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UNIT -1

Multimedia

Multimedia is the media that uses multiple forms of information content and

information processing (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video, interactivity) to

inform or entertain the user. Multimedia also refers to the use of electronic media to store

and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is similar to traditional mixed media in

fine art, but with a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous for interactive

multimedia.

Output device

A printer is a device, which on receiving the signal from computer transfers the

information to paper. Earlier the dot matrix printer was a popular low-cost personal

computer printer; now printers have taken its place. Dot-matrix printer strikes

the paper a line at a time while inkjet sprays ink and laser printer uses a laser beam to

attract ink (also called toner). A monitor is a device for display. It is just like a

television set and is measured diagonally from two opposing corners of the picture

tube. The standard monitor size is 14 inches. Very large monitors can measure 21

inches diagonal or greater.

An amplifier is an electronic device that increases the power of a signal. Amplifiers

are used in audio equipments. They are also called power amplifier . Speakers with

built-in amplifiers have become an integral part of the computers today and are

important for any multimedia project.

Communication devices

A modem modulates going out from a computer or other digital device

to for a telephone line and demodulates the analog signal to convert it

to a digital signal to be inputted in a computer. Most new personal computers come

with 56 Kbps modems. Modems help your computer to connect to a network

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The basic tool set for building a multimedia project can be divided into five

categories: Painting and drawing tools, 3-D Modeling and animation tools, Image

editing tools, Sound editing tools, Animation Video and Digital Movie tools. Thesoftware in your

multimedia toolkit and your ability to use it will determine the qualityof your multimedia work.

Stages of Multimedia Application Development

A Multimedia application is developed in stages as all other software are being

developed. In multimedia application development a few stages have to complete before

other stages being, and some stages may be skipped or combined with other stages.

Following are the four basic stages of multimedia project development :

1. Planning and Costing : This stage of multimedia application is the first stage

which begins with an idea or need. This idea can be further refined by outlining

its messages and objectives. Before starting to develop the multimedia project, it

is necessary to plan what writing skills, graphic art, music, video and other

multimedia expertise will be required.

It is also necessary to estimate the time needed to prepare all elements of

multimedia and prepare a budget accordingly. After preparing a budget, a

prototype or proof of concept can be developed.

2. Designing and Producing : The next stage is to execute each of the planned

tasks and create a finished product.

3. Testing : Testing a project ensure the product to be free from bugs. Apart from

bug elimination another aspect of testing is to ensure that the multimedia

application meets the objectives of the project. It is also necessary to test whether

the multimedia project works properly on the intended deliver platforms and they

meet the needs of the clients.

4. Delivering : The final stage of the multimedia application development is to pack

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the project and deliver the completed project to the end user. This stage has

several steps such as implementation, maintenance, shipping and marketing the

product.

Applications of Multimedia

Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to,

advertisements, art, education, entertainment, engineering, medicine, mathematics,

business, scientific research and spatial, temporal applications.

A few application areas of multimedia are listed below:

Creative industries

Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from

fine arts, to entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software

services provided for any of the industries listed below. An individual multimedia

designer may cover the spectrum throughout their career. Request for their skills

range from technical, to analytical and to creative.

Commercial

Much of the electronic old and new media utilized by commercial artists is

multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in

advertising. Industrial, business to business, and interoffice communications are

often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia presentations

beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial

multimedia developers may be hired to design for governmental services and

nonprofit services applications as well.

Entertainment and Fine Arts

In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry,

especially to develop special effects in movies and animations. Multimedia games

are a popular pastime and are software programs available either as CD-ROMs or

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online. Some video games also use multimedia features.

Multimedia applications that allow users to actively participate instead of just

sitting by as passive recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia.

Education

In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training

courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopaedia and

almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about a

particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats.

Edutainment is an informal term used to describe combining education with

entertainment, especially multimedia entertainment.

Engineering

Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for

anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training.

Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as collaboration between

creative professionals and software engineers.

Industry

In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present

information to shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful

for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the

world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies.

Mathematical and Scientific Research

In Mathematical and Scientific Research, multimedia is mainly used for

modeling and simulation. For example, a scientist can look at a molecular model

of a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at a new substance.

Representative research can be found in journals such as the Journal of Multimedia.

