JP2003085578A - Game information, information storage medium and game device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable expressing the effect of light which reduces a processing load and expressing the effect of indirect light which can not be obtained in shading, to the periphery of the object in an image processor such as a game machine in which time about formation of an image is limited. SOLUTION: A glow object image extracted from a original image is generated and is reduced (generation of the reduction image). Next, a gradation processing is performed to the reduction image (generation of the gradation image), and afterwards the reduction image is magnified to the same size as the original image (generation of the magnification image). The image (the glow image) which expresses glow in a partial region (the glow object region) of the original image is generated by synthesizing the color information of the magnification image and the original image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to game information for displaying an image of a game space generated based on a given viewpoint, an information storage medium for storing this game information, and a game device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a three-dimensional image processing device such as a game device, a shading method has been used to express a highlight generated on a part of the surface of an object or a light effect of a specific light source. To be As one of the shading methods, there is a so-called smooth shading method in which, when an object is represented by a polygon, the brightness at the vertices of each polygon is calculated and the brightness is determined by interpolation processing within the polygon. With such a method, it is possible to display a more realistic image in consideration of the effect of light.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned method, the more realistic the physical law is, the more realistic the image can be created, but the processing load increases accordingly. For example, 1 frame (1/60 seconds, or 1/3
Such an increase in processing time has been an important problem in a game device that needs to generate an image every 0 seconds. The shading described above is a method for expressing a state in which the shade of the color of the object changes depending on how the light hits. Therefore, it is possible to express the effect of light on the object, but when the object reflects and shines or spontaneously emits light,
It was not possible to express the effect of the shining part on the surroundings, for example, blurring around the light source.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to express the effect of light with a reduced processing load in an image processing device such as a game device in which the time required to generate an image is limited, and in shading, It is possible to express an indirect light effect on the surroundings of an object that cannot be obtained.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 has a frame buffer (for example, the frame buffer 510 in FIG. 9) and is generated based on a given viewpoint. A device for temporarily storing a game image in a game space in the frame buffer and displaying the game image on a predetermined display unit (for example, the game device 1 in FIG. 9).
0), the filter means for extracting the color information of at least a given region from the original image stored in the frame buffer to generate an intermediate image (for example, the α plane setting unit 321 in FIG. 9). And a smoothing means for smoothing the color information of the intermediate image to generate a smoothed image (for example, FIG. 9).
Game information for causing the blurring processing unit 323) and the synthesizing unit (for example, the image synthesizing unit 324 in FIG. 9) for synthesizing the color information of the smoothed image and the original image to function.

The invention according to claim 9 has a frame buffer (for example, the frame buffer 510 in FIG. 9), and temporarily stores in the frame buffer the game image of the game space generated based on a given viewpoint. To display a game image on a predetermined display unit (for example,
In the game device 10) of FIG. 9, filter means for extracting color information of at least a given area from the original image stored in the frame buffer to generate an intermediate image (for example, α in FIG. 9). A plane setting unit 321), a smoothing unit that smoothes the color information of the intermediate image to generate a smoothed image (for example, the blurring processing unit 323 in FIG. 9), the smoothed image, the original image, And a synthesizing unit (for example, the image synthesizing unit 324 in FIG. 9) for synthesizing the color information of.

According to the invention of claim 1 or 9,
By smoothing the intermediate image in which the color information of the given region of the original image is extracted, it is possible to generate an image in which the color bleeds around the partial region of the original image. When the color of the image is represented by the RGB color system, the color information of the original image and the smoothed image are combined by, for example, additive color mixing (additive mixing), so that the color components of the image after composition are combined. The value increases and approaches'white '. Also, due to the smoothing, the color bleeding around becomes closer to'white '. As a result, in the combined image, a part of the original image is self-luminous, or is reflected and shining whitish. It is possible to express the effect of. Furthermore, an image expressing the effect of light can be easily generated by a simple process such as extracting color information of a partial area of the original image and performing smoothing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the game information according to the first aspect, a determination unit that determines whether or not each pixel of the game image is to be smoothed is caused to function for the device. And the filter means to generate an intermediate image based on the determination for each pixel,
It is characterized by including information for making it function as described above.

The invention according to claim 10 is the invention according to claim 9.
In the game device described above, a determination unit that determines whether or not each pixel of the game image is to be smoothed,
The filter means may generate an intermediate image based on the determination for each pixel.

