3. Overview
• Stages of a multimedia project
• What You Need: The Intangibles
• What You Need: Hardware
• What You Need: Software
• What You Need: Authoring Systems
• Multimedia Teams
4. Stages of a Multimedia Project
• Planning and costing
– Project needs identified
– Project plan created
– Graphic look and feel developed, navigation system
developed
– Budget and time estimate prepared
– Prototype (proof of concept) is developed
5. Stages of a Multimedia Project
• Designing and producing
– Product plan carried out
– Product revised based on stakeholder feedback
6. • Testing ensures product:
– Meets the project objectives
– Works on the proposed delivery platforms
– Meets the client requirements.
• The final project is packaged and delivered to the end
user
Stages of a Multimedia Project
8. What You Need: The Intangibles
• Creativity
– Knowledge of hardware and software is required for
creativity in multimedia
9. What You Need: The Intangibles
• Organization
– Required to develop an outline that details the
required skills, time, budget, tools, and resources
– Required to manage media assets
– Required to create a standardized file-naming
procedure
10. What You Need: The Intangibles
• 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.
12. Members of a Multimedia Team
A multimedia team consists of the following:
Project
Manager
Interface
Designer
Instrl
Designer
Multi-media
Designer
Programmer
Audio
Specialist
Video
Specialist
Web
Producer
Writer
Graphic
Designer
Animator
QA
Specialist
13. Members of a Multimedia Team
• A team of skilled individuals is required
to create a good multimedia project.
• Team building refers to activities that help
a group and its members function at optimal levels.
• The diverse range of skills required for a project is
called the multimedia skillset.
14. What You Need: Multimedia Skills
• The team
– Project managers oversee the entire project.
– Multimedia designers ensure that the project is visually
pleasing and friendly.
– Interface designers create software that lets the user
access or modify the content.
– Writers create character, action, and interactivity.
15. What You Need: Multimedia Skills
• The team (continued)
– Video specialists shoot, edit, and prepare footage for
delivery on DVD or the Web.
– Audio specialists select music and talent, schedule
recording sessions, and digitize recorded material.
– Multimedia programmers integrate all the elements of
the project using an authoring system or
programming language.
– Producers of multimedia for the Web coordinate the
creation and changes of web pages.
18. What You Need: Hardware
• Historically, multimedia was developed on Silicon
Graphics and Sun Microsystems workstations
• Testing must occur on all target platforms
19. What You Need: Hardware
• Windows vs. Macintosh
– Windows operating system runs on computers built by
a variety of manufacturers
– The Apple OS runs on computers built by Apple
20. What You Need: Hardware
• Networking Macs and PCs:
– Local area networks (LANs) connect computers
that are close to each other
• Ethernet is the most common networking
technology
• Client/server software allows computers
to communicate
21. What You Need: Hardware
• Networking Macs and PCs:
– Wide area networks (WANs) connect computers
over a diverse geographical area
– Used by large corporations
– Expensive to install and maintain
• Internet service providers (ISPs) connect computers to
the internet via a WAN
22. What You Need: Hardware
• Connections
– Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)
– Universal Serial Bus (USB)
– FireWire (IEEE 1394)
– Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
23. What You Need: Hardware
IDE:
• Connections are also
known as Advanced
Technology
Attachment (ATA)
• These are usually
internal devices such as
hard drives, CD-ROM
drives, and DVD-ROM
drives
Image from Wikepedia article on Advanced
Technology Attachments
24. What You Need: Hardware
USB:
• A standard for connecting
devices to the computer
using the plug-and-play
system
• Uses a single cable to
connect 127 USB peripherals
to a single PC
Image: http://www.usbcables.com/assets/images/white-usb-extension-cable-A-TO-A.jpg
25. What You Need: Hardware
FireWire:
• Introduced by Apple in the
1980s
• Good for high-bandwidth
serial data transfer (digital
video)
• Can connect multiple
computers and peripheral
devices (peer-to-peer)
http://www.eachcable.com/UploadFiles/20091214152250547.jpg
26. What You Need: Hardware
SCSI:
• Connects internal and
external peripheral
equipment and devices
• Is preferred for real-time
video editing, network
servers, and situations that
require mirroring
http://files.cablewholesale.com/hires/10n3-141.jpg
27. What You Need: Hardware
Memory and storage devices
• Required for multimedia projects
• Depend on the project's content and scope.
