Method and apparatus for producing digital cartoons

• US 20090135198A1
• Filed: 11/12/2008
• Published: 05/28/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Kim, Hee Jeong, Chun, Bong-Kyung, Cho, Hwan-gue, Ryu, Dong-Sung, Hwang, Won-Il, Choi, Yoon-Seok, Lee, Seung Wook, Park, Il Kyu, Koo, Bon Ki, Lee, Ji Hyung, Kim, Bo Youn
• Granted Patent: US 8,207,987 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/02 Non-photorealistic rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20192 Edge enhancement; Edge preservation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/13 Edge detection

Abstract

An apparatus for producing digital cartoons includes: an image collection unit for collecting photorealistic image data; and a cartooning processor for performing a rendering process including image abstraction and edge generation on the photorealistic image data collected by the image collection unit to generate cartooned images. The apparatus further includes a stylization unit for producing a cartoon page having various shapes of cartoon frames, resizing the cartooned images to place the resized images into the cartoon frames and adding cartoon elements to the images placed in the cartoon frames.

Claims

1. An apparatus for producing digital cartoons, the apparatus comprising:

an image collection unit for collecting photorealistic image data;

a cartooning processor for performing a rendering process including image abstraction and edge generation on the photorealistic image data collected by the image collection unit to generate cartooned images; and

a stylization unit for producing a cartoon page having various shapes of cartoon frames, resizing the cartooned images to place the resized images into the cartoon frames and adding cartoon elements to the images placed in the cartoon frames.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image abstraction includes simplification of colors in the photorealistic image data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the image abstraction is performed using bilateral filtering and mean-shift segmentation.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the edge generation is performed using Laplacian filtering and Canny edge detection to generate edges on contours of objects in the photorealistic image data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the photorealistic image data are images taken by a digital camera or extracted from scenes of two-dimensional based movies or dramas.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the cartoon elements include word balloons, backgrounds, letters and speedlines.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the word balloons are automatically placed in each cartoon frame depending on a sequence of lines of cartoon characters in the cartoon frame by using an EPFLP (Extended Point-Feature Label Placement) method and a heuristic method using a QLayout evaluation function.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein performing a cartooning process includes:

abstracting the photorealistic image data to simplify colors in the photorealistic image data; and

generating edges on contours of objects in the abstracted photorealistic image data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein abstracting the photorealistic image data is performed using bilateral filtering and mean-shift segmentation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the edges is performed using Laplacian filtering and Canny edge detection.

8. A method for producing digital cartoons, the method comprising:

collecting photorealistic image data;

performing a cartooning process on the photorealistic image data to generate a cartooned image; and

performing a stylization process on the cartooned image to complete a cartoon page.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the stylization process includes:

producing a cartoon page having various shapes of cartoon frames;

resizing the cartooned images to place the resized images into the cartoon frames; and

adding cartoon elements to the images placed in the cartoon frames.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the cartoon elements include word balloons, backgrounds, letters and speedlines.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the word balloons are automatically placed in each cartoon frame depending on a sequence of lines of cartoon characters in the cartoon frame by using an EPFLP (Extended Point-Feature Label Placement) method and a heuristic method using a QLayout evaluation function.