Television – Panoramic – With observer selected field of view
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-10
2001-11-27
Britton, Howard (Department: 2613)
Television
Panoramic
With observer selected field of view
Reexamination Certificate
active
06323895
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space and an information storage medium used in this image generating system.
2. Prior Art
There is known an image generating system which generates images of objects as seen from a virtual camera when the objects are arranged within a virtual three-dimensional space or an object space. Such a system is very popular because of providing a so-called virtual reality.
With such image generating system used in a soccer simulation game, for example, a player enjoys controlling a game character on a screen who passes a ball or kicks a goal. By using this image generating system, the player feels as if he/she were actually playing soccer.
In the conventional soccer simulation games, a game character which is controllable by a player is not fixed, and may be a game character that keeps a ball, for example. More particularly, when the player controls a first game character and then passes a ball to a second game character, the player's game character is changed from the first game character to the second game character. For such a reason, the virtual camera does not follow one fixed character.
However, such a soccer simulation game according to the prior art has the following problems.
First of all, the player must do a complicated control since a game character controlled by the player is frequently changed from one to another during the game play. Game beginners tend to avoid such a complicated game.
Second, the player cannot easily feel strong affection for his or her game character or enthusiasm about the game. In such a type of simulation games, game characters are often modeled on actual star players. However, if there is a game character modeled on the player's favorite soccer star, the player cannot always control the game character in a conventional simulation game in which the player's controllable game character is frequently changed. Thus it is difficult to feel strong affection for the player's game character and enthusiasm about the game.
Thus, the conventional soccer simulation games are disadvantageous in that the player's game character is frequently changed and that the virtual camera does not follow one fixed player's game character.
Therefore, the inventor has developed a soccer simulation game of such a type that the player's game character is fixed to a particular one and that the virtual camera follows that fixed character. In such a soccer simulation game wherein the virtual camera follows one fixed player's game character, it is desirable that an image preferable for the game play can be generated in real time when the positional relationship between the player's game character and the ball is varied.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To overcome the aforementioned problems, an object of the present invention is therefore to provide an image generating system and information storage medium which can generate an image preferable for the game play while enabling the virtual camera to follow a displayed object.
According to the present invention, there is provided an image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, the image being a projected image onto a screen, the image generating system comprising:
means for causing the virtual camera to follow the first displayed object, and also for changing at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera based on positional information of the first and second displayed objects such that the first and second displayed objects are projected onto the screen without hiding each other even if the distance between the first and second displayed objects is changed; and
means for generating an image as seen from the virtual camera.
The image as seen from the virtual camera which follows the first displayed object is thus generated. In such a case, the virtual camera may follow the first displayed object with inertia. Even if the distance between the first and second objects is changed, the projected image is so generated that the first and second objects can be displayed without hiding each other. Therefore, the second displayed object is not hidden by the first displayed object when the second displayed object is close to the first displayed object. Thus, the player will not lose enthusiasm for the game and an image preferable for the game play can be generated.
As the distance between the first and second displayed objects decreases, the viewpoint of the virtual camera may be changed to increase the distance between the viewpoint and a line passing through the first and second displayed objects, and also the line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera may be directed toward the first and second displayed objects side. In this way, the projected image can be generated such that the first and second displayed objects will not hide each other or both the first and second displayed objects will always visible.
When the object space has a coordinate system in which the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are perpendicular to each other, the Y-coordinate of the viewpoint of the virtual camera and a twist angle which is an angle between the line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera and the plane XZ may be changed depending on the distance between the first and second displayed objects. Alternatively, the Z-coordinate of the viewpoint of the virtual camera and a pan angle which is an angle between the line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera and the plane XY may be changed depending on the distance between the first and second displayed objects.
At least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera may be changed such that the second displayed object can be seen through an open space of the first displayed object when the distance between the first and second displayed objects is less than a given threshold value. In this way, a realistic three-dimensional image can be provided to the player even if the distance between the first and second objects is smaller than the threshold value.
Changing of the line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera may be limited to a given range. It can effectively be avoided that an unnatural image or an image which confuses the player is displayed on the screen.
As least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera may be changed such that the first displayed object is projected onto a first part of the screen and the second displayed object is projected onto a second part of the screen when a gazing point of the virtual camera is used as a reference point to divide the screen into the first and second parts. In this way, an image can be generated such that the first and second displayed objects will not hide each other or both the first and second displayed objects are always visible. Further, the positional relationship between the gazing point and the first and second displayed objects can be maintained stable. This can generate an image preferable for the game play.
The virtual camera may follow the first displayed object with inertia. According to this, images can be smoothly displayed even if the position or direction of the first displayed object is rapidly changed.
The first displayed object may represent a game character and the second displayed object may represent a ball controllable by the game character in a game which is played by using the image generated by the image generating system. In this way, an image preferable for a sports simulation game using a ball can be generated.
Moreover, the first displayed object may represent a first game character and the second displayed object may represent a second game character who fights against the first game character in a game which is played by using the image generated by the image generating system. In this way, an image preferable
Britton Howard
Namco Ltd.
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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