HINDUSTHAN COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE, COIMBATORE

DEPARTMENT OF BBA CA WITH LOGISTICS

II BBA CA – SEMESTER – IV

MULTIMEDIA PROGRAMMING

SUBJECT CODE : 21BCU20

Multimedia
Multimedia is an interactive media and provides multiple ways to represent information to the user in a
powerful manner. It provides an interaction between users and digital information. It is a medium of
communication. Some of the sectors where multimedia is used extensively are education, training,
reference material, business presentations, advertising and documentaries.
Definition of Multimedia
By definition Multimedia is a representation of information in an attractive and interactive manner with the
use of a combination of text, audio, video, graphics and animation. In other words we can say that
Multimedia is a computerized method of presenting information combining textual data, audio, visuals
(video), graphics and animations. For examples: E-Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Video Conferencing, and
Multimedia Message Service (MMS).
Multimedia as name suggests is the combination of Multi and Media that is many types of media
(hardware/software) used for communication of information.

The Five Multimedia Elements(OBJECTS)

Animation
Text, image, audio, video, and animation are the five multimedia elements.
The first multimedia element is text. Text is the most common multimedia element. The text expresses the
information the developer is trying to get across to their viewers. Even though pictures grab the viewers’
attention, the text is a good idea to include, as well, just in case the picture does not load.
The second multimedia element is an image. An image catches the viewers’ attention much more quickly
than just plain, old text. Almost every multimedia application contains images. The most common images
are JPEGS and PNGs. Also, Photoshop and Paint. NET create high tech visual effects which are common
with images.
The third multimedia element is audio. Most of the time, audio files are deployed using plug-in media
players. A few audio formats include RealAudio, MIDI, Wave, WMA, and MP3. The developer will
compress the format to shorten the time. Before the file is downloaded, one can stream the audio.
The fourth multimedia element is video. The web is the most common place where videos are seen
concerning multimedia elements. A few digital video formats are Flash, MPEG, AVI, WMV, and
QuickTime. Streaming digital videos can increase the speed of the playback. Developers use videos to
hold on to the viewers’ attention.
The fifth multimedia website is animation. Animation draws in the younger crowd. adobe flash is the
most common tool for creating these animations. Animations are the most creative and fun multimedia
element! [8]
Video

Video Camera
Video provides a powerful impact in a multimedia program. It starts with continuous event and breaks it
up to frames, whereas an animation starts with frames. Video formats are made up of container and
codec(s). The container describes the structure of the file like where the various pieces are stored, how
they are interleaved, and which codecs are used by which pieces. A codec is a way of compressing the file
to decrease file size, while maintaining quality.[11] Some of the most common video file formats are
Audio-Video Interleave (.avi), Flash Video Format (.flv), Moving Picture Experts Group 2 (.mp2), Moving
Picture Experts Group 4 (.mp4), QuickTime (.mov), and Windows Media Video (.wmv).[12] In multimedia
applications, the digital video is gaining popularity because the video clips can be edited easily, it can be
stored like any other files in the computer and the quality of the video can still be maintained, and the
video can be transferred within a computer network which allows non-linear editing in any part of the
video.[13] Just like in audio, in streaming video the traveling information is a stream of data from a server.
In 2006, people watched more than a million streaming videos a day on YouTube.[14]
JPEG, GIF, and PNG Formatting[edit | edit source]

GIF and PNG are two different formats which images are available in. GIF simply means Graphics
Interchange Format and is typically used for animations and sometimes single images as well. The images
are compressed or made smaller; they are using what is called loss-less data compression. This
compression makes it so that the image does not lose quality even if it is compressed due to its ability to
have uniformed color with well-defined edges. A GIF is not the best quality format for images because of
its limit of colors, which is one of the reasons that PNG was created. PNG are Portable Network Graphics.
Their ability to compress is higher quality and allows for alpha transparency, which is basically creating
the image with a background so that it looks transparent either partially or fully.[15] They can store more
color depth but also take up more space than GIFs in some cases. In cases where this does not apply it is
because their ability to have better compression in 8-bit data ends up being smaller than GIFs.[16] PNGs are
unlike GIFs because they do not support animations, and are a single-image based format.[17] These
formats are used in many Web pages today and are both arguably as important.

Example of a .jpg image

The Joint Photographic Experts Group committee created the file format that is otherwise known as JPEG.
JPEG is a technique and file format used to compress color images, digital photos, and other digital
graphics. Many users who store photographs on their computer will recognize the JPEG file extension
recognized as “.jpeg”, or “jpg”. The file size of a selected image can be optimized for different uses,
otherwise known as editing a photo to the desired sizes. The file format does so by using a type of
compression of the image known as “lossy compression”. The definition of lossy compression is defined
as the ability for the image to decrease in file size, taking away a slight decrease in image quality. JPEG
files are widely used by consumers as a way to save photos on their computer to view at their desire.
However, a user may have interest in sharing these images through e-mail, or a website. As considering
using a JPEG file on a website or through email, a user must consider the file size in comparison to the
amount of quality of the image. For instance, if a user is interested in posting a photograph on a website of
theirs, they must consider file size and formatting. Also, with e-mail, a user must consider the quality of
the image they will be sending. The higher the quality of the image being sent, the larger the file size must
be. If a user is sending this file over their cellular phone, it may require the use of more data to send a
larger file size.[18]
Audio[edit | edit source]

Mp3

There are many different types of audio files, and the each have their of distinct advantages. The most
ubiquitous audio file is the MP3. MP3’s have become the standard audio files on most devices and on most
websites. The advantage of MP3 file over different formats is their small size. MP3 files can be
compressed, as they do not contain the inaudible sections of an audio track. While this results in good
quality audio, while taking up a small amount of space, in certain situation, audio quality can suffer. The
compression of MP3 file can distort vocal sounds, and can result in a ‘tinny’ sound. Because, some
computers, primarily Windows-based PC’s use WAV files to store audio files. These files are
uncompressed, so they take up a large amount of space, but they are of better quality than most MP3 files.
As most desktop PC’s have room to spare, better audio quality is substitutes for more space used. Another
file type common on windows computers is WMA. This format is optimized for use by Windows Media
Player. Is primary advantage is that is copyright protected, but it can only be used on Windows Media
Player. Another common audio file is DCT. This type of file is encrypted, and used for medical
applications where patient confidentiality is needed

What is Multimedia in business? applications and uses

Applications of multimedia in business the following are some of the information to know more about
business.

1. Multimedia devices such as mobile phones, laptops etc plays and important role to grow business.

2. Millions of online websites (form of multimedia) are available on internet to reach end user and
grow business.

3. More and more companies are taking an advantages of world wide web to increase sales of their
products.

4. Using multimedia anyone can sell their product anywhere in the world on internet.
 5. By placing advertisement in magazines and newspapers business can be increased effectively.

6. Powerpoint presentation (multimedia) is also an effective way to give details of their product.

7. On internet millions of people watches videos , so we can share our product with them within
seconds.

8. Multimedia is an effective and cheapest way to grab an attention of the visitors and share
information about various products easily.

9. Advertising industry uses multimedia for marketing various products.

10. Various companies making Virtual Games uses multimedia and makes it more attractive.

11. Today multimedia is very important to promote any time of business easily and effectively.

12. Various companies uses multimedia to entertain their visitors and make profit from multimedia.

13. Multimedia is also used to extend the list of clients using various technology such as email, SMS,
MMS etc.

Multimedia Hardware
Most of the computers now-a-days come equipped with the hardware components required to
develop/view multimedia applications. Following are the various categories in which we can define the
various types of hardwares required for multimedia applications.
 Processor The heart of any multimedia computer is its processor. Today Core 15 or higher
processor is recommended for a multimedia computer.
o CPU is considered as the brain of the computer.
o CPU performs all types of data processing operations.
o It stores data, intermediate result and instructions (program).
o It controls the operations of all parts of computer.

Memory and Storage Devices –

You need memory for storing various files used during production, original audio and video clips, edited
pieces and final mined pieces. You also need memory for backup of your project files.
o Primary Memory- Primary memory holds only those data and instructions on which
computer is currently working. It has limited capacity and data gets lost when power is
switched off. It is generally made up of semiconductor device. These memories are not as
fast as registers. The data and instructions required to be processed earlier reside in main
memory. It is divided into two subcategories RAM and ROM.
 o Flash Memory- Cache memory is a very high speed semiconductor memory, which can
speed up CPU. It acts as a 0buffer between the CPU and main memory. It is used to hold
those parts of data and program which are most frequently used by CPU. The parts of data
and programs are transferred from disk to cache memory by operating system, from where
CPU can access them.
o Secondary Memory: This type of memory is also known as external memory or non-
volatile. It is slower than main memory. These are used for storing Data/Information
permanently. CPU directly does not access these memories; instead they are accessed via
input-output routines. Contents of secondary memories are first transferred to main memory
and then CPU can access it. For example, disk, CD-ROM, DVD, etc.

Storage Devices:

Input Devices - Following are the various types of input devices which are used in multimedia systems.
o Keyboard- Most common and very popular input device is keyboard. The keyboard helps in
inputting the data to the computer. The layout of the keyboard is like that of traditional
typewriter, although there are some additional keys provided for performing some additional
functions. Keyboards are of two sizes 84 keys or 101/102 keys, but now 104 keys or 108
keys keyboard is also available for Windows and Internet. The keys are following:

Sr.
Keys Description
No.

Typing These keys include the letter keys (A-Z) and digits keys (0-9) which
1
Keys generally give same layout as that of typewriters.

It is used to enter numeric data or cursor movement. Generally, it

Numeric
2 consists of a set of 17 keys that are laid out in the same configuration
Keypad
used by most adding machine and calculators.

The twelve functions keys are present on the keyboard. These are
Function
3 arranged in a row along the top of the keyboard. Each function key
Keys
has unique meaning and is used for some specific purpose.

Control These keys provide cursor and screen control. It includes four
4 directional arrow key. Control keys also include Home, End, Insert,
keys
Delete, Page Up, Page Down, Control(Ctrl), Alternate(Alt),
 Escape(Esc).

