JP2006252467A - Image processing system and image processing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique capable of appropriately determining an interference between an original virtual object and a copy virtual object. <P>SOLUTION: A system and method for image processing comprises the steps of: excluding the copy virtual object from a target for calculating an interference with the original virtual object; setting the copy virtual object satisfying a designated condition as a target for calculating an interference with the original virtual object (S303 and S304); and calculating an interference with the original virtual object only for the virtual object which is set as a target for calculating an interference with the original virtual object. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for arranging a virtual object in a virtual space.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a CG video presentation device that displays a 3D modeled CG video. In a general video game or CAD system, an operator can operate the position and orientation of a CG object by specifying the position and orientation of the CG using an input device such as a keyboard or a joystick.

  Some virtual reality presentation systems input a position / posture of a CG object by a position / posture sensor, and give a feeling that an operator handles the CG object in space.

  A determination method for detecting interference (collision) between CG objects being moved by an operator in real time has been put into practical use, for example, in a game system. In the virtual reality presentation system, a more realistic experience is made possible by expressing whether the CG operated by the user using the position and orientation sensor collides with another CG.

  In addition, it is conventionally possible to duplicate a CG object in accordance with an operator's instruction and arrange it in a three-dimensional space. What is necessary is just to duplicate the data of the designated CG object at the time when the instruction is given and arrange it at the designated location.

  Using these already-implemented methods, it is possible to construct a system in which CG objects having the same shape are arranged one after another in a space. For example, a CG object is moved by a position and orientation sensor, and the CG is duplicated and fixed at that position. By moving the CG object operated by the position / orientation sensor to another position and repeating duplication / fixing, the CG objects can be arranged one after another in the three-dimensional space of the CG.

If another CG is to be placed between CGs that have already been placed, notification of interference is made when the CG object is moved to that position, so that no further CG objects can be placed at that location. You can also. This system is effective, for example, as a system for virtually verifying how many objects of a certain shape can be placed in a specific size box.
JP 2004-062758 A

  In a system in which CG objects can be copied while checking for interference between CG objects in real time, the copied CG object is displayed only in the position and orientation at the time of copying, and the copy source CG object continues to be displayed. The user continues to move and display while operating using the position and orientation sensor.

  In this case, at the time immediately after copying, both the CG objects are close to each other and interfere with each other. Therefore, in the conventional system, it is immediately determined and notified that there is interference. Here, assuming that an interference notification method is adopted in which a buzzer is generated when interference occurs, in the conventional method, the buzzer immediately occurs every time a CG copy is made, and the operator makes a copy source CG. The buzzer did not stop until it was moved to a position where there was no interference.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a technique for appropriately determining an interference state between an original virtual object and a duplicate virtual object.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, for example, an image processing method of the present invention comprises the following arrangement.

That is, a duplication process for duplicating an original virtual object placed in the virtual space;
A first setting step of setting the virtual object duplicated in the duplication step to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
A determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied in the replication step;
A second setting step of setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition in the determination step as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
Only a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object includes a calculation step of calculating an interference state with the original virtual object.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, for example, an image processing method of the present invention comprises the following arrangement.

That is, an acquisition step of acquiring the position and orientation of the pointing tool that the operator holds and operates on the hand;
An arrangement step of arranging the original virtual object in the position and orientation acquired in the acquisition step;
A duplication step of duplicating the original virtual object arranged in the arrangement step;
A first setting step of setting the virtual object duplicated in the duplication step to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
A determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied in the replication step;
A second setting step of setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition in the determination step as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
Only a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object includes a calculation step of calculating an interference state with the original virtual object.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, for example, an image processing apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement.

That is, a duplicating means for duplicating the original virtual object arranged in the virtual space;
First setting means for setting the virtual object duplicated by the duplicating means to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
Determining means for determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied by the copying means;
Second setting means for setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition by the determination means as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
Only a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object is provided with calculation means for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object.

  In order to achieve the object of the present invention, for example, an image processing apparatus of the present invention comprises the following arrangement.

That is, an acquisition unit that acquires the position and orientation of the pointing tool that the operator holds and operates on the hand;
Arrangement means for arranging the original virtual object in the position and orientation acquired by the acquisition means;
Duplication means for duplicating the original virtual object arranged by the arrangement means;
First setting means for setting the virtual object duplicated by the duplicating means to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
Determining means for determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied by the copying means;
Second setting means for setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition by the determination means as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
Only a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object is provided with calculation means for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object.

  With the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to appropriately determine the interference state between the original virtual object and the duplicate virtual object.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail according to preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First Embodiment]
<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a system according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the system according to this embodiment includes a CPU 101, a display device 103, a position / orientation sensor 105, a sensor controller (CTL) 104, a keyboard 106, and memories 107 and 108.

  The memory 107 stores an interference determination program 110, a CG duplication program 111, an interference processing target determination program 112, an interference check suspension program 113, and an interference notification program 114. The memory 108 stores a check target list 121, a check A hold list 122, sensor position and orientation data 123, and CG data 123 are stored.

  Therefore, the CPU 101 executes each process described later by executing each program stored in the memory 107. Further, data stored in the memory 108 is used when executing the processing. In the present embodiment, the program and data are stored in separate memories, but the present invention is not limited to this, and they may be stored in the same memory.

  The display device 103 is configured by a CRT, a liquid crystal screen, or the like, and displays a processing result by the CPU 101 using an image, text, or the like. The position / orientation sensor 105 is held by an operator in order to operate the position / orientation of the virtual object, and is a magnetic sensor in this embodiment. Therefore, a magnetic field generation source is installed in the real space, and the position / orientation sensor 105 outputs a signal indicating a change in the magnetic field detected according to its own position / orientation to the sensor controller 104. Based on the received signal, the sensor controller 105 “position and orientation in the sensor coordinate system (coordinate system in which the origin position is the origin and the three axes orthogonal to each other at the origin are the x, y, and z axes), respectively. Data indicating the position and orientation of the sensor 105 ”is obtained and output to the area 123 in the memory.

  The keyboard 106 can be operated by an operator to input various instructions to the CPU 101.

  Each of the program group stored in the memory 107 and the data group stored in the memory 108 will be described later.

<Main processing>
In the present embodiment, one virtual object is associated with the position / orientation sensor 105 in advance, and this virtual object is arranged at the position and orientation measured by the position / orientation sensor 105. Accordingly, when an operator holding the position / orientation sensor 105 in his / her hand freely changes its position and orientation, the position and orientation of the virtual object change accordingly. Hereinafter, a virtual object associated with the position / orientation sensor 105 is referred to as an “original virtual object”. Then, the CPU 101 generates an image that is visible when the virtual space including the original virtual object is viewed from a viewpoint having a predetermined position and orientation, and displays the generated image on the display device 103.

  Further, when the operator moves the position / orientation sensor 105 to a desired position / orientation and inputs that copying (copying) is performed using the buttons provided on the keyboard 106 or the position / orientation sensor 105, the CPU 101 This is detected, and a virtual object obtained by duplicating the original virtual object arranged at the position and orientation of the position and orientation sensor 105 is set to this position and orientation (position and orientation acquired from the position and orientation sensor 105 when it is detected that copying is performed). Deploy. The virtual object is subsequently subject to interference determination with the original virtual object. In the present embodiment, the timing for interference determination is controlled.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a flowchart of processing performed by the CPU 101 to generate a virtual space image for one frame.

  First, the CPU 101 stores “data indicating the position and orientation of the position and orientation sensor 105 in the sensor coordinate system” sent from the position and orientation sensor 105 via the sensor controller 104 in the area 123 in the memory 108 (step S201). Then, the drawing data of the original virtual object is read from the CG data 124, the original virtual object is generated based on this data, and this is acquired in the memory 108 in step S201 “position and orientation of the position and orientation sensor 105 in the sensor coordinate system”. Then, it is arranged in the virtual space (step S202).

  Here, the CG data 124 is drawing data for each virtual object arranged in the virtual space. For example, when the virtual object is composed of polygons, the normal vector data and polygons of each polygon are stored. In the case where texture mapping is applied to the coordinate data of each vertex, polygon color data, and a virtual object, it is composed of texture data. In the present embodiment, the initial state of the virtual space is that a plurality of virtual objects are arranged at predetermined positions. Therefore, the CG data 124 is composed of drawing data of the arranged virtual objects. Yes.

  Therefore, the original virtual object can be arranged at the position and orientation of the position and orientation sensor 105 by performing the processes of steps S201 and S202.

  Next, the CPU 101 first determines whether or not information is registered in the check suspension list 122 by executing the interference processing target determination program 112 (step S203). Proceeding to S204, referring to the information, the processing described below is performed (step S204).

  The check pending list 122 identifies virtual objects (non-target virtual objects) that are not targets for determining an interference state with the original virtual object among virtual objects (excluding the original virtual object) currently arranged in the virtual space. Information indicating whether or not a non-target virtual object currently satisfies a predetermined condition to be satisfied in order to become a virtual object (target virtual object) that is a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object Is registered for each non-target virtual object, and is referred to for each set data in step S204.

