Patent 7239314 was granted and assigned to Warner Bros. Animation on July, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method for approximating the lighting of a 2-dimensional image that is to be incorporated into a live-action scene using an image processing tool. The 2-dimensional image has an interior defined by an edge. The method includes: approximating a plurality of edge normal vectors along the edge of the image, approximating a plurality of interior normal vectors across the interior of the image, and rendering the image based on the plurality of edge normal vectors and the plurality of interior normal vectors.