Patent ID: 7746345

Claim:
A computer storage device including instructions that are executable by a computer to define an animation by: constructing a skeleton that includes a number of rods defining rigid portions of the skeleton and joints where the rods can flex and/or rotate; superimposing the skeleton on a digital image obtained from a camera such that each rod of the skeleton coincides with a portion of an object in the digital image, wherein the portions of the object in the digital image that coincide with the skeleton collectively illustrate the object; adjusting a skeleton parameter to include pixels of the digital image that depict the object and to define data for the object; obtaining a clean image of the object by performing background subtraction on the digital image based on skeleton parameters; transmitting the data for the object to a second computer for display of the pixels that depict the object by the second computer; and transmitting information indicative of changes in rod position and joint angles in the skeleton to define the animation of the pixels that depict the object.