JP2001076165A - Animation editing system and storage medium with animation editing program recorded therein - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly respond to the occurrence of an event while maintaining the mutual continuity of a series of animations to be reproduced in an animation interface providing system. SOLUTION: This animation editing system is provided with an attribute information storing means 111 storing attribute information corresponding to all images constituting an animation, a connection instructing means 112 instructing the connection of the 1st and 2nd animations in accordance with detection results to the effect that a trigger event is detected, a characteristic information extracting means 113 extracting the 1st and 2nd characteristic information in accordance with the connection instruction, a connection deciding means 114 deciding the necessity or not of the connection animation on the basis of the 1st and 2nd characteristic information, a retrieving means 115 retrieving the appropriate connection animation from an animation data storing means 104 in accordance with the decision results, and a switching controlling means 116 instructing a reproduction controlling means 102 to switch the animation to be reproduced in accordance with the connection decision results and the retrieval results.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an animation interface providing system for providing a user interface using an animation to a user, in which an animation editing system and an animation editing program capable of editing an animation in response to occurrence of an event are recorded. 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 interface providing system, regardless of whether or not the animation is being reproduced, an event occurs at any time according to an operation by a user or the like, and it is necessary to reproduce the animation according to the generated event. At this time, an animation editing system for editing animation is required in the animation interface providing system in order to smoothly connect the animation whose reproduction has been interrupted and the animation whose reproduction is to be started next.

[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. 21 is displayed on a display device provided in a terminal device such as a teller machine, so that a user-friendly interface can be provided.

In order to use an animation as a component of a graphical user interface, it is necessary to create animation resources in accordance with a scenario describing a desired operation or a change in expression. Now, as a method for simplifying the creation of animation resources, for example, "point a finger", "walk", "nod"
A technique has been proposed to create an animation resource by combining a series of image information representing facial movements such as `` speaking '' and `` laughing '' into unit parts, and connecting these unit parts together. I have.

FIG. 22 shows a configuration example of a conventional animation creating apparatus. Parts database 4 shown in FIG.
Numeral 01 stores unit parts representing various actions and changes in facial expressions, and each unit part includes a plurality of frames of image data representing a state in which the character performs a series of actions. Also, a parts search unit 411 provided in the animation creating apparatus receives an instruction from the operator via the instruction input unit 412, searches for the specified unit part from the parts database 401, and performs processing for the parts synthesis unit 413. It is configured to provide.

In this case, the developer of the animation resource, which is the operator, operates the mouse 403 and the keyboard 404 in accordance with a scenario in which a series of operations and transitions in facial expression changes are described, and performs appropriate operations and facial expression changes. It is only necessary to sequentially indicate the unit parts to be represented. Also, the parts synthesis unit 4
By connecting the unit parts received from the part search unit 411 sequentially, the unit 13 can create image information representing an animation in which the character continuously performs various actions according to the scenario.

As described above, by forming a series of movements and changes in facial expressions into unit parts, by assembling parts having a collective meaning into units, an animation in which the character moves according to the story to be expressed is formed. This makes it possible to simplify the creation of animation resources. As a technique for further simplifying creation of animation resources, the present applicant has a reference number 9803644 "Animation creation apparatus and method, and computer-readable storage medium recording animation creation program".
Has already filed.

FIG. 23 shows a configuration example of an animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in reference number 9803644 is applied. The parts database 401 shown in FIG.
A part attribute table 415 is provided together with unit parts composed of image information representing various operations and changes in facial expressions. The part attribute table 415 includes, as shown in FIG. 24, part identification information (hereinafter, part ID). ), Attribute information indicating the characteristics of each unit part is stored.

[0009] Further, a parts search section 431 provided in the animation creating apparatus, based on the attribute information received from the scenario analysis section 432, stores the parts attribute table 41.
5 to search for a part ID indicating a unit part having an appropriate combination of attribute information. 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. What is necessary is just to pass to the scenario analysis part 432 via the part 433.

[0010] In addition, in response to an instruction from the scenario analysis unit 432, the parts row organization unit 434 includes a parts search unit 431.
By linking a series of part IDs received from, a part sequence is organized, and the animation synthesizing unit 435 extracts the corresponding unit parts from the parts database 401 according to the obtained part sequence and sequentially combines them. ,
It is configured to create animation resources.

As described above, the animation creating apparatus to which the technique described in the reference number 9803644 is applied can automatically search for the unit part based on the attribute information indicating the feature of the unit part. Development work can be greatly simplified. In this case, for each event that occurs in various situations and situations, enter attribute information indicating a series of operations and the like,
By acquiring and linking an appropriate set of unit parts, an animation resource representing a character performing an action corresponding to each event can be formed.

If a graphical user interface is constructed using the animation resources formed in this way, for example, when the user operates the buttons shown in FIG. 21, the character moves in accordance with the operation. Can be displayed, and a user interface using the animation (hereinafter, referred to as
Animation interface).

FIG. 25 shows an example of the configuration of an animation interface providing system. When an event corresponding to any of the objects registered in the object group occurs by the user operating the input device such as the mouse 403 or the touch panel, the object processing unit 42
The procedure control unit 421 included in the process control unit 423 executes a procedure constituting the corresponding object according to the detection result of the event detection unit 422, and, if necessary, the screen operation control unit 423 and the video playback engine 424. Control the operation of.

At this time, the video playback engine 424 uses the image information registered in the image database 426 and the audio information registered in the audio database 425 to reproduce an animation image and a sound showing the character operating. Necessary display data and audio data are created. The display data thus created is supplied to the display processing by the display control unit 427 and the display device (DISP) 405 together with the display data obtained by the screen operation control unit 423, while the audio data is The audio playback unit 428 and the speaker 406 provide audio playback processing.

In this way, a corresponding animation image and sound can be provided according to the operation by the user.

[0016]

As described above, the GU
The animation resource applied to I is edited on the assumption that a scene in which a character conveys an appropriate message with a series of actions is continuously reproduced as one scene for each event.

Therefore, the animation resources representing the scene corresponding to each event are often edited independently. For this reason, in the animation interface providing system, if the corresponding animation resource is simply reproduced according to the occurrence of an event, discontinuity may occur in the motion or expression of the character represented by the reproduced animation. There is.

Further, according to the operation performed by the user first,
During the playback of the animation corresponding to the event, the user performs an operation to generate another event, and the animation representing the next scene may need to be played. For example, as shown in FIG. 26, an animation corresponding to event 1 (FIG. 26)
(See (a)), when the user performs an operation to generate event 2 (indicated by an arrow in FIG. 26A), the reproduction of the animation is immediately interrupted,
When the animation (see FIG. 26 (b)) is reproduced, it is possible to respond to the instruction from the user without delay, but, as shown in FIG. 26 (c), the discontinuity occurs in the motion and the expression of the character. Resulting in.

In such a case, if the reproduction of the animation corresponding to the operation 2 is performed after the completion of the reproduction of the animation, the response to the instruction from the user is delayed, and the animation is not reproduced. Continuity cannot be guaranteed. Because, as described above, when the animation for each scene is edited independently, the characteristics of the image at the end of the animation and the characteristics of the image at the beginning of the animation do not make the user feel unnatural. It cannot be expected to be so similar.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an animation editing system and a storage medium in which an animation editing program is recorded in an animation interface providing system which promptly responds to the occurrence of an event while maintaining continuity of a series of animations to be reproduced. With the goal.

