Granted Patent B2

US 8,730,232 · App. 13/019,171 · Granted May 20, 2014

Inventor: Charles Passmore (San Diego, CA)

Assignee: Legend3D, Inc.

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. A system for director-style based 2D to 3D movie conversion comprising:

memory configured to store at least one director-style characteristic;

at least one computer configured to

break a series of related images comprising a motion picture made by a particular director into one or more shots that each comprise one or more two-dimensional or 2D format images wherein said particular director is a particular person that directs said motion picture;

analyze a current shot selected from said one or more shots and determine at least one director-style characteristic associated with said current shot;

access a director-style parameters data structure in said memory to obtain existing director-style characteristics associated with said particular director;

check said existing director-style characteristics associated with said particular director accessed from said director-style parameter data structure to determine if any existing director-style shot associated with said particular director have said at least one director-style characteristic associated with said current shot;

compare said at least one director-style characteristic associated with said current shot with said existing director-style characteristics associated with said particular director and associated with said existing director-style shot and

if said current shot is not similar to any said existing director-style shot,

accept inputs for processing component settings and store said processing component settings in said memory; and

if said current shot is similar to any said existing director-style shot,

retrieve said processing component settings associated with said existing director-style shot and store said processing component settings in said memory to convert said current shot from 2D to 3D format;

apply said processing component settings to said processing components;

convert said shot from said 2D to said 3D format;

accept any modifications to said processing component settings and update said director-style parameters data structure associated with said current shot.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises camera characteristics, and wherein said camera characteristics comprise one or more of camera angle, camera motion, shot intimacy, actor positions, or any combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said camera motion comprises one or more of lock down, crane, tracking, handheld, tripod shot, or any combination thereof.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises priority of progressive refinement processing, wherein said at least one computer is further configured to determine areas to spend more processing time than other areas of said shot.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises lighting characteristics, and wherein said lighting characteristics are determined as one or more of foreground, midground, background, ground planes, sky domes, or any combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises lighting characteristics comprising a first brightness in an area of said one or more 2D format images that denotes a background distance.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises lighting characteristics comprising a second brightness in an area of said one or more 2D format images that denotes a midrange distance.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises lighting characteristics comprising a third brightness in an area of said 2D one or more format images that denotes a foreground distance.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises color characteristics.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises color characteristics comprising a first color and/or first saturation in an area of said one or more 2D format images that denotes a background distance.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises color characteristics comprising a second color and/or second saturation in an area of said one or more 2D format images that denotes a midrange distance.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein said director-style characteristic comprises color characteristics comprising a third color and/or second saturation in an area of said one or more 2D format images that denotes a foreground distance.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to operate in conjunction with a positive integer number of other computers to convert said movie from said 2D format images to said 3D format.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to white balance a shot before said analyze said shot occurs.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to obtain an order in which to execute said processing components.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to tween processing component settings between keyframes.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to store timing history of said processing component settings applied, wherein percentages of said processing component setting vary in time such that said at least one computer is further configured to automatically identify which processing component setting of said processing component settings to use in varying time based on said percentages and tween said processing component settings between keyframes based on said percentages.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to display and obtain settings for workflow status values associated with said shot.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to display and obtain a depth range for said one or more 2D format images.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to utilize face recognition software to automatically apply depth to said one or more 2D format images.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to utilize texture detection software to automatically apply depth to said one or more 2D format images.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one computer is further configured to ignore areas of an image that have been masked and add depth to areas of an image that have not been masked.

23. A system for director-style based 2D to 3D movie conversion comprising:

memory configured to store at least one director-style characteristic;

at least one computer configured to

break a series of related images comprising a motion picture made by a particular director into one or more shots that each comprise one or more two-dimensional or 2D format images wherein said particular director is a particular person that directs said motion picture;

analyze a current shot selected from said one or more shots and determine at least one director-style characteristic associated with said current shot;

access a director-style parameters data structure in said memory to obtain existing director-style characteristics associated with said particular director;

check said existing director-style characteristics associated with said particular director accessed from said director-style parameter data structure to determine if any existing director-style shot associated with said particular director have said at least one director-style characteristic associated with said current shot;

compare said at least one director-style characteristic associated with said current shot with said existing director-style characteristics associated with said particular director and associated with said existing director-style shot and

if said current shot is not similar to any said existing director-style shot,

accept inputs for processing component settings and store said processing component settings in said memory; and

if said current shot is similar to any said existing director-style shot,

retrieve said processing component settings associated with said existing director-style shot and store said processing component settings in said memory to convert said current shot from 2D to 3D format;

apply said processing component settings to said processing components;

convert said shot from said 2D to said 3D format;

accept any modifications to said processing component settings and update said director-style parameters data structure associated with said current shot;

store timing history of said processing component settings applied, wherein percentages of said processing component setting vary in time such that said at least one computer is further configured to automatically identify which processing component setting of said processing component settings to use in varying time based on said percentages and tween said processing component settings between keyframes based on said percentages;

ignore areas of an image that have been masked and add depth to areas of an image that have not been masked; and

wherein said director-style characteristic comprises camera characteristics, lighting and priority of progressive refinement processing, and wherein

said camera characteristics comprise one or more of camera angle, camera motion, shot intimacy, actor positions, or any combination thereof,

said camera motion comprises one or more of lock down, crane, tracking, handheld, tripod shot, or any combination thereof,

said lighting characteristics are determined as one or more of foreground, midground, background, ground planes, sky domes, or any combination thereof, and

said at least one computer is further configured to determine areas to spend more processing time than other areas of said shot.

Assignments (8)

Continuity (1)