Medicine

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In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or they

can simulate how the human body is affected by diseases spread by viruses and

bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it.Multimedia Systems

Multimedia in Public Places

In hotels, railway stations, shopping malls, museums, and grocery stores,

multimedia will become available at stand-alone terminals or kiosks to provide

information and help. Such installation reduce demand on traditional information

booths and personnel, add value, and they can work around the clock, even in the

middle of the night, when live help is off duty.

CD-AUDIO

A compact disc [sometimes spelled disk] (CD) is a small, portable, round medium made of

molded polymer (close in size to the floppy disk) for electronically recording, storing, and

playing back audio, video, text, and other information in digital form. Tape cartridges and CDs

generally replaced the phonograph record for playing back music. At home, CDs have tended to

replace the tape cartridge although the latter is still widely used in cars and portable playback

devices.

Initially, CDs were read-only, but newer technology allows users to record as well. CDs will

probably continue to be popular for music recording and playback. A newer technology, the

digital versatile disc (DVD), stores much more in the same space and is used for playing back

movies.

CD-I

CD-i (Compact Disc - interactive) is the multimedia CD format specified in 1986 (in the Green

Book). CD-i was specified as an entire system, comprising not just a disc and data format, but a

hardware and software system, a variety of special compression methods for audio and visual

data, and a method of interleaving audio, video, and text data. Developed as a user-friendly

alternative to a PC, CD-I players are easier to use, and have TV video output as well. Full screen

motion video capabilities were added to the original specification later.

A CD-i player is a stand-alone system that includes a CPU, memory, and an integrated operating

system. It can be connected to a TV set for displaying pictures and sound, or to a stereo system.

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The user interacts by positioning a cursor and selecting options, with a device such as a

specialized remote control.

Although CD-i never realized broad commercial success, it is now used in education, training,

and other professional applications.

The Philips "Green Book" specifies the standard for interactive multimedia Compact Discs

designed for CD-i players (1993). This format is unusual because it hides the initial tracks which

contains the software and data files used by CD-i players by omitting the tracks from the disc's

TOC (table of contents). This causes audio CD players to skip the CD-i data tracks. This is

different from the CD-i Ready format, which puts CD-i software and data into the pre gap of

track 1. CD-i was the leading format of its time but was supplanted by the politics of competition.

Philips Interactive Media lead the way in producing breakthrough titles, including the first

interactive coloring book, Sesame Street Disc and children's programs, Groliers and Comptons

encyclopedias and many more path breaking programs.

FRAMEWORK FOR MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS:

Framework provides an overall picture of development of distributed multimedia systems from

which system architecture can be developed. The framework highlights the dominant features of

multimedia systems. It is integration of multimedia computing and multimedia communication.

Low cost multimedia technology is evolving to provide richer information. These systems though

tightly interrelated have distinct physical facility, logical models and functionality.

Multimedia framework is divided into two parts

MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS

MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION SYSTEM MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

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Multimedia information system extends the processing, storage and retrieval capabilities of

existing information systems by introducing new data types including image, audio and video.

These new data types offer perceptually richer and more accessible representation for many kind

of information.

MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM

MULTIMEDIA

INFORMATION

SYSTEM (MIS)

MULTIMEDIA

COMMUNICATION

SYSTEM (MCS)

MULTIMEDIA

INFORMATION

MODEL

MULTIMEDIA

DISTRIBUTED

PROCESSING

MODEL

MULTIMEDIA

CONFERENCING

MODEL

MULTISERVICE

NETWORK

MODEL

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Multimedia communication system extends existing point to point connectivity by permitting

synchronized multipoint group communication. Additionally communication media include time

dependent visual forms as well as computer application conferencing.

Multimedia Information System (MIS) and Multimedia Communication System (MCS) are

divided into two parts:-

MIS divided into two parts are as follows:-

i) Multimedia Information Model

It includes modelling for storage, retrieval and processing.

ii) Multimedia Distributed Processing Model

It includes system services, application toolkits and application frameworks.

MCS divided into two parts are as follows:-

i) Multimedia Conferencing Model

It provides abstractions for multiparty communication, real time interchange, electronic mail and

telephony.

ii) Multiservice Network Model

It supports the communication model with a network architecture, network protocol and

interfaces.

MULTIMEDIA INFORMATION MODEL

This model is for organizing multimedia documents, presentations and other information

includes data modelling for storage, retrieval.

It support for temporal relationship between components, interactivity and component

with active behaviour are considered important.

Several hypermedia document models exist.

Logical structure of multimedia documents must be characterized.

