Volumetric realtime fog of war

An apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to:
• determine a variable density volume corresponding to a three-dimensional (3D) mesh of a game map and a 3D bounding box that encloses the 3D mesh, the variable density volume including a volumetric effect;
• slice the variable density volume into a plurality of texture layers, each of the plurality of texture layers (i) including information associated with at least one of the volumetric effect or the 3D mesh and (ii) being parallel to a cross-sectional plane of the 3D bounding box;
• determine an interaction between a virtual object on the game map and the volumetric effect based on (i) a signed distance field (SDF) of a geometric region of the 3D mesh in each of the plurality of texture layers and (ii) a boundary region of the virtual object;
• and
• render the volumetric effect based on a cut out of the virtual object in the variable density volume and the determined interaction.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform:

• determining a variable density volume corresponding to a three-dimensional (3D) mesh of a game map and a 3D bounding box that encloses the 3D mesh, the variable density volume including a volumetric effect;
• slicing the variable density volume into a plurality of texture layers, each of the plurality of texture layers including (i) information associated with at least one of the volumetric effect or the 3D mesh and (ii) being parallel to a cross-sectional plane of the 3D bounding box;
• determining an interaction between a virtual object on the game map and the volumetric effect based on (i) a signed distance field (SDF) of a geometric region of the 3D mesh in each of the plurality of texture layers and (ii) a boundary region of the virtual object;
• and
• rendering the volumetric effect based on a cut out of the virtual object in the variable density volume and the determined interaction.