Dreamworks Patent Grants

Lock-free ring buffer

Granted: January 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11886343
According to at least one embodiment, a method for writing, by a computing thread, data to a ring buffer is disclosed. The method includes determining whether the ring buffer is full. If the ring buffer is not full, the method further includes: reserving an element of the ring buffer for writing the data, wherein reserving the element includes incrementing a size variable corresponding to a number of stored elements in the ring buffer; reserving a portion of the ring buffer at which the…

Fast and deep facial deformations

Granted: January 16, 2024
Patent Number: 11875458
According to at least one embodiment, a method for generating a mesh deformation of a facial model includes: generating a first plurality of deformation maps by applying a first plurality of neural network-trained models; extracting a first plurality of vertex offsets based on the first plurality of deformation maps; and applying the first plurality of vertex offsets to a neutral mesh of the facial model to generate the mesh deformation of the facial model.

Network resource oriented data communication

Granted: October 17, 2023
Patent Number: 11792245
A method of transmitting rendering data of a computer image to a client terminal via a communication channel includes: receiving rendering results of the computer image from at least one computer of a plurality of computers; identifying a partial region of the computer image based on transmission information; processing a subset of the rendering results, the subset corresponding to the identified partial region of the computer image; and transmitting, at a particular time, the processed…

Filling empty pixels

Granted: March 21, 2023
Patent Number: 11610349
A method for rendering a computer image includes, for each pixel of a plurality of N×M pixels forming a tile, determining a plurality of masks for the pixel, wherein N and M denote integers larger than 1, and wherein each mask identifies a respective subset of the pixels that are equidistant from the pixel and located at a respective distance from the pixel. The method further includes: determining an active mask for the tile, the active mask identifying active pixels of the pixels,…

Network resource oriented data communication

Granted: May 10, 2022
Patent Number: 11330030
A method of transmitting rendering data of a computer image to a client terminal via a communication channel includes: receiving rendering results of the computer image from at least one computer of a plurality of computers; identifying a partial region of the computer image based on transmission information; processing a subset of the rendering results, the subset corresponding to the identified partial region of the computer image; and transmitting, at a particular time, the processed…

Distributed multi-context interactive rendering

Granted: May 10, 2022
Patent Number: 11328470
A method of controlling rendering of computer images includes: providing first instructions to be processed at first computers, for rendering a first computer image; providing second instructions to be processed at second computers, for rendering a second computer image; receiving a user request for a change; and in response to receiving the request: regenerating the first instructions; providing first delta information to be processed at the first computers, reflecting one or more…

Pack tile

Granted: November 23, 2021
Patent Number: 11182949
A method of facilitating an interactive rendering of a computer image at a remote computer includes: at a first time, obtaining first information of the image, including pixel information of the image at the first time; and, at a second time after the first time, obtaining second information of the image including pixel information of the image at the second time. Delta pixel information is generated by comparing the pixel information of the first information with the pixel information…

Composing an animation scene in a computer-generated animation

Granted: November 16, 2021
Patent Number: 11176722
This disclosure is directed to a method of composing an animation scene in a computer-generated animation. The method includes receiving a user input requesting to perform an operation on at least one computer-generated asset in the animation scene. The method also includes determining, based on the user input, a type of operation and at least one attribute associated with the at least one computer-generated asset in the animation scene. The method further includes, in accordance with…

Multiplex pixel distribution for multi-machine rendering

Granted: November 16, 2021
Patent Number: 11176721
A method of controlling rendering of a computer image at a plurality of computers includes: controlling a first computer of the plurality of computers to identify a pixel of a tile of the computer image, wherein the identification of the pixel is based on an inter-pixel order; controlling the first computer to identify one or more locations of the pixel, to facilitate sampling of the pixel at the one or more locations thereof, wherein the identification of the one or more locations is…

Seamless representation of video and geometry

Granted: July 20, 2021
Patent Number: 11069109
Processes for reviewing and editing a computer-generated animation are provided. In one example process, multiple images representing segments of a computer-generated animation may be displayed. In response to a selection of one or more of the images, geometry data associated with the corresponding segment(s) of computer-generated animation may be accessed. An editable geometric representation of the selected segment(s) of computer-generated animation may be displayed based on the…

