1. CGMB324: MULTIMEDIA SYSTEM DESIGN
Chapter 1: Introduction To Multimedia

2. Objectives At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
understand the history and development of media, computer and multimedia systems
distinguish between hypertext, hypermedia and multimedia
state and describe the multimedia applications and software tools available

3. History & Development Of Multimedia

4. History Of Multimedia
What can we say about the evolution of media that has taken place for thousands of years?
Since the dawn of time, people have had the need to communicate with one another.
This created what we called as communication media.

5. History Of Multimedia
Newspapers  (perhaps) the first mass communication medium, which used mostly text, graphics, and images.
1895  Gugliemo Marconi sent his first wireless radio transmission at Pontecchio, Italy.
1901  he detected radio waves beamed across the Atlantic.
Initially invented for telegraph, radio is now a major medium for audio broadcasting.

6. History Of Multimedia Television  new media for the 20th century.
It brought video (+audio) and has since changed the world of mass comm.

7. Some Important Events In Computer History
Vannevar Bush ( ) wrote about Memex
a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which it is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility
Vannevar
Bush

8. Some Important Events In Computer History
1960s - Ted Nelson started Xanadu project (The Original Hypertext Project)
Douglas Engelbart demonstrated NLS (oN Line System) - The Debut of The Mouse
Nelson & Van Dam hypertext editor at Brown University.
Engelbart

9. Some Important Events In Computer History
Architecture Machine Group proposal to DARPA: Multiple Media
Negroponte, Wiesner: opened MIT Media Lab in Boston
Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web to CERN (European Organization For Nuclear Research)
1990 – Kristina Hooper Woolsey headed Apple Multimedia Lab, 100 staff, for education

10. Some Important Events In Computer History
U. Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications: NCSA Mosaic
1994 – Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen: Netscape
JAVA language for platform-independent application development.
1998 – XML 1.0 announced as a W3C recommendation
1998 – Handheld MP3 devices (32MB) flash memory
2000 – WWW size estimated over 1 billion pages.

11. Overlapping Technologies
Different branches of multimedia grow together because of new, upcoming multimedia technology and applications.
Two challenges lie ahead:
Timing requirements (synchronization etc.)
Integration requirements (of different media types)

12. Hypertext, Hypermedia & Multimedia

13. Hypertext and Hypermedia
Hypertext  text which contains links to other texts and is usually non-linear
Invented by Ted Nelson around 1965
Hypermedia is not constrained to be text-based.
It can include other media, e.g., graphics, images, and continuous media (audio & video).
Apparently, Ted Nelson was also the first to use this term.
The World Wide Web (WWW) is the best example of hypermedia applications.

14. Hypertext
Ted Nelson

15. Hypertext and Hypermedia

16. Multimedia
The notion of Multimedia Consists of two words: Multi (Latin)= many; much; Medium (Latin) = An intervening substance through which something is transmitted or carried on.

17. Multimedia What is Multimedia?
Multimedia means a (usually) interactive combination of two or more media elements (multimedia building block), such as text, graphics, audio, video and animation integrated using a computer
A multimedia system is a system that supports more than a single type of media.

18. Multimedia Building Block
Digital environment
USER
Elements of Multimedia

19. Multimedia
Multimedia has a number of distinct and unique features, including:
Based on Edgar Dale (Cone Of Learning), on average, people remember:
10% of what they read,
20% of what they hear,
30% of what they see,
50% of what they hear and see,  multimedia approach
multimedia rich elements, multi-sensory delivery system can facilitate greater retention of new knowledge

21. Multimedia Modalities
Modalities are the sensory systems through which a multimedia activity occurs
This includes tactile (touch), gustatory (taste), visual (sight), auditory (hearing), olfactory (smell)
Based on the multimedia elements we have today, only two modalities are regularly used.

22. Multimedia Channels
Channels can be understood as existing within a modality.
For example, with the auditory modality, we have different channels for noises, speech and music.
With the visual modality, we have different channels for words, pictures and movies.

23. Multimedia Channels
Bandwidth is a concept of how much information can be carried by a certain channel within a certain modality.
For example, we can read at the rate of 150 words per minute which is the ‘printed text’ channel within the ‘visual’ modality.
Much like your modem, you are unlikely to reach the theoretical maximum bandwidth of your channel within any modality, in practice.

24. Multimedia Channels
The reason for this discrepancy in practice is because in theory, we assume a perfect encoder and decoder.
For example, English text ‘encoded’ on a page and the English language ‘decoder’ in someone’s head is assumed to be perfectly compatible.
In reality, however, it is highly dependent on the education level of the reader, the nature of the text information presented and many other factors.

