Patents by Inventor Christine Waggoner

Christine Waggoner 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).

  • Publication number: 20240054727
    Abstract: Embodiments provide for three-dimensional cloth modeling are provided. A first mesh comprising a plurality of faces defined by a plurality of edges is accessed, and a render mesh is generated using quadrangulated tessellation of the first mesh, where the render mesh comprises quad faces. One or more attributes of the plurality of faces of the first mesh are transferred to one or more of the quad faces of the render mesh using a stochastic transfer operation. The render mesh is displayed via a graphical user interface (GUI).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2022
    Publication date: February 15, 2024
    Inventors: Christine WAGGONER, Fernando Ferrari DE GOES
  • Patent number: 8704823
    Abstract: An interactive multi-mesh modeling system allows users to employ a variety of modeling techniques to interactively create objects for a variety of different tasks or tools. Some of these different tasks or tools can have requirements for computer-generated representations of objects on which they operate. These requirements may differ from how some computer-generated representations were originally created (e.g., 3D solid objects output using solid modeling techniques vs. 2D flat “panel constructed” objects required for some computer simulations). Thus, the interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for taking a source computer-generated representation of an object and providing the automatic creation, management, and maintenance of instances or versions of the source. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for the automatic management and transfer of information defined thereon or associated with these meshes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: Christine Waggoner, Meng Yu, David Baraff
  • Patent number: 8681147
    Abstract: In various embodiments, an interactive multi-mesh garment modeling system may allow a user to employ solid modeling techniques to create one or more representations of garment objects whose motions are typically determined by computer simulations. Accordingly, in one aspect, the interactive multi-mesh garment modeling system may automatically generate one or more meshes that satisfy the requirements for computer simulations from a source mesh modeled by a user using solid modeling techniques. For each polygon associated with a UV mapping of one of these meshes, gradients of U and V for the polygon can be determined with respect to a 3D representation of an object that are substantially orthogonal and of uniform magnitude and that approximate the original gradients of U and V for the polygon. In another aspect, each polygon in a plurality of polygons of a 2D parameterization of an object can be reshaped based on individually corresponding polygons in a 3D representation of the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2014
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 8665261
    Abstract: An interactive multi-mesh modeling system may allow users to employ a variety of modeling techniques to interactively create one or more objects for a variety of different tasks or tools. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may employ a variety of techniques for taking a source computer-generated representation of an object and providing the automatic creation, management, and maintenance of instances or versions of the source, and any information defined thereon or associated therewith, that are suitable for several different tasks. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for resolving ambiguities between various meshes based on establishing a correspondence between a first manifold and a second manifold based on a first metric of the first manifold, a second metric of the second manifold, and a third distinct metric of an embedding space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2014
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 8269778
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to computer-generated imagery (CGI) and computer-aided animation. More specifically, this disclosure relates to techniques for preserving the shape of simulated and dynamic objects for use in CGI and computer-aided animation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 8253753
    Abstract: Component connections are preserved during destructive component operations. Upon receiving a notification of the destruction of a direct component connection, a direct component connection is converted to an implied component connection. The implied component connection may be specified as additional component attributes of one or both components associated with the direct component connection or as data external to the component data structures. This allows preservation of the component connection despite destructive component operations. Upon the creation of a component, it is determined if the newly created component corresponds with a previously destroyed component that was associated with a direct connection. If the newly created component corresponds with this previously destroyed component, a direct component connection is created for the newly created component as specified by the implied component connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 8217958
    Abstract: A method for invising objects includes receiving information indicating an intersection between a first object and a second object. Visibility of the first object is modified based on the amount of interpenetration between the first object and the second object. A predetermined threshold may be received. The visibility of the first object may be reduced while the amount of the interpenetration fails to exceed the predetermined threshold. The first object may be made invisible when the predetermined threshold is exceeded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Michael Fong, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 8169438
    Abstract: In various embodiments, deformations caused by kinematic or reference objects to secondary objects such as hair or fur may be computed in parallel using a temporally coherent deformation technique. A single or uniform direction for a deformation may be determined from which the deformation of the secondary object will occur with respect to a reference object. The uniform direction for the deformation may be determined rather than allowing the direction of the deformation to vary along a dimension of the secondary object. The magnitude of the deformation may be determined to vary along the dimension of the secondary object in response to the penetration depth or the measure of how far inside the secondary object finds itself within the reference object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Michael Fong, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 8054313
    Abstract: In various embodiments, the motion of simulated or secondary objects, such as the motion of cloth, of computer imagery and computer generated animations may be viewed as a time-varying signal. Accordingly, simulation results can be “filtered” to repair, reduce, or eliminate “damage” to the motion signal of regions of the simulated object where “jumps,” “wigglies,” “sags,” “blemishes,” or high frequency perturbations may occur during simulation. Simulation repair may be performed using a coordinate frame from one or more regions of the simulated object or of another reference object whose motion is not “damaged” like the motion of the regions to be repaired. The coordinate frame can be non-linear, temporally varying, or the like, and can provide a suitable reference to repair simulation results in an efficient and time-optimized manner with quality results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 7973805
    Abstract: A method for invising objects includes receiving information indicating an intersection between a first object and a second object. Visibility of the first object is modified based on the amount of interpenetration between the first object and the second object. A predetermined threshold may be received. The visibility of the first object may be reduced while the amount of the interpenetration fails to exceed the predetermined threshold. The first object may be made invisible when the predetermined threshold is exceeded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2011
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Michael Fong, Christine Waggoner
  • Patent number: 7864180
    Abstract: A method for auto-scaling properties of simulated objects includes receiving a metric associated with a reference object. A value associated with a property of a simulated object is adjusted in response to the metric. The value of the property is related to an at-rest shape or desired rest state associated with the simulated object. The property may be a geometric property of the simulated object. Some examples of geometric properties are dimensions (e.g., length, width, height), angle, momentum and rotation, mass, density, and the like. The at-rest shape or desired rest state associated with the simulated object may be related to shape of the simulated object in response to one or more internal forces and expected external forces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2011
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David Baraff, Christine Waggoner