JP3436748B2 - Program, information storage medium, and game device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a game device and game information for executing a given game by generating an image based on a given viewpoint in an object space.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various games utilizing a three-dimensional virtual space have been developed. For example, a given game is executed by setting objects such as desks, chairs, and houses, topography and landscapes such as mountains, clouds, and trees in a virtual space, and making characters imitating people, animals, vehicles, etc. act. There is.
Further, in the case of producing a realistic virtual space, it is general that each object arranged in the virtual space is represented by a model in which a plurality of planes defined by three or more vertices called polygons are combined. is there. Then, when the game image is generated, the position of a virtual camera for projecting the virtual space is determined, and perspective projection is performed on a given screen for each object arranged in the virtual space. . At this time, the perspective projection process is executed for each vertex of the polygons forming the object.

Therefore, when there are a large number of objects existing in the field of view of the virtual camera, or when there are a plurality of objects having a large number of vertices, the above-mentioned arithmetic processing must be executed the same number of times as the number of vertices. Instead, the game image generation process becomes complicated and the generation time increases. Further, when the perspective projection process is performed, an object that is far from the virtual camera is small and an object that is close to the virtual camera is large, as if the eyes see an object in the real space. Therefore, an object existing in the distance is small and its details cannot be represented. For this reason, it is general that an object existing at a position far from the action range of the game character is simplified by using an image simulating the background without representing it by a polygon model.

[0004]

However, in the case where the position of the virtual camera changes over a wide range and the virtual camera can approach individual objects existing at all positions, the representation of a distant view is presented. Cannot be simplified and must be expressed by a model consisting of points and lines for each of a wide range of objects. For example, in a plane game, when a model that can move at high speed and in a wide range is set, even an object that is sufficiently far away at a certain moment may become a close view as the game progresses. In order to realize such a game with a wide range of action from the viewpoint, it is common to represent each of the backgrounds on the game stage by a polygon model.

For this reason, even if the object to be drawn is sufficiently far away from the virtual camera, the coordinate conversion process must be executed for each vertex forming the object, which is efficient. Was not. A method of reducing the number of vertices of the polygon model of an object distant from the virtual camera to reduce the processing can be considered. However, it is difficult to rationally cope with the change in the shape of the polygon due to the change in the number of vertices, the change in the texture to be mapped to the polygon with the changed shape, and the processing may be rather complicated. .

In addition to the game device, there is a device called a flight simulator for generating a three-dimensional topographic map. In this flight simulator, generally, the ground is divided into a grid pattern with a given interval, and the elevation data obtained at each grid point are connected to generate a polygon to generate a three-dimensional topography. expressing. This flight simulator may take a method of simplifying the image generation process by thinning out some vertices according to the distance from the virtual camera. For example, as in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-6941, the vertices that may be deleted and the levels to be deleted are specified in advance based on the elevation data given to each grid point, and the distance from the virtual camera is determined. There is a method in which the vertices specified for each level are deleted according to.

However, according to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-6941, a level of simplification is provided according to the distance between the virtual camera and each grid point, and polygons in which predetermined grid points are thinned out for the area of each level are provided. We are going to form a model.
Therefore, at the boundary between two different levels, grid points that were not thinned out in one level will be thinned in the other level, which may cause inconsistency in the undulations of both terrains. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the contradiction. According to the figure, one vertex 17
0 configures the vertices of the polygon group located in the front in the figure, but does not configure the vertices of the polygon located in the back in the figure. Therefore, a gap is generated between the front and back polygons. Although it is conceivable to add a new polygon to this gap, such an interpolation polygon will always occur somewhere at a position separated from the virtual camera by a predetermined distance. Therefore, when the boundary position between the simplification levels moves along with the movement of the virtual camera, the generation / disappearance of the interpolation polygon may flicker, which may give an unnatural impression.

Further, as in the invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-6941, when the color information and texture are decided according to the elevation of each polygon forming the terrain,
The same color and texture are always applied to polygons showing the same elevation. Therefore, this method is unsuitable for a game in which a realistic game image is used to give a sense of presence.

The problem in such a flight simulator becomes more remarkable when applied to a game in which the position of the virtual camera changes at high speed and over a wide range. For example, the gap shown in FIG. 12 is an inconspicuous problem when the temporal and spatial changes of the virtual camera position are small, but when the virtual camera changes at a high speed in a certain direction, the terrain undulation is performed. The sudden change in the image gives an unpleasant impression. Further, when the pattern, color, etc. of the terrain changes according to the altitude, there is a possibility that the graphical impression may be emphasized to reduce the realism, and the player's sense of immersion in the game may be reduced.

An object of the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to more efficiently express realistic terrain.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the first invention is first to generate an image of a virtual space viewed from a given viewpoint by calculation / control by a processor to give a given game. Allocating means for allocating a given two-dimensional lattice to a given two-dimensional plane of the virtual space (for example, shown in FIG. 15) for a device (for example, the game device 1210 shown in FIG. 1) that executes Polygon generator 220; FIG. 1
The step S1 to S2) of the topographical representation processing shown in FIG. 6, the two-dimensional grid, and the vertical position information of each grid point of the two-dimensional grid with respect to the two-dimensional grid are assigned to the virtual space. Grid point coordinate determining means for determining three-dimensional coordinates of each grid point on the two-dimensional plane, and primitive surface formation for forming a primitive surface based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the grid points determined by the grid point coordinate determining means. Means (for example, polygon generator 220 shown in FIG. 15; FIG. 16)
And the game information for causing the step S5 or S6) of the terrain expression processing shown in FIG. 5 to function, and further, in the device, the grid points of the two-dimensional grid are set to standard grid points and intermediate grid points. Identification means for identifying and setting means for setting each intermediate grid point to be valid or invalid (for example, FIG.
5, the polygon generation unit 220 shown in FIG. 5; step S4 of the terrain expression processing shown in FIG. 16 and a changing means for changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid points (for example, the interpolation processing unit 222 shown in FIG. 15; Step S of the terrain expression processing shown
8) and the information for making the above-mentioned function work, and for the primitive surface forming means, a three-dimensional array of standard grid points among the grid points and effective intermediate grid points set by the setting means. It is characterized by including information for functioning to form a primitive surface based on the coordinates.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is a game device for executing a given game by generating an image based on a given viewpoint of a virtual space and displaying the generated image, wherein Based on the assigning means for assigning a two-dimensional lattice to a given two-dimensional plane of the virtual space, the two-dimensional lattice, and vertical position information of each lattice point of the two-dimensional lattice with respect to the two-dimensional lattice, Based on the grid point coordinate determining means for determining the three-dimensional coordinates of each grid point of the two-dimensional plane allocated to the virtual space, and the primitive surface (based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the grid points determined by the grid point coordinate determining means). For example, a primitive surface forming unit that forms a polygon in the present embodiment, and further includes an identifying unit that identifies a grid point of the two-dimensional grid into a standard grid point and an intermediate grid point, and the intermediate points. Case A point is provided with setting means for setting it valid or invalid, and changing means for changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point, and the primitive surface forming means is a standard grid point among the grid points. The primitive surface is formed based on the three-dimensional coordinates with the effective intermediate grid points set by the setting means.

