JP2001034776A - Animation editing system and storage medium where animation editing program is recorded - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To automatically generate an animation including naturalizing operation by using an animation generating device which generates the animation by connecting unit parts. SOLUTION: The animation editing system which assists a parts compiling means 102 to connect and compile unit parts stored in a parts database 101 is equipped with a common interface means 100 which mediates information transmission and reception, a 1st naturalization request means 111 which sends out a naturalization request for an animation sequence by the parts compiling means 102 to the common interface means 100, a naturalization editing device 112 which receives the naturalization request through the common interface means 100 and generates the naturalized animation sequence matching the specified animation sequence, and a composing means 113 which puts together the naturalized animation sequence received through the common interface means 100 and the original animation sequence.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention records an animation editing system and an animation editing program which can be shared by both an animation creating apparatus and an animation interface providing apparatus for providing a user with a user interface using the created animation. It relates to a storage medium. In a terminal device operated by an unspecified number of users, such as an automatic teller machine installed in a financial institution, buttons necessary for operation are provided to provide customers with information on operation procedures and various services. By displaying animations that show the expressions and actions of various characters including humans, animals, and anthropomorphic animals, a user interface that is easy to operate even for customers who are unfamiliar with keyboards etc. I have. In such an animation, it is necessary that a friendly character explains an operation necessary for an unspecified number of users in an easy-to-understand manner, and that the operation looks natural. On the other hand, it is necessary to create an animation for explaining necessary operations and providing information in accordance with the provision of a new product or service. For this reason, there is a need for a technique for easily producing an animation that gives a user an impression that a character is moving naturally.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Visu, an object-oriented language
If you use al Basic etc., you can arrange resources such as buttons and text input fields that are the user's operation target on the operation screen, and program the procedure to be executed when the event corresponding to each resource occurs By doing so, it is possible to easily create an operation screen that enables various input operations.

Similarly, if a resource (hereinafter referred to as an animation resource) composed of a series of image information and audio information for reproducing an animation and a description relating to a procedure are collectively converted into an object and arranged on an operation screen, an automatic operation is performed. An operation screen using an animation as shown in FIG. 24 can be displayed on a display device provided in a terminal device such as a cash machine to provide a user-friendly interface.

As described above, in order to use an animation as a component of a graphical user interface in the same manner as a previously prepared button or text input field, each of the animations is performed according to a scenario describing a desired operation or a change in expression. You need to create a resource. Now, as one method for simplifying the creation of animation resources, for example, expressing actions such as “pointing a finger”, “walking”, and “nodding”, and expression changes such as “speaking” and “laughing” are represented. By combining a series of image information into unit parts and connecting these unit parts,
Techniques for creating animation resources have been proposed.

FIG. 25 shows a configuration example of a conventional animation creating apparatus. Parts database 4 shown in FIG.
01 accumulates unit parts representing various actions and facial expression changes. Further, a parts search unit 411 provided in the animation creating apparatus receives an instruction from an operator via an instruction input unit 412 and a parts database 401 via a database management system (DBMS) 402.
Searches for the specified unit part from the
3 is provided.

In this case, a developer of the animation resource operates the mouse 403 or the keyboard 404 according to a scenario in which a series of operations and transitions of facial expression changes are described, and generates unit parts representing appropriate operations and facial expression changes. The instructions may be given in order. Also, by sequentially connecting the unit parts received from the parts search unit 411, the parts combining unit 413 can create image information representing an animation in which the character continuously performs various actions according to the scenario. .

By converting a series of movements and changes in facial expressions into unit parts as described above, it is possible to assemble a story to be expressed by animation into parts having a collective meaning. Work can be simplified. The present applicant has already filed an application number 9803644 "Animation creation device and method, and computer-readable storage medium recording animation creation program" as a technique for further simplifying creation of animation resources.

FIG. 26 shows a configuration example of an animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in reference number 9803644 is applied. The parts database 421 shown in FIG.
An attribute information table 422 is provided together with unit parts composed of image information indicating various operations and changes in facial expressions. The attribute information table 422 includes, as shown in FIG. 27, part identification information (hereinafter, part ID). Is called)
, Attribute information indicating the characteristics of each unit part is stored.

[0009] Also, based on the attribute information received from the attribute information extraction unit 432, the parts search unit 431 provided in the animation creating apparatus has a unit having an appropriate combination of attribute information from the attribute information table 422 via the DBMS 402. It is configured to search for a part ID indicating a part. In this case, the operator operates the mouse 403 or the keyboard 404 to input a chain of attribute information that specifies individual actions or facial expressions as a scenario indicating a desired character's behavior or facial expression transition. Part 43
3 to the attribute information extraction unit 432.

[0010] In addition, in response to an instruction from the scenario input unit 433, the part sequence organizing unit 434 generates a parts search unit 431.
By combining a series of part IDs received from, a part sequence is organized, and in accordance with the obtained part sequence, the animation synthesizing unit 435 receives the corresponding unit parts via the DBMS 402 and sequentially combines them. , An animation resource is created.

As described above, the animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in the reference number 9803644 is applied automatically searches for the unit parts based on the attribute information indicating the characteristics of the unit parts, and creates the animation resource. Can be provided.

[0012]

By the way, in the animation creating apparatus shown in FIG. 25, an operator who wants to create an animation resource directly sends a unit part representing an operation or an expression necessary to express a story. Is specified.

Therefore, in order to create an animation resource that appropriately expresses a story, it is necessary for the operator to fully understand the actions and facial expressions represented by the individual unit parts. Was big. On the other hand, in the animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in the specification of the reference number 9803644 is applied, the operator characterizes the operation and the expression required in each scene along the story described in the scenario. Since it is only necessary to sequentially input the attribute information to be attached, the work load on the operator can be greatly reduced.

However, no matter which technique is used, simply arranging the parts following the story may cause unnatural places in the movement of the character and changes in facial expressions. This is because actual human and animal movements include meaningful movements and expressions, as well as unconscious movements connecting movements and movements of facial expressions accompanying changes in emotions, while scenarios Since only the actions that represent the meaning to be conveyed in each scene (hereinafter referred to as significant actions) and the expressions that express the emotions at each time are described, only the parts explicitly shown in the scenario are assembled. This is because, if it goes, discontinuity of motion such as face direction and discontinuity of expression will occur.

For example, as shown in FIG. 28 (a), the character facing sideways suddenly faces the front at the next moment, and after further vocalizing some message, this time suddenly With an angry expression, it is almost impossible to give the user the impression that the character represented by this animation is operating autonomously, and the user has a personality equivalent to this character. You can't feel anything.

Therefore, when an animation resource including such an unnatural part is provided as a part of the user interface, the user is required to replace the character represented by the animation with the user interface on behalf of the user. You will not be able to get the impression that it is operating on the screen. For this reason, depending on the animation resources automatically created by the conventional animation creation device, the effect of using animation cannot be sufficiently exerted.

For example, when a user operates an automatic teller machine or the like, the user waits while waiting for an instruction from the user or when communicating with the center in response to the instruction from the user. If time occurs, and during this time the character displayed on the operation screen stops moving, the user may misunderstand that the system has also stopped. On the other hand, since the time required to reproduce each of the unit parts representing the significant operation differs for each significant operation, the unit parts corresponding to the significant operation were simply connected as described above. In this case, as shown in FIG. 28 (b), when the playback time of the animation played back when the user instructs operation 1 and the playback time of the animation played back when the user instructs operation 2 are significantly different. Can be considered.

However, for example, in a situation where the user is provided with explanations about the buttons shown in FIG. 24, it is desirable that the animations corresponding to the explanations about these buttons have substantially the same reproduction time. Of course, in the stage of creating a scenario, the operation is performed in accordance with an operation for connecting one significant operation and the next significant operation (hereinafter, referred to as a connection operation), a transition between different expressions, and a generation of a waiting time. In consideration of the idling operation to be performed, the overall playback time, and the like, attribute information that specifies the transition of each operation or facial expression is described.
With the animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in the specification of International Publication No. 644 is applied, it is possible to automatically create an animation resource giving an impression that the character naturally moves.

However, the task of creating a scenario in consideration of the above-described connection operation, transition between expressions, idling operation, and the like is very complicated, and is an artistic process different from the technology for developing a user interface. Since the capability is required, the burden on the user interface developer becomes very large. Further, in the animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in the above-mentioned reference number 9803644 is applied, a naturalizing operation for making the character's motion look natural, such as a connection operation, an idling operation, and a transition between facial expressions. If we can provide a technology that can automatically create animations including animations that represent
It can be applied to the production of animations for television broadcasting, animated movies, video games using animations, etc., and the effect of greatly reducing the time required for animation creation can be expected.

An object of the present invention is to provide an animation editing system which can automatically create an animation including a naturalization operation using an animation creating apparatus for creating an animation by connecting unit parts. .

[0021]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of an animation editing system according to the first and seventh and eighth aspects of the present invention.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, unit parts including image information representing a grouped movement of a character are stored in the parts database 101, and an animation representing the movement of the character is converted into an attribute information indicating the movement and expression of the character. Based on a scenario described as a series, in an animation editing system that assists the part knitting means 102 in linking the corresponding unit parts stored in the parts database 101 to form an animation sequence, each of the parts is divided according to a predetermined interface specification. In the knitting process of the animation sequence by the common interface unit 100 and the knitting unit 102, which mediate information exchange between devices having independent functions, a naturalization process for the animation sequence is specified as necessary. A first naturalized requesting means 111 for sending a naturalization request to the common interface unit 100,
A naturalization request is received via the common interface unit 100, and based on information indicating characteristics of the specified animation sequence, the motion and expression of the character necessary to make the animation represented by the animation sequence look more natural are represented. A naturalization editing device 112 for creating a naturalized animation sequence composed of unit parts, and a composition for receiving the naturalized animation sequence via the common interface unit 100, synthesizing the naturalized animation sequence and the animation sequence, and outputting as an animation sequence. And means 113.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
In the process of connecting the unit parts stored in the parts database 101 to form an animation sequence, the naturalization editing device 112 operates in response to the naturalization request from the first naturalization request unit 111,
For example, a naturalized animation sequence including unit parts that smoothly connect significant parts representing meaningful operations included in the animation sequence formed by the parts organization unit 102 is automatically created, and the original animation is generated by the combining unit 113. Can be combined with a sequence.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to the present invention. The invention according to claim 2 is provided with an animation sequence group including a plurality of animation sequences formed by connecting unit parts including image information representing a collective action of a character, and an instruction input through the instruction input unit 103. In response to this, the playback control unit 104 instructs the playback unit 105 to play back the corresponding animation sequence, and in response to this, the playback unit 105 displays a set of image information corresponding to each unit part included in the animation sequence as an image. Output means 1 sequentially extracted from database 106
In the animation interface system that provides an animation interface in which a character operates in response to an input by a user by outputting the information through an interface 07, information transmission and reception between devices having independent functions are performed according to a predetermined interface specification. A common interface unit 100; a parts database 101 storing unit parts including image information representing various actions and facial expressions of the character;
A second naturalization request unit 121 that sends a naturalization request for requesting a naturalized part to be connected to the animation sequence to the common interface unit 100 in accordance with an instruction from the animation sequence 04; And generates a naturalized animation sequence consisting of unit parts that represent the movements and facial expressions of the characters required to make the animation represented by the animation sequence look more natural, based on information indicating the characteristics of the specified animation sequence. Receiving the naturalized animation sequence via the common interface means 100, and providing the naturalized animation sequence to the processing of the reproduction means 105 via the reproduction control means 104; Characterized by comprising an additional means 122 to add to.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the second naturalization requesting unit 121 sends a naturalization request in response to an instruction from the reproduction control unit 104, and the naturalization editing device 112 operates in response to the naturalization request. By, for example, when the reproduction of one animation sequence ends, a naturalized animation sequence including unit parts smoothly continuing to this animation sequence is automatically created,
The processing can be provided to the reproduction control unit 104 via the addition unit 122.

