Pixar

Marco Jorge Da Silva

Frank Sebastian Grassia

Peter Bernard Demoreuille

Karon A Weber

Maxwell Oliver Drukman

Tom Hahn

Robert H Russ

Malcolm Blanchard

Andrew Witkin

Christopher Slaboszewicz King

Christopher Martin King

Thomas A Hahn

Techniques that enable users (e.g., animators) to accurately animate models in a scene without having to load all the models involved in the scene concurrently in computer memory. For a particular model that a user wishes to animate, only a minimal set of models involved in the scene that are needed for the particular model to evaluate correctly are determined and loaded into computer memory. Additionally, if a particular model is to be unloaded from computer memory, then all models that depend, either directly or indirectly, on the particular model and that are loaded in memory are also unloaded from memory in order to avoid incorrect animation.

Techniques for animating complex scenes

Techniques for automatically maintaining continuity in animation across discrete animation changes. Smooth animation is achieved without forcing the animator to manually calculate compensation values or introducing extra controls to the models that are animated. Continuity or smoothness of the animation is maintained as varying aspects of the animation change under continued authoring.

Techniques for automatically maintaining continuity across discrete animation changes

Techniques that facilitate rendering of a scene of arbitrary complexity without having to load all the models involved in the scene simultaneously in computer memory. A representation of the inputs and outputs of the various models involved in the scene and the dependencies between the inputs and the outputs is provided and used to facilitate the rendering process. A tessellator may tessellate the models without having to load information for all the models concurrently into computer memory. The tessellated scene may then be rendered without having to load all the models in the scene concurrently into computer memory.

Techniques for rendering complex scenes

A method for an animation environment includes displaying a first geometric object on a display, wherein the first geometric object comprises a plurality of geometric components, wherein the plurality of geometric components are coupled according to a geometric hierarchy, wherein the plurality of geometric components includes a first geometric component and a second geometric component, and wherein the first geometric component and the second geometric component are not adjacent within the geometric hierarchy, receiving a selection signal from a user, selecting the first geometric component in response to the selection signal, receiving a navigation signal from the user, and selecting the second geometric component in response to the navigation signal by traversing an animation hierarchy, wherein the first geometric component and the second geometric component are adjacent within the animation hierarchy.

Pickwalking methods and apparatus

Techniques for processing scenes of arbitrary complexity comprising a number of objects represented by models. Techniques are provided for building a representation in memory that stores information or represents the inter and intra-model dependencies between the various inputs and outputs of the models included in a scene. The memory representation is built based upon intra-model dependencies information and cues information for the scene. In one embodiment, the memory representation is a graph comprising a number of nodes and directed links between the nodes. The nodes in the graph represent (are proxies for) inputs and outputs of the models involved in the scene. The directed links between the nodes represent the intra- and inter-model dependencies between the inputs and outputs.

Techniques for processing complex scenes

A computer program product for a computer system includes code that directs a processor to display a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object on a display, wherein the two-dimensional representation comprises a plurality of two-dimensional regions, wherein the three-dimensional object is associated with a plurality of components in a component hierarchy, and wherein each two-dimensional region is associated with at least one component from the plurality of components, code that directs the processor to receive a selection of a two-dimensional region from the user on the display, code that directs the processor to determine a component from the plurality of components associated with the two-dimensional region, code that directs the processor to receive a value for an animation variable associated with the component, and code that directs the processor to set the animation variable associated with the component to the value, wherein the codes reside on a tangible media.

Growing community of inventors

Oakland, CA, United States of America

Marco Jorge Da Silva