JPH08180196A - Method and apparatus for processing of image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To complicatedly fuse color or opaque data. SOLUTION: In these method and device for performing fusion from one optional edge 20 to a second optional edge 21 in computer graphic picture preparation, the colors of the respective edges 20 and 21 are established first. Then, a parameter equation is formed for the colors of respective picture elements in an area whose boundary is stipulated by the edges 20 and 21 and the colors of the respective picture elements are taken out by solving the parameter arithmetic formula. Or, after establishing the colors of the respective edges 20 and 21, the respective edges 20 and 21 are vectorized into corresponding line segments. Then, the line segments are paired and combined and a polygon 26 provided with the colors defined at respective vertexes is formed. Then, the colors for the respective picture elements of the polygon 26 are established from the colors defined at the vertexes of the polygon. In such a manner, for the edges 20 to 21, pictures for which the colors and opacity are fused are formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to blending of a first data value to a second data value, and more particularly, for realizing complex blending of images inside a graphic image processing system using a computer. A method and apparatus.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Modern computer graphic image processing systems often require blending of colors or opacity. The color data or the opacity data has a first value at the first data point and a second value at the second data point, and is between the first data value and the second data value. From an aesthetic point of view, it is preferable that the data points are a series of monotonically increasing or decreasing between the first data value and the second data value.

As the level of computer power available to the general public as desktop workstations and personal computers has increased, so has the level of complexity of the application programs available to process complex computer graphic images. . So Adobe's Photoshop and Illustra
Products such as tor ™ and Quark's Express ™ allow the creation of complex images through an interactive editing process. The images can be quite complex and can be composed of multiple layers with varying degrees of transparency.

There is a need to create complex, striking images, as well as to create such images quickly and at low cost. In addition, it has a very complex nature,
It is also generally necessary to be able to create complex computer graphic objects that gradually merge.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an image processing method and apparatus for complexly fusing data.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitution. That is, the first
According to another aspect, there is provided an image processing method for creating a fusion from a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, the method comprising:
And determining a color for each of the second edges, forming a parametric equation for the color of each pixel in the region bounded by the first and second edges, and solving the parametric equation. Deriving the color of each of the pixels.

According to a second aspect, a method of creating a fusion from a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, the method comprising:
A first determining step of determining a color of each of the first and second edges, a vectorizing step of vectorizing each of the first and second edges into a corresponding line segment, and defining at a vertex thereof To form a polygon with a pre-set color,
A second step of determining a color for each pixel of the polygon from a combination step of pairing the pair of line segments corresponding to each of the first and second edges and a color defined at the apex. And a process.

According to a third aspect, there is provided an image processing apparatus for creating a fusion from a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, wherein Edge color determining means for determining the color of each of the two edges, and each pixel in the area bounded by the first and second edges based on the edge color determined by the edge color determining means And a pixel color deriving unit that solves the parameter equation formed by the parameter determining unit to derive the color for each pixel.

According to a fourth aspect, in the image processing apparatus for creating the fusion from the first arbitrary edge to the second arbitrary edge in the computer graphic image processing system, the first and second Edge color determination means for determining the color of each edge, vectorization means for vectorizing each of the first and second edges into corresponding line segments, and line segment vectorized by the vectorization means A line segment pair combining means for pairing the line segment pairs from each of the first and second edges to form a polygon having a defined color at its vertices, Pixel color determining means for determining the color of each pixel of the polygon from the colors defined at the vertices based on the polygon formed by the pairing and combining means.

According to a fifth aspect, there is provided an image processing method for forming a computer graphic object, wherein a step of generating a plurality of interactively editable splines and each of the splines correspond to each other. Defining the two spline colors to have a plurality of spline pairs, and substantially between one of the plurality of spline pairs, a first spline spline color to a second spline spline of one of the plurality of spline pairs. Creating a fusion to color.

According to a sixth aspect, there is provided an image processing method for forming a computer graphic object, which comprises a step of generating a plurality of interactively editable splines and a spline color corresponding to each spline. Defining the color of each of the splines, forming a parametric equation for the color of each pixel in the region bounded by each of the pair of splines,
Solving the parametric equation to derive a color for each of the pixels and performing fusion between each pair of splines.

According to a seventh aspect, there is provided an image processing method for constructing a computer graphic object, wherein the step of generating a plurality of interactively editable splines corresponds to each of the plurality of splines. To have one spline color, determining the color of each of the splines, vectorizing each of the splines to the corresponding line segment, and defining the defined color at its vertices. A step of combining the line segments obtained by the vectorization means from each of the splines to form a polygon having, and a multi-step of determining each color of the polygon from the defined colors at the vertices. A polygon color determining step, and merging between the pair of splines.

