Prof.

Ram Meghe Institute of Technology & Research Badnera- Amravati

Department of Computer Science & Engineering
Course : Multimedia and Web Design

Course Teacher: Dr. Nilima S. Dandge Class - Ist Sem (Sec A)

Unit 1
 What is Multimedia?

The word multi and media are combined to form the word multimedia. The word
“multi” signifies “many.” Multimedia is a type of medium that allows information to be
easily transferred from one location to another. Multimedia is the presentation
of text, pictures, audio, and video with links and tools that allow the user to navigate, engage,
create, and communicate using a computer. Multimedia refers to the computer-assisted
integration of text, drawings, still and moving images(videos) graphics, audio, animation, and
any other media in which any type of information can be expressed, stored, communicated, and
processed digitally.
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).

 Components of Multimedia
Multimedia uses computers to present and combine text, graphics, audio, and video with
links and tools, allowing the user to navigate, interact, create, and communicate. It has 5
key elements:
 Text
 Graphics
 Audio
 Videos
 Animation

 Text: Text is a foundational multimedia component, conveying information through

written words. It serves as a fundamental building block for communication in various
 multimedia contexts. Fonts, styles, and sizes can be strategically chosen to enhance
readability and convey the intended message effectively. Additionally, integrating text with
other multimedia elements creates a harmonious blend, ensuring that written content
complements and enhances the audience’s overall visual and auditory experience.
 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.

 Audio: The audio component in multimedia involves the integration of sound, music, or
spoken words to complement the visual elements. This auditory layer adds a dynamic
dimension, making the multimedia content more immersive and emotionally resonant.
Background music sets the tone, voiceovers provide context, and sound effects enhance
the experience. The choice of audio formats, such as MP3, WAV, or others, influences the
quality and fidelity of the auditory elements, contributing to the overall effectiveness of the
multimedia presentation.
 Video: Video is a powerful multimedia component that combines moving images with
audio to create a compelling narrative. It is widely employed for storytelling,
demonstrations, and presentations. Video formats, including MP4, AVI, and MOV, support
various quality and compression levels. The seamless integration of video into multimedia
content captures the audience’s attention, facilitates information retention, and offers a
dynamic means of conveying complex ideas or narratives.
 Animations: Animations introduce a sense of motion to multimedia content, utilizing
moving images or illustrations to enhance engagement. They can explain intricate
concepts, add a playful or dynamic element to presentations, or guide the viewer’s
attention. Animated GIFs, Flash, and HTML5 animations are common formats that bring
interactivity and visual interest to multimedia materials.

 Applications of Multimedia

Multimedia is the most fast-growing area in the field of information technology. A

Multimedia is an application which is a collection of multiple media sources like text, images,
sound/audio, animation and video on a single platform. Predominantly, Entertainment and
Education are the fields where multimedia is used in majority.
1. Education
Multimedia plays a vital role in offering an excellent alternative method to traditional teaching by
allowing the students to explore and learn various concepts through animation. Students, teachers
and the parents enjoy this multimedia mode of learning and multimedia learning materials.
Multimedia based teaching and learning system named as MODULO at GMU in Germany
developed is a web-based environment that aims to provide students with flexible and
decentralized learning environment based on their educational background.
In India, multimedia is used in different ways for teaching and learning like e-learning, distance
learning, virtual learning and so on. EDUSAT (Education Satellite) is launched in India for serving
the educational sector of the country for emulating virtual classroom in an effective manner.
2. Entertainment
The remarkable advancement in the entertainment industry is due to the Multimedia Technology
mainly. This technology is needed in all mode of entertainment like radio, TV, online gaming,
video on demand etc.
Video on demand or movies on demand is a service that provides movies to television sets on an
individual basis at homes. Movies are stored in a central server and transmitted through a
communication network. A set-top box connected to the communication network converts the
digital information to analog signals and inputs it to the television set.
3. Business Systems
Business applications for multimedia include presentations, training, internet protocols and so on.
The marketing and advertising agencies are using animation techniques for sales promotion. High
resolution projectors are common for multimedia presentations on the road. Cell phones and
personal digital assistants with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi communication technology makes multimedia
communication for business more efficiently.
4. Medical Services
Medical services are grown drastically with the development of multimedia. Medical Students
practices surgery methods via simulation prior to actual surgery. Tiny digital cameras are inserted
in human body and it displays the inner site of the body through which the medical practitioners
can see the internal parts without actually dissecting it.
5. Public Places
Multimedia is available in many public places like trade shows, libraries, railway stations,
museums, malls, airports, banks, hotels and exhibitions in the form of kiosks. It helps the
customers by providing information to them. The information presented in kiosk are enriched with
animation, video, still pictures, graphics, diagrams, maps, audio and text. Banks uses kiosks in the
form of ATM machines.
6. Multimedia Conferencing
Multimedia conferencing or video-conferencing is a system that performs face-to-face interactions
among participating users, located far from each other, as if they were sitting and discussing in a
single room.
  History of Multimedia