According to the invention of the second or tenth aspect, it is possible to determine the given area to be smoothed in pixel units and to combine color information for each pixel. As the smoothing method, for example, an image smoothing method such as moving average filtering, a nearest neighbor interpolation method, a colinear interpolation method (so-called bilinear filtering), a cubic convolution interpolation method (so-called trilinear interpolation method). -Image data interpolation methods such as filtering) can be used. Further, in the case of a device in which these functions are mounted, it becomes possible to execute the image smoothing process more easily and at higher speed.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the game information according to the first aspect, a determination means for determining whether or not to smooth each object included in the game image,
For causing the device to function, and for causing the filter means to extract color information of a region including the object determined to be smoothed to generate an intermediate image. It is characterized by including information and.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to determine whether or not to perform smoothing for each object, and perform the smoothing for the object. This allows, for example, self-luminous fighter headlights,
It is possible to express the effect of light such that the periphery of a glass window that reflects light and looks shiny or looks whitish. Furthermore, this “object” may be replaced with a “polygon”, and it is possible to determine whether or not to express the effect of light for each one or a plurality of polygons.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the game information according to the second or third aspect, the frame buffer is a transparency buffer (α plane which constitutes the frame buffer 510 of FIG. 9) for storing transparency of each pixel. In order to distinguish the pixel to be smoothed from the pixel to be non-smoothed based on the determination by the determining unit, the transparency setting unit that sets the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer (for example, in FIG. 9). information for causing the α plane setting unit 321) to function with respect to the device, and causing the filter unit to generate an intermediate image based on the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer. It is characterized by including information and.

The invention described in claim 11 is the same as claim 9.
Alternatively, in the game device according to the tenth aspect, the frame buffer includes a transparency buffer (α plane forming the frame buffer 510 in FIG. 9) that stores transparency for each pixel, and the smoothing target is based on the determination by the determining unit. In order to distinguish the pixel of (1) from the pixel to be non-smoothed, a transparency setting unit (for example, an α plane setting unit 321 of FIG. 9) that sets the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer is provided. The intermediate image is generated based on the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer.

According to the fourth or eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the transparency buffer, for example, the transparency of the pixel to be smoothed is set to "1" and the pixel not to be smoothed is set to "0". By multiplying the color information of the original image by this transparency value, it is possible to easily extract only the color information of the area to be smoothed. The transparency value set in the transparency buffer is not limited to “1” or “0”, and may be any value of “0.0”,
It is also possible to set the decimal value in stages, such as "0.5" or "1.0". For example, when using the α plane (8 bits) as the transparency buffer,
The α value is represented by an integer value of 0 to 255. Then, the α value “255” is treated as transparency “1.0”, and the α value “0” is treated as “0.0”.
Similarly, when a storage capacity of 7 bits is allocated, the α value “127” is treated as transparency “1.0”, and the α value “0” is treated as “0.0”. To do. Further, when the α plane is not particularly used after the image is drawn in the frame buffer, the α plane is used to easily generate an intermediate image without preparing new storage means. be able to. The same effect can be obtained even if this transparency buffer is an opacity buffer that stores the opacity of each pixel.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the game information according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the composition ratio of the smoothed image and the original image is variable with respect to the composition means. It is characterized in that it includes information for operating the.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, by varying the composition ratio, it is possible to arbitrarily adjust the degree of expression of the effect of light, such as strongly emitting light or expressing the state of reflection. Becomes Furthermore, by changing the composition ratio for each pixel, it is possible to arbitrarily change the degree of light expression depending on the region. Further, examples of the method of changing the composition ratio include a composition method such as α blending based on a predetermined α value, additive mixing of color information, or subtractive mixing.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the game information according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the filter means reduces the resolution of the original image to generate an intermediate image. Information for causing the smoothing means to smooth the reduced intermediate image, information for causing the smoothing means to function, and expanding the intermediate image smoothed by the smoothing means, Image decompression means for generating an image of the resolution before reduction (for example, the image composition unit 32 in FIG. 9).
4)), and the color information of the image expanded by the image expansion unit and the original image to the combining unit. It is characterized by including information for making it.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the processing relating to the smoothing can be reduced by generating the reduced image in which the resolution of the original image is reduced. Further, the reduction / expansion processing can obtain the effect of blurring the image.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the game information according to the sixth aspect, the function is such that the reduction by the image reducing means and the extension by the image expanding means are repeatedly executed a given number of times. It is characterized by including information.

According to the seventh aspect of the invention, the processing load related to smoothing can be further reduced by repeating the reduction / expansion of the image a predetermined number of times.

Furthermore, the game information according to any one of claims 1 to 7 may be stored as in the information storage medium according to claim 8.

According to the invention of claim 8, it is possible to realize an information storage medium having the effect of the invention of any one of claims 1 to 7.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the case where the glow is expressed in a part of the image (hereinafter referred to as the original image) after the perspective projection conversion drawn in the frame buffer will be described. However, the application of the present invention is not limited to this. It is not limited to.

First, the principle of generating an image expressing a glow in a part of the original image (hereinafter referred to as a glow image) will be described.

