JP2000331187A - Method and device for generating moving image and recording medium stored with the method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and device for generating moving image by which the quantity of arithmetic operation can be reduced by simplifying the calculation of the movement of an object. SOLUTION: An information processor is provided with an area discriminating section 100, an updating interval deciding section 200, and a movement calculating section. The area discriminating section 100 divides a virtual space into a plurality of areas in which physical quantities are updated at different updating intervals and discriminates the area to which an object to be updated belongs at certain time. The updating interval deciding section 200 decides the updating interval of the physical quantities of the object to be updated based on the discriminated results of the discriminating section 100. The movement deciding section calculates the movement of the object based on the updating interval decided by the updating interval deciding section 200.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for generating a motion image for displaying the motion and state of an object using three-dimensional computer graphics.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the following description, a virtual three-dimensional space generated as an object to be displayed by a computer is referred to as a "virtual space", and a drawing object drawn in the virtual space is referred to as an "object". The time interval for updating the calculation and drawing of the motion in the computer is referred to as “update interval”, and the content displayed on the screen is referred to as “scene”.

In a virtual environment in a computer, a computer
When an object is generated by graphics or the like and the motion of the object is generated, the motion is described as a change in a spatial amount at a certain discrete time. Generally, the following procedure is basically required when an object is generated and displayed on a display in three-dimensional computer graphics. (1) In a virtual three-dimensional space, the position, shape, color, and other attributes (for example, light reflectance, surface texture, etc.) of an object are described in a coordinate system of the three-dimensional space. (2) Explicitly describe the range from which viewpoint the scene is viewed, that is, the “field of view”. (In order to execute the projection performed in (3) to be described later, the designation of the field of view cannot be omitted.) The processing procedures of (1) and (2) are called modeling, and are executed by software. You. (3) Using the projection matrix, the three-dimensional coordinates are projected onto two-dimensional coordinates corresponding to the display screen, the color of a grid point (called a pixel) having the two-dimensional screen coordinates is determined, and a screen display memory ( (Called a frame buffer). This processing procedure is called rendering, and is executed by software, but may be partially or entirely executed by hardware. (4) Display the color information stored in the frame buffer on the screen. This processing procedure is executed by hardware, and is always executed at each rewriting cycle of the display screen.

When a moving object is generated in three-dimensional computer graphics and displayed on a display, the following procedure is basically required. This processing procedure is called computer animation. (5) Assuming a sequence of continuous discrete times, the above procedures (1), (2), (3) and (4) are repeated at each discrete time. The discrete time width can be determined by the rewriting cycle of the display screen (that is, the display frequency is 60 Hz).
In this case, 1/60 second is sufficient), but usually the same period as that of TV, that is, 1/30 second is the most practical.
This cycle is the “update interval” described above, and a discrete time sequence for each update interval is referred to as “update time” in the following description.
Called.

Normally, when a stationary object is generated and displayed, the processing of (1), (2), and (3) only needs to be performed once. It is necessary to perform the processes (1), (2), and (3) each time. As a result, if the processing amount of (1) is particularly large, the processing of (3) may not be able to be executed by the update time. For example, a scene that should be updated at every update interval may have the number of update intervals. In some cases, the data is updated every double cycle.

[0006]

