JP2001331810A - Device for preparing montage - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a montage preparing device which prevents the balance and positions of parts in a face with one another from getting out of shape too much in montage preparation. SOLUTION: When a moving object part is an 'eyebrow', a 'nose', a 'mouth' or a 'forelock' (H30: YES), the drag manipulated variable of a mouse is fetched (H32), the horizontal drag manipulated variable is forcedly made zero (H34), whether or not the part is out of the outline of the face is decided about the vertical drag manipulated variable (H36), and when the part is not out of the outline (H36: YES), vertical moving quantity is calculated (H38) and the part is displayed at a movement destination. For instance, even though the mouse is dragged obliquely when the 'nose' is desired to be moved upward, the 'nose' is moved vertically. When a moving object part is an 'eye' or an 'ear' (H40: YES), both 'eyes' or both 'ears' are linked together and moved (H50 to H52).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a montage creating apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 57-15652, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-338877, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
As described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 20, etc., hairstyles, eyebrows, eyes, nose, ears,
A plurality of patterns of parts of a human face such as a mouth,... Are stored in the memory, and a desired one is selected from these part patterns and displayed on a display.
2. Description of the Related Art A montage creating apparatus that creates a portrait of a person is known.

[0003]

In such a conventional montage creating apparatus, there is no restriction when moving parts such as eyes, nose and mouth, and if the parts are moved carelessly, the left and right eyes and ears are not moved. The height of the face is out of balance, the hairstyle, face contour, eyes, nose, mouth, beard, etc. are distorted and the face is distorted. Had to be adjusted while doing so.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a montage creating apparatus in which the balance and position between parts in a face are not excessively distorted.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A montage creating apparatus according to the present invention comprises: storage means for storing a plurality of patterns for each part of a face such as hair, eyes, nose, mouth, etc .; Selecting means for selecting a desired pattern of a desired part from the image, a montage image display means for displaying a montage image on a screen based on the selected pattern, and a montage image display means for displaying the montage image on the screen. A display position changing means for changing a position where a part is to be displayed, wherein the display position changing means determines whether or not the position can be changed according to the type of the part, and each of the parts whose position can be changed. Is characterized by including a position change determining means for determining the direction and amount of change of the position.

According to this montage creating apparatus, hair,
After displaying the montage image on the screen based on the pattern selected for each part of the face such as eyes, nose, mouth, etc.,
The position where each part should be displayed can be changed. When the display position is changed, the position change determining means operates to determine whether or not the position can be changed according to the type of the part, and to determine the direction and amount of the position change for each part whose position can be changed. It is possible.
In other words, position change beyond the position changeable range is restricted.

[0007] Specifically, the position change determining means is to restrict the parts to be arranged on the center line of the face such as the nose and mouth so that the position can be changed only in the vertical direction. it can. This prevents the nose from shifting left and right and the mouth from shifting left and right.

Further, the position change determining means may limit the degree of freedom so that the position of a part to be a base of the face, such as the contour of the face and the hair, cannot be changed. In this case, basic parts such as the hair and the outline of the face do not move by mistake.

Alternatively, the position change determining means includes an eye,
Parts that should fit inside the face, such as the nose and mouth, can be restricted so that their positions cannot be changed outside the contour of the face. In this case, even if the operator mistakenly moves the eyes or the like largely, it does not protrude from the face.

As described above, according to the present invention, the range in which the position can be changed is limited according to the parts constituting the face. Does not collapse, and correction is easy. Therefore, even if it is not a skilled person, the arrangement of the parts in the face can be freely changed within an optimum range, and the operation is simplified.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a montage creating apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; As shown in FIG. 1, the montage creating apparatus 1 of the embodiment has a montage creating application program and various data installed in a personal computer 9 to which a keyboard 3, a mouse 5, and a display 7 are connected.

The system of this embodiment is capable of VGA display, and can display an image with a resolution of up to 640 × 480 dots. The application program is Microsoft WINDOWS (registered trademark,
The same applies hereinafter) and has a function of displaying an image based on a B-spline curve based on outline data.

As data, a plurality of patterns are given to each part of the face such as hair, eyes, nose, mouth and the like. Each pattern is provided as outline data. FIG.
Is an example of outline data of the left eye. As shown, each outline data is defined by rasterized data based on coordinate points in a frame (hereinafter, referred to as “parts frame”) PFeyeL. This rasterized data is
It is defined for B-spline curve drawing, and a large circle indicates a reference point for B-spline curve drawing.
A small circle means an auxiliary point.

The part frame PFeyeL is designed for hair, eyes, nose,
(Width) × (Height) is determined for each part of the face such as the mouth. For example, the part frame is 1000x1 for hair
000 dots, the contour of the face is 1000 × 1000 dots, and so on. For the eyes and ears, the right and left target data are given the same pattern numbers as the right eye, left eye, right ear and left ear, respectively. Thus, in the left and right interlocking mode described later, the left eye can select the same pattern number at the same time by simply designating the pattern number of the right eye.

In addition to these pattern data,
"Face reference style" data that defines the area and positional relationship that each part should occupy as a montage image is also given. In the embodiment, as the “reference style of face”,
Four types of data of "standard", "thick", "thin", and "child" are given.

For example, in the reference style "child", the area and the positional relationship to be occupied by each part are determined as shown in FIG. Specifically, the entire display area of the montage image is defined by coordinates (0,0) to (400,40).
0) of 400 × 400 dots, the occupied areas PAh, PAf,... Of each part are defined as shown in the table below. These can be determined by statistically analyzing the balance of the size and position of the parts on the child's face.

[0017]

[Table 1]

Parts occupation area PA for this "child"
h, PAf, and the like mean an area in which a part frame of each pattern data is to be accommodated. For example, the part frame PFeyeL of the left eye in FIG. 2 is enlarged and reduced vertically and horizontally so as to fit in PAeyeL in the above table and displayed on the screen.

The "standard" defines each occupied area based on the result of the balance analysis of each part with a standard face of an adult. For "thick" and "thin", "fat" The occupation area is determined based on the result of the balance analysis of each part in the face of "" and "slightly adult".
Therefore, for example, in the case of “child”, the occupied area of the right eye is (100, 198) to (187, 247), but in the “standard”, the occupied area of the right eye is smaller than this. This is because an adult occupies a smaller area of the eyes than the entire face. Therefore, even if the right eye pattern is exactly the same, the pattern is displayed larger when the reference style is "child" and smaller when the reference style is "standard".

FIG. 4 shows a display result based on the difference in the reference style. As shown, "(A) Standard", "(B)
"Thick", "(C) thin" compared to "eyebrow",
Although the area occupied by the parts such as "eyes", "nose", "mouth", and "ears" does not change, the position is slightly shifted, and particularly, the interval between "eyes" and "ears" changes. You can see that it is. In addition, the width of the occupied area changes for "hairstyle", "bangs" and "face contour", and the image of the entire face, such as standard, thick and thin, changes subtly so as to be expressed in each reference style. I understand. Also,
Comparing “(A) standard” and “(D) child”, despite the fact that the same pattern is selected for each part,
It can be seen that the atmosphere of an adult and the atmosphere of a child are represented by the difference in the occupied area.

