JP7480076B2 - Content Creation System and Method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention generally relates to the creation of animated content, for example, the creation of training content for maintenance work on equipment to be maintained.

Normally, when creating (including "editing") content using 3DCG (3-Dimensional Computer Graphics), the user uses dedicated software to define when and how the images expressed in 3DCG (hereafter, for convenience, referred to as "3DCG parts") will move. When there are many 3DCG parts, work arises in which the movement and timing must be defined for each 3DCG part, which therefore requires a lot of man-hours.

Related to this is the method of using a storyboard. A storyboard uses figures, illustrations, two-dimensional images (for example, images taken with a general-purpose camera), and text to describe the flow of the content's progress (including, for example, the method of expression and points to note when changing scenes). By using a storyboard, it becomes easier for the parties involved to come to an agreement on a vague image of the content, even without using 3DCG.

A technology has been disclosed that estimates the three-dimensional posture of a virtual character from two-dimensional line drawings of characters drawn on such a storyboard, and automatically generates three-dimensional animation (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 4812063

In recent years, there have been cases where each of the multiple parts that make up an industrial product is displayed as a 3DCG part, and the disassembly and assembly processes are shown in 3DCG animation, for use in advance training for maintenance work on industrial products.

However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 is based on the premise that the storyboard contains a pose that reveals the person's skeletal structure, and therefore this technology cannot be applied to generating 3D CG animation of at least a portion of a device.

The system performs an operation analysis. The operation analysis is an analysis that includes identifying a 3DCG data set associated with each of the object objects of one or more objects and a movement pattern of one or more objects of the one or more objects based on object management information representing an association between an object object representing an object related to a device composed of multiple parts and a 3DCG data set representing a 3DCG image of the object, movement pattern management information representing an association between an object and a movement pattern, and multiple objects input or arranged according to an operation on a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The system determines a movement according to the identified movement pattern for each of the one or more objects, and generates an animation including a 3DCG image of each of the one or more objects and the movement determined for each of the one or more objects. Note that the "object related to the device" is typically the device itself or a part of the device, but an object used to install or remove a part (e.g., a tool or a similar device) may also be included in the "object related to the device".

The present invention can reduce the workload involved in generating 3DCG animation for at least a portion of a device.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a creation support device. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a content creating device. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a storyboard associated with linear movement as a movement pattern. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an arrangement image of a 3DCG image of a washing machine. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an operation setting menu. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of a process performed by the creation support device. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an item management table. FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a movement pattern management table. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a process performed by a content creating device. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a 3DCG part management table. FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a part attribute management table. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a storyboard associated with a rotational movement as a movement pattern.

In the following description, an "interface unit" may refer to one or more interface devices. The one or more interface devices may be at least one of the following:
One or more I/O (Input/Output) interface devices. The I/O (Input/Output) interface devices are interface devices to at least one of the I/O devices and a remote display computer. The I/O interface device to the display computer may be a communications interface device. The at least one I/O device may be a user interface device, for example, either an input device such as a keyboard and a pointing device, or an output device such as a display device.
One or more communication interface devices. The one or more communication interface devices may be one or more homogeneous communication interface devices (e.g., one or more NICs (Network Interface Cards)) or two or more heterogeneous communication interface devices (e.g., a NIC and an HBA (Host Bus Adapter)).

In the following description, "memory" refers to one or more memory devices, typically a primary storage device. At least one of the memory devices in the memory may be a volatile memory device or a non-volatile memory device.

In the following description, a "persistent storage device" refers to one or more persistent storage devices. A persistent storage device is typically a non-volatile storage device (e.g., an auxiliary storage device), and more specifically, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD).

In the following description, "storage device" may refer to at least one memory, including memory and persistent storage device.

In the following description, a "processor" refers to one or more processor devices. The at least one processor device is typically a microprocessor device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), but may also be other types of processor devices such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The at least one processor device may be a single-core or multi-core. The at least one processor device may be a processor core. The at least one processor device may also be a processor device in the broader sense, such as a hardware circuit that performs part or all of the processing (e.g., an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit)).