• Random access memory (RAM)
• Enables simultaneous use of many applications
• Read-only memory (ROM)
• Non-volatile – boots up computer
28. What You Need: Hardware
Memory and storage devices
• Hard disks
• Flash drives (USB)
• CD-ROM – good for finished multimedia projects
• CD-RW can be completely erased
• CD-RW recorder can rewrite 700 mb of data 1000 times
• DVD - optical disc technology used to distribute
multimedia projects
• Blue-Ray – used for high def television, mass storage
29. What You Need: Hardware
Input devices
• An optical character recognition (OCR) device
• Quick Response (QR) codes
• Voice recognition systems
• Microphones and cables
• Digital cameras
• Scanners
30. What You Need: Hardware
Output devices
• External stereo speakers
• External monitors
• Projectors
• Color printers
http://muhammadalijannah.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/output-device.jpg
32. Text editing and word processing tools
• Word processors such as Microsoft Word and
WordPerfect
• OpenOffice is a free, downloadable word processing
program
What You Need: Software
33. What You Need: Software
OCR software
• Converts bitmapped
characters into ASCII text
• Makes use of probability and
expert system algorithms
• Is very accurate and saves
time and effort
Image from: http://gadgetsgo.com/images/P/Topscan-ocr-optical-characer-recognition-software-document-PR-01.jpg
34. What You Need: Software
Painting tools allow you to create and modify bitmap
images
• PhotoShop, Fireworks, Sumopaint, Pxlr
http://0.tqn.com/d/webclipart/1/0/n/p/4/Image-for-file-types3.png
35. What You Need: Software
Drawing tools allow you to create and modify vector
graphics (Illustrator, Inkscape)
• Vector graphics reduce download time and reduce
scaling problems with web graphics
http://0.tqn.com/d/webclipart/1/0/n/p/4/Image-for-file-types3.png
36. What You Need: Software
• Painting and drawing software features
include:
– An intuitive graphical user interface
– Scalable dimensions
– Multiple undo capability
– Scalable text font support
– Support for third-party special effect plug-ins
– Layering capability
38. What You Need: Software
• Painting and drawing software features
include (continued)
– Painting features such as smoothing coarse-edged
objects into the background with anti-aliasing.
39. What You Need: Software
• 3-D modeling tools allow rendering of 3-D graphics
– VectorWorks, AutoDesk Maya, Inkscape, and 3D
Studio Max
– Many applications allow you to export and save
moving images as QuickTime or AVI animation files
– Take a long time to render
41. What You Need: Software
3-D modeling tools allow rendering of objects in a
three-dimensional perspective
42. What You Need: Software
• 3-D modeling software features include:
– Good color and palette management
– Multiple dimension windows and unlimited cameras
– Lathe and extrude features
– Ability to drag and drop primitive shapes, sculpt
organic objects
– Color and texture mapping
43. What You Need: Software
• Image-editing tools
– Are specialized and powerful tools for enhancing and
retouching existing bitmapped images
– Many painting and drawing programs also serve
as image editors
– Features include conversion of image-data types and
file formats, masking features, employment
of virtual memory scheme, etc.
– Support third-party plug-ins
44. What You Need: Software
• Sound-editing tools
– Enables the user to see music as a waveform as well
as hear sound
– This is done by drawing a representation of sound in
fine increments
45. What You Need: Software
• Animation, video, and digital movie tools
– Animation is a sequence of bitmapped graphic
scenes or frames, rapidly played back.
– Animations can be made within some authoring
systems by moving objects or sprites to simulate
motion.
– Moviemaking tools take advantage of QuickTime
and AVI formats to create, edit, and present digitized
motion video segments.
46. What You Need: Software
• Helpful accessories
– Screen-capture software enables the user
to move bitmapped images by placing them
on the clipboard.
– Format converters are useful for projects where the
source material originates on different platforms.
48. What You Need: Authoring Systems
Provide:
• a framework for organizing and editing the
elements of a multimedia project
• an integrated environment for combining the
content and functions of a project
• A means for creating, editing, and importing data
49. What You Need: Authoring Systems
• Helpful ways to get started:
– Use pre-made templates, wizards, and styles
to save time on page setup
– Improve document appearance with tables, bulleted
and numbered lists, and symbols
50. What You Need: Authoring Systems
• Making instant multimedia
– The scope of your project determines the
appropriate production tool
– Modern office productivity software can perform
many simple multimedia tasks
– Most modern PCs have some multimedia creation
tools built in
51. What You Need: Authoring Systems
Most word processing programs allow you to
include various image formats, movies, and
digitized sounds (including voice annotations).
52. What You Need: Authoring Systems
Spreadsheets can include embedded objects
made with other applications.
53. What You Need: Authoring Systems
A FileMaker Pro employee database can
include image and sound resources.
54. What You Need: Authoring Systems
Microsoft PowerPoint provides multimedia linking
and embedding features.
55. What You Need: Authoring Systems
Types of authoring systems
• Card- and page-based authoring
tools
• Icon- and object-based authoring
tools
• Time-based authoring tools
56. What You Need: Authoring Systems
• 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.
57. What You Need: Authoring Systems
• Choosing an authoring tool
– Editing and organizing features
– Programming features
– Interactivity features
– Performance tuning and playback features
– Delivery, cross-platform, and Internet playability
features
58. What You Need: Authoring Systems
• 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.
