Real-time Display of 3D Graphics

for

Handheld Mobile Devices

A Thesis

Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies,

University of Dublin, Trinity College Dublin,

In Candidacy for the

Degree of Master of Science

By

Alan Cummins

November 2003
Table Of Contents
TABLE OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ 4
DECLARATION ..................................................................................................................... 6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... 7
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. 8
1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................... 9
1.1. MOTIVATION ................................................................................................... 9
1.2. OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................... 11
1.3. SCOPE ............................................................................................................ 12
1.4. SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS ............................................................................... 12
2. HARDWARE ASPECTS ............................................................................................. 14
2.1. MOBILE HARDWARE...................................................................................... 14
2.2. MOBILE SOFTWARE TOOLS ........................................................................... 16
2.3. COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS ...................................................................... 18
2.4. CHOICE OF HARDWARE ................................................................................. 19
3. RELATED WORK....................................................................................................... 21
3.1. LEVEL OF DETAIL .......................................................................................... 21
3.2. CULLING ........................................................................................................ 23
3.3. IMPOSTORS .................................................................................................... 25
3.4. POINT-BASED RENDERING ............................................................................ 29
3.5. SCENE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................... 30
3.6. COMMON THEMES ......................................................................................... 31
4. IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................. 32
4.1. LEVEL OF DETAIL .......................................................................................... 32
4.2. OCCLUSION CULLING .................................................................................... 34
4.3. STREET IMPOSTOR ......................................................................................... 38
4.4. SPLATTING ..................................................................................................... 42
4.5. OVERALL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................. 44
5. EXPERIMENTATION RESULTS ............................................................................. 46
5.1. SINGLE MODEL – BASIC RENDERING ............................................................ 46
5.2. MULTIPLE MODELS – BASIC RENDERING ..................................................... 46
5.3. DISTRIBUTION TIMINGS ................................................................................. 47
5.4. PRE-PROCESS TIMINGS .................................................................................. 48
5.5. DISTRIBUTION COSTS .................................................................................... 50
5.6. RENDERING WITH CULLING .......................................................................... 50
5.7. RENDERING WITH IMPOSTOR TECHNIQUES ................................................... 51
5.8. RENDERING WITH POINT-BASED TECHNIQUES .............................................. 52
6. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 54
6.1. FUTURE WORK .............................................................................................. 54
6.1.1. Non-Photorealistic Rendering....................................................................... 54
6.1.2. Perceptual Feedback..................................................................................... 55
6.1.3. Artistic Principles.......................................................................................... 55
6.1.4. Virtual Humans ............................................................................................. 55
6.1.5. Salient Feature Extraction ............................................................................ 56

2
BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................. 57
WEB BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................... 67
A. APPENDIX - SCREENSHOTS - LEVEL OF DETAIL ........................................... 69
BUNNY................................................................................................................................. 69
COW..................................................................................................................................... 70
DRAGON .............................................................................................................................. 71
CUP ...................................................................................................................................... 72
SNAKE ................................................................................................................................. 73
LEGO PIECE ......................................................................................................................... 74
GEOMETRIC LEVEL-OF-DETAIL SAMPLES........................................................................... 75
B. APPENDIX - MOBILE HARDWARE SPECIFICATION ...................................... 76
C. APPENDIX - SCREENSHOTS - ARCHITECTURAL APPLICATION ............... 77

3
Table of Figures
Figure 1-1 - 3G Revenue Growth Source Telecompetition Inc, February, 2001 ...................... 9
Figure 1-2 - Virtual Dublin as modeled by [HAMILL03] ...................................................... 10
Figure 2-1 – Sample Mobile Device Hardware Configuration ............................................... 14
Figure 2-2 - Rendering Libraries Sample Screenshots ............................................................ 18
Figure 3-1 - Edge Contraction and Gap Removal ................................................................... 22
Figure 3-2 - Culling Schemes.................................................................................................. 23
Figure 3-3 - Various Scenes Requiring Different Culling Schemes........................................ 24
Figure 3-4 - Individual Versus Fused Occluders..................................................................... 24
Figure 3-5 - Warped Impostors For Construction of 2.5D Object .......................................... 27
Figure 3-6 - Mixed Geometry and Impostors with Morphing................................................. 28
Figure 3-7 - Point-based Rendering Sample............................................................................ 29
Figure 4-1 - Vertex Removal Cost Estimation ........................................................................ 32
Figure 4-2- Level of Detail Based on Draw Distance ............................................................. 34
Figure 4-3 - Occlusion Culling Scheme .................................................................................. 36
Figure 4-4 - Occlusion Culling Overlap Testing ..................................................................... 37
Figure 4-5 - Occlusion Scheme Framework............................................................................ 37
Figure 4-6 - Impostor Placement At Street Nodes .................................................................. 38
Figure 4-7 - Street Scene At Ground Level............................................................................. 39
Figure 4-8 - Street Impostor Draw Distance ........................................................................... 40
Figure 4-9 - Three way impostor at street joint ....................................................................... 40
Figure 4-10 - Texture Caching Framework............................................................................. 41
Figure 4-11 - Bounding Sphere Hierarchy .............................................................................. 42
Figure 4-12 - Initial Bounding Sphere Estimation .................................................................. 43
Figure 4-13- Framework for Pre-processing, Communication and Rendering ....................... 45
Figure 5-1 - Model Vertex and Face Count............................................................................. 46
Figure 5-2 - Num of Materials Vs. Frames Per Second .......................................................... 46
Figure 5-3 - Low Texture Vs. Bounding Box Rendering........................................................ 47
Figure 5-4 - Num of Materials Vs. Num of Models ................................................................ 47
Figure 5-5 - Building Loading Times...................................................................................... 48
Figure 5-6 – FPS With All Models Loaded............................................................................. 48
Figure 5-7 - Section Loading Times........................................................................................ 48
Figure 5-8 - FPS With Models Loaded Per Section ................................................................ 48
Figure 5-9 - Octree Creation time Vs Size .............................................................................. 49
Figure 5-10 - Splat Creation Time Vs Size ............................................................................. 49
Equation 5-11 - Formula for Calculation of Number of Impostors Per Street ........................ 49
Figure 5-12 - OBJ Versus Splat Physical File size.................................................................. 50
Figure 5-13- Splat Size Versus Level...................................................................................... 50
Figure 5-14 - Culling Techniques Versus No. Faces............................................................... 51
Figure 5-15 - Culling Techniques Versus No. Textures and FPS ........................................... 51
Figure 5-16 - Rendering Time With Impostors ....................................................................... 52
Figure 5-17 - Cow Model FPS Vs. Splat Level....................................................................... 52
Figure 5-18 - Cow Model FPS Vs. Octree Level .................................................................... 52
Figure A-1 - Bunny Model Level of Detail............................................................................. 69
Figure A-2 - Cow Model Level of Detail ................................................................................ 70
Figure A-3 - Dragon Model Level of Detail............................................................................ 71
Figure A-4 - Cup Model Level of Detail................................................................................. 72
Figure A-5 - Snake Model Level of Detail.............................................................................. 73
Figure A-6 - Lego Model Level of Detail ............................................................................... 74
Figure A-7 - Geometric Level of Detail .................................................................................. 75

4
Figure C-1 - Dublin Buildings Rendered on PC...................................................................... 77
Figure C-2 –Dublin Buildings Rendered on iPaq.................................................................... 77
Figure C-3 - Street Impostor Placement .................................................................................. 78
Figure C-4 - Sample Street Impostors ..................................................................................... 79
Figure C-5 - City Scene Subdivision....................................................................................... 80

5
Declaration
This thesis has not been submitted as an exercise for a degree at any other university. Except
where otherwise stated, the work described herein has been carried out by the author alone.
This thesis may be borrowed or copied upon request with the permission of the Librarian,
Trinity College, University of Dublin. The copyright belongs jointly to the University of
Dublin and Alan Cummins.

_______________________
Signature of Author

6
Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my supervisor Dr. Carol O’Sullivan for her help
and guidance throughout the project and to Clodagh for enduring me as a partner in crime. I
am deeply indebted to Thanh and Ronan who helped to cajole this thesis into some semblance
of sense and Chris for his insight into research. I must also mention the ISG gang who always
gave helpful if not always constructive criticism and feedback, especially John who allowed
the use of his many Dublin models. Finally, thanks to my family, who, although confused by
my work hours, put up with my hermit-like existence.

7
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with the investigation and implementation of real-time display of
computer graphics on mobile devices. More specifically, this thesis uses the display of a
virtual city and character models as a test bed application upon which to investigate whether
traditional speedup techniques may be used effectively on mobile platforms. Rationale is
presented for the choice of mobile hardware and software. Culling, level-of-detail, impostor
and point-based techniques are then implemented and applied to the test application on the
chosen hardware. These techniques focus on minimising the amount of rendering time
required per frame. An overall framework is suggested which incorporates these methods
while ensuring that mobile-specific constraints such as distribution and memory are catered
for. Experimentation results are then presented, showing that a system capable of real-time
rendering is feasible on such devices.

8
1. Introduction

1.1. Motivation

Presently the mobile communications market is one of the fastest growing markets (see
Figure 1-1), despite the large discrepancies that exist between the services offered to mobile
terminal users and those available to users of fixed terminals. The Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System organisation (UMTS) has expended a lot of effort to provide a
standard approach that will facilitate the communication of rich interactive multimedia
content to terminal users and has concluded that the demand for 3G mobile data services is
real. Consumers and business users have consistently demonstrated strong interest in trying
new services that combine mobility with content and personalisation [UMTS01-1].

Figure 1-1 - 3G Revenue Growth Source Telecompetition Inc, February, 2001

Examples such as that of NTT’s DoCoMo success in Japan provide apt evidence of the
fact that end-users want and need a means of communication, entertainment and obtaining
information via mobile devices. [VARSH00] offers further proof that wireless technologies
are emerging as an important and prevalent technology. Development of mobile devices such
as personal digital assistants (PDA) allows those on the move to perform a variety of
computing tasks. Customised infotainment is estimated to grow to be the second biggest
revenue producer for service providers [UMTS01-2]. Therefore the development of tools and
techniques to facilitate the production and delivery of such content is pertinent. Giving the

9
user the ability to interact in a virtual world by means of a mobile platform creates a real
challenge.
More specifically urban simulation presents unique challenges due to the large
complexity in terms of geometrical data and the widely varying visibility conditions (See
Figure 1-2 below). Real-time rendering of cityscapes has been a goal of research for a number
of years.

Figure 1-2 - Virtual Dublin as modeled by [HAMILL03]

Many solutions have been proposed for the efficient rendering of large-scale
environments, [HAMILL03, SILLION97, FUNK93] to name but a few. However until
recently it has been infeasible to consider applying and implementing this concept in the
domain of mobile devices. It is inevitable that the computational power of today’s mobile
devices will increase in order to facilitate the processing of the received content but the
capabilities will always be limited. Bridging the gap between the limitations of the device and
the processing demands of the application creates some interesting challenges. Generation of
content for real time delivery to mobile devices provides unique opportunities for novel
simplification techniques. Proposed solutions may also be applied to similar domain areas
such as the web and digital television.

10
1.2. Objectives

This thesis is concerned with the development of a rendering system for mobile devices.
The problem can be more formally stated as the development of an adaptive framework for
supporting creation and interaction within a synthetic environment with specific regard given
to the ability of users to interact remotely by means of mobile devices with real and virtual
characters.
In order to clarify this problem statement several definitions must be given. A mobile
device is described as one that can be carried by a person and has its own battery to allow
operation during transit. Examples of mobile devices include but are not restricted to: Mobile
phones, pocket PCs, laptops, smart phones, tablet PCs and personnel communication devices
such as pagers. Real-time display refers to the interactive display of information as soon as
the user requests it. Instructions should be perceived to have an immediate affect on the
environment once issued. A synthetic environment is defined as graphical, contextual or
sensual information that has been built by reconstructing real-world objects into 2.5D or 3D
representations, by interpreting scene information and reclassifying it or by associating visual
cues with actions. Virtual characters that users interact with are then deemed to be graphical,
contextual or sensual representations that give the user a sense of real interaction with others
in the confines of the given synthetic world. Given these requirements a framework
architecture must be developed. We consider an adaptive system to be one that has the ability
to change and re-assess its operation based on the environment it is functioning in. It must be
dynamic, proactive and reactive to the changing requirements placed on it. These
requirements vary from network latency to memory management. The system must be able to
function with hardware of varying capability, restructuring itself to always give the end-user
the highest possible visual and informational fidelity. The framework should list a set of
assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitute a way of viewing reality on a
mobile device. It should contain a structure for supporting and encapsulating the rendering
and distribution of a virtual environment from the end-user and from the developer of such a
system. Interactivity in the system is defined by the ability to allow the end-user to interact
with the system by means of simple navigation and control. The system should also allow the
user to interact with other remote users or with virtual avatars present in the scene.
Given this problem statement the main goal of this thesis is to create a viable tool that can
satisfy the requirements of adaptability, inter-connectability and real-time rendering for
mobile devices. However mobile computing imposes inherent limitations, which means that
novel techniques must be employed to allow real-time rendering. These restrictions include
but are not limited to screen resolution, storage capacity, processing power and distribution

11
artefacts. Visualisation rather than distribution is emphasised with display of characters and
virtual environments being the end goal. In development of such a system it is desirable to be
able to tailor the application to any device capability. Implementation of a solid framework is
required to ensure that an appropriate rendering flow can be chosen dependent on the
underlying constraints imposed by a given mobile device and communication channel. Based
on these factors work in the areas of scene and resource management, occlusion culling,
geometric and impostor-based simplification are investigated. A framework is then proposed
that allows for interactivity in a dynamic and adaptive virtual environment.

