JPH10261105A - Interactive animation generation method/device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve description ability compared to a former method, to improve whole prospect compared to a case when a script is described in a base and to make work to be easy. SOLUTION: The generation method is to show the state of an actor appearing in an animation picture by an action being the behavior of the actor to the inner side or the outer side and to describe the state shift of the actor with the connection of actions with conditions, which are obtained by adding the start conditions to the actions. In an action element generation/selection step 1, an action element showing a fixed action is generated in the actor. In a parameter addition step 2, a parameter is added to the action element and the action is generated. In a state shift description step 3, the state shift is generated from the action by a visual operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for creating an interactive animation, and more particularly to an interactive animation creating method and an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus for creating an interactive animation in which the movement of an appearing object changes by an interactive operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An interactive animation that generates and presents a moving image interactively and in real time in response to a user input is called an interactive animation. For example, games and flight simulators are typical examples. Another example of an interactive animation is a homepage that has recently become popular on the Internet, where an object appears to move with a mouse click.

[0003] To create such an interactive animation, a text coding method called a script has been mainly used. However, with this method, even if a simple interactive animation is created, the operation is complicated, such as typing with a good understanding of the grammar, and it is not in a situation where ordinary people can easily create it.

For this reason, there has been proposed a method of creating an interactive animation by visually creating and linking an action unit consisting of an action and its start condition. This method has the advantage that the state transition flow is visual and easy to understand, and that the state transition can be described by all visual operations, but the description ability is limited.
These details are described in the literature: JP-A-8-249496.
Patent Publication “Video Presentation Method and Apparatus”, Japanese Patent Application No. 8-282
No.2 "Interactive video presentation device", "Visual creation method of 3D interactive animation" 12th N
It is described in the paper collection of the ICOGRAPH Contest.

As a method of creating an animation based on a script, there has been proposed a method in which an animation is first described by a script, and then the script is automatically changed by directly operating a displayed object. However, with this method, part of the script,
In particular, operations such as moving, enlarging, reducing, rotating / deforming, changing a reflection attribute, and erasing a figure can only be performed interactively while looking at the figure. Basically, it is necessary to operate a script. The details are described in the literature: JP-A-2-216588.
Issue "Interactive Script Animation Generation Method"
It is described in.

A method has been proposed in which a development target application is developed without using a script, and the result is displayed as an animation. However, the purpose of this method is to create the required specifications by visual operation, and to confirm that the required specifications are satisfied by expressing the flow of the created results by animation. It is not intended to do so. Therefore, the operation method and the like are completely different. The details are described in the document: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-95765 entitled "Method for Obtaining Visualization Requirement Specifications".

[0007]

The conventional method for creating an interactive animation using a script has a problem that the operation is complicated, for example, as described above, it is necessary to understand the grammar of the script.

[0008] On the other hand, in the method of visually creating, there is a problem that only a fixed operation specified in advance can be simply combined, and the description ability is low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a method for creating an interactive animation which has a higher descriptive power than a conventional method for creating an interactive animation on a visual, and has a better overall view than a script based description, and which makes the work easier. It is to provide the device.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating an interactive animation, in which an actor state appearing in an animation image is represented by an action which is an action toward the inside or outside of the actor, and a start condition is included in the action. In the interactive animation creating method for describing a state transition of the actor by connecting the added conditional actions, an action element representing a fixed action is created or selected in the actor, and a parameter is added to the action element to execute the action. The state transition is created by the visual operation from the action.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating an interactive animation, in which the state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action, which is an action toward the inside or outside of the actor, and a start condition is added to the action. In the interactive animation creating method for describing the state transition of the actor by connection, two or more actions are created or selected, and the actions are combined to create the action of the actor, and the state transition is visualized from the action. It is created by operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating an interactive animation, wherein a state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action, which is an action toward the inside or outside of the actor, and a start action is added to the action. In the interactive animation creating method for describing the state transition of the actor by connection, whether to describe the action by visual operation or text coding is selected for each action creation, and the state transition is visually operated from the action. It is characterized in that it is created by:

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating an interactive animation, in which the state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action which is an action to the inside or outside of the actor, and a start condition is added to the action. In the interactive animation creating method for describing the state transition of the actor by connection, a state transition that may include an empty action is described as an extended state transition, and a part of the extended state transition is reduced as an action module. The state transition is described by repeating an operation of selecting whether to express or replace the conditional action including the empty action with another extended state transition and executing the operation.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, A state transition creation unit that creates a state transition from data, and outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition; and stores and manages the action and the state transition, and performs a series based on the state transition according to an instruction from the external input. A data management unit that outputs the action of
A display unit for displaying the animation creation process and the state transition creation process on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action, wherein the action creation unit comprises a An action element creation unit for creating an action element representing a simple action and registering the action element in the data management unit, and a parameter addition for selecting one action from a plurality of actions registered in the data management unit and adding a parameter And a part.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, A state transition creation unit that creates a state transition from data, and outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition; and stores and manages the action and the state transition, and performs a series based on the state transition according to an instruction from the external input. A data management unit that outputs the action of
A display unit for displaying the animation creation process and the state transition creation process on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action, wherein the action creation unit performs a basic action. An action creation unit that creates and registers the action in the data management unit, and an action synthesis unit that creates a new action by selecting and combining two or more actions from the data management unit.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus, comprising: an input unit for inputting external data; an action creating unit for creating an action from the external data; and outputting an action creating process together with the action; A state transition creation unit that creates a state transition from data, and outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition; and stores and manages the action and the state transition, and performs a series based on the state transition according to an instruction from the external input. A data management unit that outputs the action of
A display unit for displaying the animation creation process and the state transition creation process on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action, wherein the action creation unit performs a visual operation of the action. A visual creation unit to be described in, a text code creation unit to describe the action by text coding,
The image processing apparatus further includes a selection unit that selects a process of the visual creation unit and the text creation unit each time an action is created.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, A state transition creation unit that creates a state transition from data, and outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition; and stores and manages the action and the state transition, and performs a series based on the state transition according to an instruction from the external input. A data management unit that outputs the action of
A display unit that displays the animation creation step and the state transition creation step on a screen and generates and displays an animation from the action, wherein the state transition creation unit displays an empty action. An extended state transition creating unit that creates an extended state transition that is a state transition that may be included, and cutting or reducing a part of the extended state transition output by the extended state transition creating unit or the empty action by another And an extended state transition degeneracy designation unit that designates whether to represent the extended state transition.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium having a function of creating or selecting an action element representing a fixed action in an actor,
A program for realizing a function of creating an action by adding a parameter to the action element and a function of creating a state transition from the action by visual operation is recorded.

A machine-readable recording medium according to a tenth aspect of the present invention provides a computer with a function of creating or selecting two or more actions, a function of creating an actor's action by combining those actions, and A program for realizing the function of creating a state transition by visual operation is recorded.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine readable recording medium which has a function of selecting whether an action is described by visual operation or text coding for each action, and a state transition from the action. Record a program for realizing the function of creating by visual operation.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine-readable recording medium having a computer function for describing a state transition which may include an empty action as an extended state transition, and a part of the extended state transition as an action module. A program for realizing a function for describing a state transition by repeating an operation of selecting whether to represent by contracting or replacing the conditional action including the empty action with another extended state transition and repeating the execution operation is selected. Record.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine-readable recording medium comprising:
An action element creation unit that creates an action element representing a fixed action of an actor and registers the action element in a data management unit, and selects one action from a plurality of actions registered in the data management unit and adds a parameter. An action creating unit for creating an action from the external data and outputting an action creating process together with the action, creating a state transition from the external data, and outputting the state transition creating process together with the state transition A state transition creating unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions, and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; and the animation creation process and the state transitions The creation process is displayed on the screen and the action Recording a program for functioning as a display unit for generating and displaying an animation from.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine-readable recording medium comprising: a computer for inputting external data;
An action creating section for creating a basic action and registering it in a data management section, and an action combining section for creating a new action by selecting and combining two or more actions from the data management section; An action creation unit that creates an action from external data and outputs an action creation process together with the action; a state transition creation unit that creates a state transition from the external data and outputs a state transition creation process along with the state transition; The data management unit that stores and manages the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; and displays the animation creation step and the state transition creation step on a screen. Generate and display animation from actions Recording a program for functioning as a radical 113.