In the following description, "reducing" or "enlarging" an image means "changing the image size by changing the image resolution". That is, for example, "reducing" an image of 600 ppi means not reducing the size of the image itself, but reducing the original size of the image by setting the resolution of 600 ppi to 300 ppi. Three
This means increasing the original size of the image by setting the resolution of 00 ppi to 600 ppi. Further, it is assumed that the original image is an image that has been subjected to processing such as perspective projection conversion and has been drawn in the frame buffer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, first, an image (hereinafter referred to as a glow target image) is generated by extracting only color information of a region (hereinafter referred to as a glow target region) that is a target for expressing a glow from the original image. This glow target image is
The image has the same size (area) as the original image.

Next, an image in which the glow target image is reduced (hereinafter referred to as a reduced image) is generated. This reduced image is an image obtained by reducing the size of the glow target image to 1/2 times both in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the size thereof is 1/4 of the glow target image.

Next, an image obtained by blurring the reduced image (hereinafter, referred to as
It is called a blurred image. ) Is generated. This blurred image is
It is an image of the same size as the reduced image. The details of the method for blurring an image will be described later.

Then, an image obtained by enlarging the blurred image (hereinafter referred to as an enlarged image) is generated. This enlarged image is
It is an image obtained by enlarging the blurred image so that it is doubled vertically and horizontally, and has the same size as the original image (and the glow target image). In addition, the enlarged image is an image in which the boundary of the glow target area is blurred and the color thereof oozes into the surrounding area, as compared with the glow target image.

Finally, the original image and the enlarged image are combined to generate an image expressing a glow in the original image, that is, a glow image. In this glow image, the luminance of the color is increased and is expressed as whitish in the glow target area, and the luminance gradually decreases toward the periphery in the vicinity of the boundary of the glow target area. In FIG. 1, the state that the brightness of the glow target area is increased and becomes whitish is'black ', and the state that the brightness is decreased toward the periphery is approached from'black'to'gray'. ,
Shows.

Next, the original image will be described. Figure 2
It is a figure which shows the structure of the frame buffer 510 which memorize | stores an original image. As shown in the figure, the frame buffer 510
Is composed of a total of four planes including three RGB planes and one α plane.

The RGB plane stores color information of an image, that is, RGB components (R, G, B) for each pixel. Moreover, the value takes any value of 0-255.

The α plane stores image transparency information, that is, α value for each pixel. Moreover, the value takes any value of 0-1. In addition, the α plane is used as one of the elements that determine the color of each pixel during rendering. After the image is drawn in the frame buffer 510, it is used as a glow target area.

Specifically, after the original image is drawn in the frame buffer 510, the pixels in the glow target area are set to "1" and the pixels in the other areas are set to "0" in the α plane. That is, in the α plane shown in FIG. 2, the region G in the central portion of the drawing is set to “1”,
This area G corresponds to the glow target area.
That is, such setting of "1" or "0" in the α plane corresponds to the generation of the glow target image shown in FIG.

The α value set in the α plane is
Not limited to “1” or “0”, other values may be used,
Further, it may be set stepwise. As a result, the degree of expressing the glow can be set arbitrarily.

Next, reduction / enlargement of an image and generation of a blurred image will be described. In the present embodiment, the image is reduced, enlarged, and a blurred image is generated using the bilinear filter method.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing how different images are generated from one image by using the bilinear filter method. According to the figure, first, the image A drawn in the buffer 1 is set as a texture. Then, this texture (image A) is drawn in the buffer 2 by the bilinear filter method. At this time, by changing the coordinates of the buffer 2 to be sampled, that is, by changing the sampling point, it is possible to generate an image A ′ obtained by reducing, enlarging, or blurring the image A.

Specifically, by setting the sampling interval to a value larger than 1, the image A'is a reduced version of the image A (reduced image). On the contrary, by setting the sampling interval to a value smaller than 1, the image A ′ becomes an image obtained by enlarging the image A (enlarged image). Further, by shifting the sampling start point by a predetermined amount in a predetermined direction, the interpolation function of the bilinear filtering automatically
The image in which the color of each pixel in the
A blurred image (blurred image) is generated.

The bilinear filtering will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between existing pixels T1 to T4 and a pixel P interpolated by bilinear filtering. As shown in FIG. 6A, the color CP of the pixel (sampling point) P to be interpolated is the pixel T1 around P.
It is a color obtained by interpolating the colors from T4 to T4.