According to an eighth aspect, there is provided a device for constructing a computer graphic object, the interactive editable spline generating means for generating a plurality of interactively editable splines, and the interactive editable. Each of the splines generated by the spline generation means,
Based on the color of the spline defined by the spline color defining means and the spline color defining means that has one corresponding spline color; A spline pair merging means for merging the spline color of the first spline with the spline color of the second spline of the pair.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A series of complex blends is shown in FIGS. The object 1 shown in FIG. 1 has an outer boundary line 2 and an inner boundary line 3. For example, when it is desired that the outer border 2 be red and the inner border 3 be yellow, the color between the two borders will be progressive from one edge to the next. From the aesthetic point of view, it is preferable that the change, that is, the slope is formed. For example, if border 3 is yellow, as it moves outwards towards border 2, first a series of orange-yellow pixels will appear, then a series of orange pixels, and then a series of red. -Orange pixels appear and finally reach the border, which is defined as red. A series of gradient lines 4, 5 are drawn to show the contour of the color between the two edges, but these contours 4, 5 have a constant color.

In the second object 7 shown in FIG. 2, a gradient between edges 8 and 9 is required. In this example, it is desired to derive a gradient of transparency or opacity so that edge 8 is maximally opaque and edge 9 is maximally transparent. That is, the pixels between their edges are merged from maximum opacity to maximum transparency. The contour lines 10, 11 are again given to show pixels with a certain opacity.

FIG. 3 shows a third object 14 representing the process of fusion. The object 14 has a first edge 15 and a second edge 16 transformed into a point 16. Again, it is desired that the pixels between those edges form a gradient between the values of edge 15 and edge 16. For example, contour lines 17 and 18 form lines of constant color. [System Overview] Next, the first image processing method will be described with reference to FIG. <First image processing method> Two splines 2 shown in FIG.
0 and 21 have arbitrary properties. For purposes of describing the preferred embodiment, it is assumed for convenience that graphic objects are stored in the computer system in the form of splines. Therefore, it is desirable to perform a fusion between any two splines 20,21. In this first method,
Arbitrary points (x,
In order to determine the color of y), the splines 20 and 21 are defined by parameters by the conventional method, and
(x, y) values including py (t)) and (qx (t), qy (t)) are obtained. When t is in the range 0 to 1, the spline parameter form is the standard form of a cubic function of t. An arbitrary point (x, y) 23 in the region between the two splines 20, 21 is the point (u,
It can be defined above the parameters as being equivalent to t). Note that u is in the range of 0 to 1.

X (u, t) = px (t) + (qx (t)-px (t)) u (1) y (u, t) = py (t) + (qy (t)-py ( t)) u (2) If the splines 20, 21 are each defined to be a constant color, then the color of any point (x, y) depends only on u. Therefore, it is necessary to solve equations (1) and (2) for u for given values of x and y.

However, the cubic parameter equation (cubic
Solving equations (1) and (2) including parametric equations is difficult unless p and q are linear functions. Furthermore, the resulting color solution is not defined by the visual appearance of the regions between the edges, but by the "t", which is merely an artificial variable in the spline representation used to represent the edges. Become. <Second Image Processing Method> Therefore, as a second image processing method, in order to simplify the calculation of the color of each point between the splines 20, 21, both spline edges 20, 2,
1 is first vectorized into line segments. The process of vectorizing splines into line segments is known to those skilled in the field of computer graphics programming. For example, the text “Computer Graphics: P” by Foley et al., Published in 1990 by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., Reading, Massachusetts.
Two methods are described in the "Inciples and Practice" second edition. Foley text from page 487 to 48
The first vectorization method described on page 8 is
By dividing the spline into a plurality of parts that are evenly spaced apart on the parameter, an approximation of the spline by a short line segment is obtained. The second vectorization method to vectorize splines is Foley text 5
It is described on pages 11 through 514 and includes recursive subdivision into parts of the spline. The result of this subdivision is a series of line segments.

As an example, the vectorization of the splines 20, 21 into a series of line segments 31, 32 is shown in exaggerated form in FIG. A line segment 3 corresponding to the two splines 20 and 21.
If vectorized to 1, 32, then each spline 20,
The ends of each line segment 21 are paired with each other. There are several methods available for creating sets at the ends of line segments. The first method of forming is that a point (px (t), py (t)) corresponding to a predetermined value t at the end of one line segment obtained by vectorizing one edge 20 is on the other edge. Point (qx
(T), qy (t)) so that each line segment 31,
The 32 endpoints are parameterically aligned along the two splines 20, 21. Subsequently, the same process is executed for the end points of each line segment resulting from the vectorization of the edge 21. However, this scheme utilizes a function defined by "t", which is merely an artificial variable in the spline representation used to represent the edges, rather than the visual appearance of the region between the edges.