According to the first or tenth invention , 2
It is possible to determine the three-dimensional coordinates based on each lattice point and its vertical position and form a primitive surface having the determined three-dimensional coordinates as vertices by simply specifying the vertical position information of the three-dimensional lattice. . Therefore, even if the polygon model is not stored in advance, it is possible to form the polygon model having the primitive surface formed during the game execution as a constituent element.

Further, during execution of the game, each grid point when a two-dimensional grid is assigned to a given two-dimensional plane in the virtual space is identified as an intermediate grid point and a standard grid point, and further, It was decided to set valid / invalid for the grid points. Therefore, for example, if the range in which the intermediate grid points are invalid is specified, the primitive surface formed in the range is formed only by the three-dimensional coordinates on the standard grid points. For this reason, the area of the primitive surface in the range in which the intermediate grid points are invalid is larger than the area in which the intermediate grid points are valid. In this way, by setting valid / invalid of the intermediate grid points, it becomes possible to configure different primitive surfaces depending on the location in the virtual space.

As described above, when the range in which the intermediate grid points are invalid and the range in which the intermediate grid points are valid are set, the sizes of the primitive surfaces formed in the respective ranges are different.
For example, when the intermediate grid points and the standard grid points are set alternately, the area of the primitive surface in the invalid range is four times the area of the primitive surface in the valid range. That is, the structure of the polygon model formed by the primitive surfaces in the invalid range is rough, and the difference in fineness becomes remarkable on the boundary line between the valid range and the invalid range. In order to prevent such a problem, the value of the vertical position of the intermediate grid point existing in the effective range should be made closer to the value when it becomes invalid according to the distance to the valid / invalid boundary line of the intermediate grid point. By changing to, it is possible to express that the fineness gradually changes from the effective range to the ineffective range.

As a second invention, in the game information of the first invention, the distance from the given viewpoint among the intermediate grid points is set with respect to the setting means. Information for causing the intermediate grid points exceeding a given distance to be invalid and setting the intermediate grid points within the given distance to be valid may be included.

According to the second aspect of the invention , it is possible to invalidate the intermediate grid point located in the distant view range in which the distance from the viewpoint exceeds the given distance. Therefore, the polygon model formed by the primitive surfaces in the distant view range can be roughly expressed as compared with the near view range. For example,
In the case where a game image is generated by perspective projection processing based on the viewpoint, the distant view range is represented smaller than the near view range, so it does not make sense to represent a distant view object with a fine polygon model. Absent. In such a case, as described above, it is possible to simplify the drawing process of the distant view and reduce the load of the image generation process by invalidating the intermediate grid points of the distant view and roughening the polygon model.

The third invention is the first or second invention.
In the game information of the invention of,
The vertical position information of the intermediate grid point may be changed based on the vertical position information of the standard grid points around the intermediate grid point, and the information for making the function change.

According to the third aspect, when the vertical position of the intermediate grid point is changed, the vertical position of the standard grid point existing around the intermediate grid point can be referred to. For example, if the height value of the intermediate grid point is changed to be closer to the height value on the primitive surface formed only by the standard grid points, the range where the intermediate grid point becomes invalid and the range where it becomes valid For the vicinity of the boundary between and,
The shape can be smoothly changed so that the difference in the fineness between the invalid range and the effective range is not remarkable.

As a fourth invention, the first to third inventions are provided.
In any one of the game information of the invention, a rate of changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point with respect to the changing means is determined according to a distance between the intermediate grid point and the given viewpoint. , May be included.

According to the fourth aspect, the rate of changing the value of the vertical position at the intermediate grid point can be determined according to the distance from the viewpoint. Therefore, for example, when invalidating the intermediate grid points in the distant view range,
It is possible to express the shape of the polygon model by the primitive surface as gradually becoming rough from the near view to the distant view by setting the change rate to be higher as the distance from the viewpoint is closer to the boundary between the distant view range and the near view range. . That is, it is possible to simplify the image generation processing without making the viewer of the game image feel uncomfortable.

Further, by determining the rate of changing the vertical position of the intermediate grid point according to the distance to the viewpoint, even in a game in which the position of the viewpoint changes sequentially, from the near view to the distant view of the viewpoint position. The fineness of the shape of the object can be gradually changed. Therefore, even in a game in which the position of the viewpoint changes, it is possible to simplify the distant view without a sense of discomfort.

As a fifth invention, the first to fourth inventions
In any one of the game information of the present invention, a given identification pattern (for example, a unit block in the present embodiment) is expanded to the two-dimensional lattice with respect to the identification means, so that a standard lattice point and an intermediate lattice point are formed. And information for causing the primitive surface forming means to form a primitive surface for each of the expanded identification patterns. Good.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention , the standard lattice points and the intermediate lattice points can be discriminated according to the specific discriminating pattern, and the primitive surface can be formed for each of the specific discriminating patterns. Therefore, it is not necessary to predefine a combination for forming a primitive surface for each grid point of the two-dimensional grid, and it is possible to save memory resources accordingly.

As a sixth invention, in the game information of the fifth invention , a given texture is provided for each identification pattern for the primitive surface for each identification pattern formed by the primitive surface forming means. It is also possible to include information for causing the device to function as a mapping means for mapping.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention , the texture mapping process is performed on the formed primitive surface.
It can be executed for each identification pattern. Therefore,
It is possible to determine according to the positional relationship in the identification pattern without storing which coordinate of the texture corresponds to each lattice point.

A plurality of vertical position patterns for some grid points may be generated and applied to the grid points of the two-dimensional grid assigned to the virtual space. That is, the seventh invention is the first to sixth inventions.
In any one of the above game information, a plurality of kinds of vertical position information patterns for a given number of grid points are
The information for causing the device to function the means for setting the vertical position information of each grid point by applying to the three-dimensional grid, and the grid point coordinate determining means,
Information for causing the three-dimensional coordinates of each lattice point to be determined based on the dimensional lattice and the vertical position information of each of the set lattice points may be included.

Further, as an eighth aspect, the terrain may be constituted by the primitive surface formed by the primitive surface forming means.

As a ninth invention, the game information of any one of the first to eighth inventions is stored in an information storage medium and is supplied to a personal computer, a game device or the like via the information storage medium. May be.

[0030]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following,
A flying battle game will be taken as an example to describe a method of more easily expressing the terrain in the virtual space, but the application of the present invention is not limited to this.

(1) Outline FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example in which the present invention is applied to a home-use game machine. According to the figure, the game device 1210
The display 1200, the game controller 1202 or 1204, etc. are detachable. Information necessary for playing a game such as a game program is stored in a CD-ROM 1206, an IC card 1208, a memory card 1212, etc., which are removable information storage media in the game device 1210.

While watching the game image displayed on the display 1200, the player controls the fighter displayed on the game image by the game controller 1202 or 12
Enjoy the flight combat game by operating with 04. Here, operating a fighter means instructing the direction, speed, etc. of the fighter moving in the virtual space, unlike the case of operating an actual fighter. Therefore, in the following, a game image that objectively represents the fighter to be operated is generated so that the altitude and position of the fighter can be easily grasped. That is, the game image represents a virtual space (background such as topography and sky) including the fighter to be operated.

