Method and system employing an NLE to create and modify 3D animations by mixing and compositing animation data
AssigneeAvid Technology, Inc.
InventorsRejean Gagne, Gareth John D'arcy Morgan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system employing an NLE to create and modify 3D animations by mixing and compositing animation data includes Actions which represent one or more animatable parameters for an animation object. The Actions are presented in an Action list from which a user may select and are positioned on an NLE-type time line for the animation object. Actions can be manipulated in a manner, which is believed to be intuitive, and is similar to the manipulation of clips in conventional NLE systems, to alter the length or speed of components of the animation and can be mixed and/or composited and otherwise manipulated to produce a desired 3D computer generated animation.
Claims24
A computer implemented method of creating and modifying 3D computer generated animations by mixing and compositing animation data, comprising the steps of:
- (i) selecting with a user input means an object to be animated, said object having one or more animatable parameters and associating a time line and at least one track with said object;
- (ii) selecting with a user input means an Action to be applied to said object, said Action including animation data to animate at least one of said animatable parameters of said object;
- and
- (iii) applying said Action to said object in a graphical user interface produced by said computer by positioning, relative to said time line, said Action on said at least one track and said animation data being composited to said animatable parameters for a total duration defined for said Action.
A system to create and modify 3D Animations by mixing and compositing animation data, comprising:
- a storage device to store information defining animation objects and Actions comprising animation data which can be applied to at least one of said animation objects;
- a computer operatively connected to said storage device to access said information stored therein;
- at least one output device connected to said computer to display a graphical user interface to a user;
- at least one user input device connected to said computer to receive input from a user, said input:
- (a) defining the selection of at least one animation object from a list representing said animation objects stored on said storage device;
- (b) defining the selection of at least one Action from a list representing said Actions stored on said storage device;
- (c) defining the positioning of each said at least one Action relative to a time line for said animation object to define a start time and duration for each represented Action;
- (d) initiating said computer to create an output representing desired animation data to be applied to said object;
- and
- (e) initiating said storage device to store said output representing desired animation data.
A system employing an NLE-type graphical user interface to create and modify 3D Animations by mixing and compositing animation data, comprising:
- means to select at least one object to be animated and to represent a time line and at least one track associated with said object, said track extending relative to said time line;
- means to select Actions representing animation data for mapping to an animatable parameter of said object;
- and
- means to associate at least one of said Actions with said time line by positioning said at least at one Action on said at least one track such that said animation data represented by said at least one Action is composited to an animatable parameter of said object for a selected time duration.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.