A machine-readable recording medium according to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium comprising:
A visual creation unit that describes an action by visual operation, a text code creation unit that describes the action by text coding, and a selection unit that selects processing of the visual creation unit and the text creation unit each time an action is created. And an action creation unit that creates an action from the external data and outputs an action creation process together with the action, and a state transition creation that creates a state transition from the external data and outputs a state transition creation process along with the state transition Unit, a data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions in accordance with the external input instruction, and displays the animation creation process and the state transition creation process on a screen. Display and action Recording a program for functioning as a display unit that generates and displays a Luo animation.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a machine-readable recording medium comprising: an input section for inputting external data; an action generating section for generating an action from the external data; An extended state transition creating unit that creates an extended state transition that is a state transition that may be included, and cutting or reducing a part of the extended state transition output by the extended state transition creating unit or the empty action by another An extended state transition degeneracy designating unit that designates whether to represent the state by an extended state transition, a state transition creating unit that creates a state transition from the external data, and outputs a state transition creating process together with the state transition, the action, and the action Data for storing and managing state transitions and outputting a series of actions based on the state transitions in accordance with the external input instruction Management unit, and records the program for functioning as a display unit for generating and displaying an animation from the action and displays the animation creation process and the state transition creation process on the screen.

[0026]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the first embodiment will be described.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of an interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment includes an action element creating / selecting step 1 and a parameter adding step 2
And state transition description step 3.

Next, a description will be given of an interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment configured as described above.

First, in the action element creation / selection step 1, action elements are created or action elements registered in advance are selected.

An action is defined as an action of an actor appearing in an animation image toward an inside or outside. Internal actions are actions that do not appear directly on the outside, and include changes in the actor's emotions and transmission of information.
The action to the outer surface is, for example, an action such as movement, a change in color or shape, or the like. The action element refers to an action having a fixed parameter. For example, in the case of a circular motion, its radius, speed, and the like are default values. The actor may be anything that appears in the animation image, but may be an actor that does not directly appear in the animation image, such as a camera or a transparent object.

In the action element creation / selection step 1, such an action element is created / selected. The action element is created by a key frame method, for example. In the key frame method, several sample times are determined, and a key frame value including the arrangement of actors, the color or the value of information at the time (key frame) is designated. Then, an action element is defined by interpolating a key frame at the sample time. The method of interpolation may be linear interpolation or NURBS (Non-
Uniform Rational B-Splin
Any interpolation method commonly used in animation e) may be used. However, at this time, one of the defaults is determined. The key frame value can be specified by specifying the coordinate value directly on the screen or in space, or by using a dial or by specifying the length of a bar displayed on the screen. May be specified by simple operation, or a numerical value may be directly input.

Although an action element may be created in this way, it is also possible to select an action element created in advance. As a method of selecting an action element, a script description such as a file name may be selected from the list, or an element represented by an image such as an icon may be selected from the list. Alternatively, an existing database search tool may be used. Or,
It may be selected from a list in which the action is represented by a three-dimensional object or a moving image.

In selecting an action element, a function of the time t prepared in advance can be handled. For example, in the case of a circular motion having a radius r, x = rcosωt, y = rsinωt
It is assumed that it is internally expressed as follows. Here, ω is an angular velocity, and at this time, default values of r and ω are defined.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are explanatory diagrams showing an example of the data structure of the action element. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the action element includes an action element type, an action element type, and data following the action element type. As shown in FIG. 2, when the action element type is a key frame, the number of key frames n, the interpolation method, and the n conversion matrices follow. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, when the action element type is a function, a function type, for example, a type name indicating a rotation or a sin function follows. The interpolation method is, for example, linear interpolation or NURBS.

Next, in the parameter addition step 2, first, the parameters of the action element are designated. In addition to parameters such as speed, scaling, direction, etc., when the action element is a function, there are variables that are given as default values in advance, so that those parameters should appear in the list and selected from the list You can do that. Next, the initial values of these parameters are set as parameter values. The setting method may be performed in the same manner as when the key frame value is specified. Further, if the parameter is a variable, it specifies how to change the variable at runtime. For example, clicking on an object with the left mouse button increases the value of the variable by Δ,
Clicking the right button decreases the value of the variable by Δ. Such settings can be set by opening a dialog box and filling in blanks, or by selecting from a list.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of an action. As shown in FIG. 4, the action is
It is composed of the number m of action elements, weighting, and m subsequent data. Each data includes an action element name, a parameter number n, and a set of n parameter type names, parameter values, parameter change event names, and parameter change amounts. At this time, m = 1 and the weight is set to 1. The number m of action elements and the weighting will be described in the description of the interactive animation creating method according to the second embodiment. The parameter change event is a mouse button click in the above example, but may also be a signal from a keyboard key or another process, a collision when actors collide with each other, or the elapse of a preset time. is there. The parameter change amount is Δ in the above example, but indicates a parameter value change amount when a parameter change event occurs.

