Many issues must be addressed when the visual content of the real world is mapped into the constrained environment of an image generator. An image generator's task, when used in flight simulation, is to provide a nominal amount of visual cues for effective pilot training. These visual cues are most useful when they correlate directly to the real world. This paper discusses texture as a means of providing increased visual realism and training cues for the pilot.

The first half of this paper discusses texture as an efficient method of increasing scene complexity. This includes a presentation of the various problems of incorporating texture into a real-time system. The methods by which CT6, the latest generation CIG system from Evans and Sutherland, addresses these problems will also be discussed. The second half of the paper shows how using texture affects the direction of data base and software development. Some examples are the use of DMA data for terrain generation and the technology of reusable data base pieces to provide compact data without sacrificing scene fidelity.

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Stephen Zimmerman