Multimedia Authoring Tools Jon Ivins DMU

Essence of Multimedia… n Combination and integration of different media elements for presentation via a unified interface and manipulated via a single application by the user. n Different elements may be vector graphics, bitmapped images, sound, animation, video, text text video animation sound bitmapped graphics Create, capture, edit vector graphics Integration and sequencing into a presentation Interactive presentation to end user

Approaches to providing a well integrated combination of media 1. Define a format that can accommodate different media types and view via dedicated browser (Netscape, IE) Format may be HTML or XML, browser knows how to present marked-up documents Basically text with other embedded media elements

Approaches to providing a well integrated combination of media 2. Define an architecture (e.g Quicktime) that can n contain different media types n provide an API which contains rich set of functions to manipulate media – these can be incorporated into any application n Quicktime movies, for example, u can be viewed using a Quicktime Player (like a browser) u can be embedded within any program using the API

Approaches to providing a well integrated combination of media 3. Deliver a multimedia presentation in ‘stand-alone’ form n Director, for example provides the means u of authoring a presentation u of creating a runnable application (‘projector’) which can be run independently of the authoring environment

Objects n Most modern software uses object- oriented technology n Objects have: u pre-defined properties u pre-defined behaviors u are either a sub-set or a super-set of other objects u inherit properties and behaviors from the super-set

Commercial Packages n Astound n Authorware n Mediaview n ToolBook n Director n There is no one package that is suitable for all development work

Metaphors n Each is based on a metaphor n Astound - Slide show n Authorware - Flowcharts n Mediaview - Hypertext n ToolBook - Book n Director - Movie

Communicating Models

Norman’s 3 models n Design Model u model that a designer has of the system as a whole, a conceptual model of the system to be built n User’s Model u mental model the user has of the system n System Image u the physical external representation of the system u what everyone who interacts with the system sees, hears or feels

User Model Design Model Design Model, User Model and System Image Designer User System and Documentation System Image

Styles in Word…. n Marking up a document in Word using styles is a very powerful feature… why? n Not utilised by many Word users… why? n Poor conceptual model of what styles are and how they can be used is communicated by Word’s ‘system image’

Metaphors n widely used in everyday language - for example we use a war metaphor to describe the process of argument n can be used to structure a user's mental model to facilitate ease of initial learning n verbal metaphors use existing knowledge of familiar domains to provide explanations of unfamiliar artefacts in the form of written or spoken instructions. u e.g a filing cabinet to explain file storage in a computer n many terms in computing rely on common-use metaphors u e.g menus, forms, windows

ToolBook n Produced by Asymetrix n Conceptually easy to understand n Has a library of basic behaviors i.e. mouse_click, transitions, etc n Has its own programming language OpenScript n Easy to learn OpenScript n Will import a variety of different types of media

ToolBook n Easy to modify initial design n Flexible, many layers on each page n Very good for CBT applications, marking and assessment n Interpreted n Not suitable for fast games n Can be exported as HTML but not very web-friendly

See image ‘toolbook1.gif’

Director n Produced by Macromedia n Conceptually harder to understand - prior planning is a must n Has a library of basic behaviors i.e. mouse_click, transitions, etc n Has its own programming language Lingo n Easy (ish) to learn Lingo n Will import a variety of different types of media

Director n Not easy to modify initial design n Interactions and events can be synchronized n Not suited for CBT applications, marking and assessment n Not suited for applications with a large amount of text n Very web-friendly - supports streaming etc

See image ‘director1.gif’

Conclusions n All authoring tools have their strengths and weaknesses n There is no one best authoring tool n ToolBook is ideal for “book” applications n Director is ideal for web / movie applications n Both will produce CD-ROMs