Next, in the state transition description step 3, first, a conditional action is created by adding the start condition to the action created above. The start condition can be set, for example, by selecting one condition from a condition list and using that condition as the start condition.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of a conditional action. As shown in FIG. 5, the conditional action includes a start condition and an action name. The start condition is an event serving as a condition for starting an action, and is the same as the parameter change event shown in the parameter addition step 2.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a state transition diagram. As shown in FIG. 6, a conditional action is regarded as a state, and a state transition diagram is represented by combining conditional actions. The conditional action 102 and the conditional action 103 are connected under the conditional action 101, and this shifts to the state of the condition that is satisfied earlier of each of the conditional action 102 and the conditional action 103, Perform that action.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data structure of the state transition. As shown in FIG. 7, the state transition is made up of the number n of conditional actions and n subsequent data. Each data is a set of a conditional action name and the number m of connection destinations of each conditional action and the name of the conditional action of m connection destinations. As shown in FIG. 6, when there are two branches, m = 2, and when there are no branches, m = 1.

Next, the state transition is grown by adding the created conditional action to the state transition created so far. If there is no state transition created up to that time, the state transition is described with only one created conditional action.

For example, when the conditional action is brought to the position of one conditional action in the state transition by dragging and dropping the mouse, the connection is made below the conditional action. I just need.
Alternatively, before creating a conditional action, one icon in a state transition is selected and set as the current conditional action. Then, when a conditional action is created in that state, the created conditional action may be added below the current conditional action. For the method of connecting conditional actions,
For example, Literature: "Visual Creation Method of 3D Interactive Animation" The 12th NICOGRAP
It is described in the H paper contest paper collection.

The final state transition can be created by repeating the action element creation / selection step 1, the parameter addition step 2, and the state transition description step 3.

As described above, by adding a parameter to a fixed action called an action element, the action can be dynamically changed during the execution of the interactive animation. For this reason, the description ability of the interactive animation is enhanced. Further, since various actions can be created simply by changing the parameters of the action elements, the reusability of the actions is enhanced.

When a conditional action is created, a state transition is described using a preset default conditional action, and thereafter, the final state transition is made by modifying each conditional action. May be completed. This can be done by recreating the conditional action from scratch. Further, each data in the conditional action that has already been created may be displayed in a dialog box, and the contents thereof may be modified. In this way, by creating a state transition flow first and then creating a specific action, an interactive animation can be created with good visibility.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention, which executes the above-described interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, the interactive animation creation / display device according to the first embodiment includes an input unit 5
1, an action creation unit 52 including an action element creation unit 56 and a parameter addition unit 57, and a data management unit 5
3, a state transition creation unit 54, and a display unit 55.

Next, the operation of the interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the first embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The input section 51 inputs instructions and data from the user as input data 151. Instructions from the user can be given from devices such as a keyboard and mouse,
By a method such as performing from another system via a network. The user may directly input data, or may use data stored in a storage medium such as a hard disk.

The action element creation section 56 creates an action element based on the input data 151 by the method described in the action element creation / selection step 1. And
The action element is registered in the data management unit 53.

The action element registered in the data management unit 53 has a data structure as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, for example.

The method of creating an action element is as follows.
As described in the action element creation / selection step 1, the action display information 152 such as the inquiry to the user and the result is output to the display unit 55.

Next, in accordance with the input data 151, the parameter adding unit 57 creates an action by selecting an action element registered in the data management unit 53 and adding a parameter, and registers the action in the data management unit 53 again. I do. The action has a data structure as shown in FIG. 4, for example. The method of selecting an action element is as described in the parameter addition step 2, and outputs action display information 152 such as an inquiry to the user and a result to the display unit 55.

Further, in accordance with the input data 151, the state transition creation unit 54 creates a state transition and registers it in the data management unit 53. The state transition has a data structure as shown in FIG. 5, for example. The method of creating the state transition is as described in the state transition creating step 3, and outputs the state transition display information 154 such as an inquiry to the user and the result to the display unit 55.

When executing a state transition, the data management unit 53 outputs action data 153 corresponding to the state transition to the display unit 55 in accordance with the input data 151.

