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.
 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:
o 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.
o Vector Graphics- Vector graphics are drawn on the computer
and only require a small amount of memory. These graphics are
editable.
 Audio- A multimedia application may require the use of speech, music and
sound effects. These are called audio or sound element of multimedia.Speech
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.
 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.
 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

Components of Multimedia

Multimedia has five major components like text, images, sound, video and animation. They
are explained in detail below:
 1. Text
Text is the basic components of multimedia and most common ways of communicating
information to other person. Even though multimedia includes images, video, audio and
graphics, Text is the basic components used in multimedia.

Static Text

Static text, the text or the words will remain static as a heading or in a line, or in a paragraph.
The words are given along with the images to explain about the images. In static text the
words will either give information or support an image or an video.

Hypertext

A hypertext is a system which consists of nodes, the text and the links between the nodes,
which defines the paths the user need to follow for the text access in non-sequential ways.
The author of the working system created this structure. The user is permitted to define their
own paths in more sophisticated hypertext systems. The user is provided with the flexibility
and choice to navigate in hypertext. In a multimedia product Text is used to convey the
information and must be placed at appropriate position in order to obtain the well -formatted
sentences and paragraphs. The readability of the text depends on the spacing and punctuation.
The message communication is more appropriate with improved Fonts and styles.

 
2. Image

Images acts as an vital component in multimedia. These images are generated by the
computer in two ways, as bitmap or raster images and as vector images.

Raster or Bitmap Images

The common and comprehensive form of storing images in a computer is raster or bitmap
image. Bitmap is a simple matrix of the tiny dots called pixel that forms a raster or bitmap
image. Each pixel consists of two or more colors. Based on how much data, in bits is used to
determine the number of colors, the color depth is determined. Eg. one bit is two colors, four
bits means sixteen colors, eight bits indicates 256 colors, and so on.

Vector Images

Drawing elements or objects such as lines, rectangles, circles and so on to create an images
are based on Vector images. The advantage of vector image is relatively small amount of data
is required to represent the image and thereby only less memory is needed to store.
Compression techniques are used to reduce the file size of images that is useful for storing
large number of images and speeding transmission for networked application. various
Compression formats used for this purpose are GIF, TIFF and JPEG.

 3. Animation
Animation is the process displaying still images so quickly so that they give the impression of
continuous movement. In animation the screen object is a vector image in animation. Using
numerical transformations the movement of that image along its paths is calculated for their
defining coordinates. The least frame rate of at least 16 frames per second gives the
impression of smoothness and for natural looking it should be at least 25 frames per second.
Animations may be in two or three dimensional. The two dimensional animation, bring an
image alive, that occur on the flat X and Y axis of the screen. while in three dimensional
animation it occurs along the three axis X, Y and Z. Animation tools are very powerful and
effective. The two basic types of animations are Path animation and Frame animation.

Path Animation

Path animation involves moving an object on a screen that has a constant background e.g. a
cartoon character may move across the screen regardless of any change in the background or
the character.

Frame Animation

In frame animations, multiple objects are allowed to travel simultaneously and the
background or the objects also changes.

 4. Sound
Sound is a meaningful speech in any language and is the most serious element in multimedia,
providing the pleasure of music, special effects and so on. Decibels is the measurement of
volume, the pressure level of sound.

Musical Instrument Digital Identifier (MIDI)

Musical Instrument Digital Identifier (MIDI) is a standard communication tool developed for
computers and electronic instruments. This tool is flexible and easy for composing the
projects in multimedia. Tools for synthesizing the sound and software for sequencing are
necessary for MIDI.

Digital Audio

Sampled sound is a Digitized sound. A sample of sound is taken and stored every nth fraction
of a second as digital information in bits and bytes. The quality of this recording depends on
the sampling rate. sampling rate is defined as how often the samples are taken and how many
numbers are used to represent the value of each sample (bit depth, resolution and sample
size). The finer the quality of the captured sound and the resolution is achieved while played
back, when more often the sample is taken and the more data is stored about that sample.

 5. Video
Video is defined as the display of recorded event, scene etc. The powerful way to convey
information in multimedia applications are embedding of video. The video can be categorized
in two types as Analog video and Digital video.

Analog Video

In Analog video, the video data’s are stored in any non-computer media like video tape,
laserdisc, film etc. It is divided further in two types as Composite and Component Analogue
Video. Composite Analog Video has all the video components like brightness, color, and
synchronization combined into one signal. Due to the combining of the video components,
the quality of the composite video resulted in color blending, low clarity and high
generational loss. This recording format was used for customer analog video recording tape
formats such as Betamax and VHS.