1.3. Scope

As previously discussed the implementation of a framework for the development and

rendering of virtual characters and locations is required. The scope of the project is narrowed
to deal with problems associated with architectural walk-through and high detail object
rendering, examples of which are character models. Emphasis is placed on the use of ‘level-
of-detail’ and impostors in combination with resource management to form the backbone of
the framework. Regard is given to the distributive nature of the project but the actual
communication methods and implementation of such are left as separate work. More
specifically the system should provide tools for creating content as well as creating a viewer
for that content on a given mobile device. In order to achieve the objectives the scope is
limited to development on a single hardware platform with communication issues handled by
a single network protocol.

1.4. Summary of Chapters

The remaining chapters are organised as follows:

Chapter Two: Hardware

Chapter Two presents an overview of the various mobile technologies that are currently
available and the rationale by which the final hardware was chosen. The mobile technologies
discussed are split into three areas, namely: hardware devices, software (operating system and
development tools) and network communication protocols.

Chapter Three: Related Work

‘Related Work’ discusses previous work in the areas of level of detail, culling, impostors and
point-based rendering. Each area of research is related to the specific application area of

12
mobile graphics and problems and benefits of such are highlighted. Previous framework
applications and distribution schemes are also detailed with regard to scene management for a
city walkthrough system.

Chapter Four: Implementation

Chapter Four provides an explanation of the techniques chosen for implementation. These
techniques as previously discussed in ‘Related Work’ are applied to the specific domain area
of mobile computing. An overall framework architecture is then presented which incorporates
all the techniques implemented.

Chapter Five: Experimentation Results

‘Experimentation Results’ presents measurable results that have been obtained from the
system. Each component of the framework is evaluated as a separate process and then as part
of the larger overall system.

Chapter Six: Conclusions

Chapter Six summarises the topics discussed in the thesis and describes future research
directions.

13
2. Hardware Aspects
This chapter gives an overview of the mobile devices currently on the market that cater
for real-time graphics development. The defining requirements of the application are the
ability to render 3D graphics in real-time and to allow the end-user to interact with avatars in
a virtual environment. Therefore it is vital to consider all factors that affect these goals
including: Hardware capabilities, availability of software and communication protocols. The
market leaders in mobile devices, HP iPaq, Nintendo GBA, Nokia and Palm [5, 11, 12, 16],
were considered and assessed based on the factors discussed below. The rationale for the final
choice of hardware and software is provided giving credence to the device suitability in the
short and long term. Various network technologies are also considered and an appropriate
communication protocol is chosen.

2.1. Mobile Hardware

Accurate performance ratings are difficult to ascertain for mobile devices due to the many
different technologies vying for market dominance. Without a standard set of applications by
which to measure true computing power fair benchmarking between mobile devices is tricky.
Therefore pure computing metrics cannot be used to determine the most suitable device. Less
definable aspects such as usability must also be examined in order to ascertain which
hardware device will fit the specific application area of virtual environment interaction.

Figure 2-1 – Sample Mobile Device Hardware Configuration

Appendix B provides a tabulated set of hardware specifications for current mobile

devices. It is evident that mobile hardware has not been standardised and many important
features are implemented in vastly differing ways. Several important factors must be
considered when choosing appropriate hardware. Factors considered were:

14
• Portability: The device must fall within the confines of battery-operated devices to
maintain portability. This constraint reduces the feasibility of onboard processors
over and above the main processor board due to power consumption. Traditional
graphics processors continue to drain prohibitive amounts of power and as such many
truly mobile devices in the current marketplace rely on the main processor to handle
all computation rather than use a wholly separate processing unit. All of the main
mobile hardware vendors provide solutions that are sufficiently portable with battery
length and physical size differing only slightly.
• Feasibility and Future Proofing: Choice of hardware should depend on the device’s
current success and any future technology that may be incorporated into it. The
device should have sample applications that demonstrate that it is capable of
rendering graphics at a reasonable speed. Devices based on Palm Pilots and PocketPC
solutions, while popular, remain the choice of a select few whereas possession of
traditional mobile handsets has exploded. However mobile phones have little room
for future proofing and have already begun to accrete functions from devices similar
to the ones previously mentioned.
• Performance: Base-line performance is an important factor when determining which
hardware to choose. The hardware must be capable of basic computation before
considering more complex applications. Processing and memory speed is an
important issue in determining if a device is capable of rendering graphics in real-
time. Devices that rely solely on external memory cards for storage will cause slow
down when transferring information and as such may be unsuitable. Mobile phones
continue to increase in performance but at present are unable to cope with true 3D at
real-time rates. PDA based devices have more powerful processors and come
equipped with standard memory sizes that allow for useful development.
• Screen-size: Screen-size varies from device to device but it is assumed that a usable
display should at least cater for more than a typical mobile phone screen size and as
such is 240 X 320 pixels in size. Colour screens are a necessity as monochromatic
screens will not differentiate items on screen as clearly and will cause the system to
be unusable. All vendors provide colour screens with mobile phones typically having
4096 colours and larger form factor devices having in the order of sixteen thousand.
• User Interface: It is necessary to consider the usability of a given device. A typical
device should ideally have an intuitive interface, which allows for effective user
interaction. Most mobile device manufacturers have provided a touch screen and
stylus, miniature keyboard or several buttons as physical input to the system. The

15
 Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) [15] is supporting standardisation of user interface.
See Figure 2-1 for sample hardware configurations.
• Expandability: As the mobile hardware market is still fluctuating it is imperative to
choose a device with the capability to use any new technologies that may appear. As
most of the mobile hardware devices are limited in physical storage it is essential to
consider only those devices that allow for easy access to extraneous memory modules
while not depending on them. There are many varying communication protocols that
require differing hardware to function. Therefore it is relevant to consider whether a
given device can support multiple communication hardware. Mobile phones have
limited or no expansion capabilities while PDAs allow for memory and
communication upgrades.

Considering each of these factors the choice of device has been determined to be one that
has a stable hardware base, large colour screen, is versatile, portable over and above
traditional laptop machines, computing performance at the top of its category and the means
by which to extend its functionality.

2.2. Mobile Software Tools

Software tools are in a fledgling state for mobile devices especially in terms of the
availability of development libraries and tools. The actual hardware chosen depends not only
on raw computing performance but also on the ease of development for that hardware.
Adjunct to this, current software availability gives an insight into the feasibility of
implementation of a virtual environment on a portable device. This section introduces some of
the programming languages, operating systems and third party libraries that are available for
mobile devices.
Programming languages typically used for mobile devices can be split into three general
sections, namely:

• Mark-up Language: Mark-up languages used for mobile phones are typically based
on a subset of HTML 4.0 and chosen for development of simple text and graphic
based applications. Use of mark-up language for graphics applications is not feasible
in the current form but should not be ignored as a means of developing a syntax
language for scene description and associated attributes. See the VRML
specifications [21] for more details. Use of XML (extensible mark-up language) may
prove useful as a basis for a grammar for use in a mobile graphics system.

16
 • Java: Java is the standard technology for development on mobile handsets. It is also
the only technology that is compatible across all hardware platforms through use of
third-party java virtual machines. However, it lacks (in its current form) a solid 3D
graphics application-programming interface. As standards such as the Java Micro
Edition [7] and Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) [1] progress
further functionality will be added.
• C++ / C: The traditional language, with straight assembler, for fast graphics
implementation is predominantly used in the larger dual devices (voice and office
utilities) such as the Palm Pilot and PocketPC based devices. It offers the best access
to low-level hardware attributes that are required for development of fast graphics
algorithms. See Microsoft’s Embedded Visual Studio Developer resources [8] for
complete details.

The mobile operating system controls access to the underlying hardware. It is imperative
that the operating system facilitates rather than hinders development of fast graphics routines.
The main operating systems for mobile systems are:

• PocketPC 2002: PocketPC 2002 [9] is based on the previous WindowsCE 3.0
operating system improving on connectability, security, personal information
management (PIM) features and overall reliability. Although more complicated to
develop for than PalmOS based systems, it offers a more direct interface into the
device’s hardware. Importantly, PocketPC 2002 has been slimmed down and is
intended for use in Smart Phones allowing for some future proofing.
• Symbian: SymbianOS [19] was designed and developed for small mobile devices,
mass market, and occasional wireless connectivity and as an open platform for third-
party developers. Major mobile vendors such as Nokia have chosen Symbian as the
operating system of choice for their new hardware. SymbianOS differs from
PocketPC 2002 mainly due to the fact that it implements most of its multi-tasking
through event-driven messaging rather than with multi-threading as on PocketPC
devices. Multi-threading is complex, prone to errors and expensive (there can be
several kilobytes of overhead per thread). Therefore SymbianOS is considered more
efficient if less powerful.
• Palm: PalmOS [16] based systems are the most common mobile platform in use
today. Consequently it has a large software base but as it focuses on simplicity,
expandability and mobility, it places emphasis on designing an operating system that
does not simply mimic a cut down PC but rather allows the user to quickly gain

17
 access to information and content. In its simplicity it however lacks in some
important areas such as wireless services, secure transactions and graphics compared
to PocketPC based systems.

Figure 2-2 - Rendering Libraries Sample Screenshots

There are several graphic APIs available. Each offers varying levels of functionality and a
comparison review of all engines is required to determine if any are suitable as a starting point
for further development. The development libraries can be broken down into those that act as
adjunct libraries such as EasyCE and GAPI [3,4] and those that act as standalone libraries
such as Diesel Engine, MiniGL, PocketGL, TinyGL and X-forge [2,10,18,20,23] (See Figure
2-2). A standard graphics library specification based on the OpenGL standard [13] is being
drafted by the Khronos Group [14] but no standard is adhered to in the current batch of third
party graphic libraries.

2.3. Communication Protocols

We shall now consider wireless communication protocols that may be suitable for use in
the proposed virtual environment for communication of events between independent users. It
should be noted that there are two distinct wireless technologies available for use: Wireless
LAN versus traditional cellular network. Cellular networks remain the most popular and cost-
effective way to communicate but new technologies such as 802.11b and Bluetooth can be
easily configured for use within the scope of this project.
Digital cellular radio networks such as Global Systems for Mobile Communication
(GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
can be accommodated through the addition of a cellular card to the mobile device. Non-
traditional wireless technologies such as 802.11b and Bluetooth typically come as standard on

18
most devices and are suitable for small-scale local area communication. Each has benefits in
terms of bandwidth, underlying network infrastructure and quality of service and the reader is
referred to resources on the ‘Wireless Developer Network’ [22] for further information.
Additionally, in order to enhance the user experience, technologies such as the Global
Positioning System (GPS) can also be incorporated.
It should be noted that the underlying network infrastructure configuration and
implementation of the distributed component of the project has been left as separate work,
which is currently ongoing by [ROSSI03]. However factors worth considering when choosing
a communication method include: scalability, kinds of media supported, integration of media
elements, delivery channels, quality potential for target, distribution model, infrastructure
requirements and cost. While not focusing on the distributed aspects of the application the
constraints of the above communication methods are adhered to in development of the
system. Details of such are discussed in Chapter Four.

2.4. Choice of Hardware

The only viable decision, considering all the factors discussed above, is a choice between
a high-end Palm Pilot and a device such as the Compaq iPaq. Solutions such as the GBA and
Playstation Portable (PSP) [11,17] that focus on the graphic capabilities of the device are not
currently applicable due to the lack of support for wireless communication. The Palm Pilot, in
its current form, lacks the performance necessary for any valuable graphic work to be carried
out. PocketPC based systems, such as the iPaq, currently run on ARM or XScale [6] based
boards and in combination with the operating system provide the most powerful solution. The
latest version of the PocketPC client comes with increased memory and processing
capabilities suggesting that it is the platform of choice (See Appendix B, IPaq H550). Taking
this choice of operating system into account, the memory management and screen handling
functionality provided by PocketPC based systems more closely matches that of normal PC
development. Furthermore, the majority of development of graphics-based applications for
PDA devices has been carried out predominantly on WindowsCE / PocketPC based systems.
This indicates that it is the most suitable platform currently and will remain so with a strong
development platform of Embedded Visual Tools provided by Microsoft for further work.
Future hardware such as the Smart Phone and new Intel XScale technologies will all use
PocketPC or a variant of such and therefore guarantees some future proofing. As discussed in
[RHYNE02], handheld devices are slowly converging but a common hardware and software
platform has yet to emerge.

