AVATAR EDITING ENVIRONMENT

• US 20110248992A1
• Filed: 04/07/2011
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Baumann, Laurent, Carlhian, Alexandre, Lampell, Michael Dale, Goossens, Thomas, van Os, Marcel
• Granted Patent: US 9,576,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/001 Texturing; Colouring; Generation of texture or colour inpainting G06T5/77
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/04 Texture mapping
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2012 Colour editing, changing, or manipulating; Use of colour codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2016 Rotation, translation, scaling

Abstract

An avatar editing environment is disclosed that allows users to create custom avatars for use in online games and other applications. Starting with a blank face the user can add, rescale and position different elements (e.g., eyes, nose, mouth) on the blank face. The user can also change the shape of the avatar'"'"'s face, the avatar'"'"'s skin color and the color of all the elements. In some implementations, touch input and gestures can be used to manually edit the avatar. Various controls can be used to create the avatar, such as controls for resizing, rotating, positioning, etc. The user can choose between manual and automatic avatar creation. The avatar editing environment can be part of a framework that is available to applications. One or more elements of the avatar can be animated.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by one or more processors, comprising:

presenting an avatar editing environment on a display of a device;

displaying an avatar model in the avatar editing environment;

receiving first input selecting an avatar element category;

receiving a second input selecting an avatar element from the avatar element category;

rendering the selected avatar element on the avatar model; and

receiving third input for manually editing the avatar element.

2. The method of claim 1, where the device is a mobile device and the display is a touch sensitive display.

3. The method of claim 2, where the third input is a touch input or gesture.

4. The method of claim 2, where receiving first input selecting an avatar category, comprises:

displaying a bar in the avatar editing environment, the bar containing a number of icons representing element categories; and

applying a touch input to the bar on the display to animate the icons, the animation simulating motion of the icons through a center position of the bar, where the icon occupying the center position of the bar when the motion stops is the selected avatar element category.

5. The method of claim 2, where receiving a second input selecting an avatar element from the avatar element category, comprises:

displaying a grid view in the avatar editing environment, at least some cells in the grid view displaying the avatar with a different avatar element;

associating the second input with a cell; and

selecting an avatar element based on the associating.

6. The method of claim 2, where rendering the selected avatar element, comprises:

rendering a two-dimensional texture representing the avatar element on the avatar model.

7. The method of claim 2, where receiving third input for manually editing the avatar element, comprises:

moving, rotating or resizing the avatar element according to the third input;

8. The method of claim 7, where the manual editing is restricted to an editing region associated with the avatar element.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing avatar data to an application, the avatar data operable for creating the avatar in the application.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

animating the avatar in the application.

11. The method of claim 10, where animating the avatar in the application, comprises:

animating an eye element on the avatar in response to a trigger event.

12. The method of claim 10, where animating an eye element, comprises:

animating the eye element to follow a cursor or other object displayed in a user interface of the application.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving fourth input selecting a color for the selected avatar element category;

displaying a grid view in the avatar editing environment, at least some cells in the grid view displaying different colors associated with the selected avatar element category;

associating the fourth input with a cell; and

selecting a color based on the associating.

14. A computer-implemented method performed by one or more processors, comprising:

presenting an avatar editing environment on a touch sensitive display of a mobile device;

displaying a three-dimensional (3D) avatar model in the avatar editing environment;

receiving a user selection of an avatar element category;

receiving a user selection of an avatar element from the avatar element category;

rendering the selected avatar element on the 3D avatar model; and

receiving a touch input or gesture for manually resizing, rotating or positioning the avatar element.

15. The method of claim 14, where rendering the selected avatar element, comprises:

rendering a two-dimensional (2D) texture representing the avatar element on the 3D avatar model.

16. The method of claim 14, where the manual resizing, rotating or positioning is restricted to an editing region associated with the avatar element.

17. A system for editing avatars, comprising:

one or more processors;

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations, comprising;

presenting an avatar editing environment on a display of a device;

displaying an avatar model in the avatar editing environment;

receiving first input selecting an avatar element category;

receiving a second input selecting an avatar element from the avatar element category;

rendering the selected avatar element on the avatar model; and

receiving third input for manually editing the avatar element.

18. The system of claim 17, where the system is a mobile device and the display is a touch sensitive display.

19. The system of claim 18, where the third input is a touch input or gesture.

20. The system of claim 18, where the computer-readable medium stores instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations, comprising:

displaying a bar in the avatar editing environment, the bar containing a number of icons representing element categories; and

applying a touch input to the bar on the display to animate the icons, the animation simulating motion of the icons through a center position of the bar, where the icon occupying the center position of the bar when the motion stops is the selected avatar element category.

21. The system of claim 18, where the computer-readable medium stores instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

displaying a grid view in the avatar editing environment, at least some cells in the grid view displaying the avatar with a different avatar element;

associating the second input with a cell; and

selecting an avatar element based on the associating.

22. The system of claim 18, where the computer-readable medium stores instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

rendering a two-dimensional texture representing the avatar element on the avatar model.

23. The system of claim 18, where the computer-readable medium stores instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

moving, rotating or resizing the avatar element according to the third input.

24. The system of claim 17, where the manual editing is restricted to an editing region associated with the avatar element.

25. The system of claim 17, where the computer-readable medium stores instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

providing avatar data to an application, the avatar data operable for creating the avatar in the application; and

animating the avatar in the application, the animating including animating an eye element of the avatar in response to a trigger event or animating the eye element to follow a cursor or other object displayed in a user interface of the application.