Method and apparatus for simulating movement in multidimensional space with polygonal projections
First Claim
1. A method for simulating movement within a multidimensional CG or natural environment by displaying an image at a specified viewpoint and orientation within said environment, where said viewpoint and orientation specify the location and direction of a point of view, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) forming a database of the environment in a computer-readable storage medium by;
i) determining a set of k-points in the environment, each k-point within said set having a domain within the environment and playback data associated therewith, said k-point domain forming a range of supported viewpoints and orientations, each of said k-points being defined as a center of projection;
ii) projecting the environment onto a planar surface at a predetermined orientation to form a corresponding k-projection;
iii) segmenting said corresponding k-projection into one or more k-polygons; and
iv) for each said k-polygon, determining an e-polygon, said e-polygon being a planar polygon that approximates an area in the environment, said k-polygon being a projection of said area;
b) finding the k-point in the database whose domain supports the specified viewpoint and orientation;
c) mapping the k-projections at said k-point to said viewpoint and orientation to form said image; and
d) displaying said image.
13 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for generating views of an environment with proper perspective and parallax. This invention captures panoramic views at many points in the environment and stores them as planar polygons, which have been extended to include imagery occluded at their viewing position but visible at nearby points. Three-dimensional information on the environmental source of these polygons is determined and stored, enabling the playback system to simulate parallax as well as to produce stereographic images. Given a location and orientation in the environment, the playback system finds a nearby capture point and translates the polygons at that point to the specified location, producing an image. It then rotates that image to the desired orientation which it then displays.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method for simulating movement within a multidimensional CG or natural environment by displaying an image at a specified viewpoint and orientation within said environment, where said viewpoint and orientation specify the location and direction of a point of view, the method comprising the steps of:
-
a) forming a database of the environment in a computer-readable storage medium by; i) determining a set of k-points in the environment, each k-point within said set having a domain within the environment and playback data associated therewith, said k-point domain forming a range of supported viewpoints and orientations, each of said k-points being defined as a center of projection; ii) projecting the environment onto a planar surface at a predetermined orientation to form a corresponding k-projection; iii) segmenting said corresponding k-projection into one or more k-polygons; and iv) for each said k-polygon, determining an e-polygon, said e-polygon being a planar polygon that approximates an area in the environment, said k-polygon being a projection of said area; b) finding the k-point in the database whose domain supports the specified viewpoint and orientation; c) mapping the k-projections at said k-point to said viewpoint and orientation to form said image; and d) displaying said image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method for constructing a 3-dimensional model of an environment consisting of the following steps:
-
selecting a reference image having image pixels; selecting a target image having image pixels; manually segmenting the reference image into at least one polygon, said polygon being a projection of an area in the environment that is approximately planar; defining a planar model of said area; defining registration results as the relationship between image pixels in the reference image and those of the target image; registering the polygon in the reference image with the target image, determining said registration results; and fitting the registration results to the planar model. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
-
Specification