Three dimensional animation system and method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for animating a character on a computer, comprising:
- a first computer for storing one or more pieces of data associated with a particular animated character, the pieces of data including a persistent data file containing one or more of a geometric model of the animated character, a texture associated with the animated character and a sound associated with the animated character, the pieces of data further comprising one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character, each behavior specifying the movement of the model; and
a second computer connected to the first computer by a communications network, the second computer further comprising means for initially downloading the persistent data file from the server computer in order to begin the animation of the animated character and means for asynchronously downloading a behavior file from the first computer just prior to the execution of the behavior of the animated character by the second computer.
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Abstract
A system and method for three dimensional character animation provides a rapid download of the animated character since the persistent data of the animated character may be downloaded initially to begin the animation. One or more behavior files may then be downloaded as needed which reduces the initial download time of a character. The system may store the persistent data in a character cache. To reduce the size of the behavior files, the persistent data may include morphlinks, for each polygon on the character, that determine the contributions that the movement of each joint in the character make on each polygon of the character.
102 Citations
64 Claims
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1. A system for animating a character on a computer, comprising:
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a first computer for storing one or more pieces of data associated with a particular animated character, the pieces of data including a persistent data file containing one or more of a geometric model of the animated character, a texture associated with the animated character and a sound associated with the animated character, the pieces of data further comprising one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character, each behavior specifying the movement of the model; and
a second computer connected to the first computer by a communications network, the second computer further comprising means for initially downloading the persistent data file from the server computer in order to begin the animation of the animated character and means for asynchronously downloading a behavior file from the first computer just prior to the execution of the behavior of the animated character by the second computer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for animating a character on a computer, comprising:
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storing one or more pieces of data associated with a particular animated character on a first computer, the pieces of data including a persistent data file containing one or more of a geometric model of the animated character, a texture associated with the animated character and a sound associated with the animated character, the pieces of data further comprising one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character, each behavior specifying the movement of the model;
initially downloading the persistent data file from the first computer to a second computer over a communications network so that the animation of the animated character begins on the second computer; and
asynchronously downloading a behavior file from the first computer to the second computer just prior to the execution of the behavior of the animated character by the second computer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. An apparatus for animating a character on a computer based on animation data contained on another remote computer, the apparatus comprising:
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means for communicating with the remote computer in order to download the animation data from the remote computer, the animation data comprising a persistent data file containing one or more of a geometric model of the animated character, a texture associated with the animated character and a sound associated with the animated character, the pieces of data further comprising one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character, each behavior specifying the movement of the model;
means for initially downloading the persistent data file from the remote computer in order to begin the animation of the animated character on the computer; and
means for asynchronously downloading a behavior file from the remote computer just prior to the execution of the behavior of the animated character by the computer. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A server computer for downloading animation files to a remote computer connected to the server computer to animate a character on the remote computer, the server comprising:
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means for storing one or more pieces of animation data associated with a particular animated character, the animation data comprising a persistent data file containing one or more of a geometric model of the animated character, a texture associated with the animated character and a sound associated with the animated character, the pieces of data further comprising one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character, each behavior specifying the movement of the model; and
means, in response to a request by the remote computer, for initially downloading the persistent data file to the remote computer in order to begin the animation of the animated character on the remote computer; and
means, in response to a request by the remote computer, for asynchronously downloading a behavior file to the remote computer just prior to the execution of the behavior of the animated character by the remote computer. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A computer implemented system for generating a animated character using animation data, the animation data comprising:
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a persistent data file containing a geometric model of the animated character comprising one or more joints linked together by one or more bones, a plurality of polygons forming a skin over the joints and bones of the animated character, and a morphlink for each polygon on the animated character, each morphlink comprising an association of the movement of the polygon to the movement of one or more joints in the geometric model so that the movement of the polygon is determined based on the movement of the one or more joints; and
one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character and specifying the movement of one or more joints in the animated character during the behavior wherein the movement of the polygons on the animated character during a behavior are determined by the behavior file and the morphlinks. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61)
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62. A computer implemented system for generating a animated character using animation data, the animation data comprising:
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a persistent data file containing a geometric model of the animated character comprising one or more joints linked together by one or more bones, a plurality of polygons forming a skin over the joints and bones of the animated character, and a morphlink for each polygon on the animated character, each morphlink comprising an association of the movement of the polygon to the movement of one or more joints in the geometric model so that the movement of the polygon is determined based on the movement of the one or more joints; and
one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character and specifying the movement of one or more joints in the animated character during the behavior wherein the movement of the polygons on the animated character during a behavior are determined by the behavior file and the morphlinks.
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63. A computer implemented system for generating a animated character using animation data, the animation data comprising:
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a persistent data file containing information about the animated character including the joints in the animated character; and
one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character and specifying the movement of the animated character during the behavior, each behavior file comprising behavior objects containing data about the movement of the animated character and one or more chunks of data associated with predetermined portions of the behavior, each chunk comprising one or more tracks containing behavior data associated with each of joints of the animated character.
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64. A system for animating a character on a computer, comprising:
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a first computer for storing one or more pieces of data associated with a particular animated character, the pieces of data including a persistent data file and one or more behavior files, each behavior file containing data about a particular behavior of the animated character comprising behavior objects and one or more chunks of data associated with predetermined portions of the behavior; and
a second computer connected to the first computer by a communications network, the second computer further comprising means for initially downloading the persistent data file from the server computer in order to begin the animation of the animated character and means for downloading a behavior file from the first computer just prior to the execution of the behavior of the animated character by the second computer, the behavior downloading further comprising means for initially downloading the behavior objects and a first chunk of the behavior data in order to execute the behavior, and means, while the behavior is executing, for asynchronously downloading the other chunks of the behavior data.
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Specification