Method, apparatus, and program for displaying an object on a computer screen

• US 8,791,958 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2010
• Issued: 07/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dassault Systemes SA
• Original Assignee: Dassault Systemes SA
• Inventors: Bertholon, Florent
• Primary Examiner(s): Amini, Javid A
• Application Number:
  US12/959,700
• Publication Number:
  US 20110298822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 345/629, 382/284
• US Class Current: 345/629
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/503 Blending, e.g. for anti-aliasing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/36 Level of detail
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/50 using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction

Abstract

The invention is directed to a computer-implemented method for displaying an object on a computer screen, the method comprising the steps of: (i) computing a first image; (ii) displaying the first image; (iii) repeating k times the following steps: (iv) computing a n^th transition image; (v) computing a n^th merged image by merging the first image and the n^th transition image, the first image and the n^th transition image being weighted; and (vi) displaying the n^th merged image; wherein n ranges from 1 to k, n and k being positive integers.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for displaying an image of a three dimensional modeled object on a computer screen, the image of the three dimensional modeled object being a combination of a degraded image and at least one visual effect, the method comprising the steps of:

in response to a user interaction with a display of the image of the three dimensional modeled object, computing the degraded image, the degraded image being the image of the three dimensional modeled object without augmentation by any of the at least one visual effects;

displaying the degraded image, and determining continuance of the user interaction while displaying the degraded image;

while the user interaction continues;

computing a user-implemented visual effect corresponding to the user interaction; and

repeating k times the following steps;

computing a n^th transition image, wherein the n^th transition image comprises one or more representations of the at least one improved visual effect compared to a (n−

1)^th transition image, and a first transition image comprises one or more representations of the at least one visual effect compared to degraded;

computing a n^th merged image by merging the degraded image and the computed n^th transition image, the degraded image and the n^th transition image being weighted by a weighting function ƒ

defined as;

ƒ

(Im_Deg,Im_Trans(n),n)=α

(n)·

Im_Trans(n)+(1−

α

(n))·

Im_Deg;

Im_Deg being the computed degraded image;

Im_Trans(n) being the computed n^th transition image; and

α

(n) being a function ranging from 0 to 1 and having n as a variable; and

displaying the n^th merged image;

n ranging from 1 to k, n and k being positive integers, and the n^th merged image being the image of the three dimensional modeled object when n=k.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the n^th transition image is computed starting from the (n−

1)^th transition image.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of computing the n^th merged image is carried out by a function ƒ

in which the pixels of the degraded image and n^th transition image are variables of the function ƒ

.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at the step of repeating, k is selected so as to meet an end criterion.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the end criterion is met when the merged image displayed is a final image.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein k is selected by default or by a user.

7. An apparatus for displaying an image of a three dimensional modeled object on a computer screen, the image of the three dimensional modeled object being the combination of a degraded image and at least one visual effect, the apparatus comprising means for:

in response to a user interaction with a display of the image of the three dimensional modeled object, computing the degraded image, the degraded image being the image of the three dimensional modeled object without augmentation by any of the at least one visual effects;

displaying the degraded image, and determining continuance of the user interaction while displaying the degraded image;

while the user interaction continues;

computing a user-implemented visual effect corresponding to the user interaction; and

,

repeating k times the following steps;

computing a n^th transition image, wherein the n^th transition image comprises one or more representations of the at least one improved visual effect compared to a (n−

1)^th transition image, and a first transition image comprises one or more representations of the at least one visual effect compared to the degraded;

computing a n^th merged image by merging the degraded image and the computed n^th transition image, the degraded image and the n^th transition image being weighted by a weighting function ƒ

defined as;

ƒ

(Im_Deg,Im_Trans(n),n)=α

(n)·

Im_Trans(n)+(1−

α

(n))·

Im_Deg;

Im_Deg being the computed degraded image;

Im_Trans(n) being the computed n^th transition image; and

α

(n) being a function ranging from 0 to 1 and having n as a variable; and

displaying the n^th merged image;

n ranging from 1 to k, n and k being positive integers, and the n^th merged image being the image of the three dimensional modeled object when n=k.

8. A computer program product, stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, for displaying an image of a three dimensional modeled object on a computer screen, the image of the three dimensional modeled object being the combination of a degraded image and at least one visual effect, the computer program product comprising code means for causing a computer to take the steps of:

in response to a user interaction with a display of the image of the three dimensional modeled object, computing the degraded image, the degraded image being the image of the three dimensional modeled object without augmentation by any of the at least one visual effects;

displaying the degraded image, and determining continuance of the user interaction while displaying the degraded image;

while the user interaction continues;

computing a user-implemented visual effect corresponding to the user interaction; and

repeating k times the following steps;

computing a n^th transition image, wherein the n^th transition image comprises one or more representations of the at least one improved visual effect compared to a (n−

1)^th transition image, and a first transition image comprises one or more representations of the at least one visual effect compared to the degraded;

computing a n^th merged image by merging the degraded image and the computed n^th transition image, the degraded image and the n^th transition image being weighted by a weighting function ƒ

defined as;

ƒ

(Im_Deg,Im_Trans(n),n)=α

(n)·

Im_Trans(n)+(1−

α

(n))·

Im_Deg;

Im_Deg being the computed degraded image;

Im_Trans(n) being the computed n^th transition image; and

α

(n) being a function ranging from 0 to 1 and having n as a variable; and

displaying the n^th merged image;

n ranging from 1 to k, n and k being positive integers, and the n^th merged image being the image of the three dimensional modeled object when n=k.