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:
Jun. 28, 2011
Filed:
Feb. 16, 2007
Applicant:
Feng Xie, Belmont, CA (US);
Inventor:
Feng Xie, Belmont, CA (US);
Assignee:
Pacific Data Images LLC, Redwood City, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06T 15/60 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A method and apparatus for high quality soft shadows for area lights in cinematic lighting for use in computer graphics, such as computer enabled animation. The method is an extension of traditional shadow maps, so the complexity of the present method is independent of geometric complexity. It uses multilayer translucent shadow maps, which can be used to produce high quality soft shadows for scenes with extremely complex geometry, fur, and volume objects. The present method computes the shadow factor by ray tracing the multilayer translucent shadow map.