Multimedia - Mohan Kumar Jha

Transcription

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POLYGON (www.polygongroup.in) ONKAR TIWARY 9835662186
Multimedia:Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be
used as a noun (a medium with multiple content forms) or as an adjective describing a medium as
having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which only use traditional
forms of printed or hand-produced material. Multimedia includes a combination of text, audio, still
images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms. Multimedia is usually recorded and played,
displayed or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized and
electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. Multimedia also describes electronic
media devices used to store and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is distinguished from
mixed media in fine art; by including audio, for example, it has a broader scope. The term "rich
media" is synonymous for interactive multimedia. Hypermedia can be considered one particular
multimedia application.
Categorization of Multimedia: Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories. Linear active content
progresses without any navigational control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear
content offers user interactivity to control progress as used with a computer game or used in selfpaced computer based training. Hypermedia is an example of non-linear content. Multimedia
presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow interactivity via a
navigation system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via an interaction with the
presenter or performer.
Major Characteristics of Multimedia: Multimedia presentations may be viewed in person on stage, projected, transmitted, or played locally
with a media player. A broadcast may be a live or recorded multimedia presentation. Broadcasts and
recordings can be either analog or digital electronic media technology. Digital online multimedia
may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming multimedia may be live or on-demand. Multimedia
games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with special effects, with multiple
users in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game system, or simulator. The
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various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users'
experience, for example to make it easier and faster to convey information, or in entertainment or art,
to transcend everyday experience. Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining
multiple forms of media content. Online multimedia is increasingly becoming object-oriented and
data-driven, enabling applications with collaborative end-user innovation and personalization on
multiple forms of content over time. Examples of these range from multiple forms of content on
Web sites like photo galleries with both images (pictures) and title (text) user-updated, to
simulations whose co-efficients, events, illustrations, animations or videos are modifiable, allowing
the multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In addition to seeing and hearing,
haptic technology enables virtual objects to be felt. Emerging technology involving illusions of taste
and smell may also enhance the multimedia experience.
Usage:Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to, advertisements, art,
education, entertainment, engineering, medicine, mathematics, business, scientific research and
spatial temporal applications. Several examples are as follows:
Creative Industries:Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from fine arts, to entertainment,
to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software services provided for any of the industries
listed below. An individual multimedia designer may cover the spectrum throughout their career.
Request for their skills range from technical, to analytical, to creative.
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Commercial:Much of the electronic old and new media used by commercial artists is multimedia. Exciting
presentations are used to grab and keep attention in advertising. Business to business and interoffice
communications are often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia
presentations beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial multimedia
developers may be hired to design for governmental services and nonprofit services applications as
well.
Entertainment and Fine Arts:In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especially to develop special
effects in movies and animations. Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are software
programs available either as CD-ROMs or online. Some video games also use multimedia features.
Multimedia applications that allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as passive
recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia. In the Arts there are multimedia artists,
whose minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way incorporates
interaction with the viewer. One of the most relevant could be Peter Greenaway who is melding
Cinema with Opera and all sorts of digital media. Another approach entails the creation of
multimedia that can be displayed in a traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery. Although
multimedia display material may be volatile, the survivability of the content is as strong as any
traditional media. Digital recording material may be just as durable and infinitely reproducible with
perfect copies every time.
Education:In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses and reference books
like encyclopedia and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about
a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats. Edutainment is an
informal term used to describe combining education with entertainment, especially multimedia
entertainment. Learning theory in the past decade has expanded dramatically because of the
introduction of multimedia. Several lines of research have evolved (e.g. Cognitive load, Multimedia
learning, and the list goes on). The possibilities for learning and instruction are nearly endless. The
idea of media convergence is also becoming a major factor in education, particularly higher
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education. Defined as separate technologies such as voice, data and video that now share resources
and interact with each other, synergistically creating new efficiencies, media convergence is rapidly
changing the curriculum in universities all over the world. Likewise, it is changing the availibility, or
lack thereof, of jobs requiring this savvy technological skill.Newpaper companies all over are also
trying to embrace the new phenomenon by implementing it's practices in their work. While some
have been slow to come around, other major newspapers like The New York Times, USA Today and
The Washington Post are setting the precedent for the positioning of the newspaper industry in a
globalized world.
Engineering:-Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from
entertainment to training such as military or industrial training. Multimedia for software interfaces
are often done as a collaboration between creative professionals and software engineers.
Industry:-In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present information to
shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training,
advertising and selling products all over the world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies.
Mathematical and Scientific Research:-In mathematical and scientific research, multimedia is
mainly used for modelling and simulation. For example, a scientist can look at a molecular model of
a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at a new substance. Representative research can be
found in journals such as the Journal of Multimedia.
Medicine:-In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at virtual surgery or they can simulate
how human body is affected by diseases spread by viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques
to prevent it.
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Document Imaging:-Document Imaging is a technique that takes hard copy of an image/document
and converts it into a digital format
Multimedia Literacy:-Multimedia literacy is a new aspect of literacy that is being recognized as
technology expands the way people communicate. The concept of Literacy emerged as a measure of
the ability to read and write. In modern context, the word means reading and writing at a level
adequate for written communication. A more fundamental meaning is now needed to cope with the
numerous media in use, perhaps meaning a level that enables one to successfully function at certain
levels of a society. Multimedia is media that utilizes several different content forms to convey
information. Several are already a part of the canon of global communication and publication: (text,
audio, graphics, animation, video, and interactivity). Multimedia mainly but not exclusively refers to
electronic media because content forms such as audio recordings and video footage are delivered
electronically.
Video: - Film making has been a major technology and art form for over a century. Personal video
making makes use of many but not all of the techniques of professional film making. Student movie
makers need to be familiar with the basic tools and techniques of the art, including familiarity with:
Camera shots: close up, medium, long shot, pan, fade etc in order to achieve different effects
Story-boarding: a pictorial frame view of the story line, showing camera views, times and
shot sequence which provides the Director with a simple shooting script for a video.
Editing software replaces tedious and expensive film splicing with digital editing which is
quick and forgiving of errors, and allows the insertion of audio tracks in sequence with the video
track.
Sound tracks allow music, sound effects and voice tracks to be added to an existing film (see
Sound).
The so called Ken Burns Effect, in which the camera pans across a still image allows still
images accompanied by a sound track to create quite powerful presentations.
Sound:-Most people are very familiar with the use of sound as a powerful tool in television, radio
and film, but have little experience in using it themselves. Digital recording allows the user much
greater opportunity to experiment with the effect of sound features such as:
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voice tone, pace, pitch
music as an influence on mood and atmosphere
Sound effects that provide enrichment and context to a story.
Multimedia Messaging Service:-Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to
send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS
(Short Message Service) capability which only allowed exchange of text messages up to 160
characters in length. The most popular use is to send photographs from camera-equipped handsets,
although it is also popular as a method of delivering ringtones. The standard is developed by the
Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), although during development it was part of the 3GPP and WAP
groups.
Distributed Multimedia Systems: - Distributed Multimedia Systems is an area of active
commercialization and research. This technology is widely viewed as the next generation technology
for computers and communication networks. This paper will discuss some features of the technology,
its architecture, and scalability. Also we will see some of the current trends in this technology.
Research and development efforts in multimedia falls in two groups. One group concentrates on the
stand-alone multimedia workstations and associated software and tools. The other combines
multimedia with the distributed systems. The distributed multimedia system offers a broader
spectrum of implementation possibilities in comparison to stand - alone systems. But in addition to
the possibilities they all add a new dimension to the system complexity.
A distributed multimedia system combines a variety of multimedia information resources over a
network into an application used by the client. In this manner the user can access different remote
information sources and service. The system is based on the interaction between the user and the
application. The user can control when to receive what data and also control the data flow. That
means the multimedia system is made interactive as if it were on the same system. Therefore this
type of system is different from the conventional broadcast system. In such services
typified by
Cable television, clients can neither control the programs they view nor schedule the viewing time of
the programs to suit their preferences. The user in such systems is flooded with irrelevant
information, without a possibility to choose only the information of the interest. This kind of
distributed environment is capable of serving a large number of end users to concurrently access a
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large number of repositories of stored data and also with the option of manipulating the environment
by making the broadcast interactive. The enormous communication bandwidth required, the Quality
of Service (QOS) demanded a careful design of the system in order to maximize the number of
concurrent users while minimizing the cost needed to obtain it.
The main component of a distributed multimedia system consists of major 3 components:
Information (content) providers, a wide area network, and a multimedia client. There are many
design issues in building each of the components. The breakthrough achieved in Digital Information
Compression has helped to transmit the digital information in real time. In Section 2 we will discuss
the architecture required of a Distributed multimedia system where we describe each of the system
components. In Section 3 we will discuss about the Scalability issues obtained from such a
multimedia system. In Section 4 we discuss some of the advances in the distributed multimedia
systems and researches going on.
Orchestration and QOS: Reservation and adaptation are two well-known and effective techniques for enhancing the end-toend performance of network applications. However, both techniques also have limitations,
particularly when dealing with high-bandwidth, dynamic flows: fixed-capability reservations tend to
be wasteful of resources and hinder graceful degradation in the face of congestion, while adaptive
techniques fail when congestion becomes excessive. We propose an approach to quality of service
(QoS) that overcomes these difficulties by combining features of reservations and adaptation. In this
approach, a combination of online control interfaces for resource management, a sensor permitting
online monitoring, and decision procedures embedded in resources enable a rich variety of dynamic
feedback interactions between applications and resources. We describe QoS architecture, GARA,
that has been extended to support these mechanisms, and use three examples of application-level
adaptive strategies to show how this framework can permit applications to adapt both their resource
requests and behavior in response to online sensor information
Architecture:-We know present architecture for the distributed multimedia systems and set the
stage for presentation of integration and technology issues in the next section. The architecture is
presented at the level of abstraction suitable for the content of the paper. As discussed already a
distributed multimedia system consists of three different basic components: an Information server, a
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wide area network and a multimedia client on the user site. The user interface or the multimedia
client deals with the issues related to presentation and manipulation of multimedia objects and the
interaction with the user. The network provides the communication mechanism between the user and
the server. The server is responsible for managing multimedia databases and also composing general
multimedia objects for the user. The composition of the object is a complex process of integrating
and synchronizing multimedia data for transport, display and manipulation. The system usually
consists of multiple users, servers and networks as shown below. Ethernet only provides a bandwidth
of 10 Mbps. This is inadequate for most multimedia applications. Moreover its access time is not
bound and its latency and jitter are unpredictable. New protocols which are considered for carrying
multimedia data include the 100 Mbps Ethernet Standard, Distributed Queue dual bus (DQDB),
Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) and Asynchronous Transfer mode (ATM). The first three
have bandwidths of the order of 100 Mbps. ATM enables a bandwidth of 155 – 622 Mbps depending
on the characteristics of the network.
FDDI in its synchronized mode has low access latency and low jitter. FDDI also guarantees a
bounded access delay and a predictable average bandwidth for synchronous traffic. However, Due to
its high cost FDDI is at the moment used primarily for the backbone networks. Asynchronous
Transfer Mode (ATM) is rapidly emerging as the future protocol for multimedia communication.
ATM provides great flexibility in the bandwidth allocation by assigning fixed length packets called
cells, to support virtual connections. ATM can also increase the bandwidth efficiency by buffering
and statistically multiplexing burst traffic at the expense of cell delay and loss. For the Internet, the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is working on a TCP/IP interface for ATM.
Synchronization:-Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to
operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in
time. Systems operating with all their parts in synchrony are said to be synchronous or in sync. Some
systems may be only approximately synchronized, or plesiochronous. For some applications relative
offsets between events need to be determined, for others only the order of the event is important.
Today, synchronization can occur on a global basis due to GPS-enabled timekeeping systems.
