Viewpoint navigation control for three-dimensional visualization using two-dimensional layouts

• US 10,416,836 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2016
• Issued: 09/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Troy, James J., Meza, Katherine I.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Yongjia
• Application Number:
  US15/206,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20180011620A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,163 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Systems and methods for supplying an open interface (e.g., web pages) for viewpoint navigation control of a three-dimensional (3-D) visualization of an object that is simple to create and fast and easy to use. This viewpoint navigation control application allows users to control the viewpoint in a 3-D environment by interacting with (e.g., clicking on) a 2-D hyperlink layout within a web browser (or other 2-D viewer with hyperlink capability). Position and orientation data for a selected viewpoint are transferred as part of a command message sent to the 3-D visualization application through an application programming interface when users select a hyperlink from a web page displayed by the 2-D layout application. The 3-D visualization application then retrieves data and displays a view of at least a portion of the 3-D model of the object with the predefined viewpoint specified in the command message.

Claims

1. A method for controlling viewpoint navigation for three-dimensional visualization, comprising:

(a) selecting a web page having a multiplicity of hyperlinks embedded therein which are associated with respective views of a three-dimensional model (14) of an object having respective predefined viewpoints;

(b) using a web browser process of a two-dimensional layout application to display the web page in a first window (2), wherein the displayed web page has a two-dimensional layout (34) that includes a multiplicity of hyperlink symbols respectively associated with the multiplicity of hyperlinks embedded in the web page (42);

(c) selecting a hyperlink symbol associated with a view of the three-dimensional model of the object having a selected predefined viewpoint (44);

(d) generating a command message comprising hyperlink data and viewpoint data specifying a location of a virtual camera associated with the selected predefined viewpoint (46) in an HTTP format acceptable to an external application programming interface (API) in a web server process of a three-dimensional visualization application;

(e) transferring the command message in HTTP format from the two-dimensional layout application to the external API;

(f) using the external API to send the viewpoint data in the command message to an internal API function incorporated in the three-dimensional visualization application; and

(g) using the internal API function to instruct a three-dimensional visualization process of the three-dimensional visualization application to retrieve data and display a view (36) of at least a portion of the three-dimensional model of the object in a second window (4) with the selected predefined viewpoint associated with the virtual camera location specified in the viewpoint data,

wherein the first and second windows appear on display screens of different computers that communicate via a network and the external API.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the viewpoint data is expressed as hypertext comprising a hyperlink.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the viewpoint data comprises first data specifying a position of the virtual camera and second data specifying an orientation of the virtual camera.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the viewpoint data further comprises third data specifying a field-of-view of the virtual camera.

5. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein step (g) comprises converting the viewpoint data into a homogeneous transformation matrix representing the predefined viewpoint and then setting the viewpoint based on the homogeneous transformation matrix.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises converting x and y pixel coordinates of the selected portion of the web page into X and Y coordinates of the position of the virtual camera in a frame of reference of the three-dimensional model of the object.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the converting comprises translating and scaling.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising creating a multiplicity of files written in hypertext markup language and representing respective web pages having respective two-dimensional layouts, wherein each two-dimensional layout comprises a respective multiplicity of hyperlinks embedded therein which are associated with a respective set of views of a three-dimensional model of the object having respective predefined viewpoints.

9. A method for selecting a viewpoint of a visualization of at least a portion of a three-dimensional model (14) of an object, comprising:

(a) creating a multiplicity of files written in hypertext markup language and representing respective web pages having respective two-dimensional layouts (34a-34c), wherein each two-dimensional layout comprises a respective multiplicity of hyperlink symbols associated with a respective multiplicity of hyperlinks, which respective multiplicity of hyperlinks are in turn associated with a respective set of views of a three-dimensional model of an object having respective predefined viewpoints;

(b) using a web browser process to select a file from the multiplicity of files (42);

(c) displaying a web page (34) corresponding to the selected file in a first window (2), wherein the displayed web page includes a two-dimensional layout comprising a multiplicity of hyperlink symbols;

(d) selecting a hyperlink symbol in the two-dimensional layout displayed in step (c) (44), which selected hyperlink symbol is associated with a view of the three-dimensional model of the object having a selected predefined viewpoint;

