Generating 3D Terrain with 2D Cellular Automata

This paper presents an initial exploration on the use of 2D cellular automata (CA) for generating 3D terrains through a simple yet effective additive approach. By experimenting with multiple CA transition rules, this preliminary investigation yielded aesthetically interesting landscapes, hinting at the technique's potential applicability for real-time terrain generation in games.

Generating Multidimensional Clusters With Support Lines

Synthetic data is essential for assessing clustering techniques, complementing and extending real data, and allowing for a more complete coverage of a given problem's space. In turn, synthetic data generators have the potential of creating vast amounts of data -- a crucial activity when real-world data is at premium -- while providing a well-understood generation procedure and an interpretable instrument for methodically investigating cluster analysis algorithms. Here, we present \textit{Clugen}, a modular procedure for synthetic data generation, capable of creating multidimensional clusters supported by line segments using arbitrary distributions. \textit{Clugen} is open source, 100\% unit tested and fully documented, and is available for the Python, R, Julia and MATLAB/Octave ecosystems. We demonstrate that our proposal is able to produce rich and varied results in various dimensions, is fit for use in the assessment of clustering algorithms, and has the potential to be a widely used framework in diverse clustering-related research tasks.

Procedural Generation of 3D Maps with Snappable Meshes

In this paper we present a technique for procedurally generating 3D maps using a set of premade meshes which snap together based on designer-specified visual constraints. The proposed approach avoids size and layout limitations, offering the designer control over the look and feel of the generated maps, as well as immediate feedback on a given map's navigability. A prototype implementation of the method, developed in the Unity game engine, is discussed, and a number of case studies are analyzed. These include a multiplayer game where the method was used, together with a number of illustrative examples which highlight various parameterizations and generation methods. We argue that the technique is designer-friendly and can be used as a map composition method and/or as a prototyping system in 3D level design, opening the door for quality map and level creation in a fraction of the time of a fully human-based approach.