The game image is generated based on a virtual camera (hereinafter referred to as a viewpoint). Specifically, during the execution of the game, the position and the field of view of the viewpoint in the virtual space are determined every time one frame of the game image is generated,
A game image is generated by projecting each object existing in the field of view onto the screen in front of the viewpoint. However, the process of projecting the object on the screen is performed by perspective projection with the viewpoint as the center of projection. Therefore, an object existing in the near view with respect to the viewpoint is represented in a large size, and an object existing in the distant view with respect to the viewpoint is represented in a small size.

Further, in this embodiment, a terrain object placed in a virtual space over a wide area such as a mountainous area or a cliff is represented by a polygon model. However, in the present embodiment, the polygon model is not generated and stored in advance as the data necessary to represent the terrain object, but the height at each grid point when the virtual space is divided into a grid shape is stored. Remember the value of. Then, when expressing the terrain during the game execution, the coordinates of the vertices are created by combining the coordinates of each grid point and the value of the height given to each grid point, and by connecting each vertex, Generate a terrain polygon model. In the following, the data required to express the terrain will be referred to as terrain data.

FIG. 2A is a diagram schematically showing a part of the terrain data 100. As shown in the figure, the terrain data 100 stores each grid point of a grid obtained by dividing the horizontal plane of the virtual space at regular intervals, and the height h at each grid point. (B) is a figure which shows an example which produced | generated the polygon model 102 by connecting the height in each lattice point. That is, when generating a game image, a grid point existing in the field of view is selected from grid points of a grid preset in the virtual space, and based on the height given to the selected grid point. Generate a polygon. Then, the polygon models 102 as shown in (b) are generated by connecting the generated polygons.

Further, in this embodiment, the field of view is divided into a distant view range and a near view range according to the distance from the viewpoint, and the number of vertices is reduced by thinning out predetermined grid points in the distant view range. This reduces the load of image generation processing. In FIG. 3, the terrain data 100 shown in FIG.
It is the figure which drew typically the polygon model 104 when it exists in a distant view with respect to a viewpoint. FIG. 3A is a diagram showing an example in which, of the selected vertices, all the directions connecting diagonally existing vertices by straight lines are unified. On the other hand, FIG. 3B shows a polygon model 1 in which, of the selected vertices, diagonally existing vertices are alternately changed and connected.
It is a figure showing an example 06.

As described above, according to the present invention, the terrain polygon model is generated during the game execution based on the terrain data that stores only the heights at the respective grid points when the virtual space is divided into grids. is there. That is, the terrain is represented by not generating the combination data of the vertices forming each polygon but generating each of the polygons in a necessary range each time. Below, detailed description will be given of preset terrain data and a method for generating a polygon model based on the terrain data.

(2) Terrain Data First, the structure of the preset terrain data will be described. In the following, the coordinate system that defines the virtual space is (X,
Y, Z) and the world coordinate system. Further, each lattice interval of the two-dimensional lattice for forming the topographical data is w, and the XZ plane (horizontal plane) in the world coordinate system is divided along each axial direction. The topographical data is the grid point 1 defined in the world coordinate system.
The height may be given to each one, but in the following, the amount of data to be held will be further reduced by performing the following simplification.

That is, in the present embodiment, the terrain data is constructed by the two-stage reference method. Specifically, the terrain data has a structure composed of whole-area data and wide-area data, and when determining the height of a given grid point during game execution, appropriate wide-area data is read from the whole-area data,
Then, the height value of the corresponding grid point is read out from the wide area data. That is, the whole area data is
The wide area data is the data that stores the correspondence between the position in the world coordinate system and the wide area data.
As shown in, the data stores the heights on the grid points within a certain range in the local coordinate system. In addition, below, the fixed range which defines wide area data is called a wide area block. In addition, the whole area data stores wide area data assigned to each wide area block when the world coordinate system is divided into wide area blocks of the same size.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the concept of wide area data. FIG. 3A is a plan view showing an example of the wide area block 110. As shown in FIG.
0 is a square block having a length of one side of nw, and is defined by a local coordinate system (x, z) having one vertex of the square as an origin. In addition, the wide area data is the height (y coordinate) with respect to each grid point in the two-dimensional grid with the interval w along each axial direction of this local coordinate system.
Is generated by giving. (B) is
It is a figure which shows an example of wide area data 462. According to the figure, the wide area data 462 includes the wide area data number necessary for identifying a plurality of wide area data and the grid point number p.
_n , the grid line number m _LX in the x-axis direction, the grid line number m _LZ in the z-axis direction, the height value h _c , the texture number to be mapped to the polygon associated with the vertex, and the color information. And are remembered.

Here, the lattice line numbers m _LX and m _LZ represent the number of lattice lines counted from the origin of the wide area block. The grid point number p _n is an integer value given to each grid point. The grid point number p _n may be given to each grid point in any order,
In the following, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the origin (FIG. 4 (a)
According to the above, numbers are given in the increasing direction along the x axis (that is, in order from left to right) from the upper left corner. Then, next to the grid point at the right end, numbers are given in order along the x axis from the grid point at the left end in the lower stage.

Texture is set for each unit block. Here, the unit block is a unit that means one block when a wide area block is divided by a two-dimensional grid with an interval of 2w, and includes nine grid points. For example,
According to the wide area block shown in FIG. 4A, the grid line numbers (m _LX , m _LZ ) in the respective axial directions are (0, 0), (2,
The range surrounded by the grid points of 0), (0, 2), and (2, 2) becomes one unit block. Further, the texture number given to each unit block is stored in association with a grid point representing the unit block. For example, among the grid points at the four corners that form the unit block, the grid point is stored in association with the grid point having the smallest coordinate value.

In the following, the grid points that can be the vertices of the unit block are called standard grid points. That is, the grid points when the wide area block is divided at intervals of 2w become the standard grid points. The other grid points are called intermediate grid points. In addition, among the four standard grid points forming one unit block, the standard grid point having the smallest coordinate value is set as the representative point of the unit block.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the concept of whole area data. (A) is a plan view of the virtual space, that is,
It is the figure which drew the XZ plane in the world coordinate system.
As shown in the figure, the virtual space is divided into wide area blocks at intervals nw, and wide area data is assigned to each wide area block. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of the whole area data 460. According to the figure, in the whole area data 460, the grid line number M _{X in the X-} axis direction, the grid line number M _Z in the Z-axis direction, and the lower right of the grid point (M _X , M _Z ). The wide area data number assigned to the wide area block located is stored in association with each other. Here, the grid line numbers M _X and M _Z indicate the number of the wide area grid line counted from the origin when the world coordinate system is divided by the grid line with the interval nw (hereinafter referred to as wide area grid line). It is an expression and may be accompanied by a negative sign.

(3) Processing Next, processing during the game execution will be described.
As in the case of the above setting, the world coordinate system that defines the virtual space is represented by (X, Y, Z), and the local coordinate system in each wide area block is represented by (x, z). Further, in the following, the grid lines with the interval w are simply referred to as grid lines, and the grid lines with the interval nw are referred to as wide area grid lines. Furthermore, the coordinates described by the grid line numbers are called grid coordinates, and the grid coordinates when the world coordinate system is divided by wide-area grid lines are (M _X , M _Z ).
And the grid coordinates when divided by the grid spacing w are (m _X ,
m _Z ). Further, the grid coordinates when the local coordinate system is divided by the grid interval w are expressed by (m _LX , m _LZ ).

During the execution of the game, the height of each grid point is read from the terrain data, three-dimensional coordinates consisting of the coordinates of each grid point and the height value are generated, and the three-dimensional coordinates on each grid point are generated. By combining the coordinates, the polygon that forms the terrain is generated. However, in the present embodiment,
The process of combining the three-dimensional coordinates on each grid point is executed for each unit block described above. Moreover, the range for constructing the polygon model of the terrain is limited to the range related to the visual field of the viewpoint. Further, the field of view is divided into a distant view and a near view, and polygons are formed by different combination patterns. The process of generating polygons based on the terrain data will be described in detail below.

Unit Block Selection Process First, the process of selecting a unit block to be rendered will be described. During execution of the game, a process of selecting a unit block related to the visual field range of the viewpoint is executed for each frame.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the world coordinate system,
Range of topography to be drawn, that is, field of view 120
It is a figure which shows an example which determined. Note that in the following, for simplicity, the area of the view field is constant regardless of the position of the viewpoint. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the width is ∠θ to the left and right with respect to the line-of-sight direction 124 of the viewpoint 122, and the radius L
The fan is set as the field of view 120. Note that the unit block related to the view range 120 is not only a unit block completely included in the view range 120, but only a part of the unit block.
It also includes a unit block included in. Also, for the sake of simplicity, the visual field range 120 is not formed into a fan shape, and each vertex 1
A triangle that connects 22, 126-1 and 126-2 may be set as the field of view.

FIG. 7 is a front view of the virtual space and is for explaining the process of selecting a unit block. In the figure, for simplification of description, the grid spacing is emphasized with respect to the size of the field of view, and the thick lines indicate the grid lines with a spacing of 2w. Further, the view range 120 is represented by a triangle. In the process of determining the unit block, first, the intersections of the line segments surrounding the visual field range 120 and the grid lines in the X-axis direction at the interval 2w are calculated. And each line segment and X
All standard grid points within the visual field range 120 are selected by determining the standard grid points existing within the line segment in the X-axis direction surrounded by the intersections with the grid lines in the axial direction. Then, the unit block having the selected standard grid point as the representative point is determined as the drawing target. Further, among the selected standard grid points, with respect to the standard grid points corresponding to the ends on each grid line in the X-axis direction, four unit blocks adjacent to the standard grid points are also determined as the drawing targets.

However, according to the above method, the unit block including the point 122 in FIG. 7 is not selected. In order to prevent such a problem, the quotient obtained by dividing the coordinates (X _p , Z _p ) of each vertex forming the visual field 120 by 2w is calculated, and the unit block including each vertex is separately calculated.

The method of selecting the unit block relating to the field of view is not limited to the above method, and any method can be used as long as the unit block is selected so as to include all the lattice points existing in the field of view. It doesn't matter.

Polygon Generation Processing As described above, the processing for generating polygons is performed for each unit block. That is, when a unit block related to the view range is selected, the height value given to each grid point in the unit block is read from the terrain data, and the coordinates of the grid point in the world coordinate system and the read height value are read. 3D coordinates are generated based on and. Then, a polygon is generated by combining the generated three-dimensional coordinates according to a predetermined rule. Below, 3 in the unit block
An example of a rule for combining dimensional coordinates, that is, a combination pattern will be described.

In this embodiment, a pattern of a combination of three-dimensional coordinates is defined by a unit block model. Then, the three-dimensional coordinates generated during the execution of the game are substituted into the model based on the position in the unit block, thereby generating polygons according to the pattern. In the following, the unit block model is referred to as a unit block model.

FIG. 8A shows a unit block model 130.
It is a figure which shows an example. As shown in the figure, in the unit block model 130, a unique number P _MN (hereinafter referred to as a vertex number) is defined for each of the nine lattice points. Then, using this vertex number P _MN , a combination of vertices forming the surface S of each polygon is set. For example,
S = [P ₀ , P ₁ , P ₄ ].

FIG. 8B is a diagram showing the correspondence between the vertex number P _MN of the unit block model and the lattice point number p _n given to the lattice point of the unit block. Here, the grid point number p _n means the grid point number in the wide area data (see FIG. 4). According to FIG. 8B, at the vertex number P ₀ ,
By associating the representative points of the unit block,
It is possible to obtain the lattice point numbers p _n corresponding to all the vertex numbers P _MN in the unit block model. That is, when the polygon of one unit block is generated, it suffices to check the coordinates of the representative point (that is, the standard grid point). The correspondence relationship between P _MN and p _n shown in FIG. 8 (b), FIG. 4
The grid point number in the wide area block shown in (a) is applied.

The process of obtaining the coordinates of the representative point (standard grid point) of the unit block is performed as follows. First, in order to read out desired data from the terrain data, the grid coordinates (M _X , M _Z ) of the wide area block to which the representative point of each unit block belongs and the grid coordinate (m _LX of the representative point in the local coordinate system). , _{M LZ} ). Specifically, the grid coordinates (m _X , m _Z ) of the representative point in the world coordinate system are each divided by nw, and the quotient and the remainder are calculated. M _X = {m _X / nw} quotient; m _LX = {m _X / nw} remainder M _Z = {m _Z / nw} quotient; m _LZ = {m _Z / nw} remainder ... (1) Then, the wide area data corresponding to the obtained coordinates (M _X , M _Z ) of the wide area block is read out from the whole area data. Further, the grid point number _pn and the height corresponding to the calculated grid coordinates (m _LX , m _LZ ) of the representative point are read from the read wide area data.

However, the coordinates corresponding to the grid point number p _n stored in the wide area data are grid coordinates (m _LX , m _LZ ) in the local coordinate system. Therefore, it is necessary to convert to the coordinates (X, Z) in the world coordinate system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the process of generating the coordinate data of the vertices which form the polygon. (A)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a combination pattern of vertices.
Each vertex number P _{MN of the} combination pattern as shown in FIG.
Substituting the corresponding lattice point number p _n for (b).
Then, the coordinate data corresponding to the grid point number is read out from the wide area data, and the polygon data 140 on the local coordinates is read.
Is generated (c). Also, the generated polygon data 14
The x-coordinate value and the z-coordinate value of each vertex at 0 are respectively multiplied by w, and the coordinates (nw · M _X , nw) in the world coordinate system of the wide area block to which the corresponding unit block belongs
・ By adding M _Z ), polygon data 14
The value of each coordinate of 0 is converted into the value of the world coordinate system, and the polygon data 142 on the world coordinate system is generated (d).

In FIG. 9, for simplification of explanation, after the grid coordinates corresponding to the grid point number p _n are read from the wide area data to generate the polygon data 140 on the local coordinate table, the world coordinates are calculated for each coordinate. Although it has been described that the data is converted into the system value, the grid coordinates (m _LX , m _LZ ) corresponding to the grid point number p _n are read and the coordinate conversion is performed to generate the polygon data 142 on the world coordinate. Good.