(e) generating a command message comprising hyperlink data and viewpoint data specifying a location of a virtual camera associated with the predefined viewpoint selected in step (d) (46) in a format defined in a specification of an application programming interface (API) in a web server process of a three-dimensional visualization application;

(f) transferring the command message to a web server process (48); and

(g) using the web server process to instruct a three-dimensional visualization process to retrieve data and display a view of at least a portion of the three-dimensional model of the object in a second window with the predefined viewpoint associated with the virtual camera location specified in the command message (50);

wherein step (a) comprises;

(a1) displaying a three-dimensional model (14) of an object having a viewpoint using a three-dimensional visualization process of the three-dimensional visualization application;

(a2) changing the viewpoint of the displayed three-dimensional model to display multiple viewpoints in succession;

(a3) selecting sets of data representing coordinates and angles of virtual camera locations corresponding to viewpoints attained during step (a2);

(a4) generating hyperlinks corresponding to the selected viewpoints; and

(a5) generating a hypertext markup language file containing data representing the web page having a multiplicity of hyperlinks embedded therein which are associated with respective views of the three-dimensional model (14) of the object having the respective selected viewpoints, and

wherein the first and second windows appear on display screens of different computers that communicate via a network and the external API.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the viewpoint data comprises first data specifying a position of the virtual camera and second data specifying an orientation of the virtual camera.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the viewpoint data further comprises third data specifying a field-of-view of the virtual camera.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising converting the viewpoint data into a homogeneous transformation matrix representing the predefined viewpoint and then setting the viewpoint based on the homogeneous transformation matrix.

13. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein step (e) comprises converting x and y pixel coordinates of the selected portion of the web page into X and Y coordinates of the position of the virtual camera in a frame of reference of the model of the object.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the converting comprises translating and scaling.

15. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein step (a) comprises generating content for the multiplicity of files by selecting locations in the three-dimensional model and exporting files representing two-dimensional layouts.

16. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein step (a) comprises automatically retrieving two-dimensional location data from an attribute database and using the two-dimensional location data to generate the multiplicity of hyperlinks.

17. A computer system comprising one or more processors (16, 18, 20, 102, 108) and a non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage medium (104, 106) containing first executable code for executing a two-dimensional layout application (10) incorporating a web browser process, second executable code for executing a three-dimensional visualization application (12) incorporating a web server process having an external application programming interface (API) and a three-dimensional visualization process having an internal API communicatively coupled to the external API, and stored digital data representing a three-dimensional model (14) of an object, wherein the one or more processors are configured to be capable of performing the following operations:

(a) retrieving a web page using the web browser process in response to a first user input to a first window wherein the web page has a multiplicity of hyperlinks embedded therein which are associated with respective views of a three-dimensional model (14) of an object having respective predefined viewpoints;

(b) displaying the retrieved web page in the first window, wherein the displayed web page has a two-dimensional layout that includes a multiplicity of hyperlink symbols respectively associated with the multiplicity of hyperlinks embedded in the web page (42);

(c) generating a hypertext command message comprising viewpoint data specifying a location of a virtual camera associated with a view of the three-dimensional model of the object having a selected predefined viewpoint in response to a second user input to the first window that selects a hyperlink symbol associated with the selected predefined viewpoint (44), the hypertext command message being in a format defined in a specification of the external API;

(d) transferring the hypertext command message from the web browser process to the external API of the web server process;

(e) using the external API to send viewpoint data extracted from the command message to an internal API function;

(f) using the internal API function to create a transformation matrix from the viewpoint data; and

(g) using a three-dimensional visualization process of the three-dimensional visualization application to retrieve data and display a view (36) of at least a portion of the three-dimensional model of the object in a second window with the selected predefined viewpoint associated with the virtual camera location specified by the transformation matrix;

wherein the first and second windows appear on display screens of different computers that communicate via a network and the external API.

18. The computer system as recited in claim 17, wherein the second executable code comprises an application for converting the viewpoint data into a homogeneous transformation matrix representing the predefined viewpoint.