Multimedia Introduction

Multimedia is an interactive media and provides multiple ways to represent information

to the user in a powerful manner. It provides an interaction between users and digital
information. It is a medium of communication. Some of the sectors where multimedia's
is used extensively are education, training, reference material, business presentations,
advertising and documentaries.

Definition of Multimedia
By definition Multimedia is a representation of information in an attractive and
interactive manner with the use of a combination of text, audio, video, graphics and
animation. In other words we can say that Multimedia is a computerized method of
presenting information combining textual data, audio, visuals (video), graphics and
animations. For examples: E-Mail, Yahoo Messenger, Video Conferencing, and
Multimedia Message Service (MMS).
Multimedia as name suggests is the combination of Multi and Media that is many types
of media (hardware/software) used for communication of information.
Components of Multimedia
Following are the common components of multimedia:
Text- All multimedia productions contain some amount of text. The text can have
various types of fonts and sizes to suit the profession presentation of the
multimedia software.
(1) Graphics- Graphics make the multimedia application attractive. In many cases
people do not like reading large amount of textual matter on the screen. Therefore,
graphics are used more often than text to explain a concept, present background
information etc. There are two types of Graphics:
Bitmap images- Bitmap images are real images that can be captured from
devices such as digital cameras or scanners. Generally bitmap images are not
editable. Bitmap images require a large amount of memory.
Vector Graphics- Vector graphics are drawn on the computer and only require
a small amount of memory. These graphics are editable.

(2) Audio- A multimedia application may require the use of speech, music and
sound effects. These are called audio or sound element of [Link]
is also a perfect way for teaching. Audio are of analog and digital types. Analog
audio or sound refers to the original sound signal. Computer stores the sound
in digital form. Therefore, the sound used in multimedia application is digital
audio.
(3) Video- The term video refers to the moving picture, accompanied by sound
such as a picture in television. Video element of multimedia application gives a
lot of information in small duration of time. Digital video is useful in multimedia
application for showing real life objects. Video have highest performance demand
on the computer memory and on the bandwidth if placed on the internet. Digital
video files can be stored like any other files in the computer and the quality of
the video can still be maintained. The digital video files can be transferred within
a computer network. The digital video clips can be edited easily.

(4)Animation- Animation is a process of making a static image look like it is

moving. An animation is just a continuous series of still images that are displayed
in a sequence. The animation can be used effectively for attracting attention.
Animation also makes a presentation light and attractive. Animation is very
popular in multimedia application
Applications of Multimedia
Following are the common areas of applications of multimedia.
Multimedia in Business- Multimedia can be used in many applications in a business.
The multimedia technology along with communication technology has opened the
door for information of global wok groups. Today the team members may be working
anywhere and can work for various companies. Thus the work place will become
global. The multimedia network should support the following facilities:
•Voice Mail
•Electronic Mail
•Multimedia based FAX
•Office Needs
•Employee Training
•Sales and Other types of Group Presentation
•Records Management

Multimedia in Marketing and Advertising- By using multimedia marketing of new

products can be greatly enhanced. Multimedia boost communication on an affordable
cost opened the way for the marketing and advertising personnel. Presentation that
have flying banners, video transitions, animations, and sound effects are some of the
elements used in composing a multimedia based advertisement to appeal to the
consumer in a way never used before and promote the sale of the products.
Multimedia in Entertainment- By using multimedia marketing of new products can
be greatly enhanced. Multimedia boost communication on an affordable cost opened
the way for the marketing and advertising personnel. Presentation that have flying
banners, video transitions, animations, and sound effects are some of the elements
used in composing a multimedia based advertisement to appeal to the consumer in a
way never used before and promote the sale of the products.

