Image generation system, image generation method, and information storage medium

• US 8,556,716 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2011
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Namco Bandai Games Inc. (BANDAI NAMCO Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Sakakibara, Tadashi, Yamaguchi, Kentaro, Inagaki, Taketoshi, Onda, Akio
• Primary Examiner(s): Coburn, Corbett B
• Application Number:
  US13/020,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20110244956A1
• Time in Patent Office: 985 Days
• Field of Search: 463/31, 463/33
• US Class Current: 463/33
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/426 involving on-screen location information, e.g. screen coordinates of an area at which the player is aiming with a light gun
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/5255 according to dedicated instructions from a player, e.g. using a secondary joystick to rotate the camera around a player's character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/837 Shooting of targets
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1087 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6607 for animating game characters, e.g. skeleton kinematics
• 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 2300/6676 by dedicated player input
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8076 Shooting
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality

Abstract

An image generation system includes an image information acquisition section that acquires image information from an image sensor. The image generation system further includes an information acquisition section that acquires position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor based on the image information. The image generation system further includes a virtual camera control section that controls at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and a virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player acquired by the information acquisition section. The image generation system further includes an image generation section that generates an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space.

Claims

1. An image generation system comprising:

an image information acquisition section that acquires image information from an image sensor;

an information acquisition section that acquires position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor, based on the image information;

a virtual camera control section that controls at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and a virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player acquired by the information acquisition section; and

an image generation section that generates an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space, wherein

the virtual camera control section moves the virtual camera when the player has moved in one of a leftward direction and a rightward direction relative to the display section or the image sensor, the virtual camera being moved in the other of the leftward direction and the rightward direction relative to the character.

2. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the virtual camera control section increases the distance between the character and the virtual camera in the depth direction as a distance between the display section or the image sensor and the player increases.

3. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the virtual camera control section increases the distance between the character and the virtual camera in the height direction as a distance between the display section or the image sensor and the player increases.

4. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the virtual camera control section increases the angle of view of the virtual camera as a distance between the display section or the image sensor and the player increases.

5. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the virtual camera control section sets the virtual camera to a first-person viewpoint when a distance between the display section or the image sensor and the player is short, and sets the virtual camera to a third-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section or the image sensor and the player is long.

6. The image generation system as defined in claim 5, wherein

the image generation section performs a clipping process that excludes at least part of the character from a drawing target when the virtual camera has been set to the first-person viewpoint by controlling the angle of view of the virtual camera.

7. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the image information acquisition section acquires depth information as the image information from the image sensor, a depth value being set to each pixel position of the depth information;

and

the information acquisition section acquires the position information about the player based on the depth information.

8. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, wherein

the information acquisition section performs an image process based on the image information from the image sensor, and acquires at least one of direction information, color information, and shape information about a thing held by the player or part of the player as rendering information;

and

the image generation section performs a rendering process based on the rendering information that is at least one of the direction information, the color information, and the shape information to generate the image.

9. The image generation system as defined in claim 1, further comprising:

a hit calculation section that performs a hit calculation process,

the information acquisition section performing an image process based on the image information from the image sensor, and acquiring at least one of direction information and shape information about a thing held by the player or part of the player as hit calculation information; and

the hit calculation section performing the hit calculation process based on the hit calculation information acquired by the information acquisition section.

10. An image generation system comprising:

an image information acquisition section that acquires image information from an image sensor;

an information acquisition section that acquires position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor, based on the image information;

a virtual camera control section that controls a virtual camera by being configured to adjust a position and/or rotational angle of the virtual camera, and that controls at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and the virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player acquired by the information acquisition section;

a determination section that determines whether the player has made a play motion with a right hand or a left hand; and

an image generation section that generates an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space, and generates a different image based on whether the player has made the play motion with the right hand or the left hand.

11. The image generation system as defined in claim 10, wherein

the information acquisition section acquires skeleton information that specifies a motion of the player viewed from the image sensor based on the image information from the image sensor;

and

the determination section determines whether the player has made the play motion with the right hand or the left hand based on the skeleton information.

12. The image generation system as defined in claim 10, wherein

the image generation section generates an image in which the character is displayed on a left side of a screen of the display section when the determination section has determined that the player has made the play motion with the right hand when the virtual camera is set to a third-person viewpoint, and generates an image in which the character is displayed on a right side of the screen of the display section when the determination section has determined that the player has made the play motion with the left hand when the virtual camera is set to the third-person viewpoint.