Specifically, based on the coordinates of T1 to T4 and the coordinates of P, the coordinate ratio β: 1-β (0≤β≤
1) and the y-axis coordinate ratio γ: 1-γ (0 ≦ γ ≦ 1)
And ask. Then, the color CP of P (the output color in the bilinear filtering) is expressed by the following equation. CP = (1-β) × (1-γ) × CT1 + β × (1-
γ) × CT2 + (1-β) × γ × CT3 + β × γ × CT
4 However, CT1 to CT4 are the colors of the pixels T1 to T4, respectively.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, β = γ =
When it becomes 1/2, the color CP of the pixel P to be interpolated is
It becomes like the following formula. CP = (CT1 + CT2 + CT3 + CT4) / 4

In an image generating device such as a game device, interpolation pixel data such as a re-nearest neighbor interpolation method, a bilinear interpolation method (so-called bilinear filtering), and a cubic convolution interpolation method (so-called trilinear filtering). The arithmetic processing may be implemented as a hardware function. In such a case, by using the function, it is possible to realize the image generation processing at a higher speed.

Next, using the above-mentioned image generation method,
Generation of a reduced image (image reduction) will be described.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how a reduced image is generated from an original image. In the figure, the four vertices of the original image are respectively represented by coordinates (x,
y) = (0,0), (2n, 0), (2n, 2m),
(0,2m). Then, the frame buffer 510
The original image drawn in is set as the texture.
The four vertices of the texture set here have coordinates (u, v) = (0,0), (2n, 0), (2
n, 2m) and (0, 2m).

Next, this texture (original image) is set to 1
Draw in the / 2 frame buffer 520. At this time, 1 /
2 frame buffer 520 coordinates (x, y) = (0,
0), (n, 0), (n, m), and (0, m), the vertex coordinates are respectively texture coordinates (u, v) =
(0,0), (2n, 0), (2n, 2m), (0,2
m). In other words, the original image as a texture,
From the lower right position of the upper left texel, bilinear sampling is performed at intervals of 2 texels each in the up / down / left / right directions, and the data is drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520.

By such processing, an image (reduced image) obtained by halving the height and width of the original image (that is, reducing the size by 1/4) is drawn (generated) in the ½ frame buffer 520. ) Will be done.

When setting the original image drawn in the frame buffer 510 as a texture, the RGB components of each texel are set as follows. That is,
The RGB component (R
t, Gt, Bt) to the corresponding frame buffer 510
The RGB component of the pixel of the (original image) is multiplied by the α value of the α plane. Rt = α × Ra Gt = α × Ga Bt = α × Ba However, Ra, Ga, and Ba are RGB components (R, G, B) of the original image drawn in the frame buffer 510. Further, α is an α value set in the α plane.

That is, according to the above equation, the RG of the texture
As the B component, for the glow target area, R of the original image
The value set in the GB plane is set to (0, 0, 0) for the other areas.

Next, generation of a blurred image using the above-described image generation method will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing how a blurred image is generated from a reduced image. In the same figure, the four vertices of the reduced image have coordinates (x, y) = (0, 0), (n, 0), (n,
m) and (0, m). Then, the reduced image drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520 is set as a texture. The four vertices of the texture set here have coordinates (u, v) = (0, 0), (n,
0), (n, m), and (0, m).

Next, this texture (reduced image) is
Drawing in the blurring buffer 530. At this time, the coordinates (x, y) of the blurring buffer 530 = (0, 0), (n,
0), (n, m), and (0, m), the vertex coordinates are respectively texture coordinates (u, v) = (0.5, 0.
5), (n + 0.5, 0.5), (n + 0.5, m +
0.5) and (0.5, m + 0.5).

That is, using the 1/2 frame buffer 520 as a texture, bilinear sampling is performed from the lower right position of the upper left texel at intervals of 1 texel in the vertical / horizontal direction and is drawn in the blurring buffer 530. Become.

Subsequently, similarly, the image drawn in the blurring buffer 530 is set as a texture. The four vertices of the texture set here are respectively coordinate (u, v) = (0,0), (n, 0), (n, m),
(0, m).

Then, this texture is drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520. At this time, the coordinates (x, y) of the 1/2 frame buffer 520 = (0, 0), (n,
0), (n, m), and (0, m), the vertex coordinates are respectively texture coordinates (u, v) = (-0.5,-).
0.5), (n-0.5, -0.5), (n-0.5,
m-0.5) and (-0.5, m-0.5).

That is, using the image drawn in the blurring buffer 530 as a texture, bilinear sampling is performed from the upper left position of the upper left upper texel at intervals of 1 texel in the vertical / horizontal direction, and the 1/2 frame buffer is used. It will be drawn (overlaid) on 520.

By such processing, an image in which the reduced image is blurred (blurred image), that is, an image in which the color of the glow target area is blurred around the same is drawn (generated) in the 1/2 frame buffer 520. The Rukoto.

Next, generation of an enlarged image (image enlargement) using the above-described image generation method will be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing how an enlarged image is generated from a blurred image. In the figure, 4 of the blurred image
½ the frame buffer 520
Coordinates (x, y) = (0, 0), (n, 0), (n,
m) and (0, m). Then, the blurred image drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520 is set as a texture. The four vertices of the texture set here have coordinates (u, v) = (0, 0), (n,
0), (n, m), and (0, m).

