Patent ID: 7839417

Claim:
A virtual coatings application system comprising: a virtual spray painting environment including a virtual surface; an instrumented spray gun controller outputting virtual spray gun data:, a motion tracking system that tracks the position and orientation of the spray gun controller with respect to the virtual surface; a computer programmed with software implementing a paint model which generates virtual spray pattern data for a timing cycle in response to at least the virtual spray gun data and the position and the orientation data received from the tracking system for said timing cycle; and wherein a virtual spray pattern image is displayed in real time on the virtual surface in accordance with the accumulation of virtual spray pattern data at each location on the virtual surface and multiple distinct colors can optionally be used to depict respective ranges of accumulation of the virtual spray paint data at a given location on the virtual surface; and further wherein the system comprises a head-mounted display unit that displays the virtual spray painting environment to a user wearing the head mounted display unit, and the display of the virtual spray painting environment appears to the user wearing the head-mounted display unit to be a three-dimensional environment in which the user is immersed.