[0021]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of an animation editing system according to claims 1 and 2 and additional disclosures 1 and 7 and 8. According to the first aspect of the present invention, in response to an event detected by the event detection unit 101, the reproduction control unit 102 transmits the animation data holding unit 104 via the reproduction unit 103.
Information holding means for holding, for all images constituting an animation held in the animation data holding means 104, attribute information representing characteristics of the images, in the animation interface system configured to reproduce an appropriate animation held in the 111, an operation of connecting the first animation being reproduced and the second animation to be newly reproduced in response to a detection result indicating that a trigger event indicating a new animation reproduction trigger has been detected by the event detection means 101 And the attribute information holding unit 111 in response to the connection instruction, and the first and the second at the time of event detection.
A feature information extraction unit 113 for extracting first feature information representing an animation feature and a second feature information representing a second animation feature; and a first feature information extracted by the feature extraction unit 113 in response to a connection instruction. A connection determination unit that collates the second feature information and determines whether the image being reproduced at the time of detecting an event included in the first animation and the first image of the second animation can be directly connected; Search means 115 for searching a connection animation corresponding to a combination of the first characteristic information and the second characteristic information from the animation data holding means 104 in accordance with the determination result by the means 114; 115, depending on the search result of the second animation or the connection account indicated in the search result. And a switching control means 116 for instructing to play automation, the playback control unit 102,
In response to an instruction from the switching control unit 116, the reproduction of the first animation is stopped and the operation required for reproducing the specified animation is started.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the event detecting means
1 operates the connection instructing unit 112, the feature information extracting unit 113, and the connection determining unit 114 in accordance with the detection result of the first animation extracted from the attribute information of each image held in the attribute holding unit 111. The continuity between the interruption point of the first animation and the beginning of the second animation is determined based on the feature and the feature of the second animation, and the search unit 115 and the switching control unit 116 operate according to the determination result. As a result, an appropriate connection animation can be reproduced as necessary by the reproduction control unit 102.
And, it can be used for the reproduction processing by the reproduction means 103.

For example, when the continuity described above is affirmed, the switching control means 116 instructs the reproduction control means 102 to start reproduction of the second animation, thereby reproducing the first animation in response to a trigger event. , The second animation is immediately played. On the other hand, if the above continuity is denied, the search means 115 causes the animation data holding
4, the connection animation is searched for, and the switching control means 116 instructs to reproduce this connection animation prior to the second animation, so that after the interruption of the first animation, the above-mentioned connection animation is reproduced first. Then, the second animation is played.

The connection animation described above represents an operation or an expression that transitions from the feature of the first animation to the feature of the second animation. Therefore, such a connection animation is reproduced after the first animation is interrupted, By playing the second animation
An animation sequence that gives a smooth and continuous impression can be provided to the user via the reproduction unit 103.

Thus, regardless of the time point at which the event that triggers the start of the reproduction of the next animation occurs, the continuity of the animation provided to the user via the reproduction means 103 is maintained, and Can react to

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect, the animation data holding means 104 includes the first animation or the second animation.
Animation holding means 117 for holding image information representing a plurality of animations to be an animation;
Each element of the first feature set including feature information corresponding to a plurality of animations to be the first animation and the second element
Regarding the combination with each element of the second feature set including feature information corresponding to a plurality of animations to be an animation, the elements of the first feature set corresponding to the first animation are converted to the second feature set corresponding to the second animation. A connection animation holding unit 118 for holding a connection animation representing a transition to an element. The search unit 115 searches for an appropriate connection animation from the connection animation holding unit 118, and converts the relevant connection animation to a connection animation. Holding means 1
18, the search result including the animation identification information for specifying is sent to the switching control means 116, and the reproduction means 103 responds to the instruction received from the reproduction control means 102, and the connection animation holding means 118
, Which reproduces the connection animation indicated by the animation identification information designated by the user.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the animation data holding means 104, the animation holding means 11
By separating the connection animation holding unit 7 from the connection animation holding unit 118, the range in which the search unit 115 searches for the connection animation can be limited, and the time required for the search processing can be reduced. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to the present invention.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect, a feature of a unit part required in response to an input of a scenario for creating an animation to be the first animation or the second animation. A part attribute extracting unit 123 for extracting part attribute information shown by the user; a boundary information creating unit 124 for creating boundary information indicating boundary conditions to be satisfied by the connection animation based on the part attribute information obtained by the part attribute extracting unit 123. A connection animation is created based on the boundary information, and the animation data holding means 104
And a connection animation creating means 125 for storing the information in the connection animation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the part information extracting means 123 and the boundary information creating means 124 operate in response to the input of the scenario, so that the part attribute information corresponding to each unit part specified in the scenario described above is obtained. Creates boundary information based on the
4 can be provided. In this way, taking into account the characteristics of the unit parts used for each animation, prepare the necessary connection animations without excess or shortage,
It can be stored in the animation data holding means 104.

FIG. 3 shows claim 4 and additional disclosure items 5 and 6.
1 shows a principle block diagram of the animation editing system of FIG. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the animation editing system according to the first aspect, wherein frame identification information indicating each image that can be a reproduced image at the time of detecting the event by the event detecting means 112 and each of the first images of the second animation. The animation data holding means 10 corresponds to the combination of the frame identification information indicating the image.
4 includes a first management information holding unit 131 that holds frame correspondence management information indicating animation identification information for specifying each connection animation, and the feature extraction unit 113 indicates an image being reproduced included in the first animation. This is a configuration for extracting feature information including boundary frame information composed of first frame information and second frame information indicating the first image of the second animation.
Is characterized in that the first management information holding unit 131 searches for frame correspondence management information that matches the boundary frame information, and notifies the switching control unit 116 of animation identification information corresponding to the search result as a search result. And

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the frame management information is held in the first management information holding means 131, and the boundary frame information is extracted by the feature information extraction means 113 and provided to the search means 115. The process of searching for frame correspondence management information that matches the boundary frame information in the first management information holding unit 131 can replace the process of searching for a connection animation.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the event detecting means
In the animation interface system having a configuration in which the reproduction control means 102 reproduces an appropriate animation held in the animation data holding means 104 via the playback means 103 in response to the event detected by the first and second animation data holding means 104, For all the images that make up the retained animation,
The first animation being reproduced in response to the attribute information retaining procedure for retaining attribute information representing the feature of the image and the detection result that the event detecting means 101 has detected that a trigger event indicating a new animation reproduction trigger has been detected. And a second animation to be newly reproduced. A connection instruction procedure for instructing an operation of connecting, and the attribute information held in the attribute information holding procedure according to the connection instruction is referred to, and the characteristics of the first animation at the time of event detection are referred to. A feature information extraction procedure for extracting first feature information representing the first feature information and second feature information representing a feature of the second animation, and the first feature information and the second feature information extracted in the feature extraction procedure in response to a connection instruction. Is compared with the image being reproduced at the time of detecting the event included in the first animation and the first image of the second animation. A connection animation corresponding to a combination of the first characteristic information and the second characteristic information is searched from the animation data holding unit 104 according to a connection determination procedure for determining whether or not a direct connection can be made, and a determination result in the connection determination procedure. Depending on the search procedure to be performed, the determination result in the connection determination procedure and the search result in the search procedure,
A switching control procedure for instructing to reproduce the second animation or the connection animation indicated by the search result;
In the reproduction control means 102, a program for causing the computer to execute a procedure of stopping reproduction of the first animation and starting an operation necessary for reproduction of the specified animation in accordance with an instruction issued in the switching control procedure is recorded. This is a storage medium.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the event detecting means
1 to execute the connection instruction procedure, the feature information extraction procedure, and the connection determination procedure in accordance with the detection result by the first feature information and the second feature extracted from the attribute information of each image held in the attribute holding procedure. Information based on the first
By determining the continuity between the point where the animation is interrupted and the beginning of the second animation, and executing a search procedure and a switching control procedure in accordance with the determination result, an appropriate connection animation can be reproduced if necessary. And, it can be used for the reproduction processing by the reproduction means 103.

