Image generating system and information storage medium capable of changing viewpoint or line-of sight direction of virtual camera for enabling player to see two objects without interposition

• US 6,323,895 B1
• Filed: 06/10/1998
• Issued: 11/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Namco Limited (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Sata, Hironori
• Primary Examiner(s): BRITTON, HOWARD W
• Application Number:
  US09/095,151
• Time in Patent Office: 1,266 Days
• Field of Search: H04/N.718, 348/39, 348/42, 348/47, 348/48
• US Class Current: 348/39
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5258 by dynamically adapting the position of the virtual camera to keep a game object or game character in its viewing frustum, e.g. for tracking a character or a ball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6653 for altering the visibility of an object, e.g. preventing the occlusion of an object, partially hiding an object
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6661 for changing the position of the virtual camera
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6684 by dynamically adapting its position to keep a game object in its viewing frustrum, e.g. for tracking a character or a ball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8011 Ball

Abstract

An image generating system and information storage medium which can generate an image preferable for the game play while causing a virtual camera to follow a displayed object. While the virtual camera follows a player'"'"'s game character, the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of the virtual camera are changed so that the player'"'"'s game character and ball can be displayed without hiding each other even if the distance D between the player'"'"'s game character and the ball is changed. Depending on the distance D, the viewpoint, twist angle and pan angle of the virtual camera are changed. If the distance D is smaller than a given value D_th, the ball is displayed so that it can be seen through an open space of the player'"'"'s game character. The change of the line-of-sight direction is limited to a given range. The player'"'"'s game character and ball are always projected onto a screen below and above the gazing point, respectively. The first and second displayed objects represent first and second characters in a fighting game or a character and item in a role-playing game, respectively.

Claims

1. An image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, said image being a projected image onto a screen, said image generating system comprising:

means for causing said virtual camera to follow said first displayed object, and also for changing at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera based on positional information of said first and second displayed objects such that said first and second displayed objects are projected onto said screen without hiding each other even if the distance between said first and second displayed objects is changed; and

means for generating an image as seen from said virtual camera.

2. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein as the distance between said first and second displayed objects decreases, the viewpoint of said virtual camera is changed to increase the distance between the viewpoint and a line passing through said first and second displayed objects, and also the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is directed toward said first and second displayed objects side.

4. The image generating system as defined in claim 2,

wherein when said object space has a coordinate system in which the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are perpendicular to each other, the Y-coordinate of the viewpoint of said virtual camera and a twist angle which is an angle between the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera and the plane XZ are changed depending on the distance between said first and second displayed objects.

6. The image generating system as defined in claim 2,

wherein when said object space has a coordinate system in which the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are perpendicular to each other, the Z-coordinate of the viewpoint of said virtual camera and a pan angle which is an angle between the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera and the plane XY are changed depending on the distance between said first and second displayed objects.

8. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is changed such that said second displayed object can be seen through an open space of said first displayed object when the distance between said first and second displayed objects is less than a given threshold value.

10. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein changing of the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is limited to a given range.

12. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is changed such that said first displayed object is projected onto a first part of said screen and said second displayed object is projected onto a second part of said screen when a gazing point of said virtual camera is used as a reference point to divide said screen into said first and second parts.

15. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein said virtual camera follows said first displayed object with inertia.

18. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein said first displayed object represents a game character and said second displayed object represents a ball controllable by said game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

21. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein said first displayed object represents a first game character and said second displayed object represents a second game character who fights against said first game character in a game which is played by using said image separated by said image generating system.

24. The image generating system as defined in claim 1,

wherein said first displayed object represents a game character and said second displayed object represents an item to be obtained by said game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

3. An image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, said image being a projected image onto a screen, said image generating system comprising:

means for changing the viewpoint of said virtual camera to increase the distance between the viewpoint and a line passing through said first and second displayed objects, and also for directing the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera toward said first and second displayed objects side, as the distance between said first and second displayed objects decreases; and

means for generating an image as seen from said virtual camera.

5. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein when said object space has a coordinate system in which the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are perpendicular to each other, the Y-coordinate of the viewpoint of said virtual camera and a twist angle which is an angle between the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera and the plane XZ are changed depending on the distance between said first and second displayed objects.

7. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein when said object space has a coordinate system in which the X-axis, Y-axis and Z-axis are perpendicular to each other, the Z-coordinate of the viewpoint of said virtual camera and a pan angle which is an angle between the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera and the plane XY are changed depending on the distance between said first and second displayed object.

9. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is changed such that said second displayed object can be seen through an open space of said first displayed object when the distance between said first and second displayed objects is less than a given threshold value.

11. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein changing of the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is limited to a given range.

13. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera is changed such that said first displayed object is projected onto a first part of said screen and said second displayed object is projected onto a second part of said screen when a gazing point of said virtual camera is used as a reference point to divide said screen into said first and second parts.

16. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein said virtual camera follows said first displayed object with inertia.

19. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein said first displayed object represents a game character and said second displayed object represents a ball controllable by said game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

22. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein said first displayed object represents a first game character and said second displayed object represents a second game character who fights against said first game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

25. The image generating system as defined in claim 3,

wherein said first displayed object represents a game character and said second displayed object represents an item to be obtained by said game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

14. An image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, said image being a projected image onto a screen, said image generating system comprising:

means for causing said virtual camera to follow said first displayed object, and also for changing at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera such that said first displayed object is projected onto a first part of said screen and said second displayed object is projected onto a second part of said screen when a gazing point of said virtual camera is used as a reference point to divide said screen into said first and second parts; and

means for generating an image as seen from said virtual camera.

17. The image generating system as defined in claim 14,

wherein said virtual camera follows said first displayed object with inertia.

20. The image generating system as defined in claim 14,

wherein said first displayed object represents a game character and said second displayed object represents a ball controllable by said game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

23. The image generating system as defined in claim 14,

wherein said first displayed object represents a first game character and said second displayed object represents a second game character who fights against said first game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

26. The image generating system as defined in claim 14,

wherein said first displayed object represents a game character and said second displayed object represents an item to be obtained by said game character in a game which is played by using said image generated by said image generating system.

27. An information storage medium to be used in an image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, said image being a projected image onto a screen, said information storage medium comprising:

information for causing said virtual camera to follow said first displayed object, and also for changing at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera based on positional information of said first and second displayed objects such that said first and second displayed objects are projected onto said screen without hiding each other even if the distance between said first and second displayed objects is changed; and

information for generating an image as seen from said virtual camera.

28. An information storage medium to be used in an image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, said image being a projected image onto a screen, said information storage medium comprising:

information for changing the viewpoint of said virtual camera to increase the distance between the viewpoint and a line passing through said first and second displayed objects, and also for directing the line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera toward said first and second displayed objects side, as the distance between said first and second displayed objects decreases; and

information for generating an image as seen from said virtual camera.

29. An information storage medium to be used in an image generating system for generating an image as seen from a virtual camera in an object space in which at least first and second displayed objects are disposed, said image being a projected image onto a screen, said information storage medium comprising:

information for causing said virtual camera to follow said first displayed object, and also for changing at least one of the viewpoint and line-of-sight direction of said virtual camera such that said first displayed object is projected onto a first part of said screen and said second displayed object is projected onto a second part of said screen when a gazing point of said virtual camera is used as a reference point to divide said screen into said first and second parts; and

information for generating an image as seen from said virtual camera.