Contents:1 Transport
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2 Communications
3 Some uses of synchronization
Transport:-Apart from its use for navigation, synchronization was not important in transportation
until the nineteenth century, when the coming of the railways made travel fast enough for the
differences in local time between adjacent towns to be noticeable.
In some territories, sharing of single railroad tracks was controlled by the timetable. Thus strict
timekeeping was a safety requirement. To this day, railroads can communicate and signal along their
tracks, independently of other systems for safety.
Communication:-The lessons of timekeeping are part of engineering technology. In electrical
engineering terms, for digital logic and data transfer, a synchronous object requires a clock signal.
Timekeeping technologies such as the GPS satellites and Network time protocol (NTP) provide realtime access to a close approximation to the UTC timescale, and are used for many terrestrial
synchronization applications.
Synchronization is an important concept in the following fields:
Computer science (In computer science, especially parallel computing, synchronization
refers to the coordination of simultaneous threads or processes to complete a task; in order to obtain
correct runtime order and avoid unexpected race conditions.)
Telecommunication
Physics (The idea of simultaneity has many difficulties, both in practice and theory.)
Cryptography
Multimedia
Photography
Music (rhythm)
Synthesizers
Synchronization has several subtly distinct sub-concepts:
Rate synchronization
Phase synchronization
Time offset synchronization
Time order synchronization
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Some uses of Synchronization:
While well-designed time synchronization is an important tool for creating reliable systems,
excessive use of synchronization where it is not necessary can make systems less fault-tolerant, and
hence less reliable.
mobile phone synchronization using Basota-standards or java based technology to perform a
backup on a phone.
Film synchronization of image and sound in sound film
Synchronization is important in fields such as digital telephony, video and digital audio
where streams of sampled data are manipulated.
Arbiters are needed in digital electronic systems such as microprocessors to deal with
asynchronous inputs. There are also electronic digital circuits called synchronizers that attempt to
perform arbitration in one clock cycle. Synchronizers, unlike arbiters, are prone to failure.
Encryption systems usually require some synchronization mechanism to ensure that the
receiving cipher is decoding the right bits at the right time.
Automotive transmissions contain synchronizers which allow the toothed rotating parts
(gears and splined shaft) to be brought to the same rotational velocity before engaging the teeth.
Synchronization is also important in industrial automation applications.
Time codes are often used as a means of synchronization in film, video, and audio
applications.
Flash photography, see Flash synchronization
File synchronization is used to maintain the same version of files on multiple computing
devices. For example, an address book on a telephone might need to be synchronized with an
address book on a computer.
Software
applications
must
occasionally
incorporate
application-specific
data
synchronization in order to mirror changes over time among multiple data sources at a level more
granular than File synchronization. An example use of this is the Data Synchronization specification
of the Open Mobile Alliance, which continues the work previously done by the SyncML initiative.
SyncML was initially proposed to synchronize changes in personal address book and calendar
information from computers to mobile phones, but has subsequently been used in applications that
synchronize other types of data changes among multiple sources, such as project status changes.
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The term synchronization is also sometimes used for the transfer of content from a computer
to an MP3 player connected to it.
Multimedia Communication: Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another. Communication
processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents which share a repertoire of
signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of
thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". Although there is such a thing as
one-way communication, communication can be perceived better as a two-way process in which
there is an exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas (energy) towards a mutually
accepted goal or direction (Information Communication are a process whereby information is
enclosed in a package and is discreeted and imparted by sender to a receiver via a channel/medium.
The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. Communication requires
that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as
speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are nonverbal means, such as body language, sign
language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, and writing.
Functions of Communication
Control
Motivation
Emotional Expression
Information
Communication Fundamentals
Direction
Downward
Upward
Crosswise
Networks:
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Formal vs. Informal
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Barriers to Effective Communication
Filtering
Selective Perception
Emotions
Language
Multimedia communication is a part of everyday life and its appearance in computer applications is
increasing in frequency and diversity. This article defines the area, outlines fundamental research
questions, summarizes the history of this technology, identifies current challenges and concludes by
predicting future breakthroughs and discussing multilingualism. We conclude describing several
new research issues that systems of systems raise. We define communication as the interaction
between human-human, human-system, and human-Information. This includes interfaces to people,
interfaces to applications, and interfaces to information.
Digital Video and Image Compression
Compression:Compression is a reversible conversion of data to a format that requires fewer bits, usually
performed so that the data can be stored or transmitted more efficiently. The size of the data in
compressed form (C) relative to the original size (O) is known as the compression ratio (R=C/O). If
the inverse of the process, decompression, produces an exact replica of the original data then the
compression is lossless. Lossy compression, usually applied to image data, does not allow
reproduction of an exact replica of the original image, but has a higher compression ratio. Thus lossy
compression allows only an approximation of the original to be generated. For image compression,
the fidelity of the approximation usually decreases as the compression ratio increases. Compression
is analogous to folding a letter before placing it in a small envelope so that it can be transported
more easily and cheaply. Compressed data, like the folded letter, is not easily read and must first be
decompressed, or unfolded, to restore it to its original form. The success of data compression
depends largely on the data itself and some data types are inherently more compressible than others.
Generally some elements within the data are more common than others and most compression
algorithms exploit this property, known as redundancy. The greater the redundancy within the data,
the more successful the compression of the data is likely to be. Fortunately, digital video contains a
great deal of redundancy and thus is very suitable for compression. A device (software or hardware)
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that compresses data is often know as an encoder or coder, whereas a device that decompresses data
is known as a decoder. A device that acts as both a coder and decoder is known as a codec. A great
number of compression techniques have been developed and some lossless techniques can be
applied to any type of data. Development, in recent years, of lossy techniques specifically for image
data has contributed a great deal to the realisation of digital video applications. Compression
techniques used for digital video can be categorized into three main groups:
General purpose compression techniques can be used for any kind of data.
Intraframe compression techniques work on images.
Interframe compression techniques work on image sequences rather than individual images.
Image file Compression:There are two types of image file compression algorithms: lossless and lossy.