Next, this texture (blurred image)
Is drawn in the work buffer. At this time, the coordinates (x, y) of the work buffer = (0, 0), (2n, 0), (2
The vertex coordinates given to (n, 2m) and (0, 2m) are respectively the texture coordinates (u, v) = (0, 0), (n,
0), (n, m), and (0, m).

That is, the blurred image is used as a texture,
From the upper left position of the upper left texel, bilinear sampling is performed at intervals of 2 texels each in the vertical / horizontal direction, and drawing is performed in the work buffer.

By such processing, the vertical and
An image (enlarged image) whose width is doubled (that is, its size is quadrupled) is drawn (generated) in the work buffer.

Next, the generation of the glow image will be described. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a state in which an original image and a blurred image are combined to generate a glow image. In the figure, the four vertices of the original image and the enlarged image are represented by the coordinates (x, y) of the frame buffer 510 and the work buffer, respectively.
= (0,0), (2n, 0), (2n, 2m), (0,
2m). Then, for each corresponding pixel, both RGs are
The B component is added, and the addition result is displayed in the frame buffer 510.
Of RGB components. The value of the RGB component after addition is 2
When the value exceeds 55, the value that exceeds the value is truncated to be 255.

That is, by adding both RGB components, the glow target area has its RGB components (255, 2).
55, 255), that is, the color approaches "white". By such a process, an image in which the original image and the enlarged image are combined, that is, an image in which a glow is expressed in the original image (glow image) is drawn (generated) in the frame buffer 510.

The enlargement of the blurred image (generation of the enlarged image) and the combination of the enlarged image and the original image (generation of the glow image) can be simultaneously executed.

That is, for each pixel of the frame buffer 510, its color is determined from the blurred image by utilizing bilinear filtering. Then, the pixel for which the color is determined and the corresponding pixel of the already drawn original image are combined, and the generated image data is drawn in the pixel of the frame buffer 510. In this manner, by repeating this synthesis / drawing process for each pixel of the frame buffer 510, an image (glow image) obtained by synthesizing the enlarged image of the blurred image and the original image is drawn (generated) in the frame buffer 510. The Rukoto.

Therefore, the enlarged image is not actually drawn (generated) in the work buffer, but simultaneously with the generation of the enlarged image, the color information of the original image is color-added and combined and drawn in the frame buffer 510. Will be. In this case, the work buffer is unnecessary.

Next, the structure of the game device 10 to which the present invention is applied will be described. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the game device 10. As shown in the figure, the functional blocks of the game device 10 include an input unit 100,
It includes a display unit 200, a processing unit 300, a storage unit 400, and a temporary storage unit 500.

The input section 100 is for the player to input operation data, and its function can be realized by hardware such as a lever, a button, and a case. Then, when an operation such as pressing a button is performed, the operation signal is output to the processing unit 300.

The display section 200 displays the game image generated by the image generation section 320. The player inputs the operation data according to the progress of the game from the input unit 100 while looking at the game screen displayed on the display unit 200.

The processing section 300 controls the entire game apparatus 10, executes various commands such as instructions to each section in the game apparatus 10, game progress processing, image processing, and sound processing.
The function is based on various processors (CPU (Central Proces
sing Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processor)
Etc.) or ASIC (Application Specific Integra
tedCircuit) and other hardware, or a given program. Further, the processing unit 300 includes a game calculation unit 310 and an image generation unit 320.

The game computing section 310 constructs a game space, obtains the position and orientation of each character, the speed of movement, the direction of travel, etc., computes the position of the virtual camera in the game space, and the line-of-sight direction thereof. A game progress process such as story development, and various game processes are executed based on an operation signal from the input unit 100, a game program read from the storage unit 400, and the like.

The image generation section 320 is a game calculation section 310.
The game space set by is generated as an image based on the virtual camera and output to the display unit 200. Specifically, processing to determine the view volume by executing forward / backward clipping, geometry processing such as coordinate conversion for each polygon, brightness calculation processing based on the viewpoint and light source, color interpolation processing, rendering processing such as hidden surface removal processing. A game image is generated by executing.

Further, the image generation unit 320 includes an α plane setting unit 321, an image reduction unit 322, and a blurring processing unit 32.
3. The image synthesizing unit 324 is included, and the glow expression process (see FIG. 10) according to the glow expression program 410 is executed on the game image drawn in the frame buffer 510 by the rendering process. Then, the generated glow image is output to the display unit 200 as image data.
Display it.

