Framework for graphics animation and compositing operations

• US 8,130,226 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Issued: 03/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Brunner, Ralph, Harper, John, Graffagnino, Peter N
• Primary Examiner(s): HAJNIK, DANIEL F
• Application Number:
  US11/756,331
• Publication Number:
  US 20080030504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,741 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 345/473
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/00 3D [Three Dimensional] image rendering

Abstract

A framework for performing graphics animation and compositing operations has a layer tree for interfacing with the application and a render tree for interfacing with a render engine. Layers in the layer tree can be content, windows, views, video, images, text, media, or any other type of object for a user interface of an application. The application commits change to the state of the layers of the layer tree. The application does not need to include explicit code for animating the changes to the layers. Instead, an animation is determined for animating the change in state. In determining the animation, the framework can define a set of predetermined animations based on motion, visibility, and transition. The determined animation is explicitly applied to the affected layers in the render tree. A render engine renders from the render tree into a frame buffer for display on the processing device. Those portions of the render tree that have changed relative to prior versions can be tracked to improve resource management.

Claims

1. A method of processing graphical content for application programs, comprising:

maintaining a plurality of renderable objects independently from graphical content of an application program executing on a processing device;

making the renderable objects available for rendering to a display of the processing device;

making implicit animations available for automatically animating properties of the renderable objects;

identifying a modification of at least one property of the graphical content after a change to the graphical content made by the application program;

determining at least one of the implicit animations for animating the modification of the at least one property, the at least one implicit animation being automatically determined independent of the change made by the application program and being determined based at least on what the at least one property is that is subject to the modification;

manipulating at least one of the renderable objects independently from the application program using the at least one determined animation to achieve a result for the modification when making the at least one renderable object available for rendering; and

maintaining a first data structure comprising a layer tree, the layer tree comprising a plurality of model objects in a hierarchical structure, the plurality of model objects associated with the graphical content of the application program; and

wherein the act of maintaining the plurality of renderable objects comprises maintaining a second data structure separate from the first data structure, the second data structure having the plurality of renderable objects that are based on the model objects of the first data structure and the second data structure comprising a render tree, the render tree comprising layers containing the renderable objects in a hierarchical structure; and

wherein the act of determining at least one of the implicit animations comprises determining based on state changes to affected layers in the layer tree in the first data structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one determined animation comprises a change animation for the identified modification;

and wherein the act of manipulating comprises animating a change of the at least one property of the at least one renderable object, whereby the change in the at least one property of the at least one renderable object is animated from a first state to a second state when rendered to the display.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one determined animation comprises a transition animation for the identified modification;

and wherein the act of manipulating comprise animating a transition of the at least one property of the at least one renderable object, whereby the at least one property transitions from a first state to a second state when rendered to the display.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one determined animation comprises a transformation animation for the identified modification;

and wherein the act of manipulating comprise animating a transformation of the at least one property of the at least one renderable object, whereby the at least one property transforms from a first state to a second state when rendered to the display.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of determining at least one of the implicit animations further comprises determining at least one animation explicitly in response to an instruction from the application program.

6. A processing device having a processor, memory, and a display interface, the processing device programmed with program instructions of an Application Programming Interface stored thereon, the Application Programming Interface executing on the processing device for providing an application graphics processing method in accordance with claim 1.

7. The processing device of claim 6, wherein an operating system service comprises the Application Programming Interface.

8. A program storage device having instructions stored thereon for causing a programmable control device to perform a method in accordance with claim 1.

9. A method of processing graphical content for application programs, comprising:

interfacing with an application program executing on a processing device;

maintaining a plurality of renderable objects based on graphical content of the application program;

making the renderable objects available for rendering to a display of the processing device;

making implicit animations available for automatically animating properties of the renderable objects;

identifying a modification of at least one property of the graphical content after a change to the graphical content made by the application program;

determining at least one of the implicit animations for animating the modification of the at least one property for at least one of the renderable objects to achieve a graphical result for the modification, the at least one implicit animation being automatically determined independent of the change made by the application program and being determined based at least on what the at least one property is that is subject to the modification; and

performing the at least one implicit animation on the at least one renderable object to achieve a graphical result when making the at least one renderable object available for rendering,

wherein the act of interfacing with the application program comprises maintaining a first data structure comprising a layer tree, the layer tree comprising a plurality of model objects in a hierarchical structure, the plurality of model objects associated with the graphical content of the application program; and