The display unit 55 displays the action display information 15
2, state transition display information 154 and action data 1
An image is generated based on 53 and output to the screen.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an interactive animation creating method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 9, the interactive animation creating method according to the second embodiment includes an action creating step 11, an action synthesizing step 12, and a state transition description step 13.

Next, a description will be given of an interactive animation creating method according to the second embodiment configured as described above.

First, in action creation step 11,
Create two or more actions. The action may be created by the method described in the interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment. If two or more actions have been created in advance, it is not necessary to create them in this step.

Next, in the action synthesizing step 12,
Select two or more actions to perform composition. For example,
By combining an action that rotates in a circle and an action that performs a linear motion, an action that moves in a spiral can be created. The selection method may be selected from the action list as described in the interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment.

As a method of expressing a synthesized action, if all actions before synthesis are expressed as functions, a synthesized function can be obtained only by adding functions. Alternatively, a parameter may be designated and weighted addition may be performed based on the parameter. Alternatively, a more complicated synthesis may be performed by designating a synthesis method. If the action before the composition is not expressed as a function, the action can be realized by setting a common key frame for all the actions and combining the key frames. If there is no common key frame, synthesis can be performed by setting an appropriate time and creating a new key frame at that time. Creation of a new key frame can be easily obtained by interpolating between given key frames. Further, the setting of the time for a new key frame may be performed by the user, or may be automatically performed by the system. The simplest method can be realized by tying the time of all key frames.

The data structure of the action will be described with reference to FIG. In the interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment, the number of action elements m =
1, and weight = 1, but other values may be used here. Here, the weight represents the weight of each action element, and the synthesis is performed by adding each action element according to the weight.

Finally, in the state transition description step 13,
A state transition is created in the same manner as in the state transition description step 3 in the interactive animation creating method according to the first embodiment.

Then, an action creating step 11
By repeating the action synthesizing step 12 and the state transition description step 13, a final state transition can be created.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention which executes the above-described interactive animation creating method according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the interactive animation creation / display device according to the second embodiment includes an input unit 61, an action creation unit 62 including a basic action creation unit 66 and an action synthesis unit 67, and a data management unit 63. , A state transition creating unit 64, and a display unit 65.

Next, the operation of the interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the second embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The basic action creating section 66 creates a basic action based on the input data 161 as shown in the action creating step 12 and registers it in the data managing section 63. Then, the basic action creating unit 66
Outputs action display information 162 such as an inquiry to the user and a result to the display unit 65.

Next, the action synthesizing section 67 selects a basic action from the data management section 63 as shown in the action synthesizing step 13 and registers the synthesis result in the data management section 63.

The components other than the action creating unit 62 are the same as those of the interactive animation creating / displaying device according to the first embodiment, so that the detailed description is omitted.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an interactive animation creating method according to the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 11, the interactive animation creating method according to the third embodiment includes an input selecting step 21, a visual description step 22, a text description step 23, and a state transition description step 24.

Next, an interactive animation creating method according to the third embodiment configured as described above will be described.

First, in the input selection step 21, it is selected which of the visual description step 22 and the text description step 23 is to be executed.

When the visual description step 22 is selected in the input selection step 21, the following processing is performed. That is, in the visual description step 22, an action is created by a visual operation. Visual operation refers to text coding such as directly specifying the creation of an action or specifying parameters using a dial, as described in the interactive animation creation methods according to the first and second embodiments. It is a method to do without. Such a creation method by visual operation reduces the burden on the user as compared with the case of performing text coding, but generally has a low description ability such that only functions previously implemented in the system can be used.

When the text description step 23 is selected in the input selection step 21, the following processing is performed. That is, first, a text editor is opened. Then, the user describes the action in a programming language called a script. When you have finished writing, close the text editor. This series of operations describes the action in text. You can do anything as a script. Although any function can be realized by script description, the burden on the user is higher than that of visual operation.

Finally, in the state transition description step 24,
As in the state transition description step 3 in the first embodiment, a state transition is created.

Then, an input selection step 21 and a visual description step 22 or a text description step 2
3 and the state transition description step 24 are repeated to create a final state transition.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention which executes the above-described interactive animation creating method according to the third embodiment. As shown in FIG. 12, the interactive animation creation / display device according to the third embodiment includes an input unit 71, an action creation unit 72 including a selection unit 76, a visual creation unit 77, and a text code creation unit 78;
Data management unit 73, state transition creation unit 74, display unit 7
And 5.

