Integration Method for Generating Complete Hierarchical Layouts From Incomplete Virtual Scene Trees

Abstract

Procedural modeling methods are used to automatically generate virtual scenes. There is a large number of available top-down methods for generating partial content for specific purposes. However, little research was done on enabling the generation of content in the presence of manually modeled elements, from the bottom-up direction, or without significant assistance from the user. No existing approach provides a platform that can combine the results of different methods, which leaves them isolated. This paper presents an integration approach that generates complete virtual space organizations by combining the usage of top-down and bottom-up procedural generation of content, with support for the placement of manually modeled content. The integration is made possible by using shape conversion to match the input and output shape types of different methods. The evaluation of the proposed approach was performed on a 2D polygon dataset by using four different scenarios, validating that it works as intended. Additional testing was performed by using a case study of organizing 3D virtual space around the manually modeled element of virtual heritage Tašlihan to demonstrate all capabilities of the integration approach and the different outputs depending on the level of user interaction and the desired results.