Media Integration Issues
M.Dastbaz
Designing Interactive Multimedia Systems
Media Integration Issues - Chapter 5
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Multimedia Authoring Tools
Multimedia authoring tools provide the
important framework that Multimedia
designers require to organises and edit
the various elements of a multimedia
projects including, Video, Sound,
Animation, Graphics and Text.
Authoring tools are used for designing
interactivity and User Interface.
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Multimedia Authoring Tools II
There are three general categories of
Multimedia authoring tools.
These are:
– Card or page-based tools
– Icon-based tools
– Time-based tools
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Multimedia Authoring Tools III
Card - or Paged based tools
– Are systems that are based on a book or a
page metaphor. This means that the way
the elements are organized are similar to
pages of a book or a card file. The
authoring system lets you link these pages
or cards into an organized sequence.
– E.g. Hypercard
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Multimedia Authoring Tools IV
Icon-Based Tools
– These authoring tools multimedia
elements or interaction cues are
organised as objects in a structural
framework. The programme typically
displays flow diagram of activities
along branching paths
– E.g Macromedia Authorware
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Multimedia Authoring Tools V
Time-Based Tools
– These authoring systems view the
development of a multimedia
package as organising objects along
a time line. Sequentially organised
frames are then played back to the
user.
– E.g Macromedia Director
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Multimedia Elements I
Text
– Text forms an important part of any
multimedia package. Depending what the
application is for the use of text could me
minimum or maximum. For example an
action arcade type of game may require
very little text while a Multimedia
encyclopedia will require enormous
amount of text.
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Multimedia Elements II
Text II
– In any case issues that need to be taken into
account when you integrating text are as follows:
• Different Fonts look different on various platforms
• Use of special type of fonts require provisions on the
clients machine
• Need to strike a right balance for Text size, colour and
special effects like anti-alias, where the text is gently
blend into the background
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Multimedia Elements III
Sound
 The introduction of audio capability into
Desktop PC add powerful new functionality
that could be exploited developing interactive
and Multimedia packages.
 Recording, editing and playing back audio
files is speciality that requires in-depth
knowledge of digital audio and big
multimedia projects usually have a sound
engineer advising the development team.
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Multimedia Elements IV
Sound II
– There are two main types of approaches in
incorporating audio files in a multimedia
environment:
• 1. Digital Audio
• 2. MIDI files
– MIDI Files (Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI): is a communication standard developed in
early 1980s for electronic musical instruments &
Computers.
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Multimedia Elements V
Sound III
– MIDI standards allows music and sound
synthesizers from different manufactures
to communicate with each other by
sending messages along the cables
connecting them together. MIDI provides
a protocol for passing detailed
descriptions of a musical score, such as
notes and what instrument will play these
notes.
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Multimedia Elements VI
Sound IV
– Hence MIDI is not digitized sound - it is
short-hand representation of music stored
in numeric form.
– MIDI files are therefore much smaller that
digital wav files by between 200-1000
times.
– Creating MIDI files are usually quiet
difficult and complex task.
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Multimedia Elements V
SOUND V
– Digitize Sound: You can digitize sound
from microphone, a synthesizer, CDplayer and even TV broadcasts. In
contrasts to MIDI data, digital audio is the
actual representation of sound, stored in
the forms of thousands of individual
numbers called “samples”
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Multimedia Elements VI
SOUND VI
– For best quality of sound play-back i.e. CD-quality
you require a 44KHz sampling rate, 16bit
resolution, Stereo which creates very large
“.wav” files. A typical 1 minute CD-quality audio
requires around 10.5 MB of space. If the same file
is sampled ate 5.5 KHz sampling rate, 8 bit
resolution and mono recording the file size for 1
minute of digital sound will reduce to typically 325
KB.
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Multimedia Elements VII
Graphics
– Still images are also an important part of
multimedia applications that require
knowledge and expertise in terms of both
creating them as well as manipulating
graphic tools to add various effects and
create various types of files. In general we
could identify three types of graphic files.
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Multimedia Elements VIII
Graphics II
– Colour Grpahics (which then could have and
represent varying shade of of color (4 bit - 16
colours; 8 bit, 256 colors; 16 bit 32,768 colours,
24 bit millions of colours).
– Gray Scale Graphics (graphic files that are
effectively in black and white but capable of
displaying various depth (4bit,8bit,16bit) shade of
gray.
– Mono Graphics (2 colour, balck & white).
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Multimedia Elements VIII
Graphics III
– Files Types include:
– BITMAPS- .bmp
– JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
compressed graphic files
– TIFF
– PSD
– CDR
– PICT
– etc….
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Multimedia Elements IX
Animation
– Adds visual impact to a multimedia project. But
creating animation requires quiet an in-depth
knowledge of 2D and 3D drawing and image
manipulation.
– Animation is possible because of a biological
phenomenon known as persistence vision. This means
that an object seen by the human eye remains
mapped on the eye’s retina for a brief time after
viewing, hence making it possible for a series of
images changing very slightly to seemingly blend
together to create an illusion of movement.
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Multimedia Elements X
Digital Viedo
– Carefully planned, well executed video
clips can make a dramatic difference to a
multimedia project.
– Creating Digital video
• Requires professional tools
• Professional editing facilities and
• Lots of storage space.
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Multimedia Elements XI
Digital Video II
– There are different video standards and
formats
• NTSC (National Television Standards
Committee - 1952, which defines a single
video frame of being made up of 525
horizontal scan lines drawn every 1/30 of a
second by a fast-moving electron beam )
Used in USA, Japan and many other
countries
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Multimedia Elements XII
Digital Video III
– PAL (Phase Alternate Line) system used in UK,
Europe, and some other countries. This is an
integrated method of adding colour to a black and
white television signal that paints 625 lines at a a
frame rate of 25 Fps, each taking 1/50 of second to
draw (50 Hz).
– SECAM (Sequential Colour and Memory system)Used in France is 625 lines, 50 Hz.
– HDTV (High definition TV) 1200 lines of resolution
(similar to Cinemascope)
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Multimedia Elements XIII
Digital Video
– Recording Video requires Video capture
cards installed in your Desktop PC
– Video Integration - Size vs. Quality
– Video Formats :
• Quick-time
• MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group)
• AVI , etc...
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Finally
As can be gathered from what we
have covered so far creating
multimedia projects is no longer just
about programming but requires a
range of varying skills such as sound
engineering, digital video, animation
to graphic manipulation.
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