Geometric Simplification of Foliage

Abstract

One of the most important challenges in real-time rendering of outdoor scenes
is the representation of vegetation. This is due to the vast amount of polygons
that are used to model vegetable species. The present automatic simplification
algorithms produce acceptable results in the trunks and the branches, but not
in the foliage of a tree. After a simplification with the existing methods, the
trees seem to be less leafy. In this paper, a new automatic simplification algorithm
for this part of the tree is presented, the Foliage Simplification Algorithm.
It diminishes the number of polygons in the crown maintaining the appearance.
A new method is used, leaf collapse: two leaves disappear to create a new one.
The leaves obtained after collapsing preserve an area similar to the collapsed leaves