METHOD FOR MAPPING AN OBJECT FROM A TWO-DIMENSIONAL CAMERA IMAGE TO A THREE-DIMENSIONAL SPACE FOR CONTROLLING ACTION IN A GAME PROGRAM

A hand-manipulated prop is picked-up via a single video camera, and the camera image is analyzed to isolate the part of the image pertaining to the object for mapping the position and orientation of the object into a three-dimensional space, wherein the three-dimensional description of the object is stored in memory and used for controlling action in a game program, such as rendering of a corresponding virtual object in a scene of a video display. Algorithms for deriving the three-dimensional descriptions for various props employ geometry processing, including area statistics, edge detection and/or color transition localization, to find the position and orientation of the prop from two-dimensional pixel data.