2. Multimedia Authoring Tools
• Multimedia Authoring : These are the tools which provide
the capability for creating a complete multimedia
presentation, including interactive user control, are called
authoringtools/programs.
• Some of the examplesare:
1. Macromedia Flash.
2. Macromedia Director
3. Authorware
4. Quest.
One can also say that multimedia authoring is the creation
of multimedia productions, sometimes called Movies or
Presentations. As we are interested in computer science,
we are mostly interested in interactiveapplications.
2
3. Introduction
• Multimedia authoring tools provide the
framework for organizing and editing the
elements of a multimediaproject.
• Authoring software provides an integrated
environment for combining the content and
functions of aproject.
• It enables the developer to create,edit, and import
data. 3
4. Authoring system inmultimedia
• In multimedia authoring systems, multimedia
elements and events are often regarded 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.
4
5. Authoring toolscapability
• Authoring tools should possess the following capabilities:
1. Interactivity
2. Playback
3. Editing
4. Programming /Scripting
5. Cross Platform
6. Internet Playability
7. Delivery/Distribution
8. Project organization 5
6. Features of authoringtools
• Editing and organizingfeatures.
• Programming features.
• Interactivity features.
• Performance tuning and playbackfeatures.
• Delivery, cross‐platform, and Internet
playability features.
6
7. Editing and organizingfeatures
• Authoring systems include editing tools to
create, edit, and convert multimediaelements
such as animation and videoclips.
• The organization, design, and production
process for multimedia involvesstoryboarding
and flowcharting.
• Visual flowcharting or overview facility
illustrates project structure at a macrolevel.
7
8. Programming features
• Visual programming with icons or objects is the
simplest and easiest authoringprocess.
• Visual authoring tools such asAuthorware and
IconAuthor are suitable for slide shows and
presentations.
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 multimediaproduction.
8
9. Interactivity featurescont:
• Conditional branching is an activity basedon
the results of IF‐THEN decisions orevents.
• Structured language supports complex
programming logic, subroutines, event
tracking, and message passing amongobjects
and elements.
9
10. • Achieving synchronization is difficult,
considering that performance of thedifferent
computers used for multimediadevelopment
and deliveryvaries.
• Authoring system should facilitateprecise
timing of events.
• It should enable developers to build a part of
a project and then test itimmediately. 10
11. Types of authoringtools
• Card‐ and page‐based tools.
• Icon‐based, event‐driven tools.
• Time‐based tools.
11
12. Card‐ and page‐basedauthoring
systems
• Card‐ and page‐based authoring systems
provide a simple and easily understood
metaphor for organizing multimediaelements.
• It contains media objects such asbuttons, text
fields, and graphicobjects.
• It provides a facility for linking objectsto
pages or cards.
12
14. – Example of authoringtools
• HyperCard (Mac)
• ToolBook (Mac /Windows)
14
15. Icon‐based, event‐driven
tools.
• Icon‐based, event‐driven tools provide avisual
programming approach to organizeand
present multimedia.
• Multimedia elements and interaction cuesare
organized as objects in aflowchart.
• Flowchart can be built by dragging
appropriate icons from a library, andthen
adding the content. 15
18. Time‐based authoring tools
• Time‐based tools are best suited formessages
with a beginning and anend.
• Some time‐based tools facilitatenavigation
and interactive control.
• Macromedia’s Director and Flash aretime‐
based development environments.
18
20. • Some of the technologies which we will focuson:
1. Multimedia AuthoringMetaphors.
2. Multimedia Production
3. Multimedia Presentation
4. AutomaticAuthoring.
1. Multimedia Authoring Metaphors:Authoring is the process of
creatingmultimediaapplications.Most authoring programs use
one of several authoring metaphors, also known as authoring
paradigm.
Some common authoring metaphorsare:
a. ScriptingLanguagemetaphor:The idea here is to use a special
language to enable interactivity and allow conditional, jumps,
loops, functions, macros e.g.open scriptlanguage
b. Slide Show metaphor: Slide shows are by default a linear
presentation.Although tools exist to perform jumps in slide
shows, very few practitioners usethem.
e.g.Power Point, ImageQ.
20
21. c.Hierarchical Metaphor: Here user controllable
elements are organized into a tree structure. Such a
metaphor is often used in menu driven programs.
d. Iconic/Flow control metaphor: Graphical iconsare
available in toolbox, and authoring proceeds a
flowchart with iconsattached.
e.g.Authorware byMacromedia.
Some other typesare:
1. Frame Metaphor
2. Card/Scripting Metaphor.
3. Cast/Score Scriptingmetaphor. 21
22. • Multimedia Production: A Multimedia project can involve a
host of people with specialized skills. Multimedia production
can easily involve an art director
, graphics designer
,production
artist, user interface designer
, sound designer
, 2D and 3D
animator.
The final part is the design phase which includes prototyping and
testing. Some multimedia designers use an authoring tool. User
testing is off course extremely important before the final
development phase.
• Multimedia Presentation: This section includes some effectsto
keep in mind for presenting multimediacontent.
a. Graphics Style: Many presentations are meant for business
displays, rather than appearing on the screen. Human visual
dynamics are considered in regard to how such presentations
must be constructed.
b. Color principles and Guidelines: Some color schemes and art
styles are best combined with a certain theme or style.A
general hint is not to use too many colors.
22
23. c.Fonts: For effective visual communication, large
fonts(18 t036 points) are best, with no more that
6‐8 lines per screen.
d.Animation
e.Video Transition: indicates a change to nextsession.
• Some of the technical design issues on which one
should focus are:
1. Computer platform (Windows, UNIX/Linuxetc.)
2. Video Format and Resolution.
(NTSC, PAL, SECAM) 1280X1024, 32 bit
3.Memory and Disk spacerequirements.
4.Delivery Methods‐ CDs, DVDs, Handwritten, Printouts,
or E‐Mail
23
24. • AutomaticAuthoring: By this term one can mean that either an
advanced helper or a mechanism to facilitate creation of more
useful multimedia documentfor existing sources.
Some important terms which one should know are:
a. Hypermedia Document: Generally three steps are involved in
producing document meant to be viewed non linearly:
Information generation orcapture. Authoring
Publication.
Authoring is a major aspect among the three.
b.Externalization Vs Linearization
Includes hyperlinks which allows us the freedom to partially mimic
the authors thought.
c.Semiautomatic migration of Hyperlink.
d.Hyperimages
Reference: Ch2, Fundamentals of Multimedia, Ze‐NianLi, pearson
24
25. • Some other type of authoring tools
25
1.
2.
Card or Page basedtools
Icon based, event driventools
3. Time based and presentation Tools.
• Professional Development Tools: In addition to all
hardware equipments described earlier
, developers
also need software tools for building multimedia
applications.
a. T
extEditing Tools :These tools are used to write a
letter
, invoice, user manual for a project and other
documents. These tools are most often tools for any
multimedia project.
e.g. Word pad, MS Word, Open OfficeWord.
26. • Features of Textediting tools:
1. Opening Existing Files, creating new files, saving it on
some storage device and printing.
2. Find or replace the text from a document of multiple
pages, cut, copy, paste of a selected document or whole
file.
3. Insert page numbers on top, bottom or centre of the
page, insert data, symbol, writing, formula and
equation, insert comment on document.
4. Format the font of the text, making columns in the
document, changing background color.
5. Checking the document for spelling andgrammar,
protect the document.
6. Making tables with variable numbers of columns and
rows, sort the table and change the style of the table.
26
27. b.PresentationT
ools:Computer based presentation technology is used to
communicate more efficiently with the students, business delegates,
sponsors and the clients. Presentation tools are currently the single
largest application for multimedia inbusiness.
Presentation tools allows a great variety of delivery modes. The main
presentation tools are:
•
•
•
•
Microsoft PowerPoint
Corel Presentation
Macromedia Director
AdobeAcrobat
Some of the Features of MSPowerPoint:
1. Youcan create a new presentation or open the existing one.
2. While creating the new document, you can also take help of the wizard
which will guide youto make it.
3. It has option to make various slide layouts with different color
schemes.
4. Youcan apply various animatic styles and slide transition methods.
27
28. c.Painting and Drawing tools: These are perhaps the most
important thing for all the multimedia projects. Paintingand
Drawing are generally inspired by the beauty in people,
natural or living and nonliving things.
Features:
1. All the drawing tools have the GUI with menu, tool bars and
dialogue box.
2. Tools to draw a straight line, rectangular area, circleand
basic shapes.
3. Pencil draw freehand with a pencil and different color
selection options.
4. Eraser tools
5. Support for test of different size, shape and type.
6. Good color schemes with differentoptions.
7. Paint brush tool.
28
29. d. Image Editing T
ools: An image is a spatial representation of
an object. Image editing tools are required to reshape the
existing images. The image editing tools can be used to
create an image from scratch as well as image from scanner
,
digital cameras, files or from other painting and drawing
tools.
e.Animation T
ools: An animation is to show the still images at a
certain rate to give it visual effects. The visual effects might
be time varying position, shape, color or change in
orientation or focus.A computer based animation is
performed by a computer with variousgraphical tools.
e.g.2D and 3 D Animator, Flash, Image Forge.
f.Plug‐ins :A plug in is a separate ode module that behaves as
though it is a part of the web browser.
e.g.Apple Quick Time,Adobe Acrobat Reader
,Macromedia
Flash Player
29
30. g. Sound Editing T
ools:Sound is a key component in
editing.The presence of sound greatly enhances the
effect of apresentation.
e.g.Sound Edit pro,Audio edit deluxe,Audio Editor Pro,
Goldwave digital audioeditor
.
h. Video Editing Tools:In this collection of video material is
either compiled and altered from its original form to
create a newversion.
Types:
Linear Editing: follows a mechanical process, employs the
use of camcorder
, VCR,etc.
Non‐linear Editing: is almost digital. It works on the
principle of cut andpaste.
e.g. imovie, windows movie maker
, videoedit magic.
30
31. LAN andMultimedia
• Multimedia places greater demand on network and system.
• Types of Network: LAN, WAN andMAN
a Network‐ is restricted to asmall
rea, usually to a small number of stations.
• LAN‐LocalAre
geographical a
Similarly WAN refers to networks across cities and
countries. Between LAN and WAN, the term MAN is
sometimes used.
• LANs are designed to allow resources to be shared between
personal computers or workstations. The resources to be
shared can include hardware (e.g.,a printer), software(e.g.,
an application program), ordata.
31
32. • Most LANs use a broadcast technique. In LAN each PC is equipped with
an interface that is connected to a cable.The PCs together with a file
server and associated peripherals such as printer forms a node of the
network.
• The most popular type of LANs present are Ethernet and T
okenRing.
• Some of the functionsare:
1. Run conventional applications.
2. Transferring files in form ofpackets.
3. Playing games.
4. Watching video/ listeningaudio.
32
33. • The main technology on which LAN technology works are IEEE802
reference model. LANBasicallyworks in two different layers.
TCP/IP
OSI
Application
Presentation
Session
T
ransport
Network
Data Link
Physical
Application
T
ransport
Internet IPv4,IPv6
Network Access Token Ring, Ethernet
Physical 100/10 Base‐T
,1000 BaseT
The two layers in which LAN technology generally works are Physical
and Data LinkLayer.In Particular DLLfunctionality is enhanced
and is dividedinto‐
1. Medium Access Layer(MAC) :This layer assembles or de assembles
frames upon transmission and reception, performs addressing and
error correction and regulates error control.
33
34. 2. Logical LinkLayer(LLC):This layer performs flow and error
control and MAC‐Layer addressing. It also acts as an interface
to higherlayers.
• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) :A metropolitan
area network (MAN) is designed to extend over an entire
city. It may be a single network such as a cable television
network, or it may be a means of connecting a number
of LANs into a larger network so that resources may be
shared LAN‐to‐LAN as well as device‐to‐device.
• A MAN may be wholly owned and operated by a private company, or it
may be a service provided by a public company, such as a local
telephone company. Many telephone companies provide a popular
MAN service called Switched Multi‐megabit Data Services(SMDS).
Fig:MAN
34
35. • Wide Area Network (WAN): A wide area network (WAN)
provides long‐distance transmission of data, voice,image,
and video information over large geographical areas that
may comprise a country, a continent, or even the whole
world
• In contrast to LANs (which depend on their own hardware
for transmission), WANs may utilize public, leased, or
private communication devices, usually in combinations,
and cantherefore span an unlimited number of miles.
• A WAN that is wholly owned and used by a single
company is often referred to as an enterprise network.
Fig:WAN
35
36. Following are some of the active IEEE 802 subcommittees and the
areas they define:‐
1. 802.1 (Higher layer LANProtocol): The relationship between
the 802.X standards and the OSI reference model, the
interconnection and management of theLANs.
2. 802.2 (LLC):The general standard for logical linkcontrol.
3. 802.3 (Ethernet) :Mediumaccess control and physical layer
specifications for Ethernet.
4. 802.5‐ T
okenRing
5. 802.10‐ Security
6. 802.11‐Wireless LAN
7. 802.14‐ Cable TV Based broad band communication network
8. 802.16‐ Broadband wireless.
36
37. • Ethernet:It is a standard for physical layer access
developed by Xerox.It is a packet switched bus‐network.
It is the most popular LAN tilldate. This is a key standard
given by IEEE 802.3 committee in 1982. In this all
devices are logically connected in a line to a single cable.
• Types of Ethernet:
1. Ethernet (Traditional) 10Mbps
2. Fast Ethernet 100Mbps
3. Gigabit Ethernet 1Gbps
One major drawback is that this scheme is unsuitable to
some extent for multimedia applications that require
the transmission of large amounts of time‐dependent
data like video in a continuous stream.
37
38. • Some of the Ethernet Standardsare:
1. 10Base‐5: suitable for network that consists of a small
number of workstations and peripherals. Maximumlength
is 500 meter and maximum diameter is 2500 meter
.
2. 10Base‐T: This works on Star Topology. Each node
connected to a central hub. It is the best selling network till
date for multimedia networks.
3. Isochronous Ethernet (IsoENET) :Developed byNational
Semiconductors and IBM for a single wiring scheme. It
gives a 6 M bits/sec service.
4. 100 Base T
:It is compatible with CSMA/CD. It works on
100 M bits/sec in segment over 100 meter in length in star
shaped configuration with a central repeater/hub with a
network diameter of 250meters.
5. 100Base VG: Developed by HP andAT& TBell Labs. It has
all the features of the existing LANs along with added
security and dedicated bandwidth. It runs on voice
grade(VG)
38
39. •
•
•
•
•
39
• LAN Software
• LAN operating system is required to operate on the LAN system. It
has basically twoaspects:
a.ServerSoftware
b.Workstation Software
• There are various types of LAN operating system. Some popular LAN
operating systemare:
Novel Netware, Ethernet
Curves, ArcNet
LAN Server
, OmniNet
PC Net, IBM PCLAN
Etherlik Plus,etc.
42. HYPER MEDIA MESSAGINGE
• mail based document interchange known as
messaging service and contribute to corporate
productivity in following ways
• 1. it strengthens the automation of documentation life
cycle
• 2. It allows document sharing without forcing an
organization to standardize on a particular word
processor.
• 3. It cuts down paper output generated by
organization.
43. MOBILE MESSAGING
•Mobile messaging represents a new dimension
in the user’s interaction with the messaging
•The design impact of mobile messaging will be
on the storage and delivery of multimedia
objects for hypermedia messaging applications
•Handheld and desktop devices requires
complementary backend services effectively
manage communications for large organization
44. HYPER MEDIA MESSAGING COMPONENTS
When the multimedia document is a part of the messaging system, then it
is called as hypermedia message.