Therefore, the preferred method of creating the set of edges is to utilize the relative length along each edge 20, 21. First, the length of each line segment of the edges 20 and 21 shown in FIG. 6 is calculated. Starting from edge 20, for example, inspecting each end 33 of each line segment 31, edge 2
Along the line segment approximating 0, the relative distance from one end of the edge 20 is calculated. Subsequently, corresponding points 34 having the same relative distance along the line segment representing the edge 21 are calculated, and the points 33 and 34 are paired. Once this is done for edge 29, the process is then repeated for each line segment that approximates edge 21. As a result, FIG.
As described above, for the line segments 20 and 21, it is possible to create a set of end points of the line segments that approximate them.

In FIG. 7, the same process is repeated for edge 21 resulting in the region between the two edges being transformed into a series of quadrilaterals 26. Therefore, the vectorization of the two edges and the subsequent set of points along the vectorization reduces the above problem from the problem of cubic parameters to the set of adjacent quadrilaterals 26. In each quadrilateral 26, equations (1) and (2) are kept independent and the parametric functions of p and q are reduced to a linear function of t for each partition. Hereafter, the quadrilateral 26 will be referred to using the term "sliver". If you convert the region between two splines into a series of slivers (2
Two rendering methods can be performed (assuming it is desired to render the region between two splines). <First Rendering Method> FIG. 8 shows a preferred mode of rendering the “sliver” 29 in the form of corresponding pixels. Since the color at each of the four corner points of the sliver 29 is known, it is possible to divide each side 45, 46 into a number of equal intervals to obtain a region of constant color 40 to 43.
Can be confirmed. The number of intervals is two edges 47, 4
Depends on the 8 different colors. Each area 40 to 43
Each is a region of constant color and can be individually scan converted using conventional techniques. The final image is passed through a full color imaging system with multiple color passe
s), the above process may be performed using a separate color component of each edge, resulting in a fairly large area 40-4 of constant color.
Often 3 is generated. <Second Rendering Method> Another form of rendering each sliver shown in FIG. 9 is, for example, a sliver 29 that intersects the current scan line 27, an edge 28 of the sliver 29,
Pixels between 25 are determined. Then the edge 28,
The color of each pixel between 25 is determined by interpolation. The single sliver 29 has vertex coordinates as shown in FIG. The constants ax, ay and bx, by are determined from the vectorization of splines into line segments and the subsequent formation of slivers. To test whether the pixel scan line intersects the sliver, the minimum x of the four points defining each sliver 29 is to be tested.
The coordinates and the maximum x coordinate are determined and the scan line 27
It only has to determine whether or not it is located inside.

Given a pixel 30 with coordinates (x, y), the value of u that determines the color of that pixel is the solution of the following quadratic equation:

[(X2-x1) (by-ay)-(y2-y1) (bx-ax)] u ^ 2 + [ay (x2-x1) -ax (y2-y1)-(by-ay) (x-x1) + bx-ax) (y-y1)] u + [ax (y-y1) + ay (x-x1)] = 0 (3) The solution for u (x, y) is Newton's Since it can be used as an initial estimate to retrieve the next pixel color u (x + 1, y) using the method, it is likely that convergence will occur after one or two iterations. ,
It is not necessary to calculate equation (3) for each pixel. The formulas related to Newton's method are:

Au ^ 2 + Bu + C = 0 ⇒ ui + 1 = (Aui ^ 2-C) / (2Aui + B) (4) In the formula, A, B and C are listed in the formula (3). Is the usual corresponding part of the quadratic equation. However, equation (4)
It should be noted that the denominator can approach zero so that the error caused by Newton's method becomes unsatisfactory. In this case, a separate test can be implemented to determine the value of the denominator, and the value of pixel (x, y + 1) can be determined from the first principle by solving equation (3).

Although the above examples are described in terms of color blending, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that colors include opacity, so the method can be applied to opacity, or It can be further combined with color fusion at any point in the region between the two splines. Similarly, the following example is a general description in terms of color values to briefly illustrate the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the examples in the embodiments of the present invention are equally applicable to opacity without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

A method and apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention is
For example, a general-purpose computer 1202 (that is, a personal computer) shown in FIG. 12 can be used for implementation. As is well known in the art, such a computer 1202 typically comprises a central processing unit 1210 coupled to a memory device. The memory device stores data and instructions for operating the central processing unit 1210. For example, a general-purpose computer generally has a random access memory (RAM) that temporarily stores data and instructions, and a secondary storage device (hard disk drive HDD and floppy disk drive FDD) that temporarily or permanently stores data and instructions. )
And