[0034]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 shows a configuration of an animation interface providing system to which the animation editing system of the present invention is applied. In the animation interface providing system shown in FIG.
The connection editing unit 210 operates in response to a connection request from the procedure control unit 421 provided in the object processing unit 420, and, if necessary, the connection animation database 2
Using the connection animation stored in the storage unit 20, a function of performing connection editing, which will be described later, on the first animation being reproduced and the second animation to be reproduced next is provided.

In the connection editing section 210, the connection determination section 211 is designated based on the connection information (described later) received from the request receiving section 212 and the attribute information of each image held in the image attribute table 213. It determines the continuity of the two animations, and fulfills the function of the connection determination means 114 described in claim 1. The image attribute table 213 described above holds attribute information including elements such as facial expressions, eye states, and face directions for all images used for animation, as in the case of the part attribute table shown in FIG. It has a function corresponding to the attribute information holding means 111 described in claim 1.

The result of the judgment by the connection judgment unit 211 is determined by the search execution unit 214 and the object processing unit 42.
0 has been notified to the procedure control unit 421. The search execution unit 214 searches for an appropriate connection animation from the connection animation database 220 when the continuity of the two animations is denied, and supplies the connection animation to the process of the procedure control unit 421. The function of the search means 115 described above is fulfilled.

The request receiving unit 212 responds to the connection request received from the procedure control unit 421 to
The connection information for determining the continuity of the two animations is collected, and the obtained connection information is used as the connection determination unit 21
1 for processing. FIG. 6 shows a detailed configuration of the connection editing unit 210. In the request receiving unit 212 shown in FIG. 6, the designated information extracting unit 215 receives a connection request from the procedure control unit 421, extracts designation information indicating the first animation and the second animation from the connection request, and collects connection information. The function of notifying the unit 216 is provided.

In FIG. 6, the head image ID table 217 contains animation identification information for specifying each animation for all the animations incorporated in the object to be processed by the object processing unit 420 shown in FIG. An image ID for specifying the leading image of each animation is registered in correspondence with (hereinafter, referred to as an animation ID), and the registered contents are provided to the processing of the connection information collection unit 216.

The connection information collection unit 216, based on the designation information received from the designation information extraction unit 215, stores, for example, an image ID indicating an image being reproduced of the first animation.
Is received from the video playback engine 424, the image ID indicating the first image of the second animation is received by referring to the above-described first image ID table 217 based on the animation ID indicating the second animation,
A function of passing connection information including these to the connection determination unit 211 is provided.

In connection determination section 211 shown in FIG.
The collation unit 218 provides a function of referencing the image attribute table 213 based on the two image IDs indicated by the above-described connection information and collating each element constituting the corresponding two pieces of attribute information. The matching result is passed to the matching determining unit 219. The matching determining unit 219, for example, responds to the matching result indicating that all the elements constituting the attribute information match.
A determination result that affirms the continuity between the first animation and the second animation is output, and the continuity between the first animation and the second animation is denied in accordance with a result of matching indicating that at least some elements do not match. The function to output the judgment result is provided.

As described above, according to the collation result by the collation unit 218, the operation of the match determination unit 219 causes the image included in the currently reproduced first animation and the second animation to be displayed.
The continuity with the leading image of the animation can be determined. In this case, the event detection unit 422
When an event that triggers the start of reproduction of the second animation (hereinafter, referred to as a trigger event) is detected, the procedure control unit 421 transmits a connection request including an animation ID specifying the first animation and the second animation. Is created and passed to the request accepting unit 212 of the connection editing unit 210, thereby fulfilling the functions of the event detection unit 101 and the connection instruction unit 111 described in claim 1.

Each unit of the request receiving unit 212 operates in response to the connection request described above to create connection information, and based on the connection information, the collating unit 218 causes the image attribute table 21 to generate the connection information.
3 performs the same function as the attribute information extracting means 113 described in claim 1, and stores attribute information corresponding to two images to be connected between the first animation and the second animation. The continuity can be determined.

At this time, the search execution unit 214 receives the attribute information corresponding to the two images from the collation unit 218 and performs a search process on the connection animation database 220 according to the determination result by the match determination unit 219. Just execute it.

Here, the connection animation database 220 corresponds to the connection animation holding means 118 described in claim 2, and for example, as shown in FIG. 7A, two attributes representing different characteristics. In correspondence with the combination of the information, a part ID string indicating a series of unit parts constituting an animation representing a state in which the characteristic of the character transitions from the two pieces of attribute information to the other attribute information is registered.

The two pieces of attribute information described above are attribute information corresponding to the first image of the connection animation and attribute information corresponding to the last image of the connection animation, and are information relating to a boundary where the connection animation is in contact with the animation to be connected. Therefore, when these are collectively described below, they are referred to as boundary information. When the connection animation database 220 has the above-described configuration, the search execution unit 214 determines a suitable connection based on a comparison result between the combination of the attribute information corresponding to the two images to be connected and each boundary information. Find the animation,
The corresponding part ID sequence may be returned to the procedure control unit 421.

Further, since the connection animation database 220 is configured to be independently searchable as described above, the search range of the connection animation can be limited, so that the time required for the search processing by the search execution unit 214 is reduced. It is possible to shorten the connection editing speed. The image database 426 shown in FIG. 6 holds image data necessary for reproducing each unit part constituting the animation.

Further, the video playback engine 424 operates according to the part ID string received from the procedure control unit 421.
A function of the reproduction means 103 described in claim 1 by reading necessary image data from the image database 426 to create display data for displaying an animation and providing the display data to the processing of the display control section 427 shown in FIG. Plays.

Therefore, when the video playback engine 424 reads a series of unit parts received from the procedure control unit 421 for playback of the first animation or the second animation, the video database 426 uses the image database 426 described above. The function of the animation holding means 117 described in (1) is fulfilled. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the animation connection editing operation. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an operation of connecting animation.

FIG. 8A shows the operation of the entire animation interface providing system, and FIG. 8B shows the detailed operation of the connection editing unit. When a trigger event of another animation (hereinafter, referred to as animation b) occurs during reproduction of an arbitrary animation (hereinafter, referred to as animation a), the procedure control unit 421 causes the event detection unit 422
Issue a connection request in response to the notification from the server (steps 301 and 302), interrupt the reproduction of the animation a (step 303), and wait for a notification from the connection editing unit 210.

For example, when another animation trigger event shown in FIG. 9B is detected during the reproduction of the animation shown in FIG. 9A, the procedure control unit 421
Issue a connection request including designation information indicating animation a and animation b, and request the connection editing unit 210 to perform connection processing. In response to this, the connection editing unit 210 starts operation, and the respective units of the request receiving unit 212 transmit connection information as described above, for example, as shown in FIG.
(a) an image ID indicating the image indicated by the reference numeral # 2;
Image IDs corresponding to the images denoted by reference numeral S1 in FIG. 9B are collected (step 311), and the connection determination unit 211
Of the collating unit 218.

In this case, in step 312, the matching unit 218 checks the corresponding two pieces of attribute information held in the image attribute table 213 to obtain a matching result indicating that the attribute information does not match.

In accordance with the result of this collation, the match judging section 219
Deny continuity between animation a and animation b (negative determination in step 313), notify procedure control unit 421 that connection processing by connection animation is necessary (step 314), and execute search. What is necessary is just to instruct the unit 214 to search for the connection animation.