The α-plane setting unit 321 executes an α-plane setting process (see FIG. 11) described later according to the α-plane setting program 420. Specifically, in the α plane of the frame buffer 510 on which the original image is drawn, the α value of the pixel corresponding to the glow target area is set to “1”,
The α values of the other pixels are set to “0”. That is,
A process corresponding to the generation of the glow target image shown in the figure is performed.

The image reducing section 322 is used by the frame buffer 5
The image (original image) drawn in 10 is set as a texture and drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520.
That is, the process corresponding to the generation of the reduced image shown in FIG. 1 is performed.

The blurring processing unit 323 follows the blurring processing program 430 and performs the blurring processing described later (see FIG. 12).
To execute. Specifically, the blurring buffer 530 is used to blur the image (reduced image) drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520, and the image is drawn again in the 1/2 frame buffer 520. That is, the process corresponding to the generation of the blurred image shown in FIG. 1 is performed.

The image synthesizing unit 324 enlarges the image (blurred image) drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520, combines it with the image (original image) drawn in the frame buffer 510, and after synthesizing. The image (glow image) is drawn again in the frame buffer 510. That is, the process corresponding to the generation of the image expressing the glow shown in FIG. 1 (glow image) is performed.

The storage section 400 stores an α plane setting program 420 and a blurring processing program 430, as well as a game program for executing a game relating to the present game apparatus 10 and various data. Also, its function is
It can be realized by hardware such as CD-ROM, MO, DVD, memory, and HD.

The temporary storage unit 500 is used as a work area of the processing unit 300 such as expanding various programs and data read from the storage unit 400 and input data from the input unit 100. In addition, the temporary storage unit 500
Forms a frame buffer 510, a 1/2 frame buffer 520, and a blurring buffer 530.

Next, the processing executed by the game apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining the glow expression processing. The glow expression process is a process executed by each unit included in the image generation unit 320 according to the glow expression program 410 for each frame. Further, it is assumed that the target original image has been rendered in the frame buffer 510 after the normal rendering process is completed.

In the figure, first, the α plane setting unit 32
1 executes the α plane setting process (see FIG. 11) to set the α plane of the frame buffer 510 (step S11).

Next, the image reduction unit 322 sets the original image in the frame buffer 510 as a texture,
Drawing on the 1/2 frame buffer 520 (step S1)
2).

At this time, as described with reference to FIG. 5, bilinear sampling is performed from the lower right position of the upper left upper texel at intervals of 2 texels in the vertical and horizontal directions, and the 1/2 frame buffer 520 Will be drawn on. In other words, the vertical and horizontal directions of the original image are 1/2 each
Image that has been doubled (that is, reduced in size to 1/4) (reduced image)
Will be drawn (generated) in the 1/2 frame buffer 520. The RGB component set as the texture is a value obtained by multiplying the RGB component of the original image by the value set in the α plane.

When the reduced image is drawn (generated) in the 1/2 frame buffer 520, the blurring processing unit 323 continues.
Performs blurring processing (see FIG. 12) to generate a blurry image (step S13).

After that, the image synthesizing unit 324 performs the processing shown in FIGS.
1/2 frame buffer 52
The blurred image of 0 is enlarged, combined with the original image of the frame buffer 510, and the frame buffer 510 is updated (step S14). After performing the above processing, the image generation unit 320 ends this processing.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for explaining the α plane setting process. In the figure, first, the α plane setting unit 321 determines, for each pixel of the original image, whether or not the pixel is included in the glow target area (step S111). If it is included in the glow target area, "1" is set (step S111: YES, step S1
12), if not included, “0” (step S11
1: NO, step S113), and as described in FIG. 2, the α plane of the frame buffer 510 is set.

In this way, when the α value is set for all pixels (step S114: YES), the α plane setting unit 321 finishes this process, and step S in FIG.
The processing shifts to 12.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart for explaining the blurred image generation processing. In the figure, the image reduction unit 322 sets the reduced image of the 1/2 frame buffer 520 as a texture, shifts it to the lower right of 0.5 texel, and draws it in the blurring buffer 530. That is, as described with reference to FIG. 6, bilinear sampling is performed from the lower right position of the upper left uppermost texel at intervals of 1 texel in each of the vertical and horizontal directions, and the blurring buffer 530
Is drawn (step S131).

Next, the image reduction unit 322 sets the image in the blurring buffer 530 as a texture, shifts it to the upper left of 0.5 texels, and draws it in the 1/2 frame buffer 520. That is, as described with reference to FIG. 6, bilinear sampling is performed from the upper left position of the upper left upper texel at intervals of 1 texel in the vertical / horizontal direction, and is drawn in the 1/2 frame buffer 520 (step S132). .

When the above processing is performed, the blurring processing unit 323
Ends this processing and shifts the processing to step S14 in FIG.

