A complete solution for creating an entire planet by combining different types of elements from an intuitive specification is still an open problem. High level techniques are in the core of the solution for this issue. Its main focus is to achieve ways for a more intuitive specification and to provide smart modeling operations.
In this context, our work aims to contribute for creating high level techniques for landscape creation by the proposal of two approaches. The first is related to the generation of terrain models (through two new data-driven methods); and the second deals with the manipulation of the position of the landscape elements (according to some rules and targets).
In particular, we will introduce an extendable method for resizing of a landscape specification keeping the overall appearance. It is based on the insertion and re- moval of objects (based on general purpose criteria) followed by a scene adjustment (enlargement or shrinking).
Furthermore, we will introduce two data-driven techniques for terrain synthesis
inspired on by-example texture synthesis. Both techniques are developed over the same intuitive control approach: a guide and a categorization map. The first technique is a patch-based algorithm, with new optimization structures for patch choice, and a new patch insertion approach (both based on the geometric nature of the data). The second is a pixel-based method, based on a graph of exemplars in multirresolution, also taking advantage of the geometric nature of the data for improving the synthesis.