Animation editing device, animation playback device and animation editing method

An animation editing device which edits an animation according to animation data consisting of data about each of frames which construct said animation, said animation editing device comprising:

• a data storage unit that stores said animation data including space plane data in which a layout of key frames which serve as references of said animation, arrangement of tags in each of said key frames and information about interpolation of frames between said key frames are defined on a basis of a space plane for showing a relative positional relationship between a display position of each of animation parts and a reference position shown by a tag by mapping the relative positional relationship onto a two-dimensional plane, said space plane data having tag data for defining the tags arranged on said space plane;
• a space plane editing unit that creates a key frame to be arranged on said space plane, arranging the key frame on said space plane, and setting information about interpolation of frames between key frames in said space plane for the space plane data read from said data storage unit according to an inputted editing command;
• a tag editing unit that sets a tag at a position on the space plane defined by the space plane data read from said data storage unit according to an inputted editing command, said position being shown by said editing command;
• a tag arranging unit that sets a tag at a position of a key frame defined by said animation data according to an inputted editing command, said position being shown by said editing command;
• and
• an animation editing management unit that provides the space plane which is defined by the space plane data included in the animation data to be edited read from said data storage unit, and contents of the frames based on said space plane, and accepting an editing command, and for causing said space plane editing unit, said tag editing unit, and said tag arranging unit to perform an editing process according to an editing command which is inputted as a response to said provided information to provide an animation edit result.

An animation playback device which plays back animation data consisting of data about each of frames which construct an animation, said animation playback device comprising:

• a data storage unit that stores said animation data including space line data in which a layout of key frames which serve as references of said animation, arrangement of tags in each of said key frames and information about interpolation of frames between said key frames are defined on a basis of a space line for showing a relative positional relationship between a display position of each of animation parts and a reference position shown by a tag by mapping the relative positional relationship onto a one-dimensional straight line, said space line data having tag data for defining the tags arranged on said space line;
• a distance calculating unit that calculates a distance between a tag arranged in a frame and an animation part to determine a display position on said space line of said animation part, said display position corresponding to a positional relationship in said frame based on said distance;
• a space line executing unit that creates an animation image of the animation part from the animation data read from said data storage unit on a basis of a frame relationship defined by said space line data, said animation image corresponding to the display position on said space line which is determined by said distance calculating unit;
• and
• an animation execution management unit that inputs the animation data to be played back read from said data storage unit to said distance calculating unit, and said space line executing unit to cause them to create an animation image of said animation data to be played back.

An animation playback device which plays back animation data consisting of data about each of frames which construct an animation, said animation playback device comprising:

• a data storage unit that stores said animation data including space plane data in which a layout of key frames which serve as references of said animation, arrangement of tags in each of said key frames and information about interpolation of frames between said key frames are defined on a basis of a space plane for showing a relative positional relationship between a display position of each of animation parts and a reference position shown by a tag by mapping the relative positional relationship onto a two-dimensional plane, said space plane data having tag data for defining the tags arranged on said space plane;
• a distance calculating unit that calculates a distance between a tag arranged in a frame and an animation part to determine a display position on said space plane of said animation part, said display position corresponding to a positional relationship in said frame based on said distance;
• a space plane executing unit that creates an animation image of the animation part from the animation data read from said data storage unit on a basis of a frame relationship defined by said space plane data, said animation image corresponding to the display position on said space plane which is determined by said distance calculating unit;
• and
• an animation execution management unit that inputs the animation data to be played back read from said data storage unit to said distance calculating unit, and said space plane executing unit to cause them to create an animation image of said animation data to be played back.

An animation editing method comprising:

• storing, by circuitry, contents of a frame based on a space line defined by space line data included in animation data, the space line showing a relative positional relationship between a display position of each of animation parts and a reference position shown by a tag by mapping the relative positional relationship onto a one-dimensional straight line, the space line data having tag data that defines the tags arranged on the space line;
• displaying, by the circuitry, the contents of the frame;
• accepting, by the circuitry an editing command;
• setting, by the circuitry, when the editing command is a command to define the tag on the space line, the tag having a specified name at a specified position on the space line;
• and
• creating and arranging, by the circuitry, when the editing command is a command to arrange the tag at the specified position on a key frame screen, the tag having the specified name at the specified position on the key frame screen.

An animation editing method comprising:

• calculating, by circuitry, a distance between a tag arranged in a frame and an animation part from animation data including space line data in which a layout of key frames, arrangement of tags in each of said key frames and information about interpolation of frames between said key frames are defined on a basis of a space line, said space line data having tag data for defining the tags arranged on said space line to determine a display position on said space line of said animation part, said space line being a one-dimensional straight line, and said display position corresponding to a positional relationship in the frame based on said distance;
• creating, by the circuitry, an animation image of the animation part corresponding to the display position on the space line which is determined from said animation data;
• and
• storing, by the circuitry, the animation image.