19
 In terms of communication protocols, cellular technologies may be useful for future
development but are infeasible due to the large amount of infrastructure required. Local area
wireless communication is the only alternative. Bluetooth is not suitable for wide area
networks (WAN) as it is purely for communication over short distances so the 802.11b
communication protocol has been chosen. PocketGL [18] has been chosen as the base
graphics library on which to base further development. As a relatively cheap and high
functionality library it offers the most visibility into base code and having been designed to
mimic the OpenGL standard it is the most suitable.

20
3. Related Work
This thesis seeks to provide solutions to fast rendering on mobile devices. In order to
achieve this goal, previous research in the areas of simplification and acceleration need
investigation. More precisely, previous work in the areas of geometric level-of-detail, culling,
impostors and point-based rendering are discussed. These techniques are deemed to be the
most suitable to adaptation to a mobile paradigm. The discussion proceeds from basic
rendering techniques through to more complex algorithms that affect the underlying visual
structure of a given scene but which allow for increased frame-rate. Prior research into the
constraints imposed by network distribution and how these are incorporated into workable
frameworks that make use of the techniques discussed above is also presented. Finally,
common best practises are discussed as demonstrated by previous work.

3.1. Level of Detail

Surface simplification is increasingly important as the complexity of geometry increases.

New demands are also being placed on rendering systems to provide an increased level of
perception of visual information on lower powered devices than ever before. Through the
prudent application of simplification, geometry can be stored, retrieved and displayed more
efficiently. Simplified geometry may also be used as a proxy object in calculations in order to
simplify their results. Examples include object intersection testing, lighting calculations and
visibility determination. More specifically, simplified objects may be used as a part of a level-
of-detail scheme to provide a set of geometry that describes an object at varying complexity.
The choice of when to display each level-of-detail then becomes a decision based on visual
fidelity and time constraints for a given frame. [HECK97] and [PUPPO97] review many of
the techniques currently in use while [GARLAND99-1] discusses future opportunities
available in the area of multi-resolution modelling. Mesh simplification can be classified as
those based on budgetary constraints such as the time to render and those that are based on
fidelity. Fidelity-based methods are more complicated as the decision then becomes a
function of application and end-user consideration. [LUEB03] discusses these classifications
further.
Typically surface simplification is obtained by decimation of triangular meshes
[SCHROE92] (see Figure 3-1) or by re-tiling an object [TURK92]. Careful consideration is
given to determining which triangles will cause the least visible change while also giving the
greatest reduction in geometry size. [WATS01] describes techniques for measuring and
predicting visual fidelity with regard to geometric simplification and these findings can be

21
incorporated to ensure the least visible change. Techniques described by [RONF96,
MELAX98] function by determining simple error metrics that calculate the cost of removal as
a function of connected vertices and curvature of the surrounding area before and after
removal of a vertex or edge. [GARLAND97, HOPPE93] use more complicated heuristics that
try to minimise visual distortion. Note that geometric distortion is not the only factor that
must be considered. Colour plays a large part in shape recognition and [CERT96] assigns
importance to both in order to effectively create multi-resolutional models. [KHO03] takes
this concept one step further and allows the end-user to affect the choice of areas of
simplification. Thus if a face is being modelled, users can specify to maintain complexity in
important features such as eyes.

Figure 3-1 - Edge Contraction and Gap Removal

Methods for determining the level-of-detail representation can use the inherent scene features
as part of their heuristic for determining good candidates for removal or simplification.
[REMOL02] deals with vegetation simplification and uses the trunk and leaves as separate
areas requiring simplification. Characteristics associated with a given technique can also be
tailored and combined to produce optimal effects. [GARLAND02] describes a multiphase
approach that combines the efficiency of clustering methods with contraction methods that
typically produce higher quality images. Previous work presented by [ZUNI03] indicates that
multi-resolution techniques have value in terms of rendering on mobile devices.

22
3.2. Culling

A fundamental problem in computer graphics is that of avoiding extraneous work when

rendering a given frame. As the size of a given dataset increases, the more imperative it
becomes to do the minimum amount of work to achieve an acceptable frame-rate while
maintaining a consistent world-view on screen. So as to avoid wasting computation time on
invisible portions of a scene, culling techniques have been developed that discard polygons
that do not contribute to a given viewpoint. Traditional Z-buffer removal is prohibitively
expensive for large datasets and even more so when no hardware graphics acceleration can be
relied upon, such as the case in mobile devices.
Culling can be broken down into three areas (See Figure 3-2): View frustum culling refers
to the removal of objects that lie outside the extents of the viewable area on screen. Back-face
culling refers to the removal of any part of an object that faces away from the camera and
occlusion culling refers to the determination and removal of objects that overlap and hide
polygons from the current view direction.

Figure 3-2 - Culling Schemes

Typically culling is carried out by firstly culling items from the view frustum, then
determining those items that are fully and partially occluded by overlapping and then finally
removing back-facing polygons from the remaining set. It is in this final stage of culling that
much varied work has been carried out. Determination of the best method of occlusion culling
depends on the type of scene that is to be rendered (See Figure 3-3). Scenes such as an
architectural walk-through are densely occluded and the camera can be assumed to be close to
the ground whereas in an indoor scene the occlusion can be greatly simplified by only

23
considering subsets of the actual screen space in the occlusion calculation. Scenes may also
contain non-trivial items such as an object that contains high detail hidden within a
compartment. The complexity of culling details in that scene then increases dependent on
whether the innards of the object are viewable or not.

Figure 3-3 - Various Scenes Requiring Different Culling Schemes

A comprehensive survey of visibility determination technologies is presented in

[COHEN00]. Using Cohen’s taxonomy, culling techniques can be split into those that
perform computation based on the current point of view and those that use a priori knowledge
valid for a certain region of space. The criteria for choosing a suitable culling algorithm needs
careful consideration when implementing on a low power device. Culling can be further
subdivided into those that provide tight fitting, conservative potentially visible sets of objects
(PVS) and those that use less accurate but more efficient approximate PVS. Algorithms that
account for fused occluders may also be necessary (See Figure 3-4).

Figure 3-4 - Individual Versus Fused Occluders

24
In addition to these criteria the benefit of using techniques with large pre-computation stages
versus those with large run-time computation costs must be weighed up. High pre-processing
costs may remove most of the computation costs at run-time but will incur penalties in terms
of storage and transmission costs. It is necessary to choose the technique that will allow the
cost of rendering the scene to be independent of the overall environment complexity.
[COHEN98] splits the viewspace into cells that contain the set of triangles viewable
from a point within the cell. In order to build this set, triangles that are guaranteed to be
hidden are searched for and strong occluders are found. Occluders and occludees can be
individual triangles, objects, bounding boxes or the cells themselves. Similarly [SAO99,
SCHAU00] use octrees and [COORG96] uses kd-trees to split the scene into manageable
sections from which to build PVS. [MEISS99] discusses several novel algorithms for efficient
scene subdivision for use in occlusion culling. Ultimately the use of scene subdivision should
ensure that large portions of a given scene can be culled without requiring investigation of
individual triangles, which may be numerous.
As previously stated, the type of scene to be rendered greatly affects what type of
occlusion culling will be most effective. [TELL91] uses the concept of cells and portals in
order to efficiently cull objects in indoor scenes. This technique uses the scene’s characteristic
features to help speed up occlusion culling and obviously does not fit the characteristics of a
typical outdoor scene. Techniques such as [COORG97, SCHAU00] are much better suited to
outdoor scenes and more specifically architectural scenes where individual and groups of
large occluders commonly exist in a given viewpoint.

3.3. Impostors

Another technique commonly used to simplify the rendering of a complex scene is that of
impostor-based rendering. Instead of rendering high triangle objects every frame, an image-
based primitive can be used to replace but sufficiently represent the high cost geometric
object or area in a scene, thus ensuring that the rendering time is independent of the geometric
scene complexity. Impostors cut the cost of rendering as they typically contain only one or
few textures and have simple geometry compared to the multiple textures and complex
geometry they replace. However, it should be noted that as [RUSH00] discusses,
determination of whether the replacement of geometry with textures is perceptually effective
is not easy and depends very much on the object or scene to be replaced. [CHEN95, MACI95,
MCMILL95-1, ALIAGA96, WIMM01] provide discussion of various frameworks for the
display of scenes using pre-rendered or dynamic impostors. While each varies in specific
implementation, each commonly relies upon the use of scene subdivision to help to efficiently

25
generate impostors for every viewpoint in the scene (for further example see [XIONG96,
AGAR02]). Once scene subdivision has occurred, determination of where and when to
display the generated impostor is considered. [MCMILL95-2, SILLION97, ALIAGA99-1,
WILSON01] give good example of some of the issues involved. Finally, techniques used for
improving the provided impostor are implemented. Warping is one such example [GOTZ02].
However cost is incurred to create, store and retrieve these images. Related impostor-based
work can be split into the following areas of work:

• Work that deals with the specific application area of city walkthroughs.
• Impostor-based techniques that have been applied to the display of individual objects
as a series of pre-rendered images
• Display algorithms that incorporate depth into the impostor images for added realism
and longer cache life.
• Image warping methods for seamless integration of impostors with surrounding
geometric objects and for transition from image to geometry.
• Memory and data management issues that surround the use of images to represent
geometry.
• Specialised compression routines for efficiently storing and retrieving impostors.

The following discussion considers related impostor-based work with regard to the above
classification.
Artefacts caused by the use of impostor techniques include resolution mismatch,
rubber sheet effects, cracks, missing scene information and inconsistent representation of the
actual geometric primitives. The use of depth-based techniques can alleviate such problems
but moreover the addition of simple depth can add a magnitude of order of image quality to a
scene. Essentially depth or layered images can be considered as an ordinary texture map
enhanced with a depth per pixel value. These values can be then used to extrude more
complex feature-rich geometry over and above the use of simple quad-based impostors,
combating the shortcomings of image-based methods for scene representation. [SHADE98,
DECOR99, OLIV00, WILSON03] all make use of depth disparity information to allay the
difficulties discussed above. [CHANG02] makes use of depth images to effectively render
image based objects on mobile devices giving credence to their importance when rendering
on limited devices.
Image objects are based on the concept of determining a set of viewpoint images for a
given object as a pre-processing step and then during runtime shifting between these stored
viewpoints to give the appearance of a fully 3D object. (See Figure 3-5)

26
 Figure 3-5 - Warped Impostors For Construction of 2.5D Object

These image-object techniques rely on the use of warping techniques to bridge the gap
between subsequent viewpoints as only a discrete set of orientations are stored. [MAX95,
SCHAU97] use this method to create simple but effective image object primitives while
further work by [DALLY96, BAYAK98, OLIV99] extend the concept to incorporate
complex geometric models, maximising the image fidelity while minimising the associated
overhead. Most recently [DECOR03] uses billboard clouds to automatically build up a single
texture map and associated transparency map that most efficiently and effectively represents a
complex object. These techniques all have benefit in terms of performance and the ability to
use simplified textures as a form of level-of-detail.
In order to avoid strong noticeable distortions in the rendered image when using
impostor-based methods, warping of geometry and / or images may be used. Through the use
of warping, distortions brought about by viewpoint translation and rotation can be
compensated for. As impostor images are only valid for a certain subset of viewpoints,
warping can be used to hide the transition from geometry to image [ALIAGA96] and from
image to image [SCHRO00]. (See Figure 3-6)

27
 Figure 3-6 - Mixed Geometry and Impostors with Morphing

Warping may also be used to create new approximate images based typically on two reference
images [MARK97, RAFF98, PAJAR02] and for temporary display while the system retrieves
further information such as is the case in a network-based application where latency can cause
unavoidable delay [MARK96]. Such techniques come at a cost in terms of an extra processing
step at runtime, which must be weighed against the benefit in terms of visual fidelity. Use of a
threshold model such as in [RAMA99] may be useful for finding the perceptual threshold for
the human visual system when detecting artefacts. This model could then be used to predict
visual fidelity when geometry is replaced with impostors.
As each image-based representation generates at least one new texture, compression
techniques are essential to minimise the amount of data necessary to efficiently render a
scene. [LI01] provides an examination of several more commonly used compression
techniques while [GUEN93, COHEN99] focus specifically on exploiting frame-to-frame
coherence while animating texture intensive scenes. [WILSON00] provides further work
based on incorporating compression schemes based on MPEG into an impostor-based system
to render a given scene in real-time. Ultimately the method employed for compression should
ensure that the amount of work required to compress and uncompress the stored data does not
exceed the cost of transmitting and rendering the related uncompressed impostor.
When using impostor-based techniques, the underlying scene properties can be used
to speed up the retrieval and use of images generated as a pre-process or during a previous
frame. Work by [SHADE96] for example exploits path coherence to generate a cache of next

28
most likely viewable impostors. Similarly [SCHAU96, WIMM98] make use of scene
partitioning and separate image caches to ensure that each frame can be efficiently rendered.