Further, as a combination pattern of vertices (three-dimensional coordinates) forming a polygon, different patterns are set in the distant view range and the near view range. That is, after selecting the unit block related to the view range, it is determined whether each unit block belongs to the distant view range or the near view range, and the corresponding combination pattern is adopted based on the determination result. Hereinafter, the pattern when the unit block exists in the near view range is called a near view pattern, and the pattern when the unit block exists in the distant view is called a distant view pattern.

FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of a near view pattern. According to the figure, when the unit block belongs to the near view range, a polygon in which all the lattice points included in the unit block are connected is generated. 10B and 10C are diagrams showing distant view patterns, respectively. In the distant view pattern, intermediate grid points are thinned out to form polygons only with standard grid points. The polygon model 10 shown in FIG.
4 is generated by the pattern shown in FIG. On the other hand, the polygon model 10 shown in FIG.
6 is generated by alternately combining FIGS. 10B and 10C. In the distant view range, FIG.
Which pattern (b) or (c) is to be adopted may be stored in association with the coordinates of the representative point of the unit block, or may be stored while the polygon generation processing is being executed. it may be configured such determined according to the number p _n.

Further, whether the unit block belongs to the distant view or the near view is determined based on the distance D between the representative point of the unit block and the viewpoint. That is, the distance D between the representative point and the viewpoint is calculated and compared with the distance D _F which is the boundary between the distant view range and the near view range. At this time, if the representative point-viewpoint distance D is smaller than the boundary distance D _F (D <D _F ), it is determined to belong to the near view range, while if it is larger (D> D _F ). Is determined to belong to the distant view range.

Further, the mapping information of each polygon includes the grid point number p _n of each grid point and the texture coordinates (u, v).
And are associated with each other via the vertex number P _MN in the unit block model. That is, the texture coordinate T _MN is associated with each vertex number P _MN in the unit block model.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example in which the texture coordinates T _MN corresponding to the vertex number P _MN are set, and the correspondence relationship with the vertex number P _MN is shown by the transposition. The size of one side of the texture is 1, and the coordinates are represented by (0,0) to (1,1). That is, when a polygon is generated according to the pattern of the near view or the distant view, the texture number stored in the wide area data is read, and the number is added as an attribute to each vertex of the polygon, and the vertex number of the unit block model is added. The texture coordinate T _MN corresponding to P _MN is added. As described above, by associating the vertex number P _MN on the unit block model with the texture reading position, the amount of data to be stored in the terrain data can be significantly reduced.

In the above description, the topography of the entire virtual space is defined by arranging a plurality of individually generated wide area data in the virtual space. However, the grid lines shared by adjacent wide area blocks,
That is, it becomes a problem to determine which wide area block the wide area data assigned to the grid points on the wide area grid line drawn at intervals of nw should be adopted.

Therefore, for example, the grid point on the n-th grid line of the wide area block in the local coordinate system is set to be read out from the wide area data assigned to the adjacent wide area block in the world coordinate system. That is, in the wide area block 110 shown in FIG. 4A, when reading the height of the grid point where the grid coordinates are m _LX = n or m _LZ = n, the wide area data of the adjacent wide area block in the world coordinate system is read. We will refer to the defined height values. In addition, the lattice coordinates are (m _LX , m
For the grid point for which _LX ) = (n, n), the wide area data assigned to the wide area block having the grid point as the representative point in the world coordinate system is read, and the grid coordinate (0,
Set 0) to apply the given height.

Interpolation Processing As described above, when the field of view is simply divided into the distant view and the near view, and intermediate grid points in the unit block belonging to the distant view are thinned out to generate a polygon, the following inconvenience occurs. That is, on the joint surface between the near view and the distant view, the intermediate grid points that are invalid in the distant view range are valid in the near view range, so that the undulations of the polygon model occur in the front and back of the joint surface. FIG. 12 is a diagram in which the contradiction that may occur at the joint surface between the distant view range and the near view range is highlighted.
According to the figure, in the distant view range, the vertices 170 and 172 are thinned out to form polygons 150 and 152 in which the vertices at each standard grid point are connected by a straight line. On the other hand, in the near view range, since the polygons are generated using the vertices 170 and 172, the gaps 160 and 162 are generated on the joint surface. In this case, the vertices 170 in the near view range,
A method of eliminating the gaps 160 and 162 by thinning out 172 is also considered. However, if this measure is adopted, when the position of the viewpoint is changed rapidly, the terrain at a position separated from the viewpoint by a certain distance seems to change rapidly, and it is inevitable that the sense of discomfort is inevitable.

Therefore, an interpolation process is applied to the heights given to the intermediate grid points existing in the near view range in order to eliminate the contradiction between the distant view and the near view. That is, the height value of the intermediate grid point is brought close to the height value of the polygon constituted only by the standard grid points. Note that, within the near view range, the range in which this interpolation processing is performed is referred to as the interpolation range.

Specifically, first, the ratio of changing the height of the intermediate grid points in the interpolation range is determined. The rate of change is determined according to the distance between the intermediate grid point and the viewpoint. Figure 1
3 is a plan view (XZ plane) of the virtual space, and the viewpoint 1
It shows the relationship of the distance to 80. Therefore, the respective distances shown in the figure indicate the distances to the viewpoint when the virtual space is projected in parallel on the XZ plane.
The altitude of the viewpoint is not taken into consideration. In the present embodiment, as shown in the figure, the field of view is divided into a near view and a distant view according to the distance D _F from the viewpoint, and the range of the distance D _C (<D _F ) from the viewpoint 180 is set to obtain the distance. range enclosed by D _F and the distance D _C △ D = a D _F -D _C interpolation range. Further, the ratio η for changing the height of the intermediate grid point is
It is set such that the closer the distance D to the intermediate grid point is, the closer it is to the distance D _C, and the larger it is, the closer it is to the distance D _F. For example, η = (D−D _C ) / ΔD (2) is set.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a virtual space partitioned by the grid spacing w, showing an arbitrary intermediate grid point 190 belonging to the interpolation range and two standard grid points 192 and 194 adjacent to the intermediate grid point 190. It is shown. In the figure, first, the height data of the standard grid points 192 and 194 is read from the wide area data, and the line segment 196 is calculated. Next, the height h _F when the intermediate grid point 190 belongs to the distant view range is calculated by calculating the coordinates 198 of the midpoint of the line segment 196. Further, the height data h _C of the intermediate grid point 190 is read from the wide area data and is substituted into the following formula to determine the height h. h = (h _F −h _C ) × η + h _C (3) In this way, the height of the intermediate grid points belonging to the intermediate range is changed according to the distance from the viewpoint, so that the distant view gradually changes from the near view model. It becomes possible to change to the model of.

(4) Structure Next, a functional block structure capable of realizing the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks in the present embodiment. In the figure, the functional blocks mainly include an operation unit 10, a processing unit 20, a display unit 30, and an information storage medium 40.