An authoring sequence for a message based on online application consists
of following steps
1.The user may have watched some video presentation on the material and
may want to attach a part of that clip in the message
2.Some pages of the book are scanned as images
3.The user writes the text using a word processor.
The above three components must combined in a message using an
authoring tool provided by the messaging system
45. TEXT MESSAGE
•Messaging systems were designed to allow the
users to communicate using the short messages
•Classes of service determine if the message is
delivered immediately or according to its
sequence in and orderly queue of messages.
46. RICH TEXT MESSAGES
•Rich text format is used for storage as well as
import and export of text files across a variety of
word processing and messaging systems
•Windows based desktop publishing application is
rich text enabled because it can integrate
formatting information along with the text
•Rich text messages provide the capability to create
messages in one word processor and edit it in
another processor at recipient end
47. VOICE MESSAGES
•The invention of telephone allowed communications
among people dispersed geographically
•Voice mail systems answer telephones using recorded
messages and direct the caller through a sequence of
touch tone key operations until the caller is connected
to the disertive or desired party
•MIDI was developed by music industry to allow
computer control and music recordings from musical
instruments
48. FULL MOTION VIDEO
MANAGEMENT
•The full motion video for information repositories
and memo is used for database
• More information can be 'conveyed and explained
in a short full-motion video clip than can be
conveyed In a long text document. Because a
picture is equivalent to thousand words.
•Full motion video have been used for decades for
conveying as well
49. Full Motion video Authoring System
• An authoring system is an important component of a
multimedia messaging system.
• A good authoring system must provide a number of tools
for the creation and editing of multimedia objects.
• The subset of tools that are necessary are listed below:
1. A video capture program - to allow fast and simple
capture of digital video from analog sources such as a
video camera or a video tape.
2. Compression and decompression Interfaces for
compressing the captured video as it is being captured..
50. Full-Motion Video Playback Systems
• A number of factors are involved in playing back
the video correctly. They are:
1.How the compression format used for the storage
of the video clip relates to the available hardware
and software facilities for decompression.
2.Resolution of the screen and the system facilities
available for managing display windows.
3.The CPU processing power and the expected level
of degradation as well as managing the degraded
output on the fly.
53. • Blender is a 3D graphics application
released as free software under the GNU
General Public License
• Blender has a robust feature set
similar in other high-end 3D software
such as Maya Cinema 4D, 3ds Max
and Lightwave
• Like rigid body, fluid, cloth and
softbody dynamics, modifier based
modeling tools, powerful character
animation tools, and Python for
embedded scripting.
55. • developed as an in-house application by
the Dutch animation studio NeoGeo
and Not a Number Technologies (NaN)
• It was primarily authored by Ton
Roosendaal
• The program was initially distributed as
shareware until NaN went bankrupt in
2002.
56. • The creditors agreed to release Blender
under the terms of the GNU General
Public License, for a one-time payment of
US$100,670 at the time
• on September 7, 2002 it was announced
that enough funds had been collected
and that the Blender source code would
be released
• Blender is now Free Software and it is
being actively developed under the
supervision of the Blender Foundation.
58. • In January/February 2002 it was quite clear
that NaN could not survive and would close
the doors in March
• they found the energy for doing at least one
more release, 2.25.
• As a last personal tag, the artists and
developers decided to add a chimpanzee
primitive and named it Suzanne
• Suzanne is Blender's alternative to more
common "test models“
• A low-polygon model with only 500 faces, it is
often used as a quick and easy way to test
material, texture, and lighting setups
61. • Blender features an internal filesystem that
allows one to pack multiple scenes into a
single file (called a ".blend" file).
