Interactive Multimedia Authoring
Chapter 8
What is Multimedia Authoring?
• Process of creating a multimedia production
• Assembling or sequencing different media
elements
• Adding interactivity
• Packaging the production for distribution to
the end users.
Easy to miss…
• In authoring and producing your Lego
animation, it is easy to forget:
You are authoring a multimedia production
• While I want the final product to be good,
It’s the process that matters most.
The process is valuable learning
EXAMPLE
• Task: You want to place the Lego figure on a background
image
• Problem: The magic wand tool can’t crop the Lego
figures in your photographs from the white background
• Solutions:
– Crop the figures manually
– Re-photograph figures on a background with more
color contrast.
• Lesson Learned: Test the process before photographing
100+ images.
Mistakes are learning opportunities
• The team that makes the most mistakes learns
the most.
• A team that’s very lucky can miss the big
picture:
Example:
• We are not just photographing figures
• We are photographing figures that can be
extracted from the background and then
manipulated independently.
Process vs. Product: Another Example
• Team decides to film video at full HD (1920 X
1080 X 60 fps)
• 13GB video file is too big to import into Flash,
iMovie, etc. (exceeds the systems available
memory)
• From a production point of view, this is a failure
• From a process point of view, you just learned
how HD video creates challenges for editors and
producers of multimedia.
Other kinds of Multimedia Production
Obviously, there is more than just Lego animation.
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Business Presentations
Trade-show or Conference Demonstrations
Museum Exibits
Advertising Kiosks
Educational Products (tutorials, demos, etc.)
Games
Terminology: Media vs. Medium
• If I asked you about your project:
• What media are you using? How would you
answer?
• What medium are you using? How would you
answer?
Terminology: Media vs. Medium
• Q: What media are you using?
• A: Video, still-frame animation, audio, some
text.
• Q: What medium are you using?
• A: Internet
Medium (the term)
Medium: channel of general communication.
Could pertain to the means of communication
– TV
– Internet
– Radio, etc.
Could also pertain to the inherent content, but only
if it is assumed to be one type of content
– Video
– Text
– Audio, etc.
Media (the term)
Media: The plural of medium
Because it’s plural, it’s a better term for talking
about content, which often includes more
than one medium.
“What media are included in your production”
• Also used to personify the communication
network, i.e., the television news media –
refers to the collective network including the people
Distribution Medium
A production that includes multiple media
(audio, images, text) can be tailor for one
particular distribution medium
• CD, DVD, BluRay
• Internet (played in a web browser)
• TV Broadcast
• Radio Broadcast
Medium   Distribution Channel
• Because a production (which could have
multiple media) is commonly produced for
one distribution medium,
• The term medium is most often associated
with distribution or communication network,
i.e., Internet, TV, Radio, etc.
Media   Content Types
What media are used in the production?
Images and text are the media used.
Medium is rarely used to refer to content types
unless it is assume that there is only one type
Media (collective singular) 
Personification of a Distribution Network
The television media is obsessed with the Casey
Anthony story
• Here you are talking about only one
communication network, i.e., TV.
The news media is a joke these days.
• Here you are talking about more than one
network (TV New, Radio New, Newpapers, etc.),
but we still refer to it a collective singular.
• Analogy, one herd, one flock
Interactive Multimedia Authoring
Typical Communication mediums
(media would be grammatically correct, but less precise)
1. Internet (web browser)
2. CD, DVD, etc. (applications – games)
Media used:
• Everything (text, images, audio, video).
Communication Medium is important
• A multimedia production can be 4GB if it is
produced for DVD.
• 4GB posses problems for multimedia
productions mean to be delivered over the
Internet.
• Flash technology emerged because of this
very problem.
Adobe’s Flash (what is it really?)
• Authoring environment where you can put
together objects: images, text, audio, and
video.
• But, you can also change (animate) the objects
in a timeline.
• But, you can also add code (ActionScript) to
add interactivity to the objects
Three Object Classes
• Graphic
– Could be composed of raster images and vector shapes
– Just meant to be seen
– No temporal (time-based) characteristics, i.e., no time line
• Movie Clip
– Same as graphic but has temporal characteristics, i.e., it
has an independent timeline
• Button
– Same as graphic but has extra interactive features
– Responds to keyboard and mouse events
Production Process
1.
2.
3.
4.
Collect the media elements
Assemble them
Add interactivity
Package movie for distribution to the end
users
Production Process (limited by Flash)
1. Collect the media elements
–
Limited formats
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Images (png, gif, jpeg)
Audio (wav, aiff)
Video (avi, mov, mpeg)
2. Assemble them
–
–
Limited by stage (set resolution)
Limited by timeline (set frames per second)
3. Add interactivity
–
Limited by what ActionScript can do
4. Package movie for distribution to the end users
–
SWF output (mean for Internet, but can be put on DVD).
Two Basic Animation Models
Limitations of Tweening
• Vector objects (Flash shapes) can morph
• Raster graphics (bitmaps) cannot morph
– They can only
• Change position
• Change scaling (size)
• “morph”
– Circle to square
– Change sub-parts
• Move just the arm
• Rotate just the head
Scripted Animation vs. …
• Frame-by-frame animation requires editing
individual frames
• Tweened animation requires editing key
frames (the in-between frames are generated
automatically)
• Script Animation uses the power of code
– Translation functions
– Change objects mathematically
Flash Concept: The Stage
(0,0)
(x,y)
Authoring: Script vs. Stage
• Flash offers a stage where you can manually
place and edit objects.
• ActionScript also lets you place objects on the
stage, but it gives you more automated
control.
• Place object at exact X, Y coordinate
– X and Y can come from a function
– Move (translate objects based on function, rather
than manual editing).
Chapter 8: Flash Terminology
• Flash isn’t going away.
• In fact, new program mimic Flash’s
environment
• Chapter 8 is a good read…
• Introduces a lot of terminology
– Shape, Fill, Stroke
– Merge mode – overlapping objects are merged in
on object
Script vs. Stage
• The best option is to combine manual Stage
authoring and ActionScript code.
• ActionScript helps you reuse your manual work.
• Example:
– Animating a crowd
– Use the stage to draw/import a graphic (person)
– Use ActionScript to manipulate multiple instances of
the graphic (animate a dozen people with one
function)