Geometric Simplification of Foliage

Abstract

One of the most important challenges in real-time rendering of outdoor scenes is the representation of vegetation. This is due to the vast amount of polygons that are used to model vegetable species. The present automatic simplification algorithms produce acceptable results in the trunks and the branches, but not in the foliage of a tree. After simplification with the existing methods, the trees seem to be less leafy. In this paper, a new automatic simplification algorithm for this part of the tree is presented, the Foliage Simplification Algorithm. It diminishes the number of polygons in the crown, while maintaining the appearance. It uses a new method, leaf collapse: two leaves disappear to create a new one. The leaves obtained after collapsing preserve an area similar to that of the collapsed leaves