JP3934096B2 - Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling a calculation area in a game space.

  When a three-dimensional virtual space is used as a game space, there are various genres of games in which a character is moved to various positions in the game space to achieve a desired purpose. Also, in this game space, there are many areas where water is accumulated such as ponds and lakes, and areas where plants and trees are lined up. When a character passes through these areas, for example, the water surface changes according to the movement of the character. Processing that imitates phenomena such as shaking and bending of plants was performed.

  For example, when a character enters an area set as an area where water is accumulated in the game space (hereinafter referred to as a water area) and moves within the area, a process of generating a wave in the area is performed. However, for example, a cellular automaton is used to generate this wave. More specifically, when a plurality of cells are arranged in the water region and a force is applied to each cell (according to the entry of the character into the water region, etc.), the dynamic calculation between the cells is performed according to the force. This was done by giving each cell a vibration according to the dynamic calculation result.

  However, since the waves extend over the entire water region, the cells that serve as the contrast of the dynamic calculation are naturally all cells in the water region. However, as the number of cells to be calculated increases, the calculation load increases accordingly, and it becomes difficult to apply to a game that requires rendering of the game screen in real time.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of such points, and an object of the present invention is to control the calculation range and reduce the calculation load when performing wave calculation in the water region.

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

In other words, when the character moves in the water area where the behavior of the wave caused by the movement of the character is to be calculated, the image calculates the wave height and generates a wave object according to the calculated result A processing device comprising:
A memory for holding data indicating the height of the wave at each position in the water region;
Storage control means for storing, in a two-dimensional data array, data corresponding to a neighboring area including the position of the character among data held by the memory ;
Data for moving the data stored in the two-dimensional data array in the two-dimensional data array according to the moving direction of the character and the amount of movement of the character when the character moves in the water area Movement control means;
A updating means for the data movement control means the data again calculated using the data in the two-dimensional data array is moved, updates by overwriting the two-dimensional data array,
A wave object in the vicinity area of the character after movement is generated based on the data updated by the updating means.

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

In other words, when the character moves in the water area where the behavior of the wave caused by the movement of the character is to be calculated, the image calculates the wave height and generates a wave object according to the calculated result An image processing method performed by a processing device,
A storage control step of storing, in a two-dimensional data array, data corresponding to a neighboring area including the position of the character among data held by a memory holding data indicating a wave height at each position in the water area ; ,
Data for moving the data stored in the two-dimensional data array in the two-dimensional data array according to the moving direction of the character and the amount of movement of the character when the character moves in the water area A movement control process;
Again calculated data by using the data of the data movement control step in the two-dimensional data array is moved, and a updating step of updating by overwriting the two-dimensional data array,
A wave object in the vicinity region of the character after movement is generated based on the data updated in the updating step.

  With the configuration of the present invention, when a wave is calculated in the water region, the calculation range can be controlled and the calculation load can be reduced.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[First Embodiment]
In this embodiment, when a three-dimensional virtual space is used as a game field, a character operated by the player in an area (hereinafter referred to as a water area) set as water such as sea or lake in the game field. When an object enters the area and moves within the water area, only the area near the character in the water area is calculated according to the behavior of the two-dimensional wave generated according to the character's movement. Image processing such as generating an image is performed. Hereinafter, the image processing according to the present embodiment will be described in more detail.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a computer that functions as an image processing apparatus that executes image processing according to the present embodiment.

  A CPU 101 controls the entire apparatus using programs and data stored in the RAM 102 and the ROM 103 and executes the image processing according to the present embodiment.

  Reference numeral 102 denotes a RAM which has an area for temporarily storing programs and data loaded from the external storage device 107 and the storage medium drive device 108 and a work area used by the CPU 101 for executing various processes. .

  Reference numeral 103 denotes a ROM which stores a boot program, data related to the setting of the apparatus, and the like.

  Reference numerals 104 and 105 denote a keyboard and a mouse, which are used for inputting various instructions to the CPU 101. In addition, as a device that can input various instructions to the CPU 101, other devices such as a joystick and a game pad can be used.

  A display unit 106 includes a CRT, a liquid crystal screen, and the like, and can display processing results by the CPU 101 by information such as images and characters.

  Reference numeral 107 denotes an external storage device which functions as a large-capacity information storage device such as a hard disk drive device. Here, an OS (operating system) or a program for causing the CPU 101 to execute image processing according to this embodiment to be described later. And data of the character in the game field (if the character is represented by a polygon, each vertex coordinate position of each polygon constituting the character, data indicating the normal vector of each polygon, and When mapping a texture, data of this texture, etc.), data for expressing a wave (details will be described later), and the like are stored, and these are read out to the RAM 102 as needed under the control of the CPU 101. It is.

