Voxel data processing using attributes thereof

• US 6,144,384 A
• Filed: 02/12/1997
• Issued: 11/07/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Yugen Kaisha Aloalo International
• Inventors: Nakazawa, Hideki
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Cliff N.
• Application Number:
  US08/799,481
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: 345/424, 345/426, 345/427, 345/429, 345/431, 345/355, 345/422, 382/131
• US Class Current: 345/424
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2012 Colour editing, changing, or manipulating; Use of colour codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2016 Rotation, translation, scaling

Abstract

A device for processing a three-dimensional image is disclosed. A cursor of a drawing tool is moved by using a plane pointing unit 30 and an overall depth pointing unit 31. A three-dimensional cell is specified in a three-dimensional space displayed on the a monitor 12. According to this specification, a display attribute of the three-dimensional cell, which is stored in a three-dimensional cell attribute information storage unit 23, is replaced with a predetermined attribute. A three-dimensional drawing unit 24 draws the three-dimensional cell in accordance with the attribute of the three-dimensional cell. As a result, a three-dimensional image is drawn and produced by means of the direct operation of the drawing tool. The image may be displayed in a three-dimensional manner, a rotational manner, or a two-dimensional manner of two or more layers. The shape of the object displayed can be recognized generally and easily.

Claims

1. A device for processing a three-dimensional image comprising:

means for memorizing at least one attribute for each of a plurality of voxels fixedly filling a predetermined three-dimensional space;

means for specifying, in a slant direction of a slant representation of the predetermined three-dimensional space on a display screen, a depth position within the predetermined three-dimensional space in response to a first user input;

means for specifying a position in a plane having the specified depth position in response to a second user input;

means for specifying a value for each of the one or more attributes in response to a third user input;

means for modifying each of the at least one attribute of a voxel located at the specified position in the plane having the specified depth position, to the specified value; and

means for displaying voxels in at least a part of the predetermined three-dimensional space on the display screen as the three-dimensional images in accordance with the attributes of the voxels, wherein modification of the depth position by means of the first user input causes a series of specified voxels to have corresponding different positions on the display screen.

2. A device according to claim 1, wherein each of the voxels is a rectangular solid having six sides, each side being parallel to one coordinate axis of the predetermined three-dimensional space.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the predetermined three-dimensional space is completely filled with the voxels.

4. A device a claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two different types of attributes are assigned to each of the plurality of voxels.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein one of the at least two different types of attribute is an optical property attribute comprising one of hue, brightness and transparency.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for displaying coordinate axes of the predetermined three-dimensional space.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the coordinate axes of the predetermined three-dimensional space are displayed on the display screen as an oblique projection.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7, further comprising first positioning means for inputting a first position in a two-dimensional space defined by two axes of the coordinate axes of the predetermined three-dimensional space, the two coordinate axes being oriented parallel to the display screen, and second positioning means for inputting a second position in a one-dimensional space defined by the remaining coordinate axis of the three-dimensional space.

9. A device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for rotatably displaying voxels in at least the predetermined three-dimensional space in accordance with the attributes of the voxels.

10. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the plurality of voxels are arranged in a plurality of layers forming the predetermined three-dimensional space and further comprising means for displaying each of the plurality of layers sequentially on the display screen, voxels of each of the layers being aligned in a plane and arranged so that no voxels are overlapped by any other voxel of another of the layers.

11. A device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising means for adjusting the display of the voxels on the display screen corresponding to a change in a point of view position.

12. A computer program product stored on a computer readable medium for processing a three-dimensional image comprising:

means for memorizing at least one attribute for each of a plurality of voxels fixedly filling a predetermined three-dimensional space;

means for specifying, in a slant direction of a slant representation of the predetermined three-dimensional space on a display screen, a depth position within the predetermined three-dimensional space in response to a first user input;

means for specifying a position in a plane having the specified depth position in response to a second user input;

means for specifying a value for each of the one or more attributes in response to a third user input;

means for modifying each of the at least one attribute of a voxel located at the specified position in the plane having the specified depth position, to the specified value; and

means for displaying voxels in at least a part of the predetermined three-dimensional space on the display screen as the three-dimensional images in accordance with the attributes of the voxels, wherein modification of the depth position by means of the first user input causes a series of specified voxels to have corresponding different positions on the display screen.