Morphing: a new graphics tool for animating confocal images.

The application of morphing to the display of developmental processes is described. This new graphics tool imparts the dynamic aspects of time-lapse microscopy to a series of fixed and stained images of a developing system. The technique is illustrated using confocal images of wing imaginal discs of Drosophila. It is anticipated that morphing can be applied not only to the display and analysis of developing systems but also to the elucidation of evolutionary relationships between species and to comparative anatomy.