Special
Keyboard also contains some special purpose keys such as Enter,
5 Purpose
Shift, Caps Lock, Num Lock, Space bar, Tab, and Print Screen.
Keys

o
o Mouse - Mouse is most popular Pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device. It
is a small palm size box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse
and sends corresponding signals to CPU on pressing the buttons. Generally, it has two
buttons called left and right button and scroll bar is present at the mid. Mouse can be used to
control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to enter text into the computer.

o Joystick - Joystick is also a pointing device, which is used to move cursor position on a
monitor screen. It is a stick having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The
lower spherical ball moves in a socket. The joystick can be moved in all four directions. The
function of joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided
Designing (CAD) and playing computer games.

o Light Pen - Light pen is a pointing device, which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a
displayed menu item or draw pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an
optical system placed in a small tube. When light pen's tip is moved over the monitor screen
and pen button is pressed, its photocell sensing element detects the screen location and sends
the corresponding signal to the CPU.

o Track Ball - Track ball is an input device that is mostly used in notebook or laptop
computer, instead of a mouse. This is a ball, which is half inserted and by moving fingers on
ball, pointer can be moved.Since the whole device is not moved, a track ball requires less
space than a mouse. A track ball comes in various shapes like a ball, a button and a square.
o Scanner - Scanner is an input device, which works more like a photocopy machine. It is
used when some information is available on a paper and it is to be transferred to the hard
disc of the computer for further manipulation. Scanner captures images from the source
which are then converted into the digital form that can be stored on the disc. These images
can be edited before they are printed.

o Digitizer - Digitizer is an input device, which converts analog information into a digital
form. Digitizer can convert a signal from the television camera into a series of numbers that
could be stored in a computer. They can be used by the computer to create a picture of
whatever the camera had been pointed at. Digitizer is also known as Tablet or Graphics
Tablet because it converts graphics and pictorial data into binary inputs. A graphic tablet as
digitizer is used for doing fine works of drawing and images manipulation applications.

o Magnetic Ink Card Reader (MICR) - MICR input device is generally used in banks
because of a large number of cheques to be processed everyday. The bank's code number
and cheque number are printed on the cheques with a special type of ink that contains
particles of magnetic material that are machine readable. This reading process is called
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR). The main advantage of MICR is that it is fast
and less error prone.

o Optical Character Reader (OCR) - OCR is an input device used to read a printed text.
OCR scans text optically character by character, converts them into a machine readable code
and stores the text on the system memory.
Bar Code Readers - Bar Code Reader is a device used for reading bar coded data (data in form of light
and dark lines). Bar coded data is generally used in labelling goods, numbering the books, etc. It may be a
hand-held scanner or may be embedded in a stationary scanner.Bar Code Reader scans a bar code image,
converts it into an alphanumeric value, which is then fed to the computer to which bar code reader is
connected.

o Optical Mark Reader (OMR) - OMR is a special type of optical scanner used to recognize
the type of mark made by pen or pencil. It is used where one out of a few alternatives is to be
selected and marked. It is specially used for checking the answer sheets of examinations
having multiple choice questions.

o Voice Systems - Following are the various types of input devices which are used in
multimedia systems.
 Microphone- Microphone is an input device to input sound that is then stored in
digital form. The microphone is used for various applications like adding sound to a
multimedia presentation or for mixing music.

 Speaker- Speaker is an output device to produce sound which is stored in digital

form. The speaker is used for various applications like adding sound to a multimedia
presentation or for movies displays etc.

o Digital Camera - Digital camera is an input device to input images that is then stored in
digital form. The digital camera is used for various applications like adding images to a
multimedia presentation or for personal purposes.
Digital Video Camera - Digital Video camera is an input device to input images/video that is then stored
in digital form. The digital video camera is used for various applications like adding videos to a
multimedia presentation or for personal purposes.

 Output Devices - Following are few of the important output devices, which are used in Computer
Systems:
o Monitors - Monitor commonly called as Visual Display Unit (VDU) is the main output
device of a computer. It forms images from tiny dots, called pixels, that are arranged in a
rectangular form. The sharpness of the image depends upon the number of the pixels. There
are two kinds of viewing screen used for monitors:
 Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) Monitor- In the CRT, display is made up of small
picture elements called pixels for short. The smaller the pixels, the better the image
clarity or resolution. It takes more than one illuminated pixel to form whole character,
such as the letter 'e' in the word help. A finite number of characters can be displayed
on a screen at once. The screen can be divided into a series of character boxes - fixed
location on the screen where a standard character can be placed. Most screens are
capable of displaying 80 characters of data horizontally and 25 lines vertically.

 Flat-Panel Display Monitor- The flat-panel display refers to a class of video devices
that have reduced volume, weight and power requirement compared to the CRT. You
can hang them on walls or wear them on your wrists. Current uses for flat-panel
displays include calculators, video games, monitors, laptop computer, graphics
display. The flat-panel displays are divided into two categories:
 Emissive Displays- The emissive displays are devices that convert electrical
energy into light. Examples are plasma panel and LED (Light-Emitting
Diodes).
 Non-Emissive Displays- The Non-emissive displays use optical effects to
convert sunlight or light from some other source into graphics patterns.
Example is LCD (Liquid-Crystal Device)

 Printers - Printer is the most important output device, which is used to print information on paper.
o Dot Matrix Printer- In the market, one of the most popular printers is Dot Matrix Printer
because of their ease of printing features and economical price. Each character printed is in
form of pattern of Dot's and head consists of a Matrix of Pins of size (5*7, 7*9, 9*7 or 9*9)
which comes out to form a character that is why it is called Dot Matrix Printer.
 o Daisy Wheel- Head is lying on a wheel and Pins corresponding to characters are like petals
of Daisy (flower name) that is why it is called Daisy Wheel Printer. These printers are
generally used for word-processing in offices which require a few letters to be send here and
there with very nice quality representation.

o Line Printers- Line printers are printers, which print one line at a time.

o Laser Printers- These are non-impact page printers. They use laser lights to produce the
dots needed to form the characters to be printed on a page.

o Inkjet Printers- Inkjet printers are non-impact character printers based on a relatively new
technology. They print characters by spraying small drops of ink onto paper. Inkjet printers
produce high quality output with presentable features. They make less noise because no
hammering is done and these have many styles of printing modes available. Colour printing
is also possible. Some models of Inkjet printers can produce multiple copies of printing also.

 Screen Image Projector - Screen image projector or simply projector is an output device used to
project information from a computer on a large screen so that a group of people can see it
simultaneously. A presenter first makes a PowerPoint presentation on the computer. Now a screen
image projector is plugged to a computer system and presenter can make a presentation to a group
of people by projecting the information on a large screen. Projector makes the presentation more
understandable.
  Speakers and Sound Card - Computers need both a sound card and speakers to hear audio, such
as music, speech and sound effects. Most motherboards provide an on-board sound card. This built-
in-sound card is fine for the most purposes. The basic functions of a sound card are that it converts
digital sound signals to analog for speakers making it louder or softer.

Communication Device:

Any hardware that can send and receive data, instructions, and information is referred to as a
communications device. A modem is one kind of communication tool that joins a channel to a sending or
receiving device, like a computer. Data is processed by computers as digital signals. Depending on the
communications channel, data, instructions, and information can move along it in analogue or digital form.
An electrical wave that is continuous makes up an analogue signal. Individual electrical pulses that
represent bits and bytes are what make up a digital signal.

Communication device examples

A complete list of every form of communication device you might use with a computer can be found
below:

1. Bluetooth device: The Bluetooth specification outlines how devices can connect with one another in the
computing and telecommunications industries. Computers, a keyboard and mouse, personal digital
assistants, and smartphones are examples of devices that use Bluetooth.

2. Infrared device: It is a technique for data transport without the usage of cables. A TV remote is a
typical illustration of an infrared (Ir) gadget. But infrared is also employed by computers and gadgets like
cordless keyboards, mice, and touch screens.

3. Smartphone: A smartphone is a cell phone that offers more features than just texting and calling.
Smartphones have the ability to use software just like a PC and browse the Internet. Smartphones have
touch screens that enable user interaction. Numerous apps for smartphones, including games and apps for
personal and professional use, are available. The Apple iPhone, one of the most well-known smartphones
on the market today, is shown in the image as an example.

4. Wi-Fi device: Wi-Fi is a wireless network that connects to a network wirelessly by using one of
the IEEE 802.11 wireless standards. A wireless access point or router is used in a home wireless network
to broadcast a signal while encrypting it with WAP or WEP to send and receive data from wireless devices
connected to the network.

5. Network interface card: The NIC, which stands for network interface card, is also known as an
Ethernet card and a network adapter. An Ethernet cable with an RJ-45 connector is used to connect a
computer to a network (such as your home network or the Internet) using a NIC.
Image capturing
posted Oct 15, 2013, 6:42 PM by Bernard Mawuli [ updated Oct 22, 2013, 7:50 PM ]
Digital camera
Digital camera is one of the hardware devices used in digital graphics which can be used to take
photographs or videos. There are many types of digital cameras available in different shapes and
sizes. The most used digital camera is the mobile phone cameras. There are two categories of digital
cameras. They are ‘digital single lens reflex cameras’ and ‘compact point and shoot digital
cameras’. Digital cameras can be used to set the resolution and quality level of the images which is
useful when the images needs to be edited. Digital cameras have two zoom features which are
digital zoom and optical zoom. Optical zoom works by using the optic lens of the camera to zoom
in and make the image taken by the digital camera closer. Digital zoom works by taking a cropped
part of the image that is to be taken and enlarging it to a bigger size. Digital zoom makes the image
to lose quality when the picture is enlarged and therefore people tend to use optical zoom more than
digital zoom. Digital zoom crops and enlarges images which is similar to what image editing
software does . Optical zoom should preferably be used when using a digital camera rather than
digital zoom because images taken using the optical zoom have better quality and can be edited by
using an image editing software.

Scanner
A scanner is a device that is used to input paper images into a computer. A scanner is similar to the
glass part of a photocopier. The book or paper containing the image should be placed on the scanner
which then scans the image into the computer.

Image capture using a scanner

Scanners have a mechanism called a scanning bar that moves across the length of the scanner under
glass. The document is placed face down onto the glass window of the scanner and a scanning
mechanism moves back and forth underneath the glass. Light from the lamp of the scanner bounces
off the original image and is reflected by the mirror into the lens. This focuses the image into the
Charge-coupled device(CCD) which digitizes the results via an analogue -to-digital
converter(ADC) to send the resulting information to the scanner's own hardware and then to the PC.

