Point-based rendering optimization with textured meshes for fast LiDAR visualization

In this paper a new method for high quality rendering of large LiDAR-based terrain data is presented. The visualization system upgrades previous methods of point-based rendering by detecting continuous surfaces and replacing them with decimated triangle meshes. High-quality visualization is retained by using render-to-texture methods to generate color textures and bump maps from original LiDAR data and applying them to the newly generated triangle meshes. This hybrid approach is able to decrease rendering times of surfaces to less than 50% with little to no difference in rendering quality. The described optimizations can be executed at run-time without interfering with user interaction.

•Point-based rendering of LiDAR with splats can be optimized using textured meshes.•High-quality textures can be generated with point-based rendering.•With textures, visualization quality is retained even with a very decimated mesh.•Optimizations using meshes and textures can be calculated at run-time.•A rendering time decrease of 20–40% can be expected for typical terrain.