Multimedia

Basic Definition

Multimedia can be defined as any combination of two or more of the

following:-

 Text
 Graphics
 Sound
 Animation
 Video

Multimedia combines text, photographic images, video, animations and

sound to provide the means to visualize and interact with information in
a meaningful way.

It makes electronic advertising more interesting as the television and

movies by incorporating the sound and video checks into the computer
presentation.

The word multimedia simply means being able to communicate in more

than one way for better interaction.

In other words, execution of text, sound, graphics and animation

simultaneously is the function of multimedia

Hence the basic components of multimedia are text, sound, graphics,

animation and video. A multimedia based computer must have all the
needed hardware and software require to combine these components

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Application of Multimedia

Multimedia technology can be used in variety of sectors. Virtual reality is

the multimedia tool used for performing remote control applications.

1. Entertainment
Software industry has developed lots of real life like games by in
including text, graphics, sound and animation.
Virtual reality has made computer game adventure. Multimedia
games allow children to experience the joy of driving cars of different type
and model, fly aircraft play and musical instrument and so on.

2. Education

In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training

courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopaedia
and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations,
text about a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various
information formats. Edutainment is an informal term used to describe
combining education with entertainment, especially multimedia
entertainment.

They are used in training centers(eg.). In air force, candidates trained

to control on aircraft using flight simulators.

3. Medicine

In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or

they can simulate how the human body is affected by diseases spread by
viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it.

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4. Mathematical and Scientific Research

In Mathematical and Scientific Research, multimedia is mainly used for

modeling and simulation. For example, a scientist can look at a
molecular model of a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at
a new substance. Representative research can be found in journals such
as the Journal of Multimedia.

5. Engineering

Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for

anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial
training. Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as
collaboration between creative professionals and software engineers.

6. Business

Multimedia is used in business to enhance quality of the business

communication. Now we can advertisement and corporate presentation,
incorporating multimedia or video conferencing, Another activity that
involves multimedia to get together for discussion on the internet.

Elements of Multimedia
Text:
This involves displaying words on the screen. This is used to
provide a lot of information, so program always used it. Text appearance
can be made attractive and impressive using special tools namely bold
face, blink, underline etc.,

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Graphics or Pictures

Computer can also produce photograph quality images on the screen

explaining topics using pictures along with text will make the audience
understand the topic better.

However, different graphics formats are available which take less space
and are faster to load into the memory.

Animation

Moving images have an overpowering effect on the human peripheral

vision. Followings are few points for its popularity.
Sometimes animation can explain aspect better than movies.
Eg. A) The feet moment of a dinosaur can be explained in details
through animation.
B) Automobile industry use animation to study event like vehicle
accident to
make driving safer.
c) Film industry use animation to create a non-existing artificial
world.

Audio

Audio has a greater role to play in multimedia development. It gives

life to the static state of multimedia. Incorporation of audio is one of the
most important features of multimedia, which enhance the multimedia
usability to its full potential. There are several types of sound, which can
be used in multimedia. They are human voices, instrumental notes,
natural sound and many more. All these can be used in any combination
as long as they give some meaning to their inclusion in multimedia.

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Video or Movies

A computer can be turned into a television using a multimedia

program. Video regarding like family movies stored on CD, entertainment
movies, educated movies can be played.

Beside animation there is one more media element, which is known as

video. With latest technology it is possible to include video impact on
clips of any type into any multimedia creation, be it corporate
presentation, fashion design, entertainment games, etc.

Hardware and Software Requirements

For producing multimedia you need hardware, software and creativity.

In this section we will discuss the multimedia equipment required in a
personal computer (PC) so that multimedia can be produced.

(a) Central Processing Unit

As you know, Central Processing Unit (CPU) is an essential part in any

computer. It is considered as the brain of computer, where processing
and synchronization of all activities takes place. The efficiency of a
computer is judged by the speed of the CPU in processing of data. For a
multimedia computer a Pentium processor is preferred because of higher
efficiency. In today‟s scenario, a Pentium processor with MMX technology
and a speed of 166 to 200 MHz (Megahertz) is an ideal processor for
multimedia.

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(b) RAM

In addition to the processor one will need a minimum 16 MB RAM to run

WINDOWS to edit large images or video clips. But a 32 or 64 MB RAM
enhances the capacity of multimedia computer.

