JPH09258954A - Cursor for three-dimensional display - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the designation of a position on a three-dimensional picture and to facilitate the discrimination of the position, the size and the inclination of a graphic on the picture by providing cursor axes constituted of an x-axis, a y-axis and a z-axis and an auxiliary lines obtained by extending the cursor axes. SOLUTION: The x-axis exists in a lateral direction, the y-axis in a vertical direction and the z-axis in a depth direction. A cursor 1 having the cursor axes corresponding to the axes and the auxiliary lines 3 obtained by extending the cursor axes are displayed. In a cursor 2, the lengths of the cursor axes are displayed short in correspondence to the smaller display of the graphic as it goes to the inner part of a screen in a state where the cursor 1 is moved to the depth direction. Scales are given to the cursor auxiliary lines 3 and the intervals of the scales become smaller as the auxiliary lines go to the inner side of the screen in the same way as the size of the cursor axes. A part where the cursor axes and the auxiliary lines pass through the inside of the display graphic is displayed in low luminance. With the cursor for three-dimensional display, the discrimination of the moving direction, moving quantity and the position of the cursor becomes facile by the cursor auxiliary lines with scales.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a display device of an information processing device such as a computer, and more particularly to a three-dimensional display cursor that can easily indicate a position in a three-dimensional image displayed on the display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a method for instructing a graphic on a screen of a display device of an information processing device such as a computer, conventionally,
Generally, a position is designated by two-dimensionally moving an indication cursor such as a cross cursor with an input device along a horizontal axis (X axis) and a vertical axis (Y axis) on a display screen.

[0003]

However, in the above method, when pointing a two-dimensional figure, there is no problem because the cursor position on the screen and the figure position are in a one-to-one correspondence. When indicating the position on the image, the position of the cursor in the depth direction and the moving direction of the cursor cannot be accurately determined, and it is difficult to grasp the position of the figure itself on the 3D image. Specifying the exact position of the cursor with respect to the figure above is difficult.

On the three-dimensional image, the apparent size of the displayed graphic changes depending on the position of the graphic in the depth direction of the screen. Therefore, it may be difficult to determine the actual size of the graphic.

As a three-dimensional cursor capable of performing three-dimensional processing accurately and quickly even on a three-dimensional image, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-16896, the moving direction on the screen, the vertical direction, Cursor axes are set in the horizontal and depth directions, the intersection of each cursor axis is a bright point, and the brightness of each cursor axis changes continuously according to its distance as it goes deeper in the screen. The proposed configuration has been proposed.

An object of the present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a three-dimensional display cursor which makes it easy to discriminate the position of a figure on a three-dimensional image and can accurately specify the position. That is.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a three-dimensional display cursor for indicating a position in a three-dimensional image displayed on a screen of a display device,
And a means for displaying a cursor axis composed of three axes in the directions of the x-axis, the y-axis, and the z-axis at the cursor position, and an auxiliary line obtained by extending the cursor axis by a predetermined length in the axial direction. A cursor display system for a three-dimensional image, comprising: means for varying the size of the displayed cursor according to the position of the cursor in the three-dimensional image in the depth direction.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the cursor for three-dimensional display that indicates the position in the three-dimensional image displayed on the display screen of the display device is a coordinate axis (x axis, y axis, A cursor axis composed of three axes in the z-axis direction and an auxiliary line extending the cursor axis are displayed. The size of the displayed cursor is variable depending on the position in the depth direction within the three-dimensional image.

When the position of the viewpoint moves in the three-dimensional space and the x, y, z axes change, and when the cursor position in the three-dimensional image changes, the x, y, and z at the cursor position change.
When the z-axis direction is changed, the direction of the displayed cursor axis is changed according to the changed x, y, and z axes.

With this structure, the position on the three-dimensional image can be easily specified, and the position, size, inclination, etc. of the graphic on the image can be easily determined.

The above-described embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below based on more specific examples. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, which is an example of display of a three-dimensional cursor. With reference to FIG. 1, in this display example, the x axis is in the horizontal direction, the y axis is in the vertical direction, and the z axis is in the depth direction.
A cursor 1 having a cursor axis corresponding thereto and an auxiliary line 3 extending the cursor axis are displayed. Display / non-display of the cursor auxiliary line 3 can be arbitrarily selected.