Multimedia in Education- Many computer games with focus on education are now
available. Consider an example of an educational game which plays various rhymes
for kids. The child can paint the pictures, increase reduce size of various objects etc
apart from just playing the [Link] other multimedia packages are available in
the market which provide a lot of detailed information and playing capabilities to
kids.
Multimedia in Bank- Bank is another public place where multimedia is finding more
and more application in recent times. People go to bank to open saving/current
accounts, deposit funds, withdraw money, know various financial schemes of the
bank, obtain loans etc. Every bank has a lot of information which it wants to impart
to in customers. For this purpose, it can use multimedia in many ways. Bank also
displays information about its various schemes on a PC monitor placed in the rest
area for customers. Today on-line and internet banking have become very popular.
These use multimedia extensively. Multimedia is thus helping banks give service to
their customers and also in educating them about banks attractive finance schemes.
Multimedia in Hospital- Multimedia best use in hospitals is for real time monitoring of
conditions of patients in critical illness or accident. The conditions are displayed
continuously on a computer screen and can alert the doctor/nurse on duty if any
changes are observed on the screen. Multimedia makes it possible to consult a surgeon
or an expert who can watch an ongoing surgery line on his PC monitor and give online
advice at any crucial juncture.
In hospitals multimedia can also be used to diagnose an illness with CD-ROMs/
Cassettes/ DVDs full of multimedia based information about various diseases and their
[Link] hospitals extensively use multimedia presentations in training their
junior staff of doctors and nurses. Multimedia displays are now extensively used during
critical surgeries.

Multimedia Pedagogues- Pedagogues are useful teaching aids only if they stimulate
and motivate the students. The audio-visual support to a pedagogue can actually help
in doing so. A multimedia tutor can provide multiple numbers of challenges to the
student to stimulate his interest in a topic. The instruction provided by pedagogue have
moved beyond providing only button level control to intelligent simulations, dynamic
creation of links, composition and collaboration and system testing of the user
interactions.
Image file formats Of Multi-Media
GIF- Graphics Interchange Formats- The GIF format was created by Compuserve. It
supports 256 colors. GIF format is the most popular on the Internet because of its
compact size. It is ideal for small icons used for navigational purpose and simple
diagrams. GIF creates a table of up to 256 colors from a pool of 16 million. If the image
has less than 256 colors, GIF can easily render the image without any loss of quality.
When the image contains more colors, GIF uses algorithms to match the colors of the
image with the palette of optimum set of 256 colors available. Better algorithms search
the image to find and the optimum set of 256 colors.
Thus GIF format is lossless only for the image with 256 colors or less. In case of a rich,
true color image GIF may lose 99.998% of the colors. GIF files can be saved with a
maximum of 256 colors. This makes it is a poor format for photographic images.
GIFs can be animated, which is another reason they became so successful. Most
animated banner ads are GIFs. GIFs allow single bit transparency that is when you are
creating your image, you can specify which color is to be transparent. This provision
allows the background colors of the web page to be shown through the image
JPEG- Joint Photographic Experts Group- The JPEG format was developed by the Joint
Photographic Experts Group. JPEG files are bitmapped images. It store information as
24-bit color. This is the format of choice for nearly all photograph images on the
internet. Digital cameras save images in a JPEG format by default. It has become the
main graphics file format for the World Wide Web and any browser can support it
without plug-ins. In order to make the file small, JPEG uses lossy compression. It works
well on photographs, artwork and similar materials but not so well on lettering, simple
cartoons or line drawings. JPEG images work much better than GIFs. Though JPEG can
be interlaced, still this format lacks many of the other special abilities of GIFs, like
animations and transparency, but they really are only for photos.

PNG- Portable Network Graphics- PNG is the only lossless format that web browsers
support. PNG supports 8 bit, 24 bits, 32 bits and 48 bits data types. One version of the
format PNG-8 is similar to the GIF format. But PNG is the superior to the GIF. It
produces smaller files and with more options for colors. It supports partial
transparency also. PNG-24 is another flavor of PNG, with 24-bit color supports,
allowing ranges of color akin to high color JPEG. PNG-24 is in no way a replacement
format for JPEG because it is a lossless compression format. This means that file size
can be rather big against a comparable JPEG. Also PNG supports for up to 48 bits of
color information.
TIFF- Tagged Image File Format- The TIFF format was developed by the Aldus
Corporation in the 1980 and was later supported by Microsoft. TIFF file format is
widely used bitmapped file format. It is supported by many image editing
applications, software used by scanners and photo retouching programs.
TIFF can store many different types of image ranging from 1 bit image, grayscale
image, 8 bit color image, 24 bit RGB image etc. TIFF files originally use lossless
compression. Today TIFF files also use lossy compression according to the
requirement. Therefore, it is a very flexible format. This file format is suitable
when the output is printed. Multi-page documents can be stored as a single TIFF
file and that is way this file format is so popular. The TIFF format is now used and
controlled by Adobe.