As described above, when each pattern is displayed by applying a part frame to the occupied area of each part,
Even if exactly the same pattern is selected, it is possible to express faces with slightly different images. In this case, in particular, in the embodiment, since outline data is used for each pattern, jaggies are not generated even when applied to occupied areas having different sizes. In the end, bitmap data is created based on an image obtained by applying the outline data to the occupied area,
This bitmap data is set in a frame buffer and is attached to the sample display field 21 or the drawing area 10 to draw a montage.

On the other hand, when the installed application program is started, as shown in FIG. 5, in addition to the drawing area screen 10, a sample display field 21, a style selection display field 22, a parts selection display Column 23, pattern value display column 24, left / right interlocking instruction column 25, O
An operation area screen 20 including a K column 26, a cancel column 27, and an initial setting column 28 is displayed.

In the drawing area screen 10, a drawing area of 128 × 128 dots is set by default. This is to output the montage image created by the device of the present embodiment to a tape writer (a product name of a printing device used for creating a title such as a file by printing characters and the like on a 24 mm wide adhesive tape, the same applies hereinafter). This is the size of the image that is assumed to be performed. When a narrower tape is used, or when the output device is a laser printer for outputting on A4 size paper, the drawing area is enlarged and enlarged.
It can also be reduced.

The sample display column 21 is a column for confirming a completed face, and a drawing area of 180 × 180 dots is secured. The style selection display column 22 is a column for displaying the selection result of the reference style of the face.
In the embodiment, as described above, the reference style of the face can be selected from “standard”, “thick”, “thin”, and “child”. In the figure, “child” is selected as the reference style of the face. Therefore, a montage image is created such that the entire face becomes a child-like image. When the mouse 5 is moved to move the mouse cursor to this column 22 and the right button provided on the mouse 5 is pressed (hereinafter, this operation is called right click),
In the forward direction, "Standard" → "Thick" → "Thin" → "Child" →
When the left button provided on the mouse 5 is pressed as “standard” → (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as left click), in the opposite direction, “child” → “thin” → “thick” → “standard” → "children"
→ The style selection state can be changed. If the right cursor key 3R is operated together with the Shift key 3S, the style selection state is changed in the forward direction in the same manner as the right click of the mouse 5, and if the left cursor key 3L is operated together with the Shift key 3S, the left click of the mouse 5 is performed. Similarly, the style selection state can be changed in the opposite direction.

The parts selection display field 23 includes hair, eyes, nose,
This is a column for displaying a part that is currently selected among the parts of the face such as the mouth. In the figure, “face outline” is selected as a part. Therefore, the “face outline” can be changed. For this column 23 as well, right-click with the mouse cursor,
The configuration is such that the part to be selected can be changed in the forward direction such as “hairstyle” → “face outline” → “eyebrows” → “eyes” →. In the key input, by operating the up and down cursor keys 3U and 3D, the part type can be changed in the forward direction and the reverse direction.

The pattern value display field 24 is a field for displaying, with a numerical value and a scroll bar, a value corresponding to the number of the actually selected pattern among a plurality of patterns of the part currently being selected. is there. The figure shows that the pattern No. 23 is selected from the 37 patterns from No. 1 to No. 37 as the face outline pattern. Regarding this column 24, when the mouse cursor is positioned and the left click button of the mouse 5 is pressed and dragged left and right, the scroll bar moves left and right to change the pattern number, and when the desired pattern number is released, the pattern is selected. Is configured to be able to be changed. In the key input, the right cursor key 3
By operating R, the selection number can be changed in a forward direction, and by operating the left cursor key 3L, the selection number can be changed in a reverse direction.

The left and right interlocking instruction column 25 is used to create a montage image in a “left and right interlocking mode” in which patterns and arrangements are symmetrical with respect to left and right parts, such as eyes and ears, or to perform pattern and arrangement. This is a field for instructing whether to create a montage image in the “left / right non-interlocked mode” in which the left and right are not targets. By setting this column 25 in the checked state (the state shown in the figure), the “left-right interlock mode” is selected. By moving the mouse cursor to this column 25 and left- or right-clicking, it is possible to switch between “left-right interlock mode” and “left-right non-interlock mode”. As key input, interlocking key 3
The mode is cyclically switched by pressing X.

In the OK column 26 and the cancel column 27, "O
A switch for inputting an instruction of "K" and "cancel". The initial setting column 28 is a switch for activating the initial setting mode. Both of these columns 2
By moving the mouse cursor to 6-28 and left or right clicking, it functions as a switch. When key input is performed, the user operates the OK key 3Y or the cancel key 3Z.

Next, the contents of the application program will be described. The application program is a program based on a main routine as shown in FIGS. The main routine first acquires and sets the previous montage data (S5). This is also a kind of resume function, and it is often easier to start work with reference to the previous montage creation result, rather than always creating a montage from a zero state. Note that the previous montage data has been registered in a storage device (such as a backup memory or hard disk) built in or external to the personal computer 9 by the montage determination processing (S95) shown at the end of the main routine.

Thus, the previous montage data is read from the backup memory or the hard disk, and
After setting the work area, a montage image is drawn based on this data (S10). The drawing based on the previous montage data is performed on the sample display field 21 of the display 7 as shown in FIG. In the following processing, the montage drawing until “OK” is input in S90 is also performed on the sample display field 21.

When the previously created montage image has been drawn, the montage creation process finally starts. In creating a montage, inputs from a mouse and a keyboard are taken in (S15), initial setting change processing (S20: YES, S25), style selection processing (S30: YES, S35), and part selection processing (S4).
0: YES, S45), part size change processing (S5)
0: YES, S55), left / right interlock mode setting processing (S6)
0: YES, S65), pattern selection processing (S70: Y)
ES, S75), parts movement processing (S80: YES, S
85), montage determination processing (S90: YES, S9)
5) The output image drawing process (S100), the enlargement / reduction process (S110: NO, S120), and the output data registration process (S110: YES, S130) are executed. Until you go to the montage decision process,
"Initial setting change processing" to "part movement processing" can be repeatedly executed, and each time these processings are executed, the montage drawing processing (S10) is repeated, and the latest montage image is displayed in the sample display field 21. It is configured as follows. In the “output image drawing processing” after the montage determination processing, the montage drawing is performed on the drawing area screen 10.

Next, details of each process will be described. The montage drawing processing is configured as shown in FIGS. In this process, first, an area for updating an image on the screen is obtained (A10). "Area to update image"
For example, when the previous montage data is first drawn, the entire area of the sample display field 21 is used. When the eye pattern is changed, the area becomes the eye area. The area is both the position and the position of the eye after the movement.

Next, an area occupied by the entire montage is obtained (A20). The occupied area of the entire montage is the entire area of the sample display field 21, and in this embodiment, it is 180.
× 180 dots. The display 7 has a higher resolution (for example, SVG of 800 × 600 dots).
A), a larger occupied area can be obtained.

Next, a bitmap data creation area is acquired and initialized in accordance with the update area (A30). When rendering “previous montage data”, 180 × 180 dots are acquired and initialized as a bitmap creation area. On the other hand, if you want to change the “eye” pattern,
"Bitmap data creation area" of only the portion corresponding to the occupied area of the eyes when the whole is 180 x 180 dots
Is obtained and initialized.