Next, examples of game images to which the present invention is applied are shown in FIGS. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the original image. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of an image in which the glow target area is extracted from the original image shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an image (enlarged image) obtained by performing reduction / blurring / enlargement processing on the glow target image shown in FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of an image (glow image) obtained by combining the original image shown in FIG. 13 and the enlarged image shown in FIG.

Next, an example of a hardware configuration that can realize the game apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. In the device shown in the figure, the CPU 1000 and the ROM 10
02, RAM 1004, information storage medium 1006, sound generation IC 1008, image generation IC 1010, I / O port 1
012 and 1014 are connected to each other via a system bus 1016 so that data can be input / output. A display device 1018 is connected to the image generation IC 1010, a speaker 1020 is connected to the sound generation IC 1008, and I / O
A control device 1022 is connected to the O port 1012, and a communication device 1024 is connected to the I / O port 1014.

The information storage medium 1006 mainly stores programs, image data for expressing display objects, sound data, play data, and the like, and the storage unit 40 in FIG.
It corresponds to 0. For example, in a home-use game machine, an information storage medium 100 that stores a game program and the like.
A CD-ROM, a game cassette, a DVD or the like is used as 6, and a memory card or the like is used as the information storage medium 1006 for storing play data or the like related to the game apparatus 10. Also, with a personal computer, a CD
-ROM, DVD, hard disk, etc. are used.
Further, in the arcade game machine, a hard disk such as a ROM is used, and in this case, the information storage medium 1006 becomes the ROM 1002.

The control device 1022 corresponds to a game controller, an operation panel, etc., and is a device for inputting the result of the judgment made by the user according to the progress of the game to the main body of the device. This control device 1022
Corresponds to the input unit 100 in FIG.

According to the programs and data stored in the information storage medium 1006, the system programs stored in the ROM 1002 (initialization information of the apparatus main body, etc.), the signals input by the control unit 1022, etc., the CPU
1000 controls the entire apparatus and performs various data processing.

The RAM 1004 is a storage means used as a work area of the CPU 1000, and temporarily stores image data and play data for one frame, given contents of the information storage medium 1006 and the ROM 1002, or the CPU 1000. The calculation result and the like are stored.
Further, this RAM 1004 is a temporary storage unit 500 of FIG.
Equivalent to.

Furthermore, a sound generation IC 100 is provided in this type of device.
8 and an image generation IC 1010 are provided so that the game sound and the game image can be appropriately output.

The sound generation IC 1008 is used for the information storage medium 10
It is an integrated circuit that generates a game sound such as a sound effect or a background sound based on information stored in the ROM 06 or the ROM 1002, and the generated game sound is output by the speaker 1020. Further, the image generation IC 1010 is
It is an integrated circuit that generates pixel information to be output to the display device 1018 based on image information sent from the M1004, the ROM 1002, the information storage medium 1006, or the like. The display device 1018 is realized by a CRT, LCD, TV, plasma display, projector, etc., and corresponds to the display unit 200 in FIG. 9.

The communication device 1024 is the game device 10.
Various information used internally is exchanged with the outside. It is connected to another game device to send and receive given information according to the game program, or information such as the game program via a predetermined communication line. It is used for sending and receiving.

The image generation IC 1010 and the sound generation IC1
The processing performed in 008 or the like may be performed by software using the CPU 1000 or a general-purpose DSP. In this case, the CPU 1000 corresponds to the processing unit 300.

Next, FIG. 18A shows an example in which the present embodiment is applied to an arcade game machine. The player is
While watching the game image displayed on the display 1100, the user can enjoy the game by operating the lever 1102, the buttons 1104 and the like. Various processors, various memories, etc. are mounted on the built-in system board (circuit board) 1106. Information (program, data) for executing the present invention is stored on the system board 1106.
It is stored in the memory 1108 which is the above information storage medium.
Hereinafter, this information will be referred to as stored information.

FIG. 18B shows an example in which the present embodiment is applied to a home-use game machine. The player looks at the game image displayed on the display 1200,
Enjoy the game by operating the game controllers 1202 and 1204. In this case, the above-mentioned stored information is stored in the CD (DVD) 1206, which is an information storage medium detachable from the main unit
Alternatively, it is stored in the memory cards 1208, 1209 or the like.

Further, as a specific example for realizing the game device 10 of the present embodiment, it is not limited to the above-mentioned arcade game device or home game device, but may be, for example, a portable game device, a personal computer, a portable terminal (cellular phone). It is also possible to apply to a kiosk terminal or the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in the present embodiment, the size of the reduced image is set to 1/4 of the original image, but it may be any size. Further, a reduction image of 1/16 or 1/64 may be further generated by repeating the reduction processing of the image a predetermined number of times. Further, the image enlargement process may be repeated a predetermined number of times to generate an enlarged image having the same size as the original image.

