Collision determination program and collision determination apparatus

• US 20060200314A1
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Nintendo Company Limited
• Inventors: Ajioka, Yoshitaka, Mizuki, Kiyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,663,629 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/301
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/577 using determination of contact between game characters or objects, e.g. to avoid collision between virtual racing cars
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1075 using a touch screen
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/301 using an additional display connected to the game console, e.g. on the controller
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/643 by determining the impact between objects, e.g. collision detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/21 Collision detection, intersection
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/958 Collision avoidance

Abstract

A collision determination area set for a dog as an object in a virtual three-dimensional space is, for example, a sphere having the center at the chest of the dog and having a radius of 30 in the “on all fours” state, a sphere having the center at the hip of the dog and having a radius of 10 in the “standing” state, and a sphere having the center at the head of the dog and having a radius of 10 in the state of the dog “trying to fawn with another dog” in the virtual three-dimensional space. Using the collision determination area set in this manner, it is determined whether or not the dog has collided against another object. Therefore, a collision determination suitable to individual situations can be realized while suppressing an increase in the amount of calculations required for the collision determination.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium having a collision determination program stored thereon for determining whether or not a first object and a second object have collided against each other in a virtual space displayed by display means, the collision determination program causing a computer to execute:

an updating step of updating position information of the first object or the second object stored in storage means;

a first setting step of setting a collision determination area for the first object, the collision determination area having a shape different from the shape of the first object and having a size and/or a position different in accordance with a state of the first object or a state around the first object;

a second setting step of setting a collision determination area for the second object; and

a collision determination step of determining whether or not the first object and the second object have collided against each other by determining whether or not the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step and the collision determination area set for the second object in the second setting step overlap each other.

2. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step has a shape simpler than the shape of the first object.

3. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step is formed of one sphere.

4. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step is different in the size and/or the position in accordance with whether the first object and a third object are combined with each other or not.

5. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 4, wherein the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step includes at least a part of the third object when the first object and the third object are combined with each other.

6. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step is smaller when the first object is permitted to contact another object than when the first object is not permitted to contact another object.

7. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination area set for the first object in the first setting step is different in the size and/or the position in accordance with a current position of the first object or the positional relationship between the first object and another object.

8. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the first setting step includes a step of reading a reference collision determination area for the first object which is set with a predetermined size and at a predetermined position from the storage means, and a step of changing the size and/or the position of the read reference collision determination area in accordance with the state of the first object or the state around the first object.

9. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination area is set for the first object in the first setting step by referring to a collision determination area table which defines the size and the position of a collision determination area for each of conceivable states of the first object or each of conceivable states around the first object.

10. A computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the collision determination program further causes the computer to execute:

a moving step of, when the first step and the second step are determined to have collided against each other in the collision determination step, further updating the position information of the first object or the second object stored in the storage means, thereby moving at least one of the first object and the second object to a position at which the collision determination area for the first object and the collision determination area for the second object do not overlap each other; and

an outputting step of generating an image including the first object and the second object by referring to the position information of the first object or the second object stored in the storage means, and outputting the image to the display means.

11. A collision determination apparatus for determining whether or not a first object and a second object have collided against each other in a virtual space displayed by display means, the collision determination apparatus comprising:

the display means;

storage means for storing position information of at least the first object and the second object;

updating means for updating the position information of the first object or the second object stored in storage means;

first setting means for setting a collision determination area for the first object, the collision determination area having a shape different from the shape of the first object and having a size and/or a position different in accordance with a state of the first object or a state around the first object;

second setting means for setting a collision determination area for the second object; and

collision determination means for determining whether or not the first object and the second object have collided against each other by determining whether or not the collision determination area set for the first object and the collision determination area set for the second object overlap each other.