• can be used as a library to borrow pre-
made content
• Snapshot ".blend" files can be auto-saved
periodically by the program, making it
easier to survive a program crash
• All scenes, objects, materials, textures,
sounds, images, post-production effects
for an entire animation can be stored in a
single ".blend" file
62. • Interface configurations are retained in the
".blend" files, such that what you save is what
you get upon load.
• The actual ".blend" is starting with its own
header that specifies the version.
• Many import/export scripts that run inside
Blender itself, make it possible to inter-
operate with other 3D tools.
64. •
•
•
Blender has a relatively small installation size and
runs on several popular computing platforms
Support for a variety of geometric primitives,
including polygon meshes, fast subdivision
surface modeling, NURBS surfaces, and digital
sculpting
Versatile internal rendering capabilities and
integration with YafRay, a Free Software ray
tracer
65. •Keyframed animation tools
– armature (skeletal), hook, curve and lattice-
based deformations, non-linear animation,
constraints, soft body dynamics including
mesh collision detection, fluid dynamics,
Bullet rigid body dynamics, particle based
hair, and a particle system with collision
detection.
66. • Python scripting for tool creation
and prototyping, game logic,
importing and exporting from other
formats
• Basic non-linear video/audio editing
and compositing capabilities
67. •Game Blender, a sub-project,
offers interactivity features such
as collision detection, dynamics
engine, and programmable logic.
•allows the creation of stand-alone,
real- time applications
•ranging from architectural visualization
to video game construction
69. • Blender had a reputation as being
difficult to learn, more than commercial
programs like Maya or Cinema 4D
• In Blender, nearly every function has a
direct keyboard shortcut
• Now efforts to visually enhance the user
interface, with the introduction of color
themes, transparent floating widgets, a
new and improved object tree overview,
and other small improvements
70. • Editing modes
– The two primary modes of work are Object Mode and
Edit Mode, which are toggled with the Tab key
– . Object mode is used to manipulate individual objects
as a unit
– while Edit mode is used to manipulate the actual
object data
• Workspace management
– The Blender GUI is made up of one or more screens,
each of which can be divided into sections and
subsections that can be of any type of Blender's
views or window-types
– Each window-type's own GUI elements can be
controlled with the same tools that manipulate 3D
view
– The GUI viewport and screen layout is fully
user customizable
71.
72.
73. Suppor
t
• In the month following the release of
Blender v2.44, it was downloaded
800,000 times
• Most users learn Blender through
community tutorials and discussion
forums on the internet such as Blender
Artists
75. • The first large professional project in which
the free version of Blender was used in
Spider- Man 2
• Friday or Another Day was the first
35mm feature film to use Blender for all
the special effects, made on GNU/Linux
workstations
76. • Elephants Dream/Project Orange
– In September 2005, some of the most notable
Blender artists and developers began working
on a short film using primarily free software,
known as the Orange Movie Project
– The resulting film, Elephants Dream,
premiered on March 24, 2006
77. • Big Buck Bunny
– On October 1, 2007, a new team started
working on a second open project, "Peach"
– for the production of the short movie Big
Buck Bunny
– The movie had its premiere on April 10, 2008
78. • Yo Frankie!/Project Apricot
– Apricot is a project for production of a game
based on the universe and characters of the
Peach movie (Big Buck Bunny) using free
software
– The game is entitled Yo Frankie
– The game was released on December 9,
2008, under the GNU GPL
79. • Plumíferos
– Plumíferos, a commercial animated feature
film created entirely in Blender, is currently
in the works
80. Referenc
es
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blender_(software)
Kassenaar, Joeri (2005-05-21). "Brief history of the Blender
logo". http://www.mopi.nl/blogo/. Retrieved on 2007-01-18.
Blender.org history". Amsterdam. 2008-06.
http://www.blender.org/blenderorg/blender-
foundation/history/.
Roosendaal, Ton (2005-06). "Blender License".
http://www.blender.org/BL/. Retrieved on 2007-01-
19.
blender.org - Get Blender
Comparison of 3d tools -
CGWiki blender.org -
Architecture
http://www.blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-
248/ http://www.blender.org/features-gallery/testimonials