BMP- Bitmap- The bitmap file format (BMP) is a very basic format supported by
most Windows applications. BMP can store many different type of image: 1 bit
image, grayscale image, 8 bit color image, 24 bit RGB image etc. BMP files are
uncompressed. Therefore, these are not suitable for the internet. BMP files can be
compressed using lossless data compression algorithms.
EPS- Encapsulated Postscript- The EPS format is a vector based graphic. EPS is popular
for saving image files because it can be imported into nearly any kind of application. This
file format is suitable for printed documents. Main disadvantage of this format is that it
requires more storage as compare to other formats.

PDF- Portable Document Format- PDF format is vector graphics with embedded pixel
graphics with many compression options. When your document is ready to be shared
with others or for publication. This is only format that is platform independent. If you
have Adobe Acrobat you can print from any document to a PDF file. From illustrator you
can save as .PDF.

EXIF- Exchange Image File- Exif is an image format for digital cameras. A variety of tage
are available to facilitate higher quality printing, since information about the camera and
picture - taking condition can be stored and used by printers for possible color correction
[Link] also includes specification of file format for audio that accompanies digital
images.

WMF- Windows MetaFile- WMF is the vector file format for the MS-Windows operating
environment. It consists of a collection of graphics device interface function calls to the
MS-Windows graphice drawing [Link] are both small and flexible, hese images
can be displayed properly by their proprietary softwares only.
Characteristics of a Multimedia System

A Multimedia system has four basic characteristics:

Multimedia systems must be computer controlled.

Multimedia systems are integrated.

The information they handle must be represented digitally.

The interface to the final presentation of media is usually interactive.

Desirable Features for a Multimedia System
Given the above challenges the following feature a desirable (if not a
prerequisite) for a Multimedia System:

Very High Processing Power

-- needed to deal with large data processing and real time delivery of media. Special
hardware commonplace.
Multimedia Capable File System
-- needed to deliver real-time media -- e.g. Video/Audio Streaming. Special
Hardware/Software needed e.g RAID technology.
Data Representations/File Formats that support multimedia
-- Data representations/file formats should be easy to handle yet allow for
compression/decompression in real-time.
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.
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.

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.

Network Support-- Client-server systems common as distributed systems common.

Software Tools-- user friendly tools needed to handle media, design and develop
applications, deliver media.
 Compression Technique in Computer Graphics

W h a t i s C o mp re s s i o n ?
Data compre ssi on require s the identificatio n and
e x t r a c t i o n o f s o u rc e re d u n d a n c y.
In other w ords, data comp re ssio n seeks to reduce the
numb e r of bits used to store or transmit informatio n .

TYPES OF Comp re ssio n

• Lossless compression
• Lossy compression
 Lossless compression

•recover the exact original data after

compression.
•mainly use for compressing database records,
spreadsheets or word processing files, where exact
replication of the original isessential.
 Lossy compression.
will result in a certain loss of accuracy
i n e x c h a n g e f o r a s u b s t a n t i a l i n c r e a se
• in compression.
• m o r e e ff e c t i v e w h e n u s e d t o c o m p r e s s
graphic images

and digitised voice where losses outside

visual or aural perception can be
tolerated.
•M o s t l o s s y c o m p r e s s i o n t e c h n i q u e s c a n b e
a d j u s t e d t o d i ff e r e n t q u a l i t y l e v e l s , g a i n i n g
higher accuracy in exchange for less
e ff e c t i v e c o m p r e s s i o n .
 The Need For Compression…
(1) I n t e r m s o f s t o r a g e , t h e c a p a c i t y o f a
s t o r a g e d e v i c e c a n b e e ff e c t i v e l y
increased with methods that compresses
a body of data on its way to a storage
device and decompresses it when it is
retrieved.

