Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Graphic manipulation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-30
2002-10-15
Zimmerman, Mark (Department: 2772)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Graphic manipulation
C345S419000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06466230
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to three-dimensional modeling, and more particularly, to three-dimensional computer graphics used to display a virtual world to a user.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Three-dimensional modeling based on the real-world contains detailed data used to compute what objects are visible from the user's viewpoint, and in that view direction to render them appropriately on a video screen. To effect realism, objects are rendered to look solid, with surfaces behind those objects along the direction of the user's viewpoint typically removed. In certain applications, however, it is desirable that surfaces not occlude from the user's view a target object, such as in displaying cut-way views, which typically requires considerable computation power and cost to do so.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A limitation of modeling three-dimensional objects in a virtual world occurs when a user moves within the world and still wishes a certain target object to remain visible, instead of being occluded by other surfaces in front of the object along the direction the user is viewing the object. Therefore, in accordance with the principles of the invention, a target object which is to remain visible, regardless of the user's view point, is duplicated and modeled as being located a close distance to the user, but scaled accordingly to make the cloned object when displayed appear to be farther away from the user's viewpoint and co-located with and of the same size and orientation as the target object. In this manner, as the user moves within the world, surfaces located in front of the target object do not occlude the cloned object from the user's view, thus appearing to give that same property to the target object.
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patent: 6256044 (2001-07-01), Carraro et al.
patent: 0582815 (1994-02-01), None
Youichi Horry et al., “Tour Into The Picture: Using A Spidery Mesh Interface To Make Animation From A Single Image,” Computer Graphics Proceedings, Annual Conference Series, 1997, pp. 225-232.
De La Rosa John
Lucent Technologies - Inc.
Stevenson Philip H.
Zimmerman Mark
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