Patents by Inventor Dirk Van Gelder

Dirk Van Gelder has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9734616
    Abstract: In various embodiments, systems and methods are disclosed for rapidly generating tetrahedral volumes using centerlines in character animation. The volumes are generated to closely approximate bounding volumes that provide rapid collision detection while at the same time conforming to the original mesh surface. Therefore, more accurate and higher quality collisions are achieved using the original surface in real-time and without using a proxy/simulation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: PIXAR
    Inventors: Michael Comet, Venkateswaran Krishna, Dirk Van Gelder
  • Patent number: 9582247
    Abstract: To prevent correlated data from being inadvertently altered by subsequent modifications or additions, changes to correlated data are automatically detected. Corrections may be automatically applied to data to preserve data correlation. Change detection data is determined from an initial correlation between source data and dependent data. The change detection data is stored in association with the dependent data. A subsequent evaluation of the data defines a current correlation between the source data and the dependent data. The current correlation is evaluated with the change detection data to determine if the current correlation differs from the initial correlation. If the current correlation between source data and dependent data does not match the initial correlation, the current correlation is reevaluated using topological; geometric, or other analysis techniques. The reevaluated correlation can be provided as part of the authored state of a computer graphics component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: Timothy S. Milliron, Robert Jensen, Brad Andalman, Adam Woodbury, Dirk Van Gelder
  • Patent number: 9275487
    Abstract: A method for performing non-affine deformations. The method includes receiving data representing mathematical vectors associated with elements defining an object. The elements are organized in a hierarchy, a different subset of mathematical vectors is associated with one or more elements, and the mathematical vectors within each subset are defined relative to a local coordinate space associated with each element. The method further includes determining that a first non-affine deformer is to be applied to a first set of the elements, and, for each element in the first set, applying the first non-affine deformer to world coordinate space values corresponding to the mathematical vectors within the subset of mathematical vectors associated with the element to generate modified world coordinate space values for the mathematical vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: Pixar Animation Studios
    Inventors: Dirk Van Gelder, George Elkoura, Adam Woodbury