Chapter 7: Making Multimedia

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 Overview

• Stages of a multimedia project

• What You Need: The Intangibles
• What You Need: Hardware
• What You Need: Software
• What You Need: Authoring Systems

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 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.

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 Stages of a Multimedia Project
(continued)

• Planning and costing (continued)

– 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.

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 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.

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 Stages of a Multimedia Project
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: The Intangibles

• Creativity
– In a multimedia project, being creative implies
knowledge of hardware and software.

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 What You Need: The Intangibles
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: The Intangibles
(continued)

• 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.

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 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.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• 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.

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 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.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Networking Macintosh and Windows

computers
– Local area networks (LANs) connect computers
that are close to each other. They are relatively
less expensive.
• Ethernet is the most common networking
technology.
• Client/server software allows computers
to communicate.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Networking Macintosh and Windows

computers (continued)
– Wide area networks (WANs) connect computers
over a diverse geographical area. Typically set up
and managed by large corporations, WANs are
expensive to install and maintain.
• Internet service providers (ISPs) connect
computers to the internet via a WAN.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Connections
– Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
– Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)
– Universal Serial Bus (USB)
– FireWire (IEEE 1394)

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• SCSI:
– Connects internal and external peripheral
equipment and devices
– Is preferred for real-time video editing, network
servers, and situations that require mirroring.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• IDE:
– Connections are also known as Advanced
Technology Attachment (ATA).
– These are usually internal devices such as hard
drives, CD-ROM drives, and DVD-ROM drives.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• USB:
– A standard for connecting devices to the computer
using the plug-and-play system.
– Uses a single cable to connect 127 USB peripherals
to a single PC.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• FireWire:
– Introduced by Apple in the 1980s.
– The industry standard and provides support
for high-bandwidth serial data transfer, particularly
for digital video and mass storage.
– Can connect multiple computers and peripheral
devices (peer-to-peer).

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices

– Sufficient memory must be allocated for storing
and archiving files.
– Memory requirements of a multimedia project
depend on the project's content and scope.
– The two types of memory are random access
memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM).

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– RAM enables the simultaneously running of many
applications.
– ROM is non-volatile. The BIOS program that boots
up the computer resides in the ROM.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– Hard disks are non-removable mass-storage
devices and have a high data storage capacity and
data transfer speed.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– Flash or thumb drives:
• Small storage devices that can be integrated with
USB or FireWire devices.
• Can store from 8 megabytes to several GB
of data.
• More reliable than disk drives.
• Small printed circuit board encased in sturdy metal
or plastic.
• Usable, trendy, and convenient.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– CD-ROM:
• CD-ROM drives are an important part of multimedia
development.
• CD-ROM discs are useful for short-run distribution of
finished multimedia projects and data backup.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– CD-ROM (continued):
• A CD-RW recorder can rewrite 700MB of data to a
CD-RW disc about 1,000 times.
• CD-RWs are similar to CD-Rs, except CD-RWs can be
completely erased.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– DVD:
• Is an optical disc technology for distributing
multimedia and feature-length movies.
• They provide sharp and detailed video resolution.
• The three types of DVDs are DVD-Read Write,
DVD-Video, and DVD-ROM.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Memory and storage devices (continued)

– Blue-ray discs:
• Were developed by motion picture industry.
• Can be used for high-definition television recording,
video distribution, camcorder archiving, and mass
data storage.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Input devices
– An optical character recognition (OCR) device is
used to convert printed matter into ASCII text files.
– Voice recognition systems recognize spoken words
and commands.
– Microphones and cables are used to capture audio.
– Digital cameras use charged-coupled devices
(CCDs) to digitally capture images.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Input devices (continued)

Working with a scanner, OCR software

can save many hours of rekeying text.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Output devices
– For better quality audio, external stereo speakers
are required.
– Many multimedia developers use more than one
monitor by adding additional display adapters to
the computer.

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 What You Need: Hardware
(continued)

• Output devices (continued)

– Projectors are used when you have a larger
audience than can be accommodated around
a computer monitor.
– Color printers are an important part of any
multimedia production department.

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 What You Need: Software

• Text editing and word processing tools

– Word processors such as Microsoft Word and
WordPerfect are powerful applications that include
spell checkers, table formatters, thesauruses,
and prebuilt templates for letters, résumés,
purchase orders, and other common documents.
– OpenOffice is a free, downloadable
word processing program.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Painting tools allow you to create and

modify bitmap images.
– PhotoShop, Fireworks, and Painter are examples.
– Bitmapped images provide the greatest choice and
power for rendering fine detail and effects.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Drawing tools allow you to create and

modify vector graphics.
– CorelDraw, Illustrator, and Canvas are examples.
– Vector graphics are used by Adobe Flash to reduce
download time and scaling problems with web
graphics.
– Many authoring systems can only import bitmap
graphics.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Painting and drawing software 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

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Painting and drawing software features

include (continued)
– Painting features such as smoothing coarse-edged
objects into the background with anti-aliasing.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• 3-D modeling tools allow rendering of

objects in a three-dimensional perspective.
– VectorWorks, AutoDesk Maya, and Strata 3D are
examples.
– Many applications allow you to export and save
moving images as QuickTime or AVI animation
files.
– 3-D graphics usually take a long time to render,
so plan accordingly.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• 3-D modeling tools allow rendering of

objects in a three-dimensional perspective.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• 3-D modeling software 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

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Image-editing tools
– Are specialized and powerful tools for enhancing
and retouching existing bitmapped images.
– Many painting and drawing programs also serve
as image editors.
– Features include conversion of image-data types
and file formats, masking features, employment
of virtual memory scheme, etc.
– Support third-party plug-ins.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Sound-editing tools
– Enables the user to see music as a waveform as
well as hear sound.
– This is done by drawing a representation of sound
in fine increments.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Software
(continued)

• Helpful accessories
– Screen-capture software enables the user
to move bitmapped images by placing them
on the clipboard.
– Format converters are useful for projects where the
source material originates on different platforms.

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 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Helpful ways to get started:

– Use pre-made templates, wizards, and styles
to save time on page setup.
– Improve document appearance with tables,
bulleted and numbered lists, and symbols.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Helpful ways to get started (continued):

– Help readers find information with tables of
contents, running headers and footers, and
indexes.
– Use quick-change, spelling, and grammar checker
features.
– Include identifying information in the filename.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Making instant multimedia

– The scope of your project determines the
appropriate production tool.
– Modern office productivity software can perform
many simple multimedia tasks.
– Most modern PCs have some multimedia creation
tools built in.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

Most word processing programs allow you to

include various image formats, movies, and
digitized sounds (including voice annotations).

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

Spreadsheets can include embedded objects

made with other applications.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

A FileMaker Pro employee database can

include image and sound resources.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

Microsoft PowerPoint provides multimedia linking

and embedding features.

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 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

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 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Card- and page-based authoring tools

(continued)
– 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Time-based authoring tools (continued)

– 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Time-based authoring tools (continued)

– 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Objects
– Authoring tools generally treat multimedia
elements as objects.
– Objects exist in a hierarchical order of parent and
child relationships.
– Each object is assigned properties and modifiers.
– On receiving messages, objects perform tasks
depending on the properties and modifiers.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 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

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• Interactivity features (continued)

– 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• 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.

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 What You Need: Authoring Systems
(continued)

• 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.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 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.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Summary (continued)

• 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.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 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.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Summary (continued)

• 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.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 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.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved

 Summary (continued)

• Choose an authoring tool based on editing,

organizing, programming, interactivity,
performance-tuning, playback, delivery,
cross-platform, and Internet playability
features.

© 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved