Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system – Computer graphics processing – Animation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-23
2004-01-27
Jankus, Almis R. (Department: 2671)
Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system
Computer graphics processing
Animation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06683613
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to systems for generating graphics and more particularly to methods and apparatus for rendering images from a multi-path simulation model.
Programmed computers can be used to edit and create movies. For example, a computer program called After Effects available from Adobe Systems Incorporated of Mountain View, Calif., provides its user the ability to edit and create movies by integrating and arranging pieces of footage. In such programs, the process of creating a movie typically occurs in two major stages: modeling and rendering.
Modeling is the process of creating a structure for a movie project, commonly called a composition, by defining the arrangement and timing of imported footage. A composition is essentially a set of instructions that define the processing of footage pieces in space and time in formation of a movie. Each composition includes the definition of one or more layers which are place holders for pieces of footage. Modeling includes the subprocesses of importing footage into layers, editing the footage, arranging or compositing the footage and animating objects or applying other effects to the composition layers.
Imported footage may be of the form of video pictures, animations, drawings, stills, photographs or computer generated images. Each piece of imported footage is assigned to a layer. Compositing integrates the footage of respective layers using geometry masks, transparency information and effects. As the layers of a composition are integrated, animation and other effects can be applied to each layer.
To create a final output, such as a film or video tape for reviewing, the composition must be rendered. The rendering process transforms the footage instructions associated with each layer into fixed video frames. During the rendering process, corresponding pixels from each layer are composited on top of each other to create a final image, a frame at a time, in the output format requested by the user. The frames may then be written for either analog or digital storage to a recording device, such as a video tape recorder, photograph film recorder or digital disk recorder. In this way, a movie is produced.
Animation, as described above, is a subprocess of the modeling stage. Animation techniques allow a user to create apparently spontaneous lifelike movement of objects in the composition. Most movie systems allow a user to animate an object (i.e., a layer) by specifying a path of the object as it moves in a two or three dimensional space. The path is typically represented by a curve Q. Motion along this curve Q can be described by a single function (e.g., u as a function of time where u is the natural parameter of the function defining Q).
Often the process of creating a composition requires many iterations of the various modeling steps before a final product is produced. Simulation techniques may be used to model the behavior or action that is performed in a composition and speed the progression toward a final product. A traditional simulation model includes a linear progression of acting agents that operate on state information to produce an output or resultant state, where successive acting agents operate on the output produced by an acting agent just previous in time. The acting agents typically define functions that perform one or more operations on the data.
Referring now to
FIG. 1
, a traditional simulation model
50
includes a series of actions that are applied over a window of time. Individual frames may be rendered at specific time intervals to create the frames which are to be used in generating a movie output. Typically the process is a serial process and incremental changes to the simulation state output are applied as each action is executed at a given time interval. More specifically, the traditional simulation model follows a track
50
comprised of a plurality of actions
60
. An action
60
is a process that operates on a simulation state database or SOUP
65
. At any given time interval, the simulation state database is a particular set of defined attributes and values that is indicative of the simulation state. The simulation state database is typically a collection of dots where each dot is a collection of attribute pairs. For example, the simulation state database may contain hundreds of dots where each dot may contain a horizontal position attribute and its corresponding value, a vertical position attribute and its corresponding value as well as a color (red attribute and a value, green attribute and a value, and blue attribute and a value).
As described above, an action
60
is the process that operates on the simulation state database (i.e., the SOUP is both an input and an output). The action can add dots, remove dots, or modify one or more attributes or one or more values in the simulation state database. An action
60
can include one or more acting agents (not shown). An acting agent is a process that effects the simulation. Examples of actions or acting agents are gravity and wind. In traditional simulation modeling, all acting agents leave a permanent result. That is, when applied to the simulation state database, they leave an effect which is passed to the next action at a next time interval in the track.
However, it is often desirable, especially for animation systems, to create temporary results. In other words, typical simulation techniques do not allow the possibility to create intermediate events within a flow of actions such that the intermediate events have a defined lifetime existence separate from the overall flow of events.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In general, in one aspect, the invention features a method of integrating two independent simulations and includes running a first simulation simulating changes in an object over time. The first simulation includes a first simulation output reflective of a state of the first simulation at one or more predefined times. A second simulation is run concurrently simulating changes in a second object over time. An interaction between the first and second simulations is defined resulting in an integrated simulation output without affecting the first simulation state.
Aspects of the invention include numerous features. The second simulation can provide a second simulation output reflective of a state of the second simulation at one or more predefined times. The step of defining the interaction results in the integrated simulation output without affecting the second simulation state. The integrated simulation output combines the second simulation output and a modified first simulation output where the modified first simulation output is produced by the operation of the second simulation on the first simulation output.
The method further includes running a third simulation concurrently simulating changes in a third object over time and defining an interaction between the first, second and third simulations resulting in a second integrated simulation output without affecting the first or the second simulation state. The third simulation provides a third simulation output reflective of a state of the third simulation at one or more predefined times. The second integrated simulation output combines the third simulation output and a modified first integrated simulation output where the modified first integration simulation output is produced by the operation of the third simulation on the integrated simulation output.
Each of the first and second simulations simulate the animation of a layer in a multi-layer composition. The second simulation animates a property of the object associated with the first simulation.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method of integrating independent simulations including defining a first and second simulation. Each simulation runs concurrently and includes a plurality of actions defining the progression of a simulation over time and a simulation output reflective of a state of a simulation at prescribed times during the simulation. An interaction between the first and second si
Herbstman David F.
Simons David P.
Wilk Daniel M.
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Jankus Almis R.
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