  Reference numeral 108 denotes a storage medium drive device that reads out programs and data recorded on a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM and outputs them to the RAM 102 or the external storage device 107. Note that a program and data for causing the CPU 101 to execute image processing according to the present embodiment, which will be described later, the character data, and the data for expressing the wave may be recorded in this storage medium. These programs and data are read from the storage medium by the storage medium drive device 108 under the control of the CPU 101 and output to the RAM 102. If the storage medium is a writable medium such as a CD-R or a DVD-RAM, the storage medium drive device 108 performs a process of writing a program and data to the storage medium under the control of the CPU 101.

  Reference numeral 109 denotes a bus connecting the above-described units.

  Next, image processing according to this embodiment performed by a computer having the above configuration will be described. In this embodiment, in order to simplify the description, the water area is a rectangular plane area provided in the game field. In this embodiment, in order to calculate the behavior of the wave, it is assumed that the principle of the well-known “cellular automaton” is used.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cell group including a plane (hereinafter referred to as a water area plane) 201 provided as a water area on the game field and a cell 202 provided on the water area plane 201. The shape of the water region is not particularly limited, but here it is rectangular for convenience of explanation. On the plane of the water region, cells are virtually arranged in a grid pattern at a predetermined interval. “Virtually arranged” means not provided for display, but provided for convenience for use in the calculation of wave behavior described below. Further, the position of each cell on the water region plane 201 is fixed (if the water region plane is the xy plane, the x and y coordinate values of each cell are fixed).

  Here, a general calculation of wave behavior using a cell will be briefly described. When the character moves in the water area, a certain force is applied to each cell according to the movement. Therefore, the dynamic calculation of each cell is performed according to the force, and the vibration according to the dynamic calculation result is Give to the cell. Here, “giving vibration” means giving a position in any direction (up and down) perpendicular to the water area plane, and the screen updates the process of calculating the position of each cell in the vertical direction with respect to the water area plane. Doing each time, as a result, each cell is “vibrating” with respect to this plane.

  When the position in the vertical direction with respect to the water area plane is calculated for each cell, the position of each cell is regarded as the vertex position of the polygon, and the unevenness on the water area represented by each cell is expressed by a plurality of polygons. To do. Since the technology for calculating the wave height using the cell and expressing the wave with a polygon is well known, further explanation is omitted.

  FIG. 3 shows whether or not the position of each “mass” divided corresponds to the position of the cell on the water area plane when the water area plane is divided into a grid at predetermined intervals. It is a figure which shows the table for showing.

  In the figure, “mas” in which “99” is stored indicates a position other than the cell position, and “mas” in which “0” is stored indicates a cell position. Further, the meaning of “0” stored in “mas” at the cell position is the position in the direction perpendicular to the water region plane of the cell.

  That is, the table shown in FIG. 3 is a table for indicating the position of each cell in the water area plane in the water area where no wave is generated, by the position in the “mass” table storing “0”. is there. It is assumed that the data in the table of FIG.

  Here, the case where the character moves on the water region plane will be described below, but in this embodiment, only the cells included in the nearby region including the character position are used to generate the character when moving. The behavior of the wave to be calculated shall be calculated.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing this neighborhood area. In FIG. 4, 401 indicates a character, and 402 indicates the neighborhood area. The larger the size of the neighboring area 402 is, the more the wave can be calculated around the position of the character 401. However, the number of cells included in the neighboring area 402 increases accordingly, and the processing cost is increased. Will also increase. Therefore, the size of the neighborhood area 402 is preferably determined according to the processing capability of the computer and the size of the memory.

  Next, management of data in the vicinity area will be described.

  As described above, the character moves on the plane of the water region, which is equivalent to moving on the table shown in FIG. Accordingly, the data in the neighborhood area is data stored in each “mas” in the area (a predetermined size area including the character position) corresponding to the neighborhood area in the table shown in FIG.

Here, in the state where the character is stationary with its position fixed in the water area plane and no wave is generated in the water area (the position of each cell is 0 in the direction perpendicular to the water area plane) The data in the area has a data array as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a two-dimensional data array that holds data in the vicinity region. Since the two-dimensional data array is provided in the RAM 102, the data held by the two-dimensional data array is naturally stored in the RAM 102.

That is, the two-dimensional data array is each “mass” data in the area corresponding to the neighboring area in the table shown in FIG. In the figure, several cells (nine in the figure) are included in this neighboring area, and each of these cells is a two-dimensional data array indicating a state in which the position in the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane is zero. ing.

