| US 7,518,608 B2 | ||
| Z-depth matting of particles in image rendering | ||
| Rob Bredow, Westchester, Calif. (US); and Brian Hall, Harbor City, Calif. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Sony Corporation, Tokyo (Japan); and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Culver City, Calif. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jul. 29, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/193,251. | ||
| Claims priority of provisional application 60/592697, filed on Jul. 30, 2004. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2006/0022976 A1, Feb. 02, 2006 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06T 15/40 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 345—422 | 20 Claims |
| 1. A computer-implemented method of rendering a first image having a plurality of particles, comprising:
receiving a z-depth image that provides a z-value for each pixel in a background image;
generating in the same space as said plurality of particles a single pixel particle of an opaque transparency for each pixel
in said z-depth image positioned at the same x-y position as said each pixel in said z-depth image and at a z-position indicated
by said z-value;
generating an adjusted z-position by randomly adjusting the z-position of each particle in each temporal sample of a series
of samples,
wherein the adjustments corresponding to each temporal sample are independent of the adjustments corresponding to the other
samples in the series of samples;
for each temporal sample:
sorting said plurality of particles in the sample with a plurality of said generated single pixel particles in said first
image based on said adjusted z-position of each particle in the sample, and based on the opacity of a layer of a plurality
of layers of varying opacities associated with each pixel of said plurality of particles; and
rendering said sorted plurality of particles and single pixel particles based on the sorted order of the particles in the
sample.
|