Multimedia Authoring

Iwan Sonjaya,MT
Iwankuliah@gmail.com
Iwankuliah.wordpress.com


The difference between authoring and programming

The components of an authoring tool

Types of authoring system
Examples of PC products

Programming systems
Authoring versus Programming
Authoring tools are what we call high level tools
A lot of the technical details of how things are done is hidden
from the developer. The developer can concentrate on the
functionality instead of how to make the hardware work
Can be used by non-programmers

Programming tools are low level tools
They provide access to the low level hardware features for those
who want to get the most out of the computer
Are used by programmers or software engineers
The Components of an Authoring Tool
Most authoring systems provide facilities for:
Loading and saving media assets (graphics, sounds, videos, text,
etc.)
Creating or editing audio and graphic images
Page or slide building (layering multimedia data to create a
single page)
Animation / transition effects
Specifying the sequence of the application
Adding interactive controls for navigation and actions at run-
time
Creation of CD-ROM or web-based distributions
Types of Authoring System
There are numerous development models that can be used
for multimedia applications

Authoring systems generally fall into one or more of the
following categories:
Slide, card or frame based
Icon based
The score model
Object-oriented models
Scripting language based

Some systems combine one or more of these to create more
sophisticated tools
Slide, Card or Frame Based
Each part of the application is self-contained in a single page

Each page is created separately and then integrated into the
final application

A page may contain hyperlinks to other pages to provide
navigation or pages may be sequentially viewed

There may be global parameters that can be set to affect the
entire application
e.g. background colour, default font, etc.
Icon-Based Authoring
Each part is represented an icon
(symbolic picture)

Each icon does a specific task, e.g.
plays a sound

Icons are then linked together to form
complete applications

Can easily visualise the structure and
navigation of the final application
A screenshot of
Macromedia Authorware
The Score Model
This model has an analogy with a musical score

Instead of musical instruments playing notes we have
multimedia objects (sounds, images, video, text, etc.) that do
something at specific points (times) in the score

There is usually some way to animate the objects (e.g.
rotation, scaling, colour changes, etc.) between each
transition (i.e. when they start and when they finish)

Each multimedia object lives in a track

A score has one or more tracks
Scores and Timelines
Timelines are a useful way of representing multimedia data
during the course of a presentation or application
Time is represented along the x-axis
Tracks are represented along the y-axis

The developer can move objects left and right to change the
order of the information and can lengthen or shorten the bars to
change their duration
5 seconds 0 seconds 10 seconds 15 seconds
Animation
Voice over (narration)
Video
Background music Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Scripting Language Based Models
Scripting languages are cut-down versions of complete
programming languages
They tend to have less features and are therefore easier to learn

Scripting models allow the developer to write small scripts
(programs) which can be associated with a multimedia object
e.g. you may write a script to make a graphic image move across
the screen or to make a window pop up when an item is clicked
Object-oriented models
In an object-oriented model, everything that can be put in an
application is considered an object

Every object has:
State - A description of its unique properties
e.g. a graphic images state would describe its size, colour
depth, authors name, etc.
Behaviour - The things that the object can do
e.g. a video can be played, stopped or rewound

Icon and score-based models usually have object-oriented
features also

Objects are self contained and can be reused in later projects
Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint is:
a business graphics package
a slide-based multimedia tool

Supports vector graphics, bitmapped
images, sound, video and hyperlinks

Supports many slide transitions and
animations (see right)

Developers can script objects to make
them display at specific times or events
The events are represented by a limited number of presets
and cannot be altered
Sound Forge 6.0

Audio editing, audio recording, effects processing, and rich
media encoding.

Powerful and fast non-destructive audio editing

Supports a wide range of audio formats, including 15 import
formats and 17 export formats, such as WAV, Windows
Media Audio and Video, MPEG-1&2*, RealAudio and MP3
http://www.sonicfoundry.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=668&F
eatureID=5775
Macromedia Flash

Flash is a tool for creating animated vector graphics and
multimedia

It uses a timeline and object-oriented model

Has a very useful feature called tweening which can be used
to create animations
You specify a start and end point and Flash calculates all the in-
between frames of the animation

Flash is a popular format on websites. See
http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/productinfo/features/

Macromedia Flash Screenshot
Tracks
Timeline
Tweening
Macromedia Director

Director is a package with many features
Sound and audio editing
Bitmap and vector graphics editing
Asset management

Uses a metaphor of cast, stage and score
The Cast are the media assets
The Stage is the screen or individual page
The Score is the sequence of events

Director has its own programming language called Lingo which
can be used to add new functionality

Director is one of the most widely used PC tools
Multimedia Programming Tools
Programming tools differ from authoring tools in that they
tend to be much lower level and require the developer to
have more knowledge of the underlying hardware and
programming language

Programming tools give the developer access to much more
functionality than authoring tools but require much more
effort (and money!)
Today we have looked at the two types of tools that can
be used to create multimedia applications:
Authoring tools
Programming tools

Each has their own set of pros and cons:
Authoring tools are generally quicker to learn and can be used by
non-programmers but may have limited flexibility
Programming tools are more difficult to use and require good
programming knowledge but can be much more flexible
Irian

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