  When the state information in the set data referred to indicates that “predetermined conditions are satisfied”, the set data is moved to the check target list 121. That is, the set data of the target virtual object is registered in the check target list 121. In the check target list 121, in the initial state, set data relating to all virtual objects (except original virtual objects) initially arranged in the virtual space is registered. However, the present invention is limited to this. Instead, the set data to be registered may be appropriately selected. Details of the processing in step S204 will be described later with reference to FIG.

  Next, the CPU 101 executes the interference determination program 110 to sequentially refer to the set data registered in the check target list 121, and the virtual object specified by the identification information in the referenced set data and the original virtual object The interference state is determined (step S205). Since interference state processing between virtual objects is a well-known technique, a description thereof will be omitted. Therefore, by the processing in step S205, the interference state between each target virtual object and the original virtual object can be determined.

  If there is a virtual object that interferes with the original virtual object as a result of this determination processing, the process proceeds to step S206, and the CPU 101 executes the interference notification program 114 to indicate that there is interference, or The identification information of the virtual object that interferes with the original virtual object is displayed on the display screen of the display device 103 for notification (step S206).

  The notification method is not limited to this, and various methods can be considered. For example, the display color of the virtual object that interferes with the original virtual object (or only the interference portion) may be changed, or a speaker is provided in the system, and notification of interference through this speaker is made. Sound may be emitted.

  Next, the CPU 101 determines whether or not the operator has input an instruction to copy (copy) the original virtual object by using the buttons provided on the keyboard 106 or the position / orientation sensor 105 (step). (S207) If input, the process proceeds to step S208, and the CPU 101 first executes the CG copy program 111 to copy the drawing data of the original virtual object in the memory 108 and copy it using the copied drawing data. A virtual object is generated, and the generated duplicate virtual object is arranged at the position and orientation acquired from the position and orientation sensor 105 when the CPU 101 detects an instruction to duplicate (step S208).

  Further, in this step, set data of identification information of the duplicate virtual object and state information indicating that the duplicate virtual object is not a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object is created and registered in the check pending list 122. . Details of the processing in step S208 will be described later.

  Here, the position and orientation of the duplicated virtual object is the position and orientation acquired from the position and orientation sensor 105 at that time, but this is the position of the original virtual object immediately before the duplication operation is performed. There is an effect that it is easy to confirm in advance how the object is arranged. Although it is possible to shift the position of the duplicate virtual object to a position that does not interfere with the original virtual object, doing so makes it difficult to specify the position of the duplicate virtual object and tends to require fine adjustment after the fact. .

  Next, an image that is seen when the virtual space as described above is viewed from a viewpoint having a predetermined position and orientation is generated, and the generated image is output to the display device 103 (step S209). Note that the position and orientation of the viewpoint may be appropriately changed by the operator using the keyboard 106 or the like.

  With the above processing, an image for one frame can be generated. Therefore, by performing such a process a plurality of times, a moving image of the virtual space can be displayed on the display screen of the display device 103. As a result, the operator can know whether or not the original virtual object is interfering with other virtual objects, and the position and orientation can be freely changed so that the original virtual object does not interfere with other virtual objects. Can be made.

<Details of Processing in Step S204>
Next, referring to the processing in step S204 described above, that is, the set data in the check suspension list 122, each set data is “set data of a virtual object that should be a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object”. Processing for determining whether or not there is and controlling whether or not to move the set data to the check target list 121 according to the determination result will be described below with reference to FIG. 3 showing a flowchart of the processing.

  First, initialization is performed by substituting 1 into a variable n used in the following processing (step S301). Next, referring to the status information in the nth set data in the check pending list 122, whether or not the virtual object specified by the identification information in the set data satisfies a predetermined condition, that is, It is checked whether or not this virtual object is a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object (step S302).

  Here, various “predetermined conditions” can be considered, but an example is introduced here.

Condition 1 Whether or not a predetermined time or more has elapsed since being arranged in the virtual space. In the virtual space, several virtual objects are arranged in advance in addition to the original virtual object. Since these virtual objects already satisfy the condition 1, the set data related to these virtual objects is registered in the check target list 121 in advance as described above.

  On the other hand, a copy of the original virtual object can be newly placed in the virtual space by the above-described operation. As described above, the set data of the duplicate virtual object is registered in the check suspension list 122. When the set data is registered in the check pending list 122, the CPU 101 measures the time after the registration with an internal timer, and when a predetermined time has elapsed since the registration, the state information in the set data is displayed as “original virtual object”. It is updated to information indicating that the interference state is determined. Then, the set data including the updated state information is moved to the check target list 121.