Image capture using a digital camera

The images which are taken by the digital camera is recorded on an electronic image sensor. Digital
cameras can display the images on the screen as soon as it has been recorded. The images which
have been taken by the digital camera can be edited on the digital camera as well. The digital
camera has editing features such as cropping. Digital cameras can be used to upload pictures and
images directly from a camera onto to a computer by using a USB cable. This allows you to edit the
pictures and images from the digital camera using a graphics software.
Authoring Tools:
Multimedia authoring is a process of assembling different types of media contents like text, audio, image,
animations and video as a single stream of information with the help of various software tools available in
the market. Multimedia authoring tools give an integrated environment for joining together the different
elements of a multimedia production. It gives the framework for organizing and editing the components of
a multimedia project. It enables the developer to create interactive presentation by combining text, audio,
video, graphics and animation.
Features of Authoring Tools
 Editing Features- Most authoring environment and packages exhibit capabilities to create edit and
transform different kinds of media that they support. For example, Macromedia Flash comes
bundled with its own sound editor. This eliminates the need for buying dedicated software to edit
sound data. So authoring systems include editing tools to create, edit and convert multimedia
components such as animation and video clips.
 Organizing Features- The process of organization, design and production of multimedia involve
navigation diagrams or storyboarding and flowcharting. Some of the authoring tools provide a
system of visual flowcharting or overview facility to showcase your project's structure at a macro
level. Navigation diagrams help to organize a project. Many web-authoring programs like
Dreamweaver include tools that create helpful diagrams and links among the pages of a website.
 Visual programming with icons or objects- It is simplest and easiest authoring process. For
example, if you want to play a sound then just clicks on its icon.
 Programming with a scripting language- Authoring software offers the ability to write scripts for
software to build features that are not supported by the software itself. With script you can perform
computational tasks - sense user input and respond, character creation, animation, launching other
application and to control external multimedia devices.
 Document Development tools- Some authoring tools offers direct importing of pre-formatted text,
to index facilities, to use complex text search mechanism and to use hypertext link-ing tools.
 Interactivity Features- Interactivity empowers the end users to control the content and flow of
information of the project. Authoring tools may provide one or more levels of interactivity.
 Simple branching- Offers the ability to go to another section of the multimedia production.
 Conditional branching- Supports a go to base on the result of IF-THEN decision or events.
 Playback Features- When you are developing multimedia project, you will continousally
assembling elements and testing to see how the assembly looks and performs. Therefore authoring
system should have playback facility.
 Supporting CD-ROM or Laser Disc Sources- This software allows over all control of CD-drives
and Laser disc to integrate audio, video and computer files. CD-ROM drives, video and laserdisc
sources are directly controlled by authoring programs.
 Supporting Video for Windows- Videos are the right media for your project which are stored on
the hard disk. Authoring software has the ability to support more multimedia elements like video
for windows.
 Hypertext- Hypertext capabilities can be used to link graphics, some animation and other text. The
help system of window is an example of hypertext. Such systems are very useful when a large
amount of textual information is to be represented or referenced.
 Cross-Platform Capability- Some authoring programs are available on several platforms and
provide tools for transforming and converting files and programs from one to the other.
 Run-time Player for Distribution- Run time software is often included in authoring software to
explain the distribution of your final product by packaging playback software with content. Some
advanced authoring programs provide special packaging and run-time distribution for use with
devices such as CD-ROM.
 Internet Playability- Due to Web has become a significant delivery medium for multimedia,
authoring systems typically provide a means to convert their output so that it can be delivered
within the context of HTML or DHTML.
 AUDIO

Sound is a form of energy capable of flowing from one place to another through material medium.

It is generated from vibrating objects when part of the energy of vibration is converted into sound
energy.

Sound is represented as waves.

Amplitude- loudness, Frequency- pitch, Waveform- quality.

Sound card is required for digitizing and playback of sound.

1. Acoustics:
Acoustics is a branch of science dealing with the study of sound and is concerned with generation,
transmission, reception of sound waves.

Aero-acoustics- concerned with how gas flow produce sound and has applications in aeronautics.

Architectural-acoustics- concerned with the study of sound in buildings.

Bio-acoustics- the sound made by animals.

Biomedical-acoustics- the study of sound in medicine.

Psycho-acoustics- concerned with the hearing, perception localization of sound related to human beings.

Physical-acoustics- interaction of sound with materials and fluids.

Speech communication- the production, analysis, transmission and recognition of speech.

Ultrasonic- study of high frequency sounds beyond human hearing range.

Musical-acoustics- study of sound in relation to musical instrument.

Nature of sound waves:

Sound waves propagates through the material medium.
Sound waves have two characteristics.

Longitudinal waves- The direction of propagation of sound is the same as the direction.
Mechanical waves- They are capable of being compressed and expanded like springs.
Fundamental Characteristics of Sound:
Sound is classified into:

Amplitude

Frequency Waveform
Speed of propagation.

Amplitude:
Amplitude of wave is the maximum displacement of
a particle in the path of a wave and is a measure of the
peek-to-peek height of the wave.
The physical manifestation of amplitude is the
intensity of energy of the wave.

Loudness is measure in a unit called decibel denoted by dB.

Frequency:

The physical manifestation of frequency of sound wave is the pitch of

sound.

Frequency is measured in a unit called Hertz and denoted by Hz.

The frequencies higher than sonic are referred as ultra-sonic or super-sonic and lower than sonic are
called infra-sonic or sub-sonic.

Waveform:
Waveform indicates the actual shape of the wave when represented pictorially.

The physical manifestation of waveform is quality or timbre.

Speed:

The speed of sound depends on the medium through which sound travels and temperature of the medium
but not on the pressure.

The speed is about 340 m/sec in air and 1500 m/sec in water.

Microphone:
A microphone records sound by converting the acoustic energy to electric energy.
 Microphone is classified into:

Dynamic Microphone

Condenser Microphone

Omni-directional Microphone

Bi-directional Microphone

Uni-directional Microphone

Polar Plot

Dynamic Microphone

A moving coil(dynamic) microphone consists of a thin metallic diaphragm and an attached coil wire.

Sound impinges on a diaphragm attached to the coil, it causes movement of coil within the magnetic
field.

A current is produced proportional to the intensity of sound hitting the diaphragm

2.1 Condenser Microphone:

In condenser microphone, the diaphragm is the plate of a capacitor.

The incident sound on the diaphragm moves on the plate by changing the capacitance and generating
voltage.

This causes a current to flow in an attached wire.

2.2 Omni-directional Microphone:

 It is equally sensitive to sounds coming from all direction and used to record sound from multiple
source.
 It consists of a container open at one end, containing a diaphragm inside.

The vibration is translated to electrical signals and sounds from all directions produce the same vibration
in a diaphragm.

Bi-directional Microphone:

A bi-directional microphone is sensitive to sounds coming from two directions :front and rear.

It is used to record two source of sound simultaneously.

It consists of a container with a diaphragm inside and two openings on opposite side.
Uni-directional Microphone:
A uni-directional microphone is designed to record sound from single source.

Its construction is similar to that of bidirectional one, with a single exception.

On the rear side of the microphone is a resistive material like a cloth near the diaphragm.

This absorbs some energy of the sound entering through the rear opening.

Polar Plot:
It is a graph plotting the output level of the microphone against the angle at which the incident
sound is produced.

The omni-directional microphone produces equal outputs for all angle incidence.
 In bi-directional, the output are maximum the incidence sound shifts from front and rear.

In uni-directional, the output is maximum at the front and minimum at the rear.

3. Amplifier:
Amplifier is the name given to a device in which a varying input signal controls a flow of energy to
produce an output signal.
Amplifier used in audio processing are electronic in nature and use a series of transistors.
The ratio of the output amplitude to the input amplitude is known as the gain of the amplifier.

3.1 Class-A
Class-A amplifiers use 100% of input cycle for generating the output.

They are not very effective.

Class-A amplifiers are not used as audio amplifiers.

3.2 Class-B and Class-AB

Class-B amplifiers only use half of the input cycle for amplification.

These amplification are more efficient than class-A because the amplifying element is switched
off during half of the cycle.

This can produce good efficiency but suffer from small distortion at the point where the two
halves are joined, known as crossover distortion.

The elements are biased and they operate over a linear portion of their characteristics curve during
a half cycle.

The Class-AB is used for audio amplifiers.

5.3 Class-C
Class-C amplifiers use less than half of the input cycle for amplification.

These are used as power amplifiers.

Though they produce a huge amount of distortion, they are more efficient.
5.4 Negative Feedback:
Negative feedback is used to reduce the distortion.

This involves feeding back a portion of the output back to the input so that it is subtracted from
the original input.

The negative distortions combine with the positive distortions produced subsequently by the
amplifier with the result that the output signal is more or less linear.

5.5 Class-D
Class-D digital amplifiers use a series of transistors as switches.
The input signal is sampled and converted to digital pulses and the pulses are used to switch the
transistors on and off.
The advantage is that the transistors are either on or off, they are efficient.

5.6 Class-E
Class-E digital amplifier uses Pulse Width Modulation(PWM) to produce output waves.
This requires a single transistor for switching and is cheaper.

Loudspeaker:

A loudspeaker is a device that converts electrical energy back to acoustic energy.

Electrical signals from an amplifier or a playback system is fed to the loudspeaker.

6.1 Dynamic Loudspeaker:

The dynamic loudspeaker are based on the traditional design of a wire coil and a paper cone.

A cone made of paper or fiber known as diaphragm, is attached to a coil of wire kept near a
permanent magnet.

When current from source system is passed through the coil, a magnetic field is generated around
the coil.
The diaphragm oscillates in the same frequency as the original electrical
signal and reproduce the same sound.

6.2 Woofers and Tweeters:

A loudspeaker is divided into smaller units.
Woofers-handle low frequency, Mid-rangehandle middle frequency, Tweeters-handle high frequency.
Thicker and heavier diaphragms are low frequency sounds while thinner and lighter elements are
high frequency.

Woofers usually handle 20Hz to 400Hz.Such low frequency sound known as bass(base).

Mid-range speakers are designed to handle frequency range between 400Hz to 4kHz.
 Tweeters are designed to handle high frequency sounds known as treble.

Modern speaker systems often include a subwoofer for handling the very lowest bass frequency

Audio Mixer:
A device called an audio mixer is used to record the individual tracks and edit them separately.

It has a number of controls for adjusting the volume, tempo, mute, etc.

Using these controls separate track of sound could be edited and manipulated independent.

All these tracks combined into two channels(stereo sound) or multiple

channels(surround sound).

Digital Audio:
Practical Audio Sampling Parameters:
Sampling frequency needs to be twice the input frequency.
The full range of human hearing ranges from 20Hz to 20kHz.
To represent the entire range digitally, minimum sampling frequency should be around 40kHz.
Increasing the sampling resolution increases the accuracy of the digital signal.
For practical purpose bit-depth of 8-bits and 16bits are sufficient.
Aliasing:

Aliasing is referred as false representation of visual data.

The highest audio frequency in a sampling system must be less than or equal.

If the audio frequency is greater the erroneous signals can appear within the audio bandwidth.

It is impossible to distinguish them from the legitimate signals.

This effect is called aliasing.

Bit Rate and File Size:

Increasing sampling rate and resolution increases file size and it requires higher storage space and
greater processing power.

For an audio-CD sampling is done at 44.1kHz, 16bit resolution and stereo mode.
 For a 30sec sound clip (44100 samples/sec)* (30sec)* (16bits/sample)*(2channels) are
required.
For an audio-CD bit rate for smooth playback it require (44100 samples/sec)*(16bits/sample)*
(2 stereo channels).
8.4 Streaming Audio:

Streaming audio is used for downloading files on the Internet.

The music begins to play as soon as a buffer memory on the receiving device fills up.

The remaining portion of the audio continues to be downloading in the background.

To work, the file size must be small and it should also cope with the packet switching
transmission.

RealAudio files can be coded at a variety of bit rates.

Textual information can also be stored in the file.

