Tessellation transition

Question

I want to implement tessellation transition from fine to coarse geometry and vice versa for terrain rendering which doesn't introduce discontinuities (cracks). Real-time performance is not required i.e. it can be view-independent.

What do you think about the following proposal:

alt text http://www.shrani.si/f/A/qD/2UJlczki/tessellation.png?

1. Is it even possible?
2. Have you implemented something similar?
3. What are the drawbacks?
4. Do you have any simpler suggestions?

Answer 1

Yes, this has been done many times. See for instance Hierarchical 4-K Meshes. There are probably references that are specific to terrain modeling and rendering but I don't have one handy.