Terrain-Based Virtual Camera Tilting, And Applications Thereof
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for navigating a virtual camera in a three-dimensional environment, wherein the virtual camera specifies a view of the three-dimensional environment, comprising:
- determining a variation in altitude of content in the view of the three-dimensional environment specified by the virtual camera;
determining an adjusted tilt according to the variation in altitude; and
changing a tilt of the virtual camera based on the adjusted tilt.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments alter the swoop trajectory depending on the terrain within the view of the virtual camera. To swoop into a target, a virtual camera may be positioned at an angle relative to the upward normal vector from the target. That angle may be referred to as a tilt angle. According to embodiments, the tilt angle may increase more quickly in areas of high terrain variance (e.g., mountains or cities with tall buildings) than in areas with less terrain variance (e.g., flat plains). To determine the level of terrain variance in an area, embodiments may weigh terrain data having higher detail more heavily than terrain data having less detail.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for navigating a virtual camera in a three-dimensional environment, wherein the virtual camera specifies a view of the three-dimensional environment, comprising:
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determining a variation in altitude of content in the view of the three-dimensional environment specified by the virtual camera; determining an adjusted tilt according to the variation in altitude; and changing a tilt of the virtual camera based on the adjusted tilt. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A program storage device readable by a processor, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the processor to perform method steps for navigating a virtual camera in a three-dimensional environment, wherein the virtual camera specifies a view of the three-dimensional environment, said method steps comprising:
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determining a variation in altitude of content in the view of the three-dimensional environment specified by the virtual camera; determining an adjusted tilt according to variation in altitude such that the tilt approaches 90 degrees as the variation in altitude increases; and positioning the virtual camera at a second location in the three-dimensional environment such that the virtual camera and the adjusted tilt defines an angle relative to an upward vector from the target location, the adjusted tilt determined by, for each of a plurality of nodes defining the content in the view of the three-dimensional environment; (i) determining a variation in altitude in the region of the node using a height of a bounding box encompassing the geographic data in the region of the node, (ii) determining a weight for the node corresponding to the node'"'"'s level of the detail such that variations in altitudes in nodes having greater detail are weighted more heavily than variations in altitudes in nodes having lesser detail, and (iii) determining the variation in altitude of content in the view based on the respective weights and the respective variations in altitudes in the respective regions. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for navigating a virtual camera in a three dimensional environment, wherein the virtual camera specifies a view of the three-dimensional environment, comprising:
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an altitude variation module, implemented on the computing device, that, when activated, determines a variation in altitude of content in the view of the three-dimensional environment specified by the virtual camera; a tilt calculator module, implemented on the computing device, that, when activated;
determines an adjusted tilt according to the variation in altitude such that the tilt approaches 90 degrees as the variation in altitude increases;a positioner module, implemented on the computing device, that, when activated, positions the virtual camera so that the adjusted tilt defines an angle relative to an upward vector from the target location; and a controller module, implemented on the computing device, that activates the altitude variation module, the tilt calculator, and the positioner module. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification