Apparatus and method for animation using topology
AssigneeMonolith Co., Ltd.
InventorsHirofumi Ito, Yoshihisa Shinagawa, Tosiyasu Laurence Kunii
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Abstract
An animation solid is created by an animation solid generator such that the shape of its cross section at t=t0 coincides with the shape of the contour of an object contained in a frame to be displayed at t=t0, wherein time t is set in the height z direction of the solid. For creation of this solid, topological considerations, including connected components and the tree structure of contours, are used. By chopping this solid, intermediate dividing can be performed. The basis of the topological geometry rests on Morse theory.
Claims27
An animation creation method comprising:
- a key frame preparation step of preparing a plurality of key frames each containing a 2D image to become a part of a target animation;
- and
- a solid generation step of generating an animation solid, one axis thereof representing time, the surface thereof being generated through matching of a contour of the animation solid with a contour of the image contained in the key frames and through consideration of topology of the animation solid.
An animation generation method comprising obtaining an image to be included in an intermediate frame that will become a part of a target animation based on predetermined key frames by focusing on topology of an animation solid, sectional images thereof matching images included in the key frames, one axis of the animation solid representing time, and wherein the key frames and the intermediate frame correspond to respective sections of the animation solid that intersect the time axis.
An animation creation method, comprising:
- preparing a plurality of key frames each containing an image to become a part of a target animation;
- and
- generating an animation solid, one axis thereof representing time, the surface thereof being generated through matching of a contour of the solid with a contour of the images contained in the key frames and through applying homotopy which connects the contours of the solid.
A recording medium storing a computer program for animation creation, wherein the program comprises:
- a key frame module that receives a plurality of key frames each containing an image to become part of a target animation;
- a solid creation module that generates an animation solid having one axis representing time, wherein the solid creation module generates a surface of the animation solid through matching of a contour of the solid with a contour of the images contained in the key frames and through consideration of topology of the solid;
- and
- an interpolation module that obtains an image for an intermediate frame by taking a section of the solid that intersects the time axis.
An animation creation system comprising:
- a transmitter for transmitting a plurality of key frames and an animation solid, said animation solid having contours that correspond with contours of an image contained in the key frames;
- and
- a receiver for receiving the key frames and the animation solid.
An animation creation apparatus, comprising:
- a key frame preparation unit that receives a plurality of key frames each containing an image to become a part of a target animation;
- and
- an animation solid generator that generates a 3D animation solid having one axis be a time axis, wherein a surface of the animation solid is determined using contour matching of a sectional contour of the animation solid with a contour of the image contained in the key frames and using topology of the animation solid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.