The operation unit 10 is used by the player to operate the player's character in the game, give instructions to start / stop the game, input selection items on the selection screen, and the like. Keyboard, mouse, game controller, etc. Can be realized by

The processing section 20 performs various processes such as control of the entire system, instruction of commands to each block in the system, game processing, image processing, sound processing, and the like, and the function thereof is various processors (CPU). , DSP, etc.) or A
It can be realized by hardware such as SIC (gate array etc.) or a given program. Further, the processing unit 20 includes
The game calculation unit 22 and the image generation unit 24 are mainly included.

The game calculation section 22 is a game progressing process,
Various game processes such as a selection screen setting process, a process of determining the position and orientation of each object or character in the virtual space, a process of obtaining the position of the viewpoint, the line-of-sight direction, the field of view, etc. are input from the operation unit 10. Operation signal and information storage medium 4
It is executed based on the game calculation program 420 or the like in the game program 42 read from 0. The game calculation section 22 also includes a polygon generation section 220 and an interpolation processing section 222 for executing the processing according to the present invention.

The polygon generator 220 is connected to the game calculator 2
When the position of the viewpoint in the world coordinate system and the field of view are input from 2, the processing for determining the unit block existing in the field of view is performed. Further, by calculating the distance between the representative point of each unit block and the viewpoint and comparing it with the distance D _F of the boundary line between the near view and the distant view, it is possible to determine whether the unit block belongs to the distant view / near view range. judge. Further, for the unit block determined to exist in the near view range, the unit block is further compared with the distance D _C to determine whether the unit block exists in the interpolation range. When it is determined that the intermediate block exists in the interpolation range, the distance D between each intermediate grid point in the unit block and the viewpoint is calculated,
It is output to the interpolation processing unit 222.

Further, the polygon generator 220 executes a process for generating a polygon for each unit block based on the distant view / near view determination result. That is, for the unit block determined to be the close view, a polygon is generated using the close view pattern. On the other hand, for the unit block determined to be the distant view, a polygon is generated using the distant view pattern.
Then, the generated polygon is output to the image generation unit 24. The polygons within the unit block that are determined to belong to the interpolation range are output to the image generation unit 24 after the interpolation processing by the interpolation processing unit 222 is awaited.

When the polygon generator 220 generates each polygon, it corresponds to the coordinates of each vertex, the texture number read from the wide area data, the color information, and the vertex number P _MN in the unit block model. The coordinate T _{MN of} the texture to be added is added as an attribute.

The interpolation processing section 222 includes a polygon generation section 22.
Based on the distance D of each intermediate grid point input from 0, the process of changing the height value of the intermediate grid point is executed. That is, by substituting the distance D into the equation (2), the ratio θ for changing the predefined height value h _C is determined. Further, the height h _F when the unit block to which the intermediate grid point belongs is located in the distant view range is calculated. Then, the height h _C given in advance to the intermediate grid point and the calculated height h _F
And the changing ratio θ are substituted into the equation (3) to determine the height h of the intermediate grid point. Then, the calculated height h of the interpolated intermediate grid point is substituted for the corresponding vertex of the polygon generated by the polygon generation unit 220.

The image generating section 24 executes processing for generating a game image based on the instruction signal and various coordinate data input from the game calculating section 22, and includes CPU, D
It is configured by hardware such as SP, IC for image generation, and memory. Specifically, the image generation unit 24 executes a process of executing forward and backward clipping to determine a view volume, a geometric process such as coordinate conversion for each polygon and a brightness calculation process based on a viewpoint and a light source, and a color interpolation process. A game image is generated by executing rendering processing such as hidden surface removal processing. Then, the generated game image is output as image data to the display unit 30 to be displayed. The display unit 30 displays the image data input from the image generation unit 24 on the display screen.

Further, the image generator 24 adds the attributes (texture number, coordinates T _MN , color information) added to the coordinates of each vertex of the polygon input from the polygon generator 220.
Based on, the texture is mapped and the process of giving the specified color is executed.

The information storage medium 40 is for storing a program for driving the game device and a program and data for executing the game, and is a CD-ROM, a game cassette, an IC card, an MO, an FD, a DVD. , Memory, hard disk, and other hardware. The information storage medium 40 mainly stores a game program 42 for executing a given game, a terrain expression program 44, and terrain data 46. The game program 42 includes a program for the game calculation unit 22 to execute a game according to a given game scenario,
It includes information necessary for the image generation unit 24 to execute geometry processing and rendering processing.

The terrain expression program 44 is a program for executing terrain expression processing based on a flowchart described later. The terrain data includes the whole area data 460 shown in FIG. 5 and the wide area data shown in FIG. And 462 are included. Further, the information storage medium stores a texture to be mapped for each unit block (not shown).

Next, the terrain expression processing executed by the polygon generator 220 and the interpolation processor 222 will be described with reference to FIG.
It will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In addition,
This process is executed for each frame.

In the figure, the polygon generator 220
A unit block corresponding to the visual field is determined (step S
1). Then, one unprocessed unit block is selected from the unit blocks determined to exist in the field of view (step S2), and the distance D of the representative point of the unit block to the viewpoint is calculated (step S3). . Further, the position determination unit 220 compares the calculated representative point distance D with the distance _{DF at} the boundary position between the near view and the distant view, and determines whether the unit block belongs to the distant view range (step S).
4).

When it is determined in step S4 that the unit block belongs to the distant view range, the polygon generator 220 generates a polygon for each lattice point in the unit block according to the distant view pattern (step S4).
5) and shifts to step S9. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S4 that the unit block belongs to the near view range, a polygon is generated for each lattice point in the unit block according to the near view pattern (step S6). If it is determined that the unit block belongs to the near view range, it is determined whether the unit block belongs to the interpolation range (step S7). If it does not belong to the interpolation range, the process proceeds to step S9.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step S7 that the pixel belongs to the interpolation range, the polygon generator 220
Calculates the distance D between each intermediate grid point in the virtual space and the viewpoint, and outputs the obtained result to the interpolation processing unit 222.
The interpolation processing unit 222 changes the height value given in advance to the intermediate grid point based on the distance D of the intermediate grid point input from the polygon generation unit 220 (step S8), and the polygon generation unit 220 generates the value. Substitute in the corresponding coordinates of the created polygon.

Then, the polygon generator 220 outputs the polygons generated in the steps S2 to S8 to the image generator 24 (step S9). Further, it is determined whether or not the processing is completed for all the unit blocks related to the field of view (step S10), and if there is an unprocessed unit block, the process returns to step S2 to execute the processing for generating polygons. . On the other hand, when the processing is completed for all the unit blocks related to the field of view, this processing is ended.

(5) Hardware Configuration Next, an example of the hardware configuration capable of realizing the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the apparatus shown in the figure, a CPU 1000, a ROM 1002, a RAM 10
04, information storage medium 1006, sound generation IC 1008, image generation IC 1010, I / O ports 1012, 1014
Are mutually connected by a system bus 1016 so that data can be input / output. The display device 1018 is connected to the image generation IC 1010, and the sound generation IC 1008 is connected.
A speaker 1020 is connected to the I / O port 10
A control device 1022 is connected to 12 and I /
A communication device 1024 is connected to the O port 1014.

