Patent ID: 8212813

Claim:
An image generating apparatus for generating an image in which a contour line is drawn in a target object among a plurality of objects existing in a virtual three-dimensional space, the image generating apparatus comprising: a virtual camera setter that sets a first position of a viewing point of a virtual camera and a direction of a viewing axis in the virtual three-dimensional space to a predetermined position and a predetermined direction; a two-dimensional image drawer that draws a two-dimensional image acquired from performing a perspective transformation process for the plurality of objects in accordance with the first position of the viewing point of the virtual camera set by the virtual camera setter; a reference value storage that stores a reference line width of the contour line to be drawn in the target object by using a reference size of the target object when the target object is located a predetermined length from the viewing point of the virtual camera; a contour line width calculator that calculates a calculated line width of the contour line to be drawn in a contour detected by a contour detector for the target object included in the two-dimensional image drawn by the two-dimensional image drawer based on the reference line width stored in the reference value storage and a length to a second position of the target object determined in accordance with the first position of the viewing point of the virtual camera which is set by the virtual camera setter; the contour detector that detects the contour of the target object included in the two-dimensional image drawn by the two-dimensional image drawer; a contour line drawer that draws the contour line having the calculated line width calculated by the contour line width calculator in the contour detected by the contour detector; and an image generator that generates the image composed of the two-dimensional image drawn by the two-dimensional image drawer and the contour line drawn by the contour line drawer, wherein the contour line calculator calculates the calculated line width of the contour line to be drawn in the contour as being at least equal to the reference line width of the contour line of the target object when the length determined based on the first position of the viewing point of the virtual camera set by the virtual camera setter is less than the predetermined length, and wherein the contour line calculator calculates the calculated line width of the contour line to be drawn in the contour as being at most equal to the reference line width of the contour line of the target object when the length determined based on the first position of the viewing point of the virtual camera set by the virtual camera setter is greater than the predetermined length.