Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Three-dimension
Reexamination Certificate
1997-03-04
2001-05-01
Vo, Cliff N. (Department: 2671)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Three-dimension
Reexamination Certificate
active
06226000
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a method of and apparatus for editing a two dimensional (2-D) raster image using a computer graphics editing package. The present invention has particular although not exclusive relevance to the editing of a rendered 2-D raster image of a 3-D scene.
In recent years, architects have increasingly used computer aided design (CAD) to generate images of buildings and structures which they design, because CAD has the potential advantage of being able to generate rapidly a number of images of the building or structure from different view points, showing correct perspective, lighting and high levels of detail, once a computer model has been created. However, the process of creating the computer model and then rendering it to create the finished image is a complex and arduous process, quite different from the classical design approach with which architects are familiar.
In particular, the architect typically must firstly create a geometrical model of the structure to form a 3-D “wire diagram”. Then the architect must choose a viewpoint, lighting, surface materials, texturing and the like and feed these into a computer rendering package, which generates a 2-D raster image of the 3-D structure taken from the desired viewpoint with the desired lighting, surface materials, texturing etc. Depending upon the complexity of the 3-D model, this rendering process can take between minutes for a relatively simple model to days for a relatively complex one. Furthermore, several re-renders are usually necessary, using adjusted input parameters, before a visually acceptable rendered image is produced. This process is therefore lengthy, complex and tedious and is quite remote from the artistic creative methods of hand drawn designs.
Methods of creating images by hand, of the sort used in painting and drawing, are much more suited to the way in which artists and designers, and in particular architects, want to work because they are continuous, uninterrupted methods which provide instantaneous feedback. The final image gains clarity and conviction more from the gradual process of construction than it does from the original, isolated conception in the artist's “minds' eye”. The artist is able to make localised changes to the image resulting in a richer structure than can be presently generated using a CAD system. The subtleties and nuances eventually residing in the final hand made image are such that no amount of formal description and paramaraterisation, of the sort required by conventional rendering algorithms, can produce the same results.
The nearest computer-based counterpart to the traditional approach of image making is the digital paint system, such as Photoshop available from Adobe Systems Inc., Mount View, Calif., USA. Indeed, architects and designers often edit the final computer rendered image using such a system. Unfortunately, these paint systems offer no assistance in handling the complex perspectives and tonal approximations in the image output by the rendering algorithms, and users must therefore assess these by eye alone.
One aspect of the present invention provides a computer-based image editing method and apparatus which allows interactive editing operations which are responsive to the depth of objects within the 3-D scene.
According to this aspect, a computer-based image editing apparatus or method is provided for editing a stored two dimensional (2-D) raster image of a three dimensional (3-D) scene viewed from a given viewpoint, wherein interactive editing operations of the apparatus are responsive to depth values stored for the pixels of the image, said depth values representing the distance between said viewpoint and points in the 3-D scene represented by the pixels.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a computer-based image editing method and apparatus which allows interactive rendering of a 2-D image of a 3-D scene which gives the appearance of applying paint to the object within the 3-D scene.
According to this aspect, the present invention provides a computer-based image editing apparatus for editing a two dimensional (2-D) raster image of a three dimensional (3-D) scene viewed from a given viewpoint, comprising means for storing the 2-D raster image to be edited together with depth values for the pixels in the image; designation means, responsive to an input from a user, for designating part of the 2-D image to be edited; and modifying means for modifying the designated part of the image in a manner responsive to the depth values associated with the pixels in the designated part of the image.
This aspect also provides a computer-based method of editing a two dimensional (2-D) raster image of a three dimensional (3-D) scene viewed from a given viewpoint, comprising the steps of designating a portion of the 2-D image to be edited and modifying the designated portion of the image so as to apply a user selected editing effect in a manner dependent upon depth values for the pixels in the designated portion.
The paint applied to the 3-D scene may be textured, thereby allowing the user to paint texture on to surfaces within the 3-D scene.
To aid in the painting operation, the image editing system of this aspect allows the user to select a plane within the 3-D scene to be painted; to select the material (e.g. sky, ground, brick etc.) of an object within the 3-D scene to be painted; and/or to select a surface of an object in the 3-D scene for painting. This feature provides a significant advantage over prior art type selection tools used in image editors, which require the user to draw a polygon around the outline of the object or area to be painted.
Another aspect of the present invention provides an image editing method and apparatus for editing a two dimensional (2-D) raster image of a three dimensional (3-D) scene viewed from a given viewpoint, which allows a user to designate an area of the 2-D image to be edited in dependence upon depth values stored for the pixels in the image, which represent the distance between said viewpoint and points in the 3-D scene represented by the pixels.
According to this aspect, the present invention provides a computer-based image editing apparatus for editing a two dimensional (2-D) raster image of a three dimensional (3-D) scene viewed from a given viewpoint, comprising: means for storing the 2-D raster image to be edited together with depth values for the pixels in the image, said depth values representing the distance between said viewpoint and points in the 3-D scene represented by the pixels; designating means, responsive to an input from a user, for designating part of the 2-D image to be edited; and modifying means for modifying the designated part of the image, wherein said designating means is operable to designate the part of the 2-D image in dependence upon the stored depth values.
Another aspect of the present invention provides an image editing method and apparatus which allow a user to apply semi-transparent paint using multiple brush strokes, wherein painting is inhibited in areas of overlap between different brush strokes. This allows a user to be able to apply paint evenly over a required area in the 2-D image without having to worry about overlapping brush strokes.
According to this aspect, a computer-based image editing apparatus is provided for editing a two dimensional (2-D) raster image, comprising: means for defining a current editing session; designating means for designating a swathe of pixels to be edited in response to a corresponding input by a user; means for applying a user selected semi-transparent paint to said designated swathe of pixels; and inhibiting means for inhibiting the application of paint to pixels in the current swathe being painted which have already been painted during the painting of a previous swathe in the current editing session.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a 2-D raster image editing method and apparatus which can apply texture to the image which varies in dependence upon the tonality of the image.
According to this asp
Richens Paul Nicholas
Schofield Simon
Holland & Hart LLP
Informatix Software International Limited
Vo Cliff N.
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