Further, the blurring process for the reduced image (see FIG.
2) may be repeated a predetermined number of times. This makes it possible to arbitrarily adjust the degree of blurring and generate an image expressing a stronger glow.

Further, the image reduction / enlargement and the blurring image generation processing use the bilinear filtering. It doesn't matter what you hire.

Incidentally, in step S111 of FIG.
As a method of determining whether the region is the glow target region, any determination criterion may be used, but as an example, there is a method of determining based on the brightness of the image. That is, when setting the α plane, whether or not the area is the glow target area is determined by a determination criterion such as whether or not the brightness of each pixel of the original image drawn in the frame buffer is equal to or more than a predetermined value. to decide.

[0111]

According to the present invention, a part of the original image is self-luminous, or is reflected and shining whitish, and the light around the self-luminous or reflected region is illuminated. It is possible to express the effect of.
Furthermore, an image expressing the effect of light can be easily generated by a simple process such as extracting color information of a partial area of the original image and performing smoothing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a frame buffer that stores an original image.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating texture mapping by a bilinear filter method.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating bilinear filtering.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating generation of a reduced image.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating generation of a blurred image.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating generation of an enlarged image.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating generation of a glow image.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of an internal configuration of a game device.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a glow expression process.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an α plane setting process.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a blurring process.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an original image.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a glow target image.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an enlarged image.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a glow image.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration capable of realizing the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an application example of the game device according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 game devices 100 input section 200 display 300 processing unit 310 Game operation unit 320 image generator 321 α plane setting section 322 Image reduction unit 323 Blur processing unit 324 Image synthesizer 400 storage 410 Glow Expression Program 420 α plane setting program 430 Blur processing program 500 temporary storage 510 frame buffer 520 1/2 frame buffer 530 blur buffer

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Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A device having a frame buffer, wherein a game image of a game space generated based on a given viewpoint is temporarily stored in the frame buffer and the game image is displayed on a predetermined display unit. Filter means for extracting color information of at least a given area from the original image stored in the frame buffer to generate an intermediate image; and smoothing the color information of the intermediate image to generate a smoothed image. Game information for causing a smoothing unit and a synthesizing unit for synthesizing color information of the smoothed image and the original image to function. 2. The information according to claim 1, for causing a determination unit that determines whether or not to perform smoothing for each pixel of the game image to function on the device, and to the filter unit. , Information for causing the intermediate image to be generated based on the determination for each pixel, and game information including: 3. The information according to claim 1, for causing a determination unit that determines whether or not each object included in the game image is a smoothing target, to the device, and the filter unit. On the other hand, game information including: information for causing the intermediate information to be generated by extracting color information of the area including the object determined to be smoothed. 4. The pixel according to claim 2, wherein the frame buffer has a transparency buffer that stores transparency for each pixel, and the pixel to be smoothed and the pixel to be non-smoothed based on the determination by the determining unit. Information for causing the device to operate transparency setting means for setting the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer in order to identify the, and the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer with respect to the filter means. Game information including information for causing the intermediate image to be generated based on, and. 5. The game information according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the synthesizing means includes information for causing the synthesizing unit to change the synthesizing ratio of the smoothed image and the original image. . 6. The smoothing means according to claim 1, wherein the filter means functions to reduce the resolution of the original image to generate an intermediate image, and the smoothing means. On the other hand, information for functioning to smooth the reduced intermediate image, and an image for expanding the intermediate image smoothed by the smoothing unit to generate an image with the resolution before reduction. Information for causing the decompression unit to function in the device, and for causing the compositing unit to compose the color information of the image decompressed by the image decompression unit and the original image Information, and game information including. 7. The game information according to claim 6, including information for causing the image reducing unit and the image expanding unit to repeatedly perform a predetermined number of times. 8. An information storage medium for storing the game information according to claim 1. 9. A game device having a frame buffer, wherein a game image of a game space generated based on a given viewpoint is temporarily stored in the frame buffer and the game image is displayed on a predetermined display section. A filter unit for extracting color information of at least a given area from the original image stored in the frame buffer to generate an intermediate image; and smoothing the color information of the intermediate image to generate a smoothed image. And a smoothing means, and a synthesizing means for synthesizing the color information of the smoothed image and the original image. 10. The determination device according to claim 9, further comprising: a determination unit that determines whether or not to smooth each pixel of the game image, wherein the filtering unit determines an intermediate image based on the determination of each pixel. A game device characterized by generating. 11. The pixel according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the frame buffer has a transparency buffer that stores transparency for each pixel, and the pixel to be smoothed and the pixel to be unsmoothed based on the determination by the determining unit. And a transparency setting unit that sets the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer, and the filtering unit generates an intermediate image based on the transparency of each pixel of the transparency buffer. And the game device.