In response to this instruction, search execution section 214
In the connection animation database 220, for example, by searching for boundary information most similar to the combination of the two pieces of attribute information described above, a suitable connection animation (see FIG. 9C) is searched (step 31).
5) The corresponding part ID string may be provided to the procedure control unit 421 as information representing the connection animation (step 316).

At this time, the procedure control unit 421 responds to the notification that the connection processing is necessary by receiving
Then, after receiving the connection animation in step 305, the process proceeds to step 306, where the received connection animation is passed to the video playback engine 424, and a playback request may be made. Accordingly, the video playback engine 4 corresponding to the playback unit 103
24, display control unit 427 and display device 405
Operates, the connection animation described above is reproduced (step 306).

Next, in response to the completion of the reproduction of the connection animation, the procedure control section 421 may reproduce the animation b via the video reproduction engine 424 (step 307). In this way, by connecting the animation a and the animation b using the connection animation as shown in FIG. 9C, the reproduction interruption point in the animation a and the head of the animation b are generated in response to the occurrence of the trigger event. Can be compensated for.

On the other hand, when the continuity between the interruption point of the animation a and the head of the animation b is affirmed (FIG. 8).
In the affirmative determination in step 313 shown in (b)), the matching determination unit 219 notifies the procedure control unit 421 that connection processing is unnecessary (step 317). In this case, since the continuity between the interruption point of the animation a and the head of the animation b is guaranteed, the procedure control unit 421 responds to the above-described notification by making a negative determination in step 304 shown in FIG. Proceeding to 307, the reproduction of the animation b may be started.

As described above, the procedure control unit 421 controls the operation of the video playback engine 424 in response to the detection result by the event detection unit 422 and the notification from the connection editing unit 210, thereby providing the playback control described in claim 1. Means 1
02 functions are performed, regardless of the time of the trigger event, while maintaining the continuity of the animation displayed on the GUI screen, and immediately controlling the animation displayed on the GUI screen in response to user operations. can do.

The components constituting the connection editing unit 210, the procedure control unit 421, and the event detection unit 42
2 is an attribute holding procedure, a connection instruction procedure described in claim 5,
The feature information extraction procedure, the connection determination procedure, the search procedure, and the switching control procedure can be realized by a program that causes a computer to execute such a program.
M and can be recorded on a storage medium and distributed.

The image database 42 shown in FIG.
6. The animation data holding means 1 described in claim 1 in place of the connection animation database 220 and the connection animation database 220.
With an animation database equivalent to 04,
An animation interface providing system can also be configured. In this case, the animation database holds image data necessary to reproduce all animations that can be the first animation or the second animation and all connected animations, and the search execution unit 214 You can search for an appropriate connection animation from.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7B, the connection animation database 220 may include a boundary information table 221 and a connection animation holding unit 222. This boundary information table 221 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, for each piece of boundary information composed of a combination of two pieces of attribute information, a connection animation ID indicating a suitable connection animation is held, and the connection animation holding unit 222 corresponds to each connection animation ID. What is necessary is just to hold | maintain the part ID string which shows a series of unit parts which comprise the connection animation which performs.

In this case, the search execution unit 214 searches for boundary information that matches in the boundary information table 221 based on the two pieces of attribute information received from the matching unit 218, and based on the obtained connection animation ID, The corresponding part ID sequence may be read from the connection animation holding unit 222 and sent to the procedure control unit 421.
By the way, for example, for each combination of the attribute information corresponding to the images of all the frames used for reproducing the animation and the attribute information corresponding to the image of the first frame of each animation, the connection animation database 220 Is prepared, the function of the animation data holding unit 104 described in the additional disclosure item 1 described later can be achieved.

In this case, the attribute information of the image of the frame being reproduced at the time when the reproduction is interrupted in response to the occurrence of the trigger event (hereinafter referred to as the interrupted image),
The connection animation surely exists in correspondence with the combination of the attribute information of the image of the first frame of the animation specified as the second animation. Therefore, in this case, the search execution unit 214 searches for a connection animation in which the specified combination of the two pieces of attribute information and the boundary information completely match, so that regardless of the time of occurrence of the trigger event, The connection editing can be performed using a connection animation that represents a state in which the attribute information corresponding to the interrupted image changes from the attribute information corresponding to the leading image of the second animation.

As a result, a natural animation flow can be provided such that the user does not notice the interruption of the first animation or the start of reproduction of the second animation. However, in this case, it is necessary to prepare an enormous number of connection animations in the connection animation database 220, and the operation of preparing the connection animation is very complicated, and the time required for the search processing is also long.

Next, a technique for reducing the number of connection animations to be prepared and a technique for reducing the time required for connection animation search processing will be described. FIG.
Next, an embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 4 and additional disclosure item 2 will be described. The connection editing unit 210 illustrated in FIG. 10 includes the connection control unit 23 in addition to the units illustrated in FIG.
1 and the connection control unit 231 includes:
Determination result by connection determination section 211 and search execution section 21
4 provides a function of controlling the animation reproduction operation by the procedure control unit 421 based on the search result obtained by the procedure 4.

On the other hand, in the connection animation database 220 shown in FIG.
Corresponds to the first management information holding unit 131 described in claim 4, and holds a combination of image IDs indicating the corresponding boundary information corresponding to the animation IDs indicating the prepared connection animations. I have. In the connection animation database 220, the part data holding unit 224 holds a part ID string indicating a series of unit parts constituting each connection animation, corresponding to the above-mentioned animation ID.

In this case, the function of the characteristic information extracting means 113 described in claim 4 is fulfilled by collecting the connection information by the request receiving section 212 as described above. This corresponds to the boundary frame information described in claim 4. Therefore, by searching in the above-described correspondence management table 223 and detecting a combination of image IDs that match this connection information,
It is possible to uniquely search for a connection animation that matches the interruption point of the first animation and the first frame of the second animation.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, a search execution unit 214 is provided with a table search unit 232 and a data read unit 233, and the connection obtained by the table search unit 232 searching the correspondence management table 223 is obtained. Based on the animation ID, the data reading unit 233 reads a corresponding part ID sequence from the parts data holding unit 224,
What is necessary is just to send it to the procedure control part 421.

In this case, the above-described table search unit 23
2, the function of the search means 115 described in claim 4 is fulfilled. By replacing the search processing based on the comparison of the attribute information with the match detection processing in the correspondence management table 223, the time required for the search processing is reduced. Shortening can be achieved. By the way, when the invention of the additional disclosure item 2 is applied, only the connection animation that connects the selected key frame and the first frame of each animation that can be the second animation is selected from the image of the series of frames that constitute the animation. It may be prepared in advance.

For example, when a frame denoted by reference numerals # 1 and # 4 is selected as a key frame from a series of frames constituting an animation shown in FIG. N connection animations that connect the first frame (S1 to Sn) to each of the animations 1 and n connection animations that connect the key frame # 4 and each of the first frames (S1 to Sn) of each animation; You just need to prepare.

In this case, the correspondence management table 22
Reference numeral 3 denotes an animation ID (see FIG. 11B) corresponding to the combination of the key frame # 1 and the first frame of each animation (S1 to Sn) as shown in FIG. , The symbols A1 to An are shown, and the key frame # 4 and the first frame of each animation (S1 to S1)
An animation ID (indicated by reference numerals B1 to Bn in FIG. 11B) corresponding to the corresponding connection animation may be stored in correspondence with the combination with n).