In response, the reproduction control means 104 executes the reproduction processing of the naturalized animation sequence by the reproduction means 1.
If the instruction is given at 05, after the animation sequence whose reproduction has been completed, a smoothly continuous naturalized animation can be reproduced, and the user can be provided with a smooth animation with no break in the operation. FIG.
7 shows a main configuration of the animation editing system according to claim 4.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the first or second aspect, the naturalization editing device 112 indicates a characteristic of the animation sequence to be naturalized via the common interface unit 100. Receiving means 11 for receiving a naturalization request including information
4, a condition specifying means 115 for specifying a search condition to be satisfied by a unit part necessary for naturalizing the animation sequence based on the feature information, and a candidate for at least one unit part from the parts database 101 according to the search condition. Searching means 116 for searching as parts, selecting means 117 for selecting one of the candidate parts corresponding to each search condition, and selecting means 1
17 and a result output unit 118 for sending a naturalized animation sequence including the unit part selected by the unit 17 to the common interface unit 100.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the search unit operates in accordance with the condition designated by the condition designating unit 115, so that an appropriate unit part is determined based on information indicating the characteristics of each unit part included in the animation sequence. As a candidate part, and can be subjected to a selection process by the selection unit 117. In addition, receiving means 114
Receives the naturalization request via the common interface unit 100, and the result output unit 118 outputs the selection result by the selection unit 117 via the common interface unit 100. The naturalization editing device 112 can supply a naturalized animation sequence in response to a request from various processing means capable of exchanging information by using the naturalization editing device 112 as an engine for supplying a naturalized animation sequence. It is possible to do.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, in the animation editing system according to the third aspect,
The parts database 101 is provided with a tag information holding unit 131 for holding a type tag indicating a suitable use, corresponding to each naturalized part used for the naturalized animation sequence.
Refers to a tag information holding unit 131 according to a predetermined type flag included in the input naturalization request, and specifies a search range indicating a set of naturalized parts corresponding to the corresponding type tag. And a condition combining unit 133 that combines the naturalization request including the feature information indicating the feature of the animation sequence to be naturalized with the search range obtained by the search range designating unit 132 and specifies the search condition to the search unit 116. It is characterized by having a configuration provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the tag information holding means 13
The range designating unit 132 operates based on the relationship between 1 and the type flag included in the naturalization request, and the obtained search range is subjected to the processing of the condition combining unit 133, whereby the search range corresponding to the type flag is set. Search conditions can be specified. In this case, the search range of the search unit 116 can be limited, so that the search for candidate parts becomes easy.

FIG. 4 shows a main configuration of the animation editing system according to the fifth and sixth aspects. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the third aspect, the parts database 101 can be connected to the front side of each naturalized part corresponding to each naturalized part used for the naturalized animation sequence. A connection information holding unit that holds, as connection information, frame identification information indicating an image frame and frame identification information indicating an image frame that can be connected to the rear side. Receiving a naturalization request including boundary information indicating an image frame that is a boundary between the animation sequence to be created and the naturalized animation sequence to be created, and providing the boundary information to the search unit 116 as a part of the search condition. The search means 116 is connected to the connection information holding means 134 in accordance with the input of the search condition. Reference, characterized in that it is configured to search for candidate part based on the boundary information and connection information.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the connection information for each naturalized part is held in the connection information holding means 134, the search condition specifying means 115 and the search condition can be set in response to the naturalization request including the boundary information. By the operation of the means 116, it is possible to easily search for a unit part connectable to the image frame indicated by the above-described boundary information. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, in the animation editing system according to the third aspect, the parts database 101 corresponds to each of the naturalized parts for storing the naturalized parts used for the naturalized animation sequence. And a history information holding unit 135 for holding history information relating to a history in which each naturalized part is selected as a part of the naturalized animation sequence. The selecting unit 117 includes at least one candidate part. The history information holding unit 135 is referred to in response to the input, and the candidate parts to be selected as a part of the naturalized animation sequence are determined based on the history information corresponding to each candidate part, and the result parts are processed by the result output unit 117. Mean 13
7 and a history information updating means 138 for updating history information corresponding to the candidate part selected by the determining means 137.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the determination means 137 provided in the selection means 117 selects based on the history information of each candidate part held in the history information holding means 135 provided inside the parts database 101. The candidate parts are determined, and the history information updating unit 138 updates the history information held in the history information holding unit 135 described above, so that, for example, a unit that has been used as a part of the naturalized animation sequence with a small number of times Parts can be preferentially selected to create a variety of naturalized animation sequences.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect,
Instruction adding means 119 for adding a request instruction to request creation of a naturalized animation sequence to the end of the animation sequence obtained by the combining means 113
It is characterized by having. According to the invention of claim 7, since the operation of the instruction adding means 119 can incorporate a request instruction for sending a naturalization request at the end of the animation sequence, each animation sequence is reproduced in the animation sequence creation stage. In this case, the timing at which the naturalized animation sequence needs to be created can be designated in advance.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect,
The parts database 101 is provided with boundary information holding means 141 for holding part boundary information consisting of frame identification information indicating a head image and a tail image of each unit part, corresponding to each unit part. Reference numeral 102 denotes a part search unit 142 that searches for an appropriate unit part from the parts database 101 based on the input scenario, and extracts part boundary information corresponding to each unit part indicated by the search result by the parts search unit 142. Part information forming means for forming a part sequence including the boundary information extracting means 143, the part identification information indicating the unit part searched by the parts searching means 142, and the part boundary information extracted by the boundary information extracting means 143. 144, and the first naturalization requesting unit 111 Characterized in that it is configured to be transmitted to the common interface unit 100 a naturalized request including boundary information as information indicating a characteristic of the animation sequence of a natural-target.

According to the invention of claim 8, in response to the input of the scenario, the parts search means 142, the boundary information extracting means 143 and the parts row forming means 144 operate to deal with the parts identification information indicating each unit part. By forming the part sequence including the part boundary information, the part boundary information can be provided to the processing of the naturalization editing device 112 via the first naturalization requesting unit 111.

In this case, for example, if the character parts become discontinuous when the unit parts retrieved in accordance with the description of the scenario are directly connected, the part boundary corresponding to the unit parts before and after the discontinuous part is determined. The information can be included in the naturalization request and passed to the naturalization editing device 112. Since the above-described part boundary information includes information indicating the image frame immediately before and after the naturalized animation sequence, the naturalized editing apparatus 112 operates in response to the information, so that the appropriate naturalized animation Sequences can be easily created.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the second aspect, as shown in FIG.
The reproduction control unit 104 has a configuration including an instruction detection unit 123 that detects a request instruction included in the animation sequence and notifies the second naturalization request unit 121 of the detection result. , In response to the detection result received from the instruction detecting unit 123, a naturalization request for the animation sequence corresponding to the common interface unit 100 is transmitted.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, the instruction detecting means 123 provided in the reproduction control means 104 detects a request instruction added to the animation sequence, and according to the detection result, the second naturalization request means 121 Operates, the creation of the naturalized animation sequence can be requested to the naturalized editing device 112 at the timing specified by the animation sequence creating side.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to the tenth and eleventh aspects. According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect, a reproduction time estimating means 1 for estimating a time required to reproduce each unit part included in the animation sequence obtained by the synthesizing means 113.
51 and a time information generating means 152 for generating time information for displaying and outputting information relating to the time required to reproduce each unit part and the entire animation sequence based on the estimation result by the reproduction time estimating means 151
The first naturalization requesting unit 111 determines that it is necessary to create a naturalized animation sequence each time a new unit part is to be connected to the animation sequence by the parts organization unit 102, It is a configuration for sending a naturalization request to the editing device 112,
The synthesizing unit 113 includes a part connecting unit 153 that connects the naturalized animation sequence created by the naturalization editing device 112 to an existing animation sequence prior to the unit part newly connected by the part knitting unit 102. It is characterized by having a configuration.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the
Every time 2 connects a new unit part, the first naturalization request unit 111 requests creation of a naturalized animation sequence, and the naturalized animation sequence obtained by the naturalization editing device 112 is provided in the combining unit 113. The connected parts connecting means 153 sequentially connects the animation sequences, so that the reproduction time estimating means 15
By the operation of the unit 1 and the time information creation unit 152, the editing process can be performed for each new connection of unit parts while checking the playback time of the animation sequence up to that point.