Next, a hairstyle which is a part to be positioned at the rearmost side is set as a drawing target part (A4).
0). Next, the original occupied area of the set drawing target part is enlarged or reduced to the size of the entire area acquired in A10 (A50). In the example, 4
Since the area occupied by each part is determined with 00 × 400 dots as the entire area, specifically, the area is reduced to 0.45 times. For example, standard style = "child" parts =
The original occupied area PAh of "hairstyle" is (10,15)
~ (389,399), which is (4.5,6.
75) to (175.05, 179.55). In the case of the right eye, the original occupied area PAeyeR is from (100, 198) to (187, 247) to (45, 89.1) to (84.15, 111.15).
Will be reduced to

Next, it is determined whether or not the occupied area reduced by A50 has a portion which overlaps with the update area (A50).
60). In the case of drawing based on "previous montage data", the occupied area of all parts overlaps with the update area, and is always determined to be "YES". But,
If the montage drawing process is being performed to change only the pattern of the "eye", "NO" because, for example, the occupied area for the "ear" does not overlap the update area.
Also comes out when it is determined.

If "YES" is determined, outline data is read out based on the pattern number selected for the part to be drawn and set in the work area (A70). Then, the coordinates of each reference point and auxiliary point constituting the outline data are converted so as to apply the part frame to the occupied area reduced by A50 (A80).

Next, it is determined whether or not the drawing target part is a face outline or an ear (A90). If determined to be “YES”, data for background removal is created based on the outline data subjected to the coordinate conversion in A80 (A10).
0). Next, outline data obtained in A80 and A1
Bitmap data is formed in the "bitmap data creation area" initialized in A30 based on the background removal data obtained in 00 (A110).

Then, the part to be drawn is changed to a part on the front side, and the processing of A50 and below is repeated until there is no remaining part (A120, A130). A60
If A is determined to be "NO", A70 to A110 are passed, and if A90 is determined to be "NO", A10 to A10
0 is passed.

When bitmap data conversion is completed for all parts in this way, the final bitmap data created in the "bitmap data creation area" is transferred to the frame buffer for montage drawing (A14).
0). As a result, a montage image is drawn in the sample display field 21.

FIG. 10 shows the progress of bitmap data conversion in the bitmap creation area when the entire face is drawn in order to make the processing during this period clearer. As shown, the hairstyle is first drawn (A), then the ears are drawn (B), the outline of the face is drawn (C), the bangs are drawn (D), and the eyebrows are drawn (E), Eyes are drawn (F),
The nose is drawn (G) and the mouth is drawn (H), and a montage image is completed in the “bitmap data creation area”. A montage image is drawn such that the final bitmap data (H) in the “bitmap data creation area” is pasted in the sample display field 21. Therefore, the face is instantaneously displayed in the sample display field, and the user does not feel "irritated" while using the outline data.

FIG. 11 shows the progress of bitmap data conversion in the "bitmap data creation area" when the mouth pattern is changed. As shown, first, a hairstyle is drawn (A), a contour of a face is drawn (B), and a mouth is drawn (C), and a montage image of an updated portion is completed in the “bitmap data creation area”. A montage image is drawn such that the bitmap data is attached to the mouth display area of the sample display field 21. In the case of the mouth, the bangs, ears, eyes, nose, and the like do not cover the update area and are not subject to bitmapping.

Next, the initial setting change processing will be described. The initial setting change process is configured as shown in FIGS. First, an initial setting screen 30 as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed (B10). The initial setting screen 30 includes a reference example setting section 31, a hairstyle setting section 32, and a face contour setting section 3
3, an eyebrow setting field 34, an eye setting field 35, an OK field 36, a cancel field 37, and a style selection display field 38.

The reference example setting column 31 includes "female idol", "OL", "mother", "salaryman",
This is a column for selecting a character from among a large number of characters such as "boys", "girls",... And displaying the selection result. To select a character, place the mouse cursor on the reference example setting field 31 and right-click or
This is executed by inputting the character numbers 1, 2, 3,... With the numeric keys 3NM. A method is also provided in which the character list 39 is displayed by pressing the left button of the mouse 5 twice in a short time (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as left double-click), and the character list 39 is selected from the list (see FIG. 3). (FIG. 15).

When a specific character is selected in the reference example setting column 31, attributes for hairstyle, face outline, eyebrows, and eyes are automatically selected for each character. In the embodiment, three types of hairstyle attributes, “short”, “semi-long”, and “long”, are defined.
Numbered in association with one of the attributes of the type. Specifically, the first to n-th are hairstyle patterns corresponding to “short”, the subsequent n + 1 to k (> n) are hairstyle patterns corresponding to “semi-long”, and the following k + 1 to Numbering is performed according to the attribute such that the number l (> k) is a hairstyle pattern corresponding to “long”. For the face outline, three types of attributes, "round face", "square", and "(home) base type"
For eyebrows, there are two attributes, "thick" and "thin".
For the eyes, three types of eyes are defined as "large", "small", and "thin".

The hairstyle setting section 32, the face outline setting section 33, the eyebrow setting section 34, and the eye setting section 35 are irrelevant to the character selected as the reference example by directly pointing the mouse cursor to each of them and right-clicking. Each attribute can be changed. However, if the character in the reference example setting column 31 is changed again after setting the attributes in these setting columns 32 to 35, the attributes set as defaults for the character are reset again with priority. Would. That is, these setting columns 32 to 35 are used for fine-tuning the attributes of each part after setting the character as a reference example. When attributes are set by key operation for each of the setting columns 32 to 35, a selection / display column can be designated by up / down cursor keys 3U and 3D, and attributes can be selected by left / right cursor keys 3L and 3R. It has become.

In the OK column 36 and the cancel column 37, "O
A switch for inputting an instruction of "K" and "cancel". The style selection display field 38 is a field of the same function as the style selection display field 22 on the operation area screen 20, and is configured so that the reference style of the face can be selected even in the initial setting change processing. is there.

After displaying the initial setting screen 30 configured as described above, inputs from the mouse and the keyboard are taken in (B20), and the reference example setting processing (B30: YES, B3)
5), hairstyle attribute change processing (B40: YES, B4)
5), face outline attribute change processing (B50: YES, B5)
5), attribute change processing of eyebrows (B60: YES, B6)
5) Execute one of the eye attribute change processing (B70: YES, B75). In these processes, whether cancellation is instructed and the routine exits (B80: YE)
S) The process can be repeatedly executed until OK is instructed and the process goes to the initial setting determination process (B90: YES → B100).

In the initial setting determination process of B100, the hairstyle,
Based on the attributes set for the outline of the face, eyebrows, and eyes, the number of the pattern to be preferentially selected from each part is determined, and these patterns are actually selected. And
A montage drawing process (B110) configured exactly the same as the previously described montage drawing process is executed. Thereby, a new montage image is drawn in the sample display field 21 based on the change of the initial setting.

When the montage image is drawn by the change of the initial setting, it is confirmed whether or not the image is OK (B120). If cancellation is instructed, the combination of the next candidate hairstyle, face outline, eyebrows, and eyes based on the initial setting is selected again (B130), and the montage is drawn again (B1).
Execute 10). Then, when OK is instructed, the initial setting screen 30 is deleted (B140), and the process exits this routine.