(b) Monitor

As you know that monitor is used to see the computer output. Generally,
it displays 25 rows and 80 columns of text. The text or graphics in a
monitor is created as a result of an arrangement of tiny dots, called
pixels. Resolution is defined in terms of horizontal and vertical pixel
(picture elements) displayed on the screen. The greater number of pixels
better visualization of the image.

c) SVGA Adapter card

The signals that monitor gets from the processor are routed through a
graphics card. But there are computers available where this card is in-
built into the motherboard. This card is also called the graphics adapter
or display adapter. This card controls the individual pixels or tiny points
on a screen that make up image. There are several types of display
adapter available. But the most popular one is Super Virtual Graphics
Arrays (SVGA) card and it suits the multimedia requirement. The
advantage of having a SVGA card is that the quality of graphics and
pictures is better.

d) Video Grabbing Card

This card is fitted into a free slot on the motherboard inside the
computer and gets connected to an outside source such as TV, VCR or a
video camera with the help of a cable. This card receives both video and

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audio signal from the outside source and conversion from analog to
digital signal takes place. This process of conversion is known as
sampling.

e) Sound Card with Speakers

This is installed into a free slot on the computer motherboard. As in the

case of video grabber card, sound card will take the sound input from
outside source (such as human voice, pre-recorded sounds, natural
sounds etc.) and convert them into digital sound signal of 0‟s and 1‟s.
The recording software used along with the sound card will store this
digitized sound stream in a file. This file can latter be used with
multimedia software.

f) Graphics accelerator card

Generating graphics takes up considerable amount of system resources.

This slows the moving pictures that don‟t move smoothly. The graphics
accelerator card takes responsibility of generating pictures and screen
without the interaction of CPU generating excellent output of pictures
and movies.

g) CD-ROM Drive

CD-ROM is a magnetic disk of 4.7 inches diameter and it can contain

data up to 680 Megabytes. It has become a standard by itself basically
for its massive storage capacity, faster data transfer rate. To access CD-
ROM a very special drive is required and it is known as CD-ROM drive.
Let us look into the term ROM that stands for „Read Only Memory‟. It
means the material contained in it can be read (as many times, as you
like) but the content cannot be changed.

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As multimedia involves high resolution of graphics, high quality video
and sound, it requires large amount of storage space and at the same
time require a media, which can support faster data transfer. CD-ROM
solves this problem by satisfying both requirements.

Similar to the hard disk drive, the CD-ROM drive has certain
specification which will help to decide which drive suit best to your
multimedia requirement.

h) 1GB Hard disk or above

i) Key board and Mouse
j) Mic

Hypertext

Hypertext most often refers to text on a computer that will lead the user
to other, related information on demand. Hypertext represents a
relatively recent innovation to user interfaces, which overcomes some of
the limitations of written text. Rather than remaining static like
traditional text, hypertext makes possible a dynamic organization of
information through links and connections (called hyperlinks).

Hypertext can be designed to perform various tasks; for instance when a

user "clicks" on it or "overs" over it, a bubble with a word definition may
appear

Hypertext contains connections within the text to other documents or

locations. Hypertext allows non-sequential reading and writing of
documents by using embedded links to jump from one place in the
document to another; hopefully in a meaningful way. The cross reference

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links are determined by the author but the user chooses which branches
to take.

Hypermedia

Hypermedia is used as a logical extension of the term hypertext, in which

graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks intertwine to create a
generally non linear medium of information.

Hypermedia documents contain links not only to other pieces of text, but
also to other forms of media:

 sounds
 pictures
 movies
 animations

The destination of a link is a node. Pictures may also be used to link to

other nodes. Hypermedia simply combines hypertext and multimedia. It
allows authors to connect information in diverse ways, allowing users to
explore a complex web of interlinked information according to their needs
and interests.

Sound
The multimedia application user can use sound right off the bat on a
multimedia PC running Windows because beeps and warning sounds are
available as soon as the operating system is installed. In Windows
system sounds are WAV files and they reside in the windows\Media
subdirectory.

There are still more choices of audio if Microsoft Office is installed.

Windows makes use of WAV files as the default file format for audio.

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Digital Audio

Digital audio is created when a sound wave is converted into numbers –

a process referred to as digitizing. It is possible to digitize sound from a
microphone, a synthesizer, existing tape recordings, live radio and
television broadcasts, and popular CDs. You can digitize sounds from a
natural source or prerecorded.

