For node in render setup graph
Granted: April 18, 2017
Patent Number:
9626787
Systems and methods for rendering three-dimensional images using a render setup graph are provided. A dependency graph is accessed. The dependency graph comprises a plurality of supplier nodes, a multiplexer node, and a plurality of graphlet nodes. The plurality of supplier nodes is accessed. The supplier nodes each have an output of a first type. These outputs are connected to the multiplexer node. A graphlet is accessed. The graphlet comprises the plurality of graphlet nodes. An output…
Render setup graph
Granted: March 7, 2017
Patent Number:
9589382
Systems and methods for rendering an image using a render setup graph are provided. The render setup graph may be used to configure and manage lighting configuration data as well as external processes used to render the computer-generated image. The render setup graph may include a dependency graph having nodes interconnected by edges along which objects and object configuration data may be passed between nodes. The nodes may be used to provide a source of objects and object…
Techniques for producing creative stereo parameters for stereoscopic computer animation
Granted: February 28, 2017
Patent Number:
9582918
A computer-implemented method determining a user-defined stereo effect for a computer-generated scene. A set of bounded-parallax constraints including a near-parallax value and a far-parallax value is obtained. A stereo-volume value is obtained, wherein the stereo-volume value represents a percentage of parallax. A stereo-shift value is also obtained, wherein the stereo-shift value represents a distance across one of: an area associated with a camera sensor of a pair of stereoscopic…
Procedural partitioning of a scene
Granted: December 6, 2016
Patent Number:
9514562
Systems and methods for partitioning a set of animation objects using a node in a render setup graph are provided. The render setup graph may be used to configure and manage lighting configuration data as well as external processes used to render the computer-generated image. The render setup graph may include a dependency graph having nodes interconnected by edges along which objects and object configuration data may be passed between nodes. The nodes may be used to provide a source of…
Arbitrary hierarchical tagging of computer-generated animation assets
Granted: December 6, 2016
Patent Number:
9514560
Systems and methods for using hierarchical tags to create a computer-generated animation are provided. The hierarchical tags may be used to organize, identify, and select animation assets in order to configure animation parameters used to render a computer-generated image. The hierarchical tags may be used to display representations of animation assets for selection. A hierarchy based on the hierarchical tags may be represented by a tree structure. The hierarchical tags may be used as…
Point-based global illumination directional importance mapping
Granted: October 4, 2016
Patent Number:
9460553
Locations are shaded for use in rendering a computer-generated scene having one or more objects represented by the point cloud. A hierarchy for the point cloud is obtained. The point cloud includes a plurality of points. The hierarchy has a plurality of clusters of points of the point cloud. A location is selected to shade. A first cluster from the plurality of clusters is selected. The first cluster represents a first set of points in the point cloud. An importance weight for the first…
Shadow contouring process for integrating 2D shadow characters into 3D scenes
Granted: September 27, 2016
Patent Number:
9454845
Systems and processes for contouring 2D shadow characters in 3D CGI scenes are provided. A simplified drawing surface may be added to a CGI scene and displayed from a first perspective to approximate a major surface where a shadow character may be located. A drawn shadow character may be received on the simplified drawing surface. A naturally-cast reference shadow of a corresponding 3D modeled character may be provided on the drawing surface to aid artists in developing the shadow…
Stereoscopic modeling based on maximum ocular divergence of a viewer
Granted: September 20, 2016
Patent Number:
9449429
A computer-implemented method for computing an effective inter-ocular distance for a modeled viewer based on a maximum ocular divergence angle. A maximum ocular divergence angle, viewing distance, and an inter-ocular distance are obtained for the modeled viewer. An effective inter-ocular distance is computed based on the viewing distance, the inter-ocular distance, and the maximum ocular divergence angle. The effective inter-ocular distance represents the maximum positive parallax for…
Techniques for producing baseline stereo parameters for stereoscopic computer animation
Granted: September 13, 2016
Patent Number:
9443338
Bounded-parallax constraints are determined for the placement of a pair of stereoscopic cameras within a computer-generated scene. A minimum scene depth is calculated based on the distance from the pair of cameras to a nearest point of interest in the computer-generated scene. A near-parallax value is also calculated based on the focal length and the minimum scene depth. Calculating the near-parallax value includes selecting a baseline stereo-setting entry from a set of stereo-setting…
Efficient and stable approach to elasticity and collisions for hair animation
Granted: September 13, 2016
Patent Number:
9443341
One exemplary process for animating hair includes receiving data representing a plurality of hairs and a plurality of objects in a timestep of a frame of animation. A first tree is populated to represent kinematic objects of the plurality of objects and a second tree is populated to represent dynamic objects of the plurality of objects based on the received data. A first elasticity preconditioner is created to represent internal elastic energy of the plurality of hairs based on the…