  When a duplicate virtual object is placed, it will always interfere with the original virtual object, so in the past it was suddenly informed that there was interference, especially when a notification is being made with a buzzer sound, A buzzer sounds and the work is disturbed.

  However, in the present embodiment, after the replication virtual object is arranged, it becomes a target for determining the interference state with the original virtual object only after a predetermined time elapses. If it is away from it, the problem that a buzzer will sound whenever a duplicate virtual object is placed is eliminated.

-Condition 2 ... Whether or not interference with the original virtual object has occurred In Condition 1, when a predetermined time elapses, it is automatically determined as an interference state with the original virtual object. Until the original virtual object is moved away from the duplicate virtual object, the duplicate virtual object is not a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object.

  That is, after the placement of the duplicate virtual object, the CPU 101 always determines the interference state with the original virtual object, and when it is determined that there is no interference for the first time, the state information in the set data of this duplicate virtual object is displayed as “original virtual object”. It is updated to information indicating that it is a target for determining an interference state with an object, and set data including the updated state information is moved to the check target list 121.

  When the condition 2 is adopted, the process for determining the interference state between the original virtual object and the duplicate virtual object may not necessarily be performed precisely. For example, when the position and orientation of the position / orientation sensor 105 change significantly after the placement of the replicated virtual object, or when the position and orientation of the position / orientation sensor 105 is changed to a specific position or orientation, The state information in the set data is updated to information indicating that “it is a target for determining the interference state with the original virtual object”, and the set data including the updated state information is moved to the check target list 121.

Condition 3 ... Whether or not an instruction is input from the keyboard 106 or the like. When the observer observes the display screen of the display device 103 and confirms that the original virtual object and the duplicate virtual object do not interfere with each other, the keyboard 106 or the like. Is used to input an instruction to the effect that the duplicate virtual object is “a target of an interference state with the original virtual object”.

  In this case, upon receiving such an instruction, the CPU 101 updates the state information in the set data of the duplicate virtual object to information indicating that “the object is to determine the interference state with the original virtual object”. The set data including the state information is moved to the check target list 121.

The above conditions are examples, and various other conditions can be considered.

  Returning to FIG. 3, it is checked whether or not the duplicate virtual object is the target of the interference state with the original virtual object according to the various conditions as described above. The process proceeds to S305, where it is checked whether or not all set data has been referred to (step S305). If all the set data has not been checked, the process proceeds to step S306, and the value held by the variable n is set to 1. Addition is performed (step S306), and the processing after step S302 is performed on the next set data.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in the determination process in step S302 that the target is an object in an interference state with the original virtual object, the process proceeds to step S303, and the referenced set data is deleted from the check suspension list 122 (step S303). ), It is moved to the check target list 121 (step S304).

<Details of Processing in Step S208>
Next, FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the processing in step S208 described above, that is, the processing for arranging the duplicate virtual object obtained by duplicating the original virtual object and registering the set data of the duplicate virtual object in the check suspension list 122. Will be described below.

  First, the drawing data of the original virtual object is duplicated in the memory 108 (step S401), and the duplicated drawing data is included in the CG data 124 (step S402). A replicated virtual object is generated using the replicated drawing data, and the generated replicated virtual object is placed at the position and orientation acquired from the position and orientation sensor 105 when the CPU 101 detects an instruction to replicate (step S403). Then, identification data of the duplicate virtual object and set data of state information indicating that the duplicate virtual object is not a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object are created and registered in the check suspension list 122 (step S404). ).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the interference determination is not performed until the predetermined condition is satisfied once. However, even in this state, it is possible to grasp the interference state between the virtual objects separately. In a state where interference is occurring although it is not a determination target, it is possible to prohibit a type of operation that is not allowed in the interference state.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, the position / orientation sensor 105 is a magnetic sensor. However, the sensor applicable to the position / orientation sensor 105 is not limited to this. For example, an optical sensor or an ultrasonic sensor may be used. good.

  Further, in the first embodiment, in order to simplify the explanation, the operator uses one position / orientation sensor 105 to operate the position and orientation of one original virtual object. However, the present invention is not limited to this. A plurality of position and orientation sensors 105 may be connected to the system, and a virtual object may be associated with each position and orientation sensor 105. Even in that case, the virtual object duplication using the individual position and orientation sensors 105 and the process for determining the interference state are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  In the first embodiment, the position / orientation sensor 105 is used to operate the position / orientation of the original virtual object. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the position / orientation may be operated using the keyboard 106. May be. In that case, the position and orientation sensor 105 and the sensor controller 104 are not necessary in the configuration of FIG. 1, and data indicating the position and orientation of the original virtual object input from the keyboard 106 is stored in the area 123.

