Method for facilitating material application for a group of objects of a computer graphic

• US 5,710,878 A
• Filed: 06/07/1995
• Issued: 01/20/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Virtual Music Entertainment, Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Virtual Music Entertainment, Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: McCoy, David Scott, Albertson, John-Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUCHEL JR, RUDOLPH JOHN
• Application Number:
  US08/480,649
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 395/119, 395/133, 395/129-32
• US Class Current: 345/581
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/00 Three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects

Abstract

A method for collecting, managing, manipulating, and checking data during construction of a virtual environment, and automatically re-processing the subset of data necessary to produce a resource for use by a simulation program, is provided. This method provides for the repeated application of a designated material to commonly designated elements of multiple objects. Once the material has been designated to be applied to a particular element of an object, application to other objects is facilitated by designating the common element. This method significantly reduces the amount of repetitive artist labor related to iterated operations performed and features improved error detection and indication.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating material application for a group of objects of a computer graphic comprising the steps of:

defining a group of objects;

representing a first object from said group of objects, said first object having a geometry within a coordinate system of a computer graphic, said first object comprised of at least one component;

designating said component as a first named component by assigning a name to said component;

creating a material which defines a surface quality;

creating a material application, said material application comprising data specifying said material and the manner in which using said material is to be applied;

using said material application for applying said material to said first named component;

storing said material application;

representing a second object from said group of objects, said second object having a geometry within a coordinate system of a computer graphic, said second object comprised of at least one component;

designating said component of the second object as a second named component, by assigning the name to said component so that the name is assigned to both the first named component and the second named component;

designating the malarial application for said second named component because said second named component has been assigned the name;

using said material application for applying said material to said second named component.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said first object having a geometry is represented using a modeling tool which constructs the geometry of the object from a number of polygons.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said second object having a geometry is represented using a modeling tool which constructs the geometry of the object from a number of polygons.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said first object and said second object having a geometry are represented using a modeling tool which constructs the geometry of the object from a number of polygons.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is a texture mapping.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is a light reflection model.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is a color.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is a bump mapping.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is an environment mapping.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is a combination of a color and a texture mapping.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the material application is a combination of a color, light reflection model and a texture mapping.

12. A method of facilitating material application for a group of objects of a computer graphic comprising the steps of:

defining a group of objects;

representing a first object from said group of objects, said first object having a geometry within a coordinate system of a computer graphic, said first object comprised of at least one component, said component having an intrinsic quality;

designating said component as a first component by assigning a name to said component,

creating a material which defines a surface quality;

creating a material application, said material application comprising data specifying said material and the manner in which said material is to be applied;

using said material application for applying said material to said first component;

storing said material application;

representing second object from said group of objects, said second object having a geometry within a coordinate system of a computer graphic, said second object comprised of at least one component having the intrinsic quality;

designating said component of the second object as a second component;

designating the material application for said second component because said second component has the intrinsic quality;

using said material application for applying said material to said second component.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the intrinsic quality is a conjugate of the component of an object.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the intrinsic quality is an orientation of the component of an object.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the intrinsic quality is a component size of the component of an object.

16. A method of facilitating material application for a group of objects of a computer graphic comprising the steps of:

defining a group of objects;

representing a first object from said group of objects, said first object having a geometry within a three dimensional coordinate system of a virtual environment, said first object comprised of at least one component;

designating said component as a first named component by assigning a name to said component;

creating a material which defines a surface quality;

creating a material application, said material application comprising data specifying said material and the manner in which said material is to be applied;

using, said material application for for applying said material to said first named component;

storing said material application;

representing a second object from said group of objects, said second object having a geometry within a three-dimensional coordinate system of a virtual environment, said second object comprised of at least one component;

designating said component of the second object as a second named component, by assigning the name to said component so that the name is assigned to both the first named component and the second named component;

designating the material application for said second named component because said second named component has been assigned the name;

using said material application for for applying said material to said second named component.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the representation of the first object and the second object uses the polygon mesh model.

18. A method of facilitating material application for a group of objects of a computer graphic comprising the steps of:

defining a group of objects, said objects each having at least one component;

creating a material which defines a surface quality of a component of an object from said group of objects;

creating a material application, said material application comprising a data structure which specifies said material and the manner in which said material is to be applied;

storing the material application;

repeating the process of;

representing an object from said group of objects having a geometry within a three-dimensional coordinate system of a virtual environment;

designating the material application for said component;

using said material application for applying said material to said component.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the object having a geometry is represented using a modeling tool which constructs the geometry of the object from a number of polygons.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the material specified is a texture mapping.