In a character display device for displaying characters on a display screen of a display unit (6): a refresh memory (2) stores character codes for respective display positions on the display screen; the refresh memory is supplied with addresses and thereby to sequentially produces character codes; a character generator (4) receives the character codes from the refresh memory and produces pixel signals representing character patterns of the character codes; a frame memory (8) receives and stores the pixel signals for display positions of the respective pixels; the frame memory is supplied with addresses and thereby sequentially produces pixel signals; and the display unit displays the pixel signals from the frame memory on the display screen.

A video image creation system provides intensity or color data from one or more stores. The image is created under manual control which effectively defines the coordinates of the artists implement at any given time. A processor receives the incoming image data and previously derived data from a frame store and modifies this data in dependence on a parameter available from another store. The created image can be viewed on a monitor. The parameter controls the contribution made from any adjacent, previously created, parts of the image and can be such as to simulate different pencil or brush shapes or types of paint for example. Additional facilities such as pressure sensitivity and blurring can be provided.

Image display equipment has a memory element for storing a selected combinatorial function of a cursor pattern and image field existing at an addressed cursor position, and has a controllable selector for displaying, at the cursor field, either the image field or the combined cursor field and image pattern. A single display memory can store the image field, the cursor pattern, and the selected combination of cursor pattern and image field. Selection logic addresses the stored combination pattern in lieu of the image field to provide the desired cursor display at the addressed cursor position.

A video image composition system and method in which the artist can move an insert cut out of a foreground image relative to a background image while continuously observing on the monitor the instantaneous artistic effects of the varying composition, without any need to make an initial decision on exactly where to pin the insert. A soft-edged control image operates on the foreground image to cut the insert. By using a pen and a tablet, the artist moves the control and foreground images as a unit relative to the background image while being able at all times to view the monitor display of the dynamically changing, full composited image. The artist can thus rapidly assess a great number of different composited images before deciding where and how to pin the insert for the final composited image. An additional control image allows the artist to select from the background image a foreground object which always will be in front of the insert from the foreground image. The insert moving around the background image will then appear to pass behind this foreground object. The foreground and/or background images can be displayed as transparent images to give more artistic freedom in the selection on where and how to pin an insert by making it possible to observe not only what is around the insert but also what is behind or in front of an image portion.

Video image creation in which a raster-scan monitor displays an image comprising realistic, inherently non-aliased strokes created by combining proportions of the values of: (i) pixels defining a simulated brush moving along the image as an artist moves a pen on a tablet in continuous strokes; and (ii) the values of the pixels in the image that are under the brush at the time. The pixel values resulting from such combining replace the corresponding pixel values in the image so that, after an initial portion of a stroke, the pixel values in the image which are under the brush and therefore will be combined with the brush values comprise pixel values which are the cumulative result of a number of previous such combining operations. Manual pressure on the pen controls the proportions used in such combining operations. As the artist presses harder on the pen, the effect seen on the monitor is that more "paint" is applied. Image creation takes place substantially in real time, to retain the feel of conventional drawing or painting while providing the benefits of the electronic medium. The brush position on the image can be defined to sub-pixel resolution to improve the process. In an air brush mode, dwell time rather than movement of the pen initiates new pixel value combining operations.