According to the eleventh aspect, as shown in FIG.
The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein the reproduction time estimating means 151 estimates the time required to reproduce each unit part included in the animation sequence obtained by the synthesizing means 113, and the reproduction time estimating means 151 estimates. And a time information creating unit 152 for creating time information for displaying and outputting information relating to the time required to reproduce each unit part and the entire animation sequence based on the result. The first naturalization requesting unit 111 includes: In the animation sequence obtained by the part knitting means 102, a connection point where unit parts having different characteristics are connected is detected, a naturalization request is sent to the naturalization editing device 112 for each connection point, and the connection point is determined. This is a configuration for notifying the synthesizing means 113. The means 113 includes a part insertion means 154 for inserting the corresponding naturalized animation sequence received from the naturalization editing device 112 into the connection point notified by the first naturalization requesting means 111 to complete the animation sequence. It is characterized by having a configuration.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the operation of the first naturalization requesting means 111 requests the naturalized animation sequence for the connected part of the unit parts included in the animation sequence at once, and is provided in the synthesizing means 113. Since the inserted parts insertion means 154 inserts the obtained naturalized animation sequence into the corresponding connection point of the animation sequence, the parts knitting means 102
In the editing process described above, the operation time of the reproduction time estimation unit 151 and the time information creation unit 152 can be used to confirm the reproduction time of the entire animation sequence after grasping the flow of the operation described in the scenario.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to the present invention. According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the third or fourth aspect, a reproduction time estimation for estimating a time required for reproducing each unit part included in the animation sequence obtained by the synthesizing unit 113. Means 1
51 and a time information generating means 152 for generating time information for displaying and outputting information relating to the time required to reproduce each unit part and the entire animation sequence based on the estimation result by the reproduction time estimating means 151
The parts database 101 includes, for each unit part used for expressing the utterance operation, attribute information indicating the feature thereof, the number of utterances indicating the number of utterance operations expressed by the corresponding unit part, and 1 The utterance information holding means 155 holds the utterance information including the information indicating the time required for each utterance operation. The part organizing means 102 is configured to generate the utterance information according to the attribute information indicating the utterance operation described in the scenario. The first naturalization requesting unit 111 is configured to notify the first naturalization requesting unit 111 of information indicating that it is necessary to create a naturalized animation sequence including a unit part accompanied by an utterance operation and information on the required number of utterances. In response to the notification from the parts organization means 102,
In this configuration, a naturalization request including information on the number of utterances is sent to the naturalization editing device 112 together with feature information indicating the characteristics of the animation sequence to be naturalized. The result output means 118 provided in the naturalization editing device 112 Is
For the unit part selected as the naturalized part by the selecting means 117, the unit refers to the utterance information holding means 155 and, based on the obtained utterance information and the information on the number of utterances, the naturalized part necessary for the naturalized animation sequence. A configuration including a number-of-parts calculating means 156 for calculating the number, and a sequence creating means 157 for linking an appropriate number of naturalized parts to create a naturalized animation sequence based on the calculation result by the number-of-parts calculating means 156. It is characterized by being.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the
When the first naturalization requesting unit 111 operates in response to the notification from the second, the naturalization animation including appropriate unit parts for the naturalization editing device 112 according to the attribute information indicating the utterance operation described in the scenario You can request the creation of a sequence. At this time, in the result output unit 118 provided in the naturalization editing device 112, the number of parts calculation unit 156 and the sequence creation unit 157
Operates, the utterance information held in the utterance information holding unit 155 is used to create a naturalized animation sequence representing an utterance operation for an appropriate number of utterances, which can be provided to the processing of the synthesizing unit 113. And, accordingly,
Reproduction time estimation means 151 and time information creation means 152
Operates, it is possible to confirm the reproduction time of the portion representing the utterance operation included in the animation sequence.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a common interface means for mediating information exchange between devices having independent functions in accordance with a predetermined interface specification.
And an information processing system having a parts database 101 storing unit parts including image information representing a group of movements of a character, and adapted to a naturalization target animation sequence in response to an input of a naturalization request. In the naturalization editing apparatus for creating an animation sequence, a receiving procedure for receiving a naturalization request including feature information indicating a feature of the animation sequence to be naturalized via the common interface unit 100, and converting the animation sequence based on the feature information. A condition specifying procedure for specifying a search condition to be satisfied by unit parts necessary for naturalization, a search procedure for searching at least one unit part as a candidate part from the parts database 101 according to the search condition, and a search procedure for each search condition. Corresponding candidate par A program for causing a computer to execute a selection procedure for selecting any one of the above and a result output procedure for transmitting a naturalized animation sequence including the unit part selected in the selection procedure to the common interface unit 100 is recorded. It is a storage medium.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the search procedure executes a search operation in accordance with a condition designated by the condition designation procedure, so that an appropriate unit is determined based on information indicating characteristics of each unit part included in the animation sequence. A part can be searched as a candidate part and can be provided for a selection process in a selection procedure. In the reception procedure,
By accepting the naturalization request via the common interface means 100 and outputting the selection result in the selection procedure via the common interface means 100 in the result output procedure, information can be exchanged by the common interface means 100 described above. Upon request from various possible processing means, a naturalized animation sequence can be provided by the naturalized editing device 112;
The naturalization editing device 112 can be used as an engine that supplies a naturalization animation sequence.

[0048]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 shows an embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 1. The parts database 201 shown in FIG. 7 is equivalent to the parts database 101 described in claim 1, and the animation resource creating device 210 and the naturalization editing device 112 include a database management system (DBMS) 2
02, the parts database 201 is accessed.

The part database 201 is composed of a significant part database 203 comprising a set of significant parts and an attribute information table holding attribute information representing characteristics of each significant part, a set of naturalizing parts and each naturalizing part. And an attribute information table that holds attribute information representing the characteristics of the above.

Further, in the animation resource creating apparatus 210 shown in FIG.
Is configured to retrieve an appropriate unit part from the significant part database 203 described above in accordance with an instruction from the scenario analysis unit 212 and to provide the retrieved unit part to the processing of the part row organization unit 213. The function of the part knitting means 102 described in 1 is fulfilled.

This animation resource creation device 21
0, the request side control unit 214
15 or the scenario analysis unit 2 described above.
12 operates as the first naturalization request unit 111 described in claim 1 in response to an instruction from the control unit 12, generates a naturalization request described later, and sends the request to the naturalization editing device 112 via the communication function 205. Has become.

Here, the communication function 205 is defined in claim 1
And the communication function provided by the common platform may be used. Also, the request side control unit 214
Is configured to receive a part sequence constituting a naturalized animation sequence from the naturalization editing device 112 via the communication function 205 described above, and to provide the part sequence forming unit 213 with the processing.

In response to the input of the naturalized animation sequence, the part sequence organizing unit 213 generates a part sequence composed of significant parts retrieved by the significant part retrieval unit 211 and a part sequence constituting the naturalized animation sequence. Are synthesized and the finally obtained target animation sequence is subjected to the processing of the animation synthesizing unit 435.

On the other hand, in response to an instruction from the supply-side control unit 221, the naturalization editing device 220
22 searches for candidate parts from the naturalized parts database 204 via the DBMS 202, and selects a part selection unit 223.
Selects an appropriate unit part from the candidate parts and sends it to the animation resource creation device 210 via the supply-side control unit 221.

FIG. 8 shows a detailed configuration of the naturalization editing apparatus. In the supply-side control unit 221 shown in FIG. 8, the request receiving unit 224 corresponds to the receiving unit 114 described in claim 3, receives the naturalization request via the communication function 205 described above, and The configuration is such that the analysis unit 225 provides the processing. The request analysis unit 225 is configured as follows.
This is equivalent to the search condition designating means 115 described above, and is configured to analyze a naturalization request and specify an appropriate search condition to the naturalized part search unit 222 as described later.

The naturalized parts search unit 222 corresponds to the search means 116 described in claim 3 and based on the search conditions received from the request analysis unit 225, at least one naturalized parts database 204 The configuration is such that candidate parts are searched for and held in a part candidate holding unit 226 provided in the parts selection unit 223. In the parts selection unit 223 shown in FIG. 8, the random selection unit 227 randomly selects any one of the plurality of candidate parts held in the parts candidate holding unit 226 described above. The function of the selecting means 117 described above is performed, and the selected unit parts are provided to the processing of the parts data creating unit 228 provided in the supply-side control unit 221.

The part data creation unit 228 creates a naturalized animation sequence using the unit parts received from the parts selection unit 223 (described later) in accordance with an instruction from the request analysis unit 225 (described later).
05. Here, the significant parts database 203 and the naturalized parts database 204 shown in FIG. 7 are, like the parts database 421 shown in FIG. 26, a large number of images representing a series of image frames representing a group of actions and changes in facial expressions. It is configured to include part data, and an attribute information table that holds attribute information indicating characteristics of each part data in correspondence with part identification information (hereinafter, referred to as part ID) given to each part data. .

As shown in FIG. 27, the attribute information corresponding to each unit part registered in the significant parts database 203 is, as shown in FIG. Includes image frame identification information (hereinafter, referred to as a frame ID) indicating the beginning and end of the image frame sequence included in.

On the other hand, the attribute information corresponding to each unit part registered in the naturalized parts database 204 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), in addition to the attribute information common to the significant part described above (hereinafter, referred to as common attribute information), naturalization attribute information corresponding to a use that matches each of the naturalization unit parts is included. Contains. Here, naturalization editing for animation sequences is used to represent animations that connect animations that express different actions and facial expressions, to display unconscious actions during waiting time or adjustment time for each scene, and to express speech. The information generated and required for each application is different.

Therefore, the naturalized parts database 20
4 is a configuration in which a type tag indicating a use of each unit part for naturalization is added, and an attribute information table can be referred to for each type tag. It is configured to fulfill the function of the means 131.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9B, attribute information corresponding to a unit part (hereinafter, referred to as a connected part) to which a type tag indicating a case where animations representing different actions or facial expressions are connected is provided. , As attribute information for naturalization,
It includes a front connectable list and a rear connectable list corresponding to the connection information described in claim 6. The front connectable list is a list including frame IDs indicating image frames that can be connected to the front of the corresponding unit part, while the rear connectable list connects to the rear of the corresponding unit part. 9 is a list including frame IDs indicating image frames that can be used.

As shown in FIG. 10A, attribute information corresponding to a unit part to which a type tag indicating a case where an unconscious action is displayed (hereinafter, referred to as an unconscious part) is included. The information includes a front side connectable list. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10B, the attribute information corresponding to a unit part to which a type tag indicating a case of expressing an utterance (hereinafter referred to as an utterance part) is described as attribute information for naturalization. Along with the front-side connectable list, utterance information including an opening / closing speed indicating the number of frames required for opening / closing the mouth of the character and the number of utterances represented by the corresponding unit parts is included.

Next, a method of creating a naturalized animation sequence composed of appropriate unit parts using the above-described attribute information table and a method of creating a target animation resource by using a naturalized animation sequence. , Will be described in detail. FIG.
2 shows a flowchart illustrating the operation of creating a naturalized animation sequence. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the animation resource creation operation.

As described above, if the unit parts for naturalization are configured to be searchable for each type tag indicating the application to which they are adapted, the request receiving unit 224 shown in FIG. The operation starts when a naturalization request is received via the function 205 (step 30 in FIG. 11).
1) First, a required use is determined, and then an appropriate unit part may be searched based on naturalization attribute information corresponding to the use.