In the following explanation, information that gives an output for an input may be described using expressions such as "xxx table", but the information may be data of any structure (for example, it may be structured or unstructured data), or it may be a neural network that generates an output for an input, or a learning model such as a genetic algorithm or random forest. Therefore, a "xxx table" can be called "xxx information". In the following explanation, the structure of each table is an example, and one table may be divided into two or more tables, or all or part of two or more tables may be one table.

In the following description, the process may be described with the "yyy program" as the subject, but the "yyy program" may be loaded from a storage device into a processor and executed to realize a function called the "yyy unit". The function may be realized by one or more computer programs being executed by a processor, or by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., FPGAs or ASICs), or by a combination of these. When a function is realized by a program being executed by a processor, the function may be at least a part of the processor, since the specified process is performed using a storage device and/or an interface device, etc., as appropriate. The process described with the program as the subject may be a process performed by a processor or a device having the processor. The program may be installed from a program source. The program source may be, for example, a program distribution computer or a computer-readable recording medium (e.g., a non-transitory recording medium). The description of each function is an example, and multiple functions may be combined into one function, or one function may be divided into multiple functions.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The term "storyboard" used in the description of one embodiment of the present invention refers to the story of the content to be created. The "storyboard" refers to a plurality of objects input or arranged in an editing area (e.g., a slide, a sheet, or a page) and the attributes of each of the plurality of objects (e.g., the position and orientation in the XYZ coordinate system described below, and whether the object is an article object or not). The "editing area" is an area in a GUI (Graphical User Interface) where objects are input (e.g., manually input by a user) or arranged (e.g., arranged by selecting from a list). The GUI may be a GUI provided by general-purpose software such as presentation software, spreadsheet software, word processing software, and drawing software that are generally used on desktop or laptop PCs (Personal Computers) and tablets. The term "3DCG parts" used in the description of one embodiment of the present invention refers to a three-dimensional image expressed using 3DCG technology. The term "2D image" refers to a two-dimensional image, for example, an image taken with a general-purpose digital camera, a single-lens reflex camera, or a camera built into a smartphone. In this embodiment, a storyboard is edited by inputting or placing "objects" that correspond to any of figures, 2D images, and text (e.g., character strings) in the editing area.

Figure 1 shows the schematic configuration of a system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The content creation system 10 according to this embodiment includes a creation support device 1 (an example of a first computer) and a content creation device 2 (an example of a second computer). These devices 1 and 2 are connected via a communication network 3. The creation support device 1 may be directly connected to the content creation device 2 for use.

The creation support device 1 executes the operation analysis program 162 and has an item management table 171 and a movement pattern management table 172. The content creation device 2 executes the animation generation program 263.

The operation analysis program 162 executes the operation analysis. The operation analysis is an analysis that includes identifying a 3DCG data set associated with each of the item objects of one or more items and a movement pattern of one or more items of the one or more items based on an item management table 171 that represents the association between an item object representing an item related to a device composed of multiple parts and a 3DCG data set representing the 3DCG parts of the item, a movement pattern management table 172 that represents the association between an object and a movement pattern, and multiple objects input or arranged according to an operation on a GUI (Graphical User Interface). The animation generation program 263 determines a movement according to the identified movement pattern for each of the one or more items, and generates an animation including the 3DCG parts of each of the one or more items and the movement determined for each 3DCG part of the one or more items. This can reduce the workload of generating 3DCG animation for at least a part of the device (for example, the entire device, or one or more parts in a part of the device). The main programs and tables of the creation support device 1 (e.g., at least the program 162 and tables 171 and 172 illustrated in FIG. 1) may be contained in the content creation device 2, and a series of processes may be executed in one device 2, or the main programs and tables of the content creation device 2 may be contained in the creation support device 1, and a series of processes may be executed in one device 1. Furthermore, at least one of the devices 1 and 2 may be a virtual device (e.g., a VM (Virtual Machine) or a container) realized on multiple types of physical computing resources (e.g., a cloud platform).

The present invention is applicable to all content related to equipment that can be expressed in 3DCG, but in this embodiment, an industrial product is used as an example of equipment, and content showing at least one of the disassembly process and assembly process of maintenance work for the industrial product is used as an example of content to be created (edited). Examples of industrial products include fitness bikes, commercial washing machines, commercial refrigerators, and commercial air conditioners.

