Method and system for high performance computer-generated virtual environments
First Claim
1. A method for rendering a virtual environment comprising a first environment and a second environment wherein said second environment can image of a group of real world objects, wherein the group of real world objects has a three dimensional appearance, said method comprising the steps ofsupplying a database with a plurality of stereoscopic pairs of texture maps for associated polygons, wherein at least some of the polygons correspond to the group of real world objects, and at least some of the pairs of texture maps comprise an image of the group of objects;
- supplying to a computer system, from the database, a selected pair of texture maps and an associated polygon or polygons, which correspond to the group of real world objects; and
operating the computer system to display the selected pair of texture maps and the associated pylygon or polygons wherein said associated polygon or polygons comprise a non-flat backdrop viewable through a portal in the first environment, wherein at least a portion of the non-flat backdrop is located in a plane differing from the plane of the portal, wherein the pair of texture maps and the associated polygon or polygons which correspond to the group of objects determine the stereoscopic view of the second environment.
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Abstract
A computer system and computer-implemented method for rendering images in real-time with a three-dimensional appearance. Using a database including at least one pair of texture maps uses as a stereo pair behind a portal to simulate a scene. An input database can be processed to generate a processed database by performing texture mapping to replace at least one portion of the input data representing a view (or object) by data indicative of a pair of texture maps and an associated polygon or polygons. One of the texture maps represents the view (object) from a left-eye viewpoint; the other represents the view (object) from a right-eye viewpoint. In some embodiments, to generate the texture map pairs, the input database analyzed to produce the images. In other embodiments the images are from photographs or other sources.
70 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for rendering a virtual environment comprising a first environment and a second environment wherein said second environment can image of a group of real world objects, wherein the group of real world objects has a three dimensional appearance, said method comprising the steps of
supplying a database with a plurality of stereoscopic pairs of texture maps for associated polygons, wherein at least some of the polygons correspond to the group of real world objects, and at least some of the pairs of texture maps comprise an image of the group of objects; -
supplying to a computer system, from the database, a selected pair of texture maps and an associated polygon or polygons, which correspond to the group of real world objects; and operating the computer system to display the selected pair of texture maps and the associated pylygon or polygons wherein said associated polygon or polygons comprise a non-flat backdrop viewable through a portal in the first environment, wherein at least a portion of the non-flat backdrop is located in a plane differing from the plane of the portal, wherein the pair of texture maps and the associated polygon or polygons which correspond to the group of objects determine the stereoscopic view of the second environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for rendering a virtual environment comprising a first environment and a environment, wherein said second environment comprises an image of a group of real world objects, wherein the group of real world objects has a three dimensional appearance, said method comprising the steps of:
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supplying a database with a plurality of stereoscopic pairs of texture maps and associated polygons, wherein at least some of the polygons correspond to the group of real world objects, and at least some of the pairs of texture maps comprise an image of the group of objects; supplying to a computer system, from the database, a sequence of selected subsets of texture mapped data, each of the subsets of texture mapped data consisting of a pair of texture maps and an associated polygon or polygons which correspond to the group of real world objects; and operating the computer system to display a sequence of the selected subsets of texture mapped data, wherein said associated polygon or polygons comprise a non-flat backdrop viewable through a portal in the first environment, wherein at least a portion of the non-flat backdrop is located in a plane differing from the plane of the portal, where each of the subsets of texture mapped data determines one of the stereoscopic views of the group of objects in the sequence in the second environment. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for rendering images within a virtual environment, said method comprising the steps of:
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displaying a first set of images, said first set of images including a portal; processing an input image database of images comprising a plurality of polygons associated with an image in the database to generate a processed database, by processing the input image database in linear hierarchical fashion to perform texture mapping on at least one of the images of the input image database to replace said at least one of the images by data indicative of at least one texture map and an associated polygon or polygons; storing the processed database in a memory device; and reading said at least one texture map and the associated polygon or polygons from the memory and processing said at least one texture map and said associated polygon or polygons to display an image determined by said at least one texture map and said associated polygon or polygons; and displaying the texture map and associated polygon or polygons as a non-flat backdrop viewable through the portal of the first set of images. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification