1. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Chapter 7: Making Multimedia

2. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Overview Stages of a multimedia project What You Need: The Intangibles What You Need: Hardware What You Need: Software What You Need: Authoring Systems

3. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Stages of a Multimedia Project 1.Planning and costing 2.Designing and producing 3.Testing 4.Delivering

4. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Stages of a Multimedia Project Planning and costing –The needs of a project are analyzed by outlining its messages and objectives. –A plan that outlines the required multimedia expertise is prepared. –A graphic template, the structure, and navigational system are developed. –A time estimate and a budget are prepared. –A short prototype or proof-of-concept is prepared.

5. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Stages of a Multimedia Project (continued) Designing and producing –The planned tasks are performed to create a finished product. –The product is revised, based on the continuous feedback received from the client. Testing –The program is tested to ensure that it meets the objectives of the project, works on the proposed delivery platforms, and meets the client requirements. Delivering –The final project is packaged and delivered to the end user.

6. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved What You Need: The Intangibles 1.Creativity 2.Organization 3.Communication

7. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved What You Need: The Intangibles Creativity –In a multimedia project, being creative implies knowledge of hardware and software. Organization –It is essential to develop an organized outline detailing the skills, time, budget, tools, and resources needed for the project. –Assets such as graphics, sound, and the like should be continuously monitored throughout the project’s execution. –A standardized file-naming procedure should be followed for precise organization and swift retrieval. Communication –Communication among the workgroup and client is essential to the efficient and accurate completion of your project. –Use quality equipment and software for stable and fast networking of the workgroup.

8. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved What You Need: Hardware The most significant platforms for producing and delivering multimedia projects are the Macintosh operating system and Microsoft Windows. The Macintosh as well as the Windows PC offer a combination of affordability, and software and hardware availability. Detailed and animated multimedia can also be created on specialized workstations from Silicon Graphics and Sun Microsystems. Projects must be tested to ensure proper performance in all target environments.

9. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Windows vs. Macintosh –The Microsoft Windows operating system can run on assemblages of hardware from countless manufacturers. –Apple Computer produces both the computer and the operating system. What You Need: Hardware (continued)

10. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Memory and storage devices –The two types of memory are random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM). –RAM enables the simultaneously running of many applications. –ROM is non-volatile. The BIOS program that boots up the computer resides in the ROM. –Hard disks are non-removable mass-storage devices and have a high data storage capacity and data transfer speed. –Flash or thumb drives –CD-ROM / DVD / Blue-Ray What You Need: Hardware (continued)

11. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved What You Need: Software Text editing and word processing tools OCR software –Converts bitmapped characters into electronically recognizable ASCII text. Painting tools allow you to create and modify bitmap images. Drawing tools allow you to create and modify vector graphics. 3-D modeling tools allow rendering of objects in a three- dimensional perspective Image / sound / animation, video, and digital movie - editing tools

12. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved What You Need: Authoring Systems Multimedia authoring tools: provide the framework for organizing and editing the elements of a multimedia project. Authoring software: provides an integrated environment for combining the content and functions of a project. It enables the developer to create, edit, and import data.

13. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Types of authoring tools –Card- and page-based authoring tools –Icon- and object-based authoring tools –Time-based authoring tools What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

14. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Card- and page-based authoring tools –Elements are arranged like pages of a book or cards in a stack. –These tools contain media objects such as buttons, text fields, and graphic objects. –Runtime Revolution and ToolBook are examples of page-based systems. –Characteristics of objects are defined by properties. –Objects may contain scripts that specify a related action. –One or more intermediate files are usually required for handling script actions and routines. –Cards or pages can contain multiple layers. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

15. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Icon- and object-based authoring tools –Icon-based and object-based tools provide a visual programming approach to organizing and presenting multimedia. –Multimedia elements and interaction cues are organized as objects in a flowchart. –Flowcharts can be built by dragging appropriate icons from a library, and then adding the content. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

16. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Time-based authoring tools –Time-based tools are best suited for messages with a beginning and an end. –Adobe’s Flash and Director are time-based development environments. –Adobe Flash Flash is used for delivering rich multimedia content to the Web. It allows the creation of simple static HTML pages with the Flash Player plug-in. –Adobe Director A multimedia database, “Cast,” contains still images, sound files, text, shapes, scripts, movies, and other Director files. Score is a sequencer for displaying, animating, and playing Cast members. Lingo is an object-oriented scripting language that enables interactivity and programmed control. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

17. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Objects –Authoring tools generally treat multimedia elements as objects. –Objects exist in a hierarchical order of parent and child relationships. –Each object is assigned properties and modifiers. –On receiving messages, objects perform tasks depending on the properties and modifiers. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

18. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Choosing an authoring tool 1.Editing and organizing features 2.Programming features 3.Interactivity features 4.Performance tuning and playback features 5.Delivery, cross-platform, and Internet playability features What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

19. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 1) Editing and organizing features –Authoring systems include editing tools to create, edit, and convert multimedia elements such as animation and video clips. –The organization, design, and production process for multimedia involves storyboarding and flowcharting. –Visual flowcharting or an overview facility illustrates project structure at a macro level. 2) Programming features –Visual programming with icons or objects is the simplest and easiest authoring process. –Authoring tools offer “very high level language” (VHLL) or interpreted scripting environment. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

20. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 3) Interactivity features –Interactivity gives the end user control over the content and flow of information in a project. –Simple branching is the ability to go to another section of the multimedia production. –Conditional branching is an activity based on the results of IF-THEN decisions or events. –Structured language supports complex programming logic, subroutines, event tracking, and message passing among objects and elements. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

21. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 4) Performance-tuning and playback features –Achieving synchronization is difficult, considering that performance of the different computers used for multimedia development and delivery varies. –Authoring system should facilitate precise timing of events. –These features should enable developers to build part of a project and then test it immediately. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

22. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved 5) Delivery features –Delivering the project may require building a run-time version of the project, using the multimedia authoring software. –A run-time or standalone version allows a project to play back without the complete authoring software and all its tools and editors. 6) Cross-platform and Internet-playability features –It is important to use tools that facilitate easy transfer across platforms. –Authoring systems provide a means for converting their output to be delivered within the context of HTML or DHTML. What You Need: Authoring Systems (continued)

23. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Summary The basic stages of a multimedia project are planning and costing, design and production, and testing and delivery. Knowledge of hardware and software, as well as creativity and organizational skills, are essential for creating a high-quality multimedia project. Macintosh and Windows are the two most common hardware platforms used in multimedia. LANs, WANs, Ethernet, and client/server software facilitate communication and connectivity among computers. Storage devices include hard disks, RAM, ROM, flash memory and thumb drives, CD-ROM, DVD, and Blu-ray discs.

24. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Summary (continued) Input devices include keyboards, mice touch-screens, scanners, OCR devices, voice recognition software, and digital cameras. Output devices include audio devices, speakers, amplifiers, monitors, video devices, projectors, and printers. Word processors and OCR software are used to handle text in multimedia. Painting and drawing tools, 3-D modeling and animation tools, and image editing tools manipulate the graphical content of the project. Sound-editing tools manipulate the audio content of the project. Format converters and screen-capture tools are helpful accessories.

25. © 2011 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved Multimedia authoring tools provide the framework needed for organizing and editing multimedia elements in a project. The three types of authoring tools are card- or page- based, icon-based or event-driven, and time-based. Choose an authoring tool based on editing, organizing, programming, interactivity, performance-tuning, playback, delivery, cross-platform, and Internet playability features. Summary (continued)