Next, the operation of the interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the third embodiment thus configured will be described.

The selecting section 76 selects, based on the input data 171, whether to create an action by visual operation or text coding as described in the interactive animation creating method according to the third embodiment.

Then, the visual creation unit 77 performs visual creation, and the text code creation unit 78 performs text coding, and outputs action display information 172 such as inquiries to the user and results to the display unit 75.

The components other than the action creating unit 72 are the same as those of the interactive animation creating / displaying device according to the first embodiment, so that detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an interactive animation creating method according to the fourth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, the interactive animation creating method according to the fourth embodiment includes an extended state transition description step 31 and an extended state transition reduction step 32.

Next, a method of creating an interactive animation according to the fourth embodiment configured as described above will be described.

First, in the extended state transition description step 31, an extended state transition, which is a state transition that may include an empty action, is created. The creation method is the first to third
This is the same as the state transition creation method described in the interactive animation creation method according to the embodiment.

The data structure of an empty action is a case where the number of action elements in FIG. 4 is m = 0, in which case there is no subsequent data. The extended state transition is a state transition including such an empty action, and its structure is the same as the state transition structure of FIG.

Next, in the extended state transition reduction step 32, it is selected whether to cut out a part of the extended state transition and reduce it as a state transition module or to express an empty action by another extended state transition. .

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of cutting out a part of the extended state transition and degenerating it as a state transition module. As shown in FIG. 14, by reducing a part 152 of the extended state transition as the state transition module 153, a rough flow may be easily understood.
Although the data structure of the state transition module is the same as that of the state transition, only the expression is changed.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of expressing a conditional action including an empty action by another extended state transition. As shown in FIG.
The state transition is created by replacing the conditional action 163 including an empty action with the extended state transition 162 in the opposite manner to the method shown in FIG. However, in this case, the data of the conditional action 163 including the empty action is replaced with the data of the extended state transition 162.

Then, the extended state transition description step 31
And the extended state transition degeneracy step 32 are repeated to describe the final state transition.

That is, after a rough flow is described by an extended state transition, an empty action is replaced by another extended state transition, or a part of the extended state transition is replaced by a state transition module, and the rough flow is replaced. By making it possible to understand only the state transition, it is possible to describe the state transition with good visibility.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the fourth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 16, the interactive animation creation / display device according to the fourth embodiment includes an input unit 81, an action creation unit 82, a data management unit 83, an extended state transition creating unit 86, and an extended state transition. It comprises a state transition creating unit 84 including a degenerating unit 87 and a display unit 85.

Next, the operation of the interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the fourth embodiment configured as described above will be described.

The extended state transition creating unit 86 and the extended state transition reducing unit 87 perform the extended state transition step 31 and the extended state transition reducing step 32 in the interactive animation creating method according to the fourth embodiment based on the input data 181. The state transition display information 18 such as the inquiry to the user and the result is performed by performing the processes described in
2 is output to the display unit 85.

Other than the state transition creating unit 84, the first, second,
Since they are the same as those of the interactive animation creation / display device according to the third embodiment, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Next, a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention. The interactive animation creation / display device according to the present embodiment includes an input device 201, a data processing device 202 including an input unit 206, an action creation unit 207, a state transition creation unit 208, a data management unit 209, and a display unit 210; Storage device 203
, A display device 204, and a recording medium 205 on which an interactive animation creating program is recorded. The recording medium 205 may be a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, or another recording medium. The interactive animation creation program is stored in the storage medium 205.
To the data processing device 202, and the operation of the data processing device 202 is changed to the first to fourth interactive animation creation / execution for executing the interactive animation creation method according to the first to fourth embodiments.
Operate as a display device. Since the interactive animation creating methods and the first to fourth interactive animation creating and displaying devices according to the first to fourth embodiments have already been described in detail, their detailed explanations are omitted.

[0100]

As described above, according to the method and apparatus for creating an interactive animation of the present invention, the burden on the user can be reduced as compared with the case where an interactive animation is created only by script description by text coding. In addition, since it is possible to provide a description ability equivalent to that of text coding, there is an effect that a user can relatively easily create a high-performance interactive animation.

In particular, in the interactive animation creating method according to the first invention and the interactive animation creating / displaying device according to the fifth invention, an action element is created or selected, and parameters such as speed, direction, and movement amount are assigned to the action element. By the addition, an action such as a complicated movement can be realized by a user's instruction at the time of execution.