(2) I n t e r m s o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , t h e
bandwidth of a digital communication link
c a n b e e ff e c t i v e l y i n c r e a s e d b y
compressing data at the sending
end and decompressing data at the
receiving end.
Animation
Animation refers to the movement on the screen of the display device created by
displaying a sequence of still images. Animation is the technique of designing,
drawing, making layouts and preparation of photographic series which are integrated
into the multimedia and gaming products. Animation connects the exploitation and
management of still images to generate the illusion of movement. A person who
creates animations is called animator. He/she use various computer technologies to
capture the pictures and then to animate these in the desired sequence.
Animation includes all the visual changes on the screen of display devices. These
are:
1. Change of shape as shown in fig:
2. Change in size as shown in fig:

3. Change in color as shown in fig:

4. Change in structure as shown in fig:

Application Areas of Animation
1. Education and Training: Animation is used in school, colleges and training centers for
education purpose. Flight simulators for aircraft are also animation based.

2. Entertainment: Animation methods are now commonly used in making motion

pictures, music videos and television shows, etc.

3. Computer Aided Design (CAD): One of the best applications of computer animation is
Computer Aided Design and is generally referred to as CAD. One of the earlier
applications of CAD was automobile designing. But now almost all types of designing are
done by using CAD application, and without animation, all these work can't be possible.

4. Advertising: This is one of the significant applications of computer animation. The

most important advantage of an animated advertisement is that it takes very less space
and capture people attention.

5. Presentation: Animated Presentation is the most effective way to represent an idea. It

is used to describe financial, statistical, mathematical, scientific & economic data.
Animation Functions
1. Morphing: Morphing is an animation function which is used to transform
object shape from one form to another is called Morphing. It is one of the most
complicated transformations. This function is commonly used in movies,
cartoons, advertisement, and computer games.
The process of Morphing involves three steps:

In the first step, one initial image and other final image are added to morphing
application as shown in fig: Ist & 4th object consider as key frames.

The second step involves the selection of key points on both the images for a smooth
transition between two images as shown in 2nd object.

3. In the third step, the key point of the first image transforms to a corresponding key
point of the second image as shown in 3rd object of the figure.
2. Wrapping: Wrapping function is similar to morphing function. It distorts only the initial
images so that it matches with final images and no fade occurs in this function.

3. Tweening: Tweening is the short form of 'inbetweening.' Tweening is the process of

generating intermediate frames between the initial & last final images. This function is
popular in the film industry.
4. Panning: Usually Panning refers to rotation of the camera in horizontal Plane. In
computer graphics, Panning relates to the movement of fixed size window across the
window object in a scene. In which direction the fixed sized window moves, the
object appears to move in the opposite direction as shown in fig:

If the window moves in a backward direction, then the object appear to move in the forward
direction and the window moves in forward direction then the object appear to move in a
backward direction.

5. Zooming: In zooming, the window is fixed an object and change its size, the object
also appear to change in size. When the window is made smaller about a fixed center,
the object comes inside the window appear more enlarged. This feature is known
as Zooming In.
When we increase the size of the window about the fixed center, the object comes
inside the window appear small. This feature is known as Zooming Out.
6. Fractals: Fractal Function is used to generate a complex picture by using
Iteration. Iteration means the repetition of a single formula again & again with
slightly different value based on the previous iteration result. These results are
displayed on the screen in the form of the display picture.
 Image is a visual representation of scene, it
represent selected properties of scene to
viewer with varying degree of realism.
 Use one or more geometric shapes
 Tessellation(without gaps) of flat surface
 Shape repeated
 Moving infinity
 Covering entire plane
 Used arts,mosaics,wall papers,tiled floor
 Monohedral tiling
 Dihedral tiling
 Drawing tiling
 Reptiles
 Based on single polygon
 Types
1. Regular tiling

2. Patterns

3. Cario tiling

4. Polymino

5. Polyiamond
 Shifting the tessellation in particular direction
 Four pentagon fit together to form hexagon
 Used to tile the plane
 Many street in cairo,Egypt in this pattern
 Large window setup
 Tiles grouped together into single figure
 Single figure drawn again and again
 Non periodic figure include
 Small to large and large to small
 Non periodic tiling
 Based on square, equilateral triangle
 A fractal is a never-ending pattern.
 Fractals are infinitely complex patterns that
are self-similar across different scales.
 They are created by repeating a simple
process over and over in an on-going
feedback loop.
Types of fractals:-
 Self Similar fractals
 Self Affine fractals