In the conventional moving image generation method, all objects to be drawn are drawn at each update interval. Therefore, when there is a large amount of information such as the number of objects and polygons constituting the objects, Therefore, a large amount of storage capacity and computational power are required for object display and polygon generation. As a result, a case may occur where a desired motion image cannot be displayed at a desired time interval. In such a case, there is a method of reducing the number of vertices and polygons constituting the object to reduce the calculation time required for polygon generation and display, but it is difficult to simplify the calculation of motion. Was. The purpose of the present invention is
It is an object of the present invention to provide a motion image generation method and a motion image generation method capable of simplifying motion calculation of an object and reducing the amount of calculation without deteriorating the quality of a display image.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a motion image generation method according to the present invention provides a method for generating an image generated by computer graphics in a virtual space generated as an object to be displayed by a computer. The motion is defined as updating the physical quantity of the object performed at every set update interval at a discretely defined time, executing the update of the physical quantity by calculation and displaying it as a motion image, A method for generating a motion image in a virtual space, comprising:
A first procedure of dividing the physical quantity into a plurality of areas in which the physical quantity is updated at different update intervals, and determining which area the update target object belongs to at a certain time; and determining the physical quantity of the update target object based on the determination. There is a second procedure for determining the update interval, and a third procedure for calculating the motion of the object for each area based on the determination of the update interval.

In order to carry out the above-described motion image generation method,
The motion image generation device of the present invention divides a virtual space into a plurality of regions in which physical quantities are updated at mutually different update intervals, and an area determination unit that determines which area the update target object belongs to at a certain time. Calculating an update interval of the physical quantity of the update target object for each area based on the determination of the area determination unit; and calculating a motion of the object based on the determination of the update interval by the update interval determination unit. A motion calculation unit.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the term "motion" is a concept that includes not only the temporal change of the position of an object in the virtual space (update at predetermined time intervals) but also the temporal change of attributes such as the shape and color of the object. .
In other words, the motion of the present invention is an update of the physical quantity of the object in the virtual space every predetermined time (update interval).

The main function of the present invention is to change the calculation interval of the motion update according to the area to which the object belongs. Thus, for example, if the update interval is doubled and the same update process is performed at each update interval (that is, the update process is thinned out), the calculation amount of the exercise state can be reduced to half.

In order to be able to perform the thinning out of the update processing so that the display of the image does not cause any noticeable deterioration in the quality of the movement, the virtual space is set in an area where the update processing may be thinned out. (The area where the update interval can be long) and
It is necessary to classify the object into other regions (regions in which the exercise quality is deteriorated if the update interval is lengthened), and perform the update process on the objects in each region at the specified update interval.

In the present invention, first, the area determining unit determines which area the object to be updated is at each time by executing the first procedure. Next, the update interval determination unit determines the update interval of each object by executing the second procedure. Next, the motion calculation unit calculates the motion (update of the physical quantity) of each object according to the determined update interval by executing the third procedure.

An embodiment in which the update interval is set to the same update interval for objects in the same area (first embodiment, see FIG. 3)
However, an embodiment in which the update interval is set for each object (see claims 4, 11, and 5) is also possible.

[0014]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an information processing apparatus for implementing a motion image generating method according to the present invention. The information processing device includes an area determination unit 100, an update interval determination unit 200, and a motion calculation unit 300.

The area determining unit 100 is a functional block for determining an area to which a target object belongs in a virtual environment of a computer at a certain time. In this specification, the term functional block means the entire software and hardware involved to realize a specific function. Update interval determination unit 200, based on the region determination by the region determination unit 100, the time interval of exercise update, that is,
Determine the update interval. The motion calculation means 300 generates the motion of the object at each update time using the update interval determined by the update interval determination unit 200.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a first embodiment for implementing the embodiment of FIG. According to the embodiment of FIG. 2, the area determining unit 100 of FIG. 1 includes an area condition specifying unit 101, a position information obtaining unit 102, and an area condition determining unit 103.
In addition, the exercise calculation unit 300 in FIG.
An update exercise calculation unit 302 and a unit update interval number storage unit 303 are provided.

