COM 205
Multimedia Applications
St. Joseph’s College
Fall 2004
7/24/2016
Chapter 10
Basic Software Tools
7/24/2016
Basic Tools - Overview
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Authoring system ( Authorware)
Text Editing, Word Processing Tools ( Word)
Painting and Drawing Tools
2D,3D Modeling and Animation Tools
Image Editing Tools
Sound Editing Tools
Animation, Video, and Digital Movie Tools
Utilities useful for multimedia
Text Tools
•Word Processors
Text Editing and
Word Processing
• “Each new tool has a learning curve”
• Word Processor ( WORD ) – for basic
typing, also allows embedded multimedia
elements
• OCR ( optical character recognition) –
software which turns bitmapped
characters into electronically recognizable
text – can be used with scanners
– Can be imported into Word document
– BE CAREFUL of COPYRIGHT LAWS!!!!
Text-based tools
Word processors:
– Are powerful applications that include spell
checkers, table formatters, thesaurus, and
pre-built templates for commonly used
documents.
– Are used for creating project letters, invoices,
and storyboards.
– Allow embedded multimedia elements.
– Microsoft Word and WordPerfect are Word
processors.
– Often come bundled in an "Office Suite."
Text Tools
•Word Processors
•OCR Software
Text-based Tools
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
software:
– Converts bitmapped characters into
electronically recognizable ASCII text.
– Makes use of probability and expert
system algorithms.
– Is very accurate and saves time and
effort.
Graphics Tools
•Painting and Drawing Tools
Graphics Tools
•Painting and Drawing Tools
•3-D Modeling Tools
Graphics Tools
•Painting and Drawing Tools
•3-D Modeling Tools
•Image Editing Tools
Painting and Drawing Tools
• Most graphic programs use bitmapped
images since they provide the greatest
choice.
• Include the Eyedropper tool, Autotrace
tool, and anti-aliasing, airbrushing,
blending, and masking functionalities.
• PhotoShop, Fireworks, and Painter are
painting software.
• CorelDraw, FreeHand, and Illustrator are
drawing software.
Painting and Drawing Tools
• Painting Software (Photoshop) – can
produce bitmapped images
• Drawing software
(Freehand, Corel Draw or Illustrator)
can produce vector- based line art
easily printed to paper
• Some combine the features of both
Painting and Drawing Tools
Features include:
– An intuitive graphical user interface.
– Scalable dimensions.
– Multiple undo capability.
– Scalable text font support.
– Support for third-party special effect
plug-ins.
– Layering capability.
Features of Drawing/Painting
Programs
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Graphical interface
Scalable dimensions to resize, stretch
Ability to pour color, pattern in areas
Ability to paint with pattern and clip art
Customizable pen, brush, eyedropper
Support for scalable text fonts
Zooming and multiple undo’s
Object layering
Bitmapped vs. Vector graphics
• A bitmap is a set of pixels or a grid of dots
which are displayed on the computer
screen to forma an image
• Bitmapped images are more powerful for
rendering fine detail and effects
• Vector images are stored as mathematical
equations or algorithms that define the
curves, lines and shapes in a picture
• Vector-graphics produced by programs
such as FLASH load quickly
Bitmap vs. Vector Graphics
• Vector images have advantages over
bitmaps:
– Vector images are scalable ( size can be
changed without loss of quality
– Smaller file size usually results in faster
internet downloads
3-D Modeling Tools
Features include:
– Good color and palette management.
– Multiple dimension windows and
unlimited cameras.
– Lathe and extrude features.
– Ability to drag and drop primitive
shapes, sculpt organic objects.
– Color and texture mapping.
2D, 3D Modeling and Animation
• MiniCAD can translate 2D into 3D
• Good 3D modeling tools include:
– Multiple windows to view from the “camera’s
perspective”
– Ability to drag and drop into a scene
– Ability to create objects
– Color and texture mapping
– Ability to add realistic effects (fog, shadow..)
– Ability to add special lighting effects
– Ability to draw spline- based paths for
animation
Image-Editing Tools
• Are specialized and powerful tools
for enhancing and retouching
existing bitmapped images.
• Features include conversion of
image-data types and file formats,
masking features, employment of
virtual memory scheme, etc.
• Support third-party plug-ins.
Image Editing Tools
• Specialized tools for enhancing and
retouching existing bitmapped images
• Some provide tools of drawing and
painting packages
• Some can create images from scratched
as well as import images from digital
cameras, scanners. Original artwork or
files made with drawing/painting packages
Features of Image Editing Tools
(Example- Photoshop) –See pp. 95-96 for
complete list of features
• Multiple windows
• Conversion of major image formats
• Direct input from scanner, video sources
• Good selection tools for editing
• Good masking tools
• Multiple levels of undo’s
• Color mapping controls
• Tools to retouch, blur, sharpen, lighten…
• Geometric transformations….
Common Computer
Graphics Formats
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.bmp - Windows bitmap
.pic – PC Paint graphics format
.mac – Macintosh MacPaint format
.gif ( Graphics Interchange Format) –
common for graphics on the world wide web
• .jpg – JPEG image (Joint Photographic
Experts Group) – platform independent –
used for photos
• .pcd – Kodak’s Photo CD format
Common Computer
Graphics Formats
• .pict – Macintosh standard image format
• .png - Portable Network Graphics Format –
approved by W3C to replace the GIF
format for the web
• .tga – targa video capture board format
• .tif ( Tagged image file format (TIFF)
• .wpg – Word Perfect graphics format
Other Graphics
• Clip Art – extensive clip art libraries
exist on the internet; many have
general categories such as nature,
icons, backgrounds, etc.
• Digitized Pictures – captured from
cameras, videos, etc.
Audio and Video Tools
•Sound Editing Tools
•Animation and Video Tools
Sound Editing Tools
• Enables the user to “see” music as well as
hear sound.
• This is done by drawing a representation
of sound in fine increments.
• Enable the user to create custom system
beeps.
• System beeps are pre-packaged sounds
that indicate an error, warning or special
user activity.
Sound Editing
• Sound editing for digitized and MIDI sound
let you “see” sound ( as a score or wave
form) as well as hear it.
• Allows you to create sound and special
effects
• Creative Labs Wave Studio often comes
with PC sound boards; Mac users need to
get Sound Edit16 or similar tools
Sound Objects
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Waveform Audio
MIDI soundtracks
Compact disc ( CD) audio
MP3 files
Waveform Audio
• Similar to digital images, sounds can
be digitized
• The waveform describes its
frequency, amplitude and harmonics
• Digitized by sampling wave many
times a second and stored as data in
a .wav file
MIDI
• Stands for
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
• MIDI stores the performance
information needed for your sound
card to play the music : notes on/off,
duration, loud/soft/ timbre/tone and
other special effects
• Stored as .mid file
Audio CD
• Stores up to 75 minutes of high
quality sound
• Sampled at a rate of 44,100 /second
• Samples are 16 bits, with a range of
98dB ( from a quiet whisper to a loud
scream)
MP3 Format
• Stands for MPEG Audio Layer 3
• Audio file format that uses a code to
encode (compress) and decode
(decompress) recorded music into
smaller files to transmit across the
internet
• Software which creates MP3 files
from an audio CD is called a ripper
Animation, Video, and Digital
Movie Tools
• Animation is a sequence of bitmapped
graphic scenes or frames, rapidly played
back.
• Animations can be made within some
authoring systems by moving objects or
sprites to simulate motion.
• Moviemaking tools take advantage of
QuickTime and AVI formats to create, edit,
and present digitized motion video
segments.
Animation, Video, and Digital
Movie Tools
• Digital video editing and playback require
a large amount of free disk space.
• When working with digital video, it is
necessary to defragment and optimize the
disk before recording and playing back
movie files.
• It is necessary to compress movie files
before delivery.
Animation, Video, and Digital
Movie Tools
• Compression ratio is the size of the
original image divided by the size of the
compressed image.
• Compression can by lossy or lossless.
• Lossy schemes ignore picture information
the viewer may not miss.
• Lossless schemes preserve the original
data precisely.
Animation
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Frame Animation
Vector animation
Computational animation
Morphing
Animation, Video and Digital
Movie Tools
• Animations are often sequences of
bitmapped graphics( frames), which
are played back rapidly ( frame –
oriented)
• Authoring systems can create
animation by rapidly changing the
location of objects or sprites (objectoriented or vector animation.)
Animation
• Vector animation varies the
beginning, length and direction
parameters for the lines that define
an image, such as in FLASH
• Computational animation allows you
to move object across the screen by
changing their x,y coordinates
Morphing
• An animation technique that allows
you to blend two still images creating
a sequence of in-between images
that show one image
metamorphosing into the other ( for
example a race car changing into a
running tiger…)
Animation, Video and Digital
Movie Tools
• Special hardware (video capture boards)
are often needed to convert analog signal
(camera) to digital (computer) – more
recently digital cameras and camcorders
have become available
• (Adobe Premiere ) allows you to edit video
clips assembled from camera videotape,
scanned images, digitized audio or MIDI
files
Video Formats
QuickTime:
– Is a software-based architecture for integrating
sound, text, animation, and video on Macintosh
and Windows platform.
– Is an extensible system for multimedia delivery.
– Can deliver 3-D animations, virtual reality, and
streaming audio-video on the Web.
– The three QuickTime elements are Movie file
format, Media Abstraction Layer, and Media
services.
Video Formats
QuickTime (continued):
– Includes built-in support for ten
different media types.
– Offers a comprehensive set of services.
– Allows embedded commands in HTML
documents.
Video Formats
Audio Video Interleaved (AVI):
– Is a Microsoft-developed format for
playing full-motion interleaved video
and audio sequences in Windows.
– Does not require specialized hardware.
– Is an inextensible, open environment.
– Lacks serious video editing features.
– The OpenDML format was developed to
make AVI more functional.
Video Formats
• QuickTime and Audio Video Interleaved
(AVI) formats support special algorithms,
provide a methodology for interleaving,
and allow organized streaming of data
from disk into memory.
• Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) is a hardware
format that uses laser light to store and
read digital information.
Common Video Formats
• QuickTime from Apple for both Mac and
PC
• AVI – MS Audio Video Interleaved for
Windows
• Both blend (interleave) audio and video
• Neither is currently capable of producing
full screen images at 30 frames/second
(TV standard)
QuickTime
• Multitrack recorder with almost
unlimited range of tracks.
• Supports digitized video and sound,
computer animations, MIDI data, and
external devices ( CD-ROM players,
videodisks, etc.)
• Provides imbedded support and
services for 10 media types ( p.101)
• Provides embedded HTML
commands
QuickTime
• Integrates sound, text, animation and
video
• Can be used on the internet to
deliver multimedia through plug-ins
• Provides the foundation for the new
MPEG-4 Multimedia format for the
web
QuickTime
• Movie file format- provides a standard
method for storing audio, video, text
• Media Abstraction Layer – describes how
your computer should access the media
• Media Services- includes built-in support
for different media types and offers
services for: timing, synchronization, data
compression, format conversion, audio
mixing, special effects, media capture,
movie controllers, etc. ( See p.114-115)
Some QuickTime Embedded
Commands for HTML
• Powerful commands for controlling a
QuickTime file can be embedded right in the
HTML code:
– AUTOPLAY- starts movie automatically
– BGCOLOR – sets background color for movie
– HEIGHT and WIDTH specifies size of movie in
web page
– LOOP- plays movie in continuous loop
– VOLUME- sets default playback volume
– HIDDEN – plays sound only
Windows Video
• Media Control Interface ( MCI) provides a
uniform command interface for managing
audio and video that interleaves them
together in the file called AVI – (audio
video interleaved).
• AVI plays about 15 frames/second in a
small window
• Lacks features needed for serious
video/sound editing
Windows Video Features
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Playback from hard disk or CD-ROM
Uses limited amount of memory
Quick loading and playing
Video compression available
Some tools VidCap and VidEdit to
capture and edit video ( see p. 116)
Movie Editors
• With desktop editing software and video
digitizing boards you can digitize video
clips, edit the clip, add special effects and
titles, mix sound tracks and save the
finished product on magnetic or optical
media
• Reuires an enormous of hard drive space
• Software : Adobe Premiere
• Digitizing Boards: Targa, Creative Labs
• ( see p. 117)
Movie Compression
• Image compression algorithms are
essential to deliver motion video and
audio
• Massive amounts of data are needed
to display a new screen image every
1/30 second
• Compression ratio of at least 5:1
needed to transmit over phone lines
Movie Compression
• Compression ratio- size of the
original image divided by the size of the
compressed image; usually only the part of
the image that changes form image to
image ( delta), The higher the ratio, the
lower the image quality
• Image quality
– Lossy- ignores picture information that the
viewer may not miss
– Lostless- preserves the original data precisely
• Compression/decompression speed –
ideally as fast as possible
Helpful Accessories
•Screen Capture Software
•Format Converter
Utilities Useful For Multimedia
• Screen grabber- allows you to grab all or
part of a screen display and put it into an
authoring system or image editor. (Can
use the clipboard)
• Format converters – for converting source
materials form UNIX, MAC, etc.
• GIF animator – to create animated GIFs,
available on the web, ( public-domain)
Summary
• Word processors and OCR software are
used to handle text in multimedia.
• Painting and drawing tools, 3-D modeling
tools, and image editing tools manipulate
the graphical content of the project.
• QuickTime for Macintosh and AVI for
Windows are the two most widely used
video formats.