Generating effects in a webcam application

1. A method of generating effects for a webcam application, comprising the steps of:

identifying a first object in a video image;

identifying a second object in the video image;

adding a first user-created object to the video image to create an altered video image;

adding a second user-created object to the altered video image to further alter the altered video image;

associating the second user-created object with the second object; and

identifying a movement of the second object;

moving the second user-created object in the altered video image in accordance with the association of the second user-created object with the second object; and

wherein the first object is a static object, wherein the first user-created object is manually movable, and wherein the movement of the second user-created object in association with the second object is independent of a movement of the first user-created object.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first object is a background region.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising associating the first user-created object with the first object.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user-created object and the second user-created object are selected from a group consisting of: a user-drawn object, a user-selected object, a copied object and text.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user-created object and the second user-created object are deformable, respectively.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user-created object and the second user-created object are responsive to a stimulus, respectively.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first user-created object and the second user-created object morph temporally, respectively.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising scaling the second user-created object.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the scaling of the second user-created object is dependent upon the scale of the second object.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising shading the second user-created object.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the shading of the second user-created object is dependent upon the shade of the second object.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying movement step further comprises defining a second object motion vector based on the movement of the second object.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising: modifying the second user-created object depending on the second object motion vector.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying the movement step further comprises finding difference of the first object and the second object using a technique selected from a group consisting of frame comparison analysis, motion detection, object identification technique, or edge detection analysis.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: modifying the first user-created object depending on a user input.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: modifying the second user-created object depending on a user input.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a collision between the first user-created object and the second user-created object, wherein a collision occurs when the first user-created object and the second user-created object are at least contiguous.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting an overlapping region where the first user-created object is overlapped with the second object; and

modifying the first user-created object responsive to an overlapping region detection.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

tracking the second object;

removing the second user-created object responsive to a disappearance of the tracked second object from the video image; and

reinstating the second user-created object responsive to a reappearance of the tracked second object in the video image.

20. A method of generating effects for a webcam application, comprising the steps of:

identifying a first object and a second object in a video image;

adding a first user-created object to the first object to create an altered video image;

adding a second user-created object to the second object to further alter the altered video image;

associating the first user-created object with the first object;

associating the second user-created object with the second object;

identifying a movement of the first object and a movement of the second object, respectively; and

moving the first user-created object in accordance with the association of the first user-created object with the first object.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

moving the second user-created object in accordance with the association of the second user-created object with the second object, wherein the movement of the second user-created object is independent of the movement of the first user-created object.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein an effect generated is a sound.

23. The method of claim 21 , where in an effect generated is shaking the first user-created object.

24. The method of claim 20 , wherein an effect generated is deformation of the first user-created object and the second user-created object.

25. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

detecting a collision between the first user-created object and the first object, wherein a collision occurs when the first user-created object and the first object are at least contiguous.

26. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

detecting a collision between the first user-created object and the second user-created object, wherein a collision occurs when the first user-created object and the second user-created object are at least contiguous.

27. The method of claim 20 , further comprising generating an effect in response to detecting a collision.

28. The method of claim 20 , wherein the movement of second object is independent of the movement of the first object.

29. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

tracking the first object;

removing the first user-created object from the altered video image responsive to the disappearance of the tracked first object from the video image; and

reinstating the first user-created object responsive to the reappearance of the first object in the video image.

30. The method of claim 29 , further comprising:

tracking the second object;

removing the second user-created object responsive to a disappearance of the tracked second object from the video image; and

reinstating the second user-created object responsive to a reappearance of the tracked second object in the video image.

31. A system for generating effects for a webcam application, comprising:

an identification module for identifying a first object and a second object in a video image;

an addition module for adding at least one user-created object to the video image to create an altered video image;

an association module associating the at least one user-created object with the first object;

a motion detection module for identifying a movement of the first object;

a movement module for moving the at least one user-created object in accordance with the association of the at least one user-created object with the first object in the altered video image; and

a display module for displaying the altered video image.

32. The system of claim 31 , further comprising:

an effects generation module for generating effects for the at least one user-created object.

33. The system of claim 32 , further comprising a collision detection module for detecting a collision between the first object and the at least one user-created object and triggering the effects generation module for generating effects.

34. The system of claim 31 , further comprising a database comprising a plurality of user-created objects.

35. The system of claim 31 , further comprising a user-drawing module for creating the at least one user-created object.

36. The system of claim 31 , further comprising a communication system interface for sending the altered video image to another communication system interface via the Internet.

37. The system of claim 31 , further comprising a tracking module for tracking the first object, removing the first user-created object when the tracked first object disappears from the video image, and reinstating the first user-created object when the tracked first object reappears in the video image.