LOD, for those who are unfamiliar with this term, means "Level
of Details”. To explain in simple words, it is the idea that the
farther away the camera is, the more simplified the geometry
will be. In our case the proposal is to have a LOD subdivision.
Then we can conclude that the farther away the camera stays, the
less subdivisions will be applied to the geometry. The advantage
of using this technique is it makes the scene lighter to render,
optimizing the number of used polygons. It has too many
applications, but generally I think the best application of this
technique is for rough and detailed places, such as deserts with
dunes or oceans – forms that can be composed using modifiers
such as Displace. I developed this technique because I needed to
make an ocean. I had a vast area of animated water that needed
waves, but weak machines to withstand the processing of many
polygons. So, as I think others may have specific needs, you can
find new applications for this technique, different from what I
quoted abov