In the interactive animation creating method according to the second invention and the interactive animation creating / displaying device according to the sixth invention, a plurality of actions are created, and then the actions are synthesized.
More complex actions can be generated.

Further, in the interactive animation creating method according to the third invention and the interactive animation creating / displaying device according to the seventh invention, it is possible to select whether to describe the action by text coding or to visually describe the action. By doing so, simple actions can be easily created with visual descriptions, and only complex movements can be text-coded, making it relatively easy to create interactive animations overall.

Furthermore, in the interactive animation creating method according to the fourth invention and the interactive animation creating / displaying device according to the eighth invention, state transitions can be expressed hierarchically by using empty actions. Even simple state transitions can be expressed relatively easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an interactive animation creating method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of an action element.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the data structure of an action element.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of an action.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of a conditional action.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state transition.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data structure of a state transition.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive animation creation / display device according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an interactive animation creating method according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an interactive animation creation / display device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an interactive animation creating method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive animation creation / display device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing an interactive animation creating method according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of reducing an extended state transition in the interactive animation creating method according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a method for expressing a conditional action including an empty action by another extended state transition in the interactive animation creating method according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive animation creation / display device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an interactive animation creating / displaying apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Action element creation / selection step 2 Parameter addition step 3, 13, 24 State transition description step 11 Action creation step 12 Action synthesis step 21 Input selection step 22 Visual description step 23 Text description step 31 Extended state transition description step 32 Extended state transition Reduction step 51, 61, 71, 81 Input unit 52, 62, 72, 82 Action creation unit 53, 63, 73, 83 Data management unit 54, 64, 74, 84 State transition creation unit 55, 65, 75, 85 Display Unit 56 action element creation unit 57 parameter addition unit 66 basic action creation unit 67 action synthesis unit 76 selection unit 77 visual creation unit 78 text code creation unit 86 extended state transition creation unit 87 extended state transition reduction unit 201 input device 202 data Data processing unit 203 storage device 204 display device 205 recording medium 206 input unit 207 action creation unit 208 state transition creation unit 209 data management unit 210 display unit

Claims (16)