An area condition specifying section 101 is a functional block for specifying a determination condition used for area determination. Here, the area determination is to determine an area where the target object exists. In the present invention, an area is defined by dividing a virtual space by a virtual plane having a specific shape in the virtual space, and some of the areas are subjected to update processing (thinning update) for achieving the object of the present invention. Process) Specify as an area. This designated area is referred to as a designated area in the following description. In addition, designating a designated region is described as designating a region condition. In the present embodiment, the area where the object exists is determined based on which of the specified areas the object is in or in an area other than the specified area. Area condition specification section
Reference numeral 101 designates, for example, an area at a certain distance or more from the viewpoint according to the distance from the viewpoint when drawing an object in the computer. This region designation is performed when simplifying the motion of an object located in a region farther than the distance. An ordinary practical process (hereinafter, referred to as a normal process) is performed on an object at a certain distance or less from the viewpoint. In addition, the area condition specification unit 10
1 designates, for example, an area outside the cone including the point of interest, with the axis as a straight line from the viewpoint to the point of interest and the vertex as the point of view. This area specification is the part of interest (cone)
Is performed to simplify the motion of the object around the. The normal processing is performed on the object on the display screen within the focused portion. The virtual space portion designated as a region where normal processing is performed by the region condition specifying unit 101 in this manner is referred to as a normal processing portion in the following description. An update interval determination unit 200 described later specifies an update interval of the specified area.

A plurality of regions for simplifying the movement may be designated. Furthermore, when taking the intersection of multiple designated areas,
The motion of an object in an area included in both of the specified areas is a target of simplification. In addition, when a union of a plurality of designated areas is obtained, the motion of an object in one of the designated areas is to be simplified.

The position information acquisition unit 102 is a functional block for acquiring spatial position information of an object in order to determine whether the object is in a designated area or in a normal processing part. The area determination unit 103 is a functional block that determines whether an object P is in a specified area A based on the spatial position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 102. In the following description, that a certain object P belongs to a certain designated area A is described as P∈A. As described above, the update interval determination unit 200 is a functional block that specifies the update interval of the area A.

Next, in the motion calculation section 300, the update determination section 301 determines whether or not the arbitrary time is an update time for updating the motion of the object in the area A. The update exercise calculation unit 302 performs exercise calculation (physical quantity update processing) according to the determination performed by the update determination unit 301. The unit update interval storage unit 303 stores how long a certain time has elapsed since the previous exercise update in the area A, using the unit update interval (update interval in the normal processing) as a unit, as the number of unit update intervals. The number is used as information serving as material for determining whether or not the time is the time for performing the exercise update.

According to this embodiment, only the objects in the area A determined by the area condition determination unit 103 are updated in the motion at the updated update interval, and the entire area is updated at the unit update interval. The amount of calculation for processing can be reduced as compared with the processing for updating the exercise.

FIG. 3 is a processing flowchart showing the operation of the present embodiment.

In the following description, the discretized time is
t _i , the total number of objects to be drawn is N, the j-th object is P _j ,
The update interval in the area A is denoted by D, and the number of elapsed time since the last update in the area A is denoted by C. Unless otherwise noted, j
= 1, 2, 3,... N.

First, an area condition is specified (step S
1). For example, as described above, a region at a certain distance or more from the viewpoint in the virtual space, or a straight line from the viewpoint to the gazing point as an axis, a region outside the cone including the gazing point with the viewpoint as a vertex, or both of them Let A be the intersection.

Next, an update interval is determined (step S).
2). This is specified by, for example, an integer multiple of the unit update interval U (for example, 1/30 second or the like) in the normal processing area other than the specified area A, and this integer value is specified by D. This value D can be determined for each region when there are a plurality of regions. Here, the number of regions is set to 1 for ease of explanation.

Next, the following procedure is repeated. 1) The time is set to t = t _i , and the following processing is repeated for the object P _j (j = 1, 2,... N) at the discrete time t _i . 2) Initialize j = 1. 3) P _i ∈A is determined (step S3). If true, the process proceeds to step S4, and if false, the process proceeds to step S9. 4) If C ≧ D is true in step S4, the motion is updated to C = 0 (step S5), and the process proceeds to step S6. If false, C = C + 1 and the process proceeds to step S6. 5) If false in step S3, normal processing is performed in step S9, and then the process proceeds to step S6. 6) In step S6, j is compared with N. If j ≧ N is true, a screen is displayed (step S7) and the process proceeds to the next step.
If false, j = j + 1 is set and the process returns to step S3 to process the next object.

