, DTU
AddressRichard Petersens Plads, Building 321, DK-2800 Kgs. Lyngby
SeriesIMM-Thesis-2007-69
Note
BibTeX data [bibtex]
IMM Group(s)Image Analysis & Computer Graphics