<s>
In	O
computer	O
graphics	O
,	O
texture	B-General_Concept
splatting	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
method	O
for	O
combining	O
different	O
textures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
works	O
by	O
applying	O
an	O
alphamap	B-Algorithm
(	O
also	O
called	O
a	O
"	O
weightmap	O
"	O
or	O
a	O
"	O
splat	O
map	O
"	O
)	O
to	O
the	O
higher	O
levels	O
,	O
thereby	O
revealing	O
the	O
layers	O
underneath	O
where	O
the	O
alphamap	B-Algorithm
is	O
partially	O
or	O
completely	O
transparent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
texture	B-General_Concept
splatting	I-General_Concept
is	O
commonly	O
used	O
for	O
terrain	O
rendering	O
in	O
computer	O
games	O
,	O
various	O
optimizations	O
are	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
the	O
underlying	O
principle	O
is	O
for	O
each	O
texture	O
to	O
have	O
its	O
own	O
alpha	B-Algorithm
channel	I-Algorithm
,	O
large	O
amounts	O
of	O
memory	B-General_Concept
can	O
easily	O
be	O
consumed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Say	O
there	O
is	O
a	O
certain	O
texture	O
on	O
one	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
terrain	O
that	O
does	O
n’t	O
appear	O
anywhere	O
else	O
on	O
it	O
:	O
it	O
would	O
be	O
a	O
waste	O
of	O
memory	B-General_Concept
and	O
processing	O
time	O
if	O
the	O
alpha	O
map	O
extended	O
over	O
the	O
whole	O
terrain	O
if	O
only	O
10%	O
of	O
it	O
was	O
actually	O
required	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alpha-based	O
texture	B-General_Concept
splatting	I-General_Concept
,	O
though	O
simple	O
,	O
gives	O
rather	O
unnatural	O
transitions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Height-based	O
texture	O
blending	O
attempts	O
to	O
improve	O
on	O
quality	O
by	O
blending	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
heightmap	B-Data_Structure
of	O
each	O
texture	O
.	O
</s>
