method and device for editing model data structures of an image to a human recognizable result

摘要

A method for operating a processor-controlled machine, and a machine having a processor, are disclosed for producing human perceptible output related to an image display feature presented in an original image using the model data structure (the model) from which the original image was produced. In response to the display of an output producing region displayed coextensively with a first image segment including a display feature representing a data item in the model, some form of human perceptible output is produced using the data item and presented by an output utilization device at the same time as the first image (190) is being displayed, giving the perception to a machine user of providing information related to the display feature in the first image segment. In one aspect of the invention, the human perceptible output is a second image (192) displayed in the spatial context of the first image (190) defined by the output producing region, called a viewing operation region, or VOR (186). The VOR (186) functions as a type of "visual filter", binding the second view of a original image to the display area defined by the VOR. One type of second image (192) produced shows the display feature in the first image (190) modified in the second image. The second image is produced using a new attribute value for the data item in the model represented by the image display feature in the image, producing a modified display feature that is then presented in the VOR in the spatial context of the first image, simultaneously with the display of the first image and replacing the first image segment. In one illustrated embodiment, the method operates within the environment of a rendering application executing in a graphical user interface environment. A machine user moves the VOR over a portion of a rendered image, and in response to the user's movement action, a viewing operation associated with the VOR invokes the renderer that produced the original rendered image to produce a second modified view of the original image using a new value for a global parameter data item in the scene description. The second image is then clipped to the size and shape of the VOR, and is then presented in the VOR, showing the second modified view. IMAGE