The above processing is performed for all target objects.
Until the time when the image processing ends.
When the number i representing the discrete time is incremented and the process ends
Time t _F(Step S8)
Is done. Then, the end time t_FProcessing is completed when
Complete.

[0028]

(Equation 1) When the value of D becomes large, this movement generally cannot represent an accurate movement, but has an effect that the time required for calculation can be reduced. In particular, when N increases, the calculation processing of the movement also increases, and thus the present embodiment enables the calculation to be thinned out.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a second example of the present embodiment. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the update interval is determined for each region, and all the objects in the region perform the motion update at the same time, whereas the objects in the region have different update times. Features.

In FIG. 4, an area condition specifying section 102, a position information obtaining section 102, and an area condition determining section 103 constituting an area determining section 100 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

The update interval determination unit 200 includes an update presence / absence determination unit 201, an update interval determination unit 202, and an update presence / absence setting unit 2.
03. The update presence / absence determination unit 201 determines whether a new update interval has been set for the object in the area. The update interval determination unit 202 specifies an update interval. Based on the setting of the update interval determination unit 202, an update interval is set for an object for which a new update interval has not yet been set.
The update presence / absence setting unit 203 assigns an identifier for identifying an object for which an update interval is newly set to the object.

The exercise calculator 300 includes an update determiner 301,
An update exercise calculation unit 302 and a unit update interval number storage unit 303 are provided. The update determination unit 301 determines whether to update the motion of a certain object at a certain time. The update exercise calculation section 302 calculates exercise according to the determination by the update determination section 301. The unit update interval number storage unit 303 stores update information for each target object. The update information is information that serves as a material for determining whether a certain object is an update target and whether a certain time is a time for performing a motion update.

According to the present embodiment, it is possible to set the motion update time in a certain area for each target object, and it is possible to reduce the processing amount on average over the entire processing time.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of this embodiment.

Similarly to FIG. 3, in the following description, the discretized time is t _i , the total number of objects to be drawn is N, and j
Th to the object the P _j, P _j variable determines the presence or absence of update (flag) F _j, P _j of the update interval D _j, the elapsed time count from the last update of P _j and C _j notation . j = 1,2 ... N
It is. Further, in the present embodiment, the time range does not need to be particularly provided, so that the time range is not described.

First, an area condition is designated (step S
1). For example, as described above, a region that is at a certain distance or more from the viewpoint of the virtual space is A. Next, an update interval is determined (step S2). This is specified by, for example, a natural number D when the update interval unit U (for example, 1/30 second) in an area other than the area A on the display screen (normal processing portion) is set to 1. This value may be determined for each region, or
The designation may be made according to the complexity of the target object, for example, the number of polygons or the number of vertices constituting the target object. Here, it is assumed that D _j = D for ease of explanation. In the following processing, F _j is provided for the number of update periods. In the following description, the number of update intervals is set to 1 for the sake of simplicity (the update time is not necessarily the same even if the update interval is the same in all areas).

Next, the following procedure is repeated. 1) The time is set to t = t _i , and the following processing is repeated for the object P _j (j = 1, 2,... N) at the discrete time t _i . 2) Initialize j = 1. 3) P _i ∈A is determined (step S3). If true, the process proceeds to step S4, and if false, the process proceeds to step S9. 4) In step S4, F _j is evaluated. If false, the process proceeds to step S7, and it is determined whether F _j is true (whether a new update interval D _j is set). If YES, a new update interval is set. The flag F _j to O
N and C _j = 0 (step S
8), proceed to step S10. If the determination result of step S7 is NO, step S1 is performed as it is.
Go to 0. Here, C _j is the time elapsed from the last update time of the object P _j (the unit update interval U =
(Time calculated as 1). 5) If C ≧ D is true in step S5, the motion is updated to C _j = 0 (step S6), and step S10
Proceed to. If false, _Cj = _Cj + 1 and the process proceeds to step S10. 6) If false in step S3, normal processing is performed in step S9, and then the process proceeds to step S10. 7) In step S10, j is compared with N. If j ≧ N is true, a screen is displayed (step S11) and the process proceeds to the next step. If false, j =
Return to step S3 as j + 1.

