Nintendo Patents Watch

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Knowledge-based discourse

Rendering Kirby’s Arm

In honor of the Air Riders Direct, I’m sharing this Nintendo + HAL patent (filed in 2022, published in 2024):

A 3D rendering technique using line & color info in G buffer, and depth info in depth buffer (images 1-2) to generate a more natural looking Kirby arm, instead of an eldritch tentacle (img 3).

Drawing from patent JP420627595: FIG. 3 is an example non-limiting diagram showing a three-dimensional model representing a virtual object 100 arranged in a virtual space.
Drawing from patent JP420627595: FIG. 4 is an example non-limiting diagram showing an overview of image generation processing of this exemplary embodiment.
Drawing from patent JP420627595: FIG. 6 is an example non-limiting diagram providing a conceptual representation of an image of the virtual object 100 in a case where the blend processing is not performed and an image of the virtual object 100 in a case where the blend processing is performed.

[Originally posted on 2025-08-18 Pacific Time]