[Claims] 1. The state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action that is an action to the inside or outside of the actor, and the state transition of the actor is described by connecting a conditional action in which a start condition is added to the action. In the interactive animation creating method, an action element representing a fixed action is created or selected in the actor, an action is created by adding a parameter to the action element, and the state transition is created from the action by a visual operation. A method for creating an interactive animation, characterized in that: 2. The state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action, which is an action to the inside or outside of the actor, and the state transition of the actor is described by connecting a conditional action in which a start condition is added to the action. An interactive animation creation method, wherein two or more actions are created or selected, and the actions are created by combining the actions to create the action of the actor, and the state transition is created from the action by visual operation. How to create an interactive animation. 3. The state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action, which is an action to the inside or outside of the actor, and a state transition of the actor is described by connecting a conditional action in which a start condition is added to the action. An interactive animation creating method, comprising: selecting whether the action is described by a visual operation or text coding for each action, and creating the state transition from the action by a visual operation. Animation creation method. 4. The state of an actor appearing in an animation image is represented by an action, which is an action to the inside or outside of the actor, and the state transition of the actor is described by connecting a conditional action obtained by adding a start condition to the action. In the interactive animation creating method, a state transition that may include an empty action is described as an extended state transition, and a part of the extended state transition is reduced and expressed as an action module or includes the empty action. An interactive animation creating method, characterized in that a state transition is described by repeating an operation of selecting whether to replace a conditional action with another extended state transition and executing the selected state transition. 5. An input section for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, and creating a state transition from the external data, A state transition creation unit that outputs a state transition creation process together with a data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; An interactive animation creation / display device comprising: a display unit for displaying an animation creation process and the state transition creation process on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action; Create an action element that represents an action An action element creating unit that registers the action in the data management unit, and a parameter adding unit that selects one action from a plurality of actions registered in the data management unit and adds a parameter. Interactive animation creation and display device. 6. An input section for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, and creating a state transition from the external data, A state transition creation unit that outputs a state transition creation process together with a data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; An interactive animation creation / display device comprising: a display unit for displaying an animation creation process and the state transition creation process on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action; wherein the action creation unit creates a basic action And register it in the data management unit And transfection creation unit, an interactive animation creating and displaying apparatus which comprises a actions synthesizing unit for creating a new action by synthesizing by selecting two or more actions from the data management unit. 7. An input section for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, and creating a state transition from the external data, A state transition creation unit that outputs a state transition creation process together with a data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; An interactive animation creation / display device comprising an animation creation process and a state transition creation process displayed on a screen and a display unit for creating and displaying an animation from the action, wherein the action creation unit performs the action by a visual operation. Visual creation part to describe An interactive animation creation comprising: a text code creation unit that describes the action by text coding; and a selection unit that selects processing of the visual creation unit and the text creation unit each time an action is created. -Display device. 8. An input section for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, and creating a state transition from the external data, A state transition creation unit that outputs a state transition creation process together with a data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; An interactive animation creation / display device comprising: a display unit for displaying an animation creation step and the state transition creation step on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action; wherein the state transition creation unit includes an empty action Create an extended state transition that can be a state transition An extended state transition creating unit, and an extended state that specifies whether to cut and reduce a part of the extended state transition output by the extended state transition creating unit or to express the empty action by another extended state transition An interactive animation creation / display device comprising a transition degeneracy designation unit. 9. A function for creating or selecting an action element representing a fixed action in an actor in a computer, a function for creating an action by adding a parameter to the action element, and a state transition from the action by visual operation. A machine-readable recording medium on which a program for realizing the function to be created is recorded. 10. A computer having a function of creating or selecting two or more actions, a function of creating an actor action by synthesizing those actions, and a function of creating a state transition from said actions by visual operation. A machine-readable recording medium that stores a program for causing 11. A computer for realizing a function of selecting whether an action is described by visual operation or text coding each time an action is created, and a function of creating a state transition from the action by visual operation. A machine-readable recording medium on which the program of the above is recorded. 12. A function for describing to a computer a state transition that may include an empty action as an extended state transition, and a part of the extended state transition may be reduced to an action module or represented as an empty module. A machine-readable recording medium in which a program for realizing a function of describing a state transition by repeating an operation of selecting whether to replace a conditional action including an action with another extended state transition and executing the operation is repeated. 13. An input unit for inputting external data, an action element creation unit for creating an action element representing a fixed action of an actor and registering the action element in a data management unit, and a computer registered in the data management unit. An action creation unit that creates an action from the external data and outputs an action creation process together with the action; and a parameter adding unit that selects one action from a plurality of actions and adds a parameter. A state transition creation unit that creates a state transition and outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition, stores and manages the action and the state transition, and executes a series of actions based on the state transition according to an instruction from the external input. The data management unit to be output, and the animation creation process and And a machine readable recording medium for recording a program for displaying the state transition creation process on a screen and generating and displaying an animation from the action. 14. A computer, comprising: an input unit for inputting external data; an action creation unit for creating a basic action and registering it in a data management unit; and selecting and combining two or more actions from the data management unit. And an action synthesizing unit for creating a new action by creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action, creating a state transition from the external data, A state transition creation unit that outputs a state transition creation process together with the data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; Display the animation creation process and the state transition creation process on the screen And a machine-readable recording medium recording a program for functioning as a display unit for generating and displaying an animation from the action. 15. A computer, an input unit for inputting external data, a visual creation unit for describing an action by visual operation, a text code creation unit for describing the action by text coding, the visual creation unit and the text creation. A selection unit that selects a process with the unit each time an action is created, an action creation unit that creates an action from the external data, and outputs an action creation process together with the action, and creates a state transition from the external data. A state transition creation unit that outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition, a data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions, and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input Department, and the animation creation process and A machine-readable recording medium which records a program for displaying the state transition creating process on a screen and for functioning as a display unit for generating and displaying an animation from the action. 16. An input section for inputting external data, an action creating section for creating an action from the external data, and outputting an action creating process together with the action.
An extended state transition creating unit that creates an extended state transition that is a state transition that may include an empty action; and cutting out or reducing a part of the extended state transition output by the extended state transition creating unit or the empty state transition. An extended state transition degeneracy designation unit that designates whether an action is represented by another extended state transition, a state transition creation unit that creates a state transition from the external data, and outputs a state transition creation process together with the state transition; A data management unit that stores and manages the actions and the state transitions and outputs a series of actions based on the state transitions according to an instruction from the external input; and displays the animation creation step and the state transition creation step on a screen. Together with a program for functioning as a display unit for generating and displaying an animation from the action. Machine-readable recording medium.