Authoring process for creating multimedia information, a process which has many forms

and tools.

Marketing material include video recording and other documentation.

Multimedia mail can contain video clips.

Applications of multimedia information retrieval include video on demand and

multimedia on demand.

MULTIMEDIA DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING MODEL

This provides a layered architecture in which each layer provides services to above layer.

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Application

Script Ware

Toolkits

Orchestration

Media Services

System Services

Hardware Services

Scripting languages: - Special purpose programming language for controlling interactive

multimedia documents, presentation and applications.

Toolkits: - It is a combination of toolkit function, programming abstraction and services which

provide application programs access to multimedia peripheral equipment.

INTERCHANGE:-

For MM application to work together and realize the benefits of distribute computing,a commin

interchange format for MM information is required . It provides miltimedia data format &

service for interchange of miltimedia context.

ORCHESTRATION

This layer provides overall synchronization & schedulingSynchronization is coordinated ordering of

event in time.Scheduling is to aarange the order of current requests for servicing so as to meet the

required performance bounds

MEDIA SERVICES

This layer provide services for managing multiparty communication .. Hypermedia engine can be

used . It is a hypermedia object server that stores MM document for editing and retrieval.

SYSTEM SERVICES

This provide relrl time network support and real time scheduling . Real time scheduler is an os

process so as to meet real time services provide by this layer are network adaptors and digital

storage media

information model and distributed model

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MILTI SERVICE NETWORK MODEL

Network for distributed multimedia system must support a wide range of traffic requirements

including traffic with real defined as multi service . The requirement for network architecture

include QOS that are suddicient for real time transport , multiway connection , high performance

Existing network architecture TCP/IP ,OSI do not specify these requirement

PUBLIC SWITCHED NETWORK

It provide connection Interfaces , transmission , protocal and services ..

Unlike ISDN which is digital circuit switching network ISDN uses cell relay or ATM.

ATM is suitable for very high speed switching of fibre optie transmission network.

several internet working ground have been formed to address the requirement of multimedia

conferencing and real time traffic real time protocol uses the end to end

1 Existing network architecture such as OSI model TCP/IP were not designed with the internet

for supporting real time multiparty conferencing .

2 provides abstractions for multiparty communication , real time interchange,electronic mail &

telephony.

ANIMATION

Animation makes static presentations come alive. It is visual change over time

and can add great power to our multimedia projects. Carefully planned, well-executed

video clips can make a dramatic difference in a multimedia project. Animation is created

from drawn pictures and video is created using real time visuals.

Principles of Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D artwork or model

positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due

to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a

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number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion

picture or video program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist

Animation Techniques

When you create an animation, organize its execution into a series of logical steps. First,

gather up in your mind all the activities you wish to provide in the animation; if it is

complicated, you may wish to create a written script with a list of activities and required

objects. Choose the animation tool best suited for the job. Then build and tweak your

sequences; experiment with lighting effects. Allow plenty of time for this phase when

you are experimenting and testing. Finally, post-process your animation, doing any

special rendering and adding sound effects.

Cel Animation

The term cel derives from the clear celluloid sheets that were used for drawing

each frame, which have been replaced today by acetate or plastic. Cels of famous

animated cartoons have become sought-after, suitable-for-framing collector’s

items.

Cel animation artwork begins with keyframes (the first and last frame of an

action). For example, when an animated figure of a man walks across the screen,

he balances the weight of his entire body on one foot and then the other in a series

of falls and recoveries, with the opposite foot and leg catching up to support the

body.

The animation techniques made famous by Disney use a series of

progressively different on each frame of movie film which plays at 24 frames

per second.

A minute of animation may thus require as many as 1,440 separate frames.

The term cel derives from the clear celluloid sheets that were used for drawing

each frame, which is been replaced today by acetate or plastic.

Cel animation artwork begins with keyframes.

Computer Animation

Computer animation programs typically employ the same logic and procedural

concepts as cel animation, using layer, keyframe, and tweening techniques, and

even borrowing from the vocabulary of classic animators. On the computer, paint

is most often filled or drawn with tools using features such as gradients and antialiasing.

The word links, in computer animation terminology, usually means

special methods for computing RGB pixel values, providing edge detection, and

layering so that images can blend or otherwise mix their colors to produce special

transparencies, inversions, and effects.

Computer Animation is same as that of the logic and procedural concepts as

cel animation and use the vocabulary of classic cel animation – terms such as

layer, Keyframe, and tweening.

