ABSTRACT
This chapter covers a central topic in virtual globes: rendering a globe, with a focus on ellipsoid tessellation and shading algorithms.
We cover three tessellation algorithms used to produce triangles approximating a globe’s surface. First, we discuss a simple subdivision-surfaces algorithm for a unit sphere that is typical of an introductory computer graphics course. Then, we cover ellipsoid tessellations based on a cube map and, finally, the geodetic grid.
