Image generator and method for resolving non-binary cyclic occlusions with image compositing operations
US6215503A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 29, 1998 |
| Grant date | Apr 10, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 29, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T15/40
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An image generator takes graphical objects and an occlusion relationship for the objects and resolves non-binary occlusion cycles with image compositing operations to produce an output image of the objects. The image generator takes an occlusion relationship for objects in a scene and a set of antialiased image layers with transparency of the objects and produces an antialiased image of the objects with hidden surfaces eliminated. One implementation operates on subsets of the objects in a scene that form non-binary cycles. This implementation uses a chain of atop operators to combine occluding objects with a selected object from a subset, and then combines this result with other objects in the cycle using over image operations. Another implementation computes a chain of out image operations for each object to combine the image layers of the occluding objects with the image layer of the object. The results of each chain of out image operations are summed to produce an output image.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.