In response to user operations, the creation support device 1 creates a storyboard that represents the specifications of the content, analyzes the storyboard, and outputs a simplified action definition file (described below). Specifically, for example, the creation support device 1 may be a computer such as a PC or tablet terminal, and is equipped with input/output devices such as an LCD display, keyboard, mouse, and touch panel.

Figure 2 shows the general configuration of the creation support device 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the creation support device 1 includes a display device 11, a CPU 12, an input device 14, an I/F 15, a memory 16, and a drive 17, which are connected by a connection line (e.g., a bus) 18.

The display device 11 is typically an LCD display, and displays the editing area.

The CPU 12 is an example of a processor and executes various programs stored in the memory 16.

The input device 14 may be a keyboard, a mouse, a touch pen, or the like. A device in which the display device 11 and the input device 14 are integrated (e.g., a touch panel) may also be used.

The I/F 15 is an example of an interface device, and executes processing to communicate with the content creation device 2 via the communication network 3.

The memory 16 stores programs such as an operation analysis program 162 and an analysis result output program 163. The memory 16 also stores general-purpose software 164. These programs 162 to 164 are executed by the CPU 12 to realize their respective functions. The general-purpose software 164 is software (e.g., existing software) that exists separately from the programs 162 and 163, and may be, for example, any of presentation software, spreadsheet software, word processing software, and drawing software, as described above. For this reason, the "object" that can be input or placed in the editing area represented by the GUI provided by the general-purpose software 164 is an object different from a 3DCG part, and may be text (e.g., character strings), figures, 2D images, etc. In this way, since the GUI to be operated by the user is the GUI provided by the general-purpose software 164, the burden of creating a storyboard is small. The operation analysis program 162 and the analysis result output program 163 may be a program added to the general-purpose software 164, or may be a program that cooperates with the general-purpose software 164.

Drive 17 is an example of a persistent storage device, and stores an item management table 171 and a movement pattern management table 172.

The connection line 18 is a transmission path through which each element of the creation support device 1 transmits signals to each other.

Figure 3 shows the general configuration of the content creation device 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, the content creation device 2 includes a display device 21, a CPU 22, an input device 24, an I/F 25, a memory 26, and a drive 27, which are connected by a connection line (e.g., a bus) 28. The display device 21, the CPU 22, the input device 24, the I/F 25, and the connection line 28 are similar to the display device 11, the CPU 12, the input device 14, the I/F 15, and the connection line 18, respectively, and therefore will not be described.

The memory 26 stores programs such as an analysis result input program 262 and an animation generation program 263.

The drive 27 stores a 3DCG part management table 271 that holds information about 3DCG parts, and a part attribute management table 272 that holds information about the attributes of the 3DCG parts.

In the following, in this embodiment, presentation software is used as the general-purpose software 164, and a washing machine is used as the device.

Figure 4 shows an example of a storyboard drawn in the editing area 100.

The editing area 100 is an area in the GUI provided by the general-purpose software 164, where objects are input or placed. In response to an operation performed by the user on the GUI, objects such as a 2D image 101 of the front panel, an arrow shape 102 indicating the direction of movement, and a 2D image 104 of the washing machine body are placed in the editing area 100. The 2D image 101 of the front panel is placed in front of the 2D image 101 of the front panel. The 2D image 101 of the front panel and the arrow shape 102 are grouped as shown by a dotted frame 103. The coordinate system of the editing area 100 is an XYZ coordinate system (an example of a three-dimensional coordinate system), and a coordinate system mark 105 indicating that it is an XYZ coordinate system may be displayed on the editing area 100.

