FR2868179A1 - Product photographs realizing and instantaneously supplying process for enterprise, involves bearing determined format and resolution on photograph to establish related virtual photograph and to transmit it, by electronic mail, to recipient - Google Patents

Abstract

The process involves, on order of a user of a database, bearing a determined format and resolution on a photograph of a product, with any chosen view angle, to establish by numerical calculus a corresponding virtual photograph and to transmit the virtual photograph, by electronic mail, to a designated recipient. The transmitted photograph is printed, at the recipient, on a support corresponding to the requested resolution. An independent claim is also included for a device for implementing a process of realizing and instantaneously supplying product photographs.

Description

The present invention relates to the manufacture and distribution of images

  photographic objects or products, for the establishment or updating of catalogs, advertising material or other printed matter.

  Currently, for the manufacture and distribution of images of their products for publication in catalogs or advertising documents, commercial firms are required to have a photographer make photographs of each product or object concerned, to carry out photogravure and trimming operations of the photographs thus made and to archive the visuals obtained. Where a photograph of any product has to be addressed, either directly to the printer of a catalog or advertising document, or to a distributor or the like to make such an impression, it is necessary to sort and select from the archived visuals, burn the desired photograph on compact disc, and send the compact disc by mail or carrier to the recipient, who then proceeds to the desired format conversion and printing photography.

  The current modus operandi is cumbersome, time-consuming and resource intensive, and the indirect costs it generates are difficult to quantify. It also requires the production and archiving of several photographs of the same product from several angles, thus increasing the volume of the archives, without however allowing to have photographs of the products from all possible angles of view.

  The object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks of the current method of manufacturing and distributing photographs of products intended to be printed in catalogs or advertising documents, and it proposes for this purpose a manufacturing and distribution process. photographs, and a device for the implementation of this method, which while substantially reducing the time and cost allows to provide high resolution photography of a product from any angle of view and any desired format.

  According to the invention, the method for the instantaneous supply of photographs of products from an electronic catalog that can be displayed on a computer screen consists in: - producing an electronic catalog of products constituted by a database of three-dimensional models of these products products viewable from all angles, the said electronic catalog being searchable by computer means authorized users, - on command of a user connected to the said database, on the photography of a product with any angle of view chosen, a specific format and resolution, to compute by digital calculation the corresponding virtual photograph and to transmit it immediately, by electronic mail, to at least one designated recipient, and to print, at the recipient, said transmitted photograph on a medium corresponding to the requested resolution.

  According to another characteristic of the method according to the invention, technical, commercial or other information relating to the products is introduced into the database, and this information is linked to the three-dimensional models of the products, so that this information appears at each display of said data. three-dimensional models and accompany the corresponding photograph ordered for editing.

  According to an additional feature of the method according to the invention, the production and the updating of the electronic catalog are carried out: by producing from each product taken itself a three-dimensional framework of a virtual product, - by converting a file texture packaging of the product in textures, by adding to said three-dimensional framework the textures and optical properties for the low resolution and the high resolution, to obtain a three-dimensional model of the product, and by integrating said three-dimensional model of the product into the database for its visualization on the electronic catalog.

  For the realization and updating of the electronic catalog, or realizes two three-dimensional models of the product, one in high resolution and the other in low resolution, the two said three-dimensional models being integrated in the database.

  The method according to the invention thus has the advantage of allowing: the production of photographs of objects or products without calling on a photographer or a photography studio; consultation and control, without limitation of borders, of images of objects or products thanks to a contractual three-dimensional electronic catalog; the selection and production of all possible photographic images of an object or a product, on demand and immediately; - the elimination of the storage of the numerous images of the same object or a product; - the realization of photographic images cut out, ready to use for offset printing, office automation, screen presentations; the very important reduction of the costs and the delays of realization of the photographic images of the same object or product: the suppression of the indirect costs of the whole production chain of the produced images: photogravure, clipping, storage, transport ....

  According to a further characteristic, the device for implementing the method according to the invention comprises: an administration server comprising a database of three-dimensional models of products forming an electronic catalog of products and e-mailing the virtual photographs of database products, - at least one interrogation computer connectable to said administration server, for viewing each said three-dimensional model from all angles of view and to send to the administration server a command of a virtual photograph of the produced from a given angle of view, - a rendering server assembling the product control data and three-dimensional description data of this product and, by associated computing means, calculating the virtual photographic image from said description data three-dimensional, integrating a clipping mask to said pho virtual image and providing it to the administration server for routing by e-mail to a destination computer, and a recipient computer for receiving said e-mail comprising said virtual photograph, said destination computer including printing means for printing said virtual photography on a predetermined medium.

