Patent ID: 7995863

Claim:
A method comprising: a vectorizing module polygonizing an input image to produce an inflatable image by representing a set of pixels making up the input image as a plurality of polygons; an extrusion module extruding the inflatable image by generating appropriate z-coordinate values for a reference point associated with each polygon of the plurality of polygons of the inflatable image based upon a biased diffusion process; an interface module allowing end-user controlled pressure modulation by (i) adjusting one or more modulation functions employed by the biased diffusion process based upon end-user input regarding relative modulation bias for a selected set of one or more pixels associated with the inflatable image or (ii) applying the biased diffusion process to only the selected set of one or more pixels; and wherein the vectorizing module, the extrusion module and the interface module are implemented in one or more computer processors and one or more computer-readable storage media of one or more computer systems, the one or more computer-readable storage media having instructions tangibly embodied therein that are executable by the one or more computer processors.