Method and apparatus for creating posing masks on video screen

To facilitate creating professional poses for a person to be photographed, a posing mask generating system is provided including a microprocessor having a video graphics board therein. The microprocessor also has a memory and a data input and output device. A video camera is interfaced with the video graphics board so that a video image of a model to be photographed can be viewed on a display terminal. Using the data input device, a professional photographer, experienced in posing subjects, enters graphics information into the system which is then overlaid with the video image and appropriately positioned to define a mask or template defining the location for prominent features of the subject within the frame of reference. This is repeated for a number of possible poses, with the graphics information being stored in the memory of the microprocessor. Once all of the masks have been professionally created, they are transferred to one or more studios in different locations and manned by camera operators rather than professional photographers. The remote systems also include a microprocessor with a video graphics board installed therein, a video camera and a display terminal. The mask information previously generated by a professional is overlaid on a video image of the object to the photographed and then the camera or the object is positioned until its video image fits the master template. The camera shutter is then tripped to record the posed subject on film.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
I. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates generally to the field of portrait photography and 
more particularly to a method and apparatus for facilitating the taking of 
portrait photographs by providing a video image of the subject with a 
professionally created posing mask overlaid on the video image. The posing 
mask provides necessary information to a camera operator on how to 
position the camera relative to the subject so that when a picture is 
snapped, the subject will be optimally posed. 
II. Discussion of the Prior Art 
Many years of experience and training under the direction of a professional 
photographer are often required before a novice is able to master the art 
of posing a subject or a group of subjects in front of a portrait camera 
so that the resulting photograph will be properly balanced and 
aesthetically pleasing when a print is made. A professional photographer 
learns only from experience how to frame the subject in the camera's view 
finder, depending upon the pose desired. For example, when the subject is 
standing, his/her head should be in one position to achieve a desired 
dynamic symmetry whereas, when seated, the subject's head should be at a 
different location within the frame. Similarly, the subject's hands should 
be properly placed and, perhaps, the subject's shoulders should also be 
positioned in such a way that the resulting photograph captures, on film, 
an image of the subject that is most pleasing. 
In group photography, such as a family portrait, each of the individuals 
must be appropriately positioned within the camera's field-of-view before 
the picture is taken. If the picture is to be a silhouette, the 
top-of-head and chin of the subject must be aesthetically aligned with the 
frame. As already mentioned, proper posing of a subject or subjects can 
take a long time to master. 
In high volume, commercial portrait work, it is often desirable that 
relatively inexperienced camera operators be able to take professional 
looking pictures. For example, in a department store setting, an 
inexperienced attendant may be hired to take pictures, but typically will 
not have the training and experience background possessed by a 
professional photographer. Hence, it becomes necessary for an 
inexperienced operator to take numerous proof photos from different camera 
positions in hopes that a few may be satisfactory to a customer. This 
necessarily adds to the cost. 
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,963 to Adolphi, et al., and entitled "Automated 
Portrait Studio" and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, 
there is described a portrait studio having a film camera that 
incorporates an optical system for creating a video image of the subject 
on a CRT screen where the video image is substantially identical to what 
would be captured on film when the shutter release is tripped. The 
portrait studio further includes a microprocessor including a memory for 
storing the video image. The video images can be subsequently reviewed by 
the customer by reading out the stored data and displaying same on a 
display terminal. A selection can then be made as to which are to be 
printed as photographs. While that system obviates the need for producing 
multiple proof photos, it still does not solve the problem of how to best 
compose the picture in the first instance. 
It is accordingly a principal object of the present invention to provide a 
method and apparatus for imparting to an unskilled camera operator, the 
skill and experience of a professional photographer in posing a subject or 
group for a portrait photograph. 
Another object of the invention is to provide an automated system for 
overlaying any one of a plurality of previously professionally created 
pose masks on a video screen along with an image of the subject so that an 
unskilled operator can, by adjusting the subject's physical position 
and/or the camera position and zoom, fit the subject's image to the mask 
before the photograph is taken. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention is concerned with a method for facilitating the 
posing of a subject in a portrait studio setting and comprises the steps 
of providing a skilled photographer with a personal computer having a 
commercially-available video graphics board in one of its card slots, a 
data storage device, a video display terminal and a data input device 
operatively coupled to it. Also available to the skilled photographer is a 
video image capture device for providing video information to the video 
graphics board within the personal computer. The subject to be 
photographed is then positioned in the field-of-view of the video image 
capture device such that the image is presented on the display terminal. 
The experienced photographer then first poses the subject in a desired way 
and then creates mask information relating to the desired positioning of a 
subject to be photographed using the data input device for a plurality of 
different possible poses. The mask information comprising graphical 
symbols and text is stored in the data storage device for later retrieval. 
Once all of the professionally created masks have been generated and stored 
on a machine-readable medium, that medium and the information thereon can 
be transferred to the memory of the microprocessor of a portrait camera of 
the type described in the aforereferenced Adolphi et al. application. Now, 
when a portrait of a subject is to be taken, an inexperienced camera 
operator, using a keyboard, a bar code reader or a mouse can select a 
particular pose mask from the memory of the microprocessor with the mask 
information being provided to the video graphics board, causing the mask 
lines to be overlaid on the video image of the subject. Then, by adjusting 
the zoom lens on the camera or by repositioning the camera or the subject, 
the subject's body parts, e.g., top of head, chin, shoulders, hands, etc., 
can be made to conform to the mask, thus insuring that the subject will be 
properly framed within the camera's field-of-view. Hence, when the shutter 
is snapped, the photograph taken will be of the subject posed in the 
manner previously designed by the skilled photographer.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 1, there is indicated generally by numeral 10 a personal 
computer, including a microprocessor 12 having an address bus 14 and a 
data bus 16. Coupled in a conventional fashion to these two buses is a ROM 
memory 18, a RAM memory 20 and and I/O interface module 22. Also connected 
across the address bus 14 and the data bus 16 is a video graphics board 24 
which may, for example, be of the type manufactured and sold by Matrox 
Electronics Systems Ltd. of Dorval, Quebec, Canada, and sold under the 
trademark, ILLUMINATOR-16.RTM.. 
The I/O interface 22 is shown as being used to couple a disk drive 26 into 
the system as well as a data input device 28. The data input device may 
take any one of a number of forms including a keyboard, a bar code wand, a 
mouse, a touch screen or any other similar type device used for entering 
data into the RAM memory 20 under control of the microprocessor 12. 
Shown coupled to the video graphics board 24 is a video camera 30 and a 
video/graphics display terminal 32. The Matrox video graphics board 24, 
when installed in a IBM.RTM. PC or a clone thereof provides a 32,768-color 
video graphics workstation with the ability to manipulate a 16-bit images 
on a pixel-by-pixel basis, store them in a 640.times.480 (the VGA 
standard) or 1K.times.1K pixel memory buffer and/or display the results 
onto a high resolution screen at specified video rates. It can also 
accommodate a wide variety of video signals from regular television video 
input to input from high-resolution cameras. By using the appropriate 
applications software, the Matrox board 24 can be controlled to allow 
image composition and it is to possible to display memory, live images and 
VGA graphics simultaneously. The video graphics board 24 allows an image 
from an external source to be digitized and written into memory. This 
function is frequently called "frame grabbing" or "image capture". 
Graphics information inputted by a professional photographer 34 using the 
data input device 28 can also be stored in the RAM memory 20 and overlaid 
with video information from the video camera 30 onto the video/graphics 
display screen 32, via the video graphics board 24. Those desiring more 
information concerning the design and operation of the video/graphics 
board 24 may refer to the manuals available from Matrox Electronics 
Systems Ltd. and relating to its ILLUMINATOR-16 video graphics board. 
In using the system of FIG. 1, the professional photographer 34 will 
position an individual or a photograph of an individual in the 
field-of-view of the video camera 30, as represented by the "posed 
subject" symbol 36. Using his/her professional expertise, the subject will 
be properly posed so that when viewed on the video graphics display 32, 
the subject will appear in the position deemed most appropriate for the 
given pose. Next, using the data input device 28, mask information is 
entered into the computer using a common "paint" type applications program 
or a special "objects" program to record line and shape coordinates. 