Hereinafter, the animation connection editing operation according to the second aspect of the invention will be described. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the animation connection editing operation of the entire animation interface providing system. FIG.
5 shows a flowchart illustrating the detailed operation of the connection editing unit. For example, when a trigger event occurs in a frame indicated by an arrow in FIG. 11A (indicated by reference numeral # 2 in FIG. 11), the procedure control unit 421
The connection editing unit 210 operates in response to a connection request from the user, and responds to the negative determination in step 314 described above in step 31.
Even if 6 is executed, a suitable connection animation cannot be retrieved from the connection animation database 220.

When the search fails in this way, the connection control unit 231 makes a negative determination in step 324 shown in FIG. 13, and in step 326, the procedure control unit 421 informs the procedure control unit 421 that switching to the connection animation is impossible. Notify,
The process ends. On the other hand, the procedure control unit 421
As shown in (3), after making an affirmative determination in step 304 in response to the notification that a connection is necessary, when receiving a notification that switching to the connection animation is not possible, a negative determination in step 321 is made to step 322. Proceeding and after reproducing the next frame of the first animation via the video reproduction engine 424, the process returns to step 302 and sends a connection request again.

As described above, the procedure control unit 421 operates in response to the notification from the connection control unit 231,
The function of the continuation instructing unit 121 and the re-issuing unit 122 described in the additional disclosure item 2 described below is performed. When a trigger event occurs in a frame other than the key frame, the reproduction of the first animation is continued, and A connection request can be issued in the frame.

As described above, the connection request is issued for each frame shown in FIG. 11A, and in response to the failure of the connection animation search processing performed by the connection To play,
When the reproduction has progressed to the key frame indicated by reference numeral # 4 in FIG. 11A, the determination in step 324 shown in FIG. 13 is affirmative.

In this case, the connection control unit 231 notifies the procedure control unit 421 that the switching to the connection animation is possible in step 325, and then proceeds to step 317 to read out the data by the data reading unit 233. The processing may be terminated after the performed part ID string is passed to the procedure control unit 421. On the other hand, the procedure control unit 421
Following the notification that switching to the connection animation is possible, when the above-mentioned part ID sequence is received,
The reproduction of the first animation may be interrupted via the video reproduction engine 424 (step 323), and the connection animation may be reproduced by passing the part ID string received as the connection animation to the video reproduction engine 424 instead.

In this manner, the reproduction of the first animation is continued until the search for the connection animation is successful, and the connection request is repeated in each of the subsequent frames, thereby obtaining the structure shown in FIG. When a trigger event occurs in a frame other than the key frame included in the first animation, the reproduction proceeds to the next key frame (indicated by reference numeral # 4 in FIG. 14A). Sometimes, a first animation and a second animation (FIG. 1) are used by using a connection animation (see FIG. 14C) prepared for this key frame.
4 (b)) can be continuously connected.

For example, if an image representing a representative expression of a character expressed by the animation shown in FIG. 14 is selected as a key frame, a key frame is included in every animation every several frames. Can be expected. Therefore, when the playback of the first animation progresses by several frames from the occurrence of the trigger event, it can be expected that the search for the connection animation will be successful. An animation editing system that responds quickly to operations can be realized.

Further, by utilizing the fact that the animation is formed by connecting the unit parts, it is possible to quickly and surely search for an appropriate connection animation. For example, as shown in FIG. 11 (c), if the end image of each unit part is used as a key frame, regardless of the time of occurrence of the trigger event, when the reproduction proceeds to the end image of the unit part being reproduced, It is possible to surely search for an appropriate connection animation and perform the animation connection processing.

In this case, a connection animation is created for each combination of the key frame selected from each unit part and the leading image of each animation, and stored in the part data holding unit 224, so that an additional disclosure item 3 described later.
The function of the animation data holding unit 104 described in (1) can be realized. Here, since the reproduction time of each unit part is about 1 second, by selecting a key frame from each unit part as described above, the waiting time from the generation of the trigger event to the start of the connection processing by the connection animation is reduced. It can be suppressed to about one second.

Further, in particular, when the invention of the additional disclosure item 4 is applied and the end image of each unit part is selected as a key frame as shown in FIG. It is possible to reliably cope with the occurrence of a trigger event and perform an animation connection process using an appropriate connection animation.

Next, a technique for preparing necessary connection animations without excess and deficiency by utilizing the fact that animations are formed by connecting unit parts will be described.
FIG. 15 shows an embodiment of the animation editing system according to claim 3. FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining the boundary information collecting operation. Attribute information collection unit 241 shown in FIG.
Receives a part ID sequence (see FIG. 16A) indicating a unit part constituting an animation from a part sequence organization unit 434 provided in the animation creating apparatus shown in FIG. 25, and based on the part ID sequence, The function of collecting corresponding part attribute information (see FIG. 16B) from the part attribute table 415 provided in the part database 401 and sending it to the boundary information collecting unit 242 is achieved.

In this case, at the time of processing for creating an animation, a scenario analysis section 432, a parts search section 431, and a parts row organization section 434 are provided in accordance with a scenario input to a scenario input section 433 provided in the animation creation apparatus. The attribute information extracting unit 123 described in claim 3 is operated by operating the attribute information collecting unit 241 described above.
And collects part attribute information indicating the characteristics of each unit part constituting the animation.

Based on the part attribute information collected in this way, the boundary information collection unit 242 first collects a head image ID indicating the head image of each animation, and also obtains individual unit parts constituting each animation. Are collected as key frames. Here, the image ID indicating each key frame described above.
Indicates a feature to be satisfied by the front side of the connection animation. On the other hand, each head image ID indicates a feature to be satisfied by the back side of the connection animation. , It is possible to create information equivalent to boundary information indicating conditions to be satisfied by the connection animation.

As described above, based on the part attribute information collected by the attribute information collecting unit 241, the boundary information collecting unit 242
Operates, the function of the boundary information creating means 124 described in claim 3 is fulfilled. In response to the input of the combination of the image IDs obtained in this way, the connection animation editing unit 243 determines the necessary based on the combination of the image ID indicating the boundary information and the part attribute information held in the part attribute table 415. The connection animation data may be created by searching for and connecting the appropriate unit parts, and stored in the connection animation database 220.

The connection animation editing unit 24
3 is the corresponding image attribute information (FIG. 16) from the image attribute table 213 according to the received combination of image IDs.
(In (c), image attributes are shown as L1, F1, and Fk.)
Is extracted, and the boundary information including the image attribute information,
Animation ID indicating the created connection animation
Are sequentially stored to create a boundary information table 221 as shown in FIG.

As described above, when an animation is created by the animation creating apparatus, the attribute information collecting unit 241 collects information on the unit parts constituting the animation and provides the information to the connection animation creating process. Thus, it is possible to prepare only connection animations necessary for the connection processing without excess or deficiency according to the animation to be connected.

Instead of the boundary information table 221 described above, a correspondence management table 223 can be prepared.
In this case, the connection animation editing unit 243 may create the correspondence management table 223 by storing an animation ID indicating the created connection animation in correspondence with the received combination of image IDs.

Incidentally, since the animation is represented by a continuously changing image, FIG.
As shown in (a), the feature of the image of interest and the images before and after it are very similar. Next, a method of reducing the number of connection animations prepared for the connection process by utilizing the similarity of a series of images forming an animation will be described.

For example, first, a plurality of representative images (Fk
1, ... Fkn), and an image I showing these representative images
Connection animation for the combination of D (A1, ...
・ Am) is prepared. Next, the image attribute table 21
The image IDs corresponding to the image attribute information similar to the image attribute information corresponding to the above-described representative images (Fk1,..., Fkn) are respectively referred to the corresponding representative images by referring to the image attribute information held in No.3. Extract as a group image.

