© 2006the University of Greenwich1 SMIL Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language Kevin McManus
© 2006the University of Greenwich2 SMIL Synchronised Multimedia Integration Language XML based Single timeline to coordinate and synchronize mixed media Developed by W3C First released June1998 Supported by Real Systems Not supported by the major browsers
© 2006the University of Greenwich3 Documentation and Tutorials Lots of resources on the Web: W3C Real Systems W3Schools – not in line with the standerds Streaming Media World Larry Bouthillier's SMIL Tutorial Page ( “ Canyonlands - What I Did Last Summer ” ) The excellent Helio SMIL tutorial seems to have evaporated Real Systems production guide covers media production and touches on other proprietary markup languages (RealPix, RealText).
© 2006the University of Greenwich4...optional section with header markup......required section with body markup... SMIL File Structure SMIL.smi file has an optional head followed by a body
© 2006the University of Greenwich5... Markup between these tags clips play in parallel.... Markup between these tags clips play in sequence. Specifies a RealText (.rt) clip Specifies a RealPix (.rp) clip. SMIL Tags
© 2006the University of Greenwich6 Specifies a RealAudio (.rm) clip Specifies a RealVideo (.rm) clip.... Specifies a choice Looping may be done with seq, e.g.... SMIL Tags
© 2006the University of Greenwich7 Pointer Files Instead of a link like: Canyonlands we need an intermediate pointer file Canyonlands where webtech.ram contains the url of the real media, e.g: This can optionally include parameters
© 2006the University of Greenwich8 Accessing SMIL Not fully supported by major browsers apart from Real Player (RealOne) Need to use a helper or plug-in a simple anchor tag will cause the browser to spawn the appropriate helper use to embed the plug-in into a web page Preferably without
© 2006the University of Greenwich9 mugshots.smi define a window area for pictures area for text play text into the text area play slideshow into the picture area play music play in parallel
© 2006the University of Greenwich10 toc.rt <window duration="0:58.0" height="450" width="280" bgcolor="black" link="#EEDDCC" > Illustrious Members of Staff Kevin McManus more content in here And, Last but not Least... GILL WINDALL time that the content is displayed content displayed immediately anchor takes the user to a place on the timeline
© 2006the University of Greenwich11 slideshow.rp <head duration="00:56" bitrate="20000" width="360" height="400" aspect="true" timeformat="dd:hh:mm:ss.xyz" /> this is all fairly self explanatory
© 2006the University of Greenwich12 anchor to mugshots.ram
© 2006the University of Greenwich13 Adapting to system variations SMIL allows decisions to be made at runtime Deliver content based on the available bandwidth or the client nationality
© 2006the University of Greenwich14 Conclusions Mugshots illustrates how simple SMIL can effectively integrated media can forgive it’s little markup irregularities Canyonlands shows how to incorporate video clips into SMIL Use SMIL to create interactive media experiences If only SMIL worked in more browsers without the need for a plug in rumour has it that IE can do this W3C plan to allow SMIL, SVG and MathML to integrate into XHTML