Lossless Compression algorithms reduce file size without losing image quality, though they are not
compressed into as small a file as a lossy compression file. When image quality is valued above file
size, lossless algorithms are typically chosen.
Lossy Compression algorithms take advantage of the inherent limitations of the human eye and
discard invisible information. Most lossy compression algorithms allow for variable quality levels
(compression) and as these levels are increased, file size is reduced. At the highest compression
levels, image deterioration becomes noticeable as "compression artifacting". The images below
demonstrate the noticeable artifacting of lossy compression algorithms; select the thumbnail image
to view the full size version.
Computer Graphics:Graphics is a term, which refers to any computer device or program that makes a computer capable
of displaying and manipulating pictures. The term also refers to the images themselves. Example: laser printer and plotters are graphics devices because they permit the computer to output pictures. A
graphics monitor is a display monitor that can display pictures. A graphic board or card is a printed
circuit board of which, when installed in a computer, permits the computer to display pictures. Many
software applications include graphics components. Such programs are said to support graphics.
The following are also considered graphics applications:
Paint Programs: - Allow you to create rough freehand drawing. The images are
stored as bit maps and can easily be edited.
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Design Programs: - supports more advanced feathers than paint programs, particularly for
drawing curved lines. The images are usually stored in vector based formats. Design programs are
often called draw programs.
Presentation Graphics Software: - This software lets you create bar charts, pie charts,
graphics, and other types of images foe slide shows and reports. The charts can be based on data
imported from spreadsheet applications.
Animation Software: - Enables you to chain and sequence a series of images to simulate
movement. Each image is like in a movie.
CAD Software: - Enables architects and engineers to draft design.
Desktop Publishing: - Provide a full set of word processing feathers as well as fine control
over placements of text and graphics, so that you can create newsletters, advertisements, books and
other types of documents.
Types of Graphics Images: - Graphics images that have been processed by a computer can usually
be divided into two distinct categories. Such images are either bitmap graphics or vector graphics.
Bitmap Graphics: - Bitmap images are a collection of bits that form an image. The image consists
of a matrix of individual dots (or pixels) that have their own colors described using bits.
Types of bitmapped images: - Bitmap images can contain any number of colors but we distinguish
between four main categories.
Line art: - These are images that contain only two colors, usually black and white.
Graystyle: - Such images contain various shades of grey as well as pure black and white.
Multitones: - Such images contain shadow or two or more color.
Full Color Images: - The color information can be described using a number of color spaces:
RGB, CMYK for instance.
Applications that can handle Bitmap Data:-These are hundred of application on the market that
can be used to create or modify bitmap data. For example, Adobe Photoshop, Corel photo paint etc
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Vector Graphics: - Vector graphics are images that may be entirely described using mathematical
definitions.
Applications that can handle Vector Data:-These are hundred of application on the market that
can be used to create or modify vector data. For example, Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw and
Macromedia freehand etc
Image file formats: - Image file formats are standardized means of organizing and storing images.
This entry is about digital image formats used to store photographic and disk-image file formats).
Image files are composed of either pixel or vector data that are rasterized to pixels when displayed in
a vector graphic display. The pixels that constitute an image are ordered as a grid (columns and
rows); each pixel consists of numbers representing magnitudes of brightness and color.
Image file sizes: - Image file size expressed as the number of bytes—increases with the number of
pixels composing an image, and the colour depth of the pixels. The greater the number of rows and
columns, the greater the image resolution, and the larger the file. Also, each pixel of an image
increases in size when its colour depth increases—an 8-bit pixel (1 byte) stores 256 colors, a 24-bit
pixel (3 bytes) stores 16 million colors, the latter known as truecolor. Image compression uses
algorithms to decrease the size of a file. High resolution cameras produce large image files, ranging
from hundreds of kilobytes to megabytes, per the camera's resolution and the image-storage format
capacity. High resolution digital cameras record 12 megapixel (1MP = 1,000,000 pixels / 1 million)
images, or more, in truecolor. For example, an image recorded by a 12 MP camera; since each pixel
uses 3 bytes to record truecolor, the uncompressed image would occupy 36,000,000 bytes of
memory—a great amount of digital storage for one image, given that cameras must record and store
many images to be practical. Faced with large file sizes, both within the camera and a storage disc,
image file formats were developed to store such large images. An overview of the major graphic file
formats follows below.
Major Graphic File formats: - Including proprietary types, there are hundreds of image file types.
The PNG, JPEG, and GIF formats are most often used to display images on the Internet. These
graphic formats are listed and briefly described below, separated into the two main families of
graphics: raster and vector. In addition to straight image formats, Metafile formats are portable
formats which can include contain both raster and vector information. Examples are applicationindependent formats such as WMF and EMF. The metafile format is an intermediate format. Most
Windows applications open metafiles and then save them in their own native format. Page
description language refers to formats used to describe the layout of a printed page containing text,
objects and images. Examples are PostScript, PDF and PCL.
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Raster Formats:-These formats store images as bitmaps (also known as pixmaps). For a description
of the technology aside from the format, see Raster graphics.
JPEG/JFIF:-JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a compression method; JPEGcompressed images are usually stored in the JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format) file format. JPEG
compression is (in most cases) lossy compression. The JPEG/JFIF filename extension in DOS is JPG
(other operating systems may use JPEG). Nearly every digital camera can save images in the
JPEG/JFIF format, which supports 8 bits per color (red, green, blue) for a 24-bit total, producing
relatively small files. When not too great, the compression does not noticeably detract from the
image's quality, but JPEG files suffer generational degradation when repeatedly edited and saved.
Photographic images may be better stored in a lossless non-JPEG format if they will be re-edited, or
if small "artifacts" (blemishes caused by the JPEG's compression algorithm) are unacceptable. The
JPEG/JFIF format also is used as the image compression algorithm in many Adobe PDF files.
Exif:-The Exif (Exchangeable image file format) format is a file standard similar to the JFIF
format with TIFF extensions; it is incorporated in the JPEG-writing software used in most cameras.
