Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Andrew Hendrickson

Robert M Neuman

Paul Newell

Howard Lukk

Philip McNally

Philip Mcnally

Techniques for creating 3-D movies allow improved control over camera positioning parameters and editing of depth in post-process to provide for a smoother variation in the viewer's convergence distance and a more pleasant viewing experience. A director can define reference parameters related to a desired viewing experience, and camera positioning parameters are derived therefrom. A depth script specifying piecewise continuous variations in reference parameters can be applied in post-process to generate 3-D shots, scenes, or movies. These techniques can be applied in both computer-generated and live-action 3-D movies.

Generation of three-dimensional movies with improved depth control

An approach is disclosed for generating stereoscopic image sequences. The approach includes receiving a plurality of image sequences, each image sequence captured from a distinct camera or other capture device in a multi-camera array. One image sequence is a primary image sequence and the other image sequences are secondary image sequences. The approach further includes generating, from the primary and at least one or more of the secondary image sequences, depth maps corresponding to images of the primary image sequence and generating, for each image in the primary image sequence, based on at least the depth maps and the corresponding images of the primary image sequence, stereoscopic images of a stereoscopic image sequence.

Processing image data from multiple cameras for motion pictures

A method for rendering stereoscopic images with non-linear depth variation. The method includes storing content in memory that is ready for rendering, e.g., computer animated images including animated objects or models. A processor is operated to position stereo or horizontally offset cameras and to render the images based on a non-linear relationship between disparity assigned to one or more of the animated objects and a distance between the cameras and the objects. The non-linear relationship is defined by a function or algorithm callable by the processor such as a function that defines a curved depth variation for the computer animated scene. In other cases, the non-linear relationship is defined by stored table, and the rendering includes using the distance between the cameras and an object to retrieve the disparity value to assign to that object. More than one non-linear relationship may be used to render objects with differing depth variations.

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Burlingame, CA, United States of America

Andrew Hendrickson