HNDIT1210

Graphics &
Multimedia

Week 1 & 2 - Introduction to multimedia

 Module Data
• GPA
• 4 Credits
• Pre-requisites : IT1002
• 30 Hours-Lectures
• 60 Hours-Practical
 Aim & Objectives
• Develop skills required in designing and
integration of multimedia content in software
applications
 Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module the student will be able to:
• Demonstrate different concepts of graphics and
multimedia and select appropriate content formats for
a given application
• Apply different configuration and delivery related
parameters in to multimedia content creation and
editing
• Use common multimedia and image editing tools to
create and edit multimedia contents
• Deploy multimedia content using different types of
mediums.
 Outline Syllabus
• Introduction to multimedia & Multimedia
Concepts.
• Types of Multimedia(Vector ,Raster , linear or
Non linear)
• Raster and Vector content
• Audio , Video and animation
• Multimedia delivery standards
• Multimedia editing tools
 Assessment & weighting
• Continuous assessment
– In class discussions, group work, quizzes,
assignments & tutorials - 15%
– Laboratory assignments - 35%
• End Semester Examination
– Structure Exam Paper- 50 %
 References
• Multimedia Systems Design by Prabhat K.
Andleigh
Prentice Hall ISBN: 01-30-8909-52
• Computer Graphics and Multimedia:
Applications, Problems and Solutions, by
John Dimarco,
IGI Global, ISBN:15-91-4026-62
• Online Resources:
Learning materials from popular multimedia
editing software vendors
INTRODUCTION TO
MULTIMEDIA
 Objectives
At the end of this chapter, students should be able to:
• understand the history and development of media,
computer and multimedia systems
• Define common multimedia terms such as
multimedia, integration, interactive, Hypermedia
HTML and authoring
 What is Multimedia?
• Derived from the word “Multi” and “Media”
– Multi
• Many, Multiple,
– Media
• Tools that is used to represent or do a certain things,
delivery medium, a form of mass communication –
newspaper, magazine / tv.
• Distribution tool & information presentation – text,
graphic, voice, images, music and etc.
 Definition of Multimedia
• Multimedia is a combination of text, graphic,
sound, animation, and video that is
delivered interactively to the user by
electronic or digitally manipulated means.
Text Graphic

Audio Video
Animatio
n
 History Of Multimedia
• What can we say about
the evolution of media
that has taken place for
thousands of years?
• Since the dawn of time,
people have had the
need to communicate
with one another.
• This created what we
called as communication
media.
http://www.december.com/present/mediaev.html
History Of Multimedia
• Newspapers  (perhaps) the first
mass communication medium,
which used mostly text, graphics,
and images.
• 1895  Gugliemo Marconi sent
his first wireless radio transmission
at Pontecchio, Italy.
• 1901  he detected radio waves
beamed across the Atlantic.
• Initially invented for telegraph,
radio is now a major medium for
audio broadcasting.
History Of Multimedia

•Television 
new media for
the 20th
century.
•It brought
video (+audio)
and has since
changed the
world of mass
communication.
 Overlapping Technologies
• Different branches of multimedia grow
together because of new, upcoming
multimedia technology and applications.
• Two challenges lie ahead:
– Timing requirements (synchronization etc.)
– Integration requirements (of different media
types)
 Elements of Multimedia
Graphic
Text

Audio Video

Animatio
n
 Text
• Text is the most basic element of multimedia.
 A good choice of words could help convey the
intended message to the users (keywords).
 Used in contents, menus, navigation
 characters that are used to create words,
sentences, and paragraphs.
 Text

• Text elements can be categories into:

– Alphabets characters: A – Z
– Number: 0 – 9
– Special characters: . , ; : „ “
– Symbols: @ # $ & *
 The uses of text
• Heading / Title
• Bullet / list
• Paragraph
• Scrolling text
• Navigation
• Text as graphics
 Graphic
• A digital representation of non-text
information, such as a drawing, chart, or
photograph.
 Audio
 Produced by vibration, as perceived by the
sense of hearing.
 In multimedia, audio could come in the form
of speech, sound effects and also music score.
 Animation
 The illusion of motion created by the
consecutive display of images of static
elements.
 In multimedia, animation is used to further
enhance / enriched the experience of
the user to further understand the
information
conveyed to them.
 Video
 Is the technology of capturing, recording,
processing, transmitting, and reconstructing
moving pictures.
 Video is more towards photo realistic image
sequence / live recording as in comparison to
animation.
 Video also takes a lot of storage space. So plan
carefully before you are going to use it.
 Hypertext

• A hypertext(links) : meant to be read nonlinearly, by

following links that point to other parts of the
document, or to other documents. ( text which
contains links to other texts and is usually non-linear )
• Invented by Ted Nelson around 1965
Hypertext is nonlinear
 HyperMedia
• HyperMedia is not constrained to be text-
based.
• It can include other media, e.g., graphics,
images, and especially the continuous media -
sound and video
• The World Wide
Web (WWW)
is the best example
of hypermedia
applications.
Hyper Media

Main Page
1. Video link
2. Image link
3. Audio Link
Hypertext and Hypermedia

Hypertext Hypermedia
 HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language)

• HTML: a language for publishing Hypermedia

on the World Wide Web
1. HTML uses ASCII, it is portable to all
different (possibly binary incompatible)
computer hardware.
2. The next generation of HTML is XHTML - a
reformulation of HTML using XML.
• HTML uses tags to describe document
elements
 HTML(Hyper Text Markup Language)
• A very simple HTML page is as follows:
<HTML> <HEAD>
<TITLE>
A sample web page.
</TITLE>
<META NAME = "Author" CONTENT = "Cranky Professor">
</HEAD> <BODY>
<P>
We can put any text we like here, since this is
a paragraph element.
</P>
</BODY> </HTML>
• Naturally, HTML has more complex structures and can be
mixed in with other standards.
 Integration
• The integration of simulation tools with
multimedia elements makes it possible to
express in a richer way the knowledge we are
trying to provide, and gives the audience a better
comprehension of the problem, as explanations
by means of video, images, texts, etc.
• Integrating Multimedia and Hypermedia into
Teaching and Learning
• well-integrated multi-media can only improve
the usability and stickiness of your site
 Interactive
• Key feature of multimedia
• User determines what content is
delivered, when it is delivered and how
 Multimedia
Multimedia has a number of distinct and unique
features, including:
Based on Edgar Dale (Cone Of Learning), on average,
people remember:
10% of what they read,
20% of what they hear,
30% of what they see,
50% of what they hear and see,  multimedia approach
multimedia rich elements, multi-sensory delivery
system can facilitate greater retention of new
knowledge
 Multimedia Modalities
• Modalities are the sensory systems through
which a multimedia activity occurs
– This includes tactile (touch)
– gustatory (taste)
– visual (sight)
– auditory (hearing)
– olfactory (smell)
• Based on the multimedia elements we have
today, only two modalities are regularly used.
 Multimedia Channels
• Channels can be understood as existing within a
modality.
• For example

Modality Channels for

Auditory Noises, speech , music
Visual Words, pictures, movies
 Multimedia Channels
• Bandwidth is a concept of how much information can be
carried by a certain channel within a certain modality.
• For example, we can read at the rate of 150 words per
minute which is the ‘printed text’ channel within the
‘visual’ modality.
• .
 Multimedia ‘Medium’
• A medium can be understood as a set of co-ordinated
channels, covering one or more modalities, which have
come to be referred to as a unitary whole, and which
possess a cross-channel language of interpretation.

• Examples include a television show, which typically uses

the auditory and visual modalities; and picture, written
text, speech and music channels.
 Multimedia ‘Medium’
• What is meant by a ‘cross-channel language of
interpretation’ is that there must be some form
of relationship between the channels.
• Take the TV show, for example.
• The moving pictures and sound are closely
related.
• In combination, they provide a clearer message
than when alone.
 Multimedia Systems
• A system that supports more than a single
type of media
• It is a system that can process multimedia
data and applications.
• It can process, storage, generation,
manipulation and rendition of Multimedia
information.
 Characteristics of a Multimedia
System
A Multimedia system has four basic
characteristics
1. It must be computer controlled.
2. Multimedia systems are integrated.
3. The information they handle must be
represented digitally.
4. The interface to the final presentation of
media is usually interactive.
Desirable Features for a Multimedia
System
1. Very High Processing Power
– needed to deal with large data processing and real time delivery of
media. Special hardware commonplace.
2. Multimedia Capable File System
– needed to deliver real-time media -- e.g. Video/Audio Streaming.
Special Hardware/Software needed e.g RAID technology.
3. Data Representations/File Formats that support multimedia
– Data representations/file formats should be easy to handle yet allow for
compression/decompression in real-time.
4. Efficient and High I/O
– input and output to the file subsystem needs to be efficient and fast.
Needs to allow for real-time recording as well as playback of data. e.g.
Direct to Disk recording systems.
Desirable Features for a Multimedia
System
5. Special Operating System
– to allow access to file system and process data efficiently and
quickly. Needs to support direct transfers to disk, real-time
scheduling, fast interrupt processing, I/O streaming etc.
6. Storage and Memory
– large storage units (of the order of 50 -100 Gb or more) and large
memory (50 -100 Mb or more). Large Caches also required and
frequently of Level 2 and 3 hierarchy for efficient management.
7. Network Support
– Client-server systems common as distributed systems common.
8. Software Tools
– user friendly tools needed to handle media, design and develop
applications, deliver media.
Components of a Multimedia System
• Capture devices -- Video Camera, Video Recorder,
Audio Microphone, Keyboards, mice, graphics tablets,
3D input devices, tactile sensors, VR devices.
Digitising/Sampling Hardware
• Storage Devices -- Hard disks, CD-ROMs, Jaz/Zip
drives, DVD, etc
• Communication Networks -- Ethernet, Token Ring,
FDDI, ATM, Intranets, Internets.
• Computer Systems -- Multimedia Desktop machines,
Workstations, MPEG/VIDEO/DSP Hardware
• Display Devices -- CD-quality speakers, HDTV,SVGA, Hi-
Res monitors, Colour printers etc.
 Linear VS Non-Linear

• A Multimedia Project is identified as Linear when:

– It is not interactive
– User have no control over the content that is being
showed to them.
• Example:
– A movie
– A non-interactive lecture / demo show
 Linear VS Non-Linear

• A Multimedia Project is identified as Non-Linear when:

– It is interactive
– Users have control over the content that is being showed to them.
– Users are given navigational control
• Example:
– Games
– Courseware
– Interactive CD
 Why multimedia?
– Ease of use
– Immersive experience
– interaction and better retention
– Better understanding
– Cost effectiveness
– More fun = Greater efficiency
 Authoring Tools
• Use to merge multimedia elements (text, audio,
graphic, animation, video) into a project.

• Designed to manage individual multimedia

elements and provide user interaction
 Multimedia Authoring
• Macromedia Flash: allows users to create
interactive movies by using the score
metaphor, i.e., a timeline arranged in parallel
event sequences.
• Macromedia Director: uses a movie
metaphor to create interactive presentations -
very powerful and includes a built-in scripting
language
• Lingo, that allows creation of complex
interactive movies.
• Authorware: a mature, well-supported
authoring product
Authoring Tools
 Delivering Multimedia
• Compact disc
Inexpensive, easy mass produce and distribute
• Online
Web pages, product advertisement, demos

Later discuss more …

 Reference
• http://www.ftms.edu.my/images/Document/
MMGD0101%20-
%20Introduction%20to%20Multimedia/MMG
D0101%20chapter%201_052015.pdf
• https://www.slideshare.net/azira96/chapter-
1-introduction-to-multimedia