Water Surface Mesh Inversion Correction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional approximations, particularly simple mesh simplification, fail when rendering water surfaces on curved bodies or near land boundaries, leading to undesirable surface inversions and degradation of shading detail, especially in shallow water regions.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that includes a mesh generator, simplifier, and surface inversion corrector to approximate terrain data for water surfaces, simplifying meshes while accounting for water/land boundaries and geographic features, and correcting inversions to prevent a water bottom surface from appearing above the water surface during rendering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If simple mesh simplification is used to reduce mesh information for network transmission, then the amount of data transmitted is reduced, but surface inversions occur where water bottom incorrectly appears above water surface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing surface inversion detection and correction on the water surface mesh and water bottom mesh before network transmission. The system identifies potential inversions where water bottom vertices may incorrectly appear above water surface, and pre-adjusts the mesh data to prevent these errors during rendering, thereby maintaining reliability while enabling mesh simplification for reduced transmission volume.
2Loss of substance
If mesh simplification removes less important primitives to reduce detail, then network transmission data volume is reduced, but visual detail near water/land boundaries and in shallow areas is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by implementing region-specific mesh simplification strategies. The system identifies different regions (open water areas versus water/land boundary areas and shallow water regions) and applies appropriate simplification levels to each. Critical regions near boundaries and shallow areas retain higher detail to maintain visual quality, while open water areas can be more aggressively simplified, thus reducing overall transmission volume without degrading important visual details.
3Device complexity
If approximations are used to render curved Earth surface, then rendering complexity is reduced, but surface inversions and rendering errors occur near land boundaries and shorelines
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary anti-action by proactively detecting and correcting surface inversions in the mesh data before transmission and rendering. The system identifies vertices where water bottom may incorrectly appear above water surface due to approximation errors, and pre-adjusts their positions to prevent these rendering errors. This preliminary correction counteracts the harmful effects of approximations used to simplify curved Earth surface rendering, maintaining reliability while keeping rendering complexity manageable.
Data Source
AI summary
Terrain data that represents earth features for a geographic area is received. The following meshes are generated based on the terrain data: (i) a water surface mesh including a first plurality of geometric primitives and (ii) a water bottom mesh including a second plurality of geometric primitives. Portions of the water bottom mesh appearing above the water surface mesh are identified. At least one of the water surface mesh and the water bottom mesh are corrected to cause the water surface mesh to appear above the water bottom mesh.