25. Multimedia ‘Medium’
A medium can be understood as a set of co-ordinated channels, spanning one or more modalities, which have come to be referred to as a unitary whole, and which possess a cross-channel language of interpretation.
Examples include a television show, which typically uses the auditory and visual modalities; and picture, written text, speech and music channels.

26. Multimedia ‘Medium’
What is meant by a ‘cross-channel language of interpretation’ is that there must be some form of relationship between the channels.
Take the TV show, for example.
The moving pictures and sound are closely related.
In combination, they provide a clearer message than when alone.

27. Multimedia System Characteristics
Multimedia systems must be computer controlled.
All multimedia components are integrated.
The interface to the final user may permit interactivity.
Information must be represented digitally.

28. Multimedia Applications & Software Tools

29. Types of Multimedia Applications
Linear Multimedia
Users have little control over the presentation, just sit back and watches the presentation
The presentation normally plays from the start to end or even loops continually to present the information.
A movie is a common type of linear multimedia

30. Types of Multimedia Applications
Interactive Multimedia
Users dictate the flow of delivery, to control the what and when.
Users have the ability to move around or follow different path through the information presentation.
Advantage: complex domain of information can be presented.
Disadvantage: users might lost in the massive “information highway”.
Useful for: information archive (encyclopedia), education, training and entertainment.

31. Multimedia Applications
Examples of Multimedia Applications
Digital video editing and production systems
Electronic Newspapers/Magazines
Games
Groupware
Home shopping
Interactive TV
Multimedia courseware
Video conferencing
Video-on-Demand (VoD)
Virtual reality

32. Multimedia Software Tools
A fully functional multimedia project utilized different tools and programming language
Music Sequencing & notation
Digital Audio
Graphics & Image editing
Video Editing
Animation
Multimedia Authoring

33. Multimedia Software Tools
1) Audio/Music Sequencing & Notation/Digital Audio
Cakewalk
Supports General MIDI.
Provides several editing views (staff, piano roll, event list) and Virtual Piano.
Can insert WAV files and Windows MCI commands (animation and video) into tracks.
Cool Edit Pro/Adobe Audition
Used for wav file editing with a variety of filters and functions such as reverb, normalizing, noise reduction and amplification

34. Multimedia Software Tools
2) Graphics & Image Editing
Adobe Photoshop
An image & graphics editing tool.
Supports many bitmap formats, e.g., GIF, PNG, JPEG, and BMP
Many filters and effects for photo enhancement
Supports multiple layers
Adobe Illustrator
Powerful publishing tool for creating and editing vector graphics
Easily exported to use on the web
Macromedia Fireworks
Making graphics for the web (bitmap & vector editor, JavaScript generator)

35. Multimedia Software Tools
3) Video Editing
Adobe Premiere
Provides large number (up to 99) of video and audio tracks, superimpositions and virtual clips.
Supports various transitions, filters and motions for clips.
A reasonable desktop video editing tool.
VirtualDub
Freeware
Flexible and expandable video editing software
Many features, filters and effects
Supports several of the latest video and audio codecs

36. Multimedia Software Tools
4) Animation
Multimedia APIs
Java3D – used by Java to construct and render 3D graphics
DirectX – windows API supports video, images, audio and 3D animation  for computer games
OpenGL – 1992, highly portable and multiplatform
Rendering Tools
3D Studio Max – high-end pro tools for character animation, game development, visual effects production.
Softimage XSI – modelling, animation, rendering package for special effects in films and games
Maya – complete modelling package.
RenderMan – by Pixar, excels in creating complex surface appearances (Monsters Inc., Final Fantasy : The spirit within)

37. Multimedia Software Tools
5) Multimedia Authoring - Tools for making a complete multimedia presentation, including animations, where users usually have a lot of interactive controls.
Macromedia Flash
Create interactive movies or games for the web
Macromedia Director
Movie metaphor (the cast includes bitmapped sprites, scripts, music, sounds, and palettes, etc).
Can accept almost any bitmapped file formats.
Lingo script language with own debugger allows more control including external devices, e.g., VCRs and video disk players.
Web authoring features available for fully interactive Shockwave movies over the Web.

38. Multimedia Software Tools
Macromedia Authorware
Iconic/Flow-control metaphor, drag-and-drop interface.
Hyperlinks to link text, digital movies, graphics, and sound.
Compatibility between files produced from PC version and MAC version.
Used mainly for developing courseware
The iconic/flow-control metaphor used by Authorware makes developing courseware easy

39. THE END