The history of multimedia can be traced back to the 19th century and has evolved through the
industrial, electronic, and information ages:
1884: Paul Nipkow creates the first video disc by combining radio components and a video disc

1960s: Programmed learning is developed and linked to computers, which leads to the
development of Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) in the 1970s

1980s: Interactive video discs are developed and the Commodore Amiga 1000 is considered the
first multimedia computer

1985: The MIT Media Lab is opened by Negroponte and Wiesner

1989: Tim Berners-Lee proposes the World Wide Web to CERN

1991: Apple Multimedia Lab creates the Visual Almanac and Classroom MM Kiosk

1992: The first M-bone audio multicast is sent on the internet

1993: The NCSA Mosaic is developed by the U. Illinois National Center for Supercomputing
Applications

1994: Netscape is developed by Jim Clark and Marc Andreesen

1995: JAVA is developed for platform-independent application development

1996: Microsoft develops Internet Explorer

Multimedia is the combination of various media types, including text, images, audio, and video,
that are digitally expressed, stored, transmitted, and processed. Multimedia has become
increasingly popular in education, where it can help students develop historical thinking and
improve their understanding of historical information

 Difference between Hypertext and Hypermedia

 Hypertext
Hypertext is a cross referencing tool which connects the links to other text using hyperlinks.
Hypertext is non-linear and multi sequential and it is different from our normal text. By the help
of hypertext one organized way is achieved to present information. This makes the user to move
from one part of the information to another part of the information which is in same page or any
other page. It makes the documentation simple by providing a way of easily accessible to the
end user.
Example of Hypertext is that GeeksForGeeks is a computer science portal, when we read one
article it uses hypertext to link other pages and when we click on that hypertext it takes to us to
that page so that we can gather more information related to the topic.

 Hypermedia
Hypermedia is the extension of Hypertext which includes multiple forms of media such as text,
graphics, audio or video etc. rather than only text based like hypertext. It provides a facility to
connect the web pages to create a network with multimedia elements with a simple click for a
better multimedia experience. Hypermedia allows links to be integrate in multimedia elements
like images and videos and when we click on that it takes us to that page.
Example of hypermedia is that when we use e-commerce site say flipkart and when we click on
any product it takes us to the specific product page which belongs to that. So here the link is
embedded to the image.

Difference between Hypertext and Hypermedia :

Sr.No. HYPERTEXT HYPERMEDIA

Hypertext refers to the system of Hypermedia refers to connecting hypertext with

managing the information related to other media such as graphics, sounds,
01. the plain text. animations.

02. Hypertext involves only text. It involves graphics, image, video, audio etc.

It is enhanced version of hypertext here along

Here only text becomes the part of with text other multimedia also becomes the
03. link. part of link.

Hypertext is the part of hypermedia Hypermedia is the superior entity which is the
04. means it comes under hypermedia. advanced version of hypertext.