With respect to the group images extracted in this manner, the correspondence between the combination of the representative images described above and the connection animation is extended, and as shown in FIG. 17B, the representative images (in FIG. An image ID (indicated by reference numerals # F2 and # F4 in the drawing) indicating a group image corresponding to F3), another representative image (indicated by reference sign # S1 in the drawing), and the corresponding representative image The same connection animation ID (indicated by reference numeral # A1 in FIG. 17) may be stored in the correspondence management table 223 in correspondence with the combination with the group image to be performed.

Thus, the correspondence management table 223 corresponding to the first management information holding means 131 described in the additional disclosure item 5 described later can be formed and provided to the processing of the connection editing unit 210. In this way, by showing the correspondence between a plurality of images having similar characteristics and a common connection animation corresponding to these images, compared to a case where connection animations are prepared for all images,
The number of connection animations to be prepared can be greatly reduced, and the workload of creating connection animations can be significantly reduced.

In this case, for example, as shown by an arrow in FIG. 18A, a trigger indicating a trigger for reproducing the animation shown in FIG. 18B before and after the representative image indicated by reference numeral # F3. When an event occurs, the table search unit 232 shown in FIG.
By searching for the representative image described above and the code # S1.
The animation ID indicating the connection animation (see FIG. 18 (c)) prepared corresponding to the combination with the representative image indicated by is searched.

In response to this, the data reading section 233 and the procedure control section 421 operate to obtain the data shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 18, following the interrupted frame of the first animation (indicated by reference numeral # F2 in FIG. 18), the above-described connection animation is reproduced, and then the second animation shown in FIG. 18B is reproduced. Thus, while maintaining the continuity of the animation, it is possible to quickly respond to the operation by the user, interrupt the reproduction of the first animation, and smoothly shift to the second animation.

Further, it is also possible to reduce the number of connection animations to be prepared by utilizing the fact that the characteristics of the images constituting each unit part are continuously changing.
FIG. 19 shows an embodiment of the animation editing system according to additional disclosure item 6. As described above, each unit part is
Since it represents a state in which the character performs a collective action, it can be expected that the attribute information corresponding to the images constituting the unit parts has many similarities, and the images belonging to each unit part are described above. It can be treated as a group image.

In this case, a connection animation representing transition from a representative feature of each unit part to a feature of a head image of another unit part is prepared, and a combination of a part ID indicating the corresponding unit part and the connection animation are prepared. By storing information indicating a correspondence relationship with the indicated animation ID in the parts correspondence table 244, a second management information holding unit 132 described in an additional disclosure item 6 described below is formed.
What is necessary is just to provide to the process of the table search part 232.

In the request receiving unit 212 shown in FIG. 19, the head part ID table 245 stores a part ID indicating the head part of the corresponding animation corresponding to the animation ID. 246 is the first part ID table 2 based on the animation ID received from the procedure control unit 421.
With reference to FIG. 45, a function is provided for collecting a part ID indicating the head part of the second animation as second part identification information.

The part information collecting unit 246 receives a part ID indicating a unit part being reproduced from the video reproduction engine 424 as first part identification information, and receives the first part identification information and the second part identification information described above. May be sent to the table search unit 232 of the search execution unit 214. As described above, the part information collecting unit 246 collects necessary information from the head part ID table 245 and the video reproduction engine 424 in response to the connection instruction, and thereby the part information collecting unit 133 described in the additional disclosure item 6 described later. Function can be performed.

In this case, as described above, the connection animation prepared based on the characteristics of the representative image selected from each unit part is commonly applied to all images constituting the unit part. In this manner, when all the images constituting each unit part share the connection animation prepared based on the characteristics of the representative image, connection animations corresponding to the characteristics are prepared for all the images. Compared to the case, the number of connection animations to be prepared can be significantly reduced.

In this case, the parts correspondence table 2
Since the correspondence between the combination of parts and the connection animation is indicated by 44, the table search unit 232 performs the comparison with the case where the correspondence between the combination of images and the connection animation is indicated by the correspondence management table 223 described above. The time required for the search process can be reduced, and the speed of the connection editing process can be increased.

When the connection animation is prepared only for the key frame by applying the invention of the above-mentioned additional disclosure item 2, when the trigger event occurs near the end of the first animation or the like, the key frame is added after that. Is not included, it is not possible to search for an appropriate connection animation, and connection edit processing may not be possible.

Next, a description will be given of a method for coping with such a special situation and for surely enabling the connection editing process irrespective of the time of occurrence of a trigger event. FIG.
(a) and (b) show examples of animation to which the invention of additional disclosure item 8 is applied. In this way, if the first frame and the last frame of all animations are the same image, continuity between the last frame of each animation and the first frame of any other animation can be reliably guaranteed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Even if a trigger event occurs near the end of the first animation and a key frame in which a connection animation exists thereafter is not included, by continuing reproduction to the end frame, a smooth transition is made to the first frame of the second animation. Can be connected. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 0 (c), if the images of the last frames of all the animations are selected as key frames and connection animations corresponding to these images are prepared, the first As for the last frame of the animation, the connection animation can be reliably found, and the first animation and the second animation can be smoothly connected by the connection editing process using this connection animation.

In this case, since the start frame and the end frame of each animation can be freely determined, it is possible to provide an animation which has a high degree of freedom in the animation creation work and more naturally expresses the motion and expression of the character. it can. On the other hand, the animations can be connected to each other by using the connection editing process by the connection editing unit 210 described above.

For example, the procedure control unit 421 shown in FIG.
Receives the completion notification indicating the completion of the animation playback operation from the video playback engine 424, and at this time, sends out the same connection instruction as when the trigger event has occurred. 101 can be realized. in this case,
In response to occurrence of a user input wait or the like, connection editing processing is executed, and connection animation having continuity with the completed animation can be automatically reproduced.

As a result, it is possible to omit the work of preparing an animation corresponding to a user input wait or the like in advance, so that the work load on the developer for the animation creation work can be greatly reduced. it can.

[0106]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, an appropriate connection animation is searched as needed according to the features of the first animation and the second animation, and this connection animation is retrieved. The first animation can be automatically connected to the interruption point of the second animation by using the first animation, so that the interruption can be provided via the reproduction means regardless of the time point of the event that triggers the reproduction of the second animation. While maintaining the continuity of the animation, it is possible to quickly respond to an instruction from the user and switch from the first animation to the second animation.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the connection animation holding means is provided independently of the animation holding means, so that the search means limits the range in which the connection animation is searched, and is required for the connection animation search. It is possible to shorten the time and speed up the connection editing process. On the other hand, according to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prepare necessary connection animations without any excess or shortage according to the scenario used for creating the animation. Can be.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the first
By indicating the correspondence between each image constituting the animation and the matching connection animation by the management information holding means, the comparison processing of the feature information can be replaced with the verification processing of the image identification information. The required time can be reduced, and the speed of the connection editing process can be increased.

The following items are additionally disclosed. The invention of additional disclosure 1 is the animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein the animation data holding means 104 comprises attribute information indicating characteristics of all frame images constituting each of the plurality of animations serving as the first animation. A configuration in which an appropriate connection animation is held for a combination of each element of the first feature set and each element of the second feature set including attribute information indicating the feature of the first frame image of each of the plurality of animations serving as the second animation. It is characterized by being.

According to the invention of the additional disclosure item 1, the animation data holding means 104 stores each element of the first feature set,
By preparing a connection animation corresponding to a combination with each element of the second feature set, the search unit 115 ensures that the connection animation can be appropriately performed irrespective of the occurrence time of the event that triggers the start of the reproduction of the second animation. It is possible to search for various connection animations.

