Abstract: Methods and systems for determining past and future cycles of scenes that employ looping functions are disclosed. In one embodiment, a scene that includes a repeating segment may be created. The repeating segment may have a finite duration and may be separated into an identified number of looped cycles. Each looped cycle in the repeating segment may include a rendering of an animation and each looped cycle in the repeating segment may include a randomized loop delay such that a time between renderings of the animation within each looped cycle is not consistent. A duration of each looped cycle in the sce repeating segment ne may be aggregated to determine a total length of time of the repeating segment. Finally, the looped cycle in the scene that is active at a specified time may be determine based on the total length of time of the repeating segment.

Abstract: Selection and presentation of media streams, in which presentation is not limited by order imposed by the digital content representative of those media streams, in response to bookmarks and watchpoints settable and usable by a user. Bookmarks reference a location within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected and possibly dynamically selected, in which a presentation can be started or restarted therefrom. Watchpoints reference a location within the media stream, or a presentation state for the media stream, in which an action can be triggered thereby. Bookmarks and watchpoints provide a general technique for presenting selections from media streams in response to metadata.

Abstract: Selection and presentation of media streams, in which presentation is not limited by order imposed by the digital content representative of those media streams, in response to bookmarks and watchpoints settable and usable by a user. Bookmarks reference a location within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected and possibly dynamically selected, in which a presentation can be started or restarted therefrom. Watchpoints reference a location within the media stream, or a presentation state for the media stream, in which an action can be triggered thereby. Bookmarks and watchpoints provide a general technique for presenting selections from media streams in response to metadata.

Abstract: Selection and presentation of media streams, in which presentation is not limited by order imposed by the digital content representative of those media streams, in response to bookmarks and watchpoints settable and usable by a user. Bookmarks reference a location within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected and possibly dynamically selected, in which a presentation can be started or restarted therefrom. Watchpoints reference a location within the media stream, or a presentation state for the media stream, in which an action can be triggered thereby. Bookmarks and watchpoints provide a general technique for presenting selections from media streams in response to metadata.

Abstract: Selection and presentation of media streams, in which presentation is not limited by order imposed by the digital content representative of those media streams, in response to bookmarks and watchpoints settable and usable by a user. Bookmarks reference a location within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected and possibly dynamically selected, in which a presentation can be started or restarted therefrom. Watchpoints reference a location within the media stream, or a presentation state for the media stream, in which an action can be triggered thereby. Bookmarks and watchpoints provide a general technique for presenting selections from media streams in response to metadata.

Abstract: A UI including a “Guide,” presenting a list of videos, having data fields relating to each entry, possibly including multiple data values for a single data field. When focusing on a single entry, the focused-upon entry is expanded and emphasized. The focused-upon entry is highlighted and centered, while other entries have lesser highlighting and centering. When a data field is selected, the focused-upon data field is emphasized (by highlighting, repositioning, or resizing), while other entries have lesser emphasis. Display changes might appear after a brief delay, or in response to further user command. When entries are sorted on selected data fields, entries with multiple data values for those fields are replicated, and the sorting letter is highlighted. The user can move individually down the list of entries, or skip to the next section with a different data value for a selected field.

Abstract: A UI involving selection and display from a library of videos, including a “Mosaic” mode of operation, in which a primarily visual display is made of information about possible videos, with the effect that a user might select one such video in response to such visual display. The Mosaic includes an two-dimensional array of entries, each of which has visual information for that entry. The Mosaic collects relatively similar entries near to each other in the visual field seen by a user. The focus is centralized and emphasized, and has auxiliary information displayed for further understanding. The array is dynamically rearranged in response to change in focus and metadata about the entries. Relative weighting of that metadata is responsive to user choice. The array includes rows and columns each of which includes all possible entries, but offset by relatively prime values.

Abstract: Selection and presentation of media streams, in which presentation is not limited by order imposed by the digital content representative of those media streams, in response to bookmarks and watchpoints settable and usable by a user. Bookmarks reference a location within the media stream, not necessarily pre-selected and possibly dynamically selected, in which a presentation can be started or restarted therefrom. Watchpoints reference a location within the media stream, or a presentation state for the media stream, in which an action can be triggered thereby. Bookmarks and watchpoints provide a general technique for presenting selections from media streams in response to metadata.

Abstract: A UI including a “Guide,” presenting a list of videos, having data fields relating to each entry, possibly including multiple data values for a single data field. When focusing on a single entry, the focused-upon entry is expanded and emphasized. The focused-upon entry is highlighted and centered, while other entries have lesser highlighting and centering. When a data field is selected, the focused-upon data field is emphasized (by highlighting, repositioning, or resizing), while other entries have lesser emphasis. Display changes might appear after a brief delay, or in response to further user command. When entries are sorted on selected data fields, entries with multiple data values for those fields are replicated, and the sorting letter is highlighted. The user can move individually down the list of entries, or skip to the next section with a different data value for a selected field.

Abstract: A UI involving selection and display from a library of videos, including a “Mosaic” mode of operation, in which a primarily visual display is made of information about possible videos, with the effect that a user might select one such video in response to such visual display. The Mosaic includes an two-dimensional array of entries, each of which has visual information for that entry. The Mosaic collects relatively similar entries near to each other in the visual field seen by a user. The focus is centralized and emphasized, and has auxiliary information displayed for further understanding. The array is dynamically rearranged in response to change in focus and metadata about the entries. Relative weighting of that metadata is responsive to user choice. The array includes rows and columns each of which includes all possible entries, but offset by relatively prime values.

Abstract: A method apparatus, and software product generates raster-based complete outlines of raster-based rendered images based on 3D models. Preliminary outlines of a rendered image are created from the subregion identifiers, position data, and orientation data from the rendered image database. These preliminary outlines are then combined and refined to generate the final image outline. Subregion identifiers identify various subregions or materials in the image. Position data describes a distance between a pixel and a reference point. The orientation data describes the orientation of the underlying models at each pixel in the image. In one embodiment, orientation data describes variations in orientation at a given pixel with respect to some number of nearby pixels.

Abstract: Method and apparatus are disclosed for generating mattes of film, video, or other visual image elements, in which the operator may specify soft-edge regions for the extended visible fall-off of certain difficult areas such as hair, clouds, shadows, and blurred objects. The elements may be either still or in motion, and automatic interpolation of keyframe regions may be used to simplify the generation of in-between frames to create traveling soft-edge mattes.