There is described herein systems and methods for camera colliders and shot composition preservation within a 3D virtual environment that prevent a virtual procedural camera from getting stuck behind an object, or penetrating into an object, when filming a subject, while at the same time also maintaining the screen composition of the subject in the camera shot.

Handheld location based games are provided in which a user's physical location correlates to the virtual location of a virtual character on a virtual playfield. Augmented Reality (AR) systems are provided in which video game indicia are overlaid onto a user's physical environment. A landscape detector is provided that may obtain information about the user's landscape, in addition to the user's location, in order to provide overlaying information to an AR head-mounted display and control information to non-user controlled video game characters.

A system configured to be coupled with a participant of an activity. The system comprises: a participant activity monitoring unit configured for monitoring a performance of the activity by the participant; an activity information module configured for storing performance information corresponding to the activity; and a participant performance correlator configured for delivering comparative performance data based on the monitored performance of the activity by the participant and the stored performance information.

The present invention relates to a system and a method of providing information through a virtual three dimensional (3D) simulation, that performs the steps of: receiving a user input from a user device, creating and rendering a virtual 3D environment based on the user input and configured logic transmitting the rendered 3D environment to the user device, displaying the rendered 3D environment to the user device and wherein the rendered 3D environment serves as a direct user interface thereby allowing the user to visually navigate the rendered 3D environment.

A method and system of generating an image of a subject from the viewpoint of a virtual camera includes obtaining a plurality of source images of a subject and pose data for each source camera or cameras that captured the source images. Virtual camera pose data is also obtained indicating a pose of a virtual camera relative to the subject. Each source image is distorted based on a difference in pose of the corresponding source camera and the pose of the virtual camera. A weighting is determined for each distorted image based on a similarity between the pose of the corresponding source camera and the pose of the virtual camera. The distorted images are then blended together in accordance with the weightings to form an image of the subject from the viewpoint of the virtual camera.

A plurality of objects are placed at respective positions in a three-dimensional virtual space, and for each of the plurality of objects, a movable surface including at least a first surface and a second surface at a predetermined angle to the first surface in a portion where the second surface intersects the first surface is defined. Then, based on a user input, the object is moved along the movable surface defined for the object.

Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for rendering images on a head mounted display (HMD). One method includes operations for tracking, with one or more first cameras inside the HMD, the gaze of a user and for tracking motion of the HMD. The motion of the HMD is tracked by analyzing images of the HMD taken with a second camera that is not in the HMD. Further, the method includes an operation for predicting the motion of the gaze of the user based on the gaze and the motion of the HMD. Rendering policies for a plurality of regions, defined on a view rendered by the HMD, are determined based on the predicted motion of the gaze. The images are rendered on the view based on the rendering policies.

A video game device calculates a difference vector extending from a predetermined reference position on the screen to an input position. Moreover, the video game device calculates movement parameter data used for moving, with respect to a fixed point in the virtual space uniquely determined based on a position of the controlled object, the point of sight to a position that is determined by a direction in the virtual space based on a direction of the difference vector and a distance in the virtual space based on a magnitude of the difference vector. The point of sight is moved based on the movement parameter data. The video game device produces an image based on a virtual camera, which has been moved according to the movement of the point of sight, and displays the image on the screen of a display device.

A system configured to be coupled with a participant of an activity. The system comprises: a participant activity monitoring unit configured for monitoring a performance of the activity by the participant; an activity information module configured for storing performance information corresponding to the activity; and a participant performance correlator configured for delivering comparative performance data based on the monitored performance of the activity by the participant and the stored performance information.

A system configured to be coupled with a participant of an activity. The system comprises: a participant activity monitoring unit configured for monitoring a performance of the activity by the participant; an activity information module configured for storing performance information corresponding to the activity; and a participant performance correlator configured for delivering comparative performance data based on the monitored performance of the activity by the participant and the stored performance information.