Color cycling, also known as palette shifting, is a technique used in

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great deal ...

in which colors are changed in order to give the impression of animation. This technique was mainly used in early

computer games A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-d ...

, as storing one image and changing its palette required less memory and processor power than storing the animation as several

frames A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (co ...

Examples of use

* The

Windows 9x Windows 9x is a generic term referring to a series of Microsoft Windows computer operating systems produced from 1995 to 2000, which were based on the Windows 95 kernel and its underlying foundation of MS-DOS, both of which were updated in sub ...

boot screen used color cycling to provide animation. * The 3D maze screensaver included with earlier versions of Windows used color cycling to animate the four fractal textures available. * The

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

Boing Ball cycled the ball's checkerboard pattern between red and white to create the illusion of the ball rotating. The same technique was used by

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 1994 platform game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis, Genesis. Like previous ''Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic'' games, players traverse side-scrolling levels while collecting Rings (Sonic the Hedgehog), rings and defeating en ...

on the Sega Genesis in its bonus stages featuring a rolling checkerboard sphere. * ''

SimCity 2000 ''SimCity 2000'' is a city-building simulation video game jointly developed by Will Wright and Fred Haslam of Maxis. It is the successor to '' SimCity Classic'' and was released for Apple Macintosh personal computers in 1993, after which it wa ...

'' made extensive use of this technique: every building with animation had its animation provided by color cycling. This was used to provide effects such as blinking lights, cars moving on roads, and even four frames of animation displaying on a tiny movie screen in a drive-in theater. *Many adventure games used color cycling to simulate moving water, lava and similar effects. *'' Mickey Mania'', on the Sega Genesis, used color cycling to simulate ground movement in a pseudo-3D section.

Approach

Color cycling is powered by changing specific colors in a color pallet that gives the illusion of animation. To quote Mark Ferrarri:

References

External links

Gallery featuring the color cycling effect through HTML 5Gallery featuring the color cycling effect through HTML5 with extra features
Computer animation Demo effects Amiga {{compu-graphics-stub