53 results about "3D computer graphics" patented technology

Navigating a UAV including receiving in a remote control device a user's selection of a GUI map pixel that represents a waypoint for UAV navigation, mapping the pixel's location on the GUI to Earth coordinates of the waypoint, transmitting the coordinates of the waypoint to the UAV, reading a starting position from a GPS receiver on the UAV, and piloting the UAV, under control of a navigation computer on the UAV, from the starting position to the waypoint in accordance with a navigation algorithm. While piloting the UAV from the starting position to the waypoint, such embodiments include reading from the GPS receiver a sequence of GPS data representing a flight path of the UAV, and depicting the flight of the UAV with 3D computer graphics, including a computer graphic display of a satellite image of the Earth, in dependence upon the GPS data.

Real space image including a simple prototype created based on three-dimensional CAD data is captured by an image input apparatus. A position / orientation measuring apparatus measures positions and orientations of the image input apparatus and simple prototype. An information processor captures position / orientation information representing the position and orientation of the simple prototype in the image captured by the image input apparatus 102. The information processor further extracts a hand area from an image, renders a three-dimensional computer graphic image on the simple prototype, excluding the extracted hand area, in the image based on the position / orientation information and the three-dimensional CAD data, and synthesizes the image and the three-dimensional computer graphic image. Here, the simple prototype has a different color from a color of the hand area.

A three-dimensional computer graphics model which represents a measurable range of a position and orientation sensor is prepared in advance. A composite image is generated by superimposing an image of a virtual object which represents the measurable range of the position and orientation sensor on an actually-sensed image in real space where the position and orientation sensor is placed. The composite image, when displayed, makes it possible to visually recognize the measurable range of the position and orientation sensor.

In a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, a three-dimensional scene is reproduced on a specialized light display which offers full multiviewpoint capability and auto-stereoscopic views. The displayed image is produced using a set of M two-dimensional images of the scene collected at a set of distinct spatial locations. These M two-dimensional images are processed through a specialized mathematical encoding scheme to obtain a set of NxK display-excitation electrical-input signals, where K is the number of pixels in the display, and N<=M is the number of individual light-radiating elements within one pixel. The display is thus comprised of a total of NxK light-radiating elements. Each of the K pixels is adapted for control of their associated radiance patterns. The display is connected for response to the set of NxK display-excitation electrical-input signals. In this manner, the display provides a multiviewpoint and autostereoscopic three-dimensional image associated with the original three-dimensional scene. An alternative embodiment of the invention is utilized to provide efficient storage and display of 3D computer graphics images.

A method and apparatus are provided for rendering a 3 dimensional computer graphics image. The image is divided into plurality of rectangular tiles which are arranged in a multi level structure comprising a plurality of levels of progressively larger groupings of tiles. Image data is divided into a plurality of primitive blocks and these are assigned to groupings of tiles within the multi level structure in dependence on the groupings each one intersects. Control stream data is derived for rendering the image and this comprises references to primitive blocks for each grouping of tiles within each level of the multi level structure, the references corresponding to the primitive blocks assigned to each grouping and control stream data is used to render the primitive data into tiles within the groupings of tiles for display. This is done such that for primitive blocks which intersect a plurality of tiles within a grouping, control stream data is written for the grouping of tiles rather than for each tile within the grouping.

A compact image element encoding format selectively allocates a bit field within the format to alternately encode either multi-bit alpha resolution or increased color resolution. This encoding technique may be advantageously used to allocate encoding bits to model semi-transparency while using those same bits for other purposes (e.g., higher color resolution) in instances where semi-transparency is not required (e.g., for opaque image elements). In one advantageous embodiment, the same encoding format can provide either RGB5 or RGB4A3, on an image-element-by-image-element basis. Applications include but are not limited to texture mapping in a 3D computer graphics system such as a home video game system or a personal computer.