  Next, a case where the character moves on the water area plane will be described. In the following description, the left direction is used as an example of the moving direction, but it will be apparent from the following description that the essence of the following description is the same regardless of the moving direction of the character.

When the character moves to the left on the water region plane, the vicinity region of the character naturally moves accordingly, so naturally the data held in the two-dimensional data array must be changed accordingly. More specifically, the data held in the two-dimensional data array needs to be moved in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the character on the water area plane according to the amount of movement. This is because if the character moves on the plane of the water area, the position of the cell moves in a direction opposite to the moving direction of the character in the vicinity area according to the amount of movement.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the principle of movement of data held in the two-dimensional data array in accordance with the movement of the character. In FIG. 6A, 601 indicates a neighboring area before movement, and 602 indicates a neighboring area after movement. Reference numeral 650 denotes an arbitrary “mass” on the plane of the water region.

  FIG. 6B is a diagram showing the position of “mass” 650 in the vicinity region 601. FIG. 6C is a diagram showing the position of “mass” 650 in the neighborhood region 602. Naturally, the position of “mas” 650 is deviated in each neighboring region, and the deviation of the position can be understood by overlapping the two neighboring regions as shown in FIG. That is, it is shifted by the length of the arrow 621 in the direction indicated by the arrow 621 in FIG. The direction of the arrow 621 is the direction of the arrow 611, that is, the moving direction of the character, and the length of the arrow 621 is equal to the length of the arrow 611. Therefore, it can be seen that the position of an arbitrary “mas” included in the vicinity region is shifted by the amount of the movement in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the character.

Since the two-dimensional data array holds the value of each “mas” included in the neighboring area, according to the above principle, if the character moves, the data to be held is naturally in the direction opposite to the moving direction, It is necessary to move by that amount.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the movement of data held in the two-dimensional data array in accordance with the movement of the character. It is assumed that a neighboring region at a certain point in time on the water region plane is indicated by 701, and the two-dimensional data array at this time is indicated by 710. In the two-dimensional data array 710, the number in each “mass” is an index for the data stored in each “mass”. Here, movement of the character, i.e. assuming that the wave does not occur with the movement of the neighboring region, the neighboring region is moved in the upper right direction, when moved to the position of the neighboring region 702, the two-dimensional data array is held Each piece of data moves in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the character, that is, in the lower left direction according to the above principle, and is indicated by 711. In 711, the hatched portion indicates “mass” in which data moved from outside the neighboring area is retained.

For the present embodiment to simplify the description, since the distance between the mobile units of the character and the cell is set to be the same as, 1 "masu" data two-dimensional data array is held each time a single movement character If the character movement unit and the interval between cells are not the same, the data can be moved by the amount corresponding to each ratio. Good.

  For example, when the character movement unit is c and the distance between cells is t, the data movement amount Δd is Δd = c / t.

Thus, by moving the data of the two-dimensional data array in accordance with the movement of the character, it is possible to achieve consistency between the data held in the two-dimensional data array and the data of the table shown in FIG.

Next, data held in the two-dimensional data array when a wave is generated when the character moves will be described. Also in this case, the data movement process is first performed, and then the process described below is performed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a transition of data held in the two-dimensional data array when a wave is generated by moving the character leftward on the water region plane.

Reference numeral 801 denotes a current two-dimensional data array. When the character moves in the left direction, the data group held in the two-dimensional data array 801 is moved by the amount moved in the opposite direction. 802 is a two-dimensional data array after this movement. All the data held in the two-dimensional data array 802 is obtained by moving the data held in the two-dimensional data array 801 in the right direction. As a result of the movement, the leftmost vertical column in the two-dimensional data array 802 is obtained. The data to be moved to “mass” (“mass” in which “−99” is stored in the figure) does not exist in the two-dimensional data array 801. Therefore, in these “mass”, the data corresponding to the “mass” in the table shown in FIG. That is, the leftmost vertical column of “mass” in the two-dimensional data array 802 includes the leftmost vertical column of “mass” included in the neighboring area in the table shown in FIG. Fill in the value you remember.

803 is a two-dimensional data array obtained as a result (the data on the table shown in FIG. 3 corresponding to the leftmost vertical column “mas” in the two-dimensional data array 802 is all “99” data. As if it had been held).

Next, in the two-dimensional data array 803, in accordance with a well-known calculation formula in consideration of the position of each cell in the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the cell (all “0” in the figure), the moving speed of the character, etc. Calculate “Behavior of Waves Due to Character Movement”. Then, “mass” indicating the position of the cell (“mass” holding a value other than “99” in the two-dimensional data array 703) is added to the calculated value (with respect to the direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane of this cell). Position) and update the data held in the two-dimensional data array.

