Abstract: Methods and apparatus for manipulating digital images. A warping module is described that enables the manipulation of a surface by selectively deforming portions of the surface while maintaining local rigidity. The user may position multiple control points on a surface to constrain deformation. The user may specify multiple properties (e.g., translation, rotation, depth, and scale) at each control point. A mesh may be overlaid on the surface. The warping module may perform an initialization in which the properties are propagated other vertices in the mesh to generate an initial deformed mesh. The warping module may then perform an iterative optimization operation on the deformed mesh to improve the deformation while retaining local rigidity. Thus, instead of moving every pixel in the surface, the warping module moves or adjusts coordinates of the vertices of the mesh. The surface is then deformed according to the deformed mesh.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for manipulating digital images. A warping module is described that enables the manipulation of a surface by selectively deforming portions of the surface while maintaining local rigidity. The user may position multiple control points on a surface to constrain deformation. The user may specify multiple properties (e.g., translation, rotation, depth, and scale) at each control point. A mesh may be overlaid on the surface. The warping module may perform an initialization in which the properties are propagated other vertices in the mesh to generate an initial deformed mesh. The warping module may then perform an iterative optimization operation on the deformed mesh to improve the deformation while retaining local rigidity. Thus, instead of moving every pixel in the surface, the warping module moves or adjusts coordinates of the vertices of the mesh. The surface is then deformed according to the deformed mesh.

Abstract: An interactive application may include a quasi-physical simulator configured to determine the configuration of animated characters as they move within the application and are acted on by external forces. The simulator may work together with a parameterized animation module that synthesizes and provides reference poses for the animation from example motion clips that it has segmented and parameterized. The simulator may receive input defining a trajectory for an animated character and input representing one or more external forces acting on the character, and may perform a quasi-physical simulation to determine a pose for the character in the current animation frame in reaction to the external forces. The simulator may enforce a goal constraint that the animated character follows the trajectory, e.g., by adding a non-physical force to the simulation, the magnitude of which may be dependent on a torque objective that attempts to minimize the use of such non-physical forces.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for providing a navigation interface to access or otherwise use image content items. In one embodiment, an image manipulation application identifies at least one offset curve corresponding to at least one base curve. The offset curve may identify an offset curve corresponding to the outer boundary of a feathered region for an image mask. The image manipulation application identifies multiple line segments identifying the offset curve. Each line segment connects a sampled point along the path of the base curve to a corresponding point along the path of the offset curve. The image manipulation application determines that the offset curve includes a retrograde region based on analyzing the line segments. The image manipulation application modifies the at least one offset curve to eliminate at least some of the retrograde region by applying a radius-modulating filter to one or more of the line segments.

Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for providing a navigation interface to access or otherwise use image content items. In one embodiment, an image manipulation application identifies at least one offset curve corresponding to at least one base curve. The offset curve may identify an offset curve corresponding to the outer boundary of a feathered region for an image mask. The image manipulation application identifies multiple line segments identifying the offset curve. Each line segment connects a sampled point along the path of the base curve to a corresponding point along the path of the offset curve. The image manipulation application determines that the offset curve includes a retrograde region based on analyzing the line segments. The image manipulation application modifies the at least one offset curve to eliminate at least some of the retrograde region by applying a radius-modulating filter to one or more of the line segments.

Abstract: An interactive application may include a quasi-physical simulator configured to determine the configuration of animated characters as they move within the application and are acted on by external forces. The simulator may work together with a parameterized animation module that synthesizes and provides reference poses for the animation from example motion clips that it has segmented and parameterized. The simulator may receive input defining a trajectory for an animated character and input representing one or more external forces acting on the character, and may perform a quasi-physical simulation to determine a pose for the character in the current animation frame in reaction to the external forces. The simulator may enforce a goal constraint that the animated character follows the trajectory, e.g., by adding a non-physical force to the simulation, the magnitude of which may be dependent on a torque objective that attempts to minimize the use of such non-physical forces.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for manipulating digital images. A warping module is described that enables the manipulation of a surface by selectively deforming portions of the surface while maintaining local rigidity. The user may position multiple control points on a surface to constrain deformation. The user may specify multiple properties (e.g., translation, rotation, depth, and scale) at each control point. A mesh may be overlaid on the surface. The warping module may perform an initialization in which the properties are propagated other vertices in the mesh to generate an initial deformed mesh. The warping module may then perform an iterative optimization operation on the deformed mesh to improve the deformation while retaining local rigidity. Thus, instead of moving every pixel in the surface, the warping module moves or adjusts coordinates of the vertices of the mesh. The surface is then deformed according to the deformed mesh.

Abstract: A method for creating progressive simplicial complexes (PSC), including a new format for storing and transmitting arbitrary geometric models for computer graphics is presented. A PSC captures a graphical model as a coarse base model together with a sequence of refinement transformations that progressively recover detail. The PSC method uses general refinement transformations, allowing the given model to be an arbitrary triangulation of a complex shape, and the base model to be a single vertex. The PSC model defines a continuous sequence of approximating models for run-time level-of-detail control, allows smooth transitions between any pair of models in the sequence, supports compression, progressive transmission on computer network like the Internet or an intranet, and offers a space-efficient representation of an arbitrary geometric model.