Its purpose is to record and to standardize the exchange of images with image metadata between
digital cameras and editing and viewing software. The metadata are recorded for individual images
and include such things as camera settings, time and date, shutter speed, exposure, image size,
compression, name of camera, color information, etc. When images are viewed or edited by image
editing software, all of this image information can be displayed.
TIFF:-The TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format is a flexible format that normally saves
8 bits or 16 bits per color (red, green, blue) for 24-bit and 48-bit totals, respectively, usually using
either the TIFF or TIF filename extension. TIFF's flexibility is both blessing and curse, because no
single reader reads every type of TIFF file. TIFFs are lossy and lossless; some offer relatively good
lossless compression for bi-level (black & white) images. Some digital cameras can save in TIFF
format, using the LZW compression algorithm for lossless storage. TIFF image format is not widely
supported by web browsers. TIFF remains widely accepted as a photograph file standard in the
printing business. TIFF can handle device-specific color spaces, such as the CMYK defined by a
particular set of printing press inks. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software packages
commonly generate some (often monochromatic) form of TIFF image for scanned text pages.
RAW:-RAW refers to a family of raw image formats that are options available on some
digital cameras. These formats usually use a lossless or nearly-lossless compression, and produce
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file sizes much smaller than the TIFF formats of full-size processed images from the same cameras.
Although there is a standard raw image format, (ISO 12234-2, TIFF/EP), the raw formats used by
most cameras are not standardized or documented, and differ among camera manufacturers. Many
graphic programs and image editors may not accept some or all of them, and some older ones have
been effectively orphaned already. Adobe's Digital Negative (DNG) specification is an attempt at
standardizing a raw image format to be used by cameras, or for archival storage of image data
converted from undocumented raw image formats, and is used by several niche and minority camera
manufacturers including Pentax, Leica, and Samsung. The raw image formats of more than 230
camera models, including those from manufacturers with the largest market shares such as Canon,
Nikon, Sony, and Olympus, can be converted to DNG.[5] DNG was based on ISO 12234-2, TIFF/EP,
and ISO's revision of TIFF/EP is reported to be adding Adobe's modifications and developments
made for DNG into profile 2 of the new version of the standard.
PNG:-The PNG (Portable Network Graphics) file format was created as the free, opensource successor to the GIF. The PNG file format supports truecolor (16 million colors) while the
GIF supports only 256
colors. The PNG file excels when the image has large, uniformly colored areas. The lossless PNG
format is best suited for editing pictures, and the lossy formats, like JPG, are best for the final
distribution of photographic images, because JPG files are smaller than PNG files. Many older
browsers currently do not support the PNG file format, however, with Mozilla Firefox or Internet
Explorer 7, all contemporary web browsers now support all common uses of the PNG format,
including full 8-bit translucency (Internet Explorer 7 may display odd colors on translucent images
ONLY when combined with IE's opacity filter). The Adam7-interlacing allows an early preview,
even when only a small percentage of the image data has been transmitted. PNG, an extensible file
format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patentfree replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, grayscale,
and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. PNG is designed to work well in
online viewing applications, such as the World Wide Web, so it is fully streamable with a
progressive display option. PNG is robust, providing both full file integrity checking and simple
detection of common transmission errors. Also, PNG can store gamma and chromaticity data for
improved color matching on heterogeneous platforms. Some programs do not handle PNG gamma
correctly, which can cause the images to be saved or displayed darker than they should be.
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GIF:-GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is limited to an 8-bit palette, or 256 colors. This
makes the GIF format suitable for storing graphics with relatively few colors such as simple
diagrams, shapes, logos and cartoon style images. The GIF format supports animation and is still
widely used to provide image animation effects. It also uses a lossless compression that is more
effective when large areas have a single color, and ineffective for detailed images or dithered images.
BMP:-The BMP file format (Windows bitmap) handles graphics files within the Microsoft
Windows OS. Typically, BMP files are uncompressed, hence they are large; the advantage is their
simplicity and wide acceptance in Windows programs.
PPM, PGM, PBM, PNM:- Netpbm format is a family including the portable pixmap file
format (PPM), the portable graymap file format (PGM) and the portable bitmap file format (PBM).
These are either pure ASCII files or raw binary files with an ASCII header that provide very basic
functionality and serve as a lowest-common-denominator for converting pixmap, graymap, or
bitmap files between different platforms. Several applications refer to them collectively as the PNM
format (portable anymap).
Vector Formats: - As opposed to the raster image formats above (where the data describes the
characteristics of each individual pixel), vector image formats contain a geometric description which
can be rendered smoothly at any desired display size. Vector file formats can contain bitmap data as
well. 3D graphic file formats are technically vector formats with pixel data texture mapping on the
surface of a vector virtual object, warped to match the angle of the viewing perspective. At some
point, all vector graphics must be rasterized in order to be displayed on digital monitors. However,
vector images can be displayed with analog CRT technology such as that used in some electronic
test equipment, medical monitors, radar displays, laser shows and early video games. Plotters are
printers that use vector data rather than pixel data to draw graphics.
CGM: - Computer Graphics Metafile is a file format for 2D vector graphics, raster graphics,
and text, and is defined by ISO/IEC 8632. All graphical elements can be specified in a textual source
file that can be compiled into a binary file or one of two text representations. CGM provides a means
of graphics data interchange for computer representation of 2D graphical information independent
from any particular application, system, platform, or device. It has been adopted to some extent in
the areas of technical illustration and professional design, but has largely been superseded by
formats such as SVG and DXF.
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SVG:- Scalable Vector Graphics is an open standard created and developed by the World
Wide Web Consortium to address the need (and attempts of several corporations) for a versatile,
scriptable and all-purpose vector format for the web and otherwise. The SVG format does not have a
compression scheme of its own, but due to the textual nature of XML, an SVG graphic can be
compressed using a program such as gzip. Because of its scripting potential, SVG is a key
component in web applications: interactive web pages that look and act like applications.
3D Formats
PNS: - The PNG Stereo (.pns) format consists of a side-by-side image based on PNG
(Portable Network Graphics).
JPS:-The JPEG Stereo (.jps) format consists of a side-by-side image format based on JPEG.