  Moreover, although the case where it applied to VR was demonstrated in 1st Embodiment, you may make it apply this to MR (mixed reality). In that case, the observer wears an HMD (Head Mount Display) on the head, and displays the screen displayed on the display device 103 on the display device of the HMD.

  In addition, since the displayed image corresponds to the position and orientation of the viewpoint of the observer, a position and orientation sensor for acquiring the position and orientation of the viewpoint is attached to the HMD and measured with this position and orientation sensor. The position and orientation of the viewpoint is acquired based on the position and orientation, and an image of the virtual space that can be seen from the viewpoint of the acquired position and orientation is generated.

  Further, the duplicate virtual object is not necessarily limited to being arranged at the position and orientation of the original virtual object, and the original of the duplicate virtual object may be selected.

[Other Embodiments]
An object of the present invention is to supply a recording medium (or storage medium) that records software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus (or CPU or MPU). Needless to say, this can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the recording medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the recording medium on which the program code is recorded constitutes the present invention.

  Further, by executing the program code read by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also an operating system (OS) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the actual processing and the processing is included.

  Furthermore, after the program code read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion card inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function is based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the expansion card or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

  When the present invention is applied to the recording medium, program code corresponding to the flowchart described above is stored in the recording medium.

It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the flowchart of the process which CPU101 performs in order to produce | generate the image of the virtual space for 1 frame. Processing in step S204, that is, with reference to the set data in the check suspension list 122, whether or not each set data is “set data of a virtual object that is a target for determining an interference state with the original virtual object”. Is a flowchart of processing for controlling whether or not to move the set data to the check target list 121 according to the determination result. First, the following It is a flowchart of the process in step S208, ie, the process which arrange | positions the replication virtual object which duplicated the original virtual object, and registers the set data of a replication virtual object in the check suspension list 122.

Claims (9)

A duplication process of duplicating the original virtual object placed in the virtual space;
A first setting step of setting the virtual object duplicated in the duplication step to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
A determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied in the replication step;
A second setting step of setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition in the determination step as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
An image processing method comprising: a calculation step of calculating an interference state with the original virtual object only for a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object.   2. The second setting step is configured to set, as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object, a virtual object for which a predetermined time has elapsed after the duplication in the duplication step. Image processing method.   In the second setting step, an interference state with the original virtual object is calculated for a virtual object that has lost interference with the original virtual object placed in the placement step among the virtual objects duplicated in the duplication step. The image processing method according to claim 1, wherein the image processing method is set as a target.   4. The information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising a notification step of notifying the presence of a virtual object that interferes with the original virtual object as a result of the calculation processing by the calculation step. The image processing method according to claim 1. An acquisition step of acquiring the position and orientation of the pointing tool that the operator holds and operates on the hand;
An arrangement step of arranging the original virtual object in the position and orientation acquired in the acquisition step;
A duplication step of duplicating the original virtual object arranged in the arrangement step;
A first setting step of setting the virtual object duplicated in the duplication step to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
A determination step of determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied in the replication step;
A second setting step of setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition in the determination step as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
An image processing method comprising: a calculation step of calculating an interference state with the original virtual object only for a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object. A duplicating means for duplicating the original virtual object arranged in the virtual space;
First setting means for setting the virtual object duplicated by the duplicating means to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
Determining means for determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied by the copying means;
Second setting means for setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition by the determination means as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
An image processing apparatus comprising: calculation means for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object only for a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object. Acquisition means for acquiring the position and orientation of the pointing tool that the operator holds and operates on the hand;
Arrangement means for arranging the original virtual object in the position and orientation acquired by the acquisition means;
Duplication means for duplicating the original virtual object arranged by the arrangement means;
First setting means for setting the virtual object duplicated by the duplicating means to be outside the target for calculating the interference state with the original virtual object;
Determining means for determining whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied for the virtual object copied by the copying means;
Second setting means for setting a virtual object determined to satisfy a predetermined condition by the determination means as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object;
An image processing apparatus comprising: calculation means for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object only for a virtual object set as a target for calculating an interference state with the original virtual object.   A program for causing a computer to execute the image processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.   A computer-readable storage medium storing the program according to claim 8.

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