Low cost graphics with stitching processing hardware support for skeletal animation
First Claim
1. A computer graphics system providing animated real-time displays, said computer graphics system including a graphics pipeline comprising:
- a texture coordinate generator;
a texture transform unit coupled to said texture coordinate generator, said texture transform unit, in use, transforming texture coordinates for a texture mapping operation, and additional control circuitry within said graphics pipeline, said control circuitry controlling reuse of the texture transform unit to perform multiple per-vertex transformations for piecewise linear approximation interpolation between first and second vertices to provide stitching of a skin surface onto an animated vertex mesh, said control circuitry selecting different transformation matrices for different vertices.
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Abstract
A graphics system including a custom graphics and audio processor produces exciting 2D and 3D graphics and surround sound. The system includes a graphics and audio processor including a 3D graphics pipeline and an audio digital signal processor. An additional matrix multiplication computation unit connected in cascade with a modelview matrix computation unit can support a piecewise linear version of skinning for skeletal animation modeling. The normalizer connected between the cascaded matrix multiplication computation units can provide normalization to avoid distorted visualization. The additional matrix multiplication computation unit can be used for applications other than skeletal animation modeling (e.g., environment mapping).
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. A computer graphics system providing animated real-time displays, said computer graphics system including a graphics pipeline comprising:
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a texture coordinate generator;
a texture transform unit coupled to said texture coordinate generator, said texture transform unit, in use, transforming texture coordinates for a texture mapping operation, and additional control circuitry within said graphics pipeline, said control circuitry controlling reuse of the texture transform unit to perform multiple per-vertex transformations for piecewise linear approximation interpolation between first and second vertices to provide stitching of a skin surface onto an animated vertex mesh, said control circuitry selecting different transformation matrices for different vertices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
a first dot product computation unit performing a texture transformation on a first set of texture coordinates with respect to the first vertex to generate texture coordinates in homogeneous space; and
a second dot product computation unit coupled in series with said first dot product computation unit, said second dot product computation unit performing a different texture transformation on the first set of texture coordinates with respect to the second vertex different from said first vertex to provide a piecewise linear interpolation between the first vertex and the second vertex.
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3. The graphics pipeline of claim 1 further including a normalizer coupled between said first dot product computation unit and said second dot product computation unit, said normalizer reducing distortions as animated surfaces deform and associated normals get stretched out.
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4. A computer graphics system providing animated displays in real time, said computer graphics system including:
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a texture coordinate generator;
a transform unit for transforming texture coordinates generated by said texture coordinate generator for a texture mapping operation and performing the additional function of performing multiple per-vertex transformations for piecewise linear stitching of a skin surface onto an animated vertex mesh by interpolating between first and second vertices;
an image generator connected to the transform unit, the image generator generating an image of said animated display including said piecewise linear stitched surface in response to computations performed by the transform unit; and
an embedded frame buffer storing the generated image for display. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6)
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7. A method of producing animated graphical displays in real time, comprising:
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(a) generating texture coordinates;
(b) using a transform unit to transform texture coordinates wit respect to a first vertex in connection with a texture mapping operation that maps a texture into the image; and
(c) re-using said transform unit to perform a further per-vertex transformations of said texture coordinates with respect to a second vertex to provide a piecewise linear stitched skin surface mapped onto said animated vertex mesh within the image.
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8. A low cost home video game system for displaying real-time animated video games, said system comprising:
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a texture mapper;
a texture coordinate generator;
a transform unit that transforms texture coordinates with respect to first vertices for application to the texture mapper; and
stitching control circuitry that re-uses the transform unit to transform the already transformed texture coordinates with respect to second vertices different from said first vertices to provide per-vertex piecewise linear stitching to efficiently obtain a visual stitching effect that stitches skin surfaces onto animated vertex meshes.
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Specification