The primary difference between the animation software program is in how

much must be drawn by the animator and how much is automatically

generated by the software

In 2D animation the animator creates an object and describes a path for the

object to follow. The software takes over, actually creating the animation on

the fly as the program is being viewed by your user.

In 3D animation the animator puts his effort in creating the models of

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individual and designing the characteristic of their shapes and surfaces.

Paint is most often filled or drawn with tools using features such as gradients

and anti- aliasing.

Kinematics

It is the study of the movement and motion of structures that have joints,

such as a walking man.Inverse Kinematics is in high-end 3D programs, it is the process by

whichyou link objects such as hands to arms and define their relationships and

limits.Once those relationships are set you can drag these parts around and let the

computer calculate the result.

Morphing

Morphing application and other modeling tools that offer this effect can

perform transition not only between still images but often between moving

images as well

The morphed images were built at a rate of 8 frames per second, with each

transition taking a total of 4 seconds.

Some product that uses the morphing features are as follows

o Black Belt’s Easy Morph and WinImages,

o Human Software’s Squizz

o Valis Group’s Flo , MetaFlo, and MovieFlo.

Animation file formats

Windows Media – .AVI, .ASF, or .WMV

Apple QuickTime – .QT or .MOV

Motion Video – .MPG or .MPEG

Flash – .SWF

Shockwave – .DCR

Animated GIF – .GIF

Antialiasing

An anti-aliasing filter is a filter used before a signal sampler, to restrict the bandwidth of a signal

to approximately satisfy the sampling theorem. Since the theorem states that unambiguous

interpretation of the signal from its samples is possible when the power of frequencies above the

Nyquist frequency is zero, a real anti-aliasing filter can generally not completely satisfy the

theorem. A realizable anti-aliasing filter will typically permit some aliasing to occur; the amount

of aliasing that does occur depends on how good the filter is and what the frequency content of

the input signal is.

Anti-aliasing filters are commonly used at the input of digital signal processing systems, for

example in sound digitization systems; similar filters are used as reconstruction filters at the

output of such systems, for example in music players.

Types of Anti Aliasing

There are two main types of Anti-Aliasing techniques, Multisampling and Supersampling. There

are varieties of each as graphics card manufacturers find improved ways of getting the same

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result. Finding ways to limit the performance hit is the main priority. Here we will look at the

overall picture of the two techniques. First we will concentrate on Supersampling.

Supersampling

Supersampling is a method of Anti-Aliasing by taking the corners of each pixel and creating what

would be the average colour. This is then the displayed pixel on the screen. By doing this you are

effectively smudging the image and averaging out the colour along a curve.

This very basic graphic shows you what would happen when Supersampling is used in the four

squares in the centre of this image. 3 of the 4 squares are in both red and white area's and so will

be displayed as a shade of orange. One of the squares is fully in the white zone and so that pixel

will be displayed as a pure white pixel. If one of the samples was taken from a area that was full

in the red zone then that pixel would be displayed as fully red.

Obviously samples are much more complex than this, having many more colours to average out,

however the principles remain the same. A mathematical calculation is done to determine the

average colour for each pixel. Effectively Supersampling renders the scene 4 times larger than the

true scene and is then scaled down once the calculations are complete. This system has a massive

performance hit but does give the best results.

Multisampling is a more efficient but slightly less pretty form of Anti-Aliasing. Multisampling

takes multiple samples for each pixel. In a fairly standard example the quincunx system takes 4

samples in the corners and 1 sample in the middle. Each of these samples is given a weight the

corners are given a weight of 1/8 each and the center sample is given a weight of 1/2. the colour

of the pixel is then determined by similar calculations to Super sampling.

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With multisampling each cell on has two samples in it. Looking at the diagram below you can see

that the other 3 samples are taken from neighbouring cells. So multisampling takes into account

the colours around the pixel in question. This is how you get a blend of colour to achieve the

desired result. It is important to note that Multisampling only happens when a cell is covered my

more than one colour, otherwise a single colour is chosen and does not need to be calculated.

There are pro's and cons for using anti-aliasing in both games and applications.

