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:
Nov. 09, 2010
Filed:
Apr. 19, 2006
Gareth Edwards, Kerridge, GB;
Kevin Walker, Sheffield, GB;
Gareth Edwards, Kerridge, GB;
Kevin Walker, Sheffield, GB;
Image Metrics Limited, Manchester, GB;
Abstract
A method and system for driving a graphical object based on a performance of an actor in a video stream. A plurality of key frames are selected in a calibration video stream, allowing animation control values to be defined, in accordance with artistic intent, for each of a set of control variables, corresponding to each of the key frames. Features of the actor in the calibration video stream are parameterized so as to obtain a vector of values of parameters for each frame of the calibration video stream, and, then, an array of distance vectors is derived, characterizing a distance between each pair of vectors of values of parameters among the video stream frames. The space of distance vectors is mapped into the set of control variables according to a mapping operation which is then applied to distance vectors derived from an actual performance video stream to obtain a time sequence of animation control values. Finally, an animation is created on the basis of applying the sequence of animation control values to the graphical object.