Framework for graphics animation and compositing operations

• US 9,424,675 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2015
• Issued: 08/23/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Brunner, Ralph, Harper, John, Graffagnino, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Chu, David H
• Application Number:
  US14/665,975
• Publication Number:
  US 20150193958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 519 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/20 Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/00 Animation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

A graphics animation and compositing operations framework 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 other type of objects for an application'"'"'s user interface. The application commits state changes 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 by the framework which 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. Portions of the render tree changing relative to prior versions can be tracked to improve resource management.

Claims

1. A method of rendering a user interface of an application on a computer system, comprising:

receiving, from the application, a notification of a change to at least one property of at least one first object, the at least one first object being associated with a user interface of the application;

changing the at least one property of the at least one first object from a first state to a second state;

queuing the change of state from the first state to the second state in a queue;

determining at least one implicit animation from a plurality of implicit animations for animating at least one second object of a render tree structure responsive to the change from the first state to the second state, the at least one second object being associated with the at least one first object, wherein the at least one implicit animation is automatically determined independent of the application, and wherein the application does not include explicit animation code for the at least one implicit animation; and

rendering from the render tree structure on a display of the computer system by implementing an explicit animation from the determined at least one implicit animation on the at least one second object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising committing the change of the at least one property to a layer tree structure, wherein the layer tree structure comprises a hierarchy of the at least one first object having an arrangement of relationships to one another.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising constructing the render tree structure by adding an animation object that defines the determined at least one implicit animation to the render tree structure, wherein the render tree structure is substantially the same as the layer tree structure.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one property is visibility, wherein the change from the first state to the second state comprises an addition of the at least one first object to the layer tree structure or a deletion of the at least one first object from the layer tree structure, and wherein determining the at least one implicit animation comprises selecting a visibility-based animation for animating an addition or a deletion of the at least one second object associated with the at least one first object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing explicit animations on the at least one property of the at least one second object responsive to the automatically-determined at least one implicit animation.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising making the plurality of implicit animations available for automatically animating properties of the at least one second object responsive to receiving the change to the at least one property of the at least one first object from the application.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the at least one implicit animation based on what the at least one property is that is subject to the change.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the at least one implicit animation further comprises selecting the at least one implicit animation based on what the at least one property is that is subject to the change.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one first object and the at least one second object comprise layers selected from the group consisting of an image layer, a graphic layer, a text layer, a vector layer, and a media layer.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the layers are defined by a property selected from the group consisting of a position, a coordinate system, a transform, and a relationship to another layer.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising committing the queued change of state of the at least one property of the at least one first object from the first state to the second state as batch transactions that are committed together by the queue.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering from the render tree structure comprises traversing the render tree structure for display at a frame rate of the computer system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one property is position, wherein the change from the first state to the second state comprises a change of the at least one first object from a first position to a second position for display, and wherein determining the at least one implicit animation comprises selecting a motion-based animation for animating the change of the at least one second object associated with the at least one first object from the first position to the second position.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one property is visibility, wherein the change from the first state to the second state comprises a replacement of the at least one first object with at least one new first object in the layer tree structure, and wherein determining the at least one implicit animation comprises selecting a transition-based animation of the plurality of implicit animations for animating a replacement of the second object associated with the at least one first object with at least one new second object associated with the at least one new first object.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of implicit animations are selected from the group consisting of a paced motion of the at least one second object, a linear motion of the at least one second object, a discrete motion of the at least one second object, a fading of the at least one second object from visibility on a display, a revealing of the at least one second object into visibility on a display, a moving of the at least one second object into visibility on a display, a moving of the at least one second object out of visibility on a display, a pushing of the at least one second object into visibility on a display, a pushing of the at least one second object out of visibility on a display, a swirling of the at least one second object into visibility on a display, and a swirling of the at least one second object out of visibility on a display.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of implicit animations are selected from the group consisting of an application of a filter to the at least one property associated with the at least one second object, a modification of an attribute of the at least one property associated with the at least one second object, a modification of a type of the at least one property associated with the at least one second object, and a modification of a value of the at least one property associated with the at least one second object.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein implementing the explicit animation from the determined at least one implicit animation comprises implementing a timing function for the explicit animation, the timing function selected from the group consisting of a segment of a function describing a timing curve, a linear timing function, a timing function for easing into the explicit animation, a timing function for easing out of the explicit animation, and a timing function for easing first into and then out of the explicit animation.

18. A computer system, comprising:

a display device;

a memory storing instructions of an application programming interface for rendering a user interface of an application; and

a processor operatively coupled to the memory and the display device and adapted to execute the instructions stored in the memory to cause the processor to;

receive, from the application, a notification of a change to at least one property of at least one first object, the at least one first object being associated with a user interface of the application;

change the at least one property of the at least one first object from a first state to a second state;

queue the change of state from the first state to the second state in a queue;

determine at least one implicit animation from a plurality of implicit animations for animating at least one second object of a render tree responsive to the change from the first state to the second state, the at least one second object being associated with the at least one first object, wherein the at least one implicit animation is automatically determined independent of the application, and wherein the application does not include explicit animation code for the at least one implicit animation; and

render, from the render tree, structure on a display of the computer system by implementing an explicit animation from the determined at least one implicit animation on the at least one second object.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for rendering a user interface of an application by one or more processors, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from the application, a notification of a change to at least one property of at least one first object, the at least one first object being associated with a user interface of the application;

change the at least one property of the at least one first object from a first state to a second state;

queue the change of state from the first state to the second state in a queue;

determine at least one implicit animation from a plurality of implicit animations for animating at least one second object of a render tree responsive to the change from the first state to the second state, the at least one second object being associated with the first object, wherein the at least one implicit animation is automatically determined independent of the application, and wherein the application does not include explicit animation code for the at least one implicit animation; and

render, from the render tree, structure on a display of the computer system by implementing an explicit animation from the determined at least one implicit animation on the at least one second object.