MPO: - Also known as a Multi-Picture Object, the MPO file format was first used in the
FinePix REAL 3D W1 camera, made by FujiFilm. The format is proposed as an open standard by
CIPA (Camera & Imaging Products Association) as CIPA DC-007-2009.
Audio File Format: - An audio file format is a file format for storing audio data on a computer
system. It can be a raw bitstream, but it is usually a container format or an audio data format with
defined storage layer. The general approach towards storing digital audio is to sample the audio
voltage which, on playback, would correspond to a certain position of the membrane in a speaker of
the individual channels with a certain resolution — the number of bits per sample — in regular
intervals (forming the sample rate). This data can then be stored uncompressed, or compressed to
reduce the file size.
Types of Formats:-It is important to distinguish between a file format and a codec. A codec
performs the encoding and decoding of the raw audio data while the data itself is stored in a file with
a specific audio file format. Most of the publicly documented audio file formats can be created with
one of two or more encoders or codecs. Although most audio file formats support only one type of
audio data (created with an audio coder), a multimedia container format (as MKV or AVI) may
support multiple types of audio and video data.
There are three major groups of audio file formats:
Uncompressed audio formats, such as WAV, AIFF, AU or raw header-less PCM;
Formats with lossless compression, such as FLAC, Monkey's Audio (filename extension
APE), WavPack (filename extension WV), Shorten, Tom's lossless Audio Kompressor (TAK), TTA,
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ATRAC Advanced Lossless, Apple Lossless, MPEG-4 SLS, MPEG-4 ALS, MPEG-4 DST,
Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMA Lossless).
Formats with lossy compression, such as MP3, Vorbis, Musepack, AAC, ATRAC and lossy
Windows Media Audio (WMA).
Uncompressed Audio Formats: - There is one major uncompressed audio format, PCM, which is
usually stored as a .wav on Windows or as .aiff on Mac OS. WAV and AIFF are flexible file formats
designed to store more or less any combination of sampling rates or bitrates. This makes them
suitable file formats for storing and achieving an original recording. The AIFF format is based on the
IFF format. The WAV format is based on the RIFF file format, which is similar to the IFF format.
BWF (Broadcast Wave Format) is a standard audio format created by the European Broadcasting
Union as a successor to WAV. BWF allows metadata to be stored in the file. See European
Broadcasting Union: Specification of the Broadcast Wave Format (EBU Technical document 3285,
July 1997). This is the primary recording format used in many professional audio workstations in the
television and film industry. BWF files include a standardized Timestamp reference which allows
for easy synchronization with a separate picture element. Stand-alone, file based, multi-track
recorders from Sound Devices, Zaxcom, HHB USA, Fostex, and Aaton all use BWF as their
preferred format.
Lossless Compressed Audio Formats:-A lossless compressed format requires more processing
time than an uncompressed format but is more efficient in space usage. Uncompressed audio formats
encode both sound and silence with the same number of bits per unit of time. Encoding an
uncompressed minute of absolute silence produces a file of the same size as encoding an
uncompressed minute of symphonic orchestra music. In a lossless compressed format, however, the
music would occupy a marginally smaller file and the silence take up almost no space at all. Lossless
compression formats (such as the most widespread FLAC, WavPack, Monkey's Audio,
ALAC/Apple Lossless) provide a compression ratio of about 2:1. Development in lossless
compression formats aims to reduce processing time while maintaining a good compression ratio.
Free and Open File Formats
wav – standard audio file container format used mainly in Windows PCs. Commonly used
for storing uncompressed (PCM), CD-quality sound files, which means that they can be large in size
— around 10 MB per minute. Wave files can also contain data encoded with a variety of codecs to
reduce the file size (for example the GSM or mp3 codecs). Wav files use a RIFF structure.
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ogg – a free, open source container format supporting a variety of codecs, the most popular
of which is the audio codec Vorbis. Vorbis offers compression similar to MP3 but is less popular.
mpc - Musepack or MPC (formerly known as MPEGplus, MPEG+ or MP+) is an open
source lossy audio codec, specifically optimized for transparent compression of stereo audio at
bitrates of 160–180 kbit/s. Musepack and Ogg Vorbis are rated as the two best available codecs for
high-quality lossy audio compression in many double-blind listening tests. Nevertheless, Musepack
is even less popular than Ogg Vorbis and nowadays is used mainly by the audiophiles.
flac – a lossless compression codec.
aiff – the standard audio file format used by Apple. It is like a wav file for the Mac.
raw – a raw file can contain audio in any codec but is usually used with PCM audio data. It
is rarely used except for technical tests.
au – the standard audio file format used by Sun, Unix and Java. The audio in au files can be
PCM or compressed with the μ-law, a-law or G729 codecs.
midi - an industry-standard protocol that enables electronic musical instruments, computers,
and other equipment to communicate, control, and synchronize with each other
Open File Formats
gsm – designed for telephony use in Europe, gsm is a very practical format for telephone
quality voice. It makes a good compromise between file size and quality. Note that wav files can
also be encoded with the gsm codec.
dct – A variable codec format designed for dictation. It has dictation header information and
can be encrypted (often required by medical confidentiality laws).
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vox – the vox format most commonly uses the Dialogic ADPCM (Adaptive Differential
Pulse Code Modulation) codec. Similar to other ADPCM formats, it compresses to 4-bits. Vox
format files are similar to wave files except that the vox files contain no information about the file
itself so the codec sample rate and number of channels must first be specified in order to play a vox
file.
aac – the Advanced Audio Coding format is based on the MPEG2 and MPEG4 standards.
aac files are usually ADTS or ADIF containers.
mp4/m4a – MPEG-4 audio most often AAC but sometimes MP2/MP3, MPEG-4 SLS, CELP,
HVXC and other audio object types defined in MPEG-4 Audio
mmf - a Samsung audio format that is used in ringtones.
Proprietary formats
mp3 – MPEG Layer-3 format is the most popular format for downloading and storing music.