Here, in order to deepen the understanding of the processing contents of B100 and below, the reason why such processing is provided will be described with reference to specific examples. For example, assume that “female idol” is selected as a character in the reference example setting process.
By the way, there are various idols even though they are "female idols", such as singer "Nakamori A" and actress "Yakushimaru H". If the person who is trying to create a montage is similar to "Nakamori A", "Nakamori A" can be used as an initial setting and fine-tuning of each part can be done from there, but "Yakushi Maru H" If it is similar to you, I want to start with "Yakushimaru H". In this embodiment, the initial setting is made possible in order to meet such a demand.
If a large number of characters such as "A", "Yakushimaru H", and "Kikuchi M" can be selected, the number of selections increases in setting the reference example, and the operability is deteriorated.

Therefore, in response to such a demand, taking into account that the operability is not deteriorated, the attributes of the initial setting are determined in B100, and further, the next candidate and the next candidate satisfying the initial setting condition are further determined. , One after another, the display is changed to meet the above demand. As a result, the operator sets the first candidate = “Nakamori A” and the next candidate =
It is possible to easily select a pre-prepared portrait of a person such as “Yakushimaru H”, one after another = “Kikuchi M”, as the start condition. When the cancel field 37 is left-clicked or the cancel key 3Z is pressed together with the Shift key 3S, B130 is configured to reselect the previous candidate instead of the next candidate.

Next, the style selection processing (S35) will be described. The style selection can be executed in the initial setting change processing as described above, but the style selection processing (S35) here is processing for selecting a style on the operation area screen 20 as shown in FIG. This processing is performed as shown in FIG.
The input from the mouse and the keyboard is taken in (C10), and the style is selected (C2).
0), style is determined when OK is instructed (C30, C40).

Next, the part selection processing (S45) will be described. This processing is configured as shown in FIGS. First, when the part selection process is started, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, it is determined whether the selection of parts is performed by key input or by mouse (D10). In the case of key input, the parts are selected according to the instructions of the up and down cursor keys 3U and 3D as described above. (D20). On the other hand, in the case of mouse input, it is determined whether the input is a double click (press the button of the mouse 5 twice in a short time) or a single click (press the button of the mouse 5 once) (D30). In the case of a single click, the process proceeds to a single click process (D100), and in the case of a double click, the process proceeds to a double click process (D200).

In the single click process, as shown in FIG. 18, first, the coordinate data on the display at the click point of the mouse cursor (the position of the mouse cursor at the time of clicking; the same applies hereinafter) is fetched (D110).
Then, similarly to A20 in the montage drawing processing, an occupied area of the entire montage, that is, an entire area of the sample display field 21 is obtained (D120).

Next, a part corresponding to the foreground side of the face is set as a selection target part (D130). In addition,
When spectacles are used as parts, the eyes are set to the front side than the spectacles. Next, the original occupation area of the selection target part set in D130 is changed to D
The coordinate data when the size is reduced to the size of the entire area acquired in 120 is calculated (D140). This D14
The processing of 0 is the same processing as A50 of the montage drawing processing.

Next, coordinate data on the display when the occupied area of the selected part reduced in D140 is displayed in the sample display field 21 is calculated (D150). Then, it is determined whether or not the coordinate data obtained in D150 and the coordinate data of the mouse click point captured in D110 overlap (D160). If it is determined that they do not overlap, it is determined whether there is a part located on the back side of the currently set part (D1).
70) In some cases, the part to be selected is reset to the part located on the back side, and the process returns to D140 (D18).
0). In this way, the processing of D140 and subsequent steps is repeated until a part determined to be “YES” in D160 appears (D1
80). On the other hand, if "YES" is determined in D160, the name of the selected part is displayed in the part selection display column 23 of the operation area screen 20, and a state in which pattern selection is possible for the part is set (D190). .

On the other hand, in the double-click process, as shown in FIG. 19, first, processes having the same contents as those of D110 to D180 are executed (D210 to D290). Then, after D290, as a feature of the double-click processing, for example, a pattern list table 40 as shown in FIG. 20 is superimposed and displayed on the operation area screen 20 (D300). This figure is a list when bangs are selected as parts.

Next, the part size changing process (S55) will be described. This processing is configured as shown in FIG. First, a mouse operation is read to specify what is specified as a part to be moved (E1).
0). This identification is performed by grasping the overlapping relationship between the mouse click point and the occupied area of the part, similarly to the above D110 to D180. When the part to be moved can be specified in this way, the original occupied area of the part to be moved is acquired (E20). If the child's left eye is specified, the original occupied area is PAeyeL = (212,198) to (299,299) in Table 1.
247) is obtained.

Next, a part size changing menu 50 as shown in FIG. 22A is displayed (E30). At this time, the current occupied area is compared with the original occupied area, and the current state is checked (E40).
Mark the current state in the check mark (E5
0). FIG. 22A illustrates a state where the size has already been changed to an eye slightly larger than the original occupied area.

Next, it is determined which state has been selected and confirmed in the menu 50 from the operation states of the mouse and the keys (E60 to E100), and the occupied area is changed to each size (E110 to E150). ). Specifically, the occupied area is returned to the rectangle of the original occupied area in “standard” (E110), and is enlarged to a rectangle obtained by expanding the original occupied area by 1.2 times vertically and horizontally in “somewhat large” (E120).
In "Slightly small", the original occupied area is reduced to a rectangle of 0.8 times the height and width (E130), and in "Vertical", the original occupied area is made a rectangle which is 1.2 times the height and 0.9 times the width ( E140) In the “horizontal”, the original occupied area is made into a rectangle in which the height is 0.9 times and the width is 1.2 times (E150).

When the occupied area is changed in this way, the occupied area is updated with the area center of the current occupied area coincident with the area center of the changed occupied area (E160).
Then, the part size change processing menu 50 is closed (E180). If a cancel operation is performed before any state such as “standard” is determined, the menu 50 is closed without updating the occupied area (E17).
0 = YES).

When the part size changing process is executed, a montage drawing process (S10) is executed as shown in the main routine (FIG. 6). FIG. 22 (B)
Shows a drawing example in which the left eye is selected as a part to be resized and both eyes were originally "slightly large" but only the left eye has been changed to "slightly small".

Next, left / right interlocking mode setting processing (S65)
Will be described. This process is configured as shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether a mode change has been instructed (F10). F10 becomes "YES" each time the left / right interlocking mode display field is clicked with the mouse or the left / right interlocking key 3X is pressed, and then it is determined whether or not the previous mode was interlocking (F20). . If the previous time was "interlocking", the mode is changed to "non-interlocking" (F30), and the check mark in the left and right interlocking instruction column 25 is cleared (F40). On the other hand, if the previous time was "non-interlocking", the mode is changed to "interlocking" (F50), and a check mark is added to the left and right interlocking instruction column 25 (F60). In conjunction with the addition (F60) or deletion (F40) of the check mark, data indicating that fact is stored in the RAM.

