MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY OF KENYA

FACULTY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2020/2021

FOURTH YEAR FIRST SEMESTER EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE

UNITS CODE: CCS 2416: UNIT NAME: MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS

MARKING SCHEME
DATE: JUNE 2021 TIME: 2 WEEKS
INSTRUCTIONS:
ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS IN ANSWER BOOKLET PROVIDED
ANSWER QUESTION ALL QUESTIONS

a) Differentiate between hypertext and hypermedia. (2 marks)

Hypertext is a powerful cross-referencing tool meant for user-driven access to an ocean wealth
of interconnected information either static or dynamic in an electronic format. Simply put,
hypertext may refer to plain simple text that contains links to access other chunks of text within
the same or different document. It provides a means to organize and present information in a
way that is easily accessible to the end users. It’s more like a user-driven tool to represent
textual information which are linked together to provide more flexibility and a greater degree
of control.

Hypermedia is an extension of hypertext that employs multiple forms of media such as text,
graphics, audio or video sequences, still or moving graphics, etc. The structure of hypermedia
is quite similar to that of a hypertext, except it’s not constrained to be just text-based. It extends
the capabilities of hypertext systems by creating clickable links within web pages to create a
network of interconnected non-linear information which user can both access and interact with
for a better multimedia experience.

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b) Describe the components of multimedia (4 Marks)

1. Text: Text is the most common medium of representing the information. In multimedia, text
is mostly use for titles, headlines, menu etc. The most commonly used software for viewing
text files are Microsoft Word, Notepad, Word pad etc. Mostly the text files are formatted
with, DOC, TXT etc. extension.

2. Audio: In multimedia audio means related with recording, playing etc. Audio is an
important components of multimedia because this component increases the
understandability and improves the clarity of the concept. audio includes speech, music
etc. The commonly used software for playing audio files are:
i) Quick Time
ii) Real player
iii) Windows Media Player

3. Graphics: Every multimedia presentation is based on graphics. The used of graphics in

multimedia makes the concept more effective and presentable. The commonly used
software for viewing graphics are windows Picture, Internet Explorer etc. The commonly
used graphics editing software is Adobe Photoshop through which graphics can be edited
easily and can be make effective and attractive.

4. Video: Video means moving pictures with sound. It is the best way to communicate with
each other. In multimedia it is used to makes the information more presentable and it saves
a large amount of time. The commonly used software for viewing videos are:
i) Quick Time
ii) Window Media Player
iii) Real Player

5. Animation: In computer animation is used to make changes to the images so that the
sequence of the images appears to be moving pictures. An animated sequence shows a
number of frames per second to produce an effect of motion in the user's eye. Some of the
commonly used software for viewing animation are:
i) Internet Explorer
ii) Windows Pictures
iii) Fax Viewer

c) Differentiate between MPEG and JPEG. (2 Marks)

JPEG is the Joint Photographic Expert Group, which works on the standards for compression
of still digital images.

MPEG is the Moving Picture Expert Group, which works on the standards for compression of
digital movies (Audio and Video).

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d) Describe digitization (2 Marks)

Digitization, less commonly digitalization, is the process of converting information into a

digital (i.e. computer-readable) format, in which the information is organized into bits. The
result is the representation of an object, image, sound, document or signal (usually an analog
signal) by generating a series of numbers that describe a discrete set of its points or samples.
The result is called digital representation or, more specifically, a digital image, for the object,
and digital form, for the signal.

e) What is multimedia authoring? Describe multimedia authoring tools. (5 Marks)

Multimedia authoring tools provide the framework for organizing and editing the elements of
a multimedia project.

Authoring software provides an integrated environment for combining the content and
functions of a project. It enables the developer to combine text, graphics, audio, video, and
animation into an interactive presentation/ project.

Card & Page - Based Tools

This tool provides a simple and easily understood metaphor for organizing multimedia
elements. It contains media objects such as buttons, text fields, and graphic objects.
It provides a facility for linking objects to pages or cards.
Software: Hypercard – linked cards ToolBook – each page is a screen
Advantages:
• Easy to understand metaphor – 1 screen = 1 card = 1 page
• Easy to use
• Provide template
• Short development time

Disadvantages:
• Some run only on one platform
• Tools not as powerful as equiv. stand-alones

Icon Based – Event Driven Tool

Icons or objects based authoring tool is the simplest and easiest authoring process.
Simple branching is the ability to go to another section of the multimedia production.
Multimedia elements and interaction cues are organized as objects in a flowchart.
Flowchart can be built by dragging appropriate icons from a library, and then adding the
content.
Software: Authorware and IconAuthor.

Advantages:
• Clear structure.

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• Easy editing and updating.

Disadvantages:
• Difficult to learn.
• Expensive.

Time-Based Tools

This tools are best suited for messages with a beginning and an end. Some time-based tools
facilitate navigation and interactive control.

Software: Adobe’s Director and Flash. Macromedia Director: A multimedia database, ‘Cast’,
contains still images, sound files, text, shapes, scripts, movies, and other Director files.
Score is a sequencer for displaying, animating, and playing Cast members.
Lingo is an object-oriented scripting language that enables interactivity and programmed
control.

Advantages:
• Good for creating animation
• Branching, user control, interactivity

Disadvantages:
• Expensive
• Steep learning curve for advanced features

Macromedia Flash

Flash is used for delivering rich multimedia content to the Web. It allows the creation of simple
static HTML pages with the Flash Player plug-in.

Advantages:
• Easy to put animated and interactive movies.
• Interactive menus.

Disadvantages:
• Increase in file size.
• Music and sound files embedded in Flash movies increase file sizes and increases the
download time.

Web Page Authoring Tools

Allows users of all skill levels to create Web pages.

Some application software programs include Web page authoring programs.
Adobe Dreamweaver allow to create web pages without learning the underlying HTML.

Software: Adobe Dreamweaver, Front page

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f) What is MIDI? Briefly explain the components of MIDI? (5 Marks)

Musical Instrument Digital Interface is a technical standard that describes a communications

protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors and allows a wide variety of electronic
musical instruments, computers and other related music and audio devices to connect and
communicate with one another. A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of
information, each of which can be routed to a separate device.

Synthesizer:

It is a sound generator (various pitch, loudness, tone colour). A good (musician's)

synthesizer often has a microprocessor, keyboard, control panels, memory, etc.

Sequencer:

It can be a stand-alone unit or a software program for a personal computer. (It used to be
a storage server for MIDI data. Nowadays it is more a software music editor on the
computer.
It has one or more MIDI INs and MIDI OUTs.

Track:

Track in sequencer is used to organize the recordings.

Tracks can be turned on or off on recording or playing back.

Channel:

MIDI channels are used to separate information in a MIDI system.

There are 16 MIDI channels in one cable.
Channel numbers are coded into each MIDI message.

Timbre:

The quality of the sound, e.g., flute sound, cello sound, etc.
Multitimbral - capable of playing many different sounds at the same time (e.g., piano,
brass, drums, etc.)

Pitch:

musical note that the instrument plays

Voice:

Voice is the portion of the synthesizer that produces sound.

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 Synthesizers can have many (12, 20, 24, 36, etc.) voices.
Each voice works independently and simultaneously to produce sounds of different timbre
and pitch.

Patch:

the control settings that define a particular timbre.

g) Explain the characteristics of multimedia systems. (5 Marks)

i. Multimedia systems must be computer controlled.

ii. Multimedia systems are integrated.
iii. The information they handle must be represented digitally.
iv. The interface to the final presentation of media is usually interactive.

h) What is compression? Differentiate between lossy and lossless compression. (5 Marks)

Data compression is the representation of an information source (e.g. a data file, a speech
signal, an image, or a video signal) as accurately as possible using the fewest number of bits.

Compressed data can only be understood if the decoding method is known by the receiver.

Lossless techniques enable exact reconstruction of the original document from the compressed
information.

Exploit redundancy in data

Applied to general data
Examples: Run-length, Huffman, LZ77, LZ78, and LZW

Lossy compression - reduces a file by permanently eliminating certain redundant information

Exploit redundancy and human perception

Applied to audio, image, and video
Examples: JPEG and MPEG

Lossy techniques usually achieve higher compression rates than lossless ones but the latter
are more accurate.

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