It allows the user to navigate It includes multimedia to improve the

05. through text in a nonlinear way. multimedia experience.
 It simply allows users to move from
one document to another with a It extends the ability of hypertext and allows
single click on the hypertext or goto user to click text or any other multimedia to
06. links. move one to another page.

Hypertext attracts to the user to

move around the document as well Hypermedia attracts the user more than the
as to move from one page of hypertext as it gives more flexibility of
07. document to another. movement.

It provides a less user experience to It provides a better user experience to the users
08. the users than the hypermedia. than the hypertext.

Example is reading an article in on

Example is reading an article on geeksforgeeks and in article side one android
geeksforgeeks and clicking on any course image coming and when we click on
text moving to another page that image it takes us to the course related page
09. showing information on that topic. of android.

 WORLD WIDE WEB

WWW stands for World Wide Web and is commonly known as the Web. The WWW was started
by CERN in 1989. WWW is defined as the collection of different websites around the world,
containing different information shared via local servers(or computers).
Web pages are linked together using hyperlinks which are HTML-formatted and, also referred to
as hypertext, these are the fundamental units of the Internet and are accessed through Hypertext
Transfer Protocol(HTTP). Such digital connections, or links, allow users to easily access desired
information by connecting relevant pieces of information. The benefit of hypertext is it allows you
to pick a word or phrase from the text and click on other sites that have more information about it.

History of the WWW

It is a project created, by Tim Berner Lee in 1989, for researchers to work together effectively
at CERN. It is an organization, named the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which was
developed for further development of the web. This organization is directed by Tim Berner’s
Lee, aka the father of the web. CERN, where Tim Berners worked, is a community of more than
1700 researchers from more than 100 countries. These researchers spend a little time on CERN
and the rest of the time they work at their colleges and national research facilities in their home
country, so there was a requirement for solid communication so that they can exchange data.
System Architecture
From the user’s point of view, the web consists of a vast, worldwide connection of documents
or web pages. Each page may contain links to other pages anywhere in the world. The pages can
be retrieved and viewed by using browsers of which internet explorer, Netscape Navigator,
Google Chrome, etc are the popular ones. The browser fetches the page requested interprets the
text and formatting commands on it, and displays the page, properly formatted, on the screen.
The basic model of how the web works is shown in the figure below. Here the browser is
displaying a web page on the client machine. When the user clicks on a line of text that is linked
to a page on the abd.com server, the browser follows the hyperlink by sending a message to the
abd.com server asking it for the page.

Here the browser displays a web page on the client machine when the user clicks on a line of
text that is linked to a page on abd.com, the browser follows the hyperlink by sending a message
to the abd.com server asking for the page.

Working of WWW
A Web browser is used to access web pages. Web browsers can be defined as programs which
display text, data, pictures, animation and video on the Internet. Hyperlinked resources on the
World Wide Web can be accessed using software interfaces provided by Web browsers. Initially,
Web browsers were used only for surfing the Web but now they have become more universal.
The below diagram indicates how the Web operates just like client-server architecture of the
internet. When users request web pages or other information, then the web browser of your
system request to the server for the information and then the web server provide requested
services to web browser back and finally the requested service is utilized by the user who made
the request.
 World Wide Web
Web browsers can be used for several tasks including conducting searches, mailing, transferring
files, and much more. Some of the commonly used browsers are Internet Explorer, Opera Mini,
and Google Chrome.
Features of WWW
 WWW is open source.
 It is a distributed system spread across various websites.
 It is a Hypertext Information System.
 It is Cross-Platform.
 Uses Web Browsers to provide a single interface for many services.
 Dynamic, Interactive and Evolving.

Components of the Web

There are 3 components of the web:
 Uniform Resource Locator (URL): URL serves as a system for resources on the
web.
 Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP): HTTP specifies communication of
browser and server.
 Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML): HTML defines the structure,
organization and content of a web page.