By eliminating portions of the audio file that are essentially inaudible, mp3 files are compressed to
roughly one-tenth the size of an equivalent PCM file while maintaining good audio quality.
wma – the popular Windows Media Audio format owned by Microsoft. Designed with
Digital Rights Management (DRM) abilities for copy protection.
atrac (.wav) – the older style Sony ATRAC format. It always has a .wav file extension. To
open these files simply install the ATRAC3 drivers.
ra – a Real Audio format designed for streaming audio over the Internet. The .ra format
allows files to be stored in a self-contained fashion on a computer, with all of the audio data
contained inside the file itself.
ram – a text file that contains a link to the Internet address where the Real Audio file is
stored. The .ram file contains no audio data itself.
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dss – Digital Speech Standard files are an Olympus proprietary format. It is a fairly old and
poor codec. Prefer gsm or mp3 where the recorder allows. It allows additional data to be held in the
file header.
msv – a Sony proprietary format for Memory Stick compressed voice files.
dvf – a Sony proprietary format for compressed voice files; commonly used by Sony
dictation recorders.
IVS – A proprietary version with Digital Rights Management developed by 3D Solar UK Ltd
for use in music downloaded from their Tronme Music Store and interactive music and video player.
m4p – A proprietary version of AAC in MP4 with Digital Rights Management developed by
Apple for use in music downloaded from their iTunes Music Store.
iklax – An iKlax Media proprietary format, the iKlax format is a multi-track digital
audio format allowing various actions on musical data, for instance on mixing and
volumes arrangements.
mxp4 – a Musinaut proprietary format allowing play of different versions (or skins) of the
same song. It allows various interactivity scenarios between the artist and the end user.
3gp - multimedia container format can contain proprietary formats as AMR, AMR-WB or
AMR-WB+, but also some open formats
amr - AMR-NB audio, used primarily for speech
Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG):-The Moving Picture Experts Group was formed by the
ISO to set standards for audio and video compression and transmission. Its first meeting was in May
1988 in Ottawa, Canada. As of late 2005, MPEG has grown to include approximately 350 members
per meeting from various industries, universities, and research institutions. The MPEG compression
methodology is considered asymmetric in that the encoder is more complex than the decoder. The
encoder needs to be algorithmic or adaptive whereas the decoder is 'dumb' and carries out fixed
actions. This is considered advantageous in applications such as broadcasting where the number of
expensive complex encoders is small but the number of simple inexpensive decoders is large. This
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approach of the ISO to standardization in MPEG is considered novel because it is not the encoder
which is standardized; instead, the way in which a decoder shall interpret the bitstream is defined. A
decoder which can successfully interpret the bitstream is said to be compliant. The advantage of
standardizing the decoder is that over time encoding algorithms can improve yet compliant decoders
will continue to function with them. The MPEG standards give very little information regarding
structure and operation of the encoder and implementers can supply encoders using proprietary
algorithms. This gives scope for competition between different encoder designs which means that
better designs can evolve and users will have greater choice because of different levels of cost and
complexity can exist in a range of coders yet a compliant decoder will operate with them all. MPEG
also standardizes the protocol and syntax under which it is possible to combine or multiplex audio
data with video data to produce a digital equivalent of a television program. Many such programs
can be multiplexed and MPEG defines the way in which such multiplexes can be created and
transported. The definitions include the metadata used by decoders to demultiplex correctly.
Standards:-The MPEG standards consist of different Parts. Each part covers a certain aspect of the
whole specification. The standards also specify Profiles and Levels. Profiles are intended to define a
set of tools that are available, and Levels define the range of appropriate values for the properties
associated with them. Some of the approved MPEG standards were revised by later amendments
and/or new editions. MPEG has standardized the following compression formats and ancillary
standards:
MPEG-1: Coding of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media at up to
about 1,5 Mbit/s. The first MPEG compression standard for audio and video. It was basically
designed to allow moving pictures and sound to be encoded into the bitrate of a Compact Disc. It is
used on Video CD, SVCD and can be used for low-quality video on DVD Video. It was used in
digital satellite/cable TV services before MPEG-2 became widespread. To meet the low bit
requirement, MPEG-1 downsamples the images, as well as uses picture rates of only 24-30 Hz,
resulting in a moderate quality. It includes the popular Layer 3 (MP3) audio compression format.
MPEG-2: Generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information. Transport,
video and audio standards for broadcast-quality television. MPEG-2 standard was considerably
broader in scope and of wider appeal – supporting interlacing and high definition. MPEG-2 is
considered important because it has been chosen as the compression scheme for over-the-air digital
television ATSC, DVB and ISDB, digital satellite TV services like Dish Network, digital cable
television signals, SVCD, DVD Video and Blu-ray.
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MPEG-3: MPEG-3 dealt with standardizing scalable and multi-resolution compression and
was intended for HDTV compression but was found to be redundant and was merged with MPEG-2,
as a result there is no MPEG-3 standard.MPEG-3 is not to be confused with MP3, which is MPEG-1
Audio Layer 3.
MPEG-4: Coding of audio-visual objects. MPEG-4 uses further coding tools with additional
complexity to achieve higher compression factors than MPEG-2. In addition to more efficient coding
of video, MPEG-4 moves closer to computer graphics applications. In more complex profiles, the
MPEG-4 decoder effectively becomes a rendering processor and the compressed bitstream describes
three-dimensional shapes and surface texture. MPEG-4 also provides Intellectual Property
Management and
Protection (IPMP) which provides the facility to use proprietary technologies to manage and protect
content like digital rights management. Several new higher-efficiency video standards (newer than
MPEG-2 Video) are included, notably:
MPEG-4 AVC: - MPEG-4 AVC may be used on HD DVD and Blu-ray discs, along with
VC-1 and MPEG-2.
In addition, the following standards, while not sequential advances to the video encoding standard as
with MPEG-1 through MPEG-4, are referred to by similar notation:
MPEG-7: Multimedia content description interface.
MPEG-21: Multimedia framework. MPEG describes this standard as a multimedia
framework and provides for intellectual property management and protection.
