Patent ID: 8593456

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 and is not drawn in a non-target object among the plurality of objects other than the target object, the image generating apparatus comprising: a virtual camera setter that sets 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 viewing point and the direction of the viewing axis of the virtual camera set by the virtual camera setter; a contour detector that detects a contour of the target object included in the two-dimensional image drawn by the two-dimensional image drawer; an overlap determiner that determines whether the target object is overlapped with the non-target object, the non-target object being located closer to the viewing point of the virtual camera than the target object in the two-dimensional image drawn by the two-dimensional image drawer; a contour line drawer that draws the contour line in the contour of the target object 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 when the target object is determined not to be overlapped with the non-target object by the overlap determiner, the contour line drawer draws the contour line in an entirety of the contour of the target object which is detected by the contour line detector, wherein when the target object is determined to be overlapped with the non-target object by the overlap determiner, the contour line drawer draws the contour line in a first part of the contour of the target object other than a second part of the contour of the target object that is determined to be overlapped with the non-target object, and wherein when the target object is determined to be overlapped with the non-target object by the overlap determiner, the contour line drawer is configured to draw the contour line in the first part of the contour of the target object only when the first part of the contour is at least a predetermined length and to not draw the contour line in the first part of the contour of the target object when the first part of the contour is smaller than the predetermined length.