The 2D image 101 of the front panel and the 2D image 104 of the washing machine are images represented by 2D image files whose extensions are, for example, jpg, png, bmp, gif, etc. The arrow shape 102 is an example of a shape selected from a shape list (multiple shapes as options) prepared as standard in the general-purpose software 164. The dotted frame 103 is an object representing that the 2D image 101 of the front panel and the arrow shape 102 are grouped together. If the general-purpose software 164 identifies the group, an object such as the dotted frame 103 (an example of an object representing a group) may not be present, or the display of the object may be transparent. The coordinate system mark 105 is a mark for the user of the editing area 100. The XYZ coordinate system will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement image of a 3DCG image of a washing machine. The plane formed by the XZ axis is expressed as a grid plane, and the 3DCG image of the washing machine is arranged parallel to the XZ plane. In other words, the long axis direction of the washing machine coincides with the Y axis. In this way, by determining the direction of the arrow graphic 102 in advance, it becomes possible to define the movement direction in the editing area 100.

In FIG. 4, the letter "Z" is included in the arrow to define linear movement in the Z-axis direction (an example of a linear direction), but the definition of the movement direction is not limited to this. For example, the X-axis may be defined as red, the Y-axis as green, and the Z-axis as blue, and the placement of a blue arrow shape may specify linear movement in the Z-axis direction. Alternatively, text stating "Move in the Z-axis direction" may be placed in place of the arrow shape 102.

As described above, the arrow shape 102 in FIG. 4 is a shape that is provided as standard in the general-purpose software 164. Instead of being called up and used from a standard function, the arrow shape 102 may be called up from an operation setting menu that is displayed by right-clicking with a mouse or by touching a touch panel.

Figure 6 shows an example in which an operation setting menu is displayed when a 2D image 101 is selected in the editing area 100.

The operation setting menu 106 is a menu of movement patterns that can be selected by the user. Examples of the movement patterns include "linear movement", "fitting", "rotation + linear movement", and "rotation around a specific position". For example, when "linear movement" is selected (for example, when "linear movement" is clicked or touched), the operation setting menu 106 disappears, the arrow shape 102 shown in FIG. 4 is displayed, and a dotted frame 103 representing a group of the 2D image 101 and the arrow shape 102 on the front panel is displayed. In the case of such a mechanism, the work of expanding the arrow shape 102 in the editing area 100 by the standard function, placing the arrow shape 102 next to the 2D image 101, and grouping the 2D image 101 and the arrow shape 102 becomes unnecessary. In other words, since the storyboard can be created by operating the GUI provided by the general-purpose software 164, the burden of the storyboard creation work is reduced, and the storyboard can be created intuitively.

Next, we will use Figure 7 to explain the process of automatically generating a simple action definition file from a storyboard.

First, the operation analysis program 162 analyzes the created storyboard (S10). The analysis of the storyboard identifies objects and their attributes, as well as relationships between the objects (e.g., which objects form groups). In the example shown in FIG. 4, the only image grouped with the arrow shape 102 is the 2D image 101 of the front panel.

Next, the operation analysis program 162 obtains the 2D image file name of the 2D image 101 of the front panel that is grouped with the arrow shape 102 that means linear movement, and registers the image file name in the item management table 171 (S11). FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the item management table 171. When the image file name is added, the name other than the extension is registered as the folder name in the "3DCG part storage folder name". Note that the 3DCG file representing the 3DCG part is a file with an extension such as obj, fbx, gltf, glb, dae, etc. Since these may also be used together with files with extensions such as mtl, mat, jpg, png, etc. to bring out the reality of colors, etc., one or more files (examples of 3DCG data sets) representing the 3DCG part are stored in the folder for each 3DCG part. For each item object (e.g., 2D image) in the storyboard, the 3DCG part associated with the item object is identified from the item management table 171. That is, the corresponding 3DCG parts are identified for both item objects belonging to the same group as the object with which the movement pattern is associated (arrow shape 102 in the example of FIG. 4 ) and for individual item objects that are not grouped with the object with which the movement pattern is associated. The 3DCG part storage folder name may be an example of the ID (e.g., name) of the 3DCG part. The item management table 171 may associate the image file name with the 3DCG part storage folder name in advance. A part of the character string (e.g., "model") in the 3DCG part storage folder name may represent the type of item represented by the 3DCG part (e.g., the device itself, a part of the device, a tool, etc.). Alternatively, information representing the type of item corresponding to the 3DCG part may be associated with each 3DCG part.

