I have a heightfield that is of power 2 width and height. Height and width are the same. For higher LoDs I render all the triangles in the hf, but for lower LoDs I skip every 2nd, 4th, … vertex.
The problem is that all the normals of the hf mesh are computed for the highest LoD, not the lowest LoD. What are the approaches to solve this situation? Do I need to recalculate the normals for each of the LoD levels, or maybe do something else? Are there algorithms to simplify the normals along with the triangle mesh?
I fear the entire thing is going to be very complicated. I’ve read of people calculating normal maps to simplify the geometry, but retain the quality of the rendered image.