Graphical User Interface for Creating Data Structures Used for Computing Simulated Surfaces for Animation Generation and Other Purposes

Abstract

A graphical user interface (GUI) is configured for displaying surfaces of simulated objects within a scene. The GUI comprises a selector to choose between displaying the scene as: a plurality of particles, wherein each particle comprises a plurality of attributes; a plurality of ellipsoids formed from the plurality of particles, wherein dimensions and orientation of each ellipsoid depend on the number and direction of neighboring ellipsoids within a search radius of the ellipsoid; or one or more splatted or rasterized surfaces formed from the plurality of ellipsoids. The GUI further includes a display window within which the GUI displays the scene.

1 - 18 . (canceled) 
     
     
         19 . A system for modeling surfaces of simulated objects, the system comprising:
 a computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by at least one processor, causes the system to:
 (a) receive particle parameters for each particle of a plurality of particles comprising a first object; 
 (b) identify a particle subset of the plurality of particles, the particle subset comprising particles of the plurality of particles having positions near a first implicit surface of the first object; 
 (c) obtaining a user-defined mask that defines a neighborhood of particles of the plurality of particles, the neighborhood comprising particular particles of the plurality of particles having a particular attribute; 
 (d) deform particles of the particle subset to form a set of deformed particles, by generating and applying a covariance matrix, per particle, for at least some particles of particle subset, wherein a particular covariance matrix of a given particle corresponds to a particular diagonal stretch matrix raised to a specified power, wherein the specified power is a negative value and wherein the particular diagonal stretch matrix of the given particle is a diagonal stretch matrix of neighboring particles of the given particle, the neighboring particles being in the neighborhood of particles defined by the user-defined mask; and 
 (e) compute a modified implicit surface based on the first implicit surface and/or the set of deformed particles. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the power is −½. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein, based on a user selection, the user-defined mask is defined (1) globally for all particles of the plurality of particles, (2) for a particular particle of the plurality of particles, or (3) for particles of the plurality of particles within a user-specified volume. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the particular attribute comprises one or more of a shape, a position, an orientation, a maximum elongation, a position smoothing, and/or an alpha value. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein deforming particles of the particle subset comprises elongating axes of the particles of the particle subset that are parallel to the first implicit surface. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the first object is solid. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the first object is a deformable semi-solid or fluid. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the modified implicit surface changes based on an interaction of the first object with a second implicit surface of a second object. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to receive or compute masses per particle of the plurality of particles comprising the first object. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to compute a computed pressure, a computed density, and/or a computed force acting on at least one particle of the plurality of particles comprising the first object. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the system to change the positions of the at least one particle based on one or more of the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force is based, at least in part, on a gravitational attraction. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force is based, at least in part, on turning off a gravitational attraction. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein at least one of the first object or the second object comprises a fluid. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force is based, at least in part, on one or more of a rolling motion, a pitching motion, and/or a yawing motion of the first object with respect to the second object, wherein the second object is a fluid. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force is based, at least in part, on the first object falling into the second object, wherein the second object comprises a fluid. 
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 28 , wherein the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force is based, at least in part, on a virtual dam in contact with the first object. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the computed pressure, the computed density, and/or the computed force is based, at least in part, on removing the virtual dam from contact with the first object. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein identifying the particle subset comprises computing weighted means and covariance matrices of particles of the plurality of particles based on a user-defined search radius. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 37 , wherein the user-defined search radius is between 0.5 times and 3.0 times a voxel size.