Image processing device and image processing method

An image processing method of an image processing device rendering an image including an object to which an alpha value indicating transparency is set, the image processing method comprising:

• rendering, in an image plane, the object in a space to be rendered according to a viewpoint after reading model data of the object from a storage device;
• obtaining a distribution of evaluation values of degrees of occlusion, the evaluation values being able to be calculated by estimating the degrees of occlusion of ambient light in the space to be rendered, for a rendered image;
• shading the rendered image on a basis of the distribution of the evaluation values;
• and
• storing data of the shaded image in a memory.

A non-transitory, computer readable storage medium containing a computer program for making a computer render an image including an object to which an alpha value indicating transparency is set, the computer program, comprising:

• rendering, in an image plane, the object in a space to be rendered according to a viewpoint after reading model data of the object from a storage device;
• obtaining a distribution of evaluation values of degrees of occlusion, the evaluation values being able to be calculated by estimating the degrees of occlusion of ambient light in the space to be rendered, for a rendered image;
• shading the rendered image on a basis of the distribution of the evaluation values;
• and
• storing data of the shaded image in a memory.

An image processing device comprising:

• a buffer obtaining section obtaining, on a basis of information about position coordinates in a depth direction of a target object expressed in an original image with respect to an image plane, a Z-buffer indicating a distribution of the position coordinates in the image plane;
• a projection and depression evaluating section obtaining a distribution of evaluation values approximately representing a degree of a depression or a projection of a surface shape of the target object in a three-dimensional space, the degree of the depression or the projection being with respect to surroundings, by calculating the evaluation values for respective positions in the image plane using the Z-buffer;
• and
• an image manipulating section extracting a region that can be estimated to be a depression of a subject from the original image on a basis of the distribution of the evaluation values, performing a manipulation for increasing luminance of the region, and storing resulting data in a memory.

An image processing method of an image processing device manipulating an original image read from a memory, the image processing method comprising:

• obtaining, on a basis of information about position coordinates in a depth direction of a target object expressed in the original image with respect to an image plane, a Z-buffer indicating a distribution of the position coordinates in the image plane;
• obtaining a distribution of evaluation values approximately representing a degree of a depression or a projection of a surface shape of the target object in a three-dimensional space, the degree of the depression or the projection being with respect to surroundings, by calculating the evaluation values for respective positions in the image plane using the Z-buffer;
• extracting a region that can be estimated to be a depression of a subject from the original image on a basis of the distribution of the evaluation values, and performing a manipulation for increasing luminance of the region;
• and
• storing data of the image after the manipulation in the memory.

A non-transitory, computer readable storage medium containing a computer program for a computer, comprising:

• obtaining, on a basis of information about position coordinates in a depth direction of a target object expressed in an original image with respect to an image plane, a Z-buffer indicating a distribution of the position coordinates in the image plane;
• obtaining a distribution of evaluation values approximately representing a degree of a depression or a projection of a surface shape of the target object in a three-dimensional space, the degree of the depression or the projection being with respect to surroundings, by calculating the evaluation values for respective positions in the image plane using the Z-buffer;
• and
• extracting a region that can be estimated to be a depression of a subject from the original image on a basis of the distribution of the evaluation values, performing a manipulation for increasing luminance of the region, and storing resulting data in a memory.