The information storage medium 1006 corresponds to the information storage medium 40 shown in FIG. 15, and mainly stores programs, image data for expressing display objects, sound data, play data, and the like. is there. For example, in a home-use game machine, a CD-ROM, a game cassette, a DVD, or the like is used as an information storage medium for storing a game program or the like, and a memory card or the like is used as an information storage medium for storing play data. Further, in the arcade game machine, a memory such as a ROM or a hard disk is used, and in this case, the information storage medium 1006 is the ROM 1
It becomes 002.

The control device 1022 corresponds to the game controllers 1202 and 1204 shown in FIG. 1, and is a device for inputting the result of the judgment made by the player in accordance with the progress of the game, into the main body of the device.

A program stored in the information storage medium 1006, a system program stored in the ROM 1002 (initialization information of the apparatus main body, etc.), the control device 102.
CPU 1000 in accordance with signals input by
Performs overall control of the device and various data processing. RAM1
A storage unit 004 is used as a work area or the like of the CPU 1000, and includes an information storage medium 1006 and a ROM.
The given content of 1002 or the calculation result of the CPU 1000 is stored.

Furthermore, this type of device includes a sound generation IC 10
08 and an image generation IC 1010 are provided so that the game sound and the game image can be appropriately output. The sound generation IC 1008 is used for the information storage medium 1006 and R
It is an integrated circuit that generates game sounds such as sound effects and background music based on the information stored in the OM 1002, and the generated game sounds are output by the speaker 1020. Further, the image generation IC 1010 is the RAM 1
This is an integrated circuit that generates pixel information to be output to the display device 1018 based on image information output from the 004, the ROM 1002, the information storage medium 1006, and the like. The display device 1018 is realized by a CRT, LCD, TV, plasma display, projector or the like.

The communication device 1024 is for exchanging various information used inside the game device with the outside, and is connected to another game device to send and receive given information according to the game program. , Is used for sending and receiving information such as game programs via a communication line. That is, the program for executing the process according to the present invention may be acquired from an external device via a communication line and stored in the information storage medium 1006.

Further, the various processes described above are performed by referring to FIG.
An information storage medium 10 storing a program including a program for performing the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.
06, and a CPU 100 that operates according to the program
0, an image generation IC 1010, a sound generation IC 1008, and the like. The processing performed by the image generation IC 1010, the sound generation IC 1008, and the like may be performed by software by the CPU 1000, a general-purpose DSP, or the like.

In the above description, the present invention is applied to the home-use game device shown in FIG. 1, but as shown in FIG. 18, the host device 1300, the host device 1300, and the communication line 1302 are used. The present invention may be applied to a game device including terminals 1304-1 to 1304-n connected via the.

In this case, the information storage medium 40 shown in FIG.
The game program 42, the terrain expression program 44, the terrain data 46, etc. stored in the
The control unit 300 is stored in an information storage medium 1306 such as a controllable magnetic disk device, magnetic tape device, or memory. In addition, the terminals 1304-1 to 1304-n
U, an image generation IC, and a sound generation IC, and in the case where a game image and a game sound can be generated standalone, a game program for generating a game image and a game sound from the host device 1300. Etc. is the terminal 130
4-1 to 1304-n. On the other hand, when it cannot be generated standalone, the host device 1300 generates a game image and a game sound, and the terminal 1304-
1 to 1304-n and output at the terminal.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example in which the present embodiment is applied to an arcade game machine 500. This arcade game device 500 is a device for operating a character displayed on the display 502 to enjoy a given game by operating the operation button 504 while the player listens to the sound output from the speaker 506. is there.
System board 50 built into the arcade game device 500
8 includes a CPU, an image generation IC, a sound generation IC, and the like. Then, the information stored in the information storage medium 40 shown in FIG. 15 is stored in the memory 510 which is an information storage medium on the system board 508.

The present invention is not limited to that described in the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the present embodiment, the unit block has been described as a square block composed of nine grid points having four corners as standard grid points. However, as shown in FIG. 20A, the four corners are standard grid points. It may be a block composed of 16 grid points, or may be a rectangular block containing 12 grid points as shown in (b).

Further, in the present embodiment, the description has been made on the assumption that the lattice spacing in the local coordinate system is constant for all wide area data, but it may be set differently. For example, wide area data having different intervals such as grid intervals of w, 2w, 3w, ... Is set, and as shown in FIG. 21, the grid interval is stored in association with the wide area data number in the whole area data. Further, when executing the process of selecting a unit block during the game execution, first, a wide-area block related to the view range is determined, and then the corresponding wide-area data and grid interval are read to determine the unit block. To execute. In this way, by setting wide area data with different grid intervals, it is possible to express gentle terrain and steep terrain with different grid intervals in the same game stage, and execute more rational processing. It becomes possible.

The boundary distance D _F between the distant view and the near view and the interpolation range ΔD = D _F −D _C have been described as fixed values.
The configuration may be changeable according to the altitude and speed of the fighter to be operated by the player. For example, when the viewpoint is at a high position to some extent, or when the flight speed is high,
The range of the near view may be set narrow according to the altitude and speed. On the contrary, when the flight speed is slow, the near view range and the interpolation range may be set wide so that the terrain can be more smoothly simplified.

[0101]

According to the present invention, it is possible to generate a polygon model in a necessary range during the execution of a game by simply storing the height information of the two-dimensional grid. Also,
The range of the field of view is divided into a distant view range and a near view range, and a polygon is generated by thinning out predetermined grid points in the distant view range. Therefore, for terrain in the distant view that does not need to be drawn in detail, it is possible to reduce the number of vertices and simplify the image. Further, regarding the grid points existing in the near view range, the value of the height given to a predetermined grid point is changed so that no gap is created in the polygon model of the distant view and the near view. Therefore, it is possible to simplify the terrain in the distant view without giving a sense of discomfort.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example in which the present invention is applied to a home-use game machine.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of topographical data. (B)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a polygon model.

3A and 3B are diagrams showing an example of a polygon model when they belong to a distant view range.

FIG. 4A is a diagram showing an example of a wide area block. (B) is a figure showing an example of wide area data.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an example in which a virtual space is divided into nw lattices. (B) is a figure which shows an example of whole area data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a view range.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a process of determining a unit block.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a unit block model.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a concept of processing for generating polygon coordinate data.