13. The image generation system as defined in claim 10, wherein

the image generation section generates an image in which part of the character is displayed on a right side of a screen of the display section when the determination section has determined that the player has made the play motion with the right hand when the virtual camera is set to a first-person viewpoint, and generates an image in which part of the character is displayed on a left side of the screen of the display section when the determination section has determined that the player has made the play motion with the left hand when the virtual camera is set to the first-person viewpoint.

14. An image generation system comprising:

an information acquisition section that acquires information about a distance between a display section that displays an image and a player;

a virtual camera control section that controls a virtual camera by being configured to adjust a position and/or rotational angle of the virtual camera; and

an image generation section that generates an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space,

the virtual camera control section increasing a distance between a character corresponding to the player and the virtual camera in a depth direction, or increasing an angle of view of the virtual camera, as the distance between the display section and the player increases.

15. An image generation system comprising:

an information acquisition section that acquires information about a distance between a display section that displays an image and a player;

a virtual camera control section that controls a virtual camera; and

an image generation section that generates an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space,

the virtual camera control section setting the virtual camera to a first-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section and the player is short, and setting the virtual camera to a third-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section and the player is long.

16. An image generation method comprising:

acquiring image information from an image sensor;

acquiring position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor based on the image information;

controlling at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and a virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player; and

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space, wherein

the controlling step moves the virtual camera when the player has moved in one of a leftward direction and a rightward direction relative to the display section or the image sensor, the virtual camera being moved in the other of the leftward direction and the rightward direction relative to the character.

17. An image generation method comprising:

acquiring information about a distance between a display section that displays an image and a player;

controlling a virtual camera by being configured to adjust a position and/or rotational angle of the virtual camera;

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space; and

increasing a distance between a character corresponding to the player and the virtual camera in a depth direction, or increasing an angle of view of the virtual camera, as the distance between the display section and the player increases.

18. An image generation method comprising:

acquiring information about a distance between a display section that displays an image and a player;

controlling a virtual camera;

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space; and

setting the virtual camera to a first-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section and the player is short, and setting the virtual camera to a third-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section and the player is long.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable information storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute an image generation method comprising:

acquiring image information from an image sensor;

acquiring position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor based on the image information;

controlling at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and a virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player; and

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space, wherein

the controlling step moves the virtual camera when the player has moved in one of a leftward direction and a rightward direction relative to the display section or the image sensor, the virtual camera being moved in the other of the leftward direction and the rightward direction relative to the character.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable information storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute an image generation method comprising:

acquiring information about a distance between a display section that displays an image and a player;

controlling a virtual camera by being configured to adjust a position and/or rotational angle of the virtual camera;

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space; and

increasing a distance between a character corresponding to the player and the virtual camera in a depth direction, or increasing an angle of view of the virtual camera, as the distance between the display section and the player increases.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable information storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute an image generation method comprising:

acquiring information about a distance between a display section that displays an image and a player;

controlling a virtual camera;

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space; and

setting the virtual camera to a first-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section and the player is short, and setting the virtual camera to a third-person viewpoint when the distance between the display section and the player is long.

22. An image generation method comprising:

acquiring image information from an image sensor;

acquiring position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor based on the image information;

controlling a virtual camera by being configured to adjust a position and/or rotational angle of the virtual camera;

controlling at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and the virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player;

determining whether the player has made a play motion with a right hand or a left hand; and

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space, wherein

the generating step generates a different image based on whether the player has made the play motion with the right hand or the left hand.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable information storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute an image generation method comprising:

acquiring image information from an image sensor;

acquiring position information about a player relative to a display section that displays an image or the image sensor based on the image information;

controlling a virtual camera by being configured to adjust a position and/or rotational angle of the virtual camera;

controlling at least one of a distance between a character corresponding to the player and the virtual camera in a depth direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a height direction, a distance between the character and the virtual camera in a transverse direction, and an angle of view of the virtual camera, based on the position information about the player;

determining whether the player has made a play motion with a right hand or a left hand; and

generating an image viewed from the virtual camera in an object space, wherein

the generating step generates a different image based on whether the player has made the play motion with the right hand or the left hand.