Real-Time GPU-Based Visualization of Tile Tracks in Dynamic Terrain

In conventional vehicle driving simulation systems, the tracks effect does not alter the terrain surface topology that the tires interact with. In this paper, we propose a dynamic terrain visualization method based on modern Graphic Processing Unit features: vertex texture fetch, framebuffer object extension and shader technology. First, the height map to the initial terrain depth texture directly. Next, the vehicle depth texture is generated through a special render pass. Then in the fragment program the depth offset map is computed. We proceed by generating the terrain depth texture that represents the whole deformed terrain surface. At last, we use it as displacement map to create the final image of the tire tracks leaved by a moving vehicle. We demonstrate our algorithm by simulating a ground vehicle traveling on soft terrain. The experiment proves that the method is feasible and efficient.