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Four billion years in four minutes – Simulating worlds on the GPU
This post delves into the implementation of my procedural earth simulation, written entirely in GLSL fragment shaders. It simulates the complete history of an earth-like planet in a few minutes, with the simulation updating at 60 frames per second.
The rugged appearance of natural terrain is largely driven by the formation of river basins, which erode landscapes in a familiar branching pattern. By fitting parameters and applying a Gaussian blur, this can be combined with the annual MSLP map to generate dynamic climate patterns which vary throughout the year. Concluding the prelude on the early earth, the pace slows to a cycle between day and night, terrain becoming fixed as tectonic movements become imperceptible.
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