Animation Object Selection Using Boundary Files for Low-Latency Editing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional animation applications lack latency-free and efficient identification and visualization of selected objects within animations due to the large amounts of metadata in the animation source file, requiring significant processing time and resources.
Innovation Solution
An improved user interface that performs pre-processing on the animation source file to extract structured boundary data, serialize it into a boundary file, and use this data for seamless identification and visualization of selected objects during runtime, while indicating transitions and transition parameters associated with the selected objects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional animation applications use the full animation source file containing large amounts of object metadata and transition metadata to identify selected objects, then complete object information is available, but significant processing time and resources are required causing latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the animation source file by extracting only the boundary data portion from the complete animation metadata. This creates a separate boundary file containing only essential spatial information (x, y, width, height coordinates) needed for object identification, excluding all other metadata such as visual content, transitions, and properties. This segmentation reduces the data volume significantly while maintaining the capability to identify which object is under the cursor.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential boundary data from the animation source file and stores it in a separate boundary file. This extraction process removes unnecessary metadata (visual content, transition parameters, object properties) while retaining only the critical boundary coordinates needed for cursor-based object selection. The extracted boundary data enables fast object identification without processing the complete animation file.
2Loss of information
If conventional animation applications display all transitions and transition parameters for multiple objects, then complete transition information is available, but users cannot easily identify which transitions belong to a selected object
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different levels of information detail for different objects based on their selection state. When an object is selected (identified through cursor position matching with boundary data), the system highlights or emphasizes the transitions and transition parameters specific to that selected object, while other transitions remain in a normal or dimmed state. This allows users to easily identify which transitions belong to the selected object without hiding any transition information.
Data Source
AI summary
A technique for interacting with objects included in an animation, the technique including deserializing a boundary file that includes serialized boundary data for one or more objects included in the animation to generate structured boundary data for the one or more objects, determining a current cursor position within a current frame of the animation, and determining a selected object within the current frame of the animation based on the current cursor position within the current frame and the structured boundary data.