METHOD FOR PREDICTIVELY SPLITTING PROCEDURALLY GENERATED PARTICLE DATA INTO SCREEN-SPACE BOXES

• US 20080266299A1
• Filed: 04/28/2008
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Pictures Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Pictures Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Allen, Chris, Cohen, Jonathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,203,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/473
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/20 3D [Three Dimensional] animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/56 Particle system, point based geometry or rendering
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/958 Collision avoidance

Abstract

A method for use in rendering includes receiving an input particle system, an instancing program, and a number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory, providing an input particle count representative of at least a portion of the input particle system to at least one operator for the instancing program, running the at least one operator in a prediction mode to generate an output particle count, comparing the output particle count to the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory, and spatially splitting a bounding box representative of the input particle count in response to the output particle count being greater than the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory.

Claims

1. A method for use in rendering, comprising:

receiving an input particle system, an instancing program, and a number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory;

providing an input particle count representative of at least a portion of the input particle system to at least one operator for the instancing program;

running the at least one operator in a prediction mode to generate an output particle count;

comparing the output particle count to the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory; and

spatially splitting a bounding box representative of the input particle count in response to the output particle count being greater than the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial splitting is performed in screen space.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the spatial splitting is performed horizontally in screen space.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial splitting is performed vertically in screen space if a height of the bounding box is less than a height of a pixel bucket.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of spatially splitting results in two or more new bounding boxes; and

the method further comprises providing the two or more new bounding boxes to a rendering system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the rendering system comprises a Reyes type rendering system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the step of spatially splitting results in two or more new bounding boxes; and

the steps of running, comparing, and spatially splitting are repeated for each of the two or more new bounding boxes.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an average instance value and a maximum radius to the at least one operator for the instancing program.

9. A storage medium storing a computer program executable by a processor based system, the computer program causing the processor based system to execute steps comprising:

receiving an input particle system, an instancing program, and a number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory;

providing an input particle count representative of at least a portion of the input particle system to at least one operator for the instancing program;

running the at least one operator in a prediction mode to generate an output particle count;

comparing the output particle count to the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory; and

spatially splitting a bounding box representative of the input particle count in response to the output particle count being greater than the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory.

10. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the spatial splitting is performed in screen space.

11. The storage medium of claim 10, wherein the spatial splitting is performed horizontally in screen space.

12. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein the spatial splitting is performed vertically in screen space if a height of the bounding box is less than a height of a pixel bucket.

13. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein:

the step of spatially splitting results in two or more new bounding boxes; and

the computer program further causing the processor based system to execute a step comprising providing the two or more new bounding boxes to a rendering system.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein the rendering system comprises a Reyes type rendering system.

15. The storage medium of claim 9, wherein:

the step of spatially splitting results in two or more new bounding boxes; and

the steps of running, comparing, and spatially splitting are repeated for each of the two or more new bounding boxes.

16. The storage medium of claim 9, further comprising:

providing an average instance value and a maximum radius to the at least one operator for the instancing program.

17. An apparatus for use in rendering, comprising:

means for receiving an input particle system, an instancing program, and a number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory;

means for providing an input particle count representative of at least a portion of the input particle system to at least one operator for the instancing program;

means for running the at least one operator in a prediction mode to generate an output particle count;

means for comparing the output particle count to the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory; and

means for spatially splitting a bounding box representative of the input particle count in response to the output particle count being greater than the number indicating a maximum number of particles to be stored in memory.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the spatial splitting is performed in screen space.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the spatial splitting is performed horizontally in screen space.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the spatial splitting is performed vertically in screen space if a height of the bounding box is less than a height of a pixel bucket.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

the spatially splitting results in two or more new bounding boxes; and

the apparatus further comprising means for providing the two or more new bounding boxes to a rendering system.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the rendering system comprises a Reyes type rendering system.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein:

the spatially splitting results in two or more new bounding boxes; and

the running, comparing, and spatially splitting are repeated for each of the two or more new bounding boxes.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

means for providing an average instance value and a maximum radius to the at least one operator for the instancing program.