Difference Between WWW and Internet

WWW Internet

It is originated in 1989. It is originated in 1960.

WWW is an interconnected network of websites and Internet is used to connect a

documents that can be accessed via the Internet. computer with other computer .

Internet used protocols such

WWW used protocols such as HTTP
as TCP/IP

It is based on software. It is based on hardware.

There is a entire infrastructure in

It is a service contained inside an infrastructure.
internet.

 HTTP
HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is the main way web browsers and servers
communicate to share information on the internet. Tim Berner invents it. HyperText is the type
of text that is specially coded with the help of some standard coding language called HyperText
Markup Language (HTML). HTTP/2 is the new version of HTTP. HTTP/3 is the latest
version of HTTP, which is published in 2022.
When you visit a website, HTTP helps your browser request and receive the data needed to
display the web pages you see. It is a fundamental part of how the internet works, making it
possible for us to browse and interact with websites.

HTTP stands for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol.” It is a set of rules for sharing data on the World
Wide Web (WWW). HTTP helps web browsers and servers communicate, allowing people to
access and share information over the internet.
Key Points
 Basic Structure: HTTP forms the foundation of the web, enabling data
communication and file sharing.
 Web Browsing: Most websites use HTTP, so when you click on a link or download
a file, HTTP is at work.
 Client-Server Model: HTTP works on a request-response system. Your browser
(client) asks for information, and the website’s server responds with the data.
 Application Layer Protocol: HTTP operates within the Internet Protocol Suite,
managing how data is transmitted and received.

Working of HTTP [HyperText Transfer Protocol]

First of all, whenever we want to open any website, we first open a web browser after that we
will type the URL of that website (e.g., www.facebook.com ). This URL is now sent to
the Domain Name Server (DNS). Then DNS first checks records for this URL in their database,
and then DNS will return the IP address to the web browser corresponding to this URL. Now the
browser is able to send requests to the actual server.
After the server sends data to the client, the connection will be closed. If we want something
else from the server, we should have to re-establish the connection between the client and the
server.
 Working off HTTPs
What is an HTTP Request?
HTTP request is simply termed as the information or data that is needed by Internet browsers
for loading a website. This is simply known as HTTP Request.
There is some common information that is generally present in all HTTP requests. These are
mentioned below.
 HTTP Version
 URL
 HTTP Method
 HTTP Request Headers
 HTTP Body

HTTP Request Headers

HTTP Request Headers generally store information in the form of key-value and must be present
in each HTTP Request. The use of this Request Header is to provide core information about the
client’s information, etc.

HTTP Request Body

HTTP Request Body simply contains the information that has to be transferred. HTTP Request
has the information or data to be sent to these browsers.
HTTP Method
HTTP Methods are simply HTTP Verb. In spite of being present so many HTTP Methods, the
most common HTTP Methods are HTTP GET and HTTP POST. These two are generally used
in HTTP cases. In HTTP GET, the information is received in the form of a website.
What is HTTP Response?
HTTP Response is simply the answer to what a Server gets when the request is raised. There are
various things contained in HTTP Response, some of them are listed below.
  HTTP Status Code
 HTTP Headers
 HTTP Body

HTTP Response
HTTP Response Headers
HTTP Response headers are simply like an HTTP Request where it has that work to send some
important files and data to the HTTP Response Body.

HTTP Response Body

HTTP Responses are the responses that are received successfully upon the request. Generally, it
comes under the requests generated by the web. In most cases, the request is to transfer the
HTML data into a webpage.

What is an HTTP Status Code?

