Coordinated 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional graphics processing

A device for graphics processing, comprising:

• a receiver for first image data of a scene comprising a video stream;
• a storage unit holding 2 dimensional frame data comprising the first image data and further comprising second image data output from a 2-dimensional rendering engine, the second image data being obtained after processing a design in a 2-dimensional authoring tool, the storage unit further operative to memorize a scene description being obtained after processing the design in a 3-dimensional authoring tool, the scene description comprising:
• a description of 3 dimensional objects in the scene;
• first 2-dimensional frame data for the 3-dimensional objects;
• and guidance information for replacing the first 2-dimensional frame data;
• a scene manager implemented in a hardware processor, and comprising:
• a scene loader operative to access the scene description from the storage unit;
• a texture image modification unit, operative to receive second 2-dimensional frame data from the storage unit, and to replace the first 2-dimensional frame data by the second 2-dimensional frame data by associating coordinates of the second 2-dimensional frame data in the storage unit to the 3-dimensional objects according to the guidance information;
• an animation scheduler operative to schedule and monitor an animation of the scene;
• a display manager operative to invoke the scene manager to render output frame in a display buffer at a selected frequency of operation;
• and
• a scene renderer configured for automatically applying the second 2-dimensional frame data to the 3-dimensional objects to produce textured 3-dimensional objects and outputting the textured 3-dimensional objects in the animation, wherein the scene manager is operative to define generic graphic areas in a rendering buffer and to iterate a 3-dimensional animation by storing new 2-dimensional frame data in the generic graphic areas, and accessing the new 2-dimensional frame data in respective iterations of the 3-dimensional animation.

A method of graphics processing, comprising the steps of:

• in a first process applying a 2-dimensional authoring tool to a design;
• producing first data in a frame buffer from an output of the 2-dimensional authoring tool, the first data comprising 2-dimensional representations of the design;
• in a second process applying a 3-dimensional authoring tool to the design to produce second data comprising a scene description of 3-dimensional objects in the design;
• synchronizing the first process with the second process;
• combining the first data with the second data by employing the first data to generate respective textures of the 3-dimensional objects of the scene description;
• generating animations comprising the textures;
• and
• outputting the animations for display thereof, wherein generating animations comprises:
• defining generic graphic areas in a rendering buffer;
• iterating a 3-dimensional animation by storing new 2-dimensional frame data in the generic graphic areas;
• and
• accessing the new 2-dimensional frame data in respective iterations of the 3-dimensional animation.