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3.4 Production of Multimedia Resources

3.4.1 Infrastructure

Multimedia resources are based on the ability of the computer to

capture, process, and present text, pictures, audio and video. Selection of
proper hardware, software and file format for developing multimedia product is
based on the budget and type of content in the product and delivery
requirements. Following is a description of infrastructure requirement for
producing multimedia resources.

3.4.1.1 Hardware Requirement

The special hardware requirement can be described in four categories i.

e. Input devices, Output devices, Storage devices and Communication devices.

(i) Input Devices

Input devices usually used for the production of multimedia resources

are as follows.

(a) Keyboard

A keyboard is the most common method of interaction with a computer.

The most common keyboard for PCs is the 101 style, although many styles are
available with more or fewer special keys, LEDs, and other features.

(b) Mouse

A mouse is the standard tool for interacting with a graphic user

interface. The buttons on the mouse provide additional user input, such as
pointing and double-clicking to open a document, or the click and drag
operation, or to move to and select an item on a pull down menu, to access
context sensitive help.

(c) Touch screen

Touch screens are monitors that usually have a textured coating across
the glass face. This coating is sensitive to pressure and registers the location of
the user‟s finger when it touches the screen initiative to pressure and registers

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the location of the user‟s finger when it touches the screen. Touch screens are
excellent for applications in a kiosk, at a trade show or in a museum delivery
system.

(d) Scanner
Scanner is the most useful equipment used in a multimedia project. It
may be flat bed, hand held and drum scanners. The most commonly used
scanner for multimedia application is colour flatbed scanners that provide
resolute of 600 dots per inch (dpi) or better.
(e) Optical Character Recognition Device
After scanning, a document can be converted into a word processing
document on the computer without retyping or rekeying, with the help of OCR
system. OCR system uses a combination of hardware and software to recognise
characters. Some examples of OCRs are omni page from Scansoft, Recore
from Maxsoft-Ocron. The OCR terminal can be of use to a multimedia
developer because it recognizes not only printed characters but also
handwriting. This facility may be beneficial at a kiosk or in general education
environment where user friendliness is a goal, because there are growing
demand for a more personal and less technical interface to data and
information.
(f) Voice Recognition System
Voice Recognition systems can be used for the hands-free interaction
with the computer. These behavioural biometric systems usually provide a
unidirectional cardioid, noise cancelling microphone that automatically filters
out background noise and learn to recognize voice prints. These systems can
trigger common menu events such as save, open, quite, print and other
commands that are more specific to the application.
(g) Digital Camera and Video Camera
Digital cameras capture the still image or video of a given number of
pixels (resolution) and the images are stored in the camera‟s memory to be
uploaded later to a computer. The resolution of digital camera is determined by

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megapixel rating. Video camera is a camera capable of recording live motion

video with audio for later display. Data may be uploaded from the camera‟s
memory using a USB cable connected to the computer.

(ii) Output Devices

Following is a brief description of output devices used in a multimedia

project.

(a) Monitors

The monitors for a multimedia application must be high-end, large

screen graphics monitor and liquid crystal display. Serious multimedia
developers often attach more than one monitor to their computer, using add-on
graphics boards. This is because many authoring systems allow working with
several open windows at a time. So one monitor may be dedicated to view the
work the developer is designing, and editing tasks can be performed in
windows on other monitors that do not block the view of the work.

(b) Audio devices

All the computers are equipped with an internal speaker and a dedicated
sound chip, and they do are capable of audio without additional hardware. To
abate advantages of inbuilt stereo sound external speakers are required. Altec
Lansing‟s three piece amplified speaker system is designed for multimedia
applications.

(c) Video devices

Video display devices, often called graphics adapters, enable the

computer to present information on monitors capable of displaying up to 16
million colours. Television pictures can be displayed on the computer by
installing a video digitizing board.

(d) Projectors

Projector is required to show the presentation to large number of

viewers. Cathode ray tube projectors, liquid crystal display, digital high

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processing projectors, and liquid crystal on silicon projectors may be used for
the multimedia applications.\

(e) Printers

With the advent of reasonably priced colour printers, a hard copy output
has entered the multimedia scene. Many printers are available in the market i.e.
laser printer, solid-ink printer, dye-sublimation printer, liquid inkjet printer and
printers based on toner technology. Laser printers are the best in terms of
quality output.