HTTP Status Codes are the 3-digit codes that tell the message or simply tell us about the HTTP
Request whether it has been completed or not. There are simply 5 types of status codes.
 Informational
 Successful
 Re-directional
 Client-Error
 Server-Error

History of HTTP
Tim Berners Lee and his team at CERN get credit for inventing original HTTP and associated
technologies.
 HTTP version 0.9: This was the first version of HTTP which was introduced in
1991.
  HTTP version 1.0: In 1996, RFC 1945 (Request For Comments) was introduced in
HTTP version 1.0.
 HTTP version 1.1: In January 1997, RFC 2068 was introduced in HTTP version
1.1. Improvements and updates to the HTTP version 1.1 standard were released
under RFC 2616 in June 1999.
 HTTP version 2.0: The HTTP version 2.0 specification was published as RFC
7540 on May 14, 2015.
 HTTP version 3.0: HTTP version 3.0 is based on the previous RFC draft. It is
renamed as Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol QUIC which is a transport layer network
protocol developed by Google.

Characteristics of HTTP
HTTP is IP based communication protocol that is used to deliver data from server to client or
vice-versa.
 The server processes a request, which is raised by the client, and also server and
client know each other only during the current bid and response period.
 Any type of content can be exchanged as long as the server and client are
compatible with it.
 Once data is exchanged, servers and clients are no longer connected.
 It is a request and response protocol based on client and server requirements.
 It is a connection-less protocol because after the connection is closed, the server
does not remember anything about the client and the client does not remember
anything about the server.
 It is a stateless protocol because both client and server do not expect anything from
each other but they are still able to communicate.

 HTML

• HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language

• HTML is the standard markup language for creating Web pages
• HTML describes the structure of a Web page
• HTML consists of a series of elements
• HTML elements tell the browser how to display the content
• HTML elements label pieces of content such as "this is a heading", "this is a paragraph",
"this is a link", etc.

• Example
• <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
 <head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
<p>This is a paragraph.</p>

</body>
</html>
• This is a Heading
• This is a paragraph.

• The <!DOCTYPE html> declaration defines that this document is an HTML5 document
• The <html> element is the root element of an HTML page
• The <head> element contains meta information about the HTML page
• The <title> element specifies a title for the HTML page (which is shown in the browser's
title bar or in the page's tab)
• The <body> element defines the document's body, and is a container for all the visible
contents, such as headings, paragraphs, images, hyperlinks, tables, lists, etc.
• The <h1> element defines a large heading
• The <p> element defines a paragraph

History

Year Version

• 1989 Tim Berners-Lee invented www

• 1991 Tim Berners-Lee invented HTML
• 1993 Dave Raggett drafted HTML+
• 1995 HTML Working Group defined HTML 2.0
• 1997 W3C Recommendation: HTML 3.2
• 1999 W3C Recommendation: HTML 4.01
• 2000 W3C Recommendation: XHTML 1.0
• 2008 WHATWG HTML5 First Public Draft
 • 2012 WHATWG HTML5 Living Standard
• 2014 W3C Recommendation: HTML5
• 2016 W3C Candidate Recommendation: HTML 5.1
• 2017 W3C Recommendation: HTML5.1 2nd Edition
• 2017 W3C Recommendation: HTML5.2

 What is xml

o Xml (extensible Markup Language) is a markup language.

o XML is designed to store and transport data.
o Xml was released in late 90’s. it was created to provide an easy to use and store self-
describing data.
o XML became a W3C Recommendation on February 10, 1998.
o XML is not a replacement for HTML.
o XML is designed to be self-descriptive.
o XML is designed to carry data, not to display data.
o XML tags are not predefined. You must define your own tags.
o XML is platform independent and language independent.

• Example
<note>
<to>Jay</to>
<from>Raju</from>
<heading>Reminder</heading>
<body>Don't forget me this weekend!</body>
</note>
This note is a note to Jay from Rani, stored as XML:

The XML above is quite self-descriptive:

 It has sender information

 It has receiver information
 It has a heading
 It has a message body

But still, the XML above does not DO anything. XML is just information wrapped in tags.
Someone must write a piece of software to send, receive, store, or display it.

In addition to XML specifications, the following XML-related specifications are standardized:

• XML Protocol. Used to exchange XML information between processes. It is meant to supersede
HTTP and extend it as well as to allow interprocess communications across networks.

