Method and apparatus for providing non-photorealistic cartoon outlining within a 3D videographics system

An interactive 3D home video game system comprising:

• at least one hand-operated control device providing user-actuated real time inputs;
• a storage medium storing three-dimensional data representing at least one cartoon character;
• a frame buffer memory storing image data;
• a 3D graphics pipeline coupled to said frame buffer memory, said 3D graphics pipeline rendering image data corresponding to said cartoon character into said frame buffer based at least on said user-actuated real time inputs and said three-dimensional data representing said cartoon character;
• and
• a filter coupled to said frame buffer memory, said filter automatically determining which pixels are located at silhouette edges of objects based on said read color data, and applying a cartoon outlining function to said image data by automatically selectively, blending border coloration into those pixels to automatically draw a distinct border line around said cartoon character.

An emulator for emulating an interactive 3D home video game system comprising:

• at least one hand-operated control device providing user-actuated real time inputs;
• a storage medium storing three-dimensional data representing at least one cartoon character;
• a frame buffer memory storing image data;
• a 3D graphics pipeline coupled to said frame buffer memory, said 3D graphics pipeline rendering image data corresponding to said cartoon character into said frame buffer based at least on said user-actuated real time inputs and said three-dimensional data representing said cartoon character;
• and
• a filter coupled to said frame buffer memory, said filter applying a cartoon outlining function to said image data by automatically determining which pixels are located at silhouette edges of objects based on said read color data, and automatically drawing a distinct border line around said cartoon character by automatically selectively blending border coloration into those pixels.