A Procedural Technique for 3D Cave Generation
Resumo
Introduction: Procedural Content Generation (PCG) has become an important approach for creating large-scale virtual environments in digital games. However, generating three-dimensional cave systems remains challenging due to their irregular structure and the need to balance automation with artistic control. Objective: This work aims to propose a procedural method capable of generating 3D cave environments that provide both structural control for designers and visual plausibility for real-time applications. Methodology: The proposed approach is based on a modular pipeline that uses spline-defined paths to guide the cave structure, mesh sweeping techniques to generate geometry, and noise-based deformation to introduce organic surface variation. Additionally, environmental elements such as rocks and stalactites are procedurally placed using spatial sampling strategies derived from the generated spline. Results: The results demonstrate that the method is capable of generating visually coherent and diverse cave environments suitable for integration into game engines. By producing static meshes, the technique ensures compatibility with standard rendering pipelines while allowing efficient iteration and designer-driven control.
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