  According to a complementary feature, the device according to the invention further comprises: at least one administration computer connectable to said management server, for providing it with a definition of a product to be integrated in said database, and computer tools for producing a three-dimensional model of the product and assembling in a common file of said model and technical and commercial information relating to the product, for integration into said database.

  For a better understanding of the invention will be described below, by way of example without limitation, an embodiment with reference to the attached schematic drawing wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic view illustrating the process of treatment of a virtual photograph command according to the invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the flows realized according to the invention, in particular for the updating of the electronic catalog.

  Referring to Figure 1 there is shown in 1 the computer of an authorized user in which is downloaded an electronic catalog of products of a company, the electronic catalog comprising three-dimensional models of each of said products, which are associated sheets giving the technical and / or commercial characteristics of these products. 15

  This electronic catalog is accompanied by a presentation software that allows its consultation on the screen of the computer 1, and in particular the visualization from all angles of the selected product model.

  This presentation software also makes it possible to command a management server 2 a virtual photograph of any product of the electronic catalog visualized in three dimensions, according to any angle of view and by selecting the dimensions of the image and the support of the image. final image.

  The administration server 2, which contains a database of the three-dimensional models of the products used to download the electronic catalog in the computer 1, consists of a set of computer hardware and software, and its role is to check the validity commands received from the user computer 1 and transmit these commands to a rendering server 3.

  The rendering server 3, constituted by a set of computer hardware and software, analyzes the control data of the electronic catalog, that is to say the position in X, Y and Z of the products in the space, their focal length. , their lighting and the digital format of the images requested. He assembles this product order information with the three-dimensional descriptions of the products concerned, and has calculation machines 4 compute the virtual photographic images and their clipping masks.

  The calculation machines 4 proceed to the calculation of the virtual photographic images which are sent to the rendering server 3. The latter then checks the calculation of the images requested, assembles in a common file the virtual photographic images and their clipping masks, and delivers to the administration server 2 cut-off virtual photographic image files ready for use. These files can be, depending on the order, high-resolution image files for offset printing, medium-resolution image files for office printing, or low-resolution image files for computer presentations.

  The administration server 2 then receives the files of the virtual photographic images delivered by the rendering server 3, assembles commercial and technical data of the products with the virtual photographic images ordered, and e-mails the files of the virtual photographic images ordered. 5 on the computer 10 of the recipient (see Figure 2). The recipient can then either view the image on its screen (if it was ordered in low resolution), or print the photograph on the support provided when ordering (offset printing if high resolution order, office printing if order of average resolution).

  For updating the electronic product catalog contained in the administration server database 2, as shown in Figure 2, the person responsible for managing the products within a company, which will be called in the following product administrator, uses a WEB browser 6 to provide the database 7 data relating to new products (or modified products) to be introduced in the electronic catalog.

  From the administration server 2, a product manufacturing request corresponding to the data provided by the product administrator is transmitted to a computer graphics designer who uses his computer production tools 8 to consult the list of new products to be manufactured, retrieve the related data, then model in three dimensions, validate and integrate these new products in the database 7, which controls the automatic deletion of the expired three-dimensional model of each product replaced. The products thus modeled are then put online to be viewed, from all angles, by any user 2868179 8 authorized on his computer 9 (corresponding to the computer 1 of Figure 1).

  The client module, which equips the computer 9 of the authorized user, is in the form of a graphics application allowing the visualization of real-time three-dimensional product ranges and, as seen with reference to FIG. the ability to order the virtual photography of one or more products. The product lines displayed in the client module can be retrieved by connecting the application to the database 7 via the Internet. This procedure, also known as synchronization, allows the user of the client module to update its product lines.

  This graphical application, consisting of a browser to switch from a range of products to another range of products, automatically displays a product in three real-time at the time of selection thereof. The user can thus view the object from all available angles and from there, as described with reference to Figure 1, order a photograph of the product for a given recipient. He chooses his angle of view and asks the application to record the order of a photograph of this product with this angle of view. It is therefore sufficient for him to connect the application on the database 7 to send the command. This action then triggers, on receipt of the command, the calculation procedure by the rendering server.

  The production tools 8, which comprise a set of software modules and work method grafted on the basis of existing software, perform the operations comprising: receiving a file flat packaging of the product, provided by the administrator of products, and the conversion of this file into textures, - the preparation of a three-dimensional model from the flat-pack file, - the creation of the three-dimensional model, - the addition of textures and optical properties, the integration of the finalized product in low and high resolution in the database in three dimensions.

  The client module 9, which equips the computer of the authorized user, is in the form of a graphics application allowing the visualization of three-dimensional product ranges in real time, and offering the possibility of controlling the virtual photograph of the user. one or more products.

