Image editing system

An apparatus for combining images in three dimensions, comprising:

• means for providing a plurality of independent components wherein each said component is assigned to one of a plurality of X-Y planes, said X-Y planes being on different levels from each other in the Z direction, and said X-Y planes being overlayed on each other in a direction so as to define relative positions of said components with respect to three dimensions, and so as to define an image of a background;
• means for providing an image of an independent object to be positioned with respect to the image of the background, wherein the position of said image of said object is defined in the X, Y and Z directions with respect to said plurality of said X-Y planes;
• and
• means for positioning the image of the object with respect to the image of the background to form a first composite image, while maintaining the independence of the components and the object, wherein a portion of a component which is closer than the object to a viewing location in the Z direction and which corresponds to the position of a first portion of the object in the X-Y plane will obscure said first portion of the object from view and wherein a portion of a component which is further than the object from the viewing location in the Z direction, and which corresponds to the position of a second portion of the object in the X-Y plane will be obscured from view;
• wherein the objects and the components are comprised of at least one pixel and wherein each pixel has a plurality of attributes, a one of said attributes indicative of substantial transparency by the pixel to pixels on underlying X-Y planes.

In a graphics system having a plurality of image layers, a method of editing an image, comprising the steps of:

• providing a digitized image having a plurality of pixels, wherein each pixel has a plurality of attributes, a one of said attributes indicative of substantial transparency by the pixel to pixels on underlyinq layers, and wherein the image has a plurality of components, each component comprising at least one of said pixels and being located on a selected layer of the image;
• selecting an image modification operation from a plurality of image modification operations;
• selecting at least one of said attributes or said components to modify;
• storing the selected operation and selected attribute or component in a memory;
• prioritizing the layers of the image based on the selected operation;
• identifying at least one layer to be operated on by the operation;
• performing the selected operation on a layer by layer basis in response to the prioritizing step and the identifying step.

In a graphics system utilizing a plurality of image layers, a method of layer manipulation, comprising the steps of:

• providing a digitized image having a plurality of objects, each object being located on a selected layer of the image and wherein each object is comprised of at least one pixel;
• identifying at least one object from the image;
• writing an alpha-bit flag of each pixel for each identified object to a memory, wherein the alpha-bit flag is indicative of substantial transparency by pixels of the object to pixels at the same X-Y layer position on underlying layers;
• and
• displaying each identified object based on the alpha-bit flag of the pixels for the identified object.