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:
Jul. 09, 2013
Filed:
Mar. 03, 2008
Tom Hahn, Piedmont, CA (US);
Tom Hahn, Piedmont, CA (US);
Pixar, Emeryville, CA (US);
Abstract
Systems and methods for defining or specifying an arbitrary set of one or more animation control elements or variables (i.e., 'avars'), and for associating the set with a model object or part of a model object. Once a set of avars ('avarset') is associated with an object model, a user is able to select that model or part of the model, and the avarset associated with that part of the model is made available to, or enabled for, any animation tool that affords avar editing capabilities or allows manipulation of the model using animation control elements. This enables users to create and save sets of avars to share between characters, or other objects, and shots. In certain embodiments, the user can associate multiple avarsets with a model part and can designate one of those sets as “primary” so that when that model part is selected, the designated primary avarset is broadcast to the available editing tools. Additionally, the user can override the primary designation set and select one of the other sets of avars, or the user can cycle through the various associated avarsets.