Audio File Formats

A file format determines the application that is to be used for opening a
file. Following is the list of different file formats and the software that can
be used for opening a specific file.
1. *.WAV for Windows Systems
2. *.WMA –windows media player
3. *.MP3 – MP3 audio
4. *.RA – Real Player

Sound Recorder
It can be used both to play and record sound. To record sound a
microphone is required. The microphone is also plugged into sound card.
It can record maximum of 1 minute audio in “WAV” format.

Media Player
This is a versatile media player by Microsoft and can play audio and
video file. It can also play Audio CD and Video CD.
Images
The display on screen depends on the display cards. Display cards
that support large number of colour better. They are pixel based images
available in file format like TIF, GIF, BMP, JPEG
The quality can be good if care is taken during scanning and if
atleast 256 colors are used. Software such adobe and Photoshop give

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good control over the image scanning devices like scanner or flat-bed
scanner can be connected to the computers. So that scanned image is
stored directly in your CPU.
Images can be created using images editing software like photoshop,
paintbrush, coreldraw etc., Images created can stored in different file
format. Some of the common file formats are TIF, GIF, BMP, JPEG.

Animation

It is a single graphic file that depicts movement for instance. This is

achieved by super imposing, several still picture in pre-defined sequence.
The time interval that each frame remains can specified to achieve the
results. If the frames move too slowly or too fast, the animation is not
smooth. The speed at which the images are displayed is called the frame
rate and measured as frame per second.

Generally the minimum frame rate for acceptable animation is about 15

frames/sec. Which move at a speed that allows us to recognize images as
being separate but is still watchable. The ideal rate for animations is 30
fps which matches video frame rate. Most of multimedia computers are
capable of playing back 30 fps animation and video

Morping

Morphing is popular effect in which one image transforms into

another. It is also related animation. It is technique that allows smooth
changes to occur to an object shape by defining beginning, ending and
possibly intermediate forms as guides.
Following is the list of few Software used for computerized animation:
 3D Studio Max

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  Flash
 AnimationPro

Video

The advantage of integrating video into a multimedia presentation

is the capacity to effectively convey a great deal of information in the
least amount of time. Remember that motion integrated with sound is a
key for your audience's understanding. It also increases the retention of
the presented information (knowledge).

Digitizing the Video Signal

There are two basic approaches to delivering video on a computer

screen – analogue and digital video.

 Analogue video is essentially a product of the television industry

and therefore conforms to television standards.
 Digital video is a product of the computing industry and therefore
conforms to digital data standards.

Video, like audio. Is usually recorded and played as an analog signal.

It must therefore be digitized in order to be incorporated into a
multimedia title.

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Figure below shows the process for digitizing an analog video
signal.

A video source, such as video camera, VCR, TV, or videodisc, is

connected to a video capture card in a computer. As the video source is
played, the analog signal is sent to the video card and converted into a
digital file that is stored on the hard drive. At the same time, the sound
from the video source is also digitized.

Advantages of Digital Video

One of the advantages of digitized video is that it can be easily edited.

Analog video, such as a videotape, is linear; there is a beginning, middle,
and end. If you want to edit it, you need to continually rewind, pause,
and fast forward the tape to display the desired frames.

Digitized video on the other hand, allows random access to any part of
the video, and editing can be as easy as the cut and paste process in a
word processing program. In addition, adding special effects such as fly-
in titles and transitions is relatively simple.

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Other advantages:

 The video is stored as a standard computer file. Thus it can be

copied with no loss in quality, and also can be transmitted over
standard computer networks.
 Software motion video does not require specialized hardware for
playback.

Unlike analog video, digital video requires neither a video board in the
computer nor an external device (which adds extra costs and complexity)
such as a videodisc player.

The common digital video formats are :

 Motion Pictures Expert Group (.MPEG)

 Video for Windows (.AVI).

Development of Multimedia Projects

Most multimedia and web projects must be undertaken in stages.

Some stages should be completed before other stages begin and some
stages may be skipped or combined. Here are four basic stages in
multimedia project.

1. Planning and costing

2. Designing and producing

3. Testing

4. Delivering

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1. Planning and Costing
A project always begins within a idea or a need identify how you
will make each message within your system before you begin developing
plan what writing skill, graphic art, music, video and other multimedia
expertise will be required. Estimate the time needed to do all elements
and prepare a budgets prepare a proof of concept.

2. Designing and Producing

Perform each of the planned tasks to create finished products.

3. Testing
Always test your programs to make sure that they meet the
requirements of your projects.

4. Delivering
Package and deliver the project to the end user. This stage has
several steps such as implementation, maintenance, shipping and
marketing the product.

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