Visual previews

• US 9,208,599 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2010
• Issued: 12/08/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Subramanian, Sriram, Suri, Nitin, Sproule, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Koziol, Stephen R
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHONG X
• Application Number:
  US12/817,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20110310109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,000 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

Visual animation platforms may allow users to develop visual media projects, such as movies. Many visual animation platforms may provide animation effects that may be applied to visual elements of a visual media project. Unfortunately, current techniques for providing a preview of an animation effect may be limited. Accordingly, one or more systems and/or techniques for presenting a visual preview are disclosed herein. In particular, a snapshot of an original state of a selected visual element may be stored. A referenced animation effect may be applied to the selected visual element to generate an updated visual element that may be used to generate a visual preview of how the referenced animation effect may look as applied to the selected visual element. The snapshot may be applied to the updated visual element to non-destructively revert the updated visual element to the original state.

Claims

1. A method for presenting a visual preview, comprising:

receiving a first user input comprising a referenced animation effect, a first selected visual element, and a second selected visual element;

storing a snapshot of the first selected visual element, the snapshot comprising an original state of the first selected visual element;

generating an updated visual element based upon the referenced animation effect and the first selected visual element such that a first portion of the updated visual element corresponds to a first portion of the first selected visual element modified by the referenced animation effect while a second portion of the updated visual element corresponds to a second portion of the first selected visual element not modified by the referenced animation effect, the referenced animation effect modifying the first portion of the first selected visual element and not modifying the second portion of the first selected visual element based upon the referenced animation effect being applicable to the first portion of the first selected visual element;

generating a first visual preview based upon the updated visual element, the first visual preview including some but not all of the first portion of the updated visual element based upon a determination that some but not all of the first portion of the updated visual element is representative of an appearance of the referenced animation effect;

presenting the first visual preview without concurrently presenting a second visual preview based upon the second selected visual element;

upon receiving a second user input confirming the presentation of the first visual preview, applying the referenced animation effect to the first selected visual element and the second selected visual element; and

upon receiving a third user input unreferencing the referenced animation effect, applying the snapshot to the updated visual element to revert the updated visual element to the original state.

2. The method of claim 1, the referenced animation effect comprising a black and white animation effect.

3. The method of claim 1, the referenced animation effect comprising a slowdown animation effect.

4. The method of claim 1, the referenced animation effect comprising a speed up animation effect.

5. The method of claim 1, the referenced animation effect comprising a fadeout animation effect.

6. The method of claim 1, the referenced animation effect comprising a fade-in animation effect.

7. The method of claim 1,

the receiving a first user input comprising:

receiving a hover over action of a user interface element corresponding to the referenced animation effect.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

receiving a fourth user input comprising a new referenced animation effect;

generating a new updated visual element based upon the new referenced animation effect and the first selected visual element;

generating a new visual preview based upon the new updated visual element; and

presenting the new visual preview.

9. The method of claim 1, the first selected visual element different than the second selected visual element.

10. A system for presenting a visual preview, comprising:

one or more processing units; and

memory comprising instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processing units, implement at least some of;

an animation integrator component configured to;

store a snapshot of a first selected visual element, the snapshot comprising an original state of the first selected visual element;

generate an updated visual element based upon a referenced animation effect and the first selected visual element such that a first portion of the updated visual element corresponds to a first portion of the first selected visual element modified by the referenced animation effect while a second portion of the updated visual element corresponds to a second portion of the first selected visual element not modified by the referenced animation effect, the referenced animation effect modifying the first portion of the first selected visual element and not modifying the second portion of the first selected visual element based upon the referenced animation effect being applicable to the first portion of the first selected visual element;

generate a first visual preview based upon the updated visual element, the first visual preview including some but not all of the first portion of the updated visual element based upon a determination that some of the first portion of the updated visual element is representative of an appearance of the referenced animation effect;

present the first visual preview without concurrently presenting a second visual preview based upon a second selected visual element;

upon receiving a second user input confirming the presentation of the first visual preview, apply the referenced animation effect to the first selected visual element and the second selected visual element; and

upon receiving a third user input unreferencing the referenced animation effect, apply the snapshot to the updated visual element to revert the updated visual element to the original state.

11. The system of claim 10, the first selected visual element different than the second selected visual element.

12. The system of claim 10, the original state comprising an existing animation effect applied to the first selected visual element.

13. The system of claim 10, the animation integrator component configured to:

automatically generate the first visual preview.

14. The system of claim 10, the first selected visual element comprised within a visual media project.

15. The system of claim 14, the animation integrator component configured to:

apply the referenced animation effect to the first selected visual element and the second selected visual element without altering other portions of the visual media project.

16. The system of claim 10, the instructions when executed implementing at least some of a user action interpreter component configured to:

receive a hover over action of a user interface element corresponding to the referenced animation effect.

17. The system of claim 16, the user action interpreter component configured to:

receive a hover off action of the user interface element corresponding to the referenced animation effect.

18. The system of claim 10, the referenced animation effect comprising a black and white animation effect, a slowdown animation effect, a speed up animation effect, a fadeout animation effect or a fade-in animation effect.

19. A computer readable medium, excluding signals, comprising instructions that when executed, perform operations for presenting a visual preview, comprising:

receiving a first user input comprising a referenced animation effect and a first selected visual element;

storing a snapshot of the first selected visual element, the snapshot comprising an original state of the first selected visual element;

generating an updated visual element based upon the referenced animation effect and the first selected visual element such that a first portion of the updated visual element corresponds to a first portion of the first selected visual element modified by the referenced animation effect while a second portion of the updated visual element corresponds to a second portion of the first selected visual element not modified by the referenced animation effect, the referenced animation effect modifying the first portion of the first selected visual element and not modifying the second portion of the first selected visual element based upon the referenced animation effect being applicable to the first portion of the first selected visual element;

generating a first visual preview based upon the updated visual element, the first visual preview including some but not all of the first portion of the updated visual element based upon a determination that some but not all of the first portion of the updated visual element is representative of an appearance of the referenced animation effect;

presenting the first visual preview without concurrently presenting a second visual preview based upon a second visual element;

upon receiving a second user input confirming the presentation of the first visual preview, applying the referenced animation effect to the first selected visual element and the second visual element; and

upon receiving a third user input unreferencinq the referenced animation effect, applying the snapshot to the updated visual element to revert the updated visual element to the original state.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, the referenced animation effect comprising a black and white animation effect, a slowdown animation effect, a speed animation effect, a fadeout animation effect or a fade-in animation effect.