As shown in FIG. 12, the central processing unit 1210.
Is coupled to bus 1222, which is well known in the art. Such buses 1222 typically include address buses, data buses, control signal lines, and the like. Random access memory 1212, read-only memory 1214, hard disk drive / floppy disk drive (HDD / FDD) 12 are provided on the bus 1222.
16, a video interface 1218, and input / output (I
/ O) interface 1220. Video interface 1218 is a display / monitor 1204.
Supply output to. Similarly, I / O interface 12
20 is connected to the playback device 1206. Playback device 12
Reference numeral 06 may include a laser beam printer, a dot matrix printer, or the like. Therefore, as described below, methods and apparatus for creating complex blends and images in accordance with the present invention can be implemented using such a general purpose computer. <Image Processing System According to First Image Processing Method> FIG.
In the computer graphic image creating system according to the first image processing method on the apparatus of FIG. 12, one arbitrary edge is fused to the second arbitrary edge in terms of color and / or opacity. 3 shows a flow chart of the method. The method includes the following steps. In step 1002, the color along each edge is established. In step 1004, a parametric equation is formed for the color (or opacity) of each pixel within the region bounded by the edge. In step 1006, the parameter equation is solved,
Extract the color (or opacity) of each pixel.

An apparatus 1320 and computer graphic imaging system for fusing one arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge is shown in FIG. Device 1320
Receives an input 1302 composed of multiple edges. Inputs 1302 are provided to edge color (or opacity) determining means 1304 which determines the color (or opacity) along each edge. The output of the edge color (or opacity) determining means 1304 is supplied to the parameter determining means 1306 which forms a parameter arithmetic expression relating to the color (or opacity) of each pixel in the area defined by the edge. . Parameter determining means 1
The output of 306 is supplied to the pixel color (or opacity) extracting means 1308. Pixel color (or opacity)
The extracting unit 1308 solves the parameter arithmetic expression supplied by the parameter determining unit 1306, extracts the color of each pixel, and generates an output image 1310. <Image Processing System According to Second Image Processing Method> In the computer graphic image creating system according to the second image processing method, from the first arbitrary edge to the second arbitrary edge, regarding color or opacity, or both of them. A flow chart of the fusion method is shown in FIG. The method includes the following steps. Step 1102
Now, determine the color along each edge. In step 1104, each edge is vectorized into a corresponding line segment. In step 1106, pairs of line segments taken from each edge are paired to form a polygon having the defined color at its vertices. In step 1108, the color of each pixel of the polygon is determined from the defined colors of the vertices.

Preferably, step 1106 is
It further comprises pairing the line segments according to their relative distances along each edge.

Also preferably, step 1106 comprises
The method further includes grouping the line segment pairs according to their parametric distances along each edge.

More preferably, step 1108 includes dividing the polygon into regions of constant color and rendering each region of constant color.

FIG. 14 illustrates an apparatus 1420 for fusing a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic imaging system. The device 1420 has an input 1 composed of a plurality of arbitrary edges.
402 is received. The input data 1402 is supplied to the edge color determining means 1404. Edge color determination means 1404
Determines the color along each edge, the output of which is fed to the edge vectorizing means 1406. The edge vectorization means 1406 vectorizes each edge into a corresponding line segment. The output of the edge vectorizing means 1406 is supplied to the segment pair matching means 1408. The line segment pair matching means 1408 pairs the line segments for each pair taken from each edge to form a polygon having a color defined at the apex. The output of the line segment pair matching means 1408 is supplied to the pixel color determining means 1410. Pixel color determining means 1410 determines the color of each pixel of the polygon from the defined colors of the vertices. Pixel color fixing means 14
The output of 10 is provided as output image 1412.

Preferably, the line segment pair matching means 140
8 pairs pairs of line segments according to their relative distance along each edge. Alternatively, line pair matching means 1408
Pairs pairs of line segments according to their parametric distance along each edge.

Also preferably, the pixel color determining means 1410
Divides a polygon into multiple regions of constant color and renders each region of constant color. [Processing of Image Having Multiple Edges] As yet another embodiment of the present invention, Microsoft Windows 3.1 (trademark).
In a standard computer system, such as a personal computer running an operating system with a newer or newer version, or other standard graphical user interface known to those skilled in creating complex computer graphics application packages. , A system for realizing complex fusion of objects by using an interactive input device such as a mouse and a keyboard together with a video display device.

Referring now to FIG. 15, there is shown a simple example of a computer graphic object 1501 created utilizing the preferred embodiment. A simple example computer object 1501 is composed of two boundary regions 1502 and 1503 having white or a color close to white, and a central region 1504 having a darker color. It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that any color that is lighter or darker than the color shown may be any color that can be created by a computer graphics application package. Furthermore,
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention described below are equally applicable to opacity. The actual colors used will depend on the type of device utilized, but typical computer systems are capable of 24-bit color and can display more than 16 million types of colors. Further, the color may also have a transparent component, as is known in the art.