In this case, the request side control unit 2 shown in FIG.
14 creates a naturalization request including a type flag indicating the type of the unit part suitable for the required use, and
05 to the naturalization editing apparatus 112.
For example, in the flowchart shown in FIG. 12, when the scenario input by the scenario input unit 433 represents an operation having a predetermined meaning (step 321), the scenario is analyzed according to the analysis result by the scenario analysis unit 212 (step 32).
2) It is determined that significant part search processing is necessary (Yes in step 323), and in response to this, the significant part search unit 211 and the part sequence organization unit 213 operate, and are input in step 321 described above. New significant parts shown in the scenario that was
3 (step 324), and is linked to the part sequence (step 325).

As described above, when a new significant part is connected, the connection point detection unit 215 detects the corresponding point as a discontinuous point, and notifies the request side control unit 214 as an affirmative determination in step 326. do it. In response to this, the request side control unit 214, as shown in FIG. 13A, sets the type flag indicating the connection part (in FIG. 13,
A naturalization request including the character string “connection” at the corresponding location) and boundary information regarding boundary conditions to be satisfied by the connection part is created, and the naturalization request is naturalized via the communication function 205. The connection part may be requested by sending it to the editing device 112 (step 327), and a response to the naturalization request may be waited.

At this time, for the two unit parts connected by the connection part, the request side control unit 214 refers to, for example, an attribute information table provided in the significant part database 203, and obtains the attributes corresponding to these unit parts. The head image ID and the tail image ID included in the information may be read, and the tail image ID corresponding to the front unit part and the head image ID corresponding to the rear unit part may be added to the naturalization request as boundary information.

Here, the tail image ID corresponding to the unit part connected to the front side indicates the image frame immediately before the connection part, and the head image ID corresponding to the unit part connected to the back side is , An image frame displayed immediately after the connection part. Therefore, the two image IDs described above indicate the boundary conditions to be satisfied by the required connection parts, and correspond to the boundary information described in claim 5. In the following description, the last image ID corresponding to the unit part connected to the front side is referred to as the immediately preceding image ID, and the leading image ID corresponding to the unit part connected to the rear side is referred to as the immediately following image ID.

On the other hand, when the naturalization request sent as described above is received, the request analysis unit 2 shown in FIG.
When the type flag is determined based on 25 (step 302 in FIG. 11), an affirmative determination is made in step 303 according to the detection of the type flag indicating the connected part. In this case, the request analysis unit 225 extracts the boundary information included in the naturalization request (step 304), and extracts this boundary information from the unit parts registered as connection parts in the naturalization part database 204. What is necessary is just to instruct the naturalized parts search unit 222 to search for candidate parts as search conditions.

In response, the naturalized parts search unit 222
Refers to the attribute information table corresponding to the unit part held corresponding to the type tag indicating the connection part (FIG. 9).
(b)), a unit part that includes the immediately preceding image ID indicated by the boundary information in the front connectable list and the immediately subsequent image ID in the rear connectable list may be searched (step 305).

Here, the attribute information table shown in FIG. 9 (b) fulfills the function of the connection information holding means 134 described in claim 6, and includes a front side connectable list corresponding to each connection part and a rear side connectable list in advance. As a side connectable list, an image ID indicating an image frame that gives an impression of a smooth transition when a transition to the corresponding connection part occurs may be registered.

In this case, the continuity between the corresponding connection part and the image frames before and after the connection part is ensured by the connection information. Therefore, as described above, the naturalization part search unit 222 sends the request analysis unit 225 Immediately before image I received
By performing the search operation based on D and the immediately following image ID, the function of the search means 115 described in claim 6 is achieved, and a unit part that smoothly connects the preceding and following unit parts can be quickly and reliably searched. Becomes

The part IDs indicating the unit parts searched in this way are sequentially held in the part candidate holding section 226 and provided to the processing of the random selection section 227. When all the candidate parts searched by the part candidate holding unit 226 are held in this way, the random selection unit 227 selects one of these candidate parts as a naturalized part (step 306), The corresponding part ID may be passed to the part data output unit 228.

In response, the parts data output unit 228
Outputs the part ID received from the random selection unit 227 via the communication function 205 (step 307), and returns it to the animation creating apparatus 210 shown in FIG. In this way, when the part ID indicating the naturalized part automatically obtained by the naturalization editing apparatus 112 is received via the communication function 205, the request side control unit 214 shown in FIG. Then, in response to the instruction from the request-side control unit 214, the part sequence knitting unit 213 knits the part sequence including the naturalized parts described above (step 31 shown in FIG. 12).
8).

At this time, the part sequence forming unit 213 sends the part ID indicating the naturalized part via the request side control unit 214.
And insert this part ID between the part IDs indicating the two unit parts to be connected, and
A row may be formed.

As described above, the function of the synthesizing means 113 described in claim 1 is realized for the connected parts by the operation of the part sequence organizing section 213 in response to the instruction from the request side control section 214, and the animation sequence Can be combined with appropriate connecting parts. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the input of all the scenarios has been completed (step 329), and in the case of a negative determination, the process returns to step 321 to input a new scenario.

Now, according to the scenario entered next,
When it is indicated that the unit part representing the utterance operation is necessary, the request side control unit 214 makes a negative determination in step 323 and a positive determination in step 330 according to the analysis result by the scenario analysis unit 212. . In this case, as shown in FIG. 13B, the request-side control unit 214 includes a type flag indicating the utterance part (in FIG. 12, a character string “utterance” is added to the corresponding part). A naturalization request is created, and the naturalization request is sent to the naturalization editing apparatus 112 via the communication function 205 to request an utterance part (step 331), and a response to the naturalization request may be waited.

At this time, the request-side control unit 214 receives the number of utterances specified by the scenario from the scenario analysis unit 212, and adds this number of utterances to the naturalization request as the utterance information described in claim 13. FIG. 13 (b)). Further, the request side control unit 214 is a
13, a part ID indicating a unit part to which the utterance part is connected is received, and based on the part ID, an image ID indicating an end image frame of the corresponding unit part is obtained from an attribute information table provided in the significant part database 203. It may be read out and added to the naturalization request as the immediately preceding image ID.

In this case, the request analysis unit 22 shown in FIG.
By the flag discriminating process of No. 5, the type flag indicating the utterance part described above is detected, and the negative judgment of Step 303 is followed by the positive judgment of Step 308. At this time, the request analysis unit 225 determines the immediately preceding image ID included in the naturalization request.
And a search condition including the type tag corresponding to the utterance part and the immediately preceding image ID is created (step 30).
9), the processing of the naturalized parts search unit 222 may be used.

In response, the naturalized parts search unit 222
Refers to the attribute information table held corresponding to the type tag indicating the utterance part (see FIG. 10B), and sets the utterance part whose front-side connectable list includes the immediately preceding image ID as a candidate part. A search may be performed (step 310), and the selection may be performed by the random selection unit 227 via the part candidate holding unit 226.

In this case, after the same selection processing as in step 306 described above is performed by the random selection section 227 (step 311), the parts data output section 228
Creates a part row of an appropriate length including the unit part selected in step 311 according to the number of utterances specified in the naturalization request (step 312), and step 3
You can proceed to 07.

The parts data output unit 228 receives the utterance information included in the naturalization request via the request analysis unit 225 and, when receiving the selection result from the random selection unit 227, responds to the corresponding unit part. With reference to the attribute information table (see FIG. 10B), based on the obtained number of utterances, the corresponding unit parts are represented by an amount necessary to express the number of utterances indicated by the above-mentioned utterance information. The indicated part ID may be output repeatedly.

As described above, according to the utterance information received from the request analysis unit 225, the parts data output unit 22
8 realizes the functions of the number-of-parts calculating means 156 and the sequence creating means 157 described in claim 13, and automatically generates a unit part sequence constituting an animation sequence representing a required utterance operation. , And can be supplied to the animation creation device 210.

In response to this, the request side control unit 214 shown in FIG. 7 resumes the operation, and in response to the instruction from the request side control unit 214, the part sequence organization unit 213 executes the step shown in FIG. At 318, a series of part IDs indicating the unit part sequence received via the request-side control unit 214 may be added to the end of the previously organized part sequence.

As described above, by operating the part sequence organizing unit 213 in response to the instruction from the request side control unit 214, the function of the synthesizing unit 113 described in claim 1 is realized for the utterance parts, and naturalization is performed. It is possible to combine an animation sequence representing a speech operation automatically created by the editing device 112 with an animation sequence created according to a scenario.

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the input of all the scenarios has been completed (step 329). In the case of a negative determination, the process returns to step 321 to input a new scenario. On the other hand, if the next input scenario indicates that a unit part representing an unconscious operation is necessary, the request-side control unit 214 responds to the analysis result of the scenario analysis unit 212 to make a negative determination in step 323. After the determination, a negative determination is made in step 330.

In this case, the request side control unit 212
As shown in FIG. 3C, a naturalization request including a type flag indicating an unconscious part (in FIG. 13, a character string “unconscious” is added to a corresponding portion) is created, and the naturalization request is generated. Is sent to the naturalization editing apparatus 112 via the communication function 205 to request an unconscious part (step 332), and wait for a response to the naturalization request.

At this time, the request-side control unit 214 receives the part ID linked to the end of the part sequence from the part sequence organization unit 213, and based on this part ID, the attribute information table provided in the significant parts database 203. And reads the corresponding end image ID with reference to
It may be added to the naturalization request as the boundary information described in (1) (see FIG. 13C).

In this case, the request analysis unit 22 shown in FIG.
By the flag discrimination process 5 (step 302 in FIG. 11), the type flag indicating the unconscious part described above is detected, and the negative determination is made in step 308 after the negative determination in step 303. At this time, the request analysis unit 225 extracts the immediately preceding image ID included in the naturalization request, creates a search condition including the type tag corresponding to the unconscious part, and the immediately preceding image ID (step 309), and What is necessary is just to provide to the process of the parts search part 222.

In response, the naturalized parts search unit 222
Refers to the attribute information table held corresponding to the type tag indicating the unconscious part (see FIG. 10A), and selects the unconscious part whose front-side connectable list includes the immediately preceding image ID as a candidate part. Search (Step 31
0), the part ID indicating the corresponding unit part may be subjected to selection processing by the random selection unit 227 via the part candidate holding unit 226.

In this case, in the same manner as in the case of the connection parts described above, one of the above-described candidate parts is selected as a naturalized part by the random selection unit 227 (step 306), and then the parts data output unit 228 But,
The part ID indicating the naturalized part may be returned to the animation creating apparatus 210 shown in FIG. 7 via the communication function 205 (step 307), and the process may be terminated.

In response to this, the request side control unit 214 shown in FIG. 7 resumes the operation, and in response to the instruction from the request side control unit 214, the parts row organization unit 213 executes the step shown in FIG. At 318, a series of part IDs indicating the unit part sequence received via the request-side control unit 214 may be added to the end of the previously organized part sequence.