Next, the operation analysis program 162 determines that the arrow graphic 102 represents linear movement based on the movement pattern management table 172, and identifies the movement direction from at least one of the letters "X", "Y", and "Z" attached to the arrow graphic 102 (S12). FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the movement pattern management table 172. For the representation on the storyboard, the name of the call process to be passed to the content creation device 2 is written. For example, if the only letter attached to the arrow graphic 102 is "Z", the linear direction is a direction parallel to the Z axis, and if the letters attached to the arrow graphic 102 are "X" and "Z", the linear direction is a diagonal linear direction parallel to the XZ plane.

Then, the analysis result output program 163 generates and outputs a simplified action definition file (an example of data representing the analysis result), which is a file (e.g., a JSON format file) describing the 3DCG part storage folder name and the movement pattern (e.g., the movement direction) for each identified 3DCG part (S13). The "simple" in "simple action definition file" means that the movement pattern is described but does not include the movement amount (the movement amount is determined in a later process). Note that, according to the example shown in FIG. 1, the input and output of the simplified action definition file is performed between the creation support device 1 and the content creation device 2, but is not limited to input and output between the devices 1 and 2. For example, in another embodiment in which a series of processes is executed in a single device 1 or 2, input and output may be performed internally between programs (between functions).

Next, with reference to FIG. 10, we will explain the process in which the content creation device 2 automatically generates animation using the simplified action definition file generated and output in S13.

The analysis result input program 262 inputs the simplified action definition file. The animation generation program 263 analyzes the simplified action definition file to obtain the 3DCG part storage folder name from the simplified action definition file (S20). Next, the animation generation program 263 refers to the 3DCG part management table 271 and determines whether there is a 3DCG part storage folder name that matches the 3DCG part storage folder name obtained for each of the 3DCG part storage folder names (S21). If the determination result of S21 is false for at least one 3DCG part (S21: No), the process ends. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the 3DCG part management table 271. For each 3DCG part storage folder that the content creation device 2 has, the folder name of the folder is registered.

If the judgment result of S21 is true for all 3DCG part storage folder names (S21: Yes), the animation generation program 263 registers, for each movement pattern represented by the simplified operation definition file, the movement pattern in the corresponding location of the part attribute management table 272 corresponding to the 3DCG part type identified from the 3DCG storage folder name corresponding to the movement pattern (S22). FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the part attribute management table 272. For example, the part attribute management table 272 exists for each type of 3DCG part. In this embodiment, the types of 3DCG parts are broadly divided into equipment parts and non-equipment parts, but there may be three or more types (for example, equipment parts, tools, ...). The table 272 shown in FIG. 12 is a table corresponding to equipment parts, and the movement direction "Z" is registered in the table 272. The information items of the table 272 include the type of part, world coordinates, rotation center coordinates, linear movement direction, and rotation movement direction. The type of part and the world coordinates are set to default values (for example, values are set when a 3DCG part is prepared and an assembly operation is performed separately for the 3DCG part), and the rotation center coordinates, linear movement direction, and rotation movement direction are set to values specified from the simplified operation definition file. The part attribute management table 272 may exist for each 3DCG part instead of for each type of 3DCG part. For 3DCG parts that are not associated with a movement pattern in the simplified operation definition file, a part attribute management table 272 with a blank movement pattern may exist. In addition, a device may have multiple identical parts (for example, multiple identical screws), and a part attribute table corresponding to the 3DCG part may exist for each identical part. In addition, the 3DCG part storage folder may be common to multiple identical parts, or may be prepared for each individual part. In addition, the rotation movement direction may be expressed by at least one of the rotation axis direction and the rotation direction.

Then, for each movement pattern represented by the simplified operation definition file, the animation generation program 263 determines whether the 3DCG part type corresponding to the part attribute management table 272 in which the movement pattern is registered is an equipment part (S23). For example, in the case of content showing the disassembly process of a washing machine, in addition to equipment parts such as the front panel, motor, and control board, there are also non-equipment parts such as tools and attachment parts such as screws and torque wrenches.