• XML Schema. A more structured and powerful language for defining XML data types (tags).
Unlike a DTD, XML Schema uses XML tags for type definitions.

• XSL. This is basically CSS for XML. On the other hand, XSL is much more complex, having
three parts: XSL Transformations (XSLT), XML Path Language (XPath), and XSL Formatting
Objects.

 Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL)

• SMIL stands for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language and is a worldwide web
extensible markup language, written in XML, to describe multimedia presentations.
• It also defines timing, layout, animation, transition, and media embedding markup
• SMIL allows you to present a range of media items such as text, images, video, audio,
files from other servers, and links to other SMIL presentations.
• SMIL refers to media objects by URLs which allow them to be shared between
presentations and stored on different servers for load balancing.
• SMIL can:
1. Integrate media elements in a time-based presentation
2. Reuse media elements in multiple presentations
3. Allow users to choose their preferred media tracks
4. Add hyperlinks in a time-based presentation

Difference between SMIL and HTML

 SMIL documents are like HTML documents in structure.
 Both are typically divided into an optional <head> section and a required <body> section.
 The body section contains the timing information and is generally composed of
combinations of the three main tags <seq>, <par>, and <excl>.
 But SMILs focal core is synchronizing zones with multimedia content, while HTML
spotlights structuring and linking text and multimedia content.

 VRML
VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) is a file format used to create 3D interactive
scenes and objects for the web. It was created in the 1990s as a way to represent virtual reality
environments in a standard format that could be easily shared and viewed over the internet.
VRML files contain information about the geometry, appearance, and behavior of 3D objects
and can include textures, colors, animations, and interactivity. VRML scenes can be viewed
using a VRML browser plug-in or a standalone VRML viewer.
  Multimedia in the New Millennium
Some important milestones in the development of multimedia in the new millennium
2000 WWW size was estimated at over one billion pages. Sony unveiled the first Blu-ray Disc
prototypes in October 2000, and the first prototype player was released in April 2003 in Japan.
2001 The first peer-to-peer file sharing (mostly MP3 music) system, Napster, was shut down by
court order, but many new peer-to-peer file sharing systems, e.g., Gnutella, eMule, and BitTorrent,
were launched in the following years. Coolstreaming was the first large-scale peer-to-peer
streaming system that was deployed in the Internet, attracting over one million in 2004. Later years
saw the booming of many commercial peer-to-peer TV systems, e.g., PPLive, PPStream, and
UUSee, particularly in East Asia. NTT DoCoMo in Japan launched the first commercial 3G
wireless network on October 1. 3G then started to be deployed worldwide, promising broadband
wireless mobile data transfer for multimedia data.
2003 Skype was released for free peer-to-peer voice over the Internet.
2004 Web 2.0 was recognized as a new way to utilize software developers and end-users use the
Web (and is not a technical specification for a new Web). The idea is to promote user collaboration
and interaction so as to generate content in a “virtual community,” as opposed to simply passively
viewing content. Examples include social networking, blogs, wikis, etc. Facebook, the most
popular online social network, was founded by Mark Zuckerberg. Flickr, a popular photo hosting
and sharing site, was created by Ludicorp, a Vancouver-based company founded by Stewart
Butterfield and Caterina Fake.
2005 YouTube was created, providing an easy portal for video sharing, which was purchased by
Google in late 2006. Google launched the online map service, with satellite imaging, real-time
traffic, and Streetview being added later.
2006 Twitter was created, and rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with 500 million registered
users in 2012, who posted 340 million tweets per day. In 2012, Twitter offered the Vine mobile
app, which enables its users to create and post short video clips of up to 6 s. Amazon launched its
cloud computing platform, Amazon’s Web Services (AWS). The most central and well-known of
these services are Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3. Nintendo introduced the Wii home video game
console, whose remote controller can detect movement in three dimensions.
2007 Apple launched the first generation of iPhone, running the iOS mobile operating system. Its
touch screen enabled very intuitive operations, and the associated App Store offered numerous
mobile applications. Goolge unveiled Android mobile operating system, along with the founding
of the Open Handset Alliance: a consortium of hardware, software, and telecommunication
companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. The first Android-powered
phone was sold in October 2008, and Google Play,Android’s primary app store, was soon
launched. In the following years, tablet computers using iOS, Android, and Windows with larger
touch screens joined the eco-system, too.
2009 The first LTE (Long Term Evolution) network was set up in Oslo, Norway, and Stockholm,
Sweden, making an important step toward 4G wireless networking. James Cameron’s film, Avatar,
created a surge on the interest in 3D video.
2010 Netflix, which used to be a DVD rental service provider, migrated its infrastructure to the
Amazon AWS cloud computing platform, and became a major online streaming video provider.
Master copies of digital films from movie studios are stored on Amazon S3, and each film is
encoded into over 50 different versions based on video resolution, audio quality using machines
on the cloud. In total, Netflix has over 1 petabyte of data stored on Amazon’s cloud. Microsoft
introduced Kinect, a horizontal bar with full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition, and voice
recognition capabilities, for its game console Xbox 360.
2012 HTML5 subsumes the previous version, HTML4, which was standardized in 1997. HTML5
is a W3C “Candidate Recommendation.” It is meant to provide support for the latest multimedia
formats while maintaining consistency for current web browsers and devices, along with the ability
to run on low-powered devices such as smartphones and tablets.
2013 Sony released its PlayStation 4, a video game console that is to be integrated with Gaikai, a
cloud-based gaming service that offers streaming video game content. 4K resolution TV started to
be available in the consumer market.