Next, the pattern selection processing (S75) will be described. This process is configured as shown in FIG. First, it is determined whether the target parts for pattern selection are the left and right “eyes” or “ears” (G10).
If "YES" is determined, it is further determined whether or not the left-right interlock mode is set based on the data stored in the RAM (G20: YES). If the left and right interlocking mode is set, the paired parts are also forcibly set as pattern selection target parts (G30). That is, when the interlocking mode is on, for example, if "right eye" is set as a pattern selection target part, "left eye" is forcibly set as a selection target part, and the following processing is performed. It is.
On the other hand, the left and right non-interlocking mode is set (G20:
NO), if parts other than "eyes" and "ears" are selected (G10: NO), G is selected for the selected parts.
Perform processing of 40 or less. In the subsequent processing, first, it is determined whether the pattern is selected by key input or by mouse (G40). In the case of key input, the pattern is selected according to the instruction of the left and right cursor keys 3L and 3R as described above. (G50). On the other hand, in the case of mouse input, it is determined whether the part selection, which is the premise of this processing, has been made by a double click or a single click (G6).
0) In the case of a single click, the process proceeds to a single click process (G100), and in the case of a double click, the process proceeds to a double click process (G200).

In the process at the time of single click, as shown in FIG. 25, first, it is confirmed whether or not the mouse cursor for selecting a pattern has moved to the pattern value display section 24 (G110). When moving to the pattern value display section 24, the scroll bar is moved in response to the mouse click / drag operation (G120), and the scroll bar is stopped at the time of the release operation and the pattern value is determined (G130).

On the other hand, when the mouse cursor has not moved to the pattern value display section 24, it is determined whether the mouse has been right-clicked or left-clicked (G140).
If right-clicking, the pattern value is incremented (G1
50) If left click, the pattern value is decremented (G160). In G150 and G160, the position of the slider in the pattern value display field 24 is updated in accordance with the increment or decrement. Here, when the pattern value reaches the maximum value by the increment, the next right-click shifts to the minimum value, and then the increment is performed again. The same applies to decrement. G130, G150 or G
This routine is exited every time the pattern value is determined at 160,
The montage drawing processing of S10 is executed, and the pattern currently selected is drawn again on the sample screen.

In the process at the time of double clicking, as shown in FIG. 26, it is first determined whether or not the mouse cursor has been clicked outside the pattern list 40 (G210). If clicked outside the pattern list 40, the list 40 is deleted and the process exits (G260).

On the other hand, the mouse cursor changes to the pattern list 4
When clicked in 0, whether the click point is on the pattern, on the scroll bar,
It is determined whether the switch is on the OK or cancel switch (G220, G230, G240, G250). If it is on the pattern, the pattern value of the pattern is set as a selection candidate (G225). When it is on the scroll bar, the contents of the list are scrolled (G235). O
When it is on the K switch, the pattern value selected as a candidate is adopted, the slider value of the pattern value and the display column 24 is updated (G245), the list is deleted (G260), and the routine exits. . When it is on the cancel switch, the pattern value is not updated,
The list is deleted as it is (G260), and the routine exits.

As described above, in the pattern selection processing, the left and right parts can be set in the linked mode and the non-linked mode, so that the following effects are obtained. For example, FIG.
When the face of a girl with both eyes wide open was created as shown in (A), when the non-interlocking mode is set and the left eye pattern is changed to the one with eyes closed, FIG. The face can be winked as shown in FIG. On the other hand, if the interlocking mode is set from the state shown in FIG. 1A to a state in which the left eye is closed, the girl becomes a girl with both eyes closed as shown in FIG. As for the face of (B) and the face of (C), only the same eye closed state was selected as the left eye pattern, but they were completely different due to the difference between the left-right interlock mode and the non-interlock mode. It can be a facial expression. In order to make the face look completely different, it is sufficient to have a closed eye pattern, and it is not necessary to increase the amount of patterns to be stored.

Here, it is possible to create a winking face without increasing the amount of patterns even if only the non-interlocking mode is set. From the expression of FIG. If it is changed, the operation amount increases. In contrast, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to switch to the interlocking mode, so that the expression in FIG. 7A can be easily changed from the expression in FIG. Can be changed.

As described above, in the embodiment, by making it possible to switch between the interlocking mode and the non-interlocking mode, it is possible to create many facial expressions without increasing the storage amount of the pattern, This does not lead to an increase in the amount of operation when changing the expression while unifying the ears.

Further, in the parts selection processing and the pattern selection processing, the pattern can be selected by designating the parts directly on the sample screen by clicking the mouse, so that the operator should change the pattern without moving his / her eyes. Parts can be specified.
In the processing at the time of single click, the pattern is changed and displayed simply by repeating the mouse click without moving the line of sight, so that the image drawn by the operator in the head is not broken and operability is improved.

On the other hand, since the pattern list 40 can be displayed by double-clicking, it is possible to directly compare the subtle differences between the patterns and select a pattern, which greatly improves the operability. In some cases. For example, the image is hardened to some extent,
Furthermore, it is effective when a subtle difference in facial expression is desired.

Next, the part moving process (S85) will be described. This process is configured as shown in FIG. In the parts moving process, restrictions are set according to what the moving target parts are, and therefore, first, what the moving target parts are is grasped (H10). The processing of H10 is performed in the same manner as grasping which part is selected in the parts selection processing.

When the movement target part grasped in this way is “hairstyle” or “face outline” (H20: YE
S), exit this routine as it is. When the part to be moved is “eyebrows”, “nose”, “mouth”, or “bangs” (H30: YES), the mouse drag operation amount is captured (H32), and the horizontal drag operation amount is forcibly set. 0 (H34), and it is determined whether the amount of drag operation in the vertical direction is out of the outline of the face (H3).
6) If it is outside, it is regarded as 0 and the process exits this routine as it is, and the vertical movement amount is calculated only when it is not outside (H38).

Movement target parts are left and right "eyes" or "ears".
(H40: YES), first, it is determined whether the left-right interlocking mode is set (H42). If the left-right interlocking mode is off, that is, if the left-right non-interlocking mode is set, the drag operation amount of the mouse cursor in the vertical and horizontal directions is calculated as the movement amount of the part (H
44).

On the other hand, if the left-right interlocking mode is on (set), the paired parts are set as parts to be moved to the left-right symmetric position (H50). That is, when the linked mode is on, for example, if the “right eye” is set as the moving target part, the “left eye” is forcibly set as the moving target part and moved to the symmetric position. It is configured as In the subsequent processing, the movement amounts of both the left and right parts are calculated (H52). Specifically, the value of the amount of drag operation of the mouse cursor in the vertical and horizontal directions is calculated as the movement amount of the part specified by the operator, and the value obtained by inverting the sign of the horizontal operation amount is forced by H50. Is calculated as the movement amount of the part designated as the movement target part.

As described above, in the part moving process, the movable range is limited according to the type of the part. As a result, even when an operator with a low skill level inadvertently drags the mouse during the movement of the parts, the arrangement does not collapse into a messed-up look.

More specifically, in the case where the operator wants to move the nose slightly upward from the initial face shown in FIG. 29A as shown in FIG. When the mouse is dragged diagonally as shown by the arrow a, the occupied area PAn of the nose moves only upward as shown by the arrow b. As a result, the operator can move the nose with peace of mind, and can smoothly change the arrangement even if he is not an expert.

