Patents by Inventor David E. Baraff

David E. Baraff 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: 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: 8194079
    Abstract: A method is described to let animators control the extent by which kinematically scripted character motions affect dynamically simulated objects' motions. The dynamic objects are connected to the kinematic character, such as clothing or hair, and the motion of the dynamic objects is simulated based on the motion of the kinematic character. Such control is important to produce reasonable behavior of dynamic objects in the presence of physically unrealistic kinematic character motion. An Inertial Field Generator (IFG) is employed to compensate for the unreasonable behavior of dynamic objects when the kinematic character undergoes unrealistic motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin
  • Patent number: 7355600
    Abstract: A method of globally analyzing intersections between objects in computer animation includes providing objects represented by meshes, with each of the meshes being formed by a set of vertices, where a set of pairs of vertices defines a set of edges of the mesh. All edges of the meshes are checked to determine if the edges intersect with any of the meshes. An intersection path, formed by the intersection of the meshes, is traced and which vertices that are contained within the intersection path are determined. A polarity of each of the contained vertices is set to indicate that those vertices are contained within the intersection path. The analysis forms the backbone of a collision-response algorithm for unoriented objects such as cloth that is better than previous existing algorithms. The analysis also allows objects to be simulated even when hand-animated elements of the simulation have extreme amounts of interpenetration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 8, 2008
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin, Michael Kass
  • Patent number: 7206729
    Abstract: A method is described to let animators control the extent by which kinematically scripted character motions affect dynamically simulated objects' motions. The dynamic objects are connected to the kinematic character, such as clothing or hair, and the motion of the dynamic objects is simulated based on the motion of the kinematic character. Such control is important to produce reasonable behavior of dynamic objects in the presence of physically unrealistic kinematic character motion. An Inertial Field Generator (IFG) is employed to compensate for the unreasonable behavior of dynamic objects when the kinematic character undergoes unrealistic motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin
  • Patent number: 6970171
    Abstract: A method of globally analyzing intersections between objects in computer animation includes providing objects represented by meshes, with each of the meshes being formed by a set of vertices, where a set of pairs of vertices defines a set of edges of the mesh. All edges of the meshes are checked to determine if the edges intersect with any of the meshes. An intersection path, formed by the intersection of the meshes, is traced and which vertices that are contained within the intersection path are determined. A polarity of each of the contained vertices is set to indicate that those vertices are contained within the intersection path. The analysis forms the backbone of a collision-response algorithm for unoriented objects such as cloth that is better than previous existing algorithms. The analysis also allows objects to be simulated even when hand-animated elements of the simulation have extreme amounts of interpenetration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2005
    Assignee: Pixar
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin, Michael Kass
  • Publication number: 20040075662
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus allows animators to control the extent by which scripted character motions affect simulated objects’ motions. The simulated objects are connected to the character or non-simulated object, such as clothing or hair, and the motion of the simulated objects is simulated based on the motion of the character or non-simulated object. Collision flypapering is employed to yield the proper behavior of simulated objects when those objects are pinched by surfaces of the character and/or other collision objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2003
    Publication date: April 22, 2004
    Applicant: Pixar Animation Studios
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin
  • Patent number: 6657629
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus allows animators to control the extent by which scripted character motions affect simulated objects' motions. The simulated objects are connected to the character or non-simulated object, such as clothing or hair, and the motion of the simulated objects is simulated based on the motion of the character or non-simulated object. Collision flypapering is employed to yield the proper behavior of simulated objects when those objects are pinched by surfaces of the character and/or other collision objects.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Pixar Animation Studios
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin
  • Publication number: 20020167513
    Abstract: A method of globally analyzing intersections between objects in computer animation includes providing objects represented by meshes, with each of the meshes being formed by a set of vertices, where a set of pairs of vertices defines a set of edges of the mesh. All edges of the meshes are checked to determine if the edges intersect with any of the meshes. An intersection path, formed by the intersection of the meshes, is traced and which vertices that are contained within the intersection path are determined. A polarity of each of the contained vertices is set to indicate that those vertices are contained within the intersection path. The analysis forms the backbone of a collision-response algorithm for unoriented objects such as cloth that is better than previous existing algorithms. The analysis also allows objects to be simulated even when hand-animated elements of the simulation have extreme amounts of interpenetration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2001
    Publication date: November 14, 2002
    Applicant: Pixar Animation Studios
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin, Michael Kass
  • Publication number: 20020118197
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus allows animators to control the extent by which scripted character motions affect simulated objects' motions. The simulated objects are connected to the character or non-simulated object, such as clothing or hair, and the motion of the simulated objects is simulated based on the motion of the character or non-simulated object. Collision flypapering is employed to yield the proper behavior of simulated objects when those objects are pinched by surfaces of the character and/or other collision objects.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 28, 2001
    Publication date: August 29, 2002
    Applicant: Pixar Animation Studios
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin
  • Publication number: 20020113793
    Abstract: A method is described to let animators control the extent by which kinematically scripted character motions affect dynamically simulated objects' motions. The dynamic objects are connected to the kinematic character, such as clothing or hair, and the motion of the dynamic objects is simulated based on the motion of the kinematic character. Such control is important to produce reasonable behavior of dynamic objects in the presence of physically unrealistic kinematic character motion. An Inertial Field Generator (IFG) is employed to compensate for the unreasonable behavior of dynamic objects when the kinematic character undergoes unrealistic motion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2000
    Publication date: August 22, 2002
    Inventors: David E. Baraff, Andrew Witkin