Special symbols are preassigned for such things as head location, chin 
location, hand location and any other item that can effect the portrait 
composition. The photographer then draws in these graphic symbols using 
the "paint" or the "objects" program. Text instructions may also be 
entered at this time for ultimately instructing the untrained operator on 
how to pose a subject, e.g., whether the pose is to be smiling or serious, 
etc. As this data is entered by the operator, it is overlaid on the video 
graphics display 32 under control of the video graphics board 24 so that 
the symbols conform to the body of the posed subject 36. The information 
is then stored with a designation or name for this pose, such as by 
subject's age, individual, couple, group size, double profile, exposure, 
type of prop, etc. Multiple poses may be composed and stored in the same 
manner. 
Where a paint-type program is used to store raster images, one pixel value 
is predetermined to mean "no-overlay". That is, if that particular value 
is read from the mask raster stored in memory 20, then no overlay of live 
video is to occur at the camera system. If, on the other hand, the program 
employed is the "object" program, then the entire screen, not drawn by the 
objects, is taken to be no-overlay. The objects or symbols themselves are 
represented as numbers and each type of object will have a different 
header or storage method so that different shapes and functions may be 
accessed at the camera system. Examples of these objects to be drawn 
include lines, circles, arcs, text, etc. 
Once all of the masks are thus composed by the professional photographer, 
they may be read out, via the I/O interface 22 to a disk drive 26, where 
they are stored on a magnetic disk which is transportable to any portrait 
studio and can then be used in a fashion yet to be described. The use of a 
disk drive is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the scope of 
the invention. 
Referring to FIG. 2, there is depicted a block diagram of the equipment 
incorporated at the portrait studio where an untrained operator may pose a 
subject to be photographed in accordance with a previously created mask. 
The system of FIG. 2 is similar to that shown in FIG. 1 in that it 
includes a microprocessor 38 having an address bus 40 and a data bus 42 
connected thereto in conventional fashion for controlling the execution of 
instructions stored in a ROM memory 44 and for entering or reading out 
information from a RAM memory 46. An I/O interface 48 is used to couple a 
data entry device 50 to the microprocessor 38. Further, a disk drive 52 
may be interfaced to the microprocessor where the mask data is to be 
physically transported from the creation site to the studio where it is to 
be used. 
A video graphics board 54, which again may be a Matrox board is connected 
across the address and data buses 40 and 42 and is adapted to receive 
input information from a portrait camera 56 having a video sensor 
incorporated therein. Such a camera may be of the type described in U.S. 
Pat. No. 5,055,863 assigned to Photo Controls Corporation of Minneapolis, 
Minn. That camera is cited merely for purposes of illustration and the 
present invention is not limited to a system incorporating that particular 
camera. 
The video graphics board 54 is also arranged to output information to a 
video/graphics display device 58. 
The magnetic disk prepared by the professional photographer using the 
equipment shown in FIG. 1 may be installed in the disk drive 52 in the 
portrait studio allowing its contents to be read, via I/O interface 48, 
into the RAM memory 46. When a subject is to be posed for a photograph, an 
untrained camera operator uses the data entry device 50 to specify a 
particular pose selected by the customer. With a customer positioned in 
the field-of-view of the camera 56, his/her video image will be presented 
on the display screen 58 along with the mask symbols oriented on the 
screen at the predetermined coordinate locations earlier specified when 
the mask information was developed. Now, by adjusting the zoom of the 
camera 56 or by moving the camera itself or the subject, that subject may 
be made to fit the confines of the mask symbols. That is to say, the top 
of the subject's head may be aligned with a line or arc on the video 
screen corresponding to the desired location for the top of the head in 
the selected pose while the video image of the subject's chin is made to 
align with a similar mask line on the screen. Once the subject has been 
positioned in accordance with the mask, the shutter may be tripped to 
record the image on film. 
FIG. 3 is a software flow diagram for the application program executed by 
the microprocessor 12 in FIG. 1 when creating the mask information for 
later transfer to the portrait studio camera system of FIG. 2. As has 
already been mentioned, the mask information may be created using a 
commercially available "paint" type program or, alternatively, an 
object-type program may be used where specific structures, such as lines, 
circles, text, etc., can be selected for presentation and overlay on a 
video image. In this fashion, special symbols can be preassigned to 
specify where on the video screen the top of the subject's head should 
reside and then where the chin location should be, etc. With respect to 
FIG. 3, then, the program is entered at block 60 "Start Mask 
Construction". At step 62, the desired screen size and frame orientation, 
such as horizontal or vertical, is selected. Following that, a decision is 
made (block 64) whether a raster-type program or an object-type program is 
to be used in creating the mask lines on the screen. Where a paint or 
raster-type program is used, the associated commercially-available paint 
program is entered and the mask lines are drawn in accordance therewith 
(block 66). At the conclusion of the mask preparation, the information is 
stored (block 68) for later transfer to the camera system in the portrait 
studio (block 70). 
