Modelling and simulation of virtual Mars scene

Abstract

There is a limited cognition on human beings comprehend the universe. Aiming at the impending need of mars exploration in the near future, starting from the mars three-dimensional (3D) model, the mars texture which based on several reality pictures was drew and the Bump mapping technique was managed to enhance the realistic rendering. In order to improve the simulation fidelity, the composing of mars atmospheric was discussed and the reason caused atmospheric scattering was investigated, the scattering algorithm was studied and calculated as well. The reasons why "Red storm" that frequently appeared on mars were particularized, these factors inevitable brought on another celestial body appearance. To conquer this problem, two methods which depended on different position of view point (universe point and terrestrial point) were proposed: in previous way, the 3D model was divided into different meshes to simulate the storm effect and the formula algorithm that mesh could rotate with any axis was educed. From a certain extent the model guaranteed rendering result when looked at the mars (with "Red storm") in universe; in latter way, 3D mars terrain scene was build up according to the mars pictures downloaded on "Google Mars", particle system used to simulated the storm effect, then the Billboard technique was managed to finish the color emendation and rendering compensation. At the end, the star field simulation based on multiple texture blending was given. The result of experiment showed that these methods had not only given a substantial increase in fidelity, but also guaranteed real-time rendering. It can be widely used in simulation of space battlefield and exploration tasks.