In this part movement process,
As the eyes and ears can be switched between the left-right interlocking mode and the non-interlocking mode, the following effects can be obtained. A specific example of the effect of the interlocking mode is as follows. When the face in FIG. 30A is changed to a face with narrow eyes as shown in FIG. A single operation of moving is very simple. In addition, since they are arranged at left and right target positions, their positions are also accurate.

On the other hand, the effect of being able to take the non-interlocking mode can be easily understood from the specific example of FIG. In this example, when creating a face with only one ear as shown in FIG.
All you have to do is move your right ear behind your face so you can easily get a face with only one ear. In this case, as in the case of creating a winking expression, it is a matter of course that there is also a storage amount reduction effect that many expressions can be created without increasing the pattern storage amount.

Next, the montage determination processing (S95) to the output data registration processing (S130) will be described. As described above, the montage determination processing (S95) selects the style using the previous montage data or the one that has been changed by changing the initial settings as a starting point,
After the operation of selecting a pattern, moving parts, changing the part size, etc., and finally obtaining a face montage that this is all right, click the OK field 26 of the operation area screen 20 or press the OK key 3Y. It is performed by doing. In this montage determination processing, the pattern value of each part selected at that time and the size and arrangement of the occupied area of each part are stored in the storage device. This is,
At the next execution, it is obtained and set as previous montage data by S5 of the main routine.

The output image drawing process (S100) is the same as the montage drawing process (S10) as shown in FIG. 32. First, the default value of the drawing area (128 × 128 dots in the embodiment) ) Is read (J
10) Acquire and initialize a bitmap data creation area corresponding to the drawing area (J20). Hereinafter, the drawing area and the original area of the montage image (400 × 400
Dot) and (J30), hairstyle, ears,
Parts are set in order from the back side, such as the outline of the face, ... (J40), and the outline data is converted into bitmap data while the size is enlarged or reduced according to the ratio calculated in J30 (J50). Then, when the bitmap data of all the parts has been converted (J60), the final bitmap data of the entire face is transferred to the drawing frame buffer and drawn toward the drawing area screen 10 (J70). As a result, a montage image is first drawn on the drawing area screen 10 provided in the lower half of the display with dot roughness for tape writer output.

The enlargement / reduction processing (S120) enlarges / reduces the montage image on the drawing area screen 10 in a similar manner. The details are as shown in FIG.
It is determined whether or not an instruction for enlargement has been made by right-clicking the mouse or pressing the right cursor key 3R (K10). If not, it is determined whether or not an instruction for reduction has been made by left-clicking or pressing the left cursor key 3L. (K20), otherwise the process exits. If “YES” is determined in K10, predetermined vertical and horizontal dots are added to the current drawing area to enlarge the drawing area (K30), and the process exits. K
If "20" is "YES", predetermined vertical and horizontal dots are subtracted from the current drawing area to reduce the drawing area (K40), and the process exits.

After the drawing area is enlarged or reduced in this way, the above-described output image drawing processing (S100) is executed, and the image after the enlargement or reduction is drawn on the drawing area screen 10.
When the montage image can be enlarged or reduced to a size suitable for the output medium intended by the operator in this way, if OK is input, the process proceeds to output data registration processing (S130), and the output bitmap data is stored in the storage device. Stored. If this bitmap data is transferred to an output device such as a tape writer or a laser printer, a montage image can be output on an adhesive tape or paper.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the montage image can be enlarged or reduced according to the medium to be finally output. And the enlargement / reduction in this case is also
Since a method of converting the outline data into bitmap data after enlarging / reducing the outline data is adopted, a high-quality montage image can be obtained without the jaggedness of dots being noticeable by the enlarging.

Finally, some technical ideas included in this embodiment will be exemplified. [Exemplary Example 1] A montage that does not require skill in operation in order to widen the possibility of expressing a montage image by arranging parts in a well-balanced manner and changing the aspect ratio of the same pattern in various ways to be used. Storage means for storing a plurality of patterns for each part of the face such as hair, eyes, nose, mouth, etc .; occupation area determining means for determining an occupation area of each part on a screen; Selecting means for selecting a desired pattern of a desired part from a display part; and display size determining means for determining a display size of the pattern so that the pattern of the selected part fits in an occupied area of the part in a predetermined state. And pattern display means for displaying a pattern in the occupied area determined for the part at the determined display size.

According to this montage creating apparatus, the occupation area determining means determines the occupation area of each part on the screen, and the selection means selects each part of the face such as hair, eyes, nose and mouth. Is selected, the display size determining means determines a display size for each part pattern to fit in the occupied area in a predetermined state. Then, the pattern display means displays the pattern of each part on the screen based on the display size. Thus, a montage image is created.

Therefore, when determining the occupation area, for example, if the occupation area is a rectangular occupation area, by changing the aspect ratio, one pattern can be displayed in various forms. Therefore, it is possible to create a variety of montage images without increasing the amount of stored patterns.

Since the occupied area is determined, if the occupied area is, for example, a rectangle, it does not require much skill in determining the aspect ratio. By defining the occupied area, the display form of the pattern can be uniquely determined. Therefore, it is not necessary to perform a troublesome operation like the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-68220.

Here, in this montage creating apparatus, it is preferable that the occupied area determining means includes a face type occupied area defining means for predetermining the balance of the occupied area of each part according to the type of face. With this configuration, for example, an adult's face can be immediately changed to a child's face simply by selecting a face type. That is, when an adult face type is selected first and a pattern of each part is selected, the display size is determined so that these patterns fit in the respective occupied areas in a predetermined state, and the adult face is displayed. However, when switching to the child's face type as it is, the display is changed so that each pattern is applied to the occupied area for the child's face type without reselecting a new pattern, and the display is immediately changed to the child's face. Montage images can be created.

Therefore, it is possible to create an interesting montage image such as predicting a child's child's face from an adult's face, thereby further expanding its use and responding to various demands of users. Becomes possible. In addition, these montage creating apparatuses further include an occupied area position adjusting means for adjusting the position of the occupied area of the part on the screen, or further adjust the size of the occupied area of the part on the screen. It is more preferable to provide an occupied area size adjusting means.

With such a configuration, the degree of freedom of expression is further increased, for example, by changing the height and interval of the eyes, and expressing the same type of eyes as large eyes and small eyes. An operation of extending or contracting both vertically and horizontally can be performed by a single operation of changing the occupied area, which is much more operable than the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-68220. Is good.

The pattern applied to such an occupied area may be expressed in a bitmap format.
More preferably, the storage unit stores the pattern of each part as outline data, and the display size determining unit stores the pattern of the selected part in the occupied area in a predetermined state in the outline data state. It is preferable that the display size is determined so as to fit. With outline data, even if the aspect ratio or the like is changed, when the data is finally displayed on the screen, the jagged bits do not become noticeable and look beautiful.

The above technical idea can be grasped from the embodiment. [Exemplary Example 2] A montage creation device capable of expressing various faces without deteriorating the display quality even at the time of enlargement / reduction and consequently reducing the capacity of the part pattern as hair,
Storage means for storing a plurality of patterns represented by outline data for each part of the face such as eyes, nose, mouth, etc .; selecting means for selecting a desired pattern of a desired part from the storage means; And a montage image display means for displaying a montage image on a screen based on the outline data of the selected pattern.