In this way, the function of the synthesizing means 113 described in claim 1 is realized for the unconscious parts by operating the parts train organization unit 213 in response to the instruction from the request side control unit 214, and the naturalization is realized. It is possible to combine an animation sequence representing a speech operation automatically created by the editing device 112 with an animation sequence created according to a scenario.

Thereafter, it is determined whether or not all scenarios have been input (step 329).
In response to the affirmative determination of No. 29, the animation compositing unit 435 shown in FIG. 7 executes the significant parts database 203 and the naturalized parts based on the series of part IDs included in the parts sequence received from the parts sequence organization unit 213 described above. By sequentially reading out necessary unit parts from the database 204 and combining them, an animation resource is formed (step 333).

As described above, in response to the naturalization request from the animation creation device 210, the naturalization editing device 11
2 automatically generates a naturalized animation sequence including necessary connection parts, utterance parts, and unconscious parts in accordance with the information indicated by the naturalization request, And an animation sequence formed according to the scenario, and a desired animation resource can be easily created.

In this case, the developer of the animation resource inputs a scenario including only attribute information for designating a meaningful operation, thereby connecting the relevant significant parts with each other. Since the animation resource including the connection part can be obtained, the developer of the animation resource does not need to consider the discontinuity between the unit parts indicating the significant operation.

The request-side control unit 21 responds to the description of specifying the utterance operation or the unconscious operation included in the scenario.
4 sends a naturalization request, and the naturalization editing device 112 operates in response to the request. Thus, in the development of animation resources, an animation sequence representing a utterance operation or an unconscious operation that appears frequently can be created. It can be automated.

In this way, by automating the creation of an animation sequence representing an utterance operation, it is possible to relieve the developer of animation resources from routine monotonous work and to focus on more creative work. can do. In addition, by automating the creation of an animation sequence representing an unconscious movement, for example, by inputting a scenario including a description indicating that an animation representing an unconscious movement is displayed between meaningful movements, an arbitrary movement can be performed. It is possible to take a "interval" between the characters, and to make the movement of the character represented by the animation resource look more natural.

As described above, by applying the animation editing system of the present invention, it becomes possible to automate complicated work included in the development work of the animation resource, so that the work load on the developer is greatly reduced. be able to. By the way, as shown in FIG. 9C, a configuration in which a part ID is given to each combination of the front connectable image ID and the rear connectable image ID as the attribute information table corresponding to the connection parts is adopted. Is also possible.

In this case, the search processing by the naturalized part search unit 222 is extremely simplified, so that a candidate part that satisfies the search condition is searched more quickly, and the part selection unit 223 is searched.
Can be provided. The animation resource creating device 210 and the naturalization editing device 22 described above
0 is configured as application software using the Windows API as a common platform, the communication function provided by the Windows API is used as the communication function 205 shown in FIG. It can be carried out.

Also, as described above, the naturalization editing device 220
Of course, can be operated completely independently of the animation resource creating device 210, so that the naturalized editing device 220 can be used as an independent engine for creating a naturalized animation sequence. Can be operated in response to a naturalization request from the application software.

In this case, the receiving procedure described in claim 14 is performed by each unit of the naturalization editing apparatus 220 described above.
The program comprises programs for causing a computer to execute a condition designation procedure, a search procedure, a selection procedure, and a result output procedure. If these programs are recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, a naturalization editing apparatus can be provided to a wide range of users. Can be provided.

By the way, GU using animation
When constructing I, it is necessary to keep in mind that when the user performs a similar operation, the reproduction time of each animation reproduced according to the operation is substantially the same. In the following, a description will be given of a support technology for proceeding with the editing operation of the animation resource while considering the reproduction time of the animation resource.

FIG. 14 shows a detailed configuration of an animation resource creating apparatus to which the animation editing system of claim 11 is applied. The animation creation device 210 shown in FIG. 14 includes the creation control unit 217 and the synthesis support unit 21 in the animation resource creation device 210 shown in FIG.
8, the creation control unit 217 controls the operations of the synthesis support unit 218 and the resource organization unit 216 in accordance with an instruction input by operating the input device such as the mouse 403 by the developer of the animation resource. ing.

In the synthesis support unit 218 shown in FIG. 14, the reproduction time calculation unit 231 is provided in the significant parts database 203 and the naturalized parts database 204 via the DBMS 202 in accordance with an instruction from the time chart creation unit 232. With reference to the attribute information table thus obtained, the time required for reproducing the corresponding unit part is calculated based on the attribute information corresponding to the specified unit part, and the obtained reproduction time is notified to the time chart creation unit 232. It has a configuration.

The time chart creating section 232
Is, for example, in response to an instruction from the creation control unit 217, the parts row holding unit 233 provided in the parts row knitting unit 213.
Read out a series of part IDs from
To the reproduction time calculation unit 231 to instruct the calculation of the reproduction time of each unit part. Based on the obtained reproduction time, for example, as shown in FIG. It is configured to create display information for displaying a time chart expressed as.

The time chart creating section 232 described above
The display information thus obtained is transmitted to a CRT display device (CRT) 206 via a display control unit (not shown).
To an output device such as the CRT display device 20.
6 for display processing. In addition, in the part sequence knitting unit 213 shown in FIG. 14, the knitting control unit 234 controls the operation of the joining point detection unit 215 in accordance with an instruction from the creation control unit 217, The part ID sequence received from the side control unit 214 is written into the part sequence holding unit 233.

At this time, the boundary information extraction unit 235 shown in FIG. 14 uses the significant part database 2 based on each part ID written by the composition control unit 234.
03 and the attribute information table provided in the naturalized parts database, the head image ID and the end image ID of the corresponding unit part are extracted, and the part row holding unit 23
3 may be added to the corresponding part ID held.

Here, the first image ID and the last image ID included in the attribute information tables provided in the significant part database 203 and the naturalized part database 204 correspond to the part boundary information described in claim 8. According to the attribute information table, the function of the boundary information holding means 141 described in claim 8 is fulfilled. Further, the above-described part ID is exactly the part identification information described in claim 8.

Therefore, as described above, every time a new significant part is searched by the significant part search unit 211 corresponding to the part search means 142 described in claim 8,
The boundary information extracting unit 143 and the parts described in claim 8 are written by operating the boundary information extracting unit 235 and the knitting control unit 234 to write the part ID and the part boundary information indicating the corresponding unit part in the part row holding unit 233. The function of the row forming means 144 is realized, and as shown in FIG. 15, a part row including part data including a part ID and part boundary information is formed, and
Can be provided.

For example, when the creation control unit 217 instructs a sequential insertion mode for sequentially inserting naturalized parts in response to occurrence of a discontinuous portion, the knitting control unit 234 shown in FIG. Each time a part ID indicating a new significant part is received from the significant part search unit 211, the detection of a discontinuous point may be instructed to the joint point detection unit 215.
At this time, the connection point detection unit 215 may, for example, respond to the instruction from the knitting control unit 234 described above,
33, the part ID newly connected to the parts row
And the part ID immediately before the part I
The attribute information stored in the attribute information table provided in the significant parts database 203 may be referred to in correspondence with D. Next, the attribute information corresponding to the two part IDs described above may be compared, and based on the result of the comparison, it may be determined whether the two corresponding unit parts are discontinuous.

When discontinuity is detected in this way,
The joining point detection unit 215 determines the discontinuous point by the knitting control unit 23.
4 as well as the part row holding unit 233 as part of the part data corresponding to the two corresponding unit parts.
May be read and provided to the request-side control unit 214 for processing. In response to this, the request side control unit 214 extracts the immediately preceding image ID and the immediately following image ID from the part boundary information received from the joining point detection unit 215, and outputs the immediately preceding image ID, the immediately following image ID, and the type flag indicating the connected part. (Fig. 13 (a)
(See FIG. 15A) may be created and transmitted to the naturalization editing apparatus 112 via the communication function 205.

In this way, in response to an instruction from the knitting control section 234, the connection point detecting section 215 and the request side control section 2
14 operates to realize the function of the first naturalization request unit 111 described in claim 8, and includes, in accordance with the combination of unit parts having different characteristics, part boundary information corresponding to these unit parts. It is possible to send a naturalization request and to provide the processing to the naturalization editing device 112.

Also, in this case, the knitting control section 234
When the part ID indicating the naturalized part is received via the request-side control unit 214, the part sequence holding unit 233 is rewritten in accordance with the discontinuous part indicated by the notification received from the joint part detecting unit 215, and FIG. As shown in (b), a part ID indicating a naturalized part may be inserted between the two corresponding part IDs. At this time, the boundary information extraction unit 23
5, the part boundary information corresponding to the part ID is extracted and held in the part row holding unit 233 as a part of the part data corresponding to the naturalized part (shown as a connection part in FIG. 15).

As described above, the knitting control section 234, the connection point detecting section 215, and the request control section 214 make the creation control section 2
17 by operating in response to an instruction from the
First naturalization requesting means 111 and synthesizing means 1 described in 1.
13 is realized, and every time a unit part representing an individual operation shown in the scenario is connected to a part row, a request for creation of a necessary naturalized part is issued to the naturalization editing apparatus 112, and the created naturalized Parts can be combined into part rows.

In this case, when discontinuity occurs due to the incorporation of a new significant part into the part row, naturalized parts are sequentially created, and the part row holding is performed to incorporate the naturalized part into the part row. The content of the unit 233 is updated and provided to the processing of the combination support unit 218.

In response, the time chart creating section 23
2 and the playback time calculation unit 231 operate as the time information creation unit 152 and the creation time estimation unit 151 described in claim 11, so that, for example, a unit part (hereinafter, a scenario part) representing an operation shown in a scenario 15), new scenario parts are incorporated into the part row (see FIG. 15A), which corresponds to the playback time of these scenario parts as shown in FIG. 16A. Display information representing a time chart represented by a rectangle having a horizontal width is created and can be provided to the developer of the animation resource via the CRT display device 206.

At this time, a naturalization request for requesting a connection part for a connection point of the above-mentioned scenario parts is sent out.
When the part ID indicating the connected part that satisfies the condition is returned from the side, the insertion processing by the knitting control unit 234 described above (see FIG. 15B) causes the part ID to be displayed as shown in FIG. A time chart reflecting the reproduction time of the connected part I to be provided can be provided to the developer of the animation resource.

Similarly, a time chart (see FIG. 16C) reflecting the reproduction time of this scenario part is provided according to the incorporation of the scenario part, and further a discontinuity caused by the connection of this scenario part is provided. When the connection part II for solving the problem is received from the naturalization editing device 112, a time chart (see FIG. 16D) reflecting the reproduction time of the connection part II can be provided.

