Rendering the Out-the-Window View for the AFIT Virtual Cockpit
Abstract
The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) is developing a distributed interactive flight simulator, the Virtual Cockpit, using commercial graphics workstations and helmet mounted displays. The Virtual Cockpit communicates with other simulators via local and long-haul networks using the SIMNET protocol. The work reported in this thesis focuses on developing the terrain database for the synthetic environment and on rendering the pilot's view of the database. There are many different file formats for describing 3- dimensional geometric polygonal objects. An analysis of three formats, AFIT GEOM, the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) DRP, and Software Systems' Flight, is presented. Each file format is described, and their attributes are compared in a decision table. A series of C++ classes were developed to render the file format used by the terrain database. These C++ classes, which include classes for stationary and moving entities, and for textures, are discussed. A technique for increasing the rendering speed is also presented.... Distributed interactive simulation, Synthetic environments, computer graphics, Flight simulator.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA262599
Entities
People
- W. D. Mccarty
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology