Abstract: In an interactive editing apparatus, a three-dimensional object to be edited is a set of polygonal surfaces which are arranged in a three-dimensional space and have the same number of sides. These polygonal surfaces are arranged on the three-dimensional space to display on a perspective view, the sides of the polygonal surfaces are linearly enveloped to express a polygonal three-dimensional object. When a user edits any one of vertex positions, data regarding the edited vertex and associated other vertex positions are updated. Further in the interactive editing apparatus, data regarding vertexes and faces of the object are managed using data cells, and shape data before the last editing are stored in the data cells together with present shape data, whereby an undo function is realized.

Abstract: A solid graphic arranging/editing method enables a user to enter or edit a solid graphic viewed on a display. According to the method, three points of a rectangular parallelepiped are specified, and the solid is arranged to be inscribed within the parallelepiped. A reference plane is then defined and a first point on the reference plane is specified. A local coordinate plane is also defined and a second point is specified on the local coordinate plane. A rectangle lying in the local coordinate plane and having the first and second points as diagonal vertices is then displayed. Auxiliary lines perpendicular to the local coordinate plane and passing the second point are also displayed and a third point on a selected auxiliary line is displayed. A rectangular parallelepiped is then displayed having the rectangle as one surface and the third point as a vertex. The position of the solid and the scales are then adjusted such that the solid is inscribed in the rectangular parellelepiped.

Abstract: In a 3-dimensional animation generating apparatus which uses a computer, the user generates a number of static images having parent-child relationships and which serve as key frames in the sequence from the start to the end of the animation, a number of animation frames specified by the user being automatically inserted between the key frames by means of interpolation. In this 3-dimensional animation generating apparatus, the times of each of the key frames as specified by the user are stored, the parent object coordinates and child object coordinates generated by the user are stored in a world coordinate system, along with parent-child relationship in each of the key frames.