Patent ID: 8514219

Claim:
A 3D image special effects apparatus for creating special effects on a 3D image including a first image and a second image having disparity, the apparatus comprising: a range specification receiving unit capable of receiving an input of a specified range of the first image on which the special effects are created; a first block division unit capable of dividing the specified range into a plurality of first image blocks; a first special effects unit capable of creating the special effects on each of the plurality of the first image blocks; a block matching unit capable of determining an image from the second image which corresponds to an image of the each of the plurality of the first image blocks, and deriving a parallax vector which represents a directionality and a magnitude of parallax between the first image blocks and the corresponding image; a second block division unit capable of determining a plurality of second image blocks on the second image in accordance with the parallax vector, the second image blocks corresponding to the plurality of first image blocks; and a second special effects unit capable of creating the special effects on the determined plurality of second image blocks; wherein the second special effects unit includes: a depth determining unit capable of determining a depth of each of the plurality of the second image blocks in the 3D image based on the directionality and the magnitude of the parallax vector; an order determining unit capable of determining an order of the special effects among the plurality of the second image blocks based on the depth; and a second special effects processing unit capable of creating the special effects on the each of the plurality of the second image blocks in accordance with the order; wherein the order of the special effects processing determined by the determining unit is arranged to prioritize processing of blocks among the plurality of second image blocks which appear farthest from a viewer in the 3D image.