Patent Document ID: 7643037
Application ID: 10840894

Base Claim:
1. A method of applying effects to a number of computer-generated characters, the method comprising: defining an effect for a first character and a second character; displaying, on a display device of a computer, a commencement of an application of the effect to the first character; and after starting the display of the commencement of the application of the effect to the first character, displaying, on the display device of the computer, a commencement of an application of the effect to the second character, wherein the application of the effect to a particular character comprises displaying a movement of the particular character, wherein the effect is applied for a same amount of time to each character such that there is a first period of time when the first character and the second character are both moving and a second period of time when the second character is still moving after the first character stops moving.

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Claim 2:
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the effect has a duration, wherein a time delay between commencing the application of the effect to the first and second characters is based on a portion of the duration of the effect.