The first step in creating such a complex object 1501 according to the present embodiment is to create a contour line format composed of a plurality of splines created by a conventional method.

In FIG. 16, three splines 1507,
1508 and 1509 are shown. Each spline,
For example, spline 1507 has multiple control points 1
510 to 1513. The control points can be moved individually under the graphics application program, and in addition, the tangent edit portion 1514 that can interactively edit the tangents can be changed. The display and editing of spline data is well known to those skilled in the art and was added in 1990 by Addison-We.
sley Publishing Company, Inc. Published by Fole
y, Van Dam et al., "Computer Graphics: Pinc"
It is described in detail in Chapter 11 of the "iples and Practice" second edition.

As described above, the present embodiment is a system for creating an arbitrary blend between a first spline having a first predetermined color and a second spline having a second predetermined color. I will provide a. The spline 1507 can be uniquely defined as being the first color (white in this example). Spline 1508 can be defined to be the second color (black in this particular example) and spline 1509 can be defined to be the first color (again white). Therefore, one of the previously described methods is applied to the two splines 1507 and 1508, followed by the two splines 1508 and 1509.
15 can be separately applied to achieve the effect shown in FIG. This is shown more clearly in FIG. In FIG. 17, in addition to the three splines 1507 to 1509 used when creating the object 1501, the computer graphic object 15 of FIG.
01 is also shown.

Still referring to FIG. 18, the computer graphic object 1501 of FIG. 15 is shown in addition to the associated splines 1507, 1508 and 1509. This detail shows 1510 to 1512
Spline control points such as are also shown. For systems that create objects, such as computer graphic objects 1501, the preferred form of user interface is that each spline 1507-150.
9 is an interface that allows interactive operation of spline control points, such as points 1510-1513 on 9. In that case, the splines can be manipulated in the conventional manner, and after manipulation, the process as previously described can be applied individually to each of the splines 1507, 1508 and 1509 to generate the corresponding graphic object 1501.

The principle of creating a complex object as outlined above can be easily extended to other configurations. For example, referring now to FIG. 19, it can be seen that a more complex system having four splines 1520 to 1523 could just as easily be created. Each spline 1520 to 1523 can be individually defined as having a predetermined color, and the process described above can be applied individually to a pair of adjacent splines. The pair is Spline 1520 and Spline 15
21, a spline 1521 and a spline 1522, and a spline 1522 and a spline 1523. The splines 1520 to 1523 can be individually manipulated interactively as described above.

As an example, the spline 1520 is defined as a white color, the spline 1521 is black, the spline 1522 is also black, and the spline 15 is black.
If 23 is each defined to be white, then the resulting object 1524 is a spline 152.
White to black fusion from 0 to spline 1521, followed by spline 1521 to spline 15
It is composed of a black band extending to 22 and then a second black-to-white fusion from spline 1522 to spline 1523.

FIG. 20 shows a more elaborate example. In this case, the object 1529 has two splines 153.
It is composed of 0 and 1531. Two splines 1
Similarly, 530 and 1531 can be edited interactively, and the obtained objects are from spline 1530 to spline 1
Including fusion to 531. At this time, spline 1531
The inner region 1533 can be defined as a constant color, preferably the same color as the spline 1531. It has been found that the final object 1529 created has very satisfying properties.

Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing fusion of opacity (or transparent component) in color. The first computer graphic object 1600 is composed of, for example, splines 1602 and 1603, 1604. Object 1 of the second graphic
The 601 and checkered background 1605 are juxtaposed behind the first graphic object 1600, and the degree of opacity is graded and fused as shown.

In this example, spline 1602 is white and maximally opaque, spline 1603 is maximally transparent, and spline 1604 is also white and maximally opaque. For clarity, splines 1602 and 160
3, 1604 is a spline 1602, 1603, 16
04 is shown in FIG. 23 with exaggerated dotted lines showing the respective positions. Between splines 1602 and 1603, the first graphic object 1600 merges from maximally opaque white in spline 1602 to maximal transparency in spline 1603. Similarly, spline 1603 and spline 1604
Between the first graphic object 1600
Merges from the maximum transparent state at spline 1603 to the maximum opaque white state at spline 1604. Preferably, each spline 1602
1603, 1604 have a predetermined color and opacity, with both color and opacity blending between each pair of splines 1602, 1603, 1604.

FIG. 21 shows a flow chart of a method of constructing a computer graphic object. Step 21
02 provides multiple interactively editable splines. In step 2104, each spline is defined to have a corresponding spline color. In step 2106, fusion is performed between the pair of splines. The fusion is essentially the fusion of the spline color of the first spline of the pair to the spline color of the second spline of the pair. It is preferable that the number of splines is three, and that the first spline and the second spline have substantially the same color. The first pair of pairs is from the first spline to the third
Including fusion of splines to. The second pair includes a fusion of the second spline to the third spline.

