A little fun project which renders a 3D model of the Grand Canyon.
Description | Screenshots | Links
The main idea behind this little experiment was to generate a three-dimensional view of a landscape out of two two-dimensional images reflecting the landscape’s coloring and its profile.
Given an aerial photograph of the Grand Canyon and a grayscale image reflecting the height profile, a simple 3D landscape has been generated using C++ and OpenGL. As the original data was quite detailed, the 3D view consumed a huge amount of memory and CPU resources which gave a good playground for further experiments on optimized and improved rendering.
Finally I had some fun with OpenGL effects like fog and light as well as particle emitters making it possible to let it rain on the Grand Canyon. 
Here’s a first impression of what Grand Canyon 3D looks like. It’s only a few static screenshots but it’ll do. Just click an image to see it in full size.
Original Data:
Basic 3D Rendering:
Rain (Particle Emitter):
Fog
Feature Tracking
- GLUT – The OpenGL Utility Toolkit [Website]
- Win32 Binaries [Website]
- The Red Book – OpenGL Programming Guide [Book at Amazon]
- Online Version [Website]
- NEHE – OpenGL Web Tutorial [Website]
…