The present invention pertains to the field of film and video production. More particularly, the present invention pertains to on-location film and video production equipment.
Computer graphics is used in a wide variety of applications, such as in business, science, animation, simulation, computer-aided design, process control, electronic publishing, gaming, medical diagnosis, etc. In an effort to portray a more realistic real-world representation, three dimensional objects are transformed into models having the illusion of depth for display onto a two-dimensional computer screen. This is accomplished by using a number of polygons to represent a three-dimensional object. Next, a scan conversion process is used to determine which pixels of a computer display fall within each of the specified polygons. Thereupon, texture is selectively applied to those pixels residing within specified polygons. Finally, lighting, shading, shadowing, translucency, and blending effects are applied.
As throughput of computer graphics systems has increased considerably in recent years, the realism of computer generated three-dimensional graphics has also improved. Computer generated scenes resembling reality and composed of millions of polygons are no longer uncommon. Many movies now contain computer rendered images and special effects. Some movies even include scenes that are completely computer generated. In those scenes, only the actors are real.
In creating scenes that include both real actors and computer generated imagery (CGI), the actors have to imagine or pretend that they are actually seeing the CGI. Thereafter, during post-production, computer images are created by animators and added onto the film footage. While the computer generated images and the actors may sometimes fit seamlessly together, the results are oftentimes unconvincing. For instance, two actors supposingly staring at the same computer generated xe2x80x9cmonsterxe2x80x9d may be looking in slightly different directions. Problems may also arise when actors move around and become blocked by the CGI. In these case, the footage may have to be re-shot. Otherwise, significant amount of post-production work, including cutting and pasting of the film footage, must be done. Re-shooting of a scene and extended post-production work are time consuming and are extremely expensive, and may cause significant delays in the production of a film.
Therefore, what is needed is a system for assisting the on-location production of movies, videos and films. What is further needed is a system and method for assisting the film production crew on-location such that post-production costs can be minimized. What is yet further needed is a system and method for assisting the film production crew such that re-shooting of flawed footage can be minimized.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a video playback system for assisting on-location film production. One embodiment of the present invention includes a computer system capable of generating computer generated imagery (CGI) and receiving live video feed from a camera. The computer system is also coupled to a first display screen for rendering computer generated imagery and a second display screen for rendering the live video feed overlaid with computer generated imagery.
In the present embodiment, a portion of the first display screen containing computer generated imagery can be selected for overlaying on the live video feed. The video playback system of the present embodiment is also capable of storing the live video feed and the images resulted from overlaying the computer generated imagery and the live video feed. In this way, the present invention provides the advantages of allowing live/CGI (computer generated imagery) composites to be played and viewed in real-time on the director""s monitor for review while on location. The video playback system of the present embodiment may also include audio inputs for receiving a live audio feed and storage for recording the audio synchronously with the live video feed. The video playback system of the present embodiment may also include a hand-held control unit for receiving control signals from a user.
Embodiments of the present invention include the above and further include a computer readable memory (e.g., a diskette or CD-ROM) containing therein computer readable codes for causing a computer system to perform a method comprising the steps of: generating computer generated imagery; rendering the computer generated imagery on a first display screen; receiving a live video stream; overlaying a user-selected portion of the first display screen on the live video stream to generate an overlaid video stream; and, rendering the overlaid video stream on a second display screen.
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