Capture mechanism for computer generated motion video images

A computer readable medium useful in association with a computer which includes a processor and a memory, the computer readable medium including computer instructions which are configured to cause the computer to capture a motion video image generated and displayed by an authoring process by performing the steps of:

• determining that the authoring process has completed generation of a completed frame of the motion video image;
• storing pixel data representing the completed frame in a frame buffer for subsequent display on a display device;
• retrieving the pixel data from the frame buffer;
• and
• storing data representative of the pixel data in a memory in response to retrieving the pixel data from the frame buffer.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory operatively coupled to the processor;
• and
• a motion video image capture process which executes in the processor from the memory and which, when executed by the processor, captures a motion video image generated and displayed by an authoring process by performing the steps of:
• determining that the authoring process has completed generation of a completed frame of the motion video image;
• storing pixel data representing the completed frame in a frame buffer for subsequent display on a display device;
• retrieving the pixel data from the frame buffer;
• and
• storing data representative of the pixel data in a memory in response to retrieving the pixel data from the frame buffer.

A method for capturing a motion video image generated and displayed by an authoring process, the method comprising:

• determining that the authoring process has completed generation of a completed frame of the motion video image by detecting invocation by the authoring process of a target procedure;
• interposing an intercepting target procedure between the authoring process and a graphics display library which includes the target procedure, wherein the intercepting target procedure includes calculating the size of the completed frame of the motion video image, allocating memory locations corresponding to the size of the completed frame of the motion video image, and executing the target procedure;
• storing pixel data representing the completed frame in a frame buffer for subsequent display on a display device;
• retrieving the pixel data from the frame buffer;
• encoding the pixel data;
• and
• storing encoded pixel data in a memory after retrieving the pixel data from the frame buffer.