3.4. Point-Based Rendering

Point-based rendering is concerned with the determination of the minimum set of point
samples that cover the surface area of a given object. Level-of-detail representations can be
obtained, retrieving multiple sets of point samples per object (See Figure 3-7).

Figure 3-7 - Point-based Rendering Sample

These point-samples can then be rendered using differing primitives depending on the output
quality required by the application. [GROSS96] provides in-depth discussion of the general
concepts involved in point-sampling. By using point-sampling increased efficiency in
rendering times can be obtained. Any geometric object can be converted and stored in such a
representation and further techniques such as smoothing, reduction, refinement and editing
can be carried out using the point-sample alone [LIND01]. Point-based rendering also has the
added benefit of suitability for transmission across variable bandwidth conditions, such as
those found in wireless technology. As [RUSIN01, WOOL02] suggest, efficient streaming of
object data can be carried out with an incremental transmission of point samples starting with
the lowest level of detail i.e. smallest point sample, largest displayed splat size through to the
highest level of detail with the largest point sample but smallest onscreen size. The sampling
and stratification scheme employed to obtain the point sample set varies and can be tailored to
suit the application. [WAND02] uses a scheme that allows for easy interpolation between
successive key-frames used in the animation of an object based on previous work in
[WAND00, WAND01]. [ZACH02] however uses a point-based technique that is suitable for
the rendering of vegetation during a terrain flyover. Work by [RUSIN00] focuses on the
interactive display of high volume data such as that obtained by laser scanning and

29
digitisation of an object. [ZWICK01] is concerned with point sampling an object and
maintaining connectivity between the sample set and the textures associated with the original
model. More complicated techniques that incorporate Fourier analysis [PAUL01] and
wavelets [GUTH02] can be used to form highly compressed data structures that accurately
convey the object to be represented as point samples.

3.5. Scene Management

Management of scene information is required when dealing with large amounts of data in
a walkthrough application. This especially applies in the case where memory capacity is
limited, quality of service for client-server communication is not guaranteed and techniques
of varying benefit are being applied to this data. [FUNK92] discusses just such an application
where the system is split into pre-processing, modelling and walkthrough phases. A cache of
suitable representations is also maintained. This framework is extended in [FUNK93] to
perform a constrained optimisation to choose the best representation from the cache for the
current frame. Predictive techniques are later included [FUNK96] in order to maximise the
benefits of the cache and to ensure that its contents remain valid for as long as possible. Both
[MANN97] and [COHEN97] present interesting work that transmits only initial reference
scene information and then subsequently allows the client to render extrapolated views.
Difference images are then transmitted only when an error metric is exceeded. [LIJ01] deals
with a system that exclusively uses image-based representations to render the scene and stores
the surrounding set of nodes for a given viewpoint while [GOBB01] deals only with the
management of multi-resolution meshes. [ZACH01] considers the use of pre-fetching policies
based on optimising the cache with regard to culling. [ROSSI03] discusses work already
carried out on the system that divides the scene into sections that are transmitted to the client
based on the position of the avatar in use. Perceptual metrics can be employed to determine
which resolution of texture should be transmitted and displayed such as in [DUMON01].
Discussion of previous work in the area of ad hoc location based services [HODES99]
and algorithmic considerations that need revision due to the nature of mobile devices
[SATYAN01] are left to one side. However, it must be noted that aspects such as mobile
fidelity metrics, latency [ARON97], bandwidth usage, prediction [CAI99] and state
consistency must be factored into the review of previous scene management techniques.
[MACED94] relates these issues to a real-world example.

30
3.6. Common Themes

Many common themes run through each of the related works above. It is evident that
different techniques work more efficiently for different types of objects and scenes. For
example, point-based rendering is most useful when displaying high-detail geometric objects
while impostor-based techniques are effective when displaying large distant architectural
planar models. Meanwhile, geometric level-of-detail methods typically produce more
pleasing visual results when they are applied to high-detail non-planar objects. Culling, point
rendering and impostor techniques make heavy use of scene subdivision techniques, which
therefore must be robust and efficient. The determination of the fidelity of a scene plays an
important part in ascertaining if the technique being applied is successful. Choosing
techniques that only give benefit in terms of frame-rate is not sufficient. Use of perceptual
metrics along with geometric metrics will provide the best results. Scene management
methods must be used to ensure that the overall processing time does not exceed the straight
rendering of the scene. Factors that affect this condition include texture cache miss-hits,
network transmission times, network stability and overall resource size. A combination of
techniques may be used, but careful management of which types of objects and scenes to
apply them to is required.

31
4. Implementation
This chapter gives details of the implementation of the system. The system, as discussed
in Chapter One, focuses on reducing the overall rendering time and ensuring that both
character and architectural models are catered for. All architectural models used come from
previous work by [HAMILL03] and use the Wavefront OBJ file format. Implementation is
split into geometric level-of-detail, culling, impostor and point-based rendering techniques. A
framework within which each of these methods sits is then described.

4.1. Level of Detail

In order to combat crippling polygon counts a geometric level-of-detail approach has been
taken. This allows for the production of multi-resolutional meshes that can be iteratively
transmitted to a client device dependent on the visual quality required. Metrics based on
[MELAX98] and [GARLAND97] were implemented and pseudo-code for their calculation is
included. Figure 4-1 gives a brief overview of some geometric considerations that affect the
quality of the resultant simplified object.

Figure 4-1 - Vertex Removal Cost Estimation

Work focuses on the removal of small faces that contribute little to the overall object shape
while still ensuring that high contrasting detail remains intact. Several different cases exist
when removing and replacing triangles. Typically, small triangles should be removed before
larger triangles, as the overall visual impact is less. Smaller triangles are deemed to be those
with both smaller surface area and shorter average edge length. Surfaces that are coplanar

32
should be merged first rather than merging two surfaces that previously had large incident
angles. Care is also taken to avoid replacing triangles that cause the resultant normal to flip.
The change in normal to a given face indicates that the shape of the face has been drastically
changed and will be visually noticeable.

SlimModel()
Load Object Information
WHILE Number Faces > Required Number Faces
DO FOR all Vertex
Determine Cost_Of_Moving_Vertex()
END
Get Minimum Cost Vertex Removal
Remove that Vertex
Update Edge List
END

Cost_Of_Moving_Vertex_Complex()
FOR All Connecting Vertices To Current Vertex
DO Determine Lowest Angle Between Faces Containing This Edge
Determine Length of Edge
Determine Area of Triangles Possibly Removed
IF Combined Cost < Current Cost
THEN Mark Edge As Most Favourable Candidate For Removal
END
END

Cost_Of_Moving_Vertex_Simple()
FOR All Connecting Vertices To Current Vertex
DO Determine Area of Triangles Possibly Removed
Score Face Removal Based On Area And Affect On Surrounding Face Normal
END

Table 4-1 – Geometric Level of Detail Pseudo-code

As the pseudo-code shows the algorithm is applied iteratively until the percentage
simplification is achieved (See Table 4.1). Once completed, multiple levels-of-detail are
integrated into a single file format which allows for streaming of successive levels-of-detail
from low detail to the full original high detail model. These level-of-detail representations are

33
then displayed based on a distance metric and approximate rendering time cost. If the object is
far from the camera then a low detail model need only be displayed.

Figure 4-2- Level of Detail Based on Draw Distance

The level-of-detail then increases as the object moves towards the camera (See Figure 4-2). In
addition to this, if the estimated rendering time is less than a pre-determined value, then a
lower detail model is chosen so that interactive frame-rates can be maintained. Frame-rate
estimation is calculated as a combination of several previous frames combined with a time-
penalty based on the objects currently viewable. The texture quality also increases as the
object moves closer to the camera. Sample level-of-detail for an object can be seen in Figure
A-7.

4.2. Occlusion Culling

Culling is effective in removing large portions of a scene that are not viewable for a given
viewpoint, thereby reducing the amount of rendering time required. As detailed in Chapter 3,
culling can be broken into three areas: frustum, back-face and occlusion culling. Frustum
culling is implemented using work by [GRIBB01]. Back-face culling is implemented by
examining the normal to the viewpoint.
Occlusion culling is concerned with the determination of a potentially visible set of
occluders for a given viewpoint. Using this set of potential occluders, occludees are
determined and removed from the scene. Potential occluders are deemed to be those that are
larger than a given volume or with a dimension greater than a certain value. Once determined,
the occluder set is re-examined and any objects deemed in close proximity are fused to allow

34
for occluder fusion checking. Objects are deemed occluded when checked against the list of
potential occluders and overlap has occurred. Full pseudo-code is given in Table 4.2.

Occlusion_Cull()
Get Potential Occluder Set
FOR every Octree Node
IF Node Outside View Frustum
THEN Cull Node
ELSE FOR every Potential Occluder
IF Potential Occluder_In_Front_Of_Node()
THEN Cull Node
ELSE Check Next Level of Octree
END
END
END

Occluder_In_Front_Of_Node()
IF Eye to Center Occluder > Eye to Center Node
THEN RETURN No Overlap
ELSE Project Node Bounding Box to Screen Space
Project Occluder Bounding Box to Screen Space
IF Occluder Overlaps Node In Screen Space AND Overlap > Percentage
THEN RETURN Overlap Occurred
ELSE RETURN No Overlap
END
END

Table 4-2- Occlusion Culling Pseudo-code

Overlap testing requires determination of the screen-space coordinates of the objects to be

tested. Once the screen coordinates of the objects are calculated a simple overlap test can be
performed. (See Figure 4-3)

35
 Figure 4-3 - Occlusion Culling Scheme

In order to speed up the process of overlap testing, single objects within the scene are
tested only once the bounding box in which they reside has been determined as viewable.
The scene is split by use of spatial subdivision such as in [SAO99]. This involves splitting the
scene into an octree subdivision data structure and all occlusion testing occurs as follows:
Testing of the current octree node, testing of the current object bounding-box, testing of
individual object faces. An example subdivision is shown in Figure C-5. By testing in this
order expensive face testing need only occur on those objects that have a strong possibility of
visibility. Use of simplified bounding boxes in culling testing greatly speeds up the
calculations involved but several problems arise from their use. As illustrated in Figure 4-4,
bounding boxes can be ill fitting. This can occur when a building consists of a large tower
with a lower flat section. The bounding box includes a large area of screen-space that does not
contain any object faces. This causes inaccurate results when determining if objects have
overlapped.

36
 Figure 4-4 - Occlusion Culling Overlap Testing

The overlap test must also take into account the amount of overlap that has occurred. If the
overlap result is less than a certain percentage it should be ignored and the object drawn. The
system also tries to avoid inefficient testing where the overlap is obviously never going to
occur, i.e. the overlap test tries to return success or failure as soon as possible without going
through all overlap cases.

Figure 4-5 - Occlusion Scheme Framework

The overall framework for culling is illustrated in Figure 4-5. The scene is divided into
octree regions, view frustum culling occurs, the potentially visible set is obtained, occluded

37
objects are removed, back-face culling occurs and then the final render is calculated. The
culling algorithm does not consider dynamic objects i.e. those that can change shape or size.
Character models fall within this criterion as they can move about the environment. Their size
can have a large effect on what is and isn’t occluded if significantly large. For simplicity the
system makes the valid assumption that dynamic objects such as these cause little difference
in occlusion culling calculations. This assumes that the dynamic objects are relatively small in
comparison to the scene in which they reside. The only time at which they cause major
occlusion is when they are directly in front and very close to the camera. If this situation
occurs then the system simply displays the character and no other objects.

4.3. Street Impostor

Techniques such as point-based rendering and geometric level-of-detail are not suitable
for the rendering of large architectural models. These techniques generally work better on
models with smaller facets. Architectural models have many large co-planar faces. Impostor
techniques are much more suited as they can simplify large portions of the screen with little
perceivable difference in image quality. Impostor generation can be seen as a two-phase
process: Initially impostors need to be generated for all possible views in a scene, then re-
triangulation and 3D re-projection needs to occur at render time. Determination of all possible
views is achieved by constraining the system to use in architectural walk-through
applications. This constrains the user camera to a position parallel to ground level with no
overhead shots of the city being considered. Furthermore the generation of images is
constrained to end points of streets and junctions such as in [SILLION97].

