Interesting, his idea about interactive pictures is what was my initial frustration with programming. "Why can't I just make that stuff go?"
If you are into games, a solution to interactive picture generation by artists would be akin to a particle editor. You let them define a few parameters and valid ranges, then the artist supplies graphics in the right places: voila. A good looking animation. Now restrict the end user to a few well defined ranges of these parameters as well and you have an interactive picture.
[1] http://worrydream.com/