180:) these white letters over live video became available, involving electronically "cutting a hole" (analogous to cutting a keyhole) in the shape of the letters from the title camera and then electronically adding the letters to the holes cut into the live action camera image. Again, some directors still call this "keying the graphic". Finally, the modern CG allowed not only more precise and realistic "keying", but also the addition of multiple picture elements from the CG to further the illusion of a three-dimensional graphic physically overlying a video image. The addition of full-
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Before character generators were available, the primary method of adding titles to video images was to dedicate one camera to shooting white letters on a black background, which then was combined with the video from a live-action camera to form what appeared to be a single image with white letters
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dictate the direction of the coverage. As character generator development has progressed, the distinction between hardware and software generators has become less distinct as new platforms and operating systems evolve to meet the live television consumer's expectations.
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Although the distinction between hardware and software CGs is becoming less evident as technology advances, and as consumer-grade computing equipment becomes more graphically sophisticated, it remains easiest to view CGs as either hardware- or software-dependent.
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software often does, or whose internal CG effects are not flexible and powerful enough. Some software CGs can be used in live production with special software and computer video interface cards. In that case, they are equivalent to hardware generators.
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can rapidly build a new graphic using the template "shell" of a similarly designed graphic. The character generator is one of many technologies used to meet the demands of live television, where events on the field or in the
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presentations, given that the modern character generator can rapidly (i.e., "on the fly") generate high-resolution, animated graphics for use when an unforeseen situation in a broadcast dictates an opportunity for
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are present. They contain CG data from that game, CG data from other games in progress, other games already completed, and games yet to come, all in an effort to keep the viewer from having to "
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seemingly superimposed over it. In fact, to this day (and despite the fact that this technology is long-since antiquated by the modern CG) some directors of live TV continue to order the
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990 System, were among the earliest character generators for broadcast television. CBS Laboratories later developed the more advanced
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305:(NLE). Some stand-alone character generator products are available, however, for applications that do not even attempt to offer text generation on their own, as high-end
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Creation of a title with the above shown hardware character generator (1994; the menu displayed on the TV screen is controlled by the pen movement on the drawing area)
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coverage—for example, when, in a football game, a previously unknown player begins to have what looks to become an outstanding day, the character generator
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176:(TD) to "add the super" when they want the CG output "superimposed" over the image of another camera. As technology advanced, the ability to "key" (
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from the CG and the animation of graphic elements by the CG blur the line between "character generator" and "
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University of North Texas - Automatic
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Hardware character generator for home and semiprofessional use (1994; operated by a pen on a drawing area)
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stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and they can generate graphics as well as text.
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This article is about video technology. For hardware character generators in computing context, see
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generated by character generators are also often called "chyrons", after the
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video rendering in computer displays for a short time in the 1960s. The
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components division, industrial components operation. 15 April 1966
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Character generators are primarily used in the broadcast areas of
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to determine which areas of the CG video are translucent.
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central broadcast center. On televised sporting events,
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CK1414 Symbolray character generating cathode ray tube
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29:Chinese character description languages
27:. For Chinese character generator, see
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33:Character generation (disambiguation)
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561:BBC Election 1970 - Part 1, 43:24
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293:Software character generators
224:Hardware character generators
524:Stanley Baron (2008-12-14).
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25:Character Generator Protocol
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277:video. They also provide a
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