ALTERNATE SOURCE FOR CONTROLLING AN ANIMATION

• US 20120056889A1
• Filed: 09/07/2010
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Carter, Benjamin F., Saks, Jevan D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,866,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/473
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation

Abstract

Techniques and tools described herein provide effective ways to program a property of a target object to vary depending on a source. For example, for a key frame animation for a property of a target UI element, an alternate time source is set to a property of a source UI element. When the target UI element is rendered at runtime, the animation changes the target value depending on the value of the property of the source UI element. Features of UI elements and animations can be specified in markup language. The alternate time source can be specified through a call to a programming interface. Animations for multiple target UI elements can have the same source, in which case different parameters for the respective animations can be used to adjust source values in different ways.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining an animation for a target graphical user interface (GUI) element;

setting an input of the animation to relate to a property of a source GUI element; and

at runtime, rendering for display the target GUI element according to the animation and value of the property of the source GUI element.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a computing device that implements a rendering engine performs the setting when processing markup language for the target GUI element.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the setting includes:

calling a programming interface that returns a source variable whose value depends on the value of the property of the source GUI element; and

assigning the source variable to an animation input property of the animation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the animation for the target GUI element is a first animation for a first target GUI element, the method further comprising:

determining a second animation for a second target GUI element;

setting an input of the second animation to relate to the property of the source GUI element; and

at run time, rendering for display the second target GUI element according to the second animation and the value of the property of the source GUI element;

whereby the rendering of first and second target GUI elements changes as a function of the property of the source GUI element.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the animation includes plural key frames that specify variations in a value of a property of the target GUI element.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the rendering includes iteratively:

determining the value of the property of the source GUI element;

adjusting the value of the property of the source GUI element according to one or more adjustment parameters;

normalizing the adjusted value according to duration of the animation; and

interpolating within the animation to compute a value of a property of the target GUI element at the normalized, adjusted value of the property of the source GUI element.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the value of the property of the source GUI element is a scalar, and wherein the setting includes specifying one or more parameters that indicate a multiplier, exponent and/or offset of the value of the property of the source GUI element for the animation.

8. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a computing device programmed thereby to perform a method comprising:

providing a programming interface that facilitates binding of an input of an animation to a given source other than time, wherein the animation specifies variations in value of a property of the target object; and

receiving a call to the programming interface; and

returning from the call.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the call to the programming interface includes a property parameter that identifies the given source and one or more adjustment parameters that indicate adjustments to the value of the given source, and wherein the call returns a source variable whose value depends on value of the given source.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 wherein the value of the given source is a scalar floating point value, and wherein the one or more adjustment parameters include at least one of a multiplier, an exponent and an offset for the value of the given source.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 wherein the method further comprises processing a specification for the animation, and wherein the specification includes:

one or more statements at least in part defining the animation; and

one or more statements setting the input of the animation to the given source; and

one or more statements defining a key frame for the animation, the key frame indicating a specific point in the variations in the value of the property of the target object.

12. In a computing device that implements a rendering engine, a method comprising:

with the computing device that implements the rendering engine, determining a first animation for a first target object that has a first target object property, wherein the first animation specifies variations in value of the first target object property, and wherein an animation input of the first animation is set to a given source other than time;

with the computing device that implements the rendering engine, determining a second animation for a second target object that has a second target object property, wherein the second animation specifies variations in value of the second target object property, and wherein an animation input of the second animation is also set to the given source other than time; and

with the computing device that implements the rendering engine, iteratively rendering the first target object and the second target object at runtime, including;

evaluating the first animation based on value of the given source, including computing the value of the first target object property; and

evaluating the second animation based on the value of the given source, including computing the value of the second target object property.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising performing the determining and the rendering for each of one or more other target objects using the given source for the first target object and the second target object.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the first animation includes one or more key frames for one or more different values of the animation input of the first animation, each of the one or more key frames indicating a different value of the first target object property for a different one of the one or more different values of the animation input.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein a markup language specification includes statements that at least in part define the first animation, the method further comprising:

with the computing device that implements the rendering engine, processing a script separate from the markup language specification to add the one or more key frames.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein:

the evaluating the first animation includes adjusting the value of the given source according to a first parameter for the first animation;

the evaluating the second animation includes adjusting the value of the given source according to a second parameter for the second animation, wherein the first parameter is different than the second parameter.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the evaluating the first animation comprises:

adjusting the value of the given source for purposes of the first animation;

normalizing the adjusted value according to length of the first animation; and

interpolating within the first animation to compute the value of the first target object property at the normalized, adjusted value of the given source.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the evaluating the second animation comprises:

adjusting the value of the given source for purposes of the second animation;

normalizing the second adjusted value according to length of the second animation; and

interpolating within the second animation to compute the value of the second target object property at the second normalized, adjusted value of the given source.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

with the computing device that implements the rendering engine, creating a first source variable whose value depends at least in part on the value of the given source, wherein the animation input of the first animation is set to the first source variable; and

with the computing device that implements the rendering engine, creating a second source variable whose value depends at least in part on the value of the given source, wherein the animation input of the second animation is set to the second source variable.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the value of the first source variable further depends at least in part on a first adjustment parameter specified for the first source variable, and wherein the value of the second source variable further depends at least in part on a second adjustment parameter specified for the second source variable.