Virtual chroma keying in real time

摘要

This invention discloses a real time chroma keying method of eliminating the need for a large and bulky monochromatic screen background in a live non-studio outdoor or indoor setting by creating computer-generated virtual or soft chroma keying layers. More particularly the invention relates to a live portable hybrid chroma keying technique that programmatically generates a contiguous chroma for keying in multiple layers of computer-generated graphics as background and foreground of a scene in real time. The invention is particularly useful in creating HD quality special effects video footage of consumers on-the-fly for use in entertainment, advertainment, advertising campaigns, immersive gaming and related industries; and can be implemented in almost any location whether it is high-footfall public place, such as mall, airport, bus or train transit station, conference, trade show, library, museum, amusement park or some such social venue, or even in living room or home theatre of a private home.

主权项

1. A computer-enabled method of real time portable chroma keying in a live non-studio outdoor or indoor setting, wherein the method steps comprise of:
a) dividing backdrop of a camera scene into:
i. On-Camera Activity (OCA) area, which is an area within which activities of one or more users, subjects, actors or protagonists of a scene are restricted,ii. Virtual Activity Supporting (VAS) area, which is the area where no on-camera activity takes place; b) using either a portable monochromatic chroma screen (PCS) or plain monochromatic wall to fill the OCA area of the backdrop behind the subject of the scene; c) programmatically generating a matching monochromatic chroma mask (MCM) for rest of the VAS background area that is identical to the PCS color; d) generating a homogenously colored contiguous chroma backdrop by matching chrominance and luminance of pixels from MCM with the OCA backdrop color; e) retrieving from a first storage multiple layers of computer-generated graphics content and replacing the contiguous chroma-keyed backdrop with the layers of the retrieved computer-generated content to produce an integrated composite scene; f) displaying in real time the composite scene on a display panel; and, g) saving the composite scene, as a computer-readable media file in a second storage medium.