 Invariant fractals
  Geometric figure is self similar
 Fractals appear identical at different scales
 Model trees,shrubs,plants
 Fractal appear approximately identical at
different scales
 Model water,clouds,terrain
 Non linear transformation
 Curves created by iterations
 Formulas repeated with slightly different
values over and over again

types:-
:-Hilberts Curve
 Koch Curve
 Dragon Curve
 Space filling Curve/Piano Curve
 C Curve
 It was described by the German
mathematician David Hilbert in 1891.
 The Hilbert curve is a space filling curve.
 It visits every point in a square grid with a
size of 2×2, 4×4, 8×8, 16×16, or any other
power of 2.
 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/

0 4 4 4 4 1
1/ 2/ 3/ 4/
1,1 /16
16
16 16 16 16 1,1

2 3

4 3
1 4
1 2 1
6
0,0 0,0

1st iteration 2nd iteration 3rd iteration

6th iteration
 Developed by Helga von Koch in 1904
 Self similar fractals
 Described by Ernesto cesaro and Georg Faber
in the year 1910
 Self similar fractal curves
 Developed by Italian mathematician Guiseppe
peano in 1890
 Space filling curve
 Structure defined by language
 Languages described by a collection of
productions
 example, A->AA creates results of A,

AA, AAAA,
 B->A[B] creates results of B, A[B],
AA[B], etc.
 Advanced Modeling
Graftals

 Grammar based models...

◦ [ ] for left branches
◦ ( ) for right branches
◦ A -> AA and B -> A[B]AA(B)
◦ create a 2nd generation of:
AA[A[B]AA(B)]AAAA(A[B]AA(B))
B
AA B
A
B B A
A A
AA A
A B A
B B
A A A
A
First Generation Second Generation
 Advanced Modeling
Graftals

 Grammar based models...

◦ ...use biological productions to simulate plants
in development
◦ ...describe the topology of plants
◦ ...also describe the shape including the
directions of branches and the arrangement of
leaves
 Advanced
Modeling
 To simulate the growth of plants using
languages include information on...
◦ ...the current age
◦ ...the growth rate of each segment
◦ ...the probabilities of death, dormancy, growth
◦ ...the shape (depending on type and age)
◦ ...the branch angles (depending on type and
age)
◦ ...the color and texture of each segment
 Advanced Modeling
Graftals

 Pseudo code simulates the growth of plants

using graftals:
◦ For (each moment in time)
 For (each bud that is still alive)
 Determine whether the bud dies, is dormant, or grow
 If (the bud does not die)
 If (the bud is not dormant)
 Create a portion of a stem, determining its
direction, position, color, texture;
Create a new bud;
 Advanced Modeling
Particle Systems

 Particle systems...
◦ ...can be used to simulate fire, clouds, water, fog,
smoke, fireworks, trees, and grass
◦ ...are particularly useful for animating objects instead
of just simulating static objects
 Logo programming language
 Developed by feurzig & seymour papert in
1966
 Popular graphics language for kids
RAY TRACING
In 3D computer graphics, ray tracing is a rendering technique for generating an image by
tracing the path of light as pixels in an image plane and simulating the effects of its
encounters with virtual objects. The technique is capable of producing a high degree of
visual realism, more so than typical scanline rendering methods, but at a
greater computational cost. This makes ray tracing best suited for applications where taking
a relatively long time to render can be tolerated, such as in still computer-generated
images, and film and television visual effects (VFX), but more poorly suited to real-
time applications such as video games, where speed is critical in rendering each frame.

Ray tracing is capable of simulating a variety of optical effects, such

as reflection and refraction, scattering, and dispersion phenomena (such as chromatic
aberration).
Path tracing is a form of ray tracing that can produce soft shadows, depth of field, motion
blur, caustics, ambient occlusion, and indirect lighting. Path tracing is an unbiased
rendering method, but a large number of rays must be traced to obtain high quality
reference images without noisy artifacts.