 Multimedia Software Tools

The categories of software tools we examine here are
• Music sequencing and notation
• Digital audio
• Graphics and image editing
• Video editing
• Animation
• Multimedia authoring.

 Music Sequencing and Notation

1. Cakewalk Pro Audio

Cakewalk Pro Audio is a very straightforward music-notation program for “sequencing.” The term
sequencer comes from older devices that stored sequences of notes in the MIDI music language.
2. Finale, Sibelius
Finale and Sibelius are two composer-level notation systems; these programs likely set the bar for
excellence, but their learning curve is fairly steep.

 Digital Audio

Digital Audio tools deal with accessing and editing the actual sampled sounds that make up audio.
 1. Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition (formerly Cool Edit) is a powerful, popular digital audio toolkit with capabilities
(for PC users, at least) that emulate a professional audio studio, including multitrack productions
and sound file editing, along with digital signal processing effects.
2. Sound Forge
Like Audition, Sound Forge is a sophisticated PC-based program for editing WAV files. Sound
can be captured through the sound card, and then mixed and edited. It also permits adding complex
special effects.
3. Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a high-end integrated audio production and editing environment that runs on
Macintosh computers as well as Windows. Pro Tools offers easy MIDI creation and manipulation
as well as powerful audio mixing, recording, and editing software. Full effects depend on
purchasing a dongle.

 Graphics and Image Editing

1. Adobe Illustrator
Illustrator is a powerful publishing tool for creating and editing vector graphics, which can easily
be exported to use on the Web.
2. Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is the standard in a tool for graphics, image processing, and image manipulation. Layers
of images, graphics, and text can be separately manipulated for maximum flexibility, and its set of
filters permits creation of sophisticated lighting effects.
3. Adobe Fireworks
Fireworks is software for making graphics specifically for the Web. It includes a bitmap editor, a
vector graphics editor, and a JavaScript generator for buttons and rollovers.
4. Adobe Freehand
Freehand is a text and web graphics editing tool that supports many bitmap formats, such as GIF,
PNG, and JPEG. These are pixel-based formats, in that each pixel is specified. It also supports
vector-based formats, in which endpoints of lines are specified instead of the pixels themselves,
such as SWF (Adobe Flash). It can also read Photoshop format.