For a movement pattern in which the 3DCG part type is a machine part ("machine-parts") (S23: Yes), the animation generation program 263 sets a movement amount corresponding to the machine part (S24). For a movement pattern in which the 3DCG part type is a non-machine part (S23: No), the animation generation program 263 sets a movement amount corresponding to the non-machine part (S25). The magnitude of the value of the "movement amount" differs depending on the type of 3DCG part as well as the movement pattern (for example, whether the movement pattern is a linear movement, a rotational movement, or a combination of a linear movement and a rotational movement). For example, at least one of the following may be adopted.
When the movement pattern is linear movement, the movement amount is the distance from the world coordinates (an example of the initial coordinate values) of the 3DCG part corresponding to the movement pattern. The movement amount that is set (determined) is larger for equipment parts than for non-equipment parts.
When the movement pattern is a rotational movement, the movement amount is the amount of rotation (e.g., an angle greater than 0 degrees) based on the rotational movement direction and rotation center coordinates of the 3DCG part corresponding to the movement pattern. For example, a movement amount (rotation amount) of "720 degrees" means three rotations. The rotation amount that is set (determined) is smaller for equipment parts than for non-equipment parts.

The animation generation program 263 generates an animation (animation including each 3DCG part and the movement of the 3DCG part associated with the movement pattern) of the content including all the 3DCG parts identified from the simplified action definition file from the registered contents of the part attribute management table 272 for each 3DCG part identified from the simplified action definition file (e.g., world coordinates, rotation center coordinates, linear movement direction, and rotation movement direction for each 3DCG part associated with a movement pattern) and the movement amount set in S24 and/or S25 (S26). The world coordinates are, for example, the start coordinates of the movement.

According to this embodiment, animations can be automatically generated from a storyboard that expresses the movement of 3DCG parts based on general-purpose objects such as 2D images, text, or figures. Furthermore, since the simplified action definition file that follows the storyboard does not require detailed descriptions of the movement (e.g., starting coordinates and amount of movement), even users who are unfamiliar with 3DCG can generate 3DCG animations by simply inputting or arranging images and figures. This is expected to reduce the amount of work required to create content animations.

Note that in FIG. 4, the example of a movement pattern is linear movement, but as described above, for an article object such as a 2D image, the user can associate a rotational movement as a movement pattern instead of or in addition to linear movement, as described above.

For example, in FIG. 13, a storyboard is created for an animation of a rotating washing machine door. That is, in the editing area 100, a 2D image 301 of the washing machine door is placed in front of a 2D image 104 of the washing machine body. For the 2D image 301 of the washing machine door, objects such as an arrow shape 302 indicating the direction of rotation and a circle shape 303 indicating the center of rotation (objects related to the rotational movement as a movement pattern) are placed, and the 2D image 301 of the washing machine door, the arrow shape 302, and the circle shape 303 are grouped as shown by a dotted frame 304. The 2D image 301 of the washing machine door is an image represented by a 2D image file whose extension is, for example, jpg, png, bmp, or gif. The arrow shape 302 and the circle shape 303 are shapes that are prepared as standard in the general-purpose software 164.

A simplified action definition file according to the storyboard illustrated in FIG. 13 is generated and output, and the process illustrated in FIG. 10 performs the following process based on the simplified action definition file. That is, in S22, the animation generation program 263 identifies the rotation center coordinate and the rotation direction from the simplified action definition file, and registers the identified rotation center coordinate and the rotation direction in the part attribute management table 272. In S24 or S25, the animation generation program 263 sets (determines) the amount of rotation corresponding to the 3DCG part type. In S26, the animation generation program 263 generates an animation including the rotation movement of the 3DCG part. Note that, for example, the "rotation center coordinate" is generally the origin of the local coordinates in the field of 3DCG. Generally, in the field of 3DCG, a coordinate system based on the origin of the CG space is called a world coordinate system. For example, the location of the 3DCG parts that make up a washing machine is managed by the coordinates of the world coordinate system. On the other hand, a coordinate system based on any coordinate in the world coordinate system is called a local coordinate system. The origin of this local coordinate system can be specified at any position when viewed from the world coordinate system, and the origin of the local coordinate system may be used as the center of rotation coordinates in a rotation animation.

