The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 31, 2019
Filed:
Aug. 28, 2018
Pixar, Emeryville, CA (US);
Jayson G. Price, Dublin, CA (US);
Thomas A. Hahn, Piedmont, CA (US);
Pixar, Emeryville, CA (US);
Abstract
Techniques for smoothing curves used in computer animation are disclosed. In one embodiment, a smoothing application determines a number of tangents to a curve in response to a modification to a knot or the addition of a new knot, by first determining phantom tangents at knots that are neighbors of each knot that is processed. The smoothing application then (1) determines a length of each side of the tangent at each knot being processed as 1/N times the x-axis distance to a neighboring knot on the same side, (2) determines initial angles of the tangent at each knot being processed by pointing a tip of each side of the tangent at a near tip of a previously determined phantom tangent on the same side, and (3) reconciles the initial angles determined for the tangent at each knot being processed by taking a weighted sum of those initial angles.