Figure 4-6 - Impostor Placement At Street Nodes

38
Figure 4-6 provides example of the various junction types that commonly occur in a city
layout. Impostors are placed at a position perpendicular to the line from the midpoint to the
street start or end. Then, dependent on the position of the user viewpoint, any relevant
impostors are drawn orientated towards that position. This makes use of typical characteristics
of street scenes in which visibility is typically blocked by narrow streets with few tall
buildings viewable at the sides of the street. The only buildings visible that do not reside on
the street itself are only viewable at the end of the street or above the local skyline.
Essentially, at every given viewpoint the scene can be split into background, foreground and
buildings on the street that the viewer is currently standing (See Figure 4-7).

Figure 4-7 - Street Scene At Ground Level

The system simply places an impostor at the end of the street, large enough to represent all
viewable geometry behind it (See Figure 4-8). Appendix Figure C-3 shows a sample city
where, in the upper picture, streets are marked out and then, as displayed in the lower picture,
impostors are generated and placed. Sample impostors are shown in Figure C-4.

39
 Figure 4-8 - Street Impostor Draw Distance

Figure 4-9 - Three way impostor at street joint

40
 Use of impostors causes many problems: Resolution mismatch, rubber sheet effect,
incomplete representation, and parallax problems. Such problems and others have been
detailed in [DECOR99]. All these effects are minimal in the case of the implemented system
due to the small screen space in which the impostor actually resides. To combat parallax and
give further visual fidelity to the system, each impostor is enhanced by the use of three
impostors per street start and end. (See Figure 4-9) As the user moves parallel to the end
impostor across the width of a given street, visual information is typically lost. If simple
rotation, within a given threshold, were used to alleviate this problem the effect would be
noticeable and incorrect. Therefore, at a certain pre-destined point of rotation of the end
impostor, it switches to either a left or right hand side impostor.
Calculating and creating all the relevant image impostors for the given city scene
creates a large amount of information. Problems then arise in the efficient storage and
retrieval of this information at runtime. A texture-caching scheme is required to manage these
problems. (See Figure 4-10)

Figure 4-10 - Texture Caching Framework

41
The caching scheme has two levels of texture storage. These two levels cover the far and near
field of a given viewpoint. The system keeps track of the current viewpoint and direction and
stores the full building textures for the near field and stores the impostor textures within a
certain distance and direction for the far-field representation. Then, dependent on the textures
and memory resources available, the system will display the near field and then try to display
the far field if possible.

4.4. Splatting

A point-based method using concepts developed by [RUSIN00] is used to generate a

hierarchical sphere-tree representation of a given model. (See Figure 4-11 for a simple
example) A pre-processing phase splits the model based on the longest edge of each
successive level’s bounding box. The size of the splat required to cover each level is taken as
the radius of the bounding sphere of the bounding box. (See Table 4.2 for full pseudo-code)

Figure 4-11 - Bounding Sphere Hierarchy

Initialise_Splat_Hierarchy()
FOR All Vertices
DO Set the bounding Radius of Current Vertex as
Maximum Bounding Radius of Any Face That Touches Current Vertex
END

Build_Splat_Hierarchy()
FOR All Vertex In Parent Node
DO Add Parent Vertex to Current Vertex List Dependent On Axis Split
END
Calculate Centroid For Current Vertex List
Calculate Bounding Radius For Current Vertex List

42
IF Number Vertex > 1 AND Bounding Radius > MIN_ALLOWED
THEN Determine Longest Edge of Bounding Box
Count Number of Vertex Either Side Of Longest Edge Split
Left Child = Build_Splat_Hierarchy()
Right Child = Build_Splat_Hierarchy()
ELSE Mark As Leaf Node
END

Table 4-3 - Splatting Pseudo-code

Recursion continues until a user-specified minimum number of vertices / faces remain in any
given bounding sphere or the size of the bounding radius reaches a minimum size. Details
such as colour and normal are taken as the average of the included faces.

Figure 4-12 - Initial Bounding Sphere Estimation

Importantly, it is necessary to ensure that no visible gaps appear between splatted points. A
conservative over-estimate of final splat sizes is taken as the maximum radius of any
connected faces for a given vertex to ensure that this case does not occur (Figure 4-12).
The data structure produced by this splatting is suitable for progressive transmission as
successive levels-of-detail are stored in breath first order i.e. the lowest level of detail is
completely stored followed by the next level and so on. This allows for partial transmission of
a splatting file, which may often be the case in a wireless network environment. This concept
follows on from work by [RUSIN01, WOOL02]. In order to minimise the overhead
associated with transmission of this new file format a simplified version of the LZ adaptive

43
dictionary-based algorithm is used. This allows the file size to be reduced while avoiding
costly or lossly decompression. Individual splats are rendered using traditional z-buffering
and depth correction. Splat shapes and sizes can be changed to any geometric shape with
simple points being the least costly. An example is shown in Figure A-1. Note that the Lego
piece (Figure A-6) does not suit splatting while highly detailed models such as the dragon
(Figure A-3) are much more suited. Similarly architectural models such as buildings will be
unsuited due to their large, mainly flat, co-planar surfaces. Character objects typically consist
of a large amount of small faces that can be easily adapted to a sphere-tree representation.
Objects may also be subdivided by use of an octree, with successive levels-of-detail
drawn by successively smaller cubes. These cubes are much more suited to use with models
such as the Lego piece (Figure A-6) due to the ability to precisely fit bounding cubes to the
shape of the model.

4.5. Overall Framework

As the system has many different techniques working in tandem, careful management of
how and when each one is instigated is required. Further organisation is needed to ensure that
the server or offline process carries out as many processor and memory intensive functions as
possible. To aid in reducing transmission costs, simple predictive algorithms are needed, as
the mobile device will never contain the full scene in memory. As discussed in [ROSSI03],
this distribution and segmentation algorithm has already been implemented. This work has
been further enhanced to cache not only geometry and texture but level-of-detail and impostor
resources. As described in [FUNK96], the framework implemented similarly consists of a
pre-processing phase where level-of-detail, impostor generation and spatial subdivision occur.
At render time the client determines what is next in the render queue, whether it has all
pertinent information related to that object and then proceeds to render the object (See Figure
4-13). As the work involved in actual distribution across wireless networks is not part of this
thesis, it has been emulated by simply forcing the application to read from the local file store
when information does not reside in system memory. The cache employs a least recently used
scheme to determine which objects should be replaced in the cache. The predictive algorithm
for determination of caching uses a simple ellipsoid distance metric as described earlier based
on [PASM03] and also bears resemblance to the concept of areas of interest developed in
[CAI99].

44
 Figure 4-13- Framework for Pre-processing, Communication and Rendering

[PASM03] presents work on determination of a mathematical model for comparison of

geometric and image-based simplification methods. The results provide guidelines for
determination of when to change between varying levels-of-detail. In practice the actual point
at which the framework decides to change between representations is based on the polygonal,
texture and communication budget. Initially the client system will determine, given its next
set of objects to render, whether a sufficient representation resides in its local cache. Upon
determining this, it considers what level-of-detail can be used without excessively using up
the polygonal budget i.e. no single object should take up the entire budget. Rather a balance
should be maintained between all objects in the current viewpoint. The only proviso to this
rule is when displaying character objects or objects that have been given a high importance.
The content creator assigns importance to every object during system initialisation.
Importance is arbitrary and dependent on application requirements. Generally character
objects will be given high priority as emphasis is placed on interaction with virtual characters.
This architecture is flexible enough to allow for additional rendering pre and post-processing
and varying caching metrics can be added.

45
 5. Experimentation Results
This chapter presents results obtained during experimentation with the system. The results
shown give an entire overview of the system, starting with timings based on basic rendering
through to those that use the techniques as described above.

5.1. Single Model – Basic Rendering

In order to judge the success of the techniques implemented, presented are timings
measured with basic rendering as provided by PocketGL [18]. Figure 5-1 presents a graph of
the number of vertex and faces per model. The models chosen for rendering are architectural
models from [HAMILL03].

800 70
Vertex Material
700 Face 60 FPS
FPS / Num Material

600 50
500
40
Num

400
30
300
20
200
10
100
0
0
ks

U ke les

ta y
ts
ic uce
Ph cke k
rB edy

n
c

ta
es

y
ks

ys

or
ts
k

Be kBa

D ota
y
an
ac

uc

lS
ta

L
do
or

ed
yl

ew

t
kB

ot

lS
L
do

sB
ew

n
nn

an
et

sB

ta

fir
an

en
ck
fir

ke

en
ic
rB

Be

ys
ys

te
te

Ph
ls

ls
U

Name of Model Name of Model

Figure 5-1 - Model Vertex and Face Count Figure 5-2 - Num of Materials Vs. Frames Per Second

It can be seen that the number of textures directly affects the rendering performance of the
system (See Figure 5-2). As the number of textures required for display increases the frame
rate decreases dramatically.

5.2. Multiple Models – Basic Rendering

As more models are added to this basic system the trend continues suggesting that the
number of vertices and faces has little effect on the overall rendering time as can be seen from
Figure 5-4. The geometric information being displayed only causes slow-down after a certain

46
 limit amount is hit. At this point the frame-rate begins to decline although not to the same
extent as in the case of textured buildings. (See Figure 5-3)

FPS small texture Number Material

FPS Bounding Box FPS
180
80
160

FPS Material Count

70 140
60 120
50 100
FPS

40 80
30 60
20 40
10 20
0 0

9
1

Total Number Models Rendered Total Number Models Rendered

Figure 5-3 - Low Texture Vs. Bounding Box Figure 5-4 - Num of Materials Vs. Num of Models
Rendering

This suggests that a balance can be achieved between fully textured and flat shaded models.
When the texture data begins to have an adverse effect on the frame-rate simple models with
simple colouring and flat shading can be used.

5.3. Distribution Timings

The distribution timings presented below are provided by [ROSSI03]. Figure 5-5 shows
unsurprisingly that the amount of time required for loading large amounts of building data
increases as we move from a traditional computer through to mobile devices. More notably,
Figure 5-6 indicates that the frame-rate on the IPaq changes little whether twelve or sixty-four
models are loaded. However, the frame-rate is clearly affected when the processor is required
to render and load new information at the same time (Figure 5-8).

47
 64 Buildings 64 Buildings
350 45 Buildings 45 45 Buildings
12 Buildings
300 40 12 Buildings
35
250
30

Frame Rate
Time Taken

200
25
150 20
100 15
10
50
5
0
0
iPAQ iPAQ LifeBook PC
Cradle Wireless Wireless iPAQ LifeBook PC

Figure 5-5 - Building Loading Times Figure 5-6 – FPS With All Models Loaded

Initial (8 Buildings) Initial FPS (8 buildings)

Second (6 Buildings) While Loading
60 Third (10 Buildings) 45 Average
50 Fourth( 4 Buildings) 40
40 35
Time Taken

30 30
Frame Rate

20 25
10 20
0 15
10
ss

PC
e

ss
dl

le

le

5
ra

ire

ire
C

W
AQ

0
AQ

ok
iP

Bo

iPAQ LifeBook PC
iP

fe
Li

Figure 5-7 - Section Loading Times Figure 5-8 - FPS With Models Loaded Per Section

These results suggest that the system would benefit from a large initial loading sequence in
which most information is transferred to the wireless device and after this point only minor
data communicated. Client-server communication clearly has an adverse effect on the overall
frame-rate while the amount of time to communicate dissipates as the system runs (Figure
5-7). This gives a strong indication that short intermittent communication should occur only
when necessary after an initial data load.

5.4. Pre-process Timings

As discussed, the system makes use of a large pre-processing phase in which the server
generates level-of-detail representations of each of the models and calculates the potentially
visible set based on subdivision of the entire scene. Generation of these new representations

48
 takes little time with the octree subdivision of items increasing dependent on the number of
vertex and faces and also on the arrangement of those faces (See Figure 5-9). Generation of
the point-based models takes substantially less time as indicated in Figure 5-10. The time
required to generate the geometric level-of-detail representation varies from model to model
with certain models being more suited to quick simplification. Typically, the time required to
create successive levels-of-detail decreases as more faces are merged or removed and the time
is equivalent to the time taken to generate a splatted object.

Number Vertex Number Vertex

Number Face Number Face
6000 6000
Octree Creation (ms) Splatting
5000 5000

4000 4000

3000 3000

2000 2000

1000 1000

0 0
Lego Cup Snakie Dragon Bunny Cow Lego Cup Snakie Dragon Bunny Cow

Figure 5-9 - Octree Creation time Vs Size Figure 5-10 - Splat Creation Time Vs Size

Calculation of the time required to generate impostors is more difficult to measure, as the
method of impostor creation is not currently an automatic one. Furthermore the number of
impostors required can vary greatly from scene to scene. For example if a street is extremely
long or very crooked then the number of impostors required increases in order to ensure that
geometric and texture budgets are adhered to. As [PASM03] suggests a distance metric
(although based on level-of-detail techniques) can be used to make an estimate of the number
of impostors required per street. A general formula can be used to count the number of
impostors required for a single street (Equation 5-11).

