Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Lewis Nathaniel Siegel

Robert M Neuman

Brian Whited

Sean Jenkins

Donald Adolph Lusinsky

David Anthony Bossert

Brandon Bloch

Evan Goldberg

Matthew F Schnittker

Tara Handy Turner

Joseph W Longson

Henry Allen Driskill

John T Murrah

Ernest Petti

Adrienne Othon

Christopher Daniel Springfield

Robert L Miles

Evan M Goldberg

A method for creating multiple viewpoint images for an image frame. The method includes receiving by a processing element a left eye image and a right eye image, wherein the left eye image and right eye image comprise a stereoscopic image pair. Once the images are received, the method includes determining by the processing element a first viewing location corresponding to the left eye image and a second viewing location corresponding to the right eye image and determining by the processing element a plurality of new viewpoint locations using the first viewing location and the second viewpoint location.

Varying display content based on viewpoint

Parallax based monoscopic rendering

The disclosure provides an approach for approximating a fully calculated image sequence from a subset of calculated image data. In one configuration, a rendering application calculates, for each image in the image sequence, a subset of pixels including pixels previously occluded by object(s) in preceding images and pixels whose ages have exceeded a threshold value. The rendering application then approximates the remaining non-calculated image data by interpolating the image data that has been calculated and merges the calculated and approximated image data to obtain the final image sequence. In a particular configuration, entire images may be recalculated at regular intervals to prevent excessive image quality degradation. In another configuration, the recalculation of pixel data may be offset by randomly initializing pixel age values. In yet another configuration, a combination of recalculating entire images and refreshing pixels at offset intervals may be used.

Method and system for approximating fully calculated image sequence from a subset of calculated image data

Implementations of the present disclosure involve methods and systems for creating depth and volume in a 2-D image by utilizing a plurality of layers of the 2-D image, where each layer comprises one or more portions of the 2-D image. Each layer may be reproduced into a corresponding left eye and right eye layers that include a depth pixel offset corresponding to a perceived depth. Further, a volume effect may also be applied to one or more objects of the 2-D image by associating a volume pixel offset to one or more pixels of the image. Thus, any pixel of the 2-D image may have a depth pixel offset to provide a perceived depth as well as a volume pixel offset to provide a stereoscopic 3-D volume effect. In this manner, the 2-D image may be converted to a corresponding stereoscopic 3-D image with perceived depth and volume effects applied.

Method and system for creating depth and volume in a 2-D planar image

Objects are modeled and rendered using multiple surfaces to provide attributes used in rendering. In some embodiments, a reference surface for an object is defined, e.g., using conventional modeling techniques. One or more auxiliary surfaces are associated with portions of the reference surface. Some of the surface attributes (e.g., color, surface normal, texture, lighting) are associated with the reference surface, while other attributes (e.g., transparency) are associated with the cards. To render an image, a ray associated with a pixel is traced to its intersection with the reference surface and to its intersection with one of the auxiliary surfaces. The attributes associated with the reference surface are determined based on the intersection point of the ray with the reference surface, and the attributes associated with the auxiliary surface are determined based on the intersection point of the ray with the auxiliary surface.

Surface shading of computer-generated object using multiple surfaces

Shadows are rendered automatically with a hand-painted appearance. The shadow region is divided into a core and a penumbra. A core perturbation zone is defined between the core and penumbra and a penumbra perturbation zone is defined between the penumbra and an unshadowed region. Within each perturbation zone, a texture is applied to each pixel to map the pixel as being inside or outside the core or penumbra boundary, thereby defining a displaced core boundary and a displaced penumbra boundary. The displaced boundaries can be non-linear and discontinuous. When shadows are rendered using the displaced boundaries, a hand-painted appearance can result. An additional texture can be applied in the penumbra to further enhance the painted appearance.

Rendering of shadows with hand-painted appearance

Growing community of inventors

Burbank, CA, United States of America

Lewis Nathaniel Siegel