Apple’s QuickTime software offers several compression options for music and speech
application, for downloading and streaming.

Macromedia’s Shockwave is a streaming audio packet based on MPEG.

8.5 High Fidelity (Hi-Fi):

High Fidelity is a term describing the reproduction of sound and image almost identical to the
original in quality.

Audio hardware should also be confirmed using double blind test for listening comparisons.

RIAA Equalization:
RIAA-Recording Industry Association of America.

Equalization is essentially a process of modifying the frequency envelope of a sound. A peaking

equalizer changes frequencies around a central point.

A shelving equalizers change a wide range of frequencies by a fixed amount.

A graphic equalizer which consists of a series of band-pass filters with independent gain controls.
The RIAA equalization curve is a plot of the amplitude in dB against frequencies in Hz.

9. Synthesizers:
Synthesizers are electronic instruments which allow us to generate digital samples of sound in
various instruments synthetically.

9.1 Types of Synthesizers:

Synthesizers are broadly classified into:

FM synthesizers
 Wavetable synthesizers

FM synthesizer:
It generate sound by combining elementary sinusoidal tones to build up a note having the
desired waveform.

This method is the Fourier transform using a waveform can be decomposed into its elementary
components of varying amplitude and frequency.

Wavetable synthesizers:
It produce sound by retrieving high-quality digital recordings of actual instruments from memory.

The sounds associated with synthesizer are called patches.

The collection of all patches is called the patch map.

9.2 Characteristics of a Synthesizer

The polyphony of a synthesizer refers to its ability to play more than one note at a time.

Polyphony is generally measured or specified as a number of notes or voice.

The early music synthesizers were monophonic, meaning that they could only play one
note at a time.
Polyphonic produce many notes.

A synthesizer is said to be multitimbral if it is capable of producing two or more different

instrument sound simultaneous.

MIDI:
MIDI-Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

What is MIDI?
MIDI is a protocol or set of rules for connecting digital synthesizers to each other or to digital
computer.

Two computers communicate via modems. Two synthesizers communicate via MIDI.

MIDI information tells when to start and stop playing specific note.

It includes the volume modulation of note.

MIDI Manufacturers Association(MMA):

The MMA is the only source for up to date MIDI specifications. Issues unique manufacture
ID’s and licenses logos that identify MMA standards.
Technical and administrative issues related to MIDI is handled by MMA and Japan MIDI
Standard Committee(JMSC).

MIDI Specification:
It is divided into hardware, file format and messages.
Hardware:
MIDI use special conductor cable to connect the synthesizer ports, but only 3 are used.
Data is carried through the cable on pin 1&3, pin 2 is shielded and connected to common.
MIDI cable is little more expensive but reliable data transmission is necessary for MIDI.

Messages:
It constitute an entire music description language in binary form.
 To sound a note in MIDI language ‘Note On’ message is sent

Then assign that note a ‘velocity’, which determines how fast a key is pressed or released to
produce sound.

MIDI message include selecting which instrument to play, mixing etc.

The messages are transmitted as a unidirectional asynchronous bit

stream at 31.25 Kbits/sec.
File Format:
The MIDI specifications made provisions to save synthesizer audio in a separate file format called
MIDI files.

MIDI files are extremely compact as compared to WAV files.

The MIDI file does not contain the sampled audio data, it contains only the instructions needed by
a synthesizer to play the sound.

11. Basics of Staff Notation

A staff is simply five horizontal parallel lines which is used to write music.
 A note is an open dot or letter O turned on its side.

It can have a tail/flag depending on its value.

A note represents a single tone and a series on notes are represents a melody.

https://method-behind-themusic.com/theory/notation/

Clefs provide the reference point needed to know what the notes on staff mean.

There are 3 types: G, F & K.

G- To keep things simple, commonly called the treble clef.

They are labeled using first seven letters of the alphabets and remaining five notes are labeled by
adding word sharp(#) and flat.

Two things to notice:

The repetition of notes on the keyboard.

The long name for the little black keys. Sharp(#) refers to the key directly next to and above.

Flat(b) refers to the key directly next to and below.

The key in consideration is called C-sharp(C#) or D-flat(Db).

A note that is not sharp, nor flat is called natural.

Music is made up of short notes and long notes.

 The combination of notes into patterns is called Rhythm.

Silence is also a part of music also known as rest.

To show this silence rest is used.

The time signature denotes how many beats per measure.

The time signature is placed after the Key signature.

Bars denote measures of appropriate length.

Sound Card:
The sound card is connected to speakers for playback of sound.
It is also responsible for digitizing, recording and compressing the sound files.

12.1 Basic Components:

Memory Banks:
This depicts the local memory of the sound card for storing audio data during digitizing and
playback of sound files.
DSP:
 Open architecture which uses a multi-purpose Digital Signal Processor(DSP) as the main
controller of all audio signals in digital domain.
The use of DSP gives the sound card ability to perform functions like digital filtering, antialiasing,
compression etc.

DAC/ADC:
The digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters are for digitizing analog sound and
reconverting it to digital-to-analog for playback
WaveTable/FM Synthesizer Chip:
The wavetable chip has a set of pre-recorded digital sounds.
The FM chip generates the sound by combining elementary tones, and it play about 20 sounds.

CD Interface:
This is the internal connection between the CD driver of the PC and the sound card.

16-bit ISA Connector:

Interface for exchanging audio data between the CPU and sound card.
12.2 I/O Ports:

I/P port 1: MIC

Input port for feeding audio data to the sound card through a microphone connected to it.

I/P port 2: Line In

Input port for feeding audio data from external CD players for recording or playback.

O/P port 1: Speakers

Output port for attaching speakers for playback of sound files.

O/P port 2: Line Out

Output port for connecting to external recording devices like a cassette player or an external
amplifier.

MIDI
Input port for interfacing with an external synthesizer.
12.3 Processing Audio Files:
WAV files
The signal go to an ADC chip which converts the analog signal to digital data.

The ADC sends the binary data to the memory buffer, where these are sent to DSP which
compressed the data.

The CPU fetches the file containing the compressed data and sends the data to the DSP. MIDI files

The DSP manipulates the sample parameters in order to change their loudness, pitch etc.

If the card uses FM synthesis instead of wavetable the DSP tells the synthesizer chip to produce
the note.

Audio Transmission:
To convey digital audio data between different hardware devices, there must be both data
communication channel and common clock synchronization.
The interconnection requires an audio format recognized by transmitting and receiving device.
13.1 AES/EBU:
AES- Audio Engineering Society

EBU-European Broadcasting Union

It is a standard for carrying digital audio signals between devices and components.

The standard specifies the format for serial digital transmission of two channel of periodically
sampled.

It uniformly quantized audio signals on a single twisted wire pair.

Three types of connectors are:

Balanced 3 conductor with XLR.
Unbalanced 2 conductor with RCA.
TOSLINK connector.
13.2 Sony Philips Digital Interconnect Format:

The SPDIF is a standard for transmission of digital audio signals between devices and
components.
The XLR connectors are substituted by the RCA jack or optical TOSLINK are easier to handle
and less costly.

A set of words for each sample of channel is called data frame.

SPDIF is used to transmit compressed audio data from a DVD player to a home theatre system.

13.3 Phone Audio Jack:

The most common audio connector is phone jack.

Jack plugs are available in 3 size: 2.5mm, 3.5mm, 6.5mm.

The 3.5mm miniature jack and 2.5mm is subminiature jack.

The stereo version uses two conductors for carrying the left and right channel audio data.
 Common uses of plugs and sockets jacks are as headphone and earphone jack of audio equipment.

13.4 RCA Jack:

RCA-Radio Corporation of America.

The male connector(plug) consists of a central male connector surrounded by metal ring and is
found at cable ends.

The female connector(jack) found on the devices consists of a central hole with a ring of metal
around it.

The jack also has a small plastic ring color coded for the signal type: yellow- compress video, red-
right audio channel, white or blackleft audio channel.
13.5 XLR Audio Connector:

Canon was initially referred to as code X, subsequent version included a Latch and Rubber gasket
which together called XLR.

EIA Standard(Electronics Industries Alliance) RS297A specifies the use of XLR3 for audio signal
application.

Pin 1 is chassis ground, Pin 2 uses normal polarity voltage(hot) and Pin 3 uses reverse polarity
voltage(cold).

An XLR3M connector is used for output and XLR3F connector is used for input.

13.6 TOSLINK:

TOSLINK is a fiber optic connection system for digital audio signals in consumer audio systems.
It is used for connecting their CD players to audio equipment.

TOSLINK connectors are often used to connect DVD player output to Digital Dolby.

Audio File Formats and CODECs:

WAV(Waveform Audio):
It is an expanded format which supports multiple data formats and compression schemes.

It is used for uncompressed 8, 12, and 16 bit audio files both mono and multi-channel.
 WAV is a standard format for storing audio.

The RIFF(Resource Interchange File Format) acts as a ‘wrapper’ for various audio compression
CODECs.

It is the main format used for raw audio.

14.1 AIFF(Audio Interchange File Format):

The Interchange File Format(IFF) is used to facilitate data transfer between software programs of
different vendors.

The file formats are:

AIFF(audio) ANIM(animation)

AIFF:
It is used for storing audio data and types of chunks found in AIFF are

Common Chunk, Sound data Chunks etc.

MID(MIDI):

MIDI files are textual files which contains instructions on how to play a piece of music.

The files are very compact in size and ideal for web applications.

AU(Audio):
This audio file format consists of a header six 32-bit words which defines the metadata about data
following it.

MP3 (MPEG Layer III):

MP3 can compress a typical song into 5MB for which it is extensively used for putting audio
content on the Internet.

VOC(Voice):

It is used with Sound Blaster sound card.

Sound upto 16-bit stereo is surrounded along with compressed formats.

RMF(Rich Music Format):

Beatnik is a software based high performance music and audio playback technology.
 To take the full advantage of the unique features of the Beatnik audio engine, the file format
called RMF is developed.

mp3PRO:
mp3PRO has been implemented in only a few software and hardware products.

WMA(Windows Media Audio):

Windows Media Audio is a proprietary audio file format used by Microsoft.

A WMA file is always encapsulated in an Advanced System Format(ASF) file.

The resulting file may have the filename suffix ‘wma’or ‘asf’.

RA(RealAudio):
It is designed to conform to low bandwidth, and used as streaming audio format.

RA files have the extension as .ra, .rm or .ram.

Ogg Vorbis:

Ogg Vorbis is completely free and open audio compression project.

It is popular among open source communities, and they argue that due to its higher fidelity, free
nature etc.

Vorbis used the Modified discrete Cosine Transform(MDCT) for converting the sound data from
time domain to frequency domain and back.

ATRAC:
ATRAC- Adaptive Transform
Coding.
It is used to store an audio compression algorithm.
It uses modified discrete cosine transform to represent encoded audio.

ATRAC1- Support full stereo encoding with292kbits/s and used in mono, doubling recording
time.

