Graphical user interface graphics-based interpolated animation performance
View Patent ↗An arrangement provides for displaying an object, such as a drawn object, or a database search result, based on a graphical user interface. A first display window is provided for specifying attributes of an object. A second window is provided for spatially inserting anchors for the object, where each anchor specifies a desired characteristic of the object, such as a pose of a face. A third window is provided for the desired object display. The anchors are placed in the second window with the aid of a controlled cursor. Placement of the cursor in the second window also controls the displayed object in the third window, which is developed based on the placement of the cursor in the second window relative to the anchors.
1. A system that facilitates display of an interactive, expressive animation, the system comprising:
a processor;
a first module configured to control the processor to insert a desired image onto a first window based on input from a user;
a second module configured to control the processor to insert an expression text anchor and a pose text anchor onto a second window by selecting a desired emotion from a plurality of preselected emotions for the expressions text anchor and selecting a desired pose from a plurality of preselected poses for the pose text anchor; and
a third module configured to control the processor to receive input from the user to drag a cursor over the second window wherein characteristics of the desired emotion and the desired pose associated with the expression text anchor and the pose text anchor are additively applied to the desired image based on a proximity of the cursor to the expression text anchor and the pose text anchor.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein characteristics for the expression text anchor are at least one of:
anger, surprise and happy.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the second module further combines a plurality of text anchors to form a compound anchor.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein a palette in a third window displayed on a display unit of the system is used for selecting a desired image to be inserted onto the first window.
5. A system for facilitating animation using a graphics-based graphical user interface, the system comprising:
a processor;
a first module configured to control the processor to drag a pointer over an arrangement of an expression text anchor and a pose text anchor in a controller window, wherein the expression text anchor and the pose text anchor each represent a displacement of a state of a graphic-based object from a base state associated with the graphic-based object; and
a second module configured to control the processor to update the base state of the object in a display window in accordance with the proximity of the pointer to the expression text anchor and the post text anchor as the pointer is dragged over the controller window.
6. The system of claim 5 , wherein positions of the expression text anchor and the pose text anchor in the controller window are set by the user.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the user uses the pointer to position the expression text anchor and the pose text anchor.
8. The system of claim 5 , wherein each target has a predetermined area of influence that is used to determine, based on a position of the pointer, the displacement to be applied to the graphics-based object.
9. The system of claim 5 , wherein the state of the object is updated by putting the graphics-based object into a default base state when a position of the pointer changes, then applying the expression text anchor and the pose text anchor to the object based on a weighting of each anchor, wherein the weighting is calculated based on the displacement of the pointer from the expression text anchor and the post text anchor.
10. The system of claim 5 , wherein each updating of the base state of the graphics-based object is recorded to provide an animation path.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the animation path is editable.
12. The system of claim 5 , wherein multiple anchors with individual weightings are applied simultaneously.