Multimedia

As the name implies, multimedia is the integration of multiple forms of media. This includes text, graphics, audio, video, etc. For example, a presentation involving audio and video clips would be considered a "multimedia presentation." Educational software that involves animations, sound, and text is called "multimedia software." CDs and DVDs are often considered to be "multimedia formats" since they can store a lot of data and most forms of multimedia require a lot of disk space. Due to the advancements in computer speeds and storage space, multimedia is commonplace today. Therefore, the term doesn't produce the same excitement is once did. This also means it is not as overused as it was back in the late '90s. Multimedia applications that allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as passive recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia.

Categorization of multimedia
Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories. Linear active content progresses without any navigational control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear user interactivity to control progress as used with a video game or used in self-paced computer based training. Hypermedia is an example of non-linear content. Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow interactivity via a navigation system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via an interaction with the presenter or performer.

Usage / Application Entertainment and fine arts

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

Business

Business applications for multimedia include presentations, training, marketing, advertising, product demos, databases, catalogs, instant messaging, and networked communications. Voice mail and video conferencing are provided on many local and wide area networks (LANs andWANs) using distributed networks and Internet protocols.

Engineering
Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training. Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as collaboration between creative professionals and software engineers.

Industry
In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present information to shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies.

Medicine
In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or they can simulate how the human body is affected by diseases spread by viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it.

Graphic Design
"Graphic Design" encompasses a whole range of media services. Website Outsourcing is your one stop shop for all kinds of graphic designing services. With many years of experience designing high quality professional graphics and advertising material, we are well suited to be your long-term graphics partner. As your company grows and therefore you graphics needs, you will find it makes more sense to associate your firm with a vendor who is experienced in all aspects of graphics designing.

D-ROM and the Multimedia Highway

Multimedia requires large amounts of digital memory when stored in an end users library, or large amounts of bandwidth when distributed over wires, glass fiber, or airwaves on a network. The greater the bandwidth, the bigger the pipeline, so more content can be delivered to end users quickly.
CD-ROM,DVD, and Multimedia

CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory,) has become the most cost-effective distribution medium for multimedia projects: a CD-ROMdisc can be mass-produced for pennies and can contain up to 80 minutes of full-screen video or sound. Or it can contain unique mixes of images, sounds, text, video, and animations controlled by an authoring system to provide unlimited user interaction. Discs can be stamped out of polycarbonate plastic as fast as cookies on

a bakers production line and just as cheaply. Virtually all personal computers sold today include at least a CD-ROM player, and the software that drives these computers is commonly available on a CD-ROM discapplications that required inserting as many as 16 or more floppy disks one after another are now installed from a CD-ROM without muss or fuss. Many systems now come with a DVD-ROM player. Multilayered Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) technology increases the capacity and multimedia capability of current optical technology to 18GB. CD and DVD burners are used for reading discs and for making them, too, in audio, video, and data formats. DVD authoring and integration software allows the creation of interactive front-end menus for films and games. In the very long term, however,CD-ROMandDVDdiscs are but interim memory technologies that will be replaced by new devices that do not require moving parts. As the data highway described below becomes more and more pervasive and users become better connected, copper wire, glass fiber, and radio/cellular technologies may prevail as the most common delivery means for interactive multimedia files, served across the broadband Internet or from dedicated computer farms and storage facilities.

The Multimedia Highway

Now that telecommunications networks are global, and when information providers and content owners determine the worth of their products and how to charge money for them, information elements will ultimately link up online as distributed resources on a data highway (actually more like a toll road), where you will pay to acquire and use multimedia-based information. Curiously, the actual glass fiber cables that make up much of the physical backbone of the data highway are, in many cases, owned by railroads and pipeline companies who simply buried the cable on existing rights of way where no special permits and environmental reports are necessary. One railroad in the United States invested more than a million dollars in a special cablelaying trenching car; in the United Kingdom, there is talk of placing a fiber-optic cable backbone along the decaying 19th-century canal and barge system. Bandwidth on these lines is leased to others, so competing retailers such as AT&T, MCI, and Sprint may even share the same cable. Full-text content from books and magazines is accessible by modem and electronic link; feature movies are played at home; real-time news reports from anywhere on earth are available; lectures from participating universities are monitored for education credits; street maps of any city are viewablewith recommendations for restaurants, in any languageand online travelogues include testimonials and video tracks. This is not science fiction; it is happening now. For each of these interfaces or gateways to information is a multimedia project just waiting to be developed. Interactive multimedia is delivered to many homes throughout the world. Interest from a confluence of entertainment megacorps, information publishers and providers, cable and telephone companies, and hardware and software manufacturers is driving this inevitable evolution, and profound changes in global communications strategy are on the drawing boards. What will be piped through this new system for entertainment, reference, and lifelong learning experiences are the very multimedia elements discussed in the chapters of this book: text, graphics, animation, sound, and video.

Introduction to Making Multimedia

 Requirements for a multimedia project. Stages of a multimedia project. Planning and costing: The needs of a project are analyzed by outlining its messages and objectives. A plan that outlines the required multimedia expertise is prepared. A graphic template, the structure, and navigational system are developed. A time estimate and a budget are prepared. A short prototype or proof-of-concept is prepared. Design and production: The planned tasks are performed to create a finished product. The product is revised, based on the continuous feedback received from the client. Testing: The program is tested to ensure that it meets the objectives of the project, works on the proposed delivery platforms, and meets the client requirements. Delivery: The final project is packaged and delivered to the end

user. Requirements for a Multimedia Project Hardware. Software. Hardware The most significant platforms for producing and delivering multimedia projects are Macintosh operating system and Microsoft Windows. These systems provide an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI). The Macintosh as well as Windows PC offers a combination of affordability, and software and hardware availability. The Macintosh platform is better suited for multimedia production than the Windows platform. The hardware platforms provided by Apple are better equipped to manage both, sound and video editing. Software. Multimedia software provides specific instructions to the hardware for performing tasks. Software tools are divided into production tools and

authoring tools. Creativity and organizational skills In a multimedia project, being creative implies knowledge of hardware and software. It is essential to develop an organized outline detailing the skills, time, budget, tools and resources needed for the project. Assets such as graphics, sound and the like should be continuously monitored throughout the projects execution. A standardized file-naming procedure should be followed for precise organization and swift retrieval.