One embodiment has been described above, but this is merely an example for the purpose of explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to only this embodiment. The present invention can also be implemented in various other forms.

The above explanation can be summarized, for example, as follows. Note that the following summary explanation may include explanations not included in the above explanation (for example, supplementary explanations to the above explanations, or explanations of modified examples of the embodiments).

For each of one or more items related to the equipment, the identified movement pattern may include a direction of movement, and the movement according to the identified movement pattern may be determined by determining the amount of movement depending on which of multiple types the type of 3DCG part corresponding to the item falls under. For equipment, the amount of movement of the 3DCG part corresponding to the item has an appropriate amount depending on the 3DCG part type (item type), and in this embodiment, the amount of movement is automatically determined depending on the 3DCG part type, thereby reducing the workload of generating 3DCG animation. Note that the automatically determined amount of movement may be adjustable by the user.

For each of one or more items related to the equipment, the identified movement pattern may include linear movement, rotational movement, or a combination of linear movement and rotational movement. The movement pattern for linear movement may include the linear movement direction. The movement pattern for rotational movement may include at least the rotation axis direction of the rotational movement direction and the rotation center coordinates. In this way, the movement pattern does not include movement details such as the movement amount, but includes a movement overview (frame) such as the type of movement and the direction of movement. This can reduce the workload of generating 3DCG animation.

The system may include an analysis result output program 163 that outputs a simplified action definition file (an example of simplified action definition data), and an analysis result input program 262 that inputs and analyzes the simplified action definition file. The simplified action definition file is a file that represents the result of an operation analysis (analysis including identifying a 3DCG part storage folder associated with an item object input or placed in the GUI and a movement pattern of the item), and may be a file that represents the 3DCG part storage folder name identified for each item and the movement pattern identified for the item. The analysis of the simplified action definition file may be an analysis including identifying a 3DCG part storage folder name for each item and a movement pattern identified for the item. In this way, input and output of the simplified action definition file enables collaboration between a function for supporting the generation of animation and a function for generating animation. As a result, for example, the operation analysis program 162 and the analysis result output program 163 may be provided in the creation support device 1 (an example of a first computer), and the analysis result input program 262 and the animation generation program 263 may be provided in the content creation device 2 (an example of a second computer that can communicate with the first computer).

In at least a part of the information in the item management table 171 and the movement pattern management table 172, at least one item (e.g., a 3DCG part of an item, or a 3DCG part type) may be associated with one or more possible movement patterns. For example, one or more possible movement patterns (e.g., a process name of a movement pattern) may be associated with a 3DCG part storage folder name, or a process name of a movement pattern may be associated with a 3DCG part storage folder name corresponding to an item that can take the movement pattern. When the operation analysis program 162 specifies, based on at least a part of the information described above, that an object input or placed in the GUI and specified is an item object of an item that is associated with one or more possible movement patterns, it may accept a selection of one of the one or more possible movement patterns, or may display an object representing one of the one or more possible movement patterns. Since the movement patterns that an item related to equipment can take are generally determined, by defining the possible movement patterns in advance, the range that the user can edit can be limited to an appropriate range, thereby reducing the workload of generating 3DCG animation. Additionally, for example, for an item that has only one possible movement pattern, an object representing that movement pattern is automatically displayed, making it easier for the user to intuitively understand the item's movement pattern.

When the operation analysis program 162 receives a specification of a movement pattern for an item object (e.g., a 2D image) input or placed in the GUI, it may identify an object that represents the movement pattern from the movement pattern management table 172, display the identified object in the editing area 100 of the GUI, and group the object and the item object. The 3DCG part to which the movement pattern is applied may be a 3DCG part that corresponds to an item object in the same group as the object that represents the movement pattern. In this way, the relationship between the movement pattern and the 3DCG part to which the movement pattern is applied can be clarified.