ATRAC3 LP2 Mode- It uses 132kbits/s. ATRAC3 LP4 Mode- It uses 66kbits/s, partly by using joint
stereo coding and lowpass filter around 13.kHz.
ATRAC3plus- It is relatively a huge transform window of 4096 samples.

It is four times bigger than ATRAC3.

14.13 AAC(Advanced Audio Coding):

AAC is a lossy data compression scheme intended for audio streams.

It was designed as an improved-performance CODEC relative to MP3 and MPEG-2.

14.14 SHN(Shorten):
SHN is a file format used to losslessly compressed CD-quality audio file.

It is a compressed data file format similar to ZIP and RAR, but optimized for compressing audio
data.

SHN use the .SHN file extension.

14.15 FLAC(Free Lossless Audio CODEC):

It well supported by software and hardware audio products.

It consists of stream format.

14.16 APE(Monkey’s Audio):

It is a lossless audio compression CODEC and use the .APE extension.

Monkey’s audio suffers from the downside of lossless CODECs such as FLAC, its compression
ratios is always far lower than
“lossy”.
The APE tag was developed for the Musepack(MPC) file format for storing information like title,
track number etc.

14.17 TTA(True Audio):

True Audio is a free, simple real-time lossless audio CODEC.

It uses a real-time encoding/decoding algorithm allowing fast operation speed

and minimal requirement.

14.18 ALAC(Apple Lossless Audio CODEC):

It is an audio CODEC for lossless encoding of digital music, also called as Apple Lossless
Encoder(ALE).

Lossless data is stored within an MP4 with file extension .m4a.

14.19 WavPack:
WavPack is a free, open source lossless audio compression format.

It also supports multichannel streams and high frequency sampling rates.

14.20 MPC(Musepack):
The MPC is an open source version of MP2 format.

It uses Huffman coding, noise substitution technique and variable bit rate between 3Kbps and
1.3Mbps.
14.21 Speex:
Speex is a free software speech CODEC intended to be free of patent restrictions.

It was designed for VoIP application which means it needed to handle lost packet.

14.22 MOD(Module):
It is a file format to represent computer generated music files in terms of note numbers etc.
They store several patterns of musical data and specify how the patterns should be played.

Audio Recording systems:

15.1 Dolby Systems:
Analog Recording:
The first product is simple compander called Dolby type A noise reduction.

Dolby Noise Reduction(NR) is used in analog magnetic tape recording.

Dolby A-type NR:

It was originally intended for professional recording studios to make quieter master tape
recording.
Dolby B-type NR:
It is the original system designed for consumer tape.
Dolby C-type NR:
It acts on the same B-type but improves by providing twice the noise reduction.

Dolby S-type NR:

The highest-performance Dolby system for analog cassette recording.

Dolby Spectral Recording(SR):

It extends the overall dynamic range of analog media.

Cinema:
Dolby Digital(AC-3):
It is the surround sound technology that delivers high-quality digital audio.

Dolby Digital Surround EX:

It is reproduced by rear-wall surround speakers, while the left and right surround channels are
reproduced by speaker on the side walls.
Dolby Spectral Recording(SR):
This technology delivered a significantly improved dynamic range over Dolby stereo.
Dolby stereo:
It is the original Dolby multichannel film sound format that revolutionized the movie experience.
Encoding/Decoding:
Dolby AC-2:
It is an adaptive-transform based algorithm that combines professional audio quality with low bit
rate, by reducing data capacity.

Dolby Digital Live:

This coverts any multichannel audio signal to the Dolby Digital format.

Dolby Digital Plus:

It is highly sophisticated and versatile audio CODEC.
Meridian Lossless Packing(MLP):
It is a true lossless coding system specified fro DVD-Audio.
Matrix:
Dolby Pro Logic:
It is the foundation of the multichannel home theater experience.

This technology decodes source audio encoded in two-channel.

Dolby Pro Logic II:

It is a sophisticated, matrix decoding technology that expands any two-channel source audio like
CDs and stereo-encoded video cassettes.

Virtual:
Dolby Virtual Speakers:
It is a highly advanced signal processing technology that surround sound from two speakers.
15.2 Digital Theatre System(DTS):
The basic and common version of the format is a 5.1 channel system, supporting five primary
speaker and a subwoofer, called as Low Frequency Effects(LFE).
DTS Digital Surround:
It is the standard for providing 5.1 channels of discrete digital audio in consumer electronics and
software.
DTS Extended Surround(ES):
It is fully backwards-compatible with DTS decoders that are not Extended Surround
equipped.

DTS Digital Out:

It indicates that a unit reads and passes the DTS bit stream via the device’s digital output to a
device with a DTS decoder.
DTS Interactive:
It delivers real time, discrete multi-channel interactive playback.

DTS Virtual:
It down-converts DTS soundtrack to stereo while processing a surround sound for fourchannel
headphones.
Audio and Multimedia:
16.1 Types of Audio in a Presentation:
Types of audio output are speech, music and sound effects can be incorporate into multimedia.
Speech:
Speech is an important element of human communication and can be used effectively to transmit
information.

The advantage of using natural speech is the power of human voice to persuade.

The speech can potentially eliminate the need to display large amounts of text on the screen.

Two types of speech are available.

Digitized speech- Provides high quality, natural speech but required significant disk storage
capacity.

Synthesized speech- It is not as storedintensive but may not sound as natural as human speech.

Music:
Music does not carry the primary or instructional message of a multimedia program.

Music is used to set a tone, provide connections, add interest and excitement etc.

Sound Effects:
It is used to enhance the presentation of information or instruction.

Natural Sound- It is the commonplace sounds that occur around us.

Synthetic Sound- These produced electronically or artificially.

Ambient Sound- The background sound that communicate the content of the screen.

Special Sound- It is uniquely identified sound.

16.2 Reason for Using Audio:
The main reason to use audio is to ensure that the goal and the objective are met.

Redundancy is the key to better communication.

Other reason for including audio content is connected to motivation.

Two conditions for influence and effectiveness:

Information presented in each mode should be congruent.

Identical presentations of words in sound and text should be avoided.

16.3 Suggestions for Using Audio Content: Speech:

To produce high quality recorded speech a script should be written and professionally recorded.
When speech is being recorded all background noise and ambient sound should be eliminated.

Music:
A wide variety of prerecorded music is available in digital form on CDs.

In addition original music can be recorded and edited by connecting synthesizers, keyboard etc by
using MIDI.
Sound Effects:

Sound effects provide information about Physical events- Clicking the keyboard keys.
 Dynamic changes- Sound of pouring liquid in a glass.

Abnormalities- Car engine malfunctioning

Spatial relations- Judging the distance of a person walking by the sound of footsteps.

Sound effects must be clear and easily identifiable.

They should be appropriate to the audience.

17. Voice Recognition and Response:

In voice recognition area, products are typically categorized as utilizing either continuous
recognition or discrete recognition.

Being able to handle either small or large vocabulary and as either speaker-dependent or speaker-
independent.
Large vocabulary systems often base their recognition on elements smaller than a word such as
syllable or phoneme.

Phonemes are smaller distinguishable sounds in the dialect of a language.

A recent development is the introduction of a speaker adaptive system.

A system constantly updates its word models based on the actual speaking pattern employed
during use.

In the voice response area, system are divided into synthesized versus digitized speech.

Audio Processing software:

An audio editing software allows to open, edit, manipulate, transform and save digital audio
sound files in various format.

Opening an Existing Sound File:

An audio editor allow to open an existing sound file and view its waveform.
It support the Windows native audio file format WAV and some additional file formats like
AIFF(Audio Interchange File Format).
Playing a File:
A playback head is usually seen moving across the displayed waveform while the corresponding
sound heard on the speaker.

Along with the play button there would be other accessory buttons like pause, stop, rewind and
forward etc.

Playing Selected Portion of a File:

The user use mouse to select a specific portion of the waveform and click on the play button.

Instead of playing the entire file, only selected file is played.

Accurately Positioning the Playback Head:

The user can select portions of file by dragging with the mouse pointer.

The editor use some way of accurately positioning the head at a specific point of the file by
mentioning the time in hh:mm:ss format.
Copying and Pasting Portions of a File:
The editors offers a way of copying and pasting portions of a file either in the same file or in
different file.
Saving a File:
The user can save an edited file by specifying the file name and location.

Using Cut, Trim and Undo Functions:

The Cut function enables the user to select a portion of the audio file and discard that portion.

The Trim function allows one to select a portion of a file and discard the remaining portion.

The Undo function allows the user to undo a number of previous steps.
Magnifying and Zooming:
Magnifying/zooming implies displaying a magnified view of the sound waveform.

Zooming in decreases the ratio and zooming out increases it.

Zooming can occur both along the time axis and along the amplitude axis.

Mixing Sounds:
When one portion of a selected sound is pasted in another file, the two portions are heard one after
another but not simultaneously.

The mix function allows one to mix two sounds so both are heard simultaneously.

Crossfading Sounds
The Crossfading function is a special case of the Mix function where the amplitude of the sounds
are varied after mixing.

Converting between Mono and Stereo

Formats:
When converting from mono to stereo, a single mono channel is duplicated as dual channels.
 The channels have identical sound track not be considered as true stereo file rather it is referred to
as dual mono.

Changing the Sampling Rate:

When converting from a higher sampling rate to a lower value, a set of sampling values are
discarded by the editor.

When converting from lower to a higher value, the conversion algorithm tries to interpolate the
existing sample values to generate new value.
Changing the Bit Depth:
Two values 8-bit and 16-bit are supported by most editors, and changing bit depth increase the file
size.

Recording:

Recording is of two type External and Internal.

External:
External recording means using an external device and connecting it to the computer for
recording purpose.

This can be of two types: voice and music.

Internal:
Internal recording means playing a sound file on a computer and recording the sound on the
same computer.

During recording the user needs to specify parameters like sample rate, bit depth and number of
channels.

18.15 Normalizing:
Normalizing is recommended as it produces optimum quality by utilizing the entire dynamic
range of sound card.

When different parts of a voice recording is done at different times or on different days, the
volume of the voice tend to vary.

18.16 Changing Duration:

The wave may be stretched or compressed to change the duration.

To change duration without changing the pitch, sample values are either duplicated
or discarded.

18.17 Special Effects:

The audio editing software allows application of filters for changing the nature of a sound clip in
pre-defined way.
 Example of filters include echo, reverb etc.

18.18 Removing Noise:

Noise is any unwanted signal that gets mixed with the original sound due to various reasons.
Once the noise is mixed with the sound, they change the waveform of the original sound and they
cannot be identified separately from original waveform.

18.19 Embedding Markers:

The sound editing software allow insertion of textual markers.

This enables quick location of a specific portion of the audio without listening to it.

