Chapter 7: Making Multimedia

1. Chapter 7: Making Multimedia

2. Overview • Stages of a multimedia project • What You Need: The Intangibles • What You Need: Hardware • What You Need: Software • What You Need: Authoring Systems

3. Stages of a Multimedia Project • Planning and costing • Designing and producing • Testing • Delivering

4. Stages of a Multimedia Project • Planning and costing • The needs of a project are analyzed by outlining its messages and objectives. • A plan that outlines the required multimedia expertise is prepared. • A graphic template, the structure, and navigational system are developed. • A time estimate and a budget are prepared. • A short prototype or proof-of-concept is prepared.

5. Stages of a Multimedia Project(continued) • Designing and producing • The planned tasks are performed to create a finished product. • The product is revised, based on the continuous feedback received from the client. • Testing • The program is tested to ensure that it meets the objectives of the project, works on the proposed delivery platforms, and meets the client requirements. • Delivering • The final project is packaged and delivered to the end user.

6. What You Need: The Intangibles Creativity Organization Communication

7. What You Need: The Intangibles • Creativity • In a multimedia project, being creative implies knowledge of hardware and software. • Organization • It is essential to develop an organized outline detailing the skills, time, budget, tools, and resources needed for the project. • Assets such as graphics, sound, and the like should be continuously monitored throughout the project’s execution. • A standardized file-naming procedure should be followed for precise organization and swift retrieval. • Communication • Communication among the workgroup and client is essential to the efficient and accurate completion of your project. • Use quality equipment and software for stable and fast networking of the workgroup.

8. What You Need: Hardware • The most significant platforms for producing and delivering multimedia projects are the Macintosh operating system and Microsoft Windows. • The Macintosh as well as the Windows PC offer a combination of affordability, and software and hardware availability. • Detailed and animated multimedia can also be created on specialized workstations from Silicon Graphics and Sun Microsystems. • Projects must be tested to ensure proper performance in all target environments.

9. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Windows vs. Macintosh • The Microsoft Windows operating system can run on assemblages of hardware from countless manufacturers. • Apple Computer produces both the computer and the operating system.

10. What You Need: Hardware (continued) • Memory and storage devices • The two types of memory are random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). • RAM enables the simultaneously running of many applications. • ROM is non-volatile. The BIOS program that boots up the computer resides in the ROM. • Hard disks are non-removable mass-storage devices and have a high data storage capacity and data transfer speed. • Flash or thumb drives • CD-ROM / DVD / Blue-Ray

11. What You Need: Software • Text editing and word processing tools • OCR software • Converts bitmapped characters into electronically recognizable ASCII text. • Painting tools allow you to create and modify bitmap images. • Drawing tools allow you to create and modify vector graphics. • 3-D modeling tools allow rendering of objects in a three-dimensional perspective • Image / sound / animation, video, and digital movie-editingtools

12. What You Need: Authoring Systems • 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.

13. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • Types of authoring tools • Card- and page-based authoring tools • Icon- and object-based authoring tools • Time-based authoring tools

14. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • Card- and page-based authoring tools • Elements are arranged like pages of a book or cards in a stack. • These tools contain media objects such as buttons, text fields, and graphic objects. • Runtime Revolution and ToolBook are examples of page-based systems. • Characteristics of objects are defined by properties. • Objects may contain scripts that specify a related action. • One or more intermediate files are usually required for handling script actions and routines. • Cards or pages can contain multiple layers.

15. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • Icon- and object-based authoring tools • Icon-based and object-based tools provide a visual programming approach to organizing and presenting multimedia. • Multimedia elements and interaction cues are organized as objects in a flowchart. • Flowcharts can be built by dragging appropriate icons from a library, and then adding the content.

16. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • Time-based authoring tools • Time-based tools are best suited for messages with a beginning and an end. • Adobe’s Flash and Director are time-based development environments. • Adobe 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. • Adobe 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.

17. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • Objects • Authoring tools generally treat multimediaelements as objects. • Objects exist in a hierarchical order of parent andchild relationships. • Each object is assigned properties and modifiers. • On receiving messages, objects perform tasksdepending on the properties and modifiers.

18. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • Choosing an authoring tool • Editing and organizing features • Programming features • Interactivity features • Performance tuning and playback features • Delivery, cross-platform, and Internet playability features

19. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • 1) 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 an overview facility illustrates project structure at a macro level. • 2) Programming features • Visual programming with icons or objects is the simplest and easiest authoring process. • Authoring tools offer “very high level language” (VHLL) or interpreted scripting environment.

20. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) 3) 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.

21. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • 4) Performance-tuning and playback features • Achieving synchronization is difficult, considering that performance of the different computers used for multimedia development and delivery varies. • Authoring system should facilitate precise timing of events. • These features should enable developers to build part of a project and then test it immediately.

22. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued) • 5) Delivery features • Delivering the project may require building a run-time version of the project, using the multimedia authoring software. • A run-time or standalone version allows a project to play back without the complete authoring software and all its tools and editors. • 6) Cross-platform and Internet-playability features • 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.

23. Summary • The basic stages of a multimedia project are planning and costing, design and production, and testing and delivery. • Knowledge of hardware and software, as well as creativity and organizational skills, are essential for creating a high-quality multimedia project. • Macintosh and Windows are the two most common hardware platforms used in multimedia. • LANs, WANs, Ethernet, and client/server software facilitate communication and connectivity among computers. • Storage devices include hard disks, RAM, ROM, flash memory and thumb drives, CD-ROM, DVD, and Blu-ray discs.

24. Summary (continued) • Input devices include keyboards, mice touch-screens, scanners, OCR devices, voice recognition software, and digital cameras. • Output devices include audio devices, speakers, amplifiers, monitors, video devices, projectors, and printers. • Word processors and OCR software are used to handle text in multimedia. • Painting and drawing tools, 3-D modeling and animation tools, and image editing tools manipulate the graphical content of the project. • Sound-editing tools manipulate the audio content of the project. • Format converters and screen-capture tools are helpful accessories.

25. Summary (continued) • Multimedia authoring tools provide the framework needed for organizing and editing multimedia elements in a project. • The three types of authoring tools are card- or page-based, icon-based or event-driven, and time-based. • Choose an authoring tool based on editing, organizing, programming, interactivity, performance-tuning, playback, delivery, cross-platform, and Internet playability features.