Multimedia Essentials Quick Review

Multimedia Team & Skill Set

• Multimedia skill set: diverse expertise required for a project.
• Team-building: activities enabling optimal group performance.
• Core roles:
  • Project Manager – oversees development, schedule, budget, client liaison.
  • Multimedia Designer – graphics, instructional, interface, information design.
  • Interface Designer – structures user interaction; builds navigation.
  • Writer – scripts content, narration, interactivity.
  • Video Specialist – captures, edits, compresses video for DVD/Web.
  • Audio Specialist – records, edits, digitizes sound; sources talent.
  • Multimedia Programmer – integrates elements with code/authoring tools.
  • Web Producer – coordinates site pages, updates.

Project Life-Cycle

• Planning & Costing: define goals, target users, template, nav, $time$ & $budget$ estimate, prototype.
• Design & Production: create assets, integrate; iterative client feedback.
• Testing: verify objectives, platform compatibility, quality.
• Delivery: package and hand off final product.

Hardware Essentials

• Major platforms: Macintosh & Windows GUIs; test on all targets.
• Workstations: Silicon Graphics, Sun for high-end graphics.
• Networking: LAN (Ethernet), WAN, ISP for Internet.
• Peripheral buses: $SCSI$ (high-speed video), $IDE/ATA$ (internal), $USB$ (plug-and-play $127$ devices), $FireWire$ (IEEE $1394$, video).
• Memory: $RAM$ (multitasking), $ROM/NVM$ (firmware). High-capacity hard drives, solid-state/flash, optical media (CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD, Blu-ray).
• Input: scanners/OCR, voice recognition, microphones, digital cameras.
• Output: speakers, multiple monitors, projectors, color printers.

Software Tools

• Text/OCR: Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice; OCR converts bitmap → ASCII.
• Graphics:
  • Bitmap editors (PhotoShop, Fireworks).
  • Vector editors (Illustrator, CorelDraw).
  • $3D$ modeling/rendering (Maya, Strata $3D$).
  • Image editing & plug-ins, layers, anti-aliasing.
• Audio: waveform editors, mixers.
• Animation/Video: timeline or sprite-based; QuickTime/AVI support.
• Utilities: screen capture, format converters.

Authoring Systems

• Categories:
  • Card/Page-based (ToolBook) – stack of screens.
  • Icon/Object-based – flowchart programming.
  • Time-based (Adobe Flash, Director) – linear timelines.
• Key features: editing/organizing, VHLL scripting, interactivity (branching, IF-THEN), performance tuning, run-time builds, cross-platform & Web export.

Internet Fundamentals

• Origin: ARPANET $1969$; NSF $1989$.
• Network types: LAN, WAN; servers vs clients.
• DNS assigns domain names; IP address = four-octet number.
• Protocols: $TCP/IP$ – packets with address, sequence, error check.
• Bandwidth (bps): mitigate limits with compression, caching, streaming.
• Internet services via daemons: $HTTP$, $FTP$, $SMTP$, $POP$, etc.
• MIME types identify file content.
• Web: $HTML$ for pages, $HTTP$ for transfer; dynamic pages with JavaScript, PHP, Cold Fusion, XML.

Mobile Multimedia

• Impact: ubiquitous text, audio, video; retail pushes, social media, education, travel.
• Hardware: miniaturized SoC, multi-touch, up to $4$ radios (cell, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC).
• Cellular protocols: $CDMA$ vs $GSM$ (SIM); $3G$ vs $4G$ (LTE, WiMAX). Wi-Fi $802.11$, Bluetooth $2.4\,\text{GHz}$.
• OS market: Android (open-source Linux) & iOS (proprietary) > $99\%$ share.
• App development: Objective-C (iOS), Java (Android), HTML5/CSS/JS hybrids; IDEs e.g., Android Studio, PhoneGap.
• Responsive Web Design (RWD): design for smallest screen first; fluid grids, column drop, layout shift, off-canvas.

Key Takeaways

• Successful multimedia requires a coordinated team, clear life-cycle, suitable hardware/software, and appropriate authoring tools.
• Understanding Internet protocols & bandwidth constraints is vital for online delivery.
• Mobile devices dominate access; design must address varied OSs, hardware, and screen sizes.