As described above, by preparing an appropriate connection animation corresponding to all the images constituting the animation, it is possible to immediately search for the relevant connection animation when a trigger event occurs. This can be made possible, and continuity of the animation provided via the playback means can be guaranteed irrespective of the time of occurrence of an event that triggers playback of the second animation.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to additional disclosure items 2 to 4.
According to the invention of Additional Disclosure 2, in the animation editing system according to Claim 1, the animation data holding unit 104 includes: an element of a first feature set including attribute information indicating a feature of a predetermined key frame image; An appropriate connection animation is held for a combination of each element of the second feature set including the attribute information indicating the feature of the first frame image of each of the plurality of animations to be an animation. A continuation instructing means 12 for instructing the reproduction control means 102 to continue the reproduction of the first animation in response to the input of the search result indicating that the connection animation could not be searched.
1, and the connection instructing means 111 is characterized in that it has a reissuing means 122 for reissuing the connection instruction in response to the continuation instruction from the continuation instruction means 121.

The invention according to additional disclosure 2 is provided in the continuation instructing means 121 and the connection instructing means 112 provided in the switching control means 116 in response to a search result indicating that the search for the connection animation by the search means 115 has failed. By operating the reissue unit 122, the determination process by the connection determination unit 114 and the search process by the search unit 115 are repeated until the appropriate connection animation is searched, and the reproduction of the first animation is continued. When the reproduction has progressed to the key frame included in the animation, the reproduction of the first animation can be interrupted and switched to the connection animation.

Thus, while maintaining the continuity of the animation provided through the playback means, the hand animation is quickly switched in response to an instruction from the user, and the number of connection animations to be prepared is limited. The man-hours required for creating the animation can be reduced.

[0115] The invention according to Additional Disclosure 3 is an animation editing system according to Additional Disclosure 2, in which the animation that is the first animation or the second animation held in the animation data holding means 104 is a series of operations and The animation data holding unit 104 is formed by linking unit parts composed of a plurality of images representing facial expression changes. The animation data holding unit 104 generates a first feature set of attribute information indicating characteristics of a key frame image selected for each unit part. An appropriate connection animation is held for a combination of each element and each element of a second feature set including attribute information indicating a feature of a first frame image of each of a plurality of animations serving as a second animation. And

According to the invention of the additional disclosure item 3, the key frame is selected for each unit part constituting each animation, and the connection animation corresponding to these key frames is prepared, so that the reproduction of the second animation is started. Until the playback of the first animation progresses to the key frame contained in the unit part including the image being reproduced at the time when the event occurs, or the next unit part, the connection animation is surely searched and this connection animation is searched. The reproduction of the second animation can be started via the animation.

According to the invention of additional disclosure item 4, in the animation editing system according to the above-described additional disclosure item 3, the animation data holding unit 104 includes a first feature set including attribute information indicating a feature of a tail image of each unit part. And a combination of each element of the second feature set including attribute information indicating the feature of the first frame image of each of the plurality of animations serving as the second animation. Features.

According to the invention of the additional disclosure item 4, the second image is selected by selecting the end image of each unit part as a key frame.
Regardless of the point in time at which an event that triggers the start of animation playback has occurred, it is possible to reliably search for a connection animation corresponding to a key frame immediately thereafter. In this case, for example, even if the above-mentioned event occurs during the reproduction of the image included in the last unit part constituting the first animation, the connection animation corresponding to the image at the end of this unit part is the animation data. Since the connection animation is prepared in the holding unit 104, the connection animation can be searched by the search unit 115, and can be provided to the reproduction processing by the reproduction control unit 102 and the reproduction unit 103 via the switching control unit 116.

The additional disclosure item 3 and the additional disclosure item 4 described above.
According to the invention, the connection animation is prepared for the key frame selected for each unit part by utilizing the configuration in which each animation is connected to the unit parts, so that the delay time is about the reproduction time of the unit parts. To switch the animation. In particular, according to the invention of Additional Disclosure 4, an appropriate connection animation can be reliably found regardless of the time of occurrence of a trigger event, so that continuity of animation provided through the playback means can be guaranteed. it can.

According to the invention of additional disclosure item 5, in the animation editing system according to the additional disclosure item 2 shown in FIG. 3, the first management information holding means 131 includes a plurality of frames indicating a series of images belonging to the first animation. It is characterized in that it is configured to hold animation identification information indicating the same connection animation in correspondence with a combination of identification information and frame identification information indicating a leading image of the second animation.

The invention according to additional disclosure item 5 is based on the frame correspondence management information held in the first management information holding means 131.
By associating the series of images of the first animation with one connection animation, it is possible to reduce the number of connection animations to be prepared by utilizing the similarity of the series of images representing the animation. it can.

Thus, a common connection animation can be assigned to a plurality of frames by utilizing the similarity of the characteristics of the continuous images constituting the animation, whereby the number of connection animations to be prepared can be increased. Can be greatly reduced. As shown in FIG. 3, in the animation editing system according to claim 1, the animation as the first animation or the second animation held in the animation data holding unit 104 is a series of operations. And a unit part composed of a plurality of images representing a change in facial expression.
Animation data holding means corresponding to a combination of part identification information indicating each unit part which can be a unit part being reproduced at the time of detecting the event by the second and part identification information indicating each unit part which can be a head unit part of the second animation. Second management information holding means 1 holding parts correspondence management information indicating animation identification information for specifying each connection animation in 104
32, and a part for collecting boundary part information including first part identification information indicating a unit part being reproduced and second part identification information indicating a unit part located at the beginning of the second animation in response to input of a connection instruction. Information collection means 1
33, the search means 115 receives the boundary part information, searches the second management information holding means 132 for part correspondence management information that matches the boundary part information, and searches for animation identification information corresponding to the search result. And the switching control means 116 is notified.

In the invention of the additional disclosure item 6, since the part management information is held in the second management information holding means 132, the part information collecting means 133 collects and extracts the boundary part information according to the connection instruction. By providing the search unit 115 with the search unit 115, the process of searching for the connection animation in the second management information holding unit 132 by searching for the part correspondence management information that matches the boundary part information can be replaced.

By paying attention to the similarity of the features of the images belonging to the unit part, a common connection animation is assigned to a plurality of images belonging to the unit part, and the correspondence is determined by the second management information holding means. By showing, it is possible to replace the comparison processing of the feature information with the comparison processing of the part identification information, so that the time required for the search processing can be further reduced, and the speed of the connection editing processing can be increased.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the invention according to the additional disclosure 7, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect, the event detecting means 101 indicates the end of the reproduction of the first animation as a trigger for reproducing the new animation. The configuration is such that the event is detected as a trigger event. According to the invention of the additional disclosure item 7, the event detection means 101 operates in response to the end of the reproduction of the first animation, so that after the reproduction of the first animation is completed,
A connection animation having continuity with the last image of the first animation can be reproduced.

As a result, the connection editing process can be performed in response to the completion of the reproduction of each animation. For example, in response to the occurrence of a user input wait or the like, continuity between the reproduced animation and the completed animation can be obtained. A certain connection animation can be automatically played back, thereby making it possible to omit the work of creating an animation corresponding to a user input wait or the like in advance.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the animation editing system according to the first aspect, the animation data serving as the first animation or the second animation held in the animation data holding means 104 is, as shown in FIG. , Wherein the first image frame and the last image frame are the same. According to the invention of the additional disclosure item 8, the continuity between the last image of the first animation and the first image of the second animation can be guaranteed by setting the first image and the last image of each animation to be the same. .