Preferably, the second plurality of splines has that spline color.

Also preferably, the number of splines is four, of which the first and second splines have approximately the same spline color. The first of the pair is the first
Including fusion of the splines of the above to the third spline. The second of the pairs includes a fusion of the first spline to the second spline. The third pair includes fusion of the second spline to the fourth spline.

Also preferably, at least one of the splines defines an interior region, which interior region is also defined to have the spline color of the at least one spline.

A myriad of complex objects can be created by constructing a system of splines that can be interactively edited in a canonical way, where each spline has a predefined color (opacity) and It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to render the fusion between every pair of splines in. A system for creating extremely complex objects can be realized by continuously and interactively editing the spline and re-rendering the spline after each edit.

Step 2106 can be implemented according to the method of making a blend shown in either FIG. 10 or FIG.

As explained above, the method in this embodiment of the invention can be implemented using a general purpose computer. An apparatus for creating computer graphic objects according to this method is shown in FIG. Device 2220
Can be realized, for example, using a general-purpose computer. The user supplies an input 2202 to the device 2220, and in particular to the interactive editable spline generator 2204.
Interactive editable spline generation means 2204 receives user input and generates a plurality of interactively editable splines. Interactive editable spline generation means 220
4 is supplied to the spline color defining means 2206,
The spline color defining means 2206 defines each spline to have one corresponding spline color. The output of the spline color defining means 2206 is supplied to the spline pair fusion creating means 2208. The spline pair fusion creating means 2208 performs fusion between splines for each pair,
The fusion is substantially a fusion of the spline color of the first spline of the pair to the spline color of the second spline of the pair. Spline pair fusion creating means 2208
Output of is an image 2210, which is the output of device 2220. As described above, the spline pair fusion creating means 2208
Can be implemented using the device 1320 of FIG. 13 or the device 1420 of FIG.

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described above with slight modifications, those skilled in the art can implement these embodiments with further modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention. Is self-evident.

[0054]

As described above, according to the image processing apparatus and method of the present invention, complicated fusion of images by computer graphics can be realized.

[0055]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates different forms of complex blends.

FIG. 2 illustrates different forms of complex blends.

FIG. 3 illustrates different forms of complex blends.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing pixels in two edges in a parameter form.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the process of vectorization of spline edges.

FIG. 6 illustrates a process for aligning a first series of vectored edges.

FIG. 7 illustrates the formation of a quadrilateral from vectorized spline edges.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing division of a quadrilateral into a series of regions of constant color.

FIG. 9 shows a process for determining the color of a quadrilateral.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a method of creating a complex blend in an image according to the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating a method of creating a complex blend in an image according to another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a general-purpose computer.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for creating complex blends in an image implemented according to the method of the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating another apparatus for creating complex blends in images implemented according to another embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a complex object to be created according to yet another embodiment of the present invention.

16 is a diagram showing the format of a spline used to construct the object of FIG.

17 is a diagram showing a process of constructing the object of FIG.

18 is a diagram showing a process of constructing the object of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an extension of another embodiment of the present invention to a spline.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an extension of another embodiment of the present invention to a spline.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart of a method of constructing a computer graphic object according to yet another embodiment.

22 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus for constructing computer graphic objects according to the method of FIG.

FIG. 23 is a diagram representing a blend of opacity in color.

[Explanation of symbols]

20, 21 ... edges, 23 ... pixels, 29 ... quadrilaterals,
31-34 ... Line segment, 1302 ... Input, 1304 ... Edge color determining means, 1306 ... Parameter determining means, 1
308 ... Pixel color extraction means, 1310 ... Image, 1
320 ... apparatus, 1402 ... input, 1404 ... edge color determining means, 1406 ... edge vectorization means, 14
08 ... Line segment pair matching means, 1410 ... Pixel color determination means
Step, 1412 ... Image, 1420 ... Device, 2202 ...
Input, 2204 ... Interactive editable spline generating means, 2206 ... Spline color defining means, 2208 ... Spline pair blend creating means, 2210 ... Image, 22
20 ... Equipment

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (71) Applicant 000001007 Canon Inc. 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor George Politis 2564 New South Wales, McCurry Fields, Seiwell Road 18 (72) ) Inventor Tim Long Australia 2070 New South Wales, Lindfield, Ivy Street 47

Claims (46)