Num Impostor = 3 * Start + 3 * End + (3 * Middle to End + 3 * Middle to Start) * Street Length
_______________________________________________
Optimum Distance Between Impostors

Equation 5-11 - Formula for Calculation of Number of Impostors Per Street

49
The number of impostors can quickly become prohibitive when the total number of impostors
required for an entire scene becomes too large or when the number of impostors for a given
area of interest is greater than the local cache can handle.

5.5. Distribution Costs

As previously noted, a large initial transmission of scene information is preferred. It is

necessary to investigate the file size of the information transferred to ascertain if the benefits
of the new representation are over-shadowed by file-size and by association the amount of
time required to transmit this data. Figure 5-12 shows that the resultant file-size when a model
is converted from a Wavefront OBJ file-format to a Splat file-format is at most equal in size
to its original and as the model increases in complexity the equivalent Splat file is smaller.
Also, the Splat file is designed so that transmission can occur in an incremental fashion. As
indicated in Figure 5-13, the difference in size between successive levels in the Splat file is
significantly less than the size of the equivalent Wavefront OBJ file.

OBJ Size (kb) Size (kb)

300
SPLAT Size (kb)
450
250
400
350
200
300
FileSize

250 150
200
150 100
100
50 50
0
0
y

ow
go

up

n
e

10

13

16

19

22
nn
go
i
ak
C
Le

C
Bu
ra
Sn

Splat Level
D

Figure 5-12 - OBJ Versus Splat Physical File size Figure 5-13- Splat Size Versus Level

5.6. Rendering With Culling

A sample scene of Dublin was rendered with a count of the total number of faces and
textures maintained. Frame-rates were measured with no culling, simple back-face culling,
frustum culling and finally occlusion culling added.

50
 3000
Faces 200
Textures
180 FPS
2500
160
140
2000
120
100
1500
80
60
1000
40

500 20
0
0 None Back- Frustum Occlusion
Face
None Back-Face Frustum Occlusion

Figure 5-14 - Culling Techniques Versus No. Figure 5-15 - Culling Techniques Versus No.
Faces Textures and FPS

As can be seen in Figure 5-14 and Figure 5-15 the use of culling greatly decreases the
rendering time required. However, as more complicated calculations are added to the culling
algorithm the efficiency of culling will decrease. This suggests that more complex culling
schemes may give no further benefit in terms of increased frame-rates if implemented. The
processing capabilities available for a given frame must always be considered and it must be
ensured that techniques chosen for speeding up a simulation actually do so when applied. This
is even more vital when discussing the use of mobile devices that have extremely limited
processing capabilities.

5.7. Rendering with Impostor Techniques

Generation of impostors occurs as a pre-process and it has been shown that the costs
associated with these calculations are minimal. Figure 5-16 shows the positive affect that
occurs when multiple textures and complicated geometry is replaced with a simplified
impostor. This tallies with the results as illustrated in Figure 5-4. These indicate that as the
number of textures increases the frame-rate decreases. The use of impostors allows for
increased frame-rate and visual fidelity as spare rendering time can be used to add more
geometric information. However, the maximum renderable number of textures will eventually
be reached, at which point the frame-rate drops to a steady minimum.

51
 120
No Impostors
Impostors
100

80

60

40

20

0
Faces Textures FPS

Figure 5-16 - Rendering Time With Impostors

5.8. Rendering with Point-based Techniques

Sphere Point
400 300
Point Cube
350 Normal Normal
250
300

250 200
FPS

FPS

200 150

150
100
100

50 50

0 0
1

10

13

16

19

22

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Splat Level
Octree Level

Figure 5-17 - Cow Model FPS Vs. Splat Level Figure 5-18 - Cow Model FPS Vs. Octree Level

In order to examine the rendering time while using point-based methods the Cow model
(Figure A-2) was rendered at various levels of splatting and the average frames per seconds
was measured. The results, as displayed in Figure 5-17, show that the splatting increases the
average FPS up to a certain level after which it is less efficient than rendering normal
triangulated faces. Plainly rendering spheres as points rather than as geometry allows for
greater efficiency. Rendering as a splat is more effective up until a higher level in the
hierarchy. Each model has a different saturation point at which rendering as a splat is less

52
beneficial than rendering as normal geometry. The server, to guide client systems in
determining at what point to render using traditional methods, must estimate this beforehand.
Equally for octree volume rendering, (See Figure 5-18) the application is more efficient at
drawing simple points rather than cubes and also has a cut-off point at which rendering the
model by traditional methods is more favourable.

53
6. Conclusions
A system was implemented allowing for the use of a city walk-through application on a
mobile device. Several of the more pertinent techniques with regard to large-scale rendering
were investigated and applied to mobile rendering. Geometric level-of-detail techniques were
implemented and examined, providing insight into the most suitable technique for mobile
rendering. Culling was added to the system to reduce the amount of work required per frame
and impostor-based techniques were incorporated. This allowed for improved perception of
visual information while reducing the amount of geometry actually rendered. Point-based
methods were then added to allow for display of high-detail objects such as virtual characters.
These techniques were combined with a caching scheme to create a framework within which
rendering of virtual characters and city scenes could occur at close to real-time.

6.1. Future Work

Further work is required in the area of compression and streaming techniques. The size of
resources required by the end-user is quite large and could be reduced greatly by the use of an
efficient compression technique. Added to this, full implementation of the distributed
elements of the system is needed so as to fully investigate the feasibility of large-scale city
rendering on mobile devices. PocketGL is limited in terms of functionality and base rendering
speed. New platforms and graphics libraries need investigation as device capabilities are
increasing at a face pace. The system needs to be extended for use on other mobile devices
with consideration given to maintaining a level of service across all hardware [AHMAD01].

The following discusses interesting directions in which new research may be carried out.

6.1.1. Non-Photorealistic Rendering

Non-photorealistic methods generally refer to styles produced by artists such as painting,
engraving and pen and ink. As suggested in [MARK97] pen and ink techniques, in particular,
can be used to convey information in a clear and concise way. These stylised renderings can
be used to great effect in areas such as technical illustration [GOOCH98]. These methods may
be viable and communicate more meaningful information to the end-user than traditional
rendering techniques, especially when displayed on a device with limited resolution and
colour. Level-of-detail can be incorporated into these line drawings as discussed in
[SCHLEC96, MARK00]. Even if not used throughout, stylised rendering could be used to
represent highly complex objects such as trees and vegetation [KOWAL99]. [KLEIN00] has

54
developed a system for non-photorealistic virtual environments, which offers some indication
of possible results. It may be meaningful to convert research by [AGRA01] into improving
the usability of route maps through generalisation into the 3D image space by merging its
findings with non-photorealistic techniques.

6.1.2. Perceptual Feedback

Perceptual metrics may yield great savings on a mobile device. [HORV97] provides a
good separation of rendering into tasks associated with perceptually driven modelling, which
could be investigated with regard to the current system. [ROGO01] raises an important
question with regard to evaluation of simplification methods. It suggests that 2D images
cannot give fair judgement of the perceived quality of a 3D object once simplified by a level-
of-detail scheme. External factors such as lighting play a vital part in the final 2D image and
therefore new object quality metrics need to be investigated. These metrics may need further
refinement and investigation with regard to low power devices that typically render at a much
lower resolution. [WOOL03] presents work that combines interruptible rendering with
fidelity metrics and gives good indication of research already being carried out in this area. A
good overview of perceptual issues with regards to experimentation in computer graphics can
be found at [FERWE02].

6.1.3. Artistic Principles

Computer depiction as presented in [DURA02-1] may lead to interesting optimisations in
rendering. Traditional 2D techniques used by artists, as identified in [DURA02-2] may yield
benefits in visualisation of information that could be applied to rendering on mobile devices
where screen space is limited. Taking use of texture as an example, [INTER02, GORLA03]
have shown that simple texture orientation and detail can provide important shape information
to the end-user. [GOOCH02] gives good explanation of the neurological theories of aesthetics
that leads to important findings with regard to communication of information in an image.
Investigation into these human processes and how they relate to 3D computer depiction could
yield useful results with regard to mobile device rendering.

6.1.4. Virtual Humans

Further work is required in the area of virtual character animation and depiction.
[BABSKI00] describes a set of tools that can be used to define virtual humans. This character
definition language can be adapted to make use of point-sample rendering such as in
[WAND02] for animation of multiple characters on screen in a low powered device.

55
6.1.5. Salient Feature Extraction
Another concept worth consideration is that of automatically extracting the most salient
features in an architectural walkthrough and ensuring that they are rendered at the highest
available quality. This would involve determining features such as road signs, major
landmarks and building entrances. These features, once detected, could be given higher
priority in a render queue and therefore important aspects of a scene would be given most
emphasis. Determination of salient features however may depend on the application area in
which it is used. For example, if a user wanted to navigate a city street by car, road markings
and signs become important whereas a user wishing to use a tourist guide type application
may find shops and major landmarks more useful. [YEE00] and [MYSZK01] allude to the
use of visual attention models to investigate global illumination problems. The concepts in
these works could be considered in the realm of mobile graphics and investigation carried out
to discover how the human visual attention system acts when viewing scenes on a device such
as a PDA.

56
Bibliography
[AHMAD01] Wegdan Ahmad Elsay Fouad Abdelsalam, "Maintaining Quality of Service for Adaptive
Mobile Map Clients”, Master of Mathematics in Computer Science thesis report, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada , 2001

[AGAR02] Gaurav Agarwal, Dinesh Rathi, Prem K. Kalra and Subhashis Banerjee, “A System for
Image Based Rendering of Walk-throughs”, Computer Graphics International (CGI2002), Bradford,
July, 2002

[AGRA01] Maneesh Agrawala, Chris Stolte, “Rendering Effective Route Maps: Improving Usability
Through Generalization”, SIGGRAPH ’01, 2001

[ALIAGA96] Daniel G. Aliaga, "Visualization of Complex Models Using Dynamic Texture-based

Simplification", IEEE Visualization '96, pp 101-106, 1996

[ALIAGA99-1] Daniel G. Aliaga and Anselmo Lastra, "Automatic Image Placement to Provide a
Guaranteed Frame Rate", SIGGRAPH ‘99, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 307-316, 1999

[ARON97] J. Aronson, “Dead Reckoning: Latency Hiding for Networked Games”, in Gamasutra
website, http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19970919/aronson_01.htm, 1997

[BABSKI00] Christian Babski, Daniel Thalmann, “3D Graphics Define Virtual Humans On the Web”,
Software Focus 1, Volume 1, pp 6-14, 2000

[BAYAK98] Y. Bayakovski, A. Ignatenko, A. Zhirkov, D. Timasov, A. Konushin, L. Levkovich-

Maslyuk, Mahnjin Han and In Kyu Park, "Depth Image-based Representations and Compression For
Static and Animated 3D Objects"

[CAI99] Wentong Cai, Francis B.S. Lee, L. Chen , “An Auto-Adaptive Dead Reckoning Algorithm for
Distributed Interactive Simulation”, 13th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation, Atlanta,
Georgia, pp 82, May, 1999

[CERT96] Andrew Certain, Jovan Popovic, Tony DeRose, Tom Duchamp, David Salesin and Werner
Stuetzle, "Interactive Multi-resolution Surface Viewing", Computer Graphics, Volume 30, Annual
Conference Series, pp 91-98, 1996

[CHANG02] Chun-Fa Chang and Shyh-Haur Ger, “Enhancing 3D Graphics on Mobile Devices by
Image-based Rendering”, proceedings of 2002 IEEE Pacific-Rim Conference on Multimedia, 2002

57
[CHEN95] Shenchang Eric Chen, "QuickTime VR --- An Image-Based Approach to Virtual
Environment Navigation", Computer Graphics, Volume 29, Annual Conference Series, pp 29-38, 1995

[COHEN97] Daniel Cohen-Or, “Model-based View Extrapolation for Interactive VR Web-Systems”,

Computer Graphics International, pp 104-112, 1997

[COHEN98] Daniel Cohen-Or and Gadi Fibich and Dan Halperin and Eyal Zadicario, "Conservative
Visibility and Strong Occlusion for Viewspace Partitioning of Densely Occluded Scenes", Computer
Graphics Forum, Volume 17, number 3, 1998

[COHEN99] Daniel Cohen-Or and Yair Mann and Shachar Fleishman, "Deep Compression for
Streaming Texture Intensive Animations", SIGGRAPH ‘99, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 261-
268, 1999

