US 12,586,301 B1Granted

Custom blending for transparent layers

AssigneeApple Inc.

InventorDong Joo Byun

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Abstract

In “extended reality” (XR) environments, it is possible to shoot or “march” a group of light rays from the location of an eye of a viewer to one or more graphical components in a 3D space rendered in the XR environment. If a ray from the viewer's eye intersects with a graphical object(s) in the 3D space, it is possible to calculate the various point(s) of intersection of the ray with the graphical object, as well as normal vectors in 3D space to such points of intersection. With this information, various lighting/shading effects may be determined and, if desired, applied to the graphical objects. However, such graphical techniques may be made more efficient by performing the rendering of a 2D representation of a graphical object specified by one or more 3D components in a single pass operation—and, optionally, with enhanced blending and lighting effects based on the viewer's location.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A device, comprising:

a memory;
a display screen;
and
one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions causing the one or more processors to:
receive a specification of one or more three-dimensional (3D) graphical components;
receive a first specification in 3D space of a viewer's point of view of the one or more 3D graphical components within a scene;
determine, based at least in part, on the received specification of the one or more 3D graphical components and the first specification in 3D space of the viewer's point of view:
a) one or more intersection points between the viewer's point of view and the one or more 3D graphical components;
and
b) a normal vector corresponding to each of the one or more intersection points;
receive a specification of a 2D graphical component within the scene;
determine, based at least in part, on the received specification of the 2D graphical component and characteristics of at least one of the one or more lighting sources within the scene:
c) an occlusion mask for the 2D graphical component, wherein the occlusion mask specifies points of intersection between light emanating from the at least one of the one or more lighting sources within the scene and the 2D graphical component;
determine one or more lighting effects to be rendered upon the one or more 3D graphical components and the 2D graphical component based, at least in part, on:
the determined one or more intersection points;
the normal vectors corresponding to the determined one or more intersection points;
the occlusion mask;
and characteristics of one or more lighting sources within the scene;
and
render a two-dimensional (2D) representation of the one or more 3D graphical components and the 2D graphical component to the display screen based, at least in part, on:
the received specification of the one or more 3D graphical components;
the first specification in 3D space of the viewer's point of view;
the received specification of the 2D graphical component;
and the determined one or more lighting effects.

21 more elements

A non-transitory program storage device comprising instructions stored thereon to cause one or more processors to:

receive a specification of one or more three-dimensional (3D) graphical components;
receive a first specification in 3D space of a viewer's point of view of the one or more 3D graphical components within a scene;
determine, based at least in part, on the received specification of the one or more 3D graphical components and the first specification in 3D space of the viewer's point of view:
a) one or more intersection points between the viewer's point of view and the one or more 3D graphical components;
and
b) a normal vector corresponding to each of the one or more intersection points;
receive a specification of a 2D graphical component within the scene;
determine, based at least in part, on the received specification of the 2D graphical component and characteristics of at least one of the one or more lighting sources within the scene:
c) an occlusion mask for the 2D graphical component, wherein the occlusion mask specifies points of intersection between light emanating from the at least one of the one or more lighting sources within the scene and the 2D graphical component;
determine one or more lighting effects to be rendered upon the one or more 3D graphical components and the 2D graphical component based, at least in part, on:
the determined one or more intersection points;
the normal vectors corresponding to the determined one or more intersection points;
the occlusion mask;
and characteristics of one or more lighting sources within the scene;
and
render a two-dimensional (2D) representation of the one or more 3D graphical components and the 2D graphical component to a display screen of a device based, at least in part, on:
the received specification of the one or more 3D graphical components;
the first specification in 3D space of the viewer's point of view;
the received specification of the 2D graphical component;
and the determined one or more lighting effects.

17 more elements

An image processing method, comprising:

receiving a specification of one or more three-dimensional (3D) graphical components;
receiving a first specification in 3D space of a viewer's point of view of the one or more 3D graphical components within a scene;
determining, based at least in part, on the received specification of the one or more 3D graphical components and the first specification in 3D space of the viewer's point of view:
a) one or more intersection points between the viewer's point of view and the one or more 3D graphical components;
and
b) a normal vector corresponding to each of the one or more intersection points;
receiving a specification of a 2D graphical component within the scene;
determining, based at least in part, on the received specification of the 2D graphical component and characteristics of at least one of the one or more lighting sources within the scene:
c) an occlusion mask for the 2D graphical component, wherein the occlusion mask specifies points of intersection between light emanating from the at least one of the one or more lighting sources within the scene and the 2D graphical component;
determining one or more lighting effects to be rendered upon the one or more 3D graphical components and the 2D graphical component based, at least in part, on:
the determined one or more intersection points;
the normal vectors corresponding to the determined one or more intersection points;
the occlusion mask;
and characteristics of one or more lighting sources within the scene;
and
rendering a two-dimensional (2D) representation of the one or more 3D graphical components and the 2D graphical component to a display screen of a device based, at least in part, on:
the received specification of the one or more 3D graphical components;
the first specification in 3D space of the viewer's point of view;
the received specification of the 2D graphical component;
and the determined one or more lighting effects.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/470,866Filed 20 Sep 2023 · us provisional application
Priority: 21 Sep 2022
Granted: 24 Mar 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification8 codes

G06T 15/506
Lighting effects: illumination models
G06F 3/04815
Based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like…:…
G06T 15/06
Three-dimensional [3D] image rendering: ray-tracing
G06T 15/20
Geometric effects: perspective computation