Method for representing an animated object

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for representing an animated object. In a three-dimensional drawing program used to generate and animate objects, the model behavior of objects is calculated. For this purpose, sequences of individual objects are output at defined times and subsequently the sequence of the individual objects is jointed into an animation sequence. Surface changes of the object are simulated by way of additional texture animation and output. The animation sequence and the texture animation are then joined in a vector-based page description language, such as the 3D PDF program, and played at the same time. Based on the available sequence of the individual objects, a user can interactively modify the object animated in this way while playing back the animation sequence and the texture animation and change the viewing angle for the animated object. The animation sequence or the texture animation can likewise be configured as an infinite loop and thereby give the human user a dynamic view of the animated object.

1 . A method for representing an animated object in the form of an animation sequence, having the following steps of:
 generating a sequence of individual objects for each moment of the animation sequence of the object;   joining the individual objects for each moment to form the animation sequence;   calculating surface changes of the object as a texture animation;   projecting the texture animation onto the object in the animation sequence;   simultaneously running the animation sequence with the texture animation and thus generating the impression of an animated object;   interactively controlling a viewing angle of the animated object using a program with a vector-based page description language; and   reducing a data size of the animation sequence to an image size of a display unit.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , which comprises using a Microsoft Silverlight data format as the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , which comprises using an Adobe Flash data format as the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , which comprises interactively moving the viewing angle of the animated object after calculating physical animations in a protracted manner. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , which comprises:
 obtaining an animation sequence that is played as a sequence of the individual objects, wherein the individual objects in the sequence of the individual objects that is played are three-dimensional; and   interactively moving the viewing angle of the animated object after obtaining the animation sequence.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , which comprises performing the step of reducing the data size of the animation sequence by a graphical optimization implemented as a polygon reducement, wherein a surface of the animated object is composed of a plurality of polygons. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the sequence of the individual objects is created using a drawing program and is assembled to form the animation sequence with texture animation of the object using the program with the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the texture animation of the object is created using the drawing program and is combined with the object using the program with the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the texture animation of the object is determined on the basis of a numerical simulation and is combined with the object using the program with the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein a further texture animation is created as a background plane of the object using the drawing program and is combined with the animation sequence as a background plane of the object using the program with the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the texture animation is varied on the basis of the interactive variation of predefinable boundary conditions and the respectively varied texture animation is interactively projected onto the animated object using the program of the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         12 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein a light texture is calculated on the basis of the object and is projected onto the object on the basis of the viewing angle. 
     
     
         13 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the object is composed of polygons and/or triangles and/or non-uniform rational B-splines and/or voxels. 
     
     
         14 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein a first sequence of individual objects for a first animation sequence of the object is combined with a second sequence of individual objects for a second animation sequence of the object. 
     
     
         15 . The method according to  claim 14 , wherein first surface changes for the first sequence of individual objects are calculated as a first texture animation and second surface changes for the second sequence of individual objects are calculated as a second texture animation and are joined with the animation sequences of the object using the program with the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         16 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein surface changes are respectively determined for a plurality of objects and/or the background plane and are joined using the program with the vector-based page description language. 
     
     
         17 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the first and last individual objects of the animation sequence are matched to one another in such a manner that an endless loop of the animation sequence of the object can be represented. 
     
     
         18 . The method according to  claim 17 , wherein the animation sequence and the texture animation are synchronously played in an endless loop, the first and last individual objects of the animation sequence and the associated surface change as a texture animation of the first and last individual objects being virtually identical. 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the sequence of the individual objects and/or the texture animation and/or the light texture is/are displayed in a display unit. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the individual objects are determined on the basis of predefinable planes and are displayed on the basis of these planes in the animation sequence of the object. 
     
     
         21 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the individual objects and/or the texture animation is/are determined using a simulation unit. 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the portable document format (PDF) data format is used as the vector-based page description language.