Tiled image editor

Details Tiled image editor Tiled image editor

1997-09-09

2001-05-08

Zimmerman, Mark (Department: 2671)

Computer graphics processing and selective visual display system

Computer graphics processing

C345S440000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06229544

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and a system for data processing, and in particular to a data processing system and method for editing a tiled image.
BACKGROUND
A tiled image refers to the process of duplicating a single, small image many times on a computer display screen in order to create a composite, background picture on the display. This creates the impression of a large, singular background without necessitating taking up extra storage space in memory to store the entire background. This background is sometimes called “wallpaper”, which takes its name from an analogy to the familiar wallpaper in the home, where the decorator carefully hangs individual strips of wallpaper to make the pattern match across the borders and to form the illusion of a singular pattern.
Just like home decorators would like the images on their wallpaper to match across the borders of the wallpaper strips to hide the seams, creators of tiled images on a display screen would also like the images to match across the borders of the tiles. Unfortunately, these seamless, tiled images can be very difficult to make. Current image editors do not have features that allow artists to easily match up the edges, so artists can spend many hours attempting to create an image that matches on the borders, so that when it is tiled, the seam cannot be seen. An image with perfectly seamless edges requires either a very common and easy pattern on the edges, such as a solid color, or potentially hours of tedious trial and error to get the images on adjacent tiles to match up. Current image editors feature tools and effects—for example, brushes, smudging, shapes, and warps—, which cannot be used across edges because the effect is stopped by the borders of the singular image. This prevents a smooth transition across the border, which is needed to make a seamless tiling.
Thus, there is a need for an image editor that provides that capability to quickly and easily edit an image, so that when the image is tiled the image will match across the borders.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide an improved method and system for data processing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved data-processing system and method for editing an image for use as wallpaper background.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a data-processing system and method for editing an image, so that when the image is tiled the image will match across the borders between the tiles.
These and other objects are accomplished in the preferred embodiment by an editor that edits a tiled image by creating multiple, simultaneously-displayed images on a display screen from a singular source image, which can be a bitmap in memory. The user chooses one of the images on which to draw and draws a change on that image. The editor propagates the user's change to all of the images on the display while the user is drawing the change. The editor optionally displays borders between the multiple images and allows the user to draw across the borders. In this way the user can see the changes on all the images while drawing the change on one image and can easily cause the changes to match precisely across the borders.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5867161 (1999-02-01), Walsh
patent: 5956043 (1999-09-01), Jensen
patent: 6067086 (2000-05-01), Walsh

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