FIG. 10A is a diagram showing an example of a foreground pattern. (B), (c) is a figure which shows a distant view pattern, respectively.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between a unit block model and a texture.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a contradiction that may occur on a boundary surface between a distant view and a near view.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining a distant view range, a near view range, and an interpolation range.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining an interpolation process.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining a block configuration capable of executing the present embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for explaining a terrain expression process.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration capable of realizing the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a case where the present embodiment is applied to a game terminal connected to a host device via a communication line.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example in which the present invention is applied to an arcade game machine.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a modified example of a unit block.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a modified example of whole area data.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Operation part 20 Processing Department 22 Game calculator 220 polygon generator 222 Interpolation processing unit 24 Image generator 30 Display 40 Information storage medium 42 game programs 44 Terrain expression program 46 Topographic data 460 whole area data 462 Wide area data

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Claims (17)

(57) [Claims] 1. A computer- readable storage medium for causing a computer to generate an image of a virtual space viewed from a given viewpoint and execute a given game .
A program allocation unit, wherein the two-dimensional grid, each grid point of the two-dimensional grid, the vertical direction with respect to the two-dimensional grating assigning a given two-dimensional grid in a given two-dimensional plane of the virtual space 3 of each grid point of the two-dimensional plane assigned to the virtual space based on the position information.
Grid point coordinate determining means for determining a dimension coordinates, based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the grid points determined by the grid point coordinate determining means, primitive surface forming means for forming a primitive surface, the grid points of the two-dimensional grid, identifying means for identifying to the standard grid point and the intermediate grid point, the setting means of each intermediate grid points, enabled or disabled, changing means for changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid points
Causes the computer to function as the primitive surface forming means, among the lattice points, and the standard grid point, based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the effective intermediate lattice points set by the setting unit, a primitive surface The computer is caused to function so that the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point is registered by the changing means.
The vertical position information of standard grid points around the intermediate grid point
Functioning the computer to make changes based on
Program for . 2. A computer- readable storage medium for causing a computer to generate an image of a virtual space viewed from a given viewpoint and execute a given game .
A program allocation unit, wherein the two-dimensional grid, each grid point of the two-dimensional grid, the vertical direction with respect to the two-dimensional grating assigning a given two-dimensional grid in a given two-dimensional plane of the virtual space 3 of each grid point of the two-dimensional plane assigned to the virtual space based on the position information.
Grid point coordinate determining means for determining a dimension coordinates, based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the grid points determined by the grid point coordinate determining means, primitive surface forming means for forming a primitive surface, the grid points of the two-dimensional grid, identifying means for identifying to the standard grid point and the intermediate grid point, the setting means of each intermediate grid points, enabled or disabled, changing means for changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid points
Causes the computer to function as the primitive surface forming means, among the lattice points, and the standard grid point, based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the effective intermediate lattice points set by the setting unit, a primitive surface Causing the computer to function so that the changing means changes the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point.
The rate at which the information is changed is set to the intermediate grid point and the given viewpoint.
The computer to determine according to the distance between
A program to make it work. 3. A medium according to claim 2 changes, the changing means, the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point, based on the vertical position information of the standard grid points surrounding the intermediate grid point Functioning the computer to
Program for. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein
A program, said setting means, among said intermediate grid points, the distance from the given viewpoint is invalidated intermediate grid points above a given distance, an intermediate grid points in said given distance A program for operating the computer to set it as enabled.
Mu. 5. The flop according to any one of claims 1 4
A program, the identification means, by deploying a given identification pattern in the two-dimensional grating causes the computer to function so to identify the standard grid point and the intermediate grid points, the primitive surface forming means but the competent to form said expanded identification pattern for each primitive surface
A program for operating the computer. 6. The program according to claim 5, wherein mapping is performed for a given texture for each identification pattern on the primitive surface for each identification pattern formed by the primitive surface forming means. A program for causing the computer to further function as means. 7. The program according to any one of claims 1 to 6, a plurality of types of vertical position information patterns for a lattice point of a given number, by applying the two-dimensional grating , means for setting the vertical position information of each lattice point, as
With further the computer to function, the grid point coordinate determining means, wherein the 2-dimensional grid, on the basis set the in the vertical position information of the grid points to determine the three-dimensional coordinates of each grid point , As said con
A program for operating a computer . 8. The flop according to any one of claims 1 7
A program, program characterized by primitive surface formed by the primitive surface forming means is a primitive surfaces constituting the terrain. 9. The flop according to any one of claims 1 to 8
A computer-readable information storage medium that stores a program . 10. An image based on a given viewpoint in a virtual space is generated.
A given game by displaying the generated image
A game device to execute, A given 2D grid to a given 2D plane of the virtual space
Allocation means to allocate, The two-dimensional lattice and the lattice points of the two-dimensional lattice,
Based on the vertical position information for the two-dimensional grid,
3 of each grid point of the two-dimensional plane assigned to the virtual space
Grid point coordinate determining means for determining dimensional coordinates, Third order of the grid points determined by the grid point coordinate determining means
A primitive that forms a primitive surface based on the original coordinates.
Live surface forming meansWhen, The grid points of the two-dimensional grid are a standard grid point and an intermediate grid point.
Identifying means for identifying Setting procedure to enable or disable each of the intermediate grid points
Dan, Changing means for changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point
When, Along with The primitive surface forming means is a standard among the grid points.
Lattice points and valid intermediate case set by the setting means
Form a primitive surface based on 3D coordinates with child points
ThenThe changing means applies the vertical position information of the intermediate grid points to
The vertical position information of standard grid points around the intermediate grid point
A game device characterized by being changed based on the above. 11. An image based on a given viewpoint in a virtual space is generated.
A given game by displaying the generated image
A game device to be executed , wherein a given two-dimensional lattice is applied to a given two-dimensional plane of the virtual space.
The assigning means, the two-dimensional lattice, and the lattice points of the two-dimensional lattice,
Based on the vertical position information for the two-dimensional grid,
3 of each grid point of the two-dimensional plane assigned to the virtual space
A grid point coordinate determining means for determining a dimension coordinates, cubic lattice points determined by the grid point coordinate determining means
A primitive that forms a primitive surface based on the original coordinates.
Surface forming means and the grid points of the two-dimensional grid as standard grid points and intermediate grid points.
And the setting means for setting each intermediate grid point to be valid or invalid.
And a changing means for changing the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point
When provided with a, the primitive surface forming means, among the lattice points, standard
Lattice points and valid intermediate case set by the setting means
Form a primitive surface based on 3D coordinates with child points
Then, the changing means changes the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point.
The rate at which the information is changed is set to the intermediate grid point and the given viewpoint.
Gate beam instrumentation, characterized by determining in accordance with the distance between the
Place 12. The game device according to claim 11,
Then, the changing means applies the vertical position information of the intermediate grid point to
The vertical position information of standard grid points around the intermediate grid point
A game device characterized by being changed based on the above. 13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12.
In the above game device, the setting means invalidates an intermediate grid point whose distance from the given viewpoint exceeds a given distance among the intermediate grid points , and sets the intermediate point within the given distance. A game device characterized by setting grid points as valid . 14. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 13.
In the above-mentioned game device, the identification means applies a given identification pattern to the two-dimensional lattice.
To a standard grid point and an intermediate grid point by expanding
And the primitive surface forming means identifies the expanded identification pattern.
Characterized by forming a primitive surface for each turn
Game device. 15. The game device according to claim 14,
And the identification formed by the primitive surface forming means.
For the primitive surface of each different pattern, the identification pattern
Mapping that maps a given texture to each
A game device further comprising a playing means. 16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15.
The above-mentioned game device, and a plurality of types of vertical position information for a given number of grid points
By applying a pattern to the two-dimensional grid,
Note: A means for setting the vertical position information of each grid point is further provided.
In addition, the grid point coordinate determining means is arranged to
Based on the vertical position information of each of the defined grid points
Te, and determines the three-dimensional coordinates of each grid point
Game device. 17. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 16.
A game device mounted on a computer, the primitive device formed by the primitive surface forming means.
The feature surface is a primitive surface that makes up the terrain.
Game device to collect.