According to this montage creating apparatus, the montage image is displayed on the screen based on the outline data of the pattern, so that even if the entire image is enlarged, the edges of the dots do not stand out. On the other hand, even if the image is reduced, the details are hardly crushed. The montage creating apparatus may further include an enlargement / reduction unit that enlarges / reduces the pattern of the selected part in the form of outline data. In this case, for example, even if only a certain part is enlarged, the edge of the dot in the display is the same as that of the other parts displayed at the standard magnification, and the degree of prominence of the dot edge in the entire image is constant. Become.

In these montage creating apparatuses, the montage image display means temporarily converts the outline data of the pattern of the selected part into image display information in a bitmap representation; More preferably, there is provided bitmap display means for displaying a montage image based on the image display information in the bitmap representation.

For example, if an attempt is made to display the outline data on the screen, as experienced with CAD or the like,
Since the display is made in such a way that the lines are drawn in order, especially when an operation to change the display such as enlargement, reduction, movement, etc., the display is made to redraw the line from the beginning, making the viewer irritated give. On the other hand, according to the above-described configuration, when the image is displayed on the screen, the image is expressed in a bitmap. Therefore, the line is not redrawn and the display is changed so that the screen is switched at a stroke. Therefore, there is an effect that the viewer is not irritated.

In this case, when an operation for changing the display such as changing, enlarging, reducing or moving the pattern is performed, the bitmapping means changes the image before and after the change in the whole image. An image change range extracting means for extracting a power range, and a partial bitmap forming means for forming image display information by a bitmap representation of the change only for the extracted range, wherein the bitmap display means It is more preferable to include a partial display changing unit that changes the display of the montage image in the extracted range based on the partial image display information formed by the partial bitmapping unit. .

When only the eye pattern is changed or moved, it is not necessary to redo the bitmap for a portion that does not overlap the eyes, such as the mouth and nose, and the processing time for switching the display is short. It will be done. The technical idea described above can be grasped from the embodiment.

[Exemplary Example 3] As a montage creating apparatus in which the balance and position between parts in a face are not excessively collapsed, a plurality of patterns are stored for each part of the face such as hair, eyes, nose and mouth. Storage means, a selection means for selecting a desired pattern of a desired part from the storage means, a montage image display means for displaying a montage image on a screen based on the selected pattern, and the montage image display means And a display position changing means for changing a position of the part displayed on the screen by the display position changing means, wherein the display position changing means determines the degree of freedom of position change according to the type of the part. The present invention also includes an apparatus having a position change determining means.

According to this montage creating apparatus, hair,
After displaying the montage image on the screen based on the pattern selected for each part of the face such as eyes, nose, mouth, etc.,
The position where each part should be displayed can be changed. When the display position is changed, the position change determining means is operated, and the position can be changed only within the position changeable range according to the type of the part. In other words, position change beyond the position changeable range is restricted.

As the position change determining means, specifically, for a pair of left and right parts such as eyes and ears, when the position of one part of the pair is changed, the other part becomes the left / right target position. Can be restricted to move to. As a result, it is possible to prevent the right eye and the left eye from being out of balance or the right eye being shifted toward the center.

As another specific example, the position change determining means restricts a part to be arranged on the center line of the face, such as the nose and mouth, so that the position can be changed only in the vertical direction. I can put it. This prevents the nose from shifting left and right and the mouth from shifting left and right.

Furthermore, the position change determining means may limit the position of a part to be a base of the face, such as the outline of the face and the hair, so that the position cannot be changed. In this case, basic parts such as the hair and the outline of the face do not move by mistake.

Alternatively, the position change determining means includes an eye,
Parts that should fit inside the face, such as the nose and mouth, can be restricted so that their positions cannot be changed outside the contour of the face. In this case, even if the operator mistakenly moves the eyes or the like largely, the operator will not protrude from the face.

As described above, according to the present invention, the range in which the position can be changed is limited depending on the parts constituting the face. Therefore, even if the operator inadvertently instructs the movement, the position can be significantly reduced. The relationship is not broken, and correction is easy.
Therefore, even if it is not a skilled person, the arrangement of the parts in the face can be freely changed within an optimum range, and the operation is simplified.

The above technical idea can be grasped from the embodiment. [Example 4] A montage creating device that can express a wink or the like without increasing the memory capacity, and does not bother moving or changing a pair of parts.
Storage means for storing a plurality of patterns for each part of the face such as eyes, nose, mouth, etc .; selecting means for selecting a desired pattern of a desired part from the storage means; In a montage creating apparatus, comprising: a montage image display means for displaying a montage image on a screen, wherein the selecting means independently selects only one of the pair of left and right parts such as eyes and ears. And a simultaneous selection mode for simultaneously selecting both pairs.

According to the montage creating apparatus, by switching to the independent selection mode, the selection means can be switched to one eye,
Since you can select only one pattern such as one ear and the other,
It is not necessary to provide a winked eye pattern for expressing the winking state. On the other hand, if the mode is switched to the simultaneous selection mode, the left and right eyes, ears, and the like can be selected at the same time. At the time of normal part selection, a pair of parts can be simultaneously selected by a single selection operation as in the related art, and there is no trouble.

Further, another montage creating apparatus according to the present invention comprises a storage means for storing a plurality of types of patterns for each part of the face such as hair, eyes, nose, mouth, etc .; Selection means for selecting a pattern, a montage image display means for displaying a montage image on the screen based on the selected pattern, and parts to be displayed on the screen by the montage image display means. A montage creating device comprising: a display position changing unit that changes a position; wherein the display position changing unit is configured to independently move only one of the pair with respect to a pair of left and right parts such as eyes and ears; It is characterized in that it can be switched between a simultaneous movement mode in which both pairs are simultaneously moved.

According to this montage creating apparatus, by switching to the independent movement mode, rich expressions such as shifting one eye to the center and changing the way of the left and right ears can be realized, and furthermore, the amount of storage is increased. Need not be increased. On the other hand, if you switch to the simultaneous movement mode, you can change the height of the left and right eyes, ears, etc. at the same time, or change the distance between the eyes while keeping the left and right objects, so there is no trouble when moving the normal parts .

The above technical idea can be grasped from the embodiment. [Exemplary Example 5] A montage creating apparatus that allows an initial image to be selected from a certain or more variation without fixing the initial image, and includes a plurality of parts for each face part such as hair, eyes, nose, and mouth. Means for storing the pattern in association with the feature information on the montage expression, and setting the feature information on the montage expression including the pattern to be preferentially selected when selecting the pattern of each part from the storage means. A first candidate pattern for at least some of the parts is selected based on the setting contents of the priority condition setting means and the priority condition setting means, and a montage image of the selected pattern is displayed on a screen as an initial image. An initial image change instructing unit for instructing a change of an initial image in the montage creating apparatus including the initial image display unit; When the change of the initial image is instructed by the indicating means, the pattern as the next candidate satisfying the setting condition of the priority condition setting means is re-selected for at least some of the parts, and the initial image on the screen is selected. And an initial image changing means for changing to the next candidate montage image with the re-designated pattern.