 Video Editing

1. Adobe Premiere
Premiere is a simple, intuitive video editing tool for nonlinear editing—putting video clips into
any order. Video and audio are arranged in tracks, like a musical score.It provides a large number
of video and audio tracks, superimpositions, and virtual clips. A large library of built-in transitions,
filters, and motions for clips allows easy creation of effective multimedia productions.
2. CyberLink PowerDirector
 PowerDirector produced by CyberLink Corp. is by far the most popular nonlinear video editing
software. It provides a rich selection of audio and video features and special effects and is easy to
use. It supports all modern video formats including AVCHD 2.0, 4K Ultra HD, and 3D video. It
supports 64-bit video processing, graphics card acceleration, and multiple CPUs. Its processing
and preview are much faster than Premiere. However, it is not as “programmable” as Premiere.

3. Adobe After Effects

After Effects is a powerful video editing tool that enables users to add and change existing movies
with effects such as lighting, shadows, and motion blurring. It also allows layers, as in Photoshop,
to permit manipulating objects independently.

4. Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is a video editing tool offered by Apple for the Macintosh platform. It allows the
input of video and audio from numerous sources, and provides a complete environment, from
editing and color correction to the final output of a video file.

 Animation

1. Multimedia APIs

Java3D is an API used by Java to construct and render 3D graphics, similar to the way Java Media
Framework handles media files. It provides a basic set of object primitives (cube, splines, etc.)
upon which the developer can build scenes. It is an abstraction layer built on top of OpenGL or
DirectX (the user can select which), so the graphics are accelerated.
DirectX, a Windows API that supports video, images, audio, and 3D animation, is a common API
used to develop multimedia Windows applications such as computer games.
OpenGL was created in 1992 and is still a popular 3D API today. OpenGL is highly portable and
will run on all popular modern operating systems, such as UNIX, Linux, Windows, and Macintosh.

2. Animation Software
Autodesk 3ds Max (formerly 3D Studio Max) includes a number of high-end professional tools
for character animation, game development, and visual effects production. Models produced using
this tool can be seen in several consumer games, such as for the Sony PlayStation.
Autodesk Softimage (previously called Softimage XSI) is a powerful modeling, animation, and
rendering package for animation and special effects in films and games.
Autodesk Maya, a competing product to Softimage, is a complete modeling package. It features
a wide variety of modeling and animation tools, such as to create realistic clothes and fur. Autodesk
Maya runs on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

3. GIF Animation Packages

For a much simpler approach to animation that also allows quick development of effective small
animations for the Web, many sharewares and other programs permit creating animated GIF
images. GIFs can contain several images, and looping through them creates a simple animation.
Linux also provides some simple animation tools, such as animate.

 Multimedia Authoring

Tools that provide the capability for creating a complete multimedia presentation, including
interactive user control, are called authoring programs.
1. Adobe Flash
Flash allows users to create interactive movies by using the score metaphor—a timeline arranged
in parallel event sequences, much like a musical score consisting of musical notes. Elements in the
movie are called symbolism Flash. Symbols are added to a central repository, called a library, and
can be added to the movie’s timeline. Once the symbols are present at a specific time, they appear
on the Stage, which represents what the movie looks like at a certain time, and can be manipulated
and moved by the tools built into Flash. Finished Flash movies are commonly used to show movies
or games on the Web.
2. Adobe Director
Director uses a movie metaphor to create interactive presentations. This powerful program
includes a built-in scripting language, Lingo, that allows creation of complex interactive movies.3
The “cast” of characters in Director includes bitmapped sprites, scripts, music, sounds, and
palettes. Director can read many bitmapped file formats. The program itself allows a good deal of
interactivity, and Lingo, with its own debugger, allows more control, including control over
external devices.
3. Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is a webpage authoring tool that allows users to produce multimedia presentations
without learning any HTML.