Reference numeral 804 denotes a two-dimensional data array in which calculation results are written after wave calculation. In each “mas”, “mas” holding a value other than “99” represents the position of the cell in the neighboring area, and indicates the position of the cell in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the water area. Yes. If the data movement process is not performed, the wave will rotate even if the neighboring area moves, which is strange in phenomenon. Therefore, by performing the above data movement processing, such a mysterious phenomenon can be solved and a wave remaining after the character movement can be reproduced.

Therefore, by referring to this two-dimensional data array, the position of each cell is regarded as the vertex position of the polygon, and the unevenness on the water area represented by each cell can be expressed by a plurality of polygons. Can be formed by polygons. The above processing is performed every time (every frame) during the game.

  In this way, in the above processing, the wave behavior calculation is performed using only the cells in the vicinity area of the character, and therefore, the behavior is always managed only for the cells in the vicinity area. Thus, as compared with the conventional case where all the cells in the water region are managed and the behavior calculation is performed for all the cells, the processing cost and the memory usage required for the processing are reduced.

Further, since the data position held in the two-dimensional data array is also moved in the data array in accordance with the movement of the character, a wave is generated using the data in the two-dimensional data array, and the water region Even when displayed on a flat surface, the position is consistent.

  In addition, in the calculation of the wave behavior, if an attenuation rate is given so that the wave disappears at the edge of the neighboring region, an unnatural phenomenon such that the wave suddenly disappears at the edge of the nearby region can be prevented. Further, it is more preferable if the α value for each polygon constituting the wave object is lowered as the wave approaches the edge of the neighboring area so that the wave disappears.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for the update processing of data in the two-dimensional data array described above. A program according to the flowchart shown in the figure is loaded into the RAM 102, and the CPU 101 executes the program, whereby the computer according to the present embodiment performs processing according to the flowchart shown in the figure. This process is called as a subroutine from the main process of the game, and is called every time the image of each frame is updated. Since the processing in each step is as described above, it will be briefly described here.

First, a process of moving the data held in the two-dimensional data array in the direction opposite to the moving direction of the character by the amount of movement (step S901). Next, in the two-dimensional data array where the data has not moved, the “mas” portion (the hatched portion illustrated in FIG. 8) corresponds to the “mas” position in the table shown in FIG. The process of filling the value (data) of “mass” is performed (step S902).

Then, among the 2-dimensional data array, since it is the position of "99" value other than is stored "masu" is or cell, performs behavior calculations of the waves with a cell in that position (step S903). In this calculation, the initial value of the wave height is a value stored in “mass” in which values other than “99” are stored.

  If the vertical position of each cell from the water area plane is obtained by the above calculation, this position is set as the vertex of the polygon, and the unevenness expressed by the height of each cell is expressed by the polygon, and this polygon group is represented on the water area plane. And draw a wave (step S904).

  In the present embodiment, the shape of the water region is rectangular, but the shape is not limited to this and may be any shape.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, although each cell was arrange | positioned in the grid | lattice form on the water area | region plane, arrangement | positioning of each cell is not limited to this.

In the present embodiment, cells are arranged on the water region plane for wave calculation, and the behavior of the waves is calculated by calculating the dynamics between the cells. The wave behavior is calculated using any means, and data for indicating the wave height is stored in the two-dimensional data array. Therefore, even if the means for calculating the behavior of the wave is another means, the processing according to this embodiment can be applied.

Moreover, used in the present embodiment, the values each "masu" is held in the size or two-dimensional data array of two-dimensional data array is one example of description, but is not limited thereto.

[Second Embodiment]
The neighborhood area includes the position of the character. In the first embodiment, the real character is located at the center of the neighborhood area, and the position of the character in the neighborhood area is fixed. Depending on the positional relationship between the camera and the character, the position of the character in the vicinity area may not be the center, and the position may be dynamically changed according to the situation.

  For example, if a large wave is generated and the camera field of view is pointing in the character's direction of travel, it is better to represent a wave that spreads in the direction of the character's travel, and conversely the direction opposite to the direction of the character's travel The waves that spread through the screen do not need to be expressed because they do not appear in the camera. In this case, as shown in FIG. 10, the position of the character in the vicinity area may be a position shifted by a predetermined amount from the center 1020 of the vicinity area 1010 in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the character 1010 (that is, To set the neighborhood area). In the figure, reference numeral 1001 denotes a camera as a player's viewpoint in the game space, 1010 denotes a character, 1000 denotes a neighboring area, and 1020 denotes a center position of the neighboring area.