Extensible command pattern

Granted: July 20, 2021
Patent Number: 11068325
Systems and methods for implementing a command stack for an application are disclosed and an embodiment includes receiving an input for executing a first command of the application, initiating execution of the first command, executing one or more second commands which are set to execute based on execution of the first command, completing execution of the first command, and including the first command in the command stack such that an association is defined between the first command and…

Stipulated overrides with violation resolution

Granted: April 27, 2021
Patent Number: 10990505
A method for composing a scene using a data module includes: receiving, from a user, an instruction to instantiate the data module to produce at least a first instance of the data module in a second data module; receiving, from the user, a first override for modifying the first instance of the data module; receiving, from the user, a second override for modifying the data module; identifying a conflict introduced by the first override or the second override; configuring a display…

Method and system for directly manipulating the constrained model of a computer-generated character

Granted: April 20, 2021
Patent Number: 10984578
A rail manipulator indicates the possible range(s) of movement of a part of a computer-generated character in a computer animation system. The rail manipulator obtains a model of the computer-generated character. The model may be a skeleton structure of bones connected at joints. The interconnected bones may constrain the movements of one another. When an artist selects one of the bones for movement, the rail manipulator determines the range of movement of the selected bone. The…

Visualization tool for parallel dependency graph evaluation

Granted: January 19, 2021
Patent Number: 10896112
Systems and processes providing a tool for visualizing parallel dependency graph evaluation in computer animation are provided. Runtime evaluation data of a parallel dependency graph may be collected, including the start time and stop time for each node in the graph. The visualization tool may process the data to generate performance visualizations as well as other analysis features. Performance visualizations may illustrate the level of concurrency over time during parallel dependency…

Method and system for generating a user-customized computer-generated animation

Granted: January 12, 2021
Patent Number: 10891801
A method for generating a user-customized computer-generated animation includes receiving digital content and determining a modifiable portion of the digital content. The digital content includes a computer-generated animation. A design template is received, where the design template includes a representation of the modifiable portion of the digital content. Template image data is generated by performing image analysis on the representation of the modifiable portion of the digital…

Repurposing existing animated content

Granted: October 27, 2020
Patent Number: 10818063
Systems and methods for automatically animating a character based on an existing corpus of animation are described. The character may be from a previously produced feature animated film, and the data used for training may be the data used to animate the character in the film. A low-dimensional embedding for subsets of the existing animation corresponding to different semantic labels may be learned by mapping high-dimensional rig control parameters to a latent space. A particle model may…

Real-time collision deformation

Granted: October 13, 2020
Patent Number: 10803660
Systems and methods deforming a mesh of a target object in real-time in response to a collision with a collision object are disclosed. An embodiment includes determining an inwardly deformed position of a first vertex of the mesh based on an intersection point of a boundary associated with the collision object with a ray, the ray connecting a point of an internal element of the target object with a reference position of the first vertex, wherein the inwardly deformed position of the…

Generating animation rigs using scriptable reference modules

Granted: October 13, 2020
Patent Number: 10803647
Systems and methods for generating an animation rig using scripted reference modules are disclosed. An embodiment includes obtaining a first reference module for generating a first node of a dependency graph, where the first reference module is a precomputed rig module corresponding to the first node, obtaining a second reference module for generating a second node of the dependency graph, where the second reference module is scripting language data executed for generating the second…

Method and system for calibrating a virtual reality system

Granted: September 1, 2020
Patent Number: 10762714
A virtual reality system includes a platform, a headset, a mount, and a control unit. The headset includes a motion-sensing unit and a display unit configured to display a video of a virtual environment. The mount is positioned on the platform and configured to releasably engage the headset. While the headset is engaged with the mount, the headset is positioned in a first position. While the headset is disengaged from the mount, the headset is positioned in a second position. The control…

Firefly detection using a plurality of buffers

Granted: August 25, 2020
Patent Number: 10755387
A method for determining whether a pixel of a computer-rendered image is a firefly includes: dividing a plurality of samples originating from the pixel, into first and second subsets; identifying whether the pixel is an outlier based on variance data of the first subset; identifying whether the pixel is an outlier based on variance data of the second subset. The pixel is determined as not a firefly in response to both the pixel being identified as an outlier based on the variance data of…