  The administration server 2, which contains the database 7, performs several functions. It thus plays the role, as described with reference to FIG. 2, of a production administration interface: by verifying the three-dimensional models of the products for the electronic catalog and the concordance of the three-dimensional descriptions of the products with the rendering server 3; by integrating on the administration server 2 the files of the three-dimensional models of the products for visualization on the electronic catalogs; by integrating on the rendering server 3 the three-dimensional descriptions of the products for calculating virtual photographic images.

  The administration server 2, as described in FIG. 1, also ensures the automation of the management of the virtual photographs commands of the electronic catalogs: by verifying the validity of the commands and by transmitting them to the rendering server , by receiving the files of the virtual photographic images delivered by the rendering server, by assembling the commercial and technical data of the products with the virtual photographic images ordered, and by carrying out the routing by e-mail to their addressee, - by sending to the sponsor , by e-mail, an acknowledgment of receipt of orders for virtual photographs.

  In addition to these functions, the administration server 2 also plays the role of: - administrative interface of the electronic catalogs: a) by making it possible to organize the different three-dimensional models of products with their commercial and technical information, b) by organizing the presentation structure of information and three-dimensional models for electronic catalogs; electronic catalog users' management interface: a) for the management of the authorizations for use of the electronic catalogs, b) for the management of the authorizations for the updates of the electronic catalogs, c) for the management of the authorizations of the electronic catalogs; virtual photographic image commands; interface for managing the costs and flows of virtual photographic images.

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Claims (9)

  1. Method for the instantaneous production and supply of product photographs from an electronic catalog that can be viewed on a computer screen, characterized in that it consists in: - producing an electronic catalog of products constituted by a database (7) three-dimensional models of these products viewable from all angles, said electronic catalog being searchable by computer means of authorized users, on order of a user (1) connected to said database (7), bearing on the photograph of a product with any chosen angle of view, a specified format and resolution, to be digitally computed by the corresponding virtual photograph and to transmit it immediately, by electronic mail, to at least one designated recipient (10), and - to print, in the recipient (10), said photograph transmitted on a support corresponding to the resolution of ndée.   Method according to claim 1, characterized in that technical, commercial or other information relating to the products is introduced into said database (7), and in that this information is linked to the three-dimensional models of the products, way that said information appear at each display of said three-dimensional models and accompany the corresponding photograph ordered for editing.   3. Method according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the production and updating of the electronic catalog are carried out: by producing from each product itself a three-dimensional framework of a virtual product, by converting a product packaging decor file into textures, by adding to said three-dimensional framework the textures and optical properties for the low resolution and the high resolution, to obtain a three-dimensional model of the product, and by integrating said three-dimensional model of the product in the database (7) for its visualization on the electronic catalog.   4. Method according to claim 3, characterized in that, during the updating of the database (7), the integration of the new three-dimensional model of a product controls the automatic deletion of the expired three-dimensional model of this product. .   5. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the establishment of the controlled virtual photograph comprises the operations which consist in: analyzing the information relating to the order made in the electronic catalog, comprising the position according to the X, Y, Z axes of the product in space, its focal length, its illumination and the digital format of the image requested, - to assemble said information relating to the command with a three-dimensional description of the product, - to be performed by a computer on the basis of these assembled data, computation of the virtual photographic image and its clipping mask, and 30 - to assemble in a common file the virtual photographic image and its clipping mask, for sending this file by email to the recipient of the order.   6. Method according to claim 5, characterized in that before forwarding by electronic mail, the commercial and technical data of the product concerned are assembled with the virtual photographic image.   7. Method according to claim 3 characterized in that, for the production and updating of the electronic catalog, two three-dimensional models of the product are produced, one in high resolution and the other in low resolution, the two so-called models. three-dimensional data being integrated in the database (7).   8. Device for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that it comprises: - an administration server (2) comprising a database (7) of three-dimensional models of products 20 forming an electronic catalog of the products, and by e-mailing the virtual photographs of products of the database (7), - at least one interrogation computer (1), connectable to said administration server (2), to display each said three-dimensional model from all angles of view and to send to the administration server (2) a command of a virtual photograph of the product from a given angle of view, - a rendering server (3) assembling the data for controlling the product and three-dimensional description data of this product and, by associated calculation means (4), calculating the virtual photographic image from said three-dimensional description data 1S utilities, integrating a clipping mask with said virtual photograph and providing it to the administration server (2) for routing by electronic mail to a destination computer (10), and - a receiving computer (10) for receiving said mail computer comprising said virtual photograph, said destination computer (10) comprising print means for printing said virtual photograph on a predetermined medium.   9. Device according to claim 8, characterized in that it comprises: - at least one administration computer (6) connectable to said administration server (2), to provide it with a definition of a product to integrate in said database (7), and - computer tools (8) for producing a three-dimensional model of the product and for assembling them in a common file of said model and of technical and commercial information relating to the product, for integration in said database (7).