Our society is increasingly relying on symbolic and imaginal communication to augment written and spoken language (advertising graphics, logos and corporate I.D.s, satellite weather maps, international traffic, dashboard symbols, etc.). Nowhere are graphics and sophisticated imagery being more widely and innovatively used than in television production. Greater availability of computer graphics and a strong trend in television technology towards digital electronics makes this an application of high synergy and potential.

Even a small amount of animation can greatly enhance graphic communication—particularly when it is desired to show change, movement, or a complex idea or relationship. In raster scan display systems, however, the cost of providing animation has usually been prohibitively high due to the large bandwidths involved in changing a picture rapidly. This paper describes a simple method for providing a limited but very useful real-time interactive animation capability on many existing frame buffer systems. Color table animation relies on changing only the colors of objects and areas present within a single, static picture via the frame buffer's color table RAM. Several variations of this technique are discussed and examples are given of such a capability in use for illustration, educational animation, and television graphics.

No abstract available.