Pro's

Smooth's out screen fonts

Rounded edges look to have smooth curves

Type can be easier to read due to better quality fonts

Games look a lot prettier and more realistic

Cons

Small text can be too blurred to read

already sharp edges can be made fuzzier

You cant print out Anti-Aliased text as it blurs

Static image sizes are larger

Games are affected by lower frame rates

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Morphing

Morping is a popular effect in which one emage transform into another .In morping the warping

of one still or moving image into another take place. This ia rather like twinning in that you

define the start image and the end image but the two images are completely different. The

software works out a sequence of steps so that the first image appear to change gradually into the

second object. In morphing setting keypoint is cruicial for smooth transition between two images.

Morphing automatically animate the change of one image into another as a special effect. It is the

wrapping of one still or moving image into another.

Some products that offer morphing features are black belt’s easy morph and winimages. Human

software squizz, valis group flo,metaflo and movieflo.

The morphed images were built at a rate of 8 frames per second with each transition taking a

total of 4 second and the number of keypoints was held to a minimum to shorten rendering time.

The point you set in the start image will move to the corresponding point in the end image. This is

important for things like eyes and noses which you want to end up in about the same place after

the transition. The more keypoints the smoother the morph.

Multimedia server and database

Multimedia servers store and manage multimedia objects and deliver data streams in real-time,

in response to requests from users .

The creation, storage and delivery of ubiquitous, high performance multimedia services present a

formidable challenge to the underlying telecommunications and computing infrastructure.

The architecture of such systems consists of multimedia servers that are connected to client sites

via high-speed networks. A generalized environment supporting multimedia applications to

homes or to business environments is shown in Figure 1 in which the user at home has access to a

service through an access network, while a business user is connected through a local area

network.

A multimedia server delivers services over a series of heterogeneous networks to the clients, and

the need to provide flawless service to user places significant requirements on a large number of

components, which have to work well together. These include:

Network subsystems with adequate bandwidth to transport, deliver and adapt the data

streams isochronously (i.e., at a specified rate, without observable delay) to the clients.

Client subsystems that receive and/or pre-fetch the data streams and manage the

presentation of data.

Application programs that deal with relationships among data frames and media

segments, and manage user navigation and retrieval of this data.

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High performance storage subsystem with data organization, buffering, indexing and

retrieval mechanisms to support multimedia applications.

User satisfaction measured by real-time delivery and adaptability to the environment;

Quality-of-service (QoS) management.

Security, especially management of content rights.

Multimedia applications utilize multiple audio and video streams and time-, user-, and data-

dependent behaviors. Multiple applications: operate on the same data, manage information,

analyze images, search for appropriate items, and mesh live, pre-recorded, and interactive

streams. The multimedia server software framework makes it easy for application developers to

create software that satisfies these needs.

Multimedia Database

Multimedia data typically means digital images, audio, video, animation and graphics

together with text data. The acquisition, generation, storage and processing of multimedia data in

computers and transmission over networks have grown tremendously in the recent past.

This astonishing growth is made possible by three factors. Firstly, personal computers

usage becomes widespread and their computational power gets increased. Also technological

advancements resulted in high-resolution devices, which can capture and display multimedia data

(digital cameras, scanners, monitors, and printers). Also there came high-density storage devices.

Secondly high-speed data communication networks are available nowadays. The Web has wildly

proliferated and software for manipulating multimedia data is now available. Lastly, some

specific applications (existing) and future applications need to live with multimedia data. This

trend is expected to go up in the days to come.

Multimedia data are blessed with a number of exciting features. They can provide more

effective dissemination of information in science, engineering , medicine, modern biology, and

social sciences. It also facilitates the development of new paradigms in distance learning, and

interactive personal and group entertainment.

The huge amount of data in different multimedia-related applications warranted to have

databases as databases provide consistency, concurrency, integrity, security and availability of

data. From an user perspective, databases provide functionalities for the easy manipulation, query

and retrieval of highly relevant information from huge collections of stored data.

MultiMedia Databases (MMDBs) have to cope up with the increased usage of a large

volume of multimedia data being used in various software applications. The applications include

digital libraries, manufacturing and retailing, art and entertainment, journalism and so on. Some

inherent qualities of multimedia data have both direct and indirect influence on the design and

development of a multimedia database. MMDBs are supposed to provide almost all the

functionalities, a traditional database provides. Apart from those, a MMDB has to provide some

new and enhanced functionalities and features. MMDBs are required to provide unified

frameworks for storing, processing, retrieving, transmitting and presenting a variety of media data

types in a wide variety of formats. At the same time, they must adhere to numerical constraints

that are normally not found in traditional databases.