The cursor 2 is also displayed with a short length of the cursor axis in correspondence with the figure being displayed smaller toward the back of the screen when the cursor 1 is moved in the depth direction. The cursor auxiliary line 3 has a scale attached,
Similar to the size of the cursor axis, the distance between the scales becomes smaller as the auxiliary line moves further into the screen. It is possible to recognize that the cursor and its auxiliary line exist inside the graphic by displaying the cursor axis and its auxiliary line inside the display graphic with low brightness.

In the figure, reference numeral 4 is an intersection of the cursor auxiliary line 3 and the figure, and the auxiliary line 3 passes through the inside of the figure.

When the cursor is moved on the three-dimensional image, only the movement of the plane can be recognized on the screen.
It is difficult to determine the actual movement direction and movement amount. However, in the three-dimensional display cursor according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is easy to determine the moving direction, the moving amount, and the position of the cursor by the cursor auxiliary line with the scale.

Further, since the cursor size and the interval between the scales of the cursor auxiliary lines change depending on the position of the cursor in the depth direction, the movement of the cursor in the depth direction can be easily perceived.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a three-dimensional image, a figure is displayed smaller as it goes deeper in the image, and it is difficult to judge the size. However, the size of the three-dimensional cursor and the scale of the cursor auxiliary line indicate the size of the cursor. Since the size is adjusted to be suitable for the position in the depth direction, it is possible to easily determine the size of the graphic by aligning the cursor or the cursor auxiliary line with the graphic.

Further, in a three-dimensional image, it is difficult to judge the inclination, horizontal, parallel, etc. of the figure from the image, but the inclination from the x, y, z axes can be judged by matching the cursor auxiliary line to the figure. .

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an image display example in which the viewpoint is changed from that in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, when the directions of the x, y, and z axes change with the change of the viewpoint, the direction of the displayed cursor axis also changes. Thereby, even when the viewpoint is moved, the direction of the figure can be accurately recognized.

FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a display example when the cursor is moved on the screen. In FIG. 3, the horizontal axis is the x axis, the vertical axis is the y axis, and the depth direction is the z axis.

Referring to FIG. 3, the cursor 6 moves vertically to become the cursor 7, the cursor 7 horizontally moves to become the cursor 8, and the cursor 8 moves to the screen depth direction to become the cursor 9. ing. In this way, when the directions of the x, y, and z axes visible on the screen change depending on the position on the screen, the cursor axis is displayed in accordance with this. Also, when the cursor is moved in the depth direction, the cursor size changes.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The cursor axis composed of the x-axis, the y-axis, and the z-axis and the auxiliary line extending from the cursor axis make it possible to easily specify the position on the three-dimensional image, and the position, size, and inclination of the figure on the image. It has an effect that it is possible to easily discriminate the like.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of a three-dimensional display cursor according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram showing an image display example in which an image is displayed while changing the viewpoint in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the embodiment of the present invention and is a diagram showing a display example of a three-dimensional display cursor at each position on the screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Cursor for 3D display 2 Cursor for 3D display 3 Cursor auxiliary line 4 Intersection 6-9 3D cursor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A three-dimensional display cursor for designating a position in a three-dimensional image displayed on a screen of a display device, wherein at the cursor position, three axes in the directions of x-axis, y-axis and z-axis are used. Means for displaying a constituted cursor axis and an auxiliary line obtained by extending the cursor axis by a predetermined length in the axial direction, and the means for displaying the cursor axis in accordance with the position of the displayed cursor in the three-dimensional image in the depth direction. And a means for changing the size of the cursor, and a cursor display method for a three-dimensional image. 2. The position of the viewpoint moves in a three-dimensional space, x,
When the y and z axes are changed, and when the cursor position in the three-dimensional image is changed and the x, y and z axis directions at the cursor position are changed, the direction of the cursor axis displayed is the x,
2. The three-dimensional image cursor display system according to claim 1, further comprising means for changing the y and z axes in accordance with the change. 3. The cursor display system for a three-dimensional image according to claim 1, wherein the cursor axis and the auxiliary line are graduated. 4. The cursor axis and the auxiliary line,
2. The portion passing through the inside of the displayed graphic is displayed in a display form that is easily distinguishable from the graphic.
The three-dimensional image cursor display method described.