Thus, continuity between the last frame of each animation to be connected and the first frame of an arbitrary animation can be guaranteed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the principle of an animation editing system according to claims 1 and 2 and additional disclosures 1 and 7 and 8;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the principle of the animation editing system according to claim 3;

FIG. 3 is a principle block diagram of an animation editing system according to claim 4 and additional disclosure items 5 and 6;

FIG. 4 is a principle block diagram of an animation editing system according to additional disclosure items 2 to 4;

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an animation interface providing system to which the animation editing system of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a detailed configuration of a connection editing unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a connection animation database.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an animation connection editing operation.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an operation of connecting animation.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an animation editing system according to claim 4 and additional disclosure item 2.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a key frame.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing an animation connection editing operation.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an animation connection editing operation.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an operation of connecting animation.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an animation editing system according to claim 3;

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a boundary information collecting operation.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a method of sharing a connection animation.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an operation of connecting animation.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an animation editing system according to additional disclosure item 6.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating an operation of connecting animation.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen using a GUI.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a conventional animation creation device.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an animation creating apparatus.

FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a part attribute table.

FIG. 25 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an animation interface providing system.

FIG. 26 is a diagram for describing a problem with interruption of animation reproduction.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Event detection means 102 Reproduction control means 103 Reproduction means 104 Animation data holding means 111 Attribute information holding means 112 Connection instructing means 113 Feature information extraction means 114 Connection determination means 115 Search means 116 Switching control means 117 Animation holding means 118 Connection animation holding means 121 continuation instructing means 122 reissuing means 123 parts attribute extracting means 124 boundary information creating means 125 connection animation creating means 131 first management information holding means 132 second management information holding means 133 parts information collecting means 210 connection editing section 211 connection determination section 212 Request receiving unit 213 Image attribute table 214 Search execution unit 215 Designated information extraction unit 216 Connection information collection unit 217 Head image ID table 218 Collation unit 219 Matching judgment 220 Connection animation database 221 Connection management table 222 Connection animation storage unit 223 Correspondence management table 224 Parts data storage unit 231 Connection control unit 232 Table search unit 233 Data read unit 241 Attribute information collection unit 242 Boundary information collection unit 243 Connection animation edit unit 244 Parts correspondence table 245 Head parts ID table 246 Parts information collection unit 401 Parts database 403 Mouse 404 Keyboard 405 Display device (DISP) 406 Speaker 411, 431 Parts search unit 412 Instruction input unit 413 Parts synthesis unit 415 Parts attribute table 420 Object processing unit 421 Procedure control unit 422 Event detection unit 423 Screen operation control unit 424 Video playback engine 425 Audio database 426 Image database 427 Display control unit 428 Audio playback unit 432 Scenario analysis unit 433 Scenario input unit 434 Parts train organization unit 435 Animation synthesis unit

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yuji Takahashi 4-1-1, Uedanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside Fujitsu Limited (72) Inventor Takashi Morihara 4-1-1, Kamiodanaka, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa F term in Fujitsu Limited (reference) 5B050 AA10 BA06 BA08 CA04 CA07 DA10 EA18 EA19 EA24 FA02 FA19 GA08

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An animation interface system having a configuration in which a reproduction control unit reproduces an appropriate animation stored in an animation data storage unit via a reproduction unit in response to an event detected by an event detection unit. Attribute information holding means for holding attribute information representing characteristics of the images for all images constituting the animation held in the data holding means; and a trigger event indicating a new animation playback trigger is detected by the event detecting means. A connection instruction unit for instructing an operation of connecting the first animation being reproduced and a second animation to be newly reproduced in accordance with a detection result indicating that the attribute information is held, and the attribute information holding unit in response to the connection instruction. See,
Feature information extracting means for extracting first feature information representing the feature of the first animation and second feature information representing the feature of the second animation at the time of detecting the event; and the feature extracting means in response to the connection instruction. The first feature information and the second feature information extracted by the above are compared with each other, and whether an image being reproduced at the time of detecting an event included in the first animation and a leading image of the second animation can be directly connected is determined. A connection determining unit that determines a connection animation corresponding to a combination of the first characteristic information and the second characteristic information from the animation holding unit in accordance with a determination result by the connection determining unit; The second animation according to a determination result by the connection determination unit and a search result by the search unit. Or switching control means for instructing to reproduce the connection animation indicated by the search result, wherein the reproduction control means stops reproduction of the first animation in response to an instruction from the switching control means. An animation editing system configured to start an operation necessary for reproducing a specified animation. 2. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein said animation data holding means comprises: animation holding means for holding image information representing a plurality of animations to be a first animation or a second animation; Each element of the first feature set including feature information corresponding to a plurality of animations to be
Regarding a combination with each element of a second feature set composed of feature information corresponding to a plurality of animations to be an animation, the first feature set corresponding to the first animation and the second feature set corresponding to the second animation are selected from the elements of the first feature set. A connection animation holding unit that holds a connection animation that represents a transition to an element of two feature sets. The search unit searches for an appropriate connection animation from the connection animation holding unit, and retrieves the corresponding connection animation. A search result including animation identification information for specifying in the connection animation holding unit is sent to the switching control unit. The playback unit specifies the search result from the connection animation holding unit in response to an instruction received from the playback control unit. Animation identification information Animation editing system, which is a configuration for reproducing the indicated connection animation in. 3. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein part attribute information indicating a feature of a required unit part is input in response to an input of a scenario for creating an animation to be the first animation or the second animation. A part attribute extracting means for extracting; a boundary information creating means for creating boundary information indicating a boundary condition to be satisfied by the connection animation based on the part attribute information obtained by the part attribute extracting means; Create a connection animation,
An animation editing system characterized by comprising a connection animation creating means for storing the animation data in an animation data holding means. 4. The animation editing system according to claim 1, wherein frame identification information indicating each image that can be a reproduced image at the time of detecting the event by the event detecting means, and each image that can be a leading image of the second animation. In response to the combination of the frame identification information, the animation data holding means includes first management information holding means for holding frame correspondence management information indicating animation identification information for specifying each of the connection animations. The apparatus is configured to extract feature information including boundary frame information including first frame information indicating an image being played back included in the first animation and second frame information indicating a leading image of the second animation. In the first management information holding means, the boundary frame An animation editing system characterized in that it is configured to search for the frame correspondence management information that matches the game information, and to notify switching control means of animation identification information corresponding to the search result as a search result. 5. An animation interface system having a configuration in which a reproduction control unit reproduces an appropriate animation stored in an animation data storage unit via a reproduction unit in response to an event detected by an event detection unit. For all the images constituting the animation held in the data holding means, an attribute information holding procedure for holding attribute information representing characteristics of the images, and a trigger event indicating a new animation reproduction trigger is detected by the event detecting means. A connection instruction procedure for instructing an operation of connecting the first animation being reproduced and a second animation to be newly reproduced in accordance with a detection result indicating that the attribute information has been reproduced; Referring to the held attribute information, the event A feature information extraction procedure for extracting first feature information representing a feature of the first animation and a second feature information representing a feature of the second animation at the time of detection; and extracting in the feature extraction procedure in response to the connection instruction. The first feature information is compared with the second feature information, and it is determined whether or not the image being reproduced at the time of detecting an event included in the first animation can be directly connected to the first image of the second animation. The connection determination procedure to be performed, and the first
A search procedure for searching the animation holding means for a connection animation corresponding to a combination of the feature information and the second feature information; and a second search procedure in accordance with a determination result in the connection determination procedure and a search result in the search procedure. A switching control procedure for instructing to play back an animation or a connection animation indicated by the search result, wherein the playback control means stops playback of the first animation in response to an instruction issued in the switching control procedure And a program for causing a computer to execute a procedure for starting an operation required for reproducing a specified animation.