Multimedia Elements

Sound, Animation, and

Video

Sound
Analog

wave patterns these wave

patterns have two attributes
Volume

the height of each peak in the sound

wave
Frequency (sometimes referred to as pitch)
the distance between the peaks. The greater
the distance, the lower the sound.

Image: scanned from Multimedia Concepts James Schuman

Sampling
To include

sound in a multimedia
application, the sound waves must be
converted from analog to digital form

This

conversion is called sampling every

fraction of a second a sample the of sound
is recorded in digital bits

Sampling

Two factors affect the quality of digitized

sound
1)

Sample rate the number of times the sample

is taken

2)

Most common sampling rates are: 11.025, 22.05,

and 44.1 kHz

Sample size the amount of information

stored about the sample

Most common sampling sizes are: 8 and 16 bit

Sampling

Image: scanned from Multimedia Concepts James Schuman

Sound File Formats

WAV

format filename.wav
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format)
AIFFC (compressed)
RealAudio filename.ra
MP3 (mpeg layer 3)

Sound on the Internet

Your

first consideration when using sound

on the Internet is file size
Uncompressed files can be very large
A

10 second recording of an audio CD can be

as large as 2MB

Sound Tips for the Internet

Appropriate
Use

Consider the appropriateness of using sound. Some

sounds are content-related, such as hearing a foreign
phrase pronounced. Other sounds are for effect, such
as creating a mood or setting a scene. Avoid using
sound when there is no compelling benefit.

Quality

Start with the highest-quality sound available and

reduce the file size by converting the audio file to a
compressed format. When possible, avoid using free
sound clips available from the Internet. These are often
of poor quality and overused.

Cost
When recording audio files, it may be cost-prohibitive to
considerations contract with a recording studio and hire professional
talent. Investing in reasonably high-end equipment
(such as a sound card, microphone, and recording and
editing software), however, will prove worthwhile.

Sound Tips for the Internet

Alternative Consider using sound and still images as an alternative to
Methods
video to reduce file sizes. It may be just as effective to
show a photograph of a speaker and play the sound file
of the speech as it is to show a video of a talking head.
Streaming

Consider streaming the audio, especially for large files.

User
Control

If appropriate, provide a way to give the user some

control over the audio. Consider allowing the user to skip
a sound clip or adjust the volume. This issue is especially
important if a musical introduction is played when the
user first enters a Web site. The second time visiting the
site, the user may not want to hear the musical
introduction.

Animation on the Internet

Animation

is an excellent way to provide

appeal on a web site, choose from the
following
Animated

text
Animated GIFs
Marcomedia Director applications
3-D environments

2-D Animation

Two

types of animation exist

Cel

animation based on changes that occur

form one frame to the next

Path

animation moves an object along a

predetermined path on the screen

3-D Animation

3-D Animation involves three steps

1)

Modeling creating the broad contours and

structure of 3-D objects and scenes

2)

Animation defining the objects motion

3)

Rendering giving objects attributes such as

color, surface textures, and amounts of
transparency

3-D Animation

Image: scanned from Multimedia Concepts James Schuman

3-D Animation Special Effects

Morphing

blending together two images

into a series of images

Warping
Virtual

distorts a single image

Reality creates an environment

that surrounds the user so that he or she
becomes part of the experience

Animation
Animated text using the HTML <blink>
command causes text to flash on and off
Animated gif using a software program
to create a series of gif files such as GIF
Builder
Director movie animation played using
Shockwave plug-in
3-D environments a computer language
used to create 3-D images

Design Considerations
Give the user control over whether or not
to display or enlarge graphic images
Allow the user to be active while graphic
images are being displayed
Provide feedback to the user by
displaying the amount of time a file will
take to download

Video
Video,

like sound, is recorded and played

an as analog signal

Analog

video must be digitized in order for

it to put into a multimedia file

Digital

video has many advantages, but

file size is important

Video
Several

elements determine file size:

Frame

rate
Image size
Color depth
To determine

file size use the following

formula:
Frames

per second X image size X color

depth / 8 = file size

Video Compression and Editing

There

are two types of video compression

Lossless

preserves the exact image

throughout the compression

Lossy

eliminates some of the data in the

image (provides greater compression ratios
than lossless)

Remember

there is always a trade off, file

size versus image quality

Video on the Internet

There

are two types of video transfer over

the Internet
HTTP

(Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

downloads the entire video to the hard drive on
the users computer

RTSP

(Real-Time Streaming Protocol) is a

continuous-playing, streaming technology in
which the users computer is in constant contact
with the server playing the video

Video Tips
Color
depth

Reducing the color depth to less than 256 colors

gives a markedly poorer-quality image.

Frame
rate

Reducing the frame rate to less than 15 frames

per second causes a noticeable and distracting
jerkiness that is usually unacceptable.

File size A technique for reducing file size is to minimize

the use of video in the image that appears on
the screen that is, to create video only for the
parts of an object that are changing, such as a
flickering candle. The video could be played over
and over to create the motion of a flickering
candle.

Video Tips
Display size

In most multimedia titles, you do not need

to show full-screen video. The video can
be played in a window that can be as
small as one-fourth or even one-sixteenth
the size of the screen.

Conclusion: Changing the image size and compressing

the file become the primary ways of reducing file size. In
most cases, a one-quarter screen image (320 X 240), an 8bit (256 colors) color depth, and a 15 frames per second
frame rate are acceptable in a multimedia title.

The End
University of North Texas
Dr. Vicky Cereijo