Had the result of the decision at block 64 been that an object-type program 
was to be used in the mask construction, control would pass the decision 
block 72 where the operator selects which particular object, i.e., a line 
segment, a circle segment, a text or a flood fill is to be used and in 
each such event, the coordinates for the items to be drawn are specified 
as is the color information. In this regard, the objects themselves are 
represented as digital numbers including a header defining the object type 
and the color, starting and end point coordinates comprise further fields 
of the numbers. Once the operations identified by block 74 through 80 are 
completed, a test is made at block 82 to determine whether any further 
symbols are to be generated on the screen. If so, control loops back to 
decision block 72 and the further operations are executed. Once the test 
at block 82 shows that the mask has been completed, control passes to 
block 68 where the mask information is saved in a file for subsequent 
transfer to the camera system in block 70. 
While the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2 show a disk drive 26 and 52 as the 
means for transferring the mask information, those skilled in the art can 
appreciate that digital information, once stored in the memory, can be 
transferred to the memory of another remote processor in a variety of ways 
other than physically transporting a disk storing the information from one 
system to the other. For example, a modem and telephone lines can be used 
to effect such a transfer. In this fashion, a professional photographer at 
a headquarters location can create posing masks and then transfer the mask 
information to any of a plurality of remote locations where less 
professionally experienced camera operators can use the mask information 
in posing subjects. 
FIG. 4 is a software flow diagram for the program executed in the 
microprocessor 38 located at the remote portrait studio. The pose 
composition is selected by the camera operator with any computer input 
device, such as a keyboard, bar code wand, etc. (block 86). The pose file 
containing information defining the mask for the selected pose is then 
accessed while the video capture apparatus in the camera 56 feeds the 
subject's video image to the display 58, via the graphics board 54. See 
block 88 in FIG. 4. Next, a test is made at decision block 90 to determine 
whether the mask information is in the paint/raster-type format or 
object-type format. Assuming that it is the raster format, then each pixel 
of the raster is examined and either overlaid or not overlaid as directed 
by the raster image. As shown in the block diagram, this is accomplished 
by sequentially reading out each pixel as the pixel counter is advanced 
(block 92). The pixel is examined to determine whether it is to be 
overlaid or not (block 94) and, if so, the pixel is drawn on the display 
screen (block 96). If a given pixel is not to be overlaid, a test is made 
at 98 to determine whether that particular pixel was the last to be 
examined and, if so, control exits to block 100 where the camera operator 
now merely adjusts the position of the camera, the subject or the zoom so 
that the subject conforms to the mask. Had the test at block 98 indicated 
that there were more pixels to be examined, control loops back to the 
input of block 92 to advance the pixel counter so that the indicated 
sequence is repeated until all pixels defining the mask had been displayed 
on the video screen. 
Had the test at decision block 90 indicated that an object-type program had 
been used to create the original mask, a decision is made at block 102 
which object-type is to be drawn. If a line segment is to be drawn, the 
operation represented by block 104 is carried out and a line segment is 
drawn as defined by the stored coordinates. Likewise, if a circle, arc or 
flood fill is the object to be created on the screen, the operations 
represented by blocks 106, 108 and 110 are carried out. At the completion 
of each such operation, a test is made at decision block 112 to determine 
whether there are any more symbols to be drawn on the video screen to 
complete the pose mask for the selected pose. If so, control again passes 
to block 100 whereupon the camera operator fits the subject to the pose 
mask on the screen before tripping the camera shutter. 
This invention has been described herein in considerable detail in order to 
comply with the Patent Statutes and to provide those skilled in the art 
with the information needed to apply the novel principles and to construct 
and use such specialized components as are required. However, it is to be 
understood that the invention can be carried out by specifically different 
equipment and devices, and that various modifications, both as to the 
equipment details and operating procedures, can be accomplished without 
departing from the scope of the invention itself.