(iii) Storage Devices

Multimedia data requires very high storage capacity. The storage

devices used are given as follows.

(a) RAM

The Random Access Memory should be very good for graphics, audio
and video production and writing multimedia products. Graphics memory also
called VRAM (Video random access memory) for high resolution colour
display may be used.

(b) Hard Disc

There should be relatively fast hard drive systems for processing

graphics, audio and video. Now fast, less expensive and large capacity HDD
are available in the market. 120GB Hard disc is recommended for multimedia
production.

(c) Magnetic Tapes

It is a plastic ribbon which is usually ½ inch or ¼ inch wide, and 50 to

2400 feet long. Data are recorded on the tape in the form of tiny invisible
magnetised and non-magnetised spots on the coated surface of the tape. The
tape ribbon is itself stored in reels or in small cartridge or cassette. Four mm
digital audio tape is most widely used type of magnetic tape in multimedia

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applications. It uses a tape ribbon of 4mm and 60 or 90 meters long enclosed in

a cartridge.

(d) Magnetic Disc

Magnetic disc is a thin plate made of plastic usually coated on both sides
with a magnetisable recording material. The information written on it can be
erased or reused indefinitely. The information stored can be read many times,
without affecting its quality. Floppy disc and hard disc are examples of
magnetic disc. Most popular magnetic discs used in multimedia application are
Zip disc, Jaz disc, super disc etc.

(e) Optical Disc

Optical discs can store extremely large amount of data in a limited

space. An optical-disc storage system consists of a rotating disc, which is
coated with a thin metal or some other material that is highly reflective. Laser
beam technology is used for recording and reading data on the disc. These are
also called laserdiscs. It is found in the form of CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD. CD-
R is Compact Disc Recordable., CD- RW is Compact Disc Rewritable, and
DVD is Digital Video Disc. There are three types of DVD, DVD-RW, DVD-
Video and DVD-ROM. CDs and DVDs are the best for multimedia storage
because of its huge storage capacity.

(f) Pen Drive and External Hard Disc

The latest development in storage is the evolution of pen-drive and

external hard-disc.

(iv) Communication Devices

Multimedia data file size, especially for graphics, audio and video are
quite large. Therefore the key issue for multimedia communication is
bandwidth. Band width is the amount of information that can be transmitted
across a network of computers within a stipulated period of time. It is measured
in kilobits per second (kbps) or megabits per second (mbps). Communication
systems have created two classes of multimedia products, synchronous or real

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time and asynchronous. Synchronous applications are able to transmit and

receive data in real time allowing the end user to view or hear data as it is being
captured or created. Asynchronous applications use a store and forward method
in which data is transmitted and stored for future. Primary communication
devices for multimedia are as under (Hillman, 1998).

(a) Modem

Modem modulates and de-modulates analog signals. The modem speed

is the most important consideration in communicating multimedia files. These
files contain the graphics, audio and video and usually it is needed to move as
much data as possible in a short time. Today‟s standards dictate at least a 56
kbps modem. Compression saves significant transmission time and cost over
long distance. Fifty six kbps V.90 depends on hardware based compression
algorithm to crunch the data before sending it and decompressing it upon
arrival at the receiving end (Vaughan, 2008).

(b) Network Devices

For higher transmission speed by telephone Integrated Services Digital

Network (ISDN) is recommended for multimedia. ISDN lines offer a 128 kbps
data transfer rate. These are used for internet access, networking and audio and
video conferencing. Now a faster technology known as DSL technology using
a dedicated line has overtaken ISDN in popularity.

As there are so many variables in selecting hardware for a multimedia

platform, a group of companies formed an organization called the Multimedia
PC Marketing Council (MPC) in 1990 to set minimum standards for
multimedia hardware. MPC Level-1 published in 1990 dictated that a system is
considered as Level 1 system with configuration as 16 MHZ 386SX or
compatible microprocessor, 2 MB of RAM, 30 MB Hard disc, 3.5-inch high-
density Discette drive, single speed CD-ROM drive with a 150 KB per second
data transfer rate, 8-bit soundboard, VGA compatible display adapter, Colour
VGA compatible monitor, 101 key keyboard, two-button mouse, standard

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serial and parallel ports, MIDI port, joystick port and support for either
Microsoft Windows version 3.0, with multimedia extensions, or for Windows
version 3.1.