As described above, when discontinuity occurs due to the incorporation of a new scenario part into the part row,
By creating connection parts one by one and providing a time chart reflecting the playback time of each scenario part and connection part, the developer of animation resources allows the animation resource developer Development work can proceed.

The above-mentioned scenario parts include utterance parts and unconscious parts obtained by using the naturalization editing device 112, together with significant parts whose attribute information is explicitly specified by the scenario. As described above, when the naturalization editing device 112 searches for the utterance part and the unconscious part in consideration of the immediately preceding image ID, the utterance part and the unconscious part supplied from the naturalization editing device 112 and the unit part immediately before the part are searched. Since the continuity between the utterance part and the unconscious part is guaranteed, it is sufficient to simply incorporate these unit parts into the part row, and there is no need to insert a connection part.

Therefore, when the utterance part and the unconscious part are incorporated into the part row, the part data relating to the utterance part and the unconscious part are simply connected immediately after the immediately preceding unit part. A time chart reflecting time is provided. on the other hand,
When the creation control unit 217 instructs the batch insertion mode of inserting connection parts collectively for a series of scenario parts representing a series of operations described in the scenario, the composition control unit 234 sets the significant part search unit The part ID received from the request side control unit 214 and the part ID received from the request side control unit 214 are sequentially written into the part sequence holding unit 233. When the scenario analysis unit 212 receives a notification from the scenario analysis unit 212 that analysis processing regarding a series of operations has been completed, What is necessary is just to instruct the detection unit 215 to perform the operation of detecting the discontinuous point.

In this case, the request-side control section 214 sends a naturalization request requesting a connection part for each discontinuous point detected by the connection point detecting section 215, and accordingly, the naturalization editing is performed. The part ID received from the device 112 may be sequentially provided to the writing process by the knitting control unit 234 together with the insertion point information indicating the corresponding discontinuous point.

At this time, the knitting control unit 234 rewrites the part sequence holding unit 233 using the part ID indicating the connected part based on the insertion point information received from the request side control unit 214, and When the insertion process for the connection part corresponding to the location is completed, the contents of the part sequence holding unit 233 may be provided to the processing of the combination support unit 218.

As described above, the knitting control unit 234, the connection point detecting unit 215, and the request control unit 214
17 by operating in response to an instruction from the
First naturalization requesting means 111 and combining means 1 described in 2
13 after realizing the functions of 13 and linking the unit parts representing the series of operations shown in the scenario, requesting the naturalization editing apparatus 112 to create necessary naturalized parts at once, and creating the naturalized parts. Can be combined into a part row.

In this case, at the stage when the scenario parts are incorporated into the parts row in accordance with the instruction described in the scenario (see FIG. 15C), first, the reproduction time of these scenario parts is determined. A reflected time chart (see FIG. 16E) is provided. After that, a naturalization request for requesting these scenario parts and connection parts I and II for eliminating discontinuities generated at the boundary between them is sent to the naturalization editing apparatus 112 (FIG. 15 (c)). )reference).

When these connection parts I and II are received from the naturalization editing device 112 as a response to the naturalization request, the above-described parts row organization process performs the processing shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5C, a part row including part data corresponding to these connection parts I and II is formed, and a time chart reflecting the reproduction time of the connection parts I and II (see FIG. 16D) ) Is provided.

As described above, first, a time chart reflecting the playback time of the unit parts representing a series of operations specified in the scenario is provided, and then, the discontinuity generated at the boundary between these unit parts is eliminated. By providing a time chart that reflects the reproduction time of the naturalized parts for the animation resource, the developer of the animation resource can proceed with the development of the animation resource while grasping the flow of a series of operations.

By providing a time chart representing the reproduction time of the animation resource for each unit part in this way, the developer of the animation resource can
Using this time chart as an index, it is possible to easily proceed with the operation of adjusting the reproduction time of a plurality of animation resources. For example, the user operates the input device such as the mouse 403 to specify a connection part or an unconscious part, and instructs the request-side control unit 214 via the creation control unit 217 to request a naturalized part to replace the corresponding naturalized part. do it.

By the way, there are various scenes in which each animation resource is provided to the user.
When a waiting time occurs, it is preferable that the character represented by the animation resource perform a variety of movements, but rather, it is preferable that the character performs a specific movement frequently.
Next, a method of selecting a naturalized part from candidate parts in consideration of the usage history of each unit part will be described.

FIG. 17 shows an embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 6. As illustrated in FIG. 18, the naturalized parts database 204 illustrated in FIG. 17 has a configuration including an attribute information table including usage history information indicating the number of times each part has been used, as the naturalized attribute information. ing. Since this usage history information corresponds to the history information described in claim 6, in this case, the history information holding means described in claim 6 is obtained by using the attribute information table provided in the naturalized parts database 204. 135 functions are performed.

Further, the naturalization editing device 11 shown in FIG.
2, the parts selection unit 223 includes a frequency comparison unit 241, a selected parts determination unit 242, and a history information update unit 243, instead of the random selection unit 227 shown in FIG. In this part selection unit 223,
For each candidate part held in the part candidate holding unit, the frequency comparison unit 241
, The number of times of use stored as history information is compared with each other, and the comparison result is sent to the selected part determination unit 242.

In response to this, the selected parts determining unit 242
For example, a candidate part having the least number of uses is selected as a naturalized part, sent to the supply-side control unit 221, and the history information corresponding to the candidate part is updated via the history information updating unit 243. Configuration. As described above, the selected part determining unit 242 operates according to the comparison result by the frequency comparing unit 241,
By realizing the function of the determining means 137 described in claim 6, it is possible to select a naturalized part in consideration of history information.

The history information updating unit 243 operates in response to an instruction from the selected parts determining unit 242, thereby performing the function of the history information updating unit 138 described in claim 6 and selecting naturalized parts. Accordingly, the history information of the corresponding unit part is updated, and can be used for the subsequent selection processing. In this case, for example, when the naturalization editing apparatus 112 supplies the unconscious parts according to the occurrence of the waiting time, the unconscious parts that are used least frequently at that time are selected, and therefore, the supplied unconscious parts vary. Can be provided, and it is possible to provide an animation in which the character performs various actions.

On the other hand, if the selected part determining unit 242 selects the candidate part having the maximum number of uses, for example,
When moving from a meaningful motion to a next meaningful motion, an animation in which the character performs a specific motion at a high frequency can be provided, and it is possible to give the character a pseudo personality. Note that, as shown in FIG. 18B, when the attribute information table corresponding to the type tag indicating the utterance part does not include the immediately preceding image ID, the request side control unit 214 As shown in), a naturalization request including the attribute information itself (for example, attribute information “smile”) representing the required feature of the utterance part is created in place of the immediately preceding image ID, and the utterance part is requested. do it.

In this case, instead of proceeding to step 328 after step 331 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 12, as indicated by the dotted line, the process proceeds to step 325 in response to the supply of the utterance part, the utterance part is incorporated into the part row in the same manner as the significant part, and the utterance part is subjected to the processing of the connection point detection unit 215. Good. By the way, the animation resources created as described above are created on the assumption that they are provided to the user as a part of the GUI. As described above, it is often possible to predict a scene in which a timing at which a request for a naturalized part is required occurs according to the occurrence of a waiting time.

Next, a description will be given of a method of reducing the burden of GUI development work by utilizing the above-described features of the animation resource. FIG. 19 shows an embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 7. In the resource organizing unit 216 shown in FIG.
Is configured to hold a type flag indicating an unconscious part and to provide the type flag to the processing of the additional information combining unit 252.

[0138] The additional information combining unit 252, for example, responds to the input completion notification indicating that the scenario input processing by the scenario input unit 433 has been completed by adding the part sequence (see FIG. 15) organized by the parts organization unit 213. Alternatively, the additional information including the type flag held in the flag holding unit 251 described above may be combined and output as an animation resource.

As described above, when included in the request for naturalization, the type flag indicates an instruction to request a naturalized part suitable for the request.
This corresponds to the request instruction described above.

Therefore, as described above, the additional information linking unit 252 adds the type flag held in the flag holding unit 251 to the part sequence as additional information, so that the function of the instruction adding unit 119 described in claim 7 can be achieved. And a request instruction for requesting a naturalized part representing an unconscious operation can be added to the end of the parts row. Here, when the animation resources are used as a part of the GUI, there is almost certainly a waiting time between the end of the reproduction of each animation resource and the next operation by the user.

Therefore, by incorporating the type flag at the end of the animation resource in advance as described above, it is possible to specify an appropriate timing for requesting a naturalized part to a GUI system described later. Next, based on the animation resources formed as described above, in the GUI system, for an animation sequence composed of unit parts,
A method for performing the naturalization editing process will be described.

FIG. 20 is a diagram for explaining a GUI application development environment. In the GUI screen creation device 260 shown in FIG. 20, the procedure description unit 261 receives an instruction input by the GUI developer operating the mouse 403 or the keyboard 404 via the instruction analysis unit 262, and based on the instruction, It is configured to create a procedure for the specified resource.

In the GUI creation device 260, the object forming unit 263 combines the procedure obtained by the procedure description unit 261 with the specified animation resource and audio resource to form an animation object. I have. Here, FIG.
The animation resource 0 is configured to include part data relating to a series of unit parts and a type flag for specifying an unconscious part.

On the other hand, preview control unit 2 shown in FIG.
64 is a GUI developer using a mouse 403 or a keyboard 40
4 is received via the instruction analysis unit 262 via the instruction analysis unit 262, and if necessary, the screen operation control unit 265 makes an appropriate screen change according to the procedure linked to the specified animation object specified by the instruction. At the same time, the animation resource and the audio resource are passed to the video reproduction engine 266 to request the reproduction of the animation object.

The video playback engine 266 plays back audio resources and animation resources included in the received animation object based on the audio information and the image information stored in the audio database 267 and the image database 268, respectively. ing. This image database 268 includes, for example, the parts database 201 described above,
The moving image reproduction control unit 269 provided in the video reproduction engine 266 converts a unit part indicated by each part data constituting the animation resource into the image database 2
68 are sequentially received from a parts database (not shown) included in the CRT display device 68 and sequentially provided for display processing by the display control unit 270.
It is configured to display an animation via 06.

On the other hand, the audio database 237 stores, for example, audio information corresponding to each audio resource. The audio reproduction control unit 271 receives the audio information corresponding to the received audio resource from the audio database. It is configured to reproduce through the audio reproducing unit 272 and the speaker 273. Using such a GUI application development environment, the GUI developer uses the above-described preview function while checking the animation resources and audio resources forming each animation object and the behavior described in the procedure. Has created animation objects corresponding to various events, and is developing GUI application software including these animation objects.

