The Technology
During the last years, numerous graphics applications have been developed, for example for image deformation, such as “warping” or “morphing” in which one image gradually transformed into another image. This is accomplished by creating a smooth transitional link between the two images. Some computer programs, for example, use warping to generate an animation sequence using the image transformations. Such an animation might, for example, show a first person’s face transforming into a second person’s face. The warping process ought to preserve features associated with each image by mapping the features from a data segment to corresponding features in a target image. In particular, mesh warping warps a first image into a second image using a point-to-point mapping from the first image to the second image. A first lattice (mesh) is superimposed on the first image and second lattice is superimposed on the second image. For each point in the first lattice, a one-to-one correspondence with a corresponding point in the second lattice is defined. Variations on mesh warping include a version in which the user specifies lines on the first image corresponding to lines on the second image. These user-specified lines are used to construct corresponding lattices, which are used to morph the first image into the second image, as described above. The novel technology is a method of deforming a geometric object. The method comprises providing a data segment representing a geometric object, defining a contour enclosing the geometric object in the data segment, calculating a plurality of barycentric coordinates having a plurality of complex coefficients according to the enclosing contour, receiving user input to manipulate the enclosing contour to a target contour, and using the plurality of barycentric coordinates according to the target contour for mapping the geometric object to a target geometric object.
Advantages
- Mappings produced conform better to the given data values through more accurate results
- Fewer coordinates means easier control for the user with faster, more accurate data manipulation and reduced usage of computer resources
- Computation can be done using programmable graphics hardware in a straightforward manner
Applications and Opportunities
- Computer animation
- Data interpolation
- Image and 2-D geometry deformation
- Color interpolation
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