Video
Video is a combination of image and audio.
It consists of a set of still images called frames.
It is displayed to the user one after another at a specific speed known as frame rate, measured in
number of frames per second(fps).
Motion picture is recorded on celluloid film and displayed in cinema theaters by projecting on the
screen.
Motion video is represented in the form of electrical signals as an output from video cameras.
Analog Video Camera:

It is used to record a succession of still images and then convert the brightness and color
information into electrical signals.

The tube type analog video camera is generally used in professional studios and uses electron
beams to scan in a raster pattern.

The CCD video camera using light-sensitive electronic device called the CCD.
Monochrome Video Camera:

The components of an analog video camera consists of a vacuum tube containing an electronic
gun and a photo-sensitive semiconductor plate called Target in front.

The Target is almost an insulator in the absence of light.

The vacant energy states left by the liberated electrons called holes, migrate towards the inner
surface of the target.

Color Video Camera:

It consists of three camera tubes in which each tube receives selectively filtered primary colors.
The image formed by the lens is split into three images by glass prisms, and it is designed as
diachroic mirrors.
A diachroic mirror passes one wavelength and rejects other wavelengths and red, green, blue
images are formed.
This generates the three color signals Vr, Vg, Vb.
 Analog signal output from color video camera
Transmission of Video Signals:

2.1 Problems in Transmitting Color Signals:

A color video camera produces three color signals corresponding to the R, G, B component of the
color image.

These signals combine to produce the original image.

This scheme is suitable when the monitor is close to camera, and three cables could be used to
transmit the signals from the camera to the monitor.

It requires three separate cables or wires or channels which increases the cost of the setup for large
distance.

It found difficult to transmit the cables at exact synchronism with each other so that they arrived at
the same instant at the receiving end.

For TV signals, the transmission scheme had to adapt to the existing monochrome TV
transmission setup.
2.2 Color Perception Curve:

All objects that observe are focused sharply by the lens system of the human eye on the retina.

The retina which is located at the back side of the eye has light sensitive cells.

The retina is connected to the optic nerve which conduct the light stimuli to the optical centre of
the brain.

The light sensitive cells are if two types.

Rods

Cones

The rods provide brightness sensation and thus, perceive objects in various shades of grey from
black to white.

The cones are sensitive to color and are classified into three groups.

One set of cones detect the presence of blue color.

Second set perceives red color.
Third is sensitive to the green shade.
2.3 Luminance and Chrominance:
The RGB model is used mainly in color image acquisition and to display.
Color signal processing including image and video compression.
The luminance-chrominance color system is more effectively and widely used.
The luminance component describes the variation of perceived brightness by the HVS, in different
portions of the image without regard to any color information.
Luminance component is denoted by Y.

The chrominance component describes the variation of color information in different parts of the
image without regard to any brightness information.

It is denoted by C.

It consists of two sub- component: hue(H) which is actual name of the color and saturation(S)
which denotes the purity of color.

An image with only the C component would consists of flat areas of color without any
brightness/contrast variations.

2.4 Generating YC Signals from RGB:

The RGB output signals from a video camera are transformed to YC format using electronic
circuitry before being transmitted.
The C component is discarded and only the Y component is used to display a B/W image.
The C sub- component, H and S are quantitatively defined in terms of color difference signals
referred to as blue chrominance Cb and red chrominance Cr.
Cb=B-Y
 Cr=R-Y
2.5 Chroma Sub-sampling:

Conversion of RGB signals into YC format has advantage of utilizing less bandwidth through the
use of chroma subsampling.

The limitation can be exploited to transmit reduced color information as compared to brightness
information, process called chroma sub-sampling.

The schemes of chroma sub-sampling are

4:2:2, 4:1:1, 4:4:4, 4:2:0.

Video Signal Formats:

Component Video:
This refers to a video signal which is stored or transmitted as three separate component signals.
The simplest form is the collection of R, G and B signals which forms the output of analog video
camera.
R, G, B signals are replaced by Y, Cb and Cr signals and delivered along three separate wires.
Composite Video:

To reduce cable/channel requirement, component signals are combined into a single signal
which is transmitted along a wire or channel.

This is known as composite video.

The luminance-chrominance format is used for composite video transmission.

Luminance is allotted greater bandwidth than the chrominance parts.

S-Video:

S-video is short for Super-video.

An analog video signal where the luminance and chrominance portion are transmitted separately
using multiple wires instead of the same wire as for composite video.

The picture quality is better than that of composite video because of reduced interference but the
cable is more expensive.

SCART Connector:

SCART (Syndicat des Constructeurs d’Appareils Radiorecepteurs et Television).

It can be used to convert DVD players, set top boxes etc to television sets.

It also support bi-directional communication between connected device.

The drawback is that it cannot carry both Svideo and RGB signals at the same time.

It cannot transmit surround sound formats and can only transmit analog signals not digital.
Television Broadcasting Standards:

NTSC:
NTSC- National Television
Committee.

It is a television broadcasting system used in a number of countries like Japan, Korea, Canada etc.

The NTSC was set up in 1940 by Federal Communication Commission(FC) in US to establish

nation wide standard for B/W TV transmission.

In 1950 it was reconstituted to establish a standard for color TV transmission.

The color information was added to the B/W image by adding color sub-carrier to the video
signal.

4.2 PAL:
PAL- Phase Alternation Lines.

It is a TV broadcasting standard used in Europe, Asia etc and developed in1967.

PAL uses a color sub-carrier with two amplitude modulated quadrature subcomponents.

The name ”PAL” describes the way that the phase part of the color information is reversed with
each line, which automatically correct phase error.

PAL sub-components are referred as U and V.

4.3 SECAM:

SECAM- Sequential Color and Memory.

The difference between NTSC/PAL and SECAM is that while the former transmits two color
signals simultaneously, later transmits only one color difference.

SECAM is a free of the color artifacts present in NTSC and PAL.

The color difference signals are denoted as Db and Dr.

PC Video:
Analog video needs to converted to the digital format before it can be displayed on a PC screen.
The procedure for conversion involved two types.
Source devices.
Capture devices.
5.1 Source and Source Devices:
Source implies the media on which analog video is recorded.

Video recorded onto a source must conform to one of the video recording standard either NTSC or
PAL.

To play back the video recorded on tape, a compatible “source device” is required.

The source and source device can be Camcorder with pre-recorded video tape.

VCP with pre-recorded cassette.

Video camera with live footage.

5.2 Video Capture Card:

A video capture device is essentially an expansion board that can handle different audio and video
input signals.

It convert them from analog to digital or vice versa.

A typical circuit board consists of:

Video INPUT port to accept the video input signals from NSTC/PAL etc.

Video compression-decompression hardware for video data.

Audio compression-decompression for video data.

A/D converter to convert the analog input video signals to digital form.
Video OUTPUT port to feed output video signals to camera and VCR.
D/A converter to convert the digital video data to analog signals.
Audio INPUT/OUTPUT port for audio input and output function.
A video capture card is also referred as video frame grabber.

The main components are:

Video Channel Multiplexer:
A video channel multiplexer allows the proper input port and format to be selected under program
control.

ADC:
The analog to digital converter reads the input analog video signal from an analog video camera.
The parameters for digitization include the sampling rate for the visual and audio portions, the
color depth and the frame rate.
Image Processing Parameters:
It include specifying the brightness, contrast, color, audio, volume, etc which are specified using
the video capture software.
Compression Decompression:
The video capture card often contains a chip for hardware compression and decompression of
video data in real time.

5.3 Video Capture Software: Tuning Parameters:

This parameter define the final output of the video and audio in the digital file produced.
This include frame rate, brightness/contrast, sampling rate etc.
AVI Capture:
This allows the user to specify whether the digital video file would be stored in the AVI file
format.
No compression is applied the video and hence it is suitable for small files.

AVI to MPEG Converter:

It allows the user to convert a captured AVI file to MPEG format.

The MPEG compression algorithm is applied to an AVI file an separate MPG file is created on the
disk.

MPEG Capture:
Certain cards allow the user to capture video directly in the MPEG format.

Analog video data is captured, digitized and compressed at the same time before being written on
the disk.

DAT to MPEG Converter:

This converts the DAT format to a Video-CD into MPEG.

Conversion to MPEG is done for editing purpose.
MPEG Editor:
The MPG movie file is opened in a timeline structure and function are provided for splitting the
file into small parts by specifying the start and end of each portion.
Some functions for adding effects like transition or sub-titling may also be present.

5.4 Connection Scheme:

The source is inserted into a source device and forwarded or re-winded to the portion from where
the recording needs to be started.

Output signals need to be taken from the audio output and video output ports of the source device.

Video File Formats And CODECs:

AVI(Audio/Video Interleaved):
The name implies that in the same file both audio and video media is stored, since a video clip can
contain both types of media.

The term ‘interleaved’ means that within the file the video data and the corresponding audio data
are kept in small chunks instead of blocks.
 AVI is an un-compressed format.

MOV(QuickTime Movie):
These file have an extension MOV and requires a program called Movie Player for Playback.
MOV is a compressed format and supports a number of CODECs.
It is widely used to create cross-platform video clips.

MPEG(Motion Picture Expert Group):

MPEG is a compressed format based on both intra-frame and inter-frame compression.

MPEG-1, 2, 4, 7 are the versions of MPEG.

Real Video:
It support streaming which means that the video file starts playing even before they are fully
downloaded from the Internet.
Helix is open source and commercial source code media framework.
Helix Player contains
Audio formats
Video formats
Description formats
Image formats
Protocols

6.5 H.261:
It is developed for video-telephony and videoconferencing applications in an ISDN environment.

H.261 is similar to the MPEG-1 standard.

6.6 H.263:
It was specifically designed for very low bit rate applications like interactive games,
videoconferencing etc.

It use over 64Kbps for wireless and public switched networks.

It has some features like

Combined PB frames- To obtain higher levels of compression than H.261, H.263 uses Bframes.
Unrestricted motion vectors- Motion vectors are allowed to point outside the frame area.
Error handling- An improved capacity for handling errors.
Limiting errors- The concept of group of macroblocks to restrict errors in one GOB from affecting
other areas of the frame.
6.7 Indeo Video Interactive:

It is used for video distributed over the Internet for computers with Pentium II processors.
This CODEC include features like flexible keyframe control, chroma keying that reduces data
load.

6.8 Cinepak:
It was developed to play small movies on ‘386 and ‘030 systems from single-speed CD-ROM
drive.
Its greater strength is its extremely low CPU requirement.

6.9 Sorenson Video:

It is useful for compressing 24-bir video intended for CD-ROM applications and downloadable
WWW video files.
It is capable of better picture quality and smaller files than Cinepak, but requires more
compression time.
It is suitable for final export and not for editing.

6.10 VDOLive:
VDOLive is a server-based, ‘true streaming’ architecture.

True streaming movies play in real-time with no delays for downloading.

6.11 DivX:
DivX is a video CODEC.

It is known for its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small size.

Various programs are available which can produce a DivX file from a normal video DVD called
‘ripping’.

6.12 XviD:

XviD is a open source MPEG-4 video CODEC.

Its features are b-frames, quarter pixel motion compensation, global motion compensation, MPEG
and custom quantization matrices.

While XviD is a open source, DivX is available as either freeware binary or commercial version
DivXPro.

It claims significantly better compression and speed.

6.13 3ivx:
 3ivx is a CODEC suite that allows the creation of MPEG-4 compliant data streams.
It has been designed around a need for decreased processing power for use mainly in embedded
systems.
It provides plugins and filters that allow the MPEG-4 data stream to be wrapped.

6.14 Nero digital:

Nero Digital is a software product that uses MPEG-4 compression technology.

It support for two MPEG-4 video coding algorithm and two forms of MPEG-4 AAC audio.

Nero Digital offers two different video CODECs and two different audio CODECs.

The CODECs are

ASP

AVC

HE AAC

LC AAC

6.15 FFmpeg:

FFmpeg is a set of open source computer programs that can read, record, convert and stream
digital audio and video.
It includes ‘libavcodec’, a leading audio/video codec library.
It is made of several components. They are
ffmpeg- Command line tool to convert video file format to another.
ffserver- An HTTP multimedia streaming server for live broadcasts.

ffplay- Simple media player based on SDL (Simple Directmedia Layer).

libavcodec- It is a library containing all the ffmpeg audio/video encoders and decoders.
libavformat- It is a library containing parser and generators for all common audio/video formats.

6.16 Ogg Theora:

Ogg Theora is a video CODEC.
It competes with MPEG-4, RealVideo and Windows Media Video(WMV).

Some of the players that can play Ogg Theora files are RealVideo player, Xine etc.

6.17 Windows Media Video(WMV):

It is a set of proprietary streaming video technologies.

The WMV format is used for the audio track.

Some third party players like Mplayer for Linux can also play back WMV files.
Video Editing:
7.1 Online and Offline Editing:
Online editing is a practice of doing all editing on the same computer that will produce the final
cut.
Previously online editing has been done on high expensive.
In offline editing the video is edited using lower quality copies of the original clips and produce
the final version on a high-end system.
Offline editing was developed to save money by editing in less expensive.

7.2 SMPTE Time Code:

Timecode defines how frames in a movie are counted and affects the way we view and edit a clip.
A standard way to represent timecode is developed by a global body called Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).
It represents timecode by a set of numbers in the format hh:mm:ss:ff.
Two methods used to generate SMPTE timecode is: Drop and Non-Drop.

In SMPTE Non-Drop the time code frames are always incremented by one in exact
synchronization to the frames of the video.
Time on the video frames is stamped as 30 frames per second.
SMPTE Drop time code attempts to compensate for the discrepancy between
real world time and SMPTE by “dropping” frames from sequence SMPTE.
In the SMPTE sequence of time the SMPTE time will jump forward by more than one frame
number.

7.3 Timebase:

Time is a continuous flow of events.

Time increments like hours, minutes, seconds, as each second might contain several events.

Source frame rates can be of different types:

Motion picture film- 24fps

PAL SECAM video- 25fps

NTSC video- 29.97fps

Web applications- 15fps

CD-ROM applications- 30fps

A parameter timebase determines how time is measured and displayed within editing software.

7.4 Edit Decision List(EDL):

An EDL is required when offline editing is done using personal computers.

Once the offline edit is completed on low-end system, a table of scene sequence called an edit
decision list is created.
Video Editing Software:

Importing Clips:
For editing the user is provided with an interface of importing the video clips into the software
package.

The native file format AVI is always supported, some additional formats like QuickTime, MPEG
etc may also be supported .

Along with video clips, audio clips and images can also be imported.

Timeline Structure:

Most of the video editing software presents a timeline structure for video editing.

A series of horizontal lines called tracks are presented to the user.

These lines serving as time slots where the video clips to be edited are to be placed.

Each video clip is represented as rectangular shapes standing for the collection of frames making
up the clip.

A playback head moves along the timeline from left to right and the portion of the video data
under the head is played back in a monitor window.

8.3 Playback of Clips:

Once the clips are placed on the timeline, each of them can be selected and played back in a
monitor window.
Another window is used to playback the entire sequence of clip one after the other with added
effects like transmission.

8.4 Trimming Clips:

One of the basic operations that can be done in a video editor is trimming a clip to discard
unwanted portions.

The user is asked to select two points along a clip: the start point and the end point.

The trimming operation keeps all frames between these points and deletes the rest of the frames.

8.5 Splitting a Clip:

A video editor allows a user to split a video clip into any number of parts.

The user is required to specify the points where the clip is to be split by clicking at specific points
of the rectangle.

After splitting, the user can drag different pieces and place them at different locations on the same
track or different tracks.
8.6 Manipulating the Audio Content:

A video editor enables the audio content of a video clip to be separated from the visual content.

The audio content is displayed on a separate audio track in the timeline, from where it may be
replaced by some other audio data.

Audio can also be added to a video clip which originally did not have any audio content.

8.7 Adding Transition:

A video editor enables the user to insert various types of transition between two video clips.

Transition like dissolve, wipes, blinds etc may be dragged from a separate transition palette and
placed between two clips on the timeline.

8.8 Changing the Speed of a Clip:

A video editor allows the playback speed of a clip to be changed, i.e. to simulate slowmotion or
fast-motion.

This is done by selecting the clip on the timeline and specifying a percentage by which the speed
is to be changed.

8.9 Changing the Opacity of a Clip:

A clip is opaque, i.e. with opacity 100%.

If the opacity is decreased, the clip becomes partially transparent.

This implies that through the clip, other clips placed on a lower track would become visible.

8.10 Applying Special Effects:

Visual filters like blur, emboss, lens flare, etc could be applied on video clips.
The extent of these filters could be varied over the length of the clip.

8.11 Superimposing an Image:

An image can be superimposed over a video clip.
For example, a logo can be placed at a specific position of the video frame so that it is always
visible.

Some editor allow the superimposed image to be animated i.e. the image can be made to move
gradually.
8.12 Exporting a Movie:
A video editor provides us with a visual interface where we can click and drag to specify editing
operations.

The interface is however only a symbolic representation of the actual video data.

The process of physically changing the data based on some instruction given via interface is
known as rendering.

Rendering can also be a time consuming process.

When exporting a movie, the changes specified are first rendered and then copied to an output file
format supported by editor.

Animation
Animate- ‘To give life to’ and Animations are created from a sequence of still images.

It can also involve a model which is changed by small amount at a time and then repeatedly
photographed, called as stop motion.

Animation sequence are created by two types:

The lead artists or experts who draw those frames where major changes take place within a
sequence called key-frames.

The assistants draw a number of frames in between key-frames called tweening.

Types of Animation:
Cel Animation:
Cel comes from the world celluloid.

Animation cels are generally layered one on top of the other, to produce a single animation frame.

Layering enables the animator to isolate and redraw only the parts of the image that changes
between successive frames.

To depict movement only the foreground cel can be changed between frames without changing
the background cel.
Path Animation:
The animation does not exists as a collection of frames but rather as mathematical entities called
vectors.
It involves an image or a collection of image called sprite, that moves as an independent object.
The sprite moves along a motion path typically curved called splines.
Path animation is also known as Sprite animation.
It takes less disk space to store compared to cel animation.

2D vs 3D Animation:
2D animation are drawn taking two coordinate axes along X and Y directions.

3D animation monitor objects by considering space coordinates and involves modeling,

rendering, lighting camera motions etc.

It take three axes along X, Y and Z directions to define locations of objects in space.
Computer Assisted Animation:
Computer assisted animation is also based on the key-frame concept.

Advantage is that, in-between frames are created by the animation program itself not by junior
animators doing a lot o tedious work.

A playback head moves across the timeline to display each of the frames one after another.

Linear motion paths contain sharp angle bends at the key frames.

A registration point is a point on each cel that lines up with the same point on every other cel.

Creating Movement:

3.1 Coordinate System:

Two lines perpendicular to each other with distances marked along each line allow you to locate
shapes accurately on a plane.

This system is called coordinate system and the number that identify where a point is called
coordinates of a point.

Two lines drawn perpendicular to each other is called axes.

The horizontal axis is called the X axis and vertical axis is called the Y axis.

The point at which the axes cross is called origin.

To specify points in space three coordinate axes are required, X the horizontal axis, Y vertical
axis, Z height or depth axis.

The third axis is used to describe whether an object is further or nearer to the viewer.

Distances from the origin may be measured in any appropriate unit including pixels, inches, am
and points.

3.2 Transformations:

Three basic transformation are: translation, rotation and scaling.

Translation involves moving object in straight lines in any direction on the screen.
Rotation implies changing the orientation of object by rotating it through some angles in the
clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
Scaling implies enlarging or shrinking whole or part of an object.
Uniform scaling keeps the aspect ratio intact.
Non-uniform scaling distorts the object by changing the aspect ratio.

Principles of Animation:
Squash and Stretch:
The classic example of squash and stretch is a bouncing ball.

An animation of a bouncing ball that does not change shape as it moves gives a lifeless,
mechanical impression.

To be more realistic the shape of the ball should be flattened as it strikes the ground and revert
back to its original shape as it rebounds into the air.
Anticipation:
If the audience is not prepared for a sudden motion, the motion seems confusing.

We prepare to act before we actually act and the animation should make this clear.

Staging:
Staging means to arrange things in each frame so that the action is clear and easy to see.

It gives the main characters emphasis and to integrate them with the background.

Follow-through and Overlapping Action:

Follow through and overlapping action

have to do with clarity.

Follow through is the

complement of anticipation.

Including follow through makes action

easier to see and more realistic.

Anticipation and follow through combine

in overlapping action.

Overlap contributes to the continuity of scene.

 Slow-in and Slow-out:

Bouncing ball is the illustration of slow in and slow out.

As the begins to rise up it must be slow down.

Then it must be gradually gather speed as it falls down again and attain the faster speed near the
ground just before striking it.

Slow in and slow out means that there are more in-between frames immediately before and after
each stop.
 Living things rarely moves in straight line.
Our joints are hinges and moving them describes an arcs.
The overall movement of characters in an animation should follow an arc as well.

Secondary Action:
Each part of a character might not move at the same rate.
Including secondary actions contributes to realism.
Timing:
Rapid movement is for emergencies, while slow movement implies deliberation.
Timing is also the most important way to indicate weight.
For example, a character who walks off a cliff but does not fall until he/she looks
down.

Exaggeration:
Exaggerating the action can make it seem real.
The important elements makes them stand out brings them closer to the viewer.

Appeal:

All the characters in animation should have appeal.

Appeal is visual as well as psychological.

Characters that are visually intriguing are more likely to hold an audience’s attention
than characters whose appearance is predictable.

Some Techniques of Animation:

Some specialized techniques are used to build up an animation sequence, either in

traditional way or computer-based.