Contents of MMDB

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An MMDB needs to manage several different types of information pertaining to the

actual multimedia data. They are:

Media data - This is the actual data representing images, audio, video that are captured,

digitized, processes, compressed and stored.

Media format data - This contains information pertaining to the format of the media data

after it goes through the acquisition, processing, and encoding phases. For instance, this

consists of information such as the sampling rate, resolution, frame rate, encoding

scheme etc.

Media keyword data - This contains the keyword descriptions, usually relating to the

generation of the media data. For example, for a video, this might include the date, time,

and place of recording , the person who recorded, the scene that is recorded, etc This is

also called as content descriptive data.

Media feature data - This contains the features derived from the media data. A feature

characterizes the media contents. For example, this could contain information about the

distribution of colors, the kinds of textures and the different shapes present in an image.

This is also referred to as content dependent data.

The last three types are called meta data as they describe several different aspects of the

media data. The media keyword data and media feature data are used as indices for

searching purpose. The media format data is used to present the retrieved information.

Authoring tool and presentation tool

Multimedia authoring tools provide the framework for organizing and editing the elements of a

multimedia project.Authoring software provides an integrated environment for combining the

content and functions of a project.It enables the developer to create, edit, and import data

Authoring system in multimedia.

Features of authoring tools.

In multimedia authoring systems, multimedia elements and events are often regarded as

objects.

Objects exist in a hierarchical order of parent and child relationships.

Each object is assigned properties and modifiers.

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On receiving messages, objects perform tasks depending on the properties and modifiers.

Features of Authoring Tools

Editing and organizing features.

Programming features.

Interactivity features.

Performance tuning and playback features.

Delivery, cross-platform, and Internet playability features

Editing and Organizing Features

Authoring systems include editing tools to create, edit, and convert multimedia elements

such as animation and video clips.

The organization, design, and production process for multimedia involves storyboarding

and flowcharting.

Visual flowcharting or overview facility illustrates project structure at a macro level.

Programming Features

Visual programming with icons or objects is the simplest and easiest authoring process.

Visual authoring tools such as Authorware and IconAuthor are suitable for slide shows

and presentations.

Authoring tools offer ‘very high level language’ (VHLL) or interpreted scripting

environment.

Interactivity Features

Interactivity gives the end user control over the content and flow of information in a

project.

Simple branching is the ability to go to another section of the multimedia production.

Conditional branching is an activity based on the results of IF-THEN decisions or events.

Structured language supports complex programming logic, subroutines, event tracking,

and message passing among objects and elements.

Performance Tuning and Playback Features

Achieving synchronization is difficult, considering that performance of the different

computers used for multimedia development and delivery varies.

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Authoring system should facilitate precise timing of events.

It should enable developers to build a part of a project and then test it immediately.

Delivery, Cross-Platform, and Internet Playability Features

Delivering the project may require building a run-time version of the project, using the

multimedia authoring software.

Run-time version or standalone allows a project to play back without the complete

authoring software and all its tools and editors.

It is important to use tools that facilitate easy transfer across platforms.

Authoring systems provide a means for converting their output to be delivered within the

context of HTML or DHTML.

Types of Authoring Tools

Card- and page-based tools.

Icon-based, event-driven tools.

Time-based tools.

Card- and Page-Based Tools

Card- and page-based authoring systems provide a simple and easily understood

metaphor for organizing multimedia elements.

It contains media objects such as buttons, text fields, and graphic objects.

It provides a facility for linking objects to pages or cards.

Icon-Based, Event-Driven Tools

Icon-based, event-driven tools provide a visual programming approach to organize and

present multimedia.

Multimedia elements and interaction cues are organized as objects in a flowchart.

Flowchart can be built by dragging appropriate icons from a library, and then adding the

content.

Time-Based Tools

Time-based tools are best suited for messages with a beginning and an end.

Some time-based tools facilitate navigation and interactive control.

Macromedia’s Director and Flash are time-based development environments.

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Macromedia Director:

A multimedia database, ‘Cast’, contains still images, sound files, text, shapes,

scripts, movies, and other Director files.

Score is a sequencer for displaying, animating, and playing Cast members.

Lingo is an object-oriented scripting language that enables interactivity and

programmed control.

Macromedia Flash:

Flash is used for delivering rich multimedia content to the Web.

It allows the creation of simple static HTML pages with the Flash Player plug-in.

