Patent ID: 6714201
Filing Date: 2004-03-30
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
A computerized method of creating animation comprising:storing a representation of a 3D graphic model containing a plurality of model nodes, in which nodes can be related to each other in a parent-child hierarchy in which each node can be a parent node and/or a child node and in which the spatial attributes of each child node is defined relative to the spatial attributes of a corresponding parent node; storing a plurality of motions, each associated with a corresponding node in said graphic model, and each having associated with it a definition of at least a position and an orientation spatial attribute value each defined in terms of a mathematical functions of time; generating an animated view of the given model in which the given model is rendered at each of a succession of time values with individual ones of the model's nodes being shown in each successive rendering as having a position and orientation determined as a function of the value for the rendering's corresponding time value of the position and orientation values defined by the node's associated motion; and providing a point-and-click graphical user interface which includes one or more model graph controls which displays a graphical representation of said graphic model, including: one or more tree graphs showing a visual representation of each model node and of the parent-child relationships between any such nodes; a visual representation of each motion associated with one of said of nodes at a spatial location corresponding to said associated node: one or more motion selecting controls for enabling a user to select a given motion by clicking on the visual representation of the given motion in the model graph; and motion-editing controls for enabling a user to vary the selected motion; wherein the visual representation of a motion in the model graph provides information about the one or more mathematical function of time which the motion uses to define one or more spatial attributes.