[COHEN00] D. Cohen-Or, Y. Chrysanthou, and C. T. Silva, “A Survey of Visibility for Walkthrough

Applications”, Proc. of EUROGRAPHICS'00, course notes, 2000

[COORG96] S. Coorg and S. Teller, "A Spatially and Temporally Coherent Object Space Visibility
Algorithm", Tech. Report TM-546, Laboratory for Computer Science, MIT, 1996

[COORG97] Satyan R. Coorg and Seth J. Teller, "Real-Time Occlusion Culling for Models with
Large Occluders", Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp 83-90, 1997

[DALLY96] William J. Dally and Leonard McMillan and Gary Bishop and Henry Fuchs, "The Delta
Tree: An Object-Centered Approach to Image-Based Rendering", AIM-1604, pp 12, 1996

[DECOR99] Xavier Decoret and Francois Sillion and Gernot Schaufler and Julie Dorsey, "Multi-
layered Impostors For Accelerated Rendering", Computer Graphics Forum, Volume 18, number 3,
1999

[DECOR03] Xavier Decoret, Fredo Durand, Francois X. Sillion and Julie Dorsey, “Billboard Clouds
for Extreme Model Simplification”, SIGGRAPH ’03, 2003

[DUMON01] Reynald Dumont, Fabio Pellacini, and James A. Ferwerda, “A Perceptually-based

Texture Caching Algorithm for Hardware-based Rendering”, Eurographics Workshop on Rendering,
2001

58
[DURA02-1] Frédo Durand, “An Invitation to Discuss Computer Depiction”, ACM/Eurographics
Symposium, NPAR'02, 2002

[DURA02-2] Fredo Durand, Maneesh Agrawala, Bruce Gooch, Victoria Interrante, Victor
Ostromoukhov, Denis Zorin, “Perceptual and Artistic Principles for Effective Computer Depiction”,
course notes, ACM SIGGRAPH ‘02, July 2002

[FERWE02] James A. Ferwerda, Holly Rushmeier, Benjamin Watson, “Psychometrics 101: How To
Design, Conduct and Analyse Perceptual Experiments in Computer Graphics”, SIGGRAPH ’02, 2002

[FUNK92] Thomas A. Funkhouser and Carlo H. Sequin and Seth J. Teller, "Management of Large
Amounts of Data in Interactive Building Walkthroughs", Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp
11-20, 1992

[FUNK93] Thomas A. Funkhouser and Carlo H. Séquin, "Adaptive Display Algorithm for Interactive
Frame Rates during Visualization of Complex Virtual Environments", Computer Graphics, Volume 27,
{Annual Conference Series}", pp 247-254, 1993

[FUNK96] Thomas A. Funkhouser, "Database Management for Interactive Display of Large

Architectural Models", Graphics Interface '96, pp 1-8, 1996

[GARLAND97] M. Garland and P. Heckbert “Surface Simplification Using Quadric Error Metrics”, In
Proceedings of SIGGRAPH ‘97, 1997

[GARLAND99-1] M. Garland. “Multi-resolution Modelling: Survey & future opportunities”,

Eurographics ’99, State of the Art Report, September, 1999

[GARLAND02] Michael Garland, Eric Shaffer, “A Multiphase Approach to Efficient Surface

Simplification”, 13th IEEE Visualization 2002 Conference (VIS 2002), October, 2002

[GOBB01] Enrico Gobbetti and Riccardo Scateni and Marco Agus, "Exploring Virtual Prototypes
Using Time-Critical Multi-resolution Rendering", ERCIM News, January, 2001

[GOOCH98] A. Gooch, "Interactive Non-Photorealistic Technical Illustration", Master's thesis,

University of Utah, December, 1998

[GOOCH02] Bruce Gooch, “Ramachandran and Hirstein's Neurological Theories of Aesthetic for
Computer Graphics”, Section 5, Perceptual and Artistic Principles for Effective Computer Depiction,
SIGGRAPH ‘02 Course Notes, 2002

59
[GORLA03] Gabriele Gorla, Victoria Interrante and Guillermo Sapiro. "Texture Synthesis for 3D
Shape Representation", IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2003

[GOTZ02] David Gotz and Ketan Mayer-Patel and Dinesh Manocha, "IRW: An Incremental
Representation for Image-Based", ACM Multimedia, 2002

[GRIBB01] Gil Gribb and Klaus Hartmann, “Fast Extraction of Viewing Frustum Panes From the
World-View-Projection Matrix”, June, 2001

[GROSS96] J. P. Grossman, “Point Sample Rendering”, Master Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of

Technology, August, 1998

[GUEN93] Brian K. Guenter and Hee Cheol Yun and Russell M. Mersereau, "Motion Compensated
Compression of Computer Animation Frames", Computer Graphics, Volume 27, Annual Conference
Series, pp 297-304, 1993

[GUTH02] Stefan Guthe and Michael Wand and Julius Gonser and Wolfgang Straßer, "Interactive
Rendering of Large Volume Data Sets”, IEEE Visualisations 2002, 2002

[HAMILL03] John Hamill and Carol O’Sullivan, “Virtual Dublin – A Framework for Real-time Urban
Simulation”, WSCG Journal, Volume 1-3, Number 11, 2003

[HECK97] Paul Heckbert and Michael Garland, “Surface Simplification Using Quadric Error
Metrics”, SIGGRAPH ’97, 1997

[HODES99] Todd D. Hodes and Randy H. Katz, "Composable Ad Hoc Location-based Services for
Heterogeneous Mobile Clients", Wireless Networks, Volume 5, number 5, pp 411-427, 1999

[HOPPE93] Hugues Hoppe and Tony DeRose and Tom Duchamp and John McDonald and Werner
Stuetzle, "Mesh Optimization", Computer Graphics, Volume 27, Annual Conference Series, pp 19-26,
1993

[HORV97] E. Horvitz and J. Lengyel, "Perception, Attention, and Resources: A Decision-Theoretic

Approach to Graphics Rendering", 13th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, August,
1997

60
[INTER02] Victoria Interrante, Sunghee Kim and Haleh Hagh-Shenas. "Conveying 3D Shape with
Texture: Recent Advances and Experimental Findings", Human Vision and Electronic Imaging VII,
2002

[KHO03] Y. Kho and M. Garland, “User-Guided Simplification.” In Proceedings of ACM Symposium

on Interactive 3D Graphics, April, 2003

[KLEIN00] Allison W. Klein and Wilmot W. Li and Michael M. Kazhdan and Wagner T. Correa and
Adam Finkelstein and Thomas A. Funkhouser, "Non-Photorealistic Virtual Environments",
SIGGRAPH ‘00, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 527-534, 2000

[KOWAL99] Michael A. Kowalski and Lee Markosian and J. D. Northrup and Lubomir Bourdev and
Ronen Barzel and Loring S. Holden and John Hughes, "Art-Based Rendering of Fur, Grass, and Trees",
SIGGRAPH ‘99, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 433-438, 1999

[LIJ01] Jiang Li and Yiying Tong and Yong Wang and Heung-Yeung Shum and Ya-Qin Zhang,
"Image-Based Walkthrough Over The Internet", International Workshop on Very Low Bitrate Video
Coding (VLBV01), October, 2001

[LI01] Jin Li and Harry Shum and Ya-Qin Zhang, "On The Compression Of Image Based Rendering
Scene”, International Journal of Image and Graphics, Volume 1, Number 1, pp 45-61, 2001

[LIND01] Lars Linden, “Point Cloud Representation”, Interner Bericht Nr 2001-3, Fakultät für
Informatik, Universität Karlsruhe, 2001

[LUEB03] David Luebke, Martin Reddy, Jonathan D. Cohen. Amitabh Varshney, Benjamin Watson,
Robert Huebner, “Level of Detail for 3D Graphics”, Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 2003

[MACED94] M. R. Macedonia and M. J. Zyda and D. R. Pratt and P. T. Barham and S. Zeswitz,
"{NPSNET}: {A} Network Software Architecture for Large-Scale Virtual Environment", Presence,
Volume 3, number 4, pp 265-287, 1994

[MACI95] Paulo W. C. Maciel and Peter Shirley, "Visual Navigation of Large Environments Using
Textured Clusters", Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp 95-102, 1995

[MANN97] Yair Mann and Daniel Cohen-Or, “Selective Pixel Transmission for Navigating in Remote
Virtual Environments”, Eurographics ’97, Volume 16, number 3, 1997

61
[MARK96] William R Mark and Gary Bishop and Leonard McMillan, "Post-Rendering Image
Warping for Latency Compensation", TR96-020, 1996

[MARK97] William R. Mark, Leonard McMillan and Gary Bishop, "Post-rendering

3D Warping", Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp 7-16, April, 1997

[MARKL97] Lee Markosian and Michael A. Kowalski and Samuel J. Trychin and Lubomir D.
Bourdev and Daniel Goldstein and John F. Hughes, "Real-Time Non-photorealistic Rendering",
Computer Graphics, Volume 31, Annual Conference Series, PP 415-420, 1997

[MARKL00] Lee Markosian, Barbara J. Meier, Michael A. Kowalski, Loring S. Holden, J. D.

Northrup, and John F. Hughes, “Art-based Rendering with Continuous Levels of Detail”, Proceedings
of the First International Symposium on Non Photorealistic Animation and Rendering (NPAR) for Art
and Entertainment, June 2000

[MAX95] Nelson Max and Keiichi Ohsaki, "Rendering Trees from Precomputed {Z}-Buffer Views",
Proceedings of the 6th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, 1995

[MCMILL95-1] Leonard McMillan and Gary Bishop, "Plenoptic Modelling: An Image-Based

Rendering System", Computer Graphics, Volume 29, Annual Conference Series, pp 39-46, 1995

[MCMILL95-2] Leonard McMillan, "A List-Priority Rendering Algorithm for Redisplaying Projected
Surfaces", UNC Technical report TR95-005, University of North Carolina, 1995

[MELAX98] Stan Melax, “A Simple, Fast and Effective Polygon Reduction Algorithm”, Game
Developer, November, 1998

[MEISS99] Michael Meißner and Dirk Bartz and Tobias Hüttner and Gordon Müller and Jens
Einighammer, "Generation of Subdivision Hierarchies for Efficient Occlusion Culling of Large
Polygonal Models”, 1999

[MYSZK01] Karol Myszkowski, Takehiro Tawara, Hiroyuki Akamine and Hans-Peter Seidel,
“Perception-Guided Global Illumination Solution for Animation Rendering”, SIGGRAPH ’01
conference proceedings, 2001

[OLIV99] Oliveira Neto, Manuel and Gary Bishop, “Image-Based Objects”, Proceedings of ACM
Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics (Atlanta, Ga.), pp 191-198, April 26-28, 1999

62
[OLIV00] Manuel M. Oliveira and Gary Bishop and David McAllister, "Relief Texture Mapping",
SIGGRAPH ‘00, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 359-368, 2000

[PAJAR02] Renato Pajarola, Yu Meng, Miguel Sainz, “Fast Depth-Image Meshing and Warping”,
Technical Report, UCI-ECE-TR-02-02, July, 2002

[PASM03] W. Pasman and F. W. Jansen, ‘Comparing Simplification and Image-based Techniques for
3D Client-Server Rendering Systems’, IEEE Transactions on Visualisation and Computer Graphics,
Volume 9, Number 2, pp 226-240, April 2003

[PAUL01] Mark Pauly and Markus Gros, "Spectral Processing of Point-Sampled Geometry",
SIGGRAPH ‘01, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 379-386, 2001

[PUPPO97] E. Puppo and R. Scopigno, "Simplification, LOD and Multi-resolution - Principles and
Applications", Eurographics '97 Tutorial Notes, 1997

[RAFF98] Matthew M. Rafferty and Daniel G. Aliaga and Anselmo A. Lastra, “3D Image Warping in
Architectural Walkthroughs", VRAIS ‘98, pp 228-233 March 14-18, 1998

[REMOL02] I. Remolar, M. Chover, O. Belmonte, J. Ribelles and C. Rebollo, “Geometric

Simplification of Foliage”, Eurographics ’02, Short Presentations, 2002

[RHYNE02] Theresa Marie Rhyne, Alan Turner, Ron Vetter, Lars Bishop and David Holmes,
“Dynamic Media on Demand: Exploring Wireless and Wired Streaming Technologies and Content”,
ACM SIGGRAPH ‘02, course 48, 2002

[ROGO01] B. Rogowitz and H. Rushmeier, "Are image quality metrics adequate to evaluate the
quality of geometric objects?", SPIE Proceedings, SPIE Volume 4299, "Human Vision and Electronic
Imaging VI", 2001

[RONF96] Rémi Ronfard and Jarek Rossignac, “Full-range approximation of triangulated polyhedra”,
Eurographics ’96, Volume 15, number 3, pp 67-76, 1996