Cross-Platform Authoring Notes

Macintosh and Windows computers use different schemes to manage text and colors.

While using text fields, ensure that the text displays correctly on both platforms.

Outline and shadow styles on text should be avoided on Macintosh since they are not

currently supported in Windows.

Multimedia Presentation Tools

PowerPoint is ubiquitous in the business and education worlds. It is a powerful and easy-to-use

program that can be used to create engaging and visually enticing presentations. It creates

opportunities for student creativity beyond the written essay. Of course, PowerPoint presentations

that contain too many slides, too much text, and frivolous special effects can actually detract from

student learning.

Apple's Keynote software is an excellent alternative. If you've ever seen a Keynote slide show

then undoubtedly you've been struck by the simple elegance and clarity of its themes as well as its

impressive 3D transition effects. Keynote also syncs smoothly with other Apple multimedia

products such as iTunes, iMovie, and GarageBand. In other words, students can incorporate audio

and video into a Keynote presentation almost effortlessly.

Prezi is an impressive web-based presentation tool that uses a single canvas instead of traditional

slides and users zoom in-out and pan across to reveal elements of the canvas. Text, images,

videos and other presentation objects are placed on the canvas and grouped together in frames. A

path for the presentation can be defined. You can download and present Prezi offline and Prezi

offers both a free basic service and a premium subscription service. Prezi also offers two

educational services. EDU Enjoy is free. EDU Pro costs $59/year and allows you to create Prezis

offline. If you want to change your existing license to an EDU license, you need to sign in first

and choose Upgrade on License and Settings page.

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Animoto - This intuituve and powerful web-based application provides basic but impressive

multimedia features. Animoto offers music and professional-looking special effects to add to your

photos and text. Teachers can sign up for a free account upgrade in the Education section and

students can use the teacher sign up code to also upgrade their accounts. Animoto also has a free

iPhone application where presenations can be made on the handheld device and will be uploaded

to the Animoto online account when complete.

VoiceThread is a great Web-based digital storytelling program that enables users to upload

pictures or documents, record accompanying audio (or video) commentary, and invite others to

record commentary as well. Its simple combination of visual and recorded media is perfect for

creating multimedia presentations in a relatively short time frame using simple tools. With

VoiceThread teachers and students can create virtual tours, report on books they've read,

comment on historically significant photographs, debate a topic, and more. Its uniqueness lies in

the ease in which audio commentary can added to images and documents and the ability to add

multiple commentaries to a single artifact.

Glogster is a powerful online poster creation platform with an easy drag-and-drop interface and

enables students to create interactive, aesthetically appealing, and media-rich posters. With

Glogster students create "Glogs," an online multimedia poster made with text, images, graphics,

music, video and more.Glogster EDU is an advertisement-free educational community wherein

educators set up a "“virtual classroom” for their students. By default Glogs are private unless a

teacher designates them as “public,” and students are assigned randomly generated login

information and passwords. No student is identified by name. As such, Glogster EDU helps

address issues of inappropriate content and undesirable contact with those outside an educational

community.

Capzles is an attractive multimedia platform for creating timelines. Events can contain images

and descriptions, and Capzles allows for files and media to be added to the timeline. The

background of the timeline can be customized, and a music playlist can be added. Other users can

collaborate on a Capzles timeline with a public setting, inviting friends, or by creating a group

login.

Kerpoof Create fully animated comics online with Kerpoof. Choose from a library of scenes and

characters, add animation, movement, as well as music and speech bubbles to bring a story idea

to life. Extremely intuitive menu bar and helpful video tutorials make this tool quite useful. A key

feature is a Teacher Account that allows teachers to register students and create classes where

students can collaborate on creations.

Capturing and Editing Images

The image that is seen on a computer monitor is digital bitmap stored in video

RUPAL SATIJA WCTM GURGAON (CSE)

memory, updated about every 1/60 second or faster, depending upon monitor’s scan

rate. When the images are assembled for multimedia project, it may often be needed

to capture and store an image directly from screen. It is possible to use the Prt Scr

key available in the keyboard to capture a image.

Scanning Images

After scanning through countless clip art collections, if it is not possible to find the

unusual background you want for a screen about gardening. Sometimes when you

search for something too hard, you don’t realize that it’s right in front of your face.

Open the scan in an image-editing program and experiment with different filters, the

contrast, and various special effects. Be creative, and don’t be afraid to try strange

combinations – sometimes mistakes yield the most intriguing results.