The above processing is sequentially executed for all the objects to be processed until the time when the image processing ends (step S8).

[0039]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. [1] By delaying the update interval of a certain area in the virtual three-dimensional space from the original update interval, it is possible to reduce the calculation processing time in generating a motion image in virtual space without impairing the image quality [2] A certain area of the virtual three-dimensional space is projected into a certain field of view, for example, a part projected on a peripheral part of the screen, or a part far from a virtual viewpoint in the three-dimensional space, that is, the screen By making the portion projected above as far away, the above-mentioned effect [1] can be realized without impairing the quality of apparent motion on the screen. In view of the above effects, the present invention provides a method for displaying a scene in which a large number of moving objects are present in a virtual three-dimensional space on a screen in real time or at an update interval as close as possible to real time. Is most effective when displayed on the screen. That is, it is effective in the following application fields. Star motion and molecular motion.
Simulation of the display of the movement of gases and liquids. Indication of the motion of a large number of people or cars. Production of movies and videos. When accessing a virtual space via the Internet and displaying that space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 area determination unit 101 area condition designation unit 102 position information acquisition unit 103 area condition determination unit 200 update interval determination unit 201 update presence / absence determination unit 202 update interval determination unit 203 update presence / absence setting unit 300 region condition determination unit 301 update determination unit 302 update Exercise calculation unit 303 Unit update interval number storage unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masaki Yamada 3-19-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Kazuhiro Sugiyama 3-192-1, Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo No. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F term (reference) 5B050 BA08 BA09 EA04 EA07 EA24 EA28 FA02 5L096 FA69 HA02 9A001 HH26 HH29 HH30

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A motion of an object generated by computer graphics is performed in a virtual space generated as an object to be displayed by a computer at predetermined update intervals with discretely defined times. A method for generating a motion image in a virtual space of an object, which is defined as an update of a physical quantity of the object and is displayed on a display screen of a computer as a motion image by executing the update of the physical quantity by calculation. A first procedure of determining which area the physical quantity is updated at at a different update interval, and determining to which area the update target object belongs at a certain time; and determining the physical quantity of the update target object based on the determination. A motion image generation method, comprising: a second procedure for determining an update interval; and a third procedure for calculating the motion of the object for each region based on the determination of the update interval. Law. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a determination condition for determining a region where the target object is present is designated, spatial position information of the target object is obtained, and the target among the plurality of regions is determined according to the determination condition. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining an area where an object is present from the spatial position information. 3. A third procedure, wherein, among the mutually different update intervals, an update interval of a predetermined area is set as a unit update interval, and an arbitrary time of an arbitrary area elapses from a previous update in the area. Time, counting the unit update interval as a unit, whether the time from the count value and the determined update interval for the object in the area is the time to update the motion of the object in the area, The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of determining whether or not to perform the calculation, and performing a calculation for updating the physical quantity according to the determination. 4. The second procedure is to give an identification to each object belonging to each area based on the determination in the first procedure, determine the identification, and determine a physical quantity update interval for each identified object. The method of claim 1, wherein 5. The motion image generation method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the area where the object is present is based on a distance from a virtual viewpoint for drawing a virtual space. 6. The determination of a region where an object is present is made by using a straight line from a virtual viewpoint for drawing a virtual space to a gazing point as an axis,
5. The motion image generation method according to claim 1, wherein a determination condition is set as to whether the object is inside or outside the cone including the fixation point with the viewpoint as the vertex. 7. The determination of a region where an object is present is performed by using, as axes, a region determined based on a distance from a virtual viewpoint for drawing a virtual space and a straight line from the virtual viewpoint for drawing a virtual space to a gazing point. Claims that determine whether or not the object is in a space of a logical sum or a logical product with a region determined based on whether the object is inside or outside a cone including a gazing point with the viewpoint being a vertex, as a determination condition. 5. The motion image generation method according to any one of 1 to 4. 8. In a virtual space generated as an object to be displayed by a computer, a motion of an object generated by computer graphics is executed at a discretely defined time at certain set update intervals. An apparatus for generating a motion image in a virtual space of an object, which is defined as an update of a physical quantity of the object to be performed and is displayed on a display screen of a computer as a motion image by executing the update of the physical quantity by calculation. An area determination unit that divides the physical quantity into a plurality of areas at different update intervals and determines which area the update target object belongs to at a certain time; and an update target based on the determination of the area determination unit. An update interval determination unit that determines an update interval of the physical quantity of the object, and based on the determination of the update interval by the update interval determination unit,
A motion calculation unit for calculating the motion of the object. 9. An area determining unit configured to specify a determination condition for determining an area where an object is present, a position information obtaining unit obtaining spatial position information of a target object, and the area condition specifying unit. The apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising an area condition determination unit configured to determine an area where the target object is present from the spatial position information according to a specified determination condition. 10. The motion calculation unit includes an update determination unit, an update motion calculation unit, and a unit update interval number storage unit, wherein the update determination unit updates a motion of an object in an area at an arbitrary time. It is determined whether or not it is a time to perform, when the update motion calculation unit determines that the update motion determination unit is the time to update the motion of the object in the area, the update of the physical quantity according to the determination A calculation for performing the update is performed, and the unit update interval number storage unit sets the update interval of a predetermined area as the unit update interval among the mutually different update intervals, and sets an arbitrary time of an arbitrary area in the area as an arbitrary time. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a value obtained by calculating a time elapsed from a previous update in units of a unit update interval is stored. 11. The update interval determination unit has an update presence / absence determination unit, an update interval determination unit, and an update presence / absence setting unit, and the update presence / absence determination unit sets a new update interval for an object in an arbitrary area. The update interval determination unit sets an update interval for an object for which a new update interval has not yet been set, and the update presence / absence setting unit sets an identifier for identifying the object for which the new update interval has been set to the object. Claim 8
11. The apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 10. 12. In a virtual space generated as an object to be displayed by a computer, a motion of an object generated by computer graphics is performed at every set update interval having a discretely defined time. Defined as an update of the physical quantity of the object, the update of the physical quantity is executed by calculation and displayed as a motion image, a recording medium that records a program for generating a motion image in a virtual space of the object,
The program divides the virtual space into a plurality of regions whose physical quantities are updated at mutually different update intervals, and specifies a determination condition used to determine which region the update target object belongs to at a certain time. And acquiring spatial position information of the target object, and determining, from the spatial position information, a region in which the target object is present among the plurality of regions according to the determination condition, based on the determination. A second procedure of determining the update interval of the physical quantity of the update target object for each region; and calculating the motion of the object for each region based on the determination of the update interval. The update interval of a predetermined area is defined as a unit update interval, and the time elapsed since the previous update in the area is determined as an arbitrary time of an arbitrary area, using the unit update interval as a unit. And, from the determined update interval for the object in the area, the time is a time to update the motion of the object in the area, it is determined whether or not, the update of the physical quantity according to the determination. 3rd to do the calculation to do
A recording medium characterized by describing the procedure of (1). 13. The second procedure is to give an identification to each object belonging to each area based on the determination in the first procedure, determine the identification, and set a physical quantity update interval for each identified object. 13. The recording medium according to claim 12, including a step of determining.