1: Creation support device 2: Content creation device 10: Content creation system 162: Operation analysis program 171: Item management table 172: Movement pattern management table 263: Animation generation program

Claims (10)

an operation analysis unit that performs operation analysis, which is an analysis including identifying a 3DCG data set associated with each item object of one or more items and a movement pattern of each of the one or more items, based on item management information representing an association between an item object representing an item related to a device composed of multiple parts and a 3DCG data set representing a 3DCG image of the item, movement pattern management information representing an association between the object and a movement pattern, and a plurality of objects input or arranged in accordance with an operation on a GUI (Graphical User Interface);
A content creation system comprising: an animation generation unit that determines movement for each of the one or more items according to a specified movement pattern, and generates an animation including a 3DCG image of each of the one or more items and the determined movement for each of the one or more items. For each of said one or more articles:
The identified movement pattern includes a movement direction;
Determining the movement according to the identified movement pattern is determining the amount of movement depending on which of a plurality of types the type of the 3DCG image corresponding to the item corresponds to;
The plurality of types includes equipment parts.
The content creation system of claim 1 . for each of the one or more articles, the identified movement pattern includes linear movement, rotational movement, or a combination of linear and rotational movement;
The movement pattern for linear movement includes a linear movement direction,
The movement pattern for the rotational movement includes at least a rotation axis direction of the rotational movement direction and the rotation center coordinates.
The content creation system of claim 1 . an analysis result output unit that outputs simplified action definition data, the simplified action definition data being data representing a result of the operation analysis, the simplified action definition data being data representing a 3DCG data set identified for each of the one or more articles and a movement pattern identified for the one or more articles;
The content creation system of claim 1, further comprising an analysis result input unit that inputs the simplified action definition data and performs a simplified action definition analysis, which is an analysis of the simplified action definition data that includes identifying a 3DCG data set for each of the one or more items and a movement pattern identified for the one or more items. the operation analysis unit and the analysis result output unit are provided in a first computer,
the analysis result input unit and the animation generation unit are provided in a second computer capable of communicating with the first computer;
The content creation system of claim 4 . the GUI is a GUI provided by a predetermined general-purpose software,
the predetermined general-purpose software is any one of word processing software, spreadsheet software, presentation software, and drawing software,
Among the plurality of objects, an object associated with a movement pattern is an object selected from objects provided as options by the predetermined general-purpose software.
The content creation system of claim 1 . In at least a part of the item management information and the movement pattern management information, at least one item is associated with one or more possible movement patterns;
When the operation analysis unit specifies, based on at least a portion of the information, that the object input or placed on the GUI and specified is an article object of an article associated with one or more possible movement patterns, it accepts selection of any one of the one or more possible movement patterns, or displays an object representing one of the one or more possible movement patterns.
The content creation system of claim 1 . when the operation analysis unit receives a designation of a movement pattern for an item object input or placed on the GUI, it identifies an object representing the movement pattern from the movement pattern management information, displays the identified object on the GUI, and groups the object and the item object;
The 3DCG image to which the movement pattern is applied is a 3DCG image corresponding to an item object in the same group as the object representing the movement pattern.
The content creation system of claim 1 . a computer performs an operation analysis, which is an analysis including identifying a 3DCG data set associated with each item object of one or more items and a movement pattern of each of the one or more items, based on item management information representing an association between an item object representing an item related to a device composed of multiple parts and a 3DCG data set representing a 3DCG image of the item, movement pattern management information representing an association between the object and a movement pattern, and a plurality of objects input or arranged in accordance with an operation on a GUI (Graphical User Interface);
a computer determines, for each of the one or more articles, a movement according to the identified movement pattern, and generates an animation including a 3DCG image of each of the one or more articles and the determined movement for each of the one or more articles;
How to create content. an operation analysis unit that performs operation analysis, which is an analysis including identifying a 3DCG data set associated with each item object of one or more items and a movement pattern of each of the one or more items, based on item management information representing an association between an item object representing an item related to a device composed of multiple parts and a 3DCG data set representing a 3DCG image of the item, movement pattern management information representing an association between the object and a movement pattern, and a plurality of objects input or arranged in accordance with an operation on a GUI (Graphical User Interface);
A content creation support device comprising an analysis result output unit that outputs the results of the operation analysis, which are used to generate an animation including a 3DCG image of each of the one or more items and a movement determined for each of the one or more items.

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