Chapter 5 – Multimedia Elements Standard Types of Multimedia Files Animation Files Sound Files Video Files Databases

Animations Do you really need them? - Remember they are distracting to the user, (design for the expected audience) Adobe Photoshop – simple ones, save a series of.gif files Macromedia Flash – designed for creating large graphics animations,.swf files 3-D rendering programs – very technical, requires an expert user

Sound Elements Tools for editing sounds - Macromedia SoundEdit - RecordSound - SoundForge - CoolEdit After editing a sound file, must choose a compression method and a codec (the algorithm) used to compress the sound file

Sound Files Audio Streaming The file never downloads to the user but plays immediately as it arrives. Audio streaming transmits a constant, real-time stream of sound to the user and also lets you use much larger files. Requires a special server on the sender’s side, and a plug-in on the receiver’s side. RealAudio, QuickTime Streaming, & Windows Media are examples of Audio Streaming Software.

Video RealVideo -.ram files – Any application, wide range of quality settings QuickTime Movie -.mov files – Any application, wider range of quality settings Windows Media -.asf files – Any application, wide range of quality settings Video-editing software – Adobe Premiere, iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Media Cleaner Pro