Consumer product advertising image generation system and method

Abstract

A method of generating a three-dimensional consumer product image includes: distilling one or more objects of a three-dimensional model of a consumer product to corresponding three-dimensional geometric representations; applying a visual attribute to the geometric representations of the objects; rendering a plurality of two dimensional images from the geometric representations of the objects with applied visual attributes; defining one or more stacking orders of at least a portion of the plurality of two dimensional images; and delivering to a user the two-dimensional images and the defined stacking orders in a form that is importable into a computer-executable image editing program, the computer-executable image editing program capable of enabling user selection of one or more of the defined stacking orders and capable of producing a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the consumer product based on the user-selected one or more defined stacking orders and the imported two-dimensional images.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 distilling one or more objects of a three-dimensional model of a consumer product to corresponding three-dimensional geometric representations of the one or more objects;   applying a visual attribute to the one or more three-dimensional geometric representations of the objects;   rendering a plurality of two dimensional images from the three-dimensional geometric representations of the objects with applied visual attributes;   defining one or more stacking orders of at least a portion of the plurality of two dimensional images; and   delivering to a user the two-dimensional images and the defined stacking orders in a form that is importable into a computer-executable image editing program, the computer-executable image editing program capable of enabling user selection of one or more of the defined stacking orders and capable of producing a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the consumer product based on the user-selected one or more defined stacking orders and the imported two-dimensional images.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising applying original layer assignment, original layer hierarchy and original shading associated with the three-dimensional model of the consumer product to the one or more three-dimensional geometric representations of the objects. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each produced three-dimensional image of the consumer product is substantially equivalent to a physically captured photograph of the consumer product. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a sequence of produced three-dimensional images of the consumer product is substantially equivalent to a physically captured film of the consumer product. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the defined stacking orders are in the form of an XML file. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the visual attribute comprises lighting, a color, a texture, a camera angle, and/or a lens effect. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable image editing program comprises Photoshop or a Photoshop equivalent. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of distilling, applying and rendering are performed by a computer-executable computer graphics program. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the computer-executable computer graphics program comprises Maya or a Maya equivalent. 
     
     
         10 . A method comprising:
 distilling one or more objects of a three-dimensional model of a consumer product to corresponding three-dimensional geometric representations of the one or more objects;   applying original layer assignment, original layer hierarchy and original shading associated with the three-dimensional model of the consumer product to the one or more three-dimensional geometric representations of the objects;   rendering a first plurality of two-dimensional images based on the three-dimensional geometric representations of the one or more objects with original layer assignment, hierarchy and shading;   applying a visual attribute to the first plurality of two-dimensional images;   rendering a second plurality of two dimensional images from the first plurality of two dimensional images with applied visual attributes;   defining one or more stacking orders of at least a portion of the second plurality of two dimensional images; and   delivering to a user the second plurality of two-dimensional images and the defined stacking orders in a form that is importable into a computer-executable image editing program, the computer-executable image editing program capable of enabling user selection of one or more of the defined stacking orders and capable of producing a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the consumer product based on the user-selected one or more defined stacking orders and the imported two-dimensional images.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein each produced three-dimensional image of the consumer product is substantially equivalent to a physically captured photograph of the consumer product. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein a sequence of produced three-dimensional images of the consumer product is substantially equivalent to physically captured film of the consumer product. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the defined stacking orders are in the form of an XML file. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the visual attribute comprises lighting, a color, a texture, a camera angle, and/or a lens effect. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable image editing program comprises Photoshop or a Photoshop equivalent. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the steps of distilling, applying and rendering are performed by a computer-executable computer graphics program. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the computer-executable computer graphics program comprises Maya or a Maya equivalent. 
     
     
         18 . A system comprising:
 a computing device comprising:   a processing device; and   a computer readable storage device storing data instructions that when executed by the processing device cause the computing device to:   distill one or more objects of a three-dimensional model of a consumer product to corresponding three-dimensional geometric representations of the one or more objects;
 apply a visual attribute to the one or more three-dimensional geometric representations of the objects; 
   render a plurality of two dimensional images from the three-dimensional geometric representations of the objects with applied visual attributes; and   define one or more stacking orders of at least a portion of the plurality of two dimensional images; and   wherein the rendered two-dimensional images and the defined one or more stacking orders are rendered and defined, respectively, in a form that is importable into a computer-executable image editing program.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the computer-executable image editing program is capable of enabling user selection of one or more of the defined stacking orders and capable of producing a three-dimensional image of at least a portion of the consumer product based on the user-selected one or more defined stacking orders and the imported two-dimensional images. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein each produced three-dimensional image of the consumer product is substantially equivalent to a physically captured photograph of the consumer product. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein a sequence of produced three-dimensional images of the consumer product is substantially equivalent to a physically captured film of the consumer product.