[Claims] 1. An image processing method for creating a fusion from a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, wherein each color of the first and second edges is Determining, forming a parametric equation for the color of each pixel in the region bounded by the first and second edges, solving the parametric equation, and deriving a color for each pixel. An image processing method comprising: 2. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the color includes opacity. 3. A method of creating a fusion of a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, the method determining a color of each of the first and second edges. A first determining step; a vectorizing step of vectorizing each of the first and second edges into a corresponding line segment; and the first step of forming a polygon having a defined color at its vertices. A combination step of pairing the line segments corresponding to each of the first and second edges, and a second determination step of determining a color for each pixel of the polygon from the colors defined at the vertices. An image processing method comprising: 4. The combination step further comprises the step of pairing line segments according to the relative distances of the line segments along each of the first and second edges. 3. The image processing method described in 3. 5. The step of combining further comprises the step of pairing line segments according to a distance based on a parameter of the line segments along each of the first and second edges. The image processing method according to claim 3. 6. The second determining step includes:
4. The image processing method according to claim 3, further comprising: dividing each area into a plurality of areas having a constant color and rendering each area having a constant color. 7. The image processing method according to claim 3, wherein the color includes opacity, and the defined color includes defined opacity. 8. An image processing apparatus for creating a fusion from a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, wherein each color of the first and second edges is An edge color determining means for determining and a parameter equation relating to the color of each pixel in the region bounded by the first and second edges is formed based on the edge color determined by the edge color determining means. An image processing apparatus comprising: a parameter determining unit; and a pixel color deriving unit that solves the parameter equation formed by the parameter determining unit to derive a color for each pixel. 9. The image processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the color includes opacity. 10. An image processing apparatus for creating a fusion of a first arbitrary edge to a second arbitrary edge in a computer graphic image processing system, wherein a color of each of the first and second edges is determined. Edge color determination means, vectorization means for vectorizing each of the first and second edges into corresponding line segments, and defined at the vertices based on the line segments vectorized by the vectorization means Line segment pair combining means for forming a pair of the line segments from each of the first and second edges so as to form a polygon having a color of An image processing apparatus, comprising: a pixel color determination unit that determines a color for each pixel of the polygon from colors defined at the vertices based on the polygon. 11. The line segment pair combining means further includes means for forming a pair of line segments according to a relative distance between the line segments along each of the first and second edges. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10. 12. The line segment pair combining means further comprises means for forming a pair of line segments according to a distance based on a parameter of the line segment along each of the first and second edges. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein: 13. The pixel color determining means includes means for dividing the polygon into a plurality of areas each having a constant color, and rendering each area of a constant color. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10. 14. The image processing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the color includes opacity, and the defined color includes defined opacity. 15. An image processing method for configuring a computer graphic object, the method comprising: generating a plurality of interactively editable splines, each of the splines having a corresponding spline color. Creating a fusion between the spline color of the first spline and the spline color of the second spline in one of the plurality of spline pairs. An image processing method comprising: 16. The number of the plurality of splines is three, and the first and second splines of the plurality of splines have substantially the same spline color, and a pair of the plurality of splines includes: A first pair includes a fusion of the first spline to a third spline of the second pair, and a second pair of the pair includes a fusion of the second spline of the third spline to the third spline. The image processing method according to claim 15, wherein: 17. The image processing method according to claim 15, wherein the plurality of pairs of splines include pairs of splines having the same spline color. 18. The number of the plurality of splines is four, the first and second splines of the plurality of splines have substantially the same color, and the first of the pairs of the plurality of splines is formed. A pair of fusions of the first spline to a third of the splines, a second pair of fusions of the first spline to the second spline of the third pair of The image processing method according to claim 15, further comprising fusion of the second spline to the fourth spline. 19. The image processing according to claim 15, wherein at least one spline of the splines forms an internal region, and the internal region also has a spline color of the at least one spline of the splines. Method. 20. The image processing method according to claim 15, wherein the color corresponding to the spline includes opacity. 21. The opacity substantially blends a degree of opacity from opacity of a color of a first spline of the pair of splines to opacity of a color of a second spline of the pair of splines. 21. The image processing method according to claim 20, further comprising: 22. An image processing method of constructing a computer graphic object, the method comprising: generating a plurality of interactively editable splines; defining each spline to have a corresponding spline color; Determining the color of each of the splines, forming a parametric equation for the color of each pixel in the region bounded by each of the pair of splines, and solving the parametric equation to derive the color of each of the pixels. And a step of performing fusion between each pair of the splines. 23. The image processing method according to claim 22, further comprising the step of converting each of the splines into a corresponding line segment. 24. The color of the spline and the color of the pixel each include opacity.