[ROSSI03] Clodagh Rossi, Alan Cummins, Carol O'Sullivan, “Distributed Mobile Multi-User Urban
Simulation”, SIGGRAPH ‘03, Sketches and Applications, 2003

[RUSH00] Rushmeier, H., B. Rogowitz, and C. Piatko, "Perceptual Issues in Substituting Texture for
Geometry.", Human Vision and Electronic Imaging V, SPIE Vol. 3959, pp 372-383, 2000

63
[RUSIN00] Szymon Rusinkiewicz and Marc Levoy, "QSplat: A Multi-resolution Point Rendering
System for Large Meshes", SIGGRAPH ‘00, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 343-352, 2000

[RUSIN01] Szymon Rusinkiewicz and Marc Levoy, "Streaming {QSplat}: A Viewer for Networked
Visualization of Large, Dense Models", Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, pp 63-68, 2001

[SAO99] C. Saona-Vazquez and I. Navazo and P. Brunet, "The Visibility Octree: A Data Structure For
3D Navigation", Computer and Graphics, Volume 23, number 5, pp 635-644, 1999

[SATYAN01] M. Satyanarayanan and Dushyanth Narayanan, "Multi-Fidelity Algorithms for

Interactive Mobile Applications", Wireless Networks, Volume 7, number 6, pp 601-607, 2001

[SCHAU00] Gernot Schaufler and Julie Dorsey and Xavier Decoret and Francois X. Sillion,
”Conservative Volumetric Visibility with Occluder Fusion", SIGGRAPH ‘00, Computer Graphics
Proceedings, pp 229-238, 2000

[SCHAU96] Gernot Schaufler and Wolfgang Stúrzlinger, "A Three Dimensional Image Cache for
Virtual Reality", Computer Graphics Forum, Volume 15, number 3, pp 227-236, 1996

[SCHAU97] Gernot Schaufler, "Nailboards: A Rendering Primitive for Image Caching in Dynamic
Scenes", Eurographics Rendering Workshop ‘97, pp 151-162, 1997

[SCHLEC96] S. Schlechtweg and T. Strothotte, “Rendering Line-drawings With Limited Resources”,

Proceedings of GRAPHICON '96 - Sixth International Conference and Exhibition on Computer
Graphics and Visualization in Russia, Volume 2, pp 131-137, 1996

[SCHROE92] Schroeder, W., J. Zarge, and W. Lorensen, "Decimation of Triangle Meshes," Computer
Graphics, Volume 26, number 2, pp 65-70, August 1992

[SCHRO00] Gerald Schröcker, "Seamless Tiling in OpenGL Based QuickTime VR Applications”,

Article, Technical University Vienna, Institute for Computer Graphics and Algorithms, 2000

[SHADE96] Jonathan Shade and Dani Lischinski and David H. Salesin and Tony DeRose and John
Snyder, "Hierarchical Image Caching for Accelerated Walkthroughs of Complex Environments",
Computer Graphics, Volume 30, Annual Conference Series, pp 75-82, 1996

[SHADE98] Jonathan W. Shade and Steven J. Gortler and Li-Wei He and Richard Szeliski, "Layered
Depth Images", Computer Graphics, Volume 32, Annual Conference Series, pp 231-242, 1998

64
[SILLION97] Francois Sillion and George Drettakis and Benoit Bodelet, "Efficient Impostor
Manipulation for Real-Time Visualization of Urban Scenery", Computer Graphics Forum, Volume 16,
number 3, pp C207-C218, 1997

[TELL91] Seth J. Teller and Carlo H. Séquin, "Visibility Pre-processing for Interactive
Walkthroughs", Computer Graphics, Volume 25, number 4, pp 61-68, 1991

[TURK92] Greg Turk, "Re-Tiling Polygonal Surfaces", Computer Graphics, Volume 26, Number 2,
(July 1992), SIGGRAPH ‘92 Conference Proceedings, pp 55-64, 1992

[UMTS01-1] “The UMTS 3G Market Forecast”, UMTS Forum, Report 18, February, 2001

[UMTS01-2] “Ranking of Top 3G Services”, Position paper, Number 2, August, 2001

[VARSH00] Upkar Varshney and Ron Vetter, “Emerging Mobile and Wireless Networks”,
Communications of ACM, Volume 43, Number 6, June 2000

[WAND00] Michael Wand, M. Fischer and F. Meyer, “Randomized Point Sampling for Output-
Sensitive Rendering of Complex Dynamic Scenes, Technical Report, WSI, 2000

[WAND01] Michael Wand and Matthias Fischer and Ingmar Peter and Friedhelm Meyer auf der Heide
and Wolfgang Strasser, "The Randomized z-Buffer Algorithm: Interactive Rendering of Highly
Complex Scenes", SIGGRAPH ‘01, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 361-370, 2001

[WAND02] M Wand and W Strasser, “Multi-Resolution Rendering of Complex Animated Scenes”,

Eurographics ’02, Volume 21, Number 3, 2002

[WATS01] B.A. Watson, A. Friedman, A. McGaffey, “Measuring and Predicting Visual Fidelity”,
Proceedings SIGGRAPH ‘01, Computer Graphics Proceedings, Annual Conference Series, ACM
SIGGRAPH ‘01, pp 213-220, 2001

[WILSON00] Andrew Wilson and Ming C. Lin and Boon-Lock Yeo and Minerva M. Yeung and
Dinesh Manocha, "A Video-based Rendering Acceleration Algorithm for Interactive Walkthroughs",
{ACM} Multimedia, pp 75-83, 2000

[WILSON01] Andrew Wilson and Ketan Mayer-Patel and Dinesh Manocha, "Spatially-encoded Far-
field Representations for Interactive Walkthroughs", {ACM} Multimedia", pp 348-357, 2001

65
[WILSON03] Andrew Wilson, Dinesh Manocha, “Simplifying Complex Environments Using
Incremental Textured Depth Meshes”, ACM SIGGRAPH ’03, 2003

[WIMM98] Michael Wimmer, Markus Giegel and Dieter Schmalstieg, “Fast Walkthroughs with
Images Caches and Ray Casting”, Technical University Vienna, Technical Report TR-186-2-98-30,
December 1998

[WIMM01] Michael Wimmer and Peer Wonka and Francois Sillion, "{Point-Based} Impostors for
{Real-Time} Visualization", pp 163-176, 2001

[WOOL02] Cliff Woolley Jwoolley, "Interruptible Rendering”, SIGGRAPH ‘02 Technical Sketch,
2002

[WOOL03] Cliff Wooley, David Luebke, Benjamin Watson and Abhinav Dayal, “Interruptible
Rendering”, Proceedings of 2003 ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics, April,
2003

[XIONG96] Rebecca Xiong Becca, "CityScape, a Walkthrough System for Large Environments Using
Stratified Rendering", Proceedings of 6th Annual MIT Student Workshop on Computing Technology,
August 15, 1996

[YEE00] Yang Li Hector Yee. “Spatiotemporal Sensitivity and Visual Attention for Efficient
Rendering of Dynamic Environments”, Master's thesis, Cornell University, 2000.

[ZACH01] C. Zach and K. Karner, "Pre-fetching Policies for Remote Walkthroughs", Technical
report, VRVis Research Center, 2001

[ZACH02] Christopher Zach and Stephan Mantler and Konrad Karner, "Time-critical Rendering of
Discrete and Continuous Levels of Detail”, Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, pp 1-8, 2002

[ZUNI03] C. Zunino, F. Lamberti, A. Sanna, “A 3D Multi-resolution Rendering Engine for PDA

Devices”, SCI, 2003

[ZWICK01] Matthias Zwicker and Hanspeter Pfister and Jeroen van Baar and Markus Gross, "Surface
Splatting", SIGGRAPH ‘01, Computer Graphics Proceedings, pp 371-378, 2001

66
Web Bibliography
[1] Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW), Qualcomm Technologies
www.qualcomm.com/brew/
[2] Diesel Engine, Inmar Software Ltd
www.inmarsoftware.com
[3] EasyCE, Jacco Bikker, Overloaded Ltd
www.bik5.com
[4] Game Application Programming Interface (GAPI), Microsoft
www.microsfot.com/windowsmobile
[5] IPaq, Hewlett-Packard
h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF02a/215348-64929-215381.html
[6] Intel XScale, Intel
www.intel.com/deisgn/intelxscale/
[7] Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME), Sun Microsystems
java.sun.com/j2me
[8] Microsoft Embedded Visual Studio (EMVC++ 3.0), Microsoft
msdn.Microsoft.com/mobility
[9] Microsoft PocketPC 2002, Microsoft
www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/products/pocketpc/default.mspx
[10] MiniGL, Digital Sandbox Inc.
www.dsbox.com/minigl.html
[11] Nintendo Gameboy Advanced (GBA), Nintendo
www.nintendo.com/systems/gba/index.jsp
[12] Nokia N-gage, Nokia
www.n-gage.com
[13] OpenGL
www.opengl.org
[14] OpenGL ES, Khronos Group
www.khronos.org
[15] Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)
www.openmobilealliance.org
[16] Palm Pilot, PalmOS, Palm Computers
www.palm.com
[17] Playstation Portable (PSP), Sony Corporation
www.us.playstation.com/hardware/
[18] PocketGL
www.sundialsoft.freeserve.co.uk/pgl.htm
[19] Symbian Operating System

67
www.symbian.com
[20] TinyGL, Fabrice Bellard
fabrice.bellard.free.fr/TinyGL
[21] Virtual Reality Mark-up Language (VRML), Specification
www.web3d.org
[22] Wireless Developer Network
www.wirelessdevnet.com
[23] X-forge Engine, Fat Hammer Ltd.
www.fathammer.com

68
A. Appendix - Screenshots - Level of Detail

Screenshots of various objects are presented illustrating the underlying scene subdivision
schemes that are utilised to provide level of detail objects.

Bunny

Model

Splat

Sphere

Volume

Octree

Figure A-1 - Bunny Model Level of Detail

69
Cow

Model

Splat

Sphere

Volume

Octree

Figure A-2 - Cow Model Level of Detail

70
Dragon

Model

Splat

Sphere

Volume

Octree

Figure A-3 - Dragon Model Level of Detail

71
Cup

Model

Splat

Sphere

Volume

Octree

Figure A-4 - Cup Model Level of Detail

72
Snake

Model

Splat

Sphere

Volume

Octree

Figure A-5 - Snake Model Level of Detail

73
Lego Piece

Model

Splat

Sphere

Volume

Octree

Figure A-6 - Lego Model Level of Detail

74
Geometric Level-of-Detail Samples

Dragon 20 Percent Slimmed Dragon 40 Percent Slimmed

Dragon 80 Percent Slimmed Dragon 90 Percent Slimmed

Figure A-7 - Geometric Level of Detail

75
B. Appendix - Mobile Hardware Specification

Hardware specifications for common mobile platforms are provided below.

Model CPU Memory Screen Operating Expansion Communication

System Slot
Palm Intel 64Mb 320x320 PalmOS Yes Built-in
Pilot PXA255 65k colour 802.11b
Tungsten- 400Mhz 16bit,
C transflective
TFT
IPaq Intel 64Mb 240x320 PocketPC Yes Built-in
h5450 PXA255 SDRAM, 65k colour 2002 Bluetooth,
400MHz 48 Mb 16 bit, 802.11b
ROM transflective
TFT
Nokia N- ARM 64Mb on 176x208 12 Symbian Multimedia Bluetooth,
gage processor optional bit 4096 based on Cards USB, HSCSD,
104 MHz MMC colours Series 60 GPRS, triband,
card platform SMS, MMS
Nintendo 16 MHz 96Kb 240x160 Nintendo Limited Link cable,
Gameboy Arm, 32 VRAM, 32k colours proprietary third party
Advance bit RISC 32Kb reflective cartridge based
SP CPU, 8 bit WRAM, TFT Ethernet
CISC CPU 256Kb
WRAM
IPaq 206Mhz 64Mb 240x320 PocketPC Built-in
h3870 StrongArm 65k colour 2002 Yes Bluetooth,
16 bit, Third party
transflective Wireless,
TFT mobile
Nokia 32bit Risc 3.4Mb 176x208 Symbian Yes GSM, GPRS,
3650 Arm 4096 HSCSD
Colours
IPaq Intel 48Mb 240X320 PocketPC Yes Built-in
h5550 PXA250 ROM 65k colour 2003 Bluetooth,
400Mhz 128Mb 802.11b
RAM

76
C. Appendix - Screenshots - Architectural Application

Figure C-1 - Dublin Buildings Rendered on PC

Figure C-2 –Dublin Buildings Rendered on iPaq

77
Figure C-3 - Street Impostor Placement

78
Figure C-4 - Sample Street Impostors

79
Figure C-5 - City Scene Subdivision

80