Graphics, Video, Animation. Use of good graphics, animation and video impacts on the effectiveness of the multimedia application. The creation of good.

Graphics, Video, Animation

Use of good graphics, animation and video impacts on the effectiveness of the multimedia application. The creation of good quality computer graphics, animation and video can be both difficult and time consuming. Make the most of the graphics capabilities of the host computer and the tools that are available for production of material.

Graphics Fundamental to multimedia Pictures, drawings, diagrams, charts, graphs, photographs, paintings, cartoons or maps Research has proved effectiveness and importance of graphics in teaching and learning

Graphics - negative aspects Poor use of graphics can interfere with learning process Avoid using graphics gratuitously Avoid inclusion of too many graphics

Graphics - How they help attracting learner attention directing learner action illustrating quantifiable constructs representing concrete objects representing abstract concepts simplifying complex information

Pictures are easily remembered Remembered better than textual information

Graphics - cultural issues Useful for cross-cultural instruction E.g. Reduce the size and number of editions of documents by fewer changes of written language reduce translation cost ease learning by reducing ambiguity and increasing memorability

Be aware that non-verbal information is very much culturally determined Don’t assume that graphics mean the same thing or are interpreted in same way across cultures Downplay or disguise cultural or national differences

Replace realistic graphics with simplified ones. Be wary of using  religious or mythological symbols  animals  national emblems  cartoons

Graphics - Types Bit-mapped (often called sprites) Object based (often called vector graphics)

Bitmaps excellent for photo-realistic images reasonably fast display time easily scanned in scalable, but definition usually lost unless carried out in editing software editable but can be difficult highly inefficient in disc storage (large file sizes)

uncompressed file sizes depends on colour resolution of the image e.g. 640x480x16 colours (4 bits) = 150 000 bytes 640x480x256 colours (8 bits) = 300 000 bytes 640x480x32k colours (16 bits) = 600 000 bytes

variety of image formats (PCX, TIF, GIF, BMP, JPEG, PICT etc)

Object Based 2-D/3-D drawings poor realistic images display time can sometimes be slow – depending on complexity of drawing not easily scanned in scalable with no loss of definition editable highly efficient in disc storage file size generally independent of colour resolution

General points Authorware has its own very simple and limited object-based graphics editor for use only within Authorware applications. Majority of multimedia authoring tools use only bit-mapped images and many support only a limited number of image formats

Not all formats are cross platform  It can be a minefield! Good bit-map image editing software should be capable of importing & exporting a wide range of bit-map images

Also provide a wide range of image editing/manipulation features (e.g. scaling, rotation, cutting, pasting, colour touching, brightening, darkening, sharpening etc.)

Video Digital Video- (full motion, digitised images (films tv programmes etc.) Video is comparatively expensive and difficult to develop Only use when it serves a specific purpose or enhances the likelihood of learning

Video - Advantages Portrayal of concepts using motion  the alteration of space and time  the observation of dangerous processes in a safe environment  dramatisation of historical or complex events  demonstration of sequential processes the viewer can review

Video - types of applications Clips of video Streamed video Navigable (virtual reality) video

Video - conversion Digitising reducing colours choosing frame rate sizing windows compression

Video - formats Audio Visual Interleave/AVI – Microsoft (PC) QuickTime (QT,MOV) – Apple (MAC/PC) MPEG – Platform independent /scaleable /highly compressed M-JPEG – Platform independent /scaleable /highly compressed DVI – Intel/IBM proprietary system

Need specialist hardware/software to create/edit/view files - video capture boards - file compression software to reduce file sizes - runtime software required to display files (AVI/QT) - hardware decompression board/software (MPEG/M-JPEG)

Need acres of disc storage to capture/edit video 30 seconds of uncompressed video at 160x120x16-bit colour can occupy 15- 30 MB of storage 1 minute of compressed video at 160x120x16-bit colour can occupy 10 Mb of storage

Example video editing/splicing software Adobe Premiere (MAC/PC) Digital Video Producer (PC) Avid Media Suite (MAC) Final Cut Pro (Mac) Final Cut Express (Mac) iMovie (MAC)

Animation Animation– Graphics may be simple, static images, simple moving images, or complex animated images Can also be achieved by changing the position of an object or sprite on Screen, to create illusion of movement (e.g. motion icon in Authorware uses this technique)

Use only when it is consistent with the learning task The influence of animation on learners is subtle Computer-based animation may be used to attract attention as much as it is to provide direct instruction

Formats as for digital video Specialist software and hardware also needed

Types of Digital animation Frame-based animation - creating a series of individual cells Morphing - transforms the form of one object smoothly into another form 3-D animation - create objects that are more realistic in form and that appear to move through three dimensional space