The objectives of these techniques are

To improve the efficiency or

To reduce time-involvement or

To introduce some innovation over the basic cel or

Path animation schemes.

Onion Skinning:
Onion-Skinning is a drawing technique borrowed from traditional cel animation that
helps the animator create the illusion of smooth motion.

It is an easy way to complete sequence of frames at a glance and to set how each
frame flows into the frames before and after.
Motion Cycling:
Human and animal motion such as walking, running is a repetitive action represented
by a cycle.
The sequence fall into two halves:

The first half begins at an extreme the feet with the back toe and front heel touching
the ground.

In remainder of first half the legs trade position, then the right arm is forward and vice
versa.

The second half of the cycle is simply a variation of the first half, but with arms and
legs reversed.

5.3 Masking:

Artists often use cutouts of a red plastic called rubylith to protect parts of their work
from the application of paint.

A mask in a computer program is in a sense a model of the plastic masks.

It protects parts of a frame from effects of other editing tools.

5.4 Adding Sound:

Sounds that arise from the action begin viewed can clarify what is happening and
create an effect of realism.

Narration or voice-over can provide information that is missing from visual image.

When sound matches the visuals, it is called synchronous sound.

When sound is independent of the visuals, it is called asynchronous sound.

5.5 Flip-book Animation:

A flip-book is a book with a series of pictures varying gradually from one page to the
next.
When the pages are turned rapidly the pictures appear to animate, simulating motion
or some other changes.
Flip books are essentially a primitive form of animation.

5.6 Rotoscoping and Bluescreening:

Rotoscoping has been used as a tool for special effects in action movies.
 Bluescreening is a technique for shooting live action against a even colored blue
background and then replacing the background by another image.

This is extensively used as chroma-keying using digital editing tools where the
background color is selected by a selection tool.

Then it is replaced by pasting over with some other background.

5.7 Color Cycling:

Color Cycling allows to change color of object by cycling through a range of colors.
In RGB color wheel, the color is changed by specifying an initial color, a clockwise
or anticlockwise direction is used for changing color.

5.8 Morphing:
Morphing is the process of smoothly interpolated between two different images.
For example, a face gradually transforming into the face of other person or even an
animal.

Animation on Web:
The biggest obstacles in use of animation on web are bandwidth limitations, the
difference in platforms and browser support.
The problem is streaming, which is the capability of specially formatted animation
files to design playback before the entire file has been completely downloaded.
Once the animation has been delivered, the user must have the proper helper
application or plug-n to display the animation.

6.1 The Shockwave Format:

Macromedia Director- It is the technology for director was one of the first animation
plug-ins for browsers.
Shockwave enables director authors to publish interactive, multimedia content on the
web.
Macromedia Flash- It can be saved in the shockwave format which use the SWF
extension and played back on a shockwave player.
The shockwave player can either be a standalone player program or integrated into
the browser as a plug-in.

6.2 Clint-Pull Animation:

In Clint-Pull animation an HTML page gives the browser instructions to request and
load another document automatically.
 This is like slideshow- web page are displayed one after other with a specified time
delay in between.
This uses <META> tag, and it has two things.
It indicates the time before the next page request is sent or same page reloads.
It indicates a location from where the next page is to be loaded.

6.3 Server-push Animation:

It requires a CGI(Common Gateway Interface) script that tells the server when to
automatically serve a new document or image.

Special Effects:

7.1 Atmospheric Effects:

3D computer graphics images have a distinctive crystal-clear quality.
This clarity is intended by the artist but sometimes it is not desirable and creates an
appearance of unreality and falseness.

The perceived colors of objects change depending on the distance of the object from
the viewer.

This is because scattering of the light rays by the tiny air molecules of the
atmosphere.

3D computer rendering programs often have difficulty handling this sort of

atmospheric effect.

Some higher-end software packages offer techniques such as rain, snow, fog and
haze.

7.2 Particle Systems:

Phenomena like smoke, gas, steam, fire and clouds cannot be modeled easily as
surface.
There are several parameters in defining a particle system.
Number of particles and color of the particles, often can be animated.
For example, ‘cloud’ particle system may contain parameter for controlling the
direction, speed and randomness of movement, defining shape of a cloud.
 Rendering Algorithm:
Ray Casting Algorithm:
The word algorithm means a well-thought-out, logical procedure for doing something.
A rendering algorithm is the procedure that a particular program uses to calculate a
picture.
Most rendering algorithms in software packages use a general
approach called scanline rendering.
To determine what color a given pixel should be, one common approach is a process
called ray casting.

Shading Algorithm:

Shading algorithm is used to calculate the shading of a surface.

Rendering each flat surface with only one color gives objects a faceted look and
therefore is called faceted shading.

Faceted shading results in very fast rendering.

To determine the direction in which the surface faces, computer graphics programs
employ use the surface normal.

A surface normal is a line perpendicular to a surface at a given point on the surface

and is represented by an arrow coming off the surface.

Using surface normals a rendering program can calculate the exact angle at which a
surface is oriented toward the light.

Smooth-shading algorithm work by calculating the average of the normals at a given

vertex.

8.3 Z-buffer Algorithm:

A painter might complete the background of a scene before painting objects in the
foreground is called the painter’s algorithm.

To presort object by depth can be very timeconsuming with scene involving large
number of object because each polygon of each object has to be sorted by depth.

The solution to this problem is Z-buffering, it is an area of memory which stores the
distance of each pixel from the observer.

If the point on surface is far away, the Z-buffer stores large number.
8.4 Ray Tracing Algorithm:

Ray casting algorithm scan produce very sophisticated rendering, but they have one
fundamental limitation.
 They deal with the shading of each object as if it existed in isolation and other objects
do not have any effect to the object being rendering.
A different category of rendering algorithm called ray tracing addresses this problem
by dealing with all of the objects in a scene simultaneously.
It calculates cast shadows, reflections and transparency.

8.5 Polygon Subdivision:

The process of converting curved surface to polygonal approximations prior to

rendering is known as polygon subdivision or rendering subdivision.

If the region is relatively flat the minimum will be used, if it is relatively curved the
maximum is used.

The number of polygons adapts to the curvature of the surface is called adaptive
subdivision.

8.6 Aliasing:
Any digital image is composed of a grid of tiny rectangular pixels, a curved or slanted
edge of an object like stepped pattern called aliasing.
The technique developed to handle this called anti-aliasing, consists of selectively
blurring certain pixels along the aliasing edge.
Temporal aliasing is a problem that occurs when objects are moving very quickly.
Motion blur involves rendering fast-moving objects with a slight blurring at each
frame.

9. MPEG-1 Audio:
The MPEG-1 audio standard defined in ISO Recommendation, provides
compression algorithms for digital audio.
Later I is the basic mode, Layer II and III having increasing levels of complexities
which increases the level of compression for audio quality.
There are four audio channel formats.
Monophonic- where only a single channel carries audio signal.
Dual mono- where the same mono signal is carried over two channels.

Stereophonic- where two channels carry different signals.

Joint stereo- where stereo signals are combined and carried over a single channel.
9.1 MPEG-1 Audio Layer I:
Layer I describes the least sophisticated method that requires relatively high data rates
of about 192 kbps/channel.

The compression ratio is about 4:1 and the quality is same as that of digital audio
cassette.

9.2 MPEG-1 Audio Layer II:

There are two proposal: MUSICAM and ASPEC (Adaptive Spectral Perceptual
Entropy Coding).

MUSICAM is chosen because of its simplicity and error resistance.

9.3 MPEG-1 Audio Later III:

It is difficult to convey music waveforms across the Internet because of lengthy
transmission times.

The MPEG- Layer III data reduction algorithm is widely used to compress files prior
to electronic distribution.

The MP3 CODEC like other MPEG compression algorithm is lossy in nature.

ID3 Tag:
ID3 is a format for storing textual metadata for MP3 files such as title, artist, album,
track number etc. has several variants.

MPEG-1 Video:
The MPEG-1 video standard is developed for coding of moving pictures and
associated audio for digital storage and it provides VHSquality video and audio.

MPEG-1 include frame-based random access of video, fast-forward/fast-reverse

search, editability of the compressed bitstream.

The DCT(Discrete Cosine Transform) coding is used to remove the intra-frame

redundancy and motion compensation is used to remove intra-frame redundancy.

I-frames (Intracoded):
It is coded without any reference to other images.
Mpeg makes use of JPEG coding for I frames.
The collection of frames between successive Iframe is known as group of pictures or
GOP.
P-frames (Predictive):
This requires information from previous I or P frame for encoding and decoding.
P frames can be accessed only after the referenced I or P frame has been decoded.

The number of frames between a P-frame and the preceeding I or P frame is called
prediction span.

B-frames (Bidirectional Predictive):

B frames are never used as reference for other frames.

The first I frame must be transmitted first followed by the next P frame and then by
the B frames.
Encoding:

During the encoding phase the digitized content of the Y array associated with each
frame are first divided into two dimensional array known as macroblock.

A macroblock consists of four DCT blocks for luminance and one DCT block each of
two chrominance signals.

To encode a P-frame the contents of the corresponding macroblock in the preceding I

or P frame.

PB frames:
It refers to encoding two neighbouring P and B frames as a single frame.
This enables increasing the frame rate without significantly increasing the resulting
bit rate.

D-frames:
This is used to display the content when the user rewinds or fast-forward through the
movie and ignored during encoding of frames.
It id highly compressed and inserted at regular interval throughout the stream.

MPEG-2 Audio:
The MPEG-2 audio standard was designed for applications ranging from digital
HDTV television transmission.
It uses lower sampling frequencies providing better sound quality at low bit rates.
MPEG-2 BC:
A backward compatible extension of MPEG-1 to multichannel sound with support for
five full bandwidth channels and one low frequency channel, referred to an 5.1 channel.
This part of the standard is known as MPEG2BC and can be read and decoded by an
MPEG-1 decoder.

When decoding an MPEG-2 BC stream, an MPEG-1 decoder will combine all the
multichannels into stereo channels.

MPEG-2 AAC:
A new coding scheme which is not backward compatible with MPEG-1, known as
Advanced Audio Coding(AAC).

MPEG-2 AAC implements three different coder complexity and performance scheme
called profiles.

These are Main Profile, Low Complexity Profile and Scalable Sampling Rate Profile.

The LC Profile is the simplest uses the least processing and memory resources.

The Main profile improves upon the LC with backward prediction.

The SSR profile provides for a scalable decoder.

MPEG-2 Video:
The MPEG-2 was developed to provide video quality not lower than and upto HDTV
quality.

The most important features are:

Field/Frame Prediction Modes for Supporting

Interlaced Video

Field/Frame DCT Coding Syntax

Pan

Scalability

Error Concealment

Levels:
Four levels of video resolution:

Low- It is compatible with MPEG-1 format and produce VHS-quality.

Main- It produces studio quality video and audio.

High 1440- It produces HDTV quality audio and video.