wherein the act of maintaining the plurality of renderable objects comprises maintaining a second data structure separate from the first data structure, the second data structure having the plurality of renderable objects that are based on the model objects of the first data structure and the second data structure comprising a render tree, the render tree comprising layers containing the renderable objects in a hierarchical structure; and

wherein the act of determining at least one of the implicit animations comprises determining based on state changes to affected layers in the layer tree in the first data structure.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of identifying the modification comprises identifying a model object being inserted into the first data structure by the application program, a model object being removed from the first data structure by the application program, a change being made to a property of one of the model objects in the first data structure by the application program, or an explicit request from the application program.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of making the renderable objects available for rendering to the display of the processing device comprises making the renderable objects in the second data structure available to a rendering process executing on the processing device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of determining at least one of the implicit animations further comprises determining an animation explicitly in response to an instruction from the application program.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of performing comprises using interpolated values of the at least one property to perform the at least one implicit animation.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one property comprises a resizing attribute, a color attribute, a filter, a border attribute, a coordinate system, a visibility attribute, a mask, an opacity value, a position, a shadow attribute, a sublayer, a transform matrix, or any combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of performing comprises using timing information to perform the at least one implicit animation.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the timing information comprises a liner progression, a discrete progression, a paced progression, an ease-in progression, an ease-out progression, an ease-in then ease-out progression, a progression based on a function, a progression based on a Beizer curve, or any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of performing comprises using directional information to perform the at least one implicit animation.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the directional information comprises an indication of moving on the display from a left direction, a right direction, a top direction, a bottom direction, a corner direction, an arbitrary direction, or any combination thereof.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the acts of determining at least one of the implicit animations and performing comprise:

determining a state change in the at least one property of the at least one renderable object from a first state to a second state in response to the modification; and

animating the state change in the at least one property of the at least one renderable object when making it available for rendering.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the at least one property comprises a resizing attribute, a color attribute, a filter, a border attribute, a coordinate system, a visibility attribute, a mask, an opacity value, a position, a shadow attribute, a sublayer, a transform matrix, or any combination thereof for an object associated with the graphical content.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of animating comprises using interpolated values to animate the state change in the at least one property.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of animating comprises using timing information to animate the state change in the at least one property.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of animating comprises using directional information to animate the state change in the at least one property.

24. The method of claim 9, wherein the acts of determining at least one of the implicit animations and performing comprise:

determining a transition of the at least one property of the at least one renderable object in response to the modification; and

animating the at least one renderable object with the transition when making it available for rendering.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the transition comprises a fading in of the at least one renderable object for display, a fading out of the at least one renderable object from display, a moving in of the at least one renderable object for display, a moving out of the at least one renderable object from display, a pushing in of the at least one renderable object for display, a pushing out of the at least one renderable object from display, a revealing of the at least one renderable object for display, or a combination thereof.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the act of animating comprises using interpolated values to animate the transition.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the act of animating comprises using timing information to animate the transition.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the act of animating comprises using directional information to animate the transition.

29. The method of claim 9, wherein the acts of determining at least one of the implicit animations and performing comprise:

determining a transformation of the at least one property of the at least one renderable object in response to the modification; and

animating the transformation of the at least one renderable object when making it available for rendering.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the transformation comprises translating the at least one renderable object from a first position to a second position, rotating the at least one renderable object about at least one axis, scaling the at least one renderable object along at least one axis, warping the at least one renderable object in at least one direction, folding at least a portion of the at least one renderable object, or a combination thereof.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein the act of animating comprises using interpolated values to animate the transformation.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the act of animating comprises using timing information to animate the transformation.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the act of animating comprises using directional information to animate the transformation.

34. The method of claim 9, wherein the renderable objects comprise a scrollable object contained within a framing object, and wherein the acts of determining at least one of the implicit animations and performing comprise:

determining one or more actions to scroll the scrollable object within the framing object in response to the modification; and

performing the one or more actions to scroll the scrollable object within the framing object when making the scrollable object available for rendering.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the act of performing comprises using tiled portions of the scrollable object.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the act of performing comprises using timing information to scroll the scrollable object.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the act of performing comprises using directional information to scroll the scrollable object.

38. A processing device comprising a processor, memory, and a display interface and being programmed with program instructions of an Application Programming Interface stored thereon, the Application Programming Interface executing on the processing device for performing a method in accordance with claim 9.

39. The processing device of claim 38, wherein an operating system service comprises the Application Programming Interface.

40. A program storage device having instructions stored thereon for causing a programmable control device to perform a method in accordance with claim 9.