According to the montage creating device, when the priority condition setting means sets the characteristic information of a certain type of face, the initial image displaying means sets the
A first candidate pattern for at least some of the parts is selected, and a face as an initial image is displayed. At this time,
If the image of the initial image is different, the initial image change instructing means instructs to change the initial image. Then, the initial image changing means reselects the pattern as the next candidate satisfying the setting condition of the priority condition setting means for at least some of the parts, and changes the pattern to the initial image based on the next candidate.
After displaying the initial image closest to the image in this way, the process shifts to individual part changes. As a result, the initial image can be selected with some flexibility, and a montage image that matches the user's image can be created more quickly.

Here, in the montage creating apparatus, the initial image change instructing means is configured to be able to instruct to return to the initial image displayed immediately before, and the return to the immediately preceding display is instructed. At this time, it is more preferable to include an initial image returning unit for returning to the immediately preceding montage image.

Since the image closest to the image is relative, the operability is further improved by immediately returning to the previous candidate as well as the next candidate. As described above, according to the montage creating apparatus of the present invention, not only the feature information for preferentially selecting each part can be set, but also the initial image itself can be selected to some extent flexibly. Compared to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-338877, in which only the priority is determined, the start condition for creating a montage can be easily brought closer to one's own image, and the operability is remarkably improved. It is possible to reach a target montage image quickly even without a skilled person.

The above technical idea can be grasped from the embodiment. [Exemplary Example 6] As a montage creating apparatus capable of selecting a pattern without dividing an image of an operator, storage means for storing a plurality of patterns for each part of a face such as hair, eyes, nose, mouth, etc., A montage creating apparatus comprising: a selection unit that selects a desired pattern of a desired part from the storage unit; and a montage image display unit that displays a montage image on a screen based on the selected pattern. An arbitrary point designation means for designating an arbitrary point on the screen displaying the montage image, and a correspondence relationship between the point designated by the arbitrary point designation means and the display position of each part constituting the montage image. A part discriminating means for discriminating a part corresponding to the designated point based on the designated point, and a part discriminating by the part discriminating means. For it, it contains those characterized in that a selection start means for the selection of the pattern state capable of starting from the storage means.

According to the montage creating apparatus, when an arbitrary point on the screen is designated by the arbitrary point designating means, the parts are determined based on the correspondence between the designated point and the display position of each part constituting the montage image. The determining means determines a part corresponding to the designated point. Then, based on the result of the part discrimination, the selection starting means sets a state in which the selection of a pattern for the part can be started from the storage means.

Accordingly, the operator can specify a part whose pattern is to be changed without moving his / her eyes from the screen, and can select an optimal pattern without dividing the image. Furthermore, as a montage creating device that facilitates relative comparison when selecting a pattern, in the montage creating device, the selection initiating means displays a list of patterns of parts for which selection of a pattern can be started as an image. List display means, a second arbitrary point designation means for designating an arbitrary point on an image displayed by the list display means, and a list designated by the second arbitrary point designation means. A pattern determining unit that determines a pattern corresponding to the designated point based on a correspondence relationship with a display position of each pattern; and changing a display of the montage image based on the pattern determined by the pattern determining unit. And a pattern changing means.

According to the montage creating apparatus, for a part whose pattern selection can be started by designating an arbitrary point on the screen, a list of patterns belonging to the part is displayed as an image. Then, by specifying an arbitrary point on this image, a pattern corresponding to the specified point is determined based on the correspondence between the specified point and the display position of each pattern displayed in a list, Change the display of montage images.

As a result, the operator can select an optimum pattern while comparing the patterns as images, and can easily select a pattern that is closer to his / her preference. These are also technical ideas that can be grasped from the embodiments. [Example 7] From the examples, at least these examples 1 to
Although the technical idea of Example 6 can be grasped, the technical idea of Examples 1 to 6 is further arbitrarily combined with two or more technical ideas, as is clear from the summary of the embodiment. Of course, all are included.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. For example, an occupied area of a part or a part frame may be represented by a circle instead of a rectangle. However, the present invention can be implemented in various other modes.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a montage device of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of outline data according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a reference style of a face in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in an image in each reference style in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of an initial screen when an application program is started in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a main routine in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a main routine in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a montage drawing process in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a montage drawing process in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing the progress of bitmap data conversion for the entire face in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the progress of bitmap data conversion for only the eyes in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an initial setting change process in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an initial setting change process in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of an initial setting screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of an initial setting screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a style selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a part selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a part selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a part selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of a screen during a part selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a part size changing process in the embodiment.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram of a screen during a part size changing process in the embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a left-right interlock mode setting process in the embodiment.

FIG. 24 is a flowchart of a pattern selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart of a process at the time of a single click during a pattern selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart of processing at the time of double-click during pattern selection processing in the embodiment.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram of a screen during a pattern selection process in the embodiment.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart of a part moving process in the embodiment.

FIG. 29 is an explanatory diagram of a screen during a part moving process in the embodiment.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram of a screen during a part moving process in the embodiment.

FIG. 31 is an explanatory diagram of a screen during a part moving process in the embodiment.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart of an output image drawing process in the embodiment.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart of enlargement / reduction processing in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Montage creation device, 3 ... Keyboard,
3L: left cursor key, 3NM: numeric key, 3
R: right cursor key, 3S: Shift key, 3
U: Up cursor key, 3D: Down cursor key,
3X: left / right interlocking key, 3Y: OK key, 3Z
..Cancel key, 5 ... mouse, 7 ... display, 9 ... personal computer, 10 ...
Drawing area screen, 20 ... operation area screen, 21 ... sample display field, 22 ... style selection display field, 23
..Part selection display field, 24 ... Pattern value display field,
25 ... left and right interlocking instruction column, 26 ... OK column, 27
..Cancel column, 28 ... Initial setting column, 30 ...
Initial setting screen, 31: Reference example setting field, 32: Hair style setting field, 33: Face contour setting field, 34: Eyebrow setting field, 35: Eye setting field, 36 ...・ OK column, 37
... Cancel column, 38 ... Style selection display column,
40 ... pattern list, PAh, PAf, ... parts occupation area, PFeyeL ... parts frame.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing a plurality of patterns for each part of a face such as hair, eyes, nose, mouth, etc., a selection means for selecting a desired pattern of a desired part from the storage means, Montage image display means for displaying a montage image on the screen based on the selected pattern; and display position changing means for changing the position of the part displayed on the screen by the montage image display means. In the montage creating apparatus, the display position changing means determines whether or not the position can be changed according to the type of the part, and for each part whose position can be changed, the position change determining means for determining the direction and the amount of the position change. A montage creation device comprising: 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position change determining means restricts a part to be arranged on the center line of the face, such as a nose and a mouth, so that the position can be changed only in the vertical direction. The montage creation device according to claim 1. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position change determining means restricts the position of a part to be a base of the face, such as a contour of the face, hair, etc., so that the position cannot be changed.
Alternatively, the montage creating apparatus according to claim 2. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the position change determining means restricts a part such as an eye, a nose, a mouth, etc., which should fit inside the face so that the position cannot be changed outside the contour of the face. The montage creating device according to claim 1.