2. The image processing method described in 2. 25. The number of the plurality of splines is three, the first and second splines of the splines have substantially the same spline color, and the first pair of the spline pairs is the first of the spline pairs. 23. The fusion of one spline to a third spline, the second pair of the pairs comprising fusion of a second spline of the pair to the third spline. Image processing method. 26. The image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the plurality of pairs of splines include pairs of splines having the same spline color. 27. The number of the plurality of splines is 4, the first and second splines of the splines have substantially the same color, and the first pair of the spline pairs is the first of the spline pairs. A fusion of the splines to a third spline of the pair, the second pair of the pairs including fusion of the first spline to the second spline of the pair, and a third pair of the pairs 27. The image processing method according to claim 26, further comprising fusion of the second spline to the fourth spline. 28. The image processing method according to claim 22, wherein at least one spline of the splines forms an internal region, and the internal region has a spline color of the at least one spline. 29. The image processing method according to claim 22, wherein the color of the corresponding spline includes opacity. 30. The opacity is substantially the degree of opacity from the opacity of the color of the first spline of the pair of splines to the opacity of the color of the second spline. 30. The image processing method according to claim 29, which is a fusion. 31. An image processing method for constructing a computer graphic object, the method comprising the steps of: generating a plurality of interactively editable splines; each of the plurality of splines having a corresponding spline color. A step of defining the color of each of the splines, a step of vectorizing each of the splines into a corresponding line segment,
Combining the line segments obtained by the vectorizing means from each of the splines to form a polygon having a defined color at its vertices, and the polygon from the defined colors at the vertices And a polygonal color determining step of determining each color of the spline, the step of fusing between the pair of splines. 32. The image processing method according to claim 31, wherein the combining step includes a step of combining a pair of line segments according to a relative distance between the line segments along each of the splines. 33. The combination step according to claim 31, further comprising a step of combining paired line segments according to a distance based on a parameter of the line segments along each of the splines. Image processing method. 34. The polygon color determining step includes the step of dividing the polygon into a plurality of regions each of which has a constant color, and rendering each region into a constant color. 32. The image processing method according to claim 31. 35. The number of the plurality of splines is 3, the first and second splines of the plurality of splines have substantially the same spline color, and the first pair of the pair of splines is one of the plurality of splines. 32. Fusion of a first spline to a third spline of the second spline, wherein a second pair of the pair includes a fusion of the second spline of the third spline to the third spline. The described image processing method. 36. The image processing method according to claim 31, wherein the plurality of pairs of splines include pairs of splines having the same spline color. 37. The number of the plurality of splines is four, the first and second splines of the plurality of splines have substantially the same color, and the first pair of the pair of splines has one of them. A first spline to a third spline fusion, a second pair of the spline pairs including a fusion of the first spline to the second spline of the pair of splines; The image processing method of claim 36, wherein the third pair includes fusion of the second spline to the fourth spline of the third pair. 38. The image processing method according to claim 31, wherein at least one spline of the splines forms an internal region, and the internal region has a spline color of the at least one spline. 39. The image processing method according to claim 31, wherein the color corresponding to the spline includes opacity. 40. The opacity substantially blends a degree of opacity from opacity of a color of a first spline of the pair of splines to opacity of a color of a second spline of the pair of splines. 40. The image processing method according to claim 39, wherein the image processing method comprises: 41. An apparatus for configuring a computer graphic object, comprising: an interactive editable spline generating means for generating a plurality of interactive editable splines; and a spline generated by the interactive editable spline generating means. Each of which has one spline color corresponding to the spline color defining means, and based on the color of the spline defined by the spline color defining means, substantially between the pair of splines. An image processing apparatus comprising: a spline pair merging unit that merges a spline color of a first spline of the pair with a spline color of a second spline of the pair. 42. The spline pair fusion means determines an edge color determination means for determining a color of each of the splines, and an area bordered by the spline based on an edge color determined by the edge color determination means. And a pixel color derivation unit that solves the parameter equation determined by the parameter determination unit to derive the color of each pixel. 42. The image processing apparatus according to claim 41. 43. The spline pair merging means defines an edge color determining means for determining a color of each of the splines, an edge vectorizing means for vectorizing each of the splines into a corresponding line segment, and an apex thereof. Line segment pair combining means for combining the line segments obtained by the edge vectorization means from each of the splines in pairs so as to form a polygon having a predetermined color; and the line segment pair combining means. 43. The image processing apparatus according to claim 42, further comprising: a pixel color determination unit that determines a color for each pixel of the polygon from the colors defined at the vertices of the polygon formed by. 44. The spline color defining means further comprises spline opacity defining means for defining opacity for each color corresponding to the spline, and the spline pair merging means is combined with the spline color defining means. The first of the pair of splines
42. The image processing apparatus according to claim 41, wherein the opacity of the color corresponding to the spline is fused from the opacity of the spline to the opacity of the second spline. 45. The image processing apparatus according to claim 41, wherein the color of the spline includes opacity. 46. The image processing apparatus according to claim 43, wherein the color of the spline, the color of the pixel, and the defined color each include opacity.