These standards were updated in 1993 with Level-2 specifications, and

again updated in 1995 as MPC-3. The MPC-3 standard delineates the
specifications for multimedia as 75 MHz Pentium Processor, 8 MB RAM, 540
MB Hard disc, 3.5-inch high-density Discette drive, Quad speed CD-ROM
drive with a 600 KB per-second data transfer rate, 16-bit, wave-table, MIDI
sound card, MPEG-1 hardware and software capable of 30 frames per second,
352 by 240 pixels, 15 bits per pixel (Vaughan, 2008). Current machines have
surpassed even this level, with storage space now measured in terabytes
standard on most PCs, RAM in gigabytes, and up to a 200 MHz processor
speed on the Pentium chip.

3.4.1.2 Software Requirement

Multimedia softwares are authoring tools, which provide an important

framework for organizing and editing the elements of multimedia including
graphics, sound, animation and video. Tools for authoring and programming in
multimedia applications include Director, Aurhorware Professional,
CourseBuilder, Flash, Supercard, Hypercard, and Film Maker etc. A brief
description of some of the authoring softwares are as follows.

(i) Adobe Director

It is a software tool for multimedia authoring. The software is used to

create interactive games, interactive learning materials, applications, kiosks,
DVDs, CDs and the web.

(ii) CREATE Together

This is a multimedia environment that integrates creation, collaboration,

communication, problem solving, and publishing in one seamless tool. It can be
used to create animated games, randomly generated puzzles, interactive

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simulations, searchable multimedia databases, hyperlinked presentations,

training materials.

(iii) MediaBlender

It is a multimedia authoring package which allows users to create their

multimedia projects, helping them organize and communicate information and
ideas using a wide variety of media. MediaBlender can be accessed from any
computer with internet access. Also the software can be hosted on any server
for better performance, and load a stand-alone application on computer for use
without an Internet connection in client-server mode.

(iv) MediaWorks 6.2

MediaWorks combines simple-to-use video, sound, animation and paint

editors with a powerful multimedia authoring program. It can easily create
amazing movie-type productions that are difficult or not possible in other
consumer-level movie and slide show editors, and precisely-timed linear and
interactive presentations without the learning curve and expense of high-end
media editing and authoring tools.

(v) PlayMo

PlayMo is an authoring tool that allows the creation of highly interactive

rich media content from a wide range of source files such as still images, video
clips, audio clips, 3D models, CAD models and more. PlayMo's intuitive
WYSIWYG editing functions make it easy to embed complex interactivity into
models to accurately recreate the functionality of real-world objects, requiring
no coding.

(vi) Multimedia Builder

It is a multimedia authoring system that allows to create autorun CD

menus, multimedia applications on CD-ROM, demos, kiosks, Computer based
training, presentations, MP3 players etc.

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3.4.1.3 File Formats for Multimedia

The following is an outline of current file formats used for the

production and delivery of multimedia.

(i) Text Formats

(a) RTF (Rich Text Format)

RTF is a proprietary document file format with published specification

developed by Microsoft Corporation in 1987 for Microsoft products and for
cross-platform document interchange.

(b) Plain text

Plain text files can be opened, read, and edited with most text editors.
Examples include Notepad (Windows), edit (DOS), ed, emacs, vi, vim, Gedit
or nano (Unix, Linux), SimpleText (Mac OS), or TextEdit (Mac OS X). Other
computer programs are also capable of reading and importing plain text. Plain
text is the original and ever popular method of conveying e-mail. HTML
formatted e-mail messages often include an automatically-generated plain text
copy as well, for compatibility reasons.

(ii) Image Formats

(a) TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)

This format is common in desktop publishing world, and almost all

software packages support it. Recent versions of TIFF allow for image
compression, and the format is handy for moving large files between
computers.

(b) BMP (Bitmap)

This format came into use with Windows 3.1. It is uncompressed and
can be quite large. For this reason, BMP is seldom used for the large or high-
resolution images.

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