Multipoint offset sampling deformation techniques
Granted: August 16, 2016
Patent Number:
9418465
Systems and methods for performing MOS skin deformations are provided. In one example process, the in vector of a MOS transform may be manually configured by a user. In another example process, a slide/bulge operation may be configured to depend on two or more MOS transforms. Each of the MOS transforms may be assigned a weight that represents the transform's contribution to the overall slide/bulge. In yet another example process, a bulge operation for a MOS vertex may be performed in a…
Seamless fracture in a production pipeline
Granted: June 14, 2016
Patent Number:
9367943
Systems and processes for rendering fractures in an object are provided. In one example, a surface representation of an object may be converted into a volumetric representation of the object. The volumetric representation of the object may be divided into volumetric representations of two or more fragments. The volumetric representations of the two or more fragments may be converted into surface representations of the two or more fragments. Additional information associated with…
Variable frame rate rendering and projection
Granted: March 15, 2016
Patent Number:
9286709
In rendering a computer-generated animation sequence, pieces of animation corresponding to shots of the computer-generated animation sequence are obtained. Measurements of action in the shots are obtained. Frame rates, which can be different, for the shots are determined based on the determined measurements of action in the shots. The shots are rendered based on the determined frame rates for the shots. The rendered shots with frame rate information indicating the frame rates used in…
Preserving and reusing intermediate data
Granted: January 5, 2016
Patent Number:
9230294
Preservation and reuse of intermediate data generated in a render setup graph for computer animation is disclosed. A processing node in the graph can generate intermediate data and, rather than send it directly to a downstream node in the graph, preserve it for reuse during subsequent processing. As a result, a downstream processing node can reuse the preserved intermediate data, rather than wait while the intermediate data is generated by the processing node in realtime. An intermediate…
Look-based selection for rendering a computer-generated animation
Granted: December 29, 2015
Patent Number:
9224239
A system and method for computing a rendered image of a computer-generated object in a computer-generated scene. A dependency graph is accessed, the dependency graph including a plurality of interconnected nodes including a look-selector node. An asset is accessed at an input to the look-selector node. The asset includes a plurality of looks for the computer-generated object, each look of the plurality of looks corresponding to a different visual appearance of the computer-generated…
Lighting correction filters
Granted: December 22, 2015
Patent Number:
9218785
A lighting correction filter for selectively correcting lighting in computer animation is disclosed. The lighting correction filter can select a computer-generated object having one or more lighting attributes. The selected object can be a portion of an object, an entire object, a portion of a computer-generated scene, or an entire scene. The filter can then set lighting correction values for the lighting attributes of the selected object. The lighting correction values can be color…
Generalized instancing for three-dimensional scene data
Granted: December 8, 2015
Patent Number:
9208597
Systems and methods for rendering three-dimensional images by instancing scene description data using a hierarchy are provided. A hierarchy is accessed. The hierarchy comprises a first node and an instance node. The first node is a predecessor to a subtree of one or more nodes and the first node is associated with a first scene description data object. The instance node is a leaf of the hierarchy. The instance node has a parent node and the instance node is associated with a second scene…
Search-based matching for multiple parameter sets
Granted: November 10, 2015
Patent Number:
9183659
Search-based matching for multiple parameter sets in computer animation is disclosed. The search-based matching method can include receiving a selection of a first set of joint parameters in a first model to match to a second set of joint parameters in a second model, currently in operation, for an appendage of a computer-generated object. The method can also adjust the selected first set of joint parameters to match the second set of joint parameters. The method can further compare the…
Conservative partitioning for rendering a computer-generated animation
Granted: October 27, 2015
Patent Number:
9171401
A system for partitioning a set of assets, where each asset represents a computer-generated object associated with a computer-generated scene. A dependency graph comprising a plurality of interconnected nodes including an organizer node is accessed. The set of assets identified by an input of a predicate test of the organizer node are accessed. It is determined if the at least one predicate test can be evaluated using the set of assets. If the at least one predicate test can be…
Measuring stereoscopic quality in a three-dimensional computer-generated scene
Granted: October 20, 2015
Patent Number:
9165393
A computer-implemented method for measuring the stereoscopic quality of a computer-generated object in a three-dimensional computer-generated scene. The computer-generated object is visible from at least one camera of a pair of cameras used for creating a stereoscopic view of the computer-generated scene. A set of surface vertices of the computer-generated object is obtained. A stereoscopic transformation on the set of surface vertices is computed to obtain a set of transformed vertices.…
