vieWTerra 3D real-time Earth Viewer (More
Features)
Key features:
• Advanced real-time LOD system:
Real-time creation of geometry and textures, offering real-time
modification of the following parameters:
- Terrain geometry
- Texture mapping
- Shadows
- 3D Objects
• Advanced real-time Dynamic Weather System (DWS):
Real-time simulation of weather conditions, offering real-time modification
of the following parameters:
- Wind speed / direction (impacting clouds, sea states, vegetation, 3D
objects like windmills or flags)
- Cloud cover
- Temperature
- Snow cover (variable snow mantle)
- Precipitations (rain or snow depending on temperature)
- Range (all weather parameters applied to a given area, extending or
decreasing in a circle)
- Visibility (changeable line of sight, with more of less haze/fog in the
distance)
• Procedural creation of textures:
Textures are procedurally created in real-time according to the nature of
the ground and the degree of slope, so as to place the right type of ground
cover (sand, pebbles, rocks, salt, snow, vegetation...) at the right
location, based on LandCover databases.
• Procedural creation and rendering of vegetation:
Vegetation models are procedurally created and rendered in real-time.
Distribution of flora is automatically done according to the nature of the
ground and the type of climate, based on LandCover and Ecoregions databases (work-in-progress:
20 different tree models are currently provided by default; additional
models can be added via the SDK/libraries in VWorldTerrain technology's
specific format).
Planting or removing specific trees or customizing the nature of the ground
(grass/rocks/sand...) can be done very quickly and easily via the Editor
Tool or for more global changes via the vieWTerra SDK/libraries.
• Dynamic management of natural and artificial lights:
-Dynamic management of natural light:
24-hour day/night cycle, including real-time management of shadows on
terrain (ray-casting) and objects, taking into account reflection and
refraction to light for each material used (water/snow,wood/metal,etc),
coloured sunrise/sunset, lens flare effect when facing the Sun, variable Sun
reflection in the water, Moon light more visible under full moon, etc.
-Dynamic management of artificial lights (automatic lighting of houses,
streets or airport lights, projector beams, moving vehicle lights, animated
lighthouse beam, etc, at dusk ; user control of lighting possible via the
vieWTerra SDK/libraries)
• Dynamic management of ALFs (Autonomous Life Forms):
Automatic management of Autonomous Life Forms based on a cyclical time
parameter:
-display of moving 3D objects with a random behaviour, for instance
vehicles, pedestrians, animals, to quickly and conveniently populate scenes
without having to program each entity's behaviour (parameterizable via the
vieWTerra SDK/libraries)
-billions of animals currently provided by default in the vieWTerra Viewer;
distribution of fauna according to Ecoregions databases (work-in-progress:
about a hundred species are currently implemented).
• User-controllable dynamic entities:
vieWTerra includes several types of dynamic entities/transportation means
users can choose from the Entities Menu in the vieWTerra Viewer, and control
by using various keyboard keys:
- Human/avatar
- Parachute
- Glider
- Snowbike
- Car
- Boat
- Bathyscaphe
- Balloon
- Helicopter
- Aircraft
- Rocket
- Space shuttle
- Satellite
Depending on the type of controllable dynamic entities chosen, users can
incarnate them, drive/fly them in 1st person mode or view them in 3rd person
perspective, from any possible camera angle around the entity, with a total
freedom of movement. These entities are provided with basic dynamics and
accompanied by metadata, which users may enhance/replace by more detailed/accurate
ones thanks to the vieWTerra SDK/libraries. Users may also introduce their
own set of controllable entities in the 3D Objects Integrator and animate
them via the vieWTerra SDK/libraries.
The vieWTerra 3D Viewer also displays various information and offers
measuring tools, shortcut navigation devices and additional controls through
various 2D interfaces.
For instance users can travel instantly to a given location into the 3D
Viewer:
• through the 2D Global Map of the Earth:
- by clicking anywhere on the planisphere
- by entering a name in the Name search Menu and clicking on a given name :
vieWTerra includes a database of 5 million+ georeferenced place names
(continents, countries, states, cities, villages, rivers, lakes, seas,
capes, mountain chains, peaks, national and regional parks, deserts,
places of interests, etc)
- by entering latitude and longitude coordinates
• through the Screenshots Album:
- by clicking on a given screenshot: this allows to conveniently share
viewpoints between different users. Each screenshot registered in the album
contains information as to the specific conditions under which is has been
taken: time of year, time of day, location, weather
conditions, camera angle. This falicitates navigation, cooperative scenario
creation and video recording.
• through the 2D Compass:
- by clicking anywhere in the 2D compass.
Users can choose between three visual modes displayed by the compass: DEM,
Imagery or LandCover and zoom in/zoom out of the compass. When pointing
anywhere into the compass users get additional information as to the
targeted location or moving entity's precise lat long coordinates and
country, the accurate distance between two points or the distance between
the targeted entity and the user's position. For a quick appraisal of all
moving entities in the area represented in the compass, these are visible
and labeled and can be reached directly in the 3D Viewer from the Compass.
Additional information and controls are also offered to falicitate
navigation, building, creation and shooting of scenes, either directly in
the vieWTerra Viewer's main window (e.g. information accompanying the arrow
pointer), or through the various selectable sub-windows : user's
latitude-longitude-altitude, user's speed/entity's speed, temperatures,
windspeed, weather conditions, precise distance from the ground/from a
specific object, nature of the ground, time acceleration/rewind...
Also for quick navigation and easy pre-viewing of locations, users can zoom
in and out of any location on the 2D Global Map thanks to a zoom window (to
reach a max 200m resolution accuracy). In on-line mode, users will therefore be
able to get a quick view of any location without having to quit their
current location in the 3D Viewer, the streaming of data being achieved in
the zoom window as well.
The vieWTerra Viewer also allows its users to georeference their own
photographs and blend them with the vieWTerra 3D view, thus enabling them to
check the fidelity of the 3D scenes produced and allowing for further
additions in order to stick as close as possible to reality, based on the details on
the photographs. Attaching comments to these photographs and opening to
other Internet websites would also be possible directly through the
vieWTerra Viewer.