  Further, depending on the direction of the camera field of view in the water region plane, as shown in FIG. 11, the vicinity region 1103 may be moved by a predetermined amount in the viewing direction of the camera 1101 (in FIG. In this case, as a result, the position of the character 1102 in the vicinity region dynamically changes.

  Further, the size of the neighboring area may be dynamically changed according to a change in the height of the camera from the plane of the water area. If the height of the camera from the plane of the water region increases, the water region can be seen as much as that. In this case, the size of the neighboring region may be increased to express a wider wave.

  Further, the above processing (for example, processing according to part or all of the flowchart shown in FIG. 9) is stored as a program in a storage medium such as a CD-R, ROM, DVD-ROM, MO, game cartridge, etc. The program stored in the storage medium is read (installed or copied) into the computer, and the computer or the CPU of the computer executes the program, whereby the computer can realize the above processing. Therefore, since the storage medium storing this program also enables the present invention, it is obvious that this storage medium is also within the scope of the present invention.

  In addition, the server apparatus holds a program for the above processing (for example, processing in accordance with part or all of the flowchart shown in FIG. 9), and supplies these to the computer via the network by a well-known technique. Can do. Since the CPU or MPU of the computer supplied with these programs and data can be used to realize the above processing, this server device can also be interpreted as the storage medium. Obviously, it is within the scope of the present invention.

  The storage medium may be other than a program or data provided to the computer from the outside, may be a memory chip incorporated in the computer, and the definition of the storage medium should be interpreted more widely. It is.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a basic configuration of a computer that functions as an image processing apparatus that executes image processing according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a diagram showing a cell group including a plane (hereinafter referred to as a water area plane) 201 provided as a water area on a game field and a cell 202 provided on the water area plane 201. FIG. When the water area plane is divided into a grid pattern at a predetermined interval, a table for indicating whether or not each of the divided “mas” positions corresponds to a cell position on the water area plane. FIG. It is a figure which shows a near region. It is a figure which shows an example of the two-dimensional data arrangement | sequence which hold | maintains the data in a near region. It is a figure explaining the principle of the movement of the data which a two-dimensional data array hold | maintains according to the movement of a character. It is a figure for demonstrating the movement of the data which a two-dimensional data arrangement | sequence hold | maintains according to the movement of a character. It is a figure which shows transition of the data which a two-dimensional data arrangement | sequence hold | maintains, when a wave generate | occur | produces when a character moves to the left on a water area plane. It is a flowchart in the update process of the data in a two-dimensional data array. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the vicinity area | region and character in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the vicinity area | region and character in the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Claims (4)

An image processing apparatus that calculates the height of a wave and generates a wave object according to the calculated result when the character moves in a water region where the behavior of the wave caused by the movement of the character is to be calculated Because
A memory for holding data indicating the height of the wave at each position in the water region;
Storage control means for storing, in a two-dimensional data array, data corresponding to a neighboring area including the position of the character among data held by the memory ;
Data for moving the data stored in the two-dimensional data array in the two-dimensional data array according to the moving direction of the character and the amount of movement of the character when the character moves in the water area Movement control means;
A updating means for the data movement control means the data again calculated using the data in the two-dimensional data array is moved, updates by overwriting the two-dimensional data array,
The image processing apparatus characterized by said updating means on the basis of the updated data, to generate an object wave of the neighboring region of the character after the movement. An image processing apparatus that calculates the height of a wave and generates a wave object according to the calculated result when the character moves in a water region where the behavior of the wave caused by the movement of the character is to be calculated Is an image processing method performed by
A storage control step of storing, in a two-dimensional data array, data corresponding to a neighboring area including the position of the character among data held by a memory holding data indicating a wave height at each position in the water area ; ,
Data for moving the data stored in the two-dimensional data array in the two-dimensional data array according to the moving direction of the character and the amount of movement of the character when the character moves in the water area A movement control process;
Again calculated data by using the data of the data movement control step in the two-dimensional data array is moved, and a updating step of updating by overwriting the two-dimensional data array,
An image processing method, comprising: generating a wave object in the vicinity region of the character after movement based on the data updated in the updating step. In the data movement control step, the direction corresponding to the direction opposite to the moving direction of the character in the two-dimensional data array, by an amount corresponding to the amount of movement of the character is stored in the two-dimensional data array The image processing method according to claim 2, wherein the data is moved. A program for causing a computer to execute the image processing method according to claim 2 or 3 .

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