By mounting the GUI application software thus developed on hardware having an appropriate image display device and audio output device,
This hardware can be operated as an animation interface system that provides an animation interface. FIG. 21 shows an embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 2.

The object processing section 280 shown in FIG.
Is configured by GUI application software, and includes an object group including an animation object in addition to a button object and a text box object. In the object processing unit 280, the procedure control unit 28
Numeral 1 corresponds to the reproduction control means 104 described in claim 2, receives an instruction input by the user operating the mouse 403 or the like via the instruction receiving unit 282, and receives the object designated by the instruction. In accordance with the procedure included in the above, the appropriate screen change is instructed to the screen operation control unit 265, and the relevant animation resource and audio resource are passed to the video reproduction engine 266 to request the reproduction of the relevant animation object. I have.

In this case, the function of the reproduction means 105 described in claim 2 is fulfilled by the above-mentioned video reproduction engine 266, and the moving picture information created by the video reproduction engine 266 is transmitted to the display control unit 270. Of the CRT display device 206 and the like. On the other hand, the audio information created by the video reproduction engine 266 is supplied to the speaker 273 via the audio reproduction unit 272.

The procedure control unit 281 sends a naturalization request to the naturalization editing device 112 via the communication function 205 in response to the editing instruction included in the animation object, and responds to the naturalization request. The naturalization editing device 112 receives the naturalized parts created based on the naturalized parts database 204 via the communication function 205 and supplies the naturalized parts to the processing of the video reproduction engine 266.

For example, when an instruction to reproduce a unit part expressing an unconscious action is given as part of a procedure linked to an animation resource, the procedure control unit 2
81 operates as the second naturalization requesting means 121 described in claim 2, and transmits a naturalization request including a type flag indicating an unconscious part together with information indicating a feature of the corresponding animation resource via the communication function 205. Just send it.

Here, as shown in FIG. 15, when the part sequence included in the animation resource includes part boundary information together with the part ID indicating each unit part, the procedure control unit 281 sets the animation resource , Part boundary information included in the end part data of the corresponding unit part may be extracted, and an image ID indicating the end image of the corresponding unit part may be included in the naturalization request as information indicating the feature of the animation resource.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 20, when the animation resource includes a type flag corresponding to the request instruction, the procedure control unit 281 causes the instruction detecting unit 123 to execute the procedure. When the animation resource is passed to the video reproduction engine 266, the type flag added to the end of the part data string is detected, and then the second naturalization requesting unit 121 operates to Communication function 2 for naturalization request including flag
05.

In this case, in the GUI development environment, G
Since there is no need for the UI developer to explicitly instruct the naturalization editing process as a procedure corresponding to the animation resource, the work load on the GUI developer can be reduced.

It is to be noted that a configuration in which image information is stored in units of frames may be employed as an image database to be used for the moving image information creation processing by the video reproduction engine. In this case, for example, the video playback engine 266 is provided with a part conversion table that holds a frame ID sequence indicating an image frame that constitutes a unit part corresponding to each part ID, and according to the specified part ID. The configuration may be such that a frame ID sequence indicating a required image frame is acquired based on the parts conversion table.

Further, as shown in FIG. 22, by assigning compatible type tags to all the unit parts and adding naturalization attribute information corresponding to the corresponding type tags, the significant part database and the natural part database are added. It may be integrated with a structured parts database. In this case, it is possible to use a significant part created for expressing a meaningful movement as a naturalized part representing an unconscious movement or the like, so that a variety of animation resources can be created.

Thus, for example, it is possible to produce a character's individuality by incorporating significant parts representing a motion corresponding to the character's habit as unconscious motions. On the other hand, there is a danger that unnecessary information will be given to the user and confused by diverting the meaningful parts indiscriminately, and the capacity of the attribute information table will be greatly increased.

By the way, as described above, the naturalization editing device 112 is configured as an engine that can operate independently on a general common platform, so that it is possible to display an animation in which the motion of a character is assembled for each part. It can be used in various systems. In FIG.
Another embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 2 is shown.

In the client device 290 shown in FIG. 23, the browsing control unit 291 includes a procedure control unit 281 and an instruction receiving unit 282 similarly to the object processing unit 280 shown in FIG. It is configured to proceed. In this browsing control unit 291,
The procedure control unit 281 executes the procedure described in the object included in the document according to the instruction received via the instruction reception unit 282, and performs the screen operation control unit 265, the video playback engine 266, and the naturalization. By transmitting appropriate instructions to the editing device 112, the operation of each of these units is controlled.

The video playback engine 266 and the naturalization editing device 112 shown in FIG.
2 and access the animation server device 293 via the network, acquire necessary audio information and image information from the animation server device 293, and send them to the audio reproduction unit and the display control unit, respectively.

On the other hand, the animation server device 293 shown in FIG. 23 includes a voice database 267 and an image database 268 and a naturalized parts database 204, and a search control unit 294 operates via a communication control unit 295. It operates in response to the received instruction, retrieves appropriate information from these databases via the DBMS 202, and returns it to the client device 290 side.

As described above, the audio database 267, the image database 268, and the naturalized parts database 2 provided in the animation server device 293 are provided.
04 based on the audio information and the image information stored in
On the client device 290 side, a video image representing the motion and sound of the character can be reproduced. That is,
If software for forming the naturalization editing device 112 with the document including the animation object is passed to the client device 290, the animation server device 293 can be used in response to the occurrence of an event corresponding to the animation object included in the document.
From the side, information necessary for outputting animation and sound can be supplied and played back on the client device 290 side.

Thus, for example, a document including an animation object constituted by using an animation resource representing a state in which a self-made character is operated and a program for configuring the naturalization editing device 112 are transmitted as an e-mail, In response to the reading of the e-mail, it is possible to reproduce the above-described animation representing the action of the self-made character at the other party, so that it can be used as a communication tool having rich expressive power.

Further, the animation editing system according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described animation resource development work, but is also applicable to the production work of a long-length cell animation and CG animation for movies and television programs. Can be applied. Particularly, in a game using CG animation, a CG animation is formed by a chain of unit parts composed of CG data representing a series of movements of a character, and an unconscious part is used while waiting for input by a player, or an utterance part is used in a conversation scene. Or the like, the characters appearing in the game can be more vividly expressed, and the labor of the game creator can be greatly reduced.

[0165]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, for example, the unit representing the operation for smoothly connecting the unit parts representing the operation specified in the scenario by the naturalization editing apparatus. An animation sequence that shows the natural behavior of a person or anthropomorphic animal, because a naturalized animation sequence including parts can be automatically created and combined with the animation sequence created by the parts organization means Can be reduced.

On the other hand, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the naturalization editing device smoothly connects the animation sequence to the animation sequence, for example, during a waiting time generated after the reproduction of the animation sequence representing a series of operations is completed. Automatically create animated animation sequences,
Playback can be performed following the animation sequence described above. As a result, in the animation interface system, an appropriate naturalized animation sequence can be reproduced and provided to the user according to occurrence of a waiting time or the like.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the naturalized editing apparatus is configured to include the receiving means and the result output means adapted to the common interface means, so that the naturalized editing apparatus can operate independently. Since it can be handled as an engine, it can be applied to various systems that handle animation sequences in which unit parts are connected.

In particular, by applying the invention of claim 8, a naturalization request including part boundary information is sent to the naturalization editing apparatus, and the invention of claims 4 and 5 is applied to the naturalization editing apparatus. By using the above-described part boundary information together with the type flag in the candidate part search processing, it is possible to quickly search for candidate parts satisfying the conditions, and to speed up the processing of creating a naturalized animation sequence by the naturalization editing apparatus. Can be achieved.

Also, by applying the invention of claim 6 to the naturalization editing apparatus and using the history information corresponding to each unit part for selection processing, each unit part is adopted as a part of the naturalization animation sequence. Frequency can be controlled. For example, by equalizing the frequency corresponding to each unit part, it is possible to create a varied naturalized animation sequence, and conversely, by imparting a bias to the frequency corresponding to each unit part,
It is possible to produce what is equivalent to the personality of the character represented by the animation sequence.

On the other hand, a predetermined instruction is added to the end of the animation sequence by applying the invention of claim 7, and the invention of claim 9 is applied to an animation interface system using this animation sequence, and Controlling the timing at which the animation interface system side should create a naturalized animation sequence in the animation sequence creation stage by requesting the naturalized editing device to create an appropriate naturalized animation sequence in response to the instruction of Is possible.

According to the tenth to twelfth aspects of the present invention, in the animation sequence creating step, the animation sequence including the naturalized animation sequence created by the naturalized editing apparatus is related to the time required for reproduction. By outputting the information and providing it to the developer of the animation sequence, the creation of the animation sequence can be advanced while considering the playback time of each unit part and the entire animation sequence.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a principle block diagram of an animation editing system according to claims 1 and 7 and 8;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to claims 2 and 9;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main configuration of an animation editing system according to claims 3 and 4;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a main configuration of an animation editing system according to claims 5 and 6;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to claims 10 and 11;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to claim 12;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the animation editing system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a naturalization editing device.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an attribute information table.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an attribute information table.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a naturalized animation sequence creation operation.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an animation resource creation operation.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a naturalization request.

FIG. 14 is a detailed configuration diagram of an animation resource creation device.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an operation of forming a part row.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an operation of reflecting a reproduction time of a part sequence including naturalized parts.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an animation editing system according to claim 6;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an attribute information table.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an animation editing system according to claim 7;

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a GUI application development environment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an animation editing system according to claim 2;

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an attribute information table.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the animation interface providing apparatus.

FIG. 24 shows an example of an operation screen using a GUI.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional animation creation device.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an animation creating apparatus.

FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an attribute information table.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating an example of an animation resource.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 common interface means 102 parts organization means 101 parts database 103 instruction input means 104 reproduction control means 105 reproduction means 106 image database 107 output means 111 first naturalization request means 112 naturalization editing device 113 synthesis means 114 reception means 115 condition specification means 116 search means 117 selection means 118 result output means 119 instruction addition means 121 second naturalization request means 122 addition means 123 instruction detection means 131 tag information holding means 132 range designation means 133 condition combining means 135 connection information holding means 136 history information holding Means 137 Decision means 138 History information update means 141 Boundary information holding means 142 Parts search means 143 Image ID extraction means 144 Parts sequence formation means 151 Playback time estimation means 152 Information creating means 153 parts connecting means 154 parts insertion means 155 speech information holding means 156 Part number calculating means 157 sequence creating means 201 and 401 parts database 202, 402 database management system (DBM
S) 203 Significant parts database 204 Naturalized parts database 205 Communication function 206 CRT display device (CRT) 210 Animation resource creation device 211 Significant parts search unit 212 Scenario analysis unit 213, 434 Parts column organization unit 214 Request side control unit 215 Connection point Detection unit 216 Resource organization unit 217 Creation control unit 218 Combination support unit 221 Supply-side control unit 222 Naturalized parts search unit 223 Parts selection unit 224 Request reception unit 225 Request analysis unit 226 Parts candidate holding unit 227 Random selection unit 228 Parts data generation Unit 231 playback time calculation unit 232 time chart creation unit 233 parts row holding unit 234 knitting control unit 235 boundary information extraction unit 241 frequency comparison unit 242 selected part determination unit 243 history information update unit 251 Flag holding unit 252 Additional information combining unit 260 GUI screen creation device 261 Procedure description unit 262 Instruction analysis unit 263 Object formation unit 264 Preview control unit 265 Screen operation control unit 266 Video playback engine 267 Audio database 268 Image database 269 Video playback control unit 270 display control unit 271 audio reproduction control unit 272 audio reproduction unit 273 speaker 281 procedure control unit 282 instruction reception unit 290 client device 291 browse control unit 292, 295 communication control unit 293 animation server device 294 search control unit 403 mouse 404 keyboard 411, 431 Parts search unit 412 Instruction input unit 413 Parts synthesis unit 432 Attribute information extraction unit 433 Scenario input unit 435 Animation synthesis unit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yuji Takahashi 4-1-1, Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F-term in Fujitsu Limited (Reference) 5B050 BA08 CA07 FA19 5E501 AC16 BA05 CA03

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A unit part including image information representing a collective movement of a character is stored in a parts database, and an animation representing the movement of the character is described as a series of attribute information indicating the movement and expression of the character. In an animation editing system that supports a task of organizing an animation sequence by linking corresponding unit parts stored in the parts database based on a scenario, a part knitting unit has independent functions according to predetermined interface specifications. A common interface unit for mediating information exchange between devices; and a naturalization request for instructing a naturalization process for the animation sequence, if necessary, in an animation sequence forming process by the parts forming unit. First naturalization requesting means for sending to the interface means, and receiving the naturalization request via the common interface means, and generating an animation represented by the animation sequence based on information indicating characteristics of the specified animation sequence. A naturalization editing apparatus for creating a naturalized animation sequence consisting of unit parts representing the motion and expression of the character necessary to make the naturalization look more natural, receiving the naturalized animation sequence via the common interface means, An animation editing system comprising: a synthesizing unit that synthesizes an animation sequence and the animation sequence and outputs the synthesized animation sequence. 2. An animation sequence group comprising a plurality of animation sequences formed by linking unit parts including image information representing a collective motion of a character, according to an instruction input via an instruction input means. The playback control unit instructs the playback unit to play back the corresponding animation sequence. In response, the playback unit extracts from the image database 106 a set of image information corresponding to each unit part included in the animation sequence. An animation interface system that provides an animation interface in which a character operates in response to a user's input by sequentially outputting the characters via an output unit. information Common interface means for mediating reception, a part database storing unit parts including image information representing various actions and facial expressions of the character, and connecting to the animation sequence in accordance with an instruction from the reproduction control means. Sending a naturalization request to the common interface means requesting a naturalized part to be powered;
A request for receiving the naturalization request via the common interface means and the naturalization request means, based on information indicating characteristics of the specified animation sequence, necessary to make the animation represented by the animation sequence look more natural A naturalization editing device that creates a naturalized animation sequence consisting of unit parts representing the movement and expression of a character, receiving the naturalized animation sequence via the common interface unit, and transmitting the naturalized animation sequence to the playback control unit And an additional unit for providing the processing to the animation sequence through the processing unit and adding to the animation sequence. 3. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein the naturalization editing device sends a naturalization request including feature information indicating a feature of the animation sequence to be naturalized via a common interface unit. Receiving means for receiving, based on the characteristic information, condition specifying means for specifying a search condition to be satisfied by a unit part necessary for naturalizing the animation sequence, and at least one unit from a parts database according to the search condition Search means for searching each part as a candidate part; selection means for selecting any one of the candidate parts corresponding to each of the search conditions; and a naturalized animation sequence including a unit part selected by the selection means To the common interface means. And a result output unit. 4. The animation editing system according to claim 3, wherein the parts database holds tag information for holding a type tag indicating a suitable use corresponding to each of the naturalized parts used for the naturalized animation sequence. The condition specifying means refers to the tag information holding means according to a predetermined type flag included in the input naturalization request, and sets a set of naturalized parts corresponding to the corresponding type tag. A search range for obtaining a search range indicating a naturalization request, a naturalization request including feature information indicating characteristics of an animation sequence to be naturalized, and a search range obtained by the search range specifying unit, and a search condition is set as a search condition. An animation editing system characterized in that the animation editing system comprises: 5. The animation editing system according to claim 3, wherein the parts database stores an image frame connectable to a front side of each naturalized part corresponding to each of the naturalized parts used for the naturalized animation sequence. And connection information holding means for holding, as connection information, frame identification information indicating frame images that can be connected to the rear side as connection information. Receiving a naturalization request including boundary information indicating an image frame that is a boundary with a naturalized animation sequence to be provided, and providing the boundary information to a search unit as a part of a search condition. Referring to the connection information holding means in response to the input of the search condition, the boundary information and An animation editing system characterized in that a candidate part is searched based on connection information. 6. The animation editing system according to claim 3, wherein the parts database corresponds to each of the naturalized parts that store the naturalized parts to be used in the naturalized animation sequence, and the naturalized parts are naturalized. History information holding means for holding history information relating to a history selected as part of the animation sequence, wherein the selection means refers to the history information holding means in response to input of at least one candidate part. Determining, based on the history information corresponding to each candidate part, a candidate part to be selected as a part of the naturalized animation sequence, determining means for processing by a result output means, and a candidate part selected by the determining means. History information updating means for updating the corresponding history information. Animation editing system and butterflies. 7. The animation editing system according to claim 1, further comprising an instruction adding unit that adds a request instruction for requesting creation of a naturalized animation sequence to the end of the animation sequence obtained by the combining unit. An animation editing system characterized by the following. 8. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein the parts database holds, for each unit part, parts boundary information including frame identification information indicating a leading image and a trailing image of each unit part. It is a configuration provided with boundary information holding means, wherein the parts organization means is represented by a parts search means for searching for an appropriate unit part from the parts database based on the input scenario, and a search result by the parts search means. Boundary information extraction means for extracting part boundary information corresponding to each unit part, part identification information indicating a unit part searched by the part search means, and part boundary information extracted by the boundary information extraction means. And a part row forming means for forming a part row including the first part. The animation editing system is characterized in that the naturalization request means is configured to send a naturalization request including the part boundary information as information indicating characteristics of an animation sequence to be naturalized to a common interface means. 9. The animation editing system according to claim 2, wherein the reproduction control means includes an instruction detection means for detecting a request instruction included in the animation sequence and notifying the detection result to the second naturalization request means. Wherein the second naturalization requesting unit sends out a naturalization request for an animation sequence corresponding to the common interface unit in accordance with a detection result received from the instruction detecting unit. Animation editing system. 10. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein a reproduction time estimating means for estimating a time required for reproducing each unit part included in the animation sequence obtained by the synthesizing means; Means for generating time information for displaying and outputting information relating to the time required to reproduce each of the unit parts and the entire animation sequence based on the estimation result by the means; The means determines that it is necessary to create a naturalized animation sequence each time a new unit part is connected to the animation sequence by the parts organization means, and sends a naturalization request to the naturalization editing device. Yes, the synthesizing means is newly added by the parts knitting means. Prior to the unit parts are consolidated, animation editing system, characterized in that said a configuration in which a part connecting means for connecting the naturalization animation sequence created in an existing animation sequence by naturalization editing apparatus. 11. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein a reproduction time estimating means for estimating a time required for reproducing each unit part included in the animation sequence obtained by the synthesizing means; Means for generating time information for displaying and outputting information relating to the time required to reproduce each of the unit parts and the entire animation sequence based on the estimation result by the means; The means detects a connection point where unit parts having different characteristics are connected in the animation sequence obtained by the part knitting means, and sends a naturalization request to the naturalization editing device for each connection point, This is a configuration for notifying the combining unit to the combining unit. (1) A configuration is provided that includes a part insertion unit that completes the animation sequence by inserting a corresponding naturalized animation sequence received from the naturalization editing device into a connection point notified by the naturalization request unit. Animation editing system. 12. The animation editing system according to claim 3, wherein a reproduction time estimating means for estimating a time required for reproducing each unit part included in the animation sequence obtained by the synthesizing means, A time information generating means for generating time information for displaying and outputting information relating to the time required to reproduce the respective unit parts and the entire animation sequence based on the estimation result by the reproduction time estimating means; The database is associated with each of the unit parts used for expressing the utterance operation, and together with attribute information indicating the feature thereof, the number of utterances indicating the number of utterance operations expressed by the corresponding unit part, and one utterance operation. Utterance information holding means for holding utterance information including information indicating time; The parts knitting means, in accordance with the attribute information indicating the utterance operation described in the scenario, indicates that it is necessary to create a naturalized animation sequence including unit parts accompanied by the utterance operation, and indicates the number of necessary utterances The first naturalization requesting means, in response to the notification from the parts organization means, together with the characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the animation sequence to be naturalized, A naturalization request including information about the number is sent to the naturalization editing apparatus. The result output means provided in the naturalization editing apparatus includes: Referring to the information holding means, based on the obtained utterance information and the information on the number of utterances, a naturalized animation sequence is generated. A number-of-parts calculating means for calculating the required number of the naturalized parts; and a sequence creation for generating a naturalized animation sequence by connecting an appropriate number of the naturalized parts based on a calculation result by the number-of-parts calculating means. An animation editing system characterized by comprising: 13. According to a predetermined interface specification,
Provided in an information processing system having a common interface means for mediating information exchange between devices having independent functions, and a parts database storing unit parts including image information representing a group of movements of a character, and A naturalization editing device that creates a naturalized animation sequence that matches a naturalized animation sequence in response to an input, wherein the naturalization includes feature information indicating characteristics of the naturalized animation sequence via the common interface unit. A receiving procedure for receiving a request; a condition specifying procedure for specifying a search condition to be satisfied by a unit part necessary to naturalize the animation sequence based on the feature information; and at least one part database from a parts database according to the search condition. Unit A search procedure for searching for each of the candidate parts as candidate parts, a selection procedure for selecting any one of the candidate parts corresponding to each of the search conditions, and a naturalized animation sequence including the unit parts selected in the selection procedure And a result output procedure for sending the result to the common interface means.