Moreover, relatively more recently than other standards above, MPEG has started following
international standards; each of the standards holds multiple MPEG technologies for a way of
application.(For example, MPEG-A includes a number of technologies on multimedia application
format.)
MPEG-A: Multimedia application format. (e.g. Purpose for multimedia application formats,
MPEG music player application format, MPEG photo player application format and others)
MPEG-B: MPEG systems technologies. (e.g. Binary MPEG format for XML, Fragment
Request Units, Bitstream Syntax Description Language (BSDL) and others)
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MPEG-C: MPEG video technologies.(e.g. Accuracy requirements for implementation of
integer-output 8x8 inverse discrete cosine transform and others)
MPEG-D: MPEG audio technologies. (e.g. MPEG Surround and two parts under
development: SAOC-Spatial Audio Object Coding and USAC-Unified Speech and Audio Coding)
MPEG-E: Multimedia Middleware. (e.g. Architecture, Multimedia application programming
interface (API), Component model and others)
MPEG-V: Media context and control. (a.k.a. Information exchange with Virtual Worlds)
(e.g. Avatar characteristics, Sensor information, Architecture and others)
MPEG-M (under development): MPEG eXtensible Middleware (MXM).(e.g. MXM
architecture and technologies, API, MPEG extensible middleware (MXM) protocols
MPEG-U (under development): Rich media user interfaces. (e.g. Widgets)
MP3:- MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio
encoding format using a form of lossy data compression. It is a common audio format for consumer
audio storage, as well as a de facto standard of digital audio compression for the transfer and
playback of music on digital audio players. MP3 is an audio-specific format that was designed by the
Moving Picture Experts Group as part of its MPEG-1 standard. The use in MP3 of a lossy
compression algorithm is designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the
audio recording and still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio for
most listeners. An MP3 file that is created using the setting of 128 kbit/s will result in a file that is
about 1/11th the size of the CD file created from the original audio source. An MP3 file can also be
constructed at higher or lower bit rates, with higher or lower resulting quality. The compression
works by reducing accuracy of certain parts of sound that are deemed beyond the auditory resolution
ability of most people. This method is commonly referred to as perceptual coding. It internally
provides a representation of sound within a short-term time/frequency analysis window, by using
psychoacoustic models to discard or reduce precision of components less audible to human hearing,
and recording the remaining information in an efficient manner. This technique is often presented as
relatively similar to the principles used by JPEG, an image compression format. The specific
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algorithms, however, are rather different: JPEG uses a built-in vision model that is very widely
tuned (as is necessary for images), while MP3 uses a complex, precise masking model that is much
more signal dependent.
Analog Recording vs. Digital Recording:-Analog recording versus digital recording compares the
two ways in which sound is recorded and stored. Actual sound waves consist of continuous
variations in air pressure. Representations of these signals can be recorded using either digital or
analog techniques. An analog recording is one where a property or characteristic of a physical
recording medium is made to vary in a manner analogous to the variations in air pressure of the
original sound. Generally, the air pressure variations are first converted (by a transducer such as a
microphone) into an electrical analog signal in which either the instantaneous voltage or current is
directly proportional to the instantaneous air pressure (or is a function of the pressure). The
variations of the electrical signal in turn are converted to variations in the recording medium by a
recording machine such as a tape recorder or record cutter—the variable property of the medium is
modulated by the signal. Examples of properties that are modified are the magnetization of magnetic
tape or the deviation (or displacement) of the groove of a gramophone disc from a smooth, flat spiral
track. The key aspect which makes the recording analog is that a physical quality of the medium
(e.g., the intensity of the magnetic field or the path of a record groove) is directly related, or
analogous, to the physical properties of the original sound (e.g., the amplitude, phase, etc.), or of the
virtual sound in the case of artificially produced analog signals (such as the output from a guitar amp,
a synthesizer, or tape recorder effects playback.) A digital recording is produced by converting the
physical properties of the original sound into a sequence of numbers, which can then be stored and
read back for reproduction. Usually (virtually always), the sound is transduced (as by a microphone)
to an analog signal in the same way as for analog recording, and then the analog signal is digitized,
or converted to a digital signal, through an Analog-to-Digital converter (an electronic device) either
integrated into the digital audio recorder or separate and connected between the recorder and the
analog source. An electrical digital signal has variations in voltage and/or current which represent
discrete numbers instead of being continuously mathematically related as a function to the air
pressure variations of sound. There are two chief distinctions between an analog and a digital signal.
The first is that the analog signal is continuous in time, meaning that it varies smoothly over time no
matter how short a time period you consider, whereas the digital signal, in contrast, is discrete in
time, meaning it has distinct parts that follow one after another with definite, unambiguous division
points (called signal transitions) between them. The second distinction is that analog signals are
continuous in amplitude, whereas digital signals are quantized. That analog signals are continuous
means that they have no artificially set limit on possible instantaneous levels—no signal processing
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is used to "round off" the number of signal levels. Fundamental laws of physics require the
quantization of all analog signals, though this fact is not commonly a limiting factor in system
performance. This is because differences in quantum energy level spacing are so small as to be
unimportant with typical analog signal intensities. Digitally-processed quantized signals have a
precise, limited number of possible instantaneous values, called quantization levels, and it is
impossible to have a value in between two adjacent quantization levels. Almost paradoxically, it is
precisely this limitation that gives digital signals their main advantages. Each numerical value
measured at a single instant in time for a single signal is called a sample; samples are measured at a
regular periodic rate to record a signal. The accuracy of the conversion process depends on the
sampling rate (how often the sound is sampled and a related numerical value is recorded) and the
sampling depth, also called the quantization depth (how much information each sample contains,
which can also be described as the maximum numerical size of each sampled value). However,
unlike analog recording in which the quality of playback depends critically on the "fidelity" or
accuracy of the medium and of the playback device, the physical medium storing digital samples
may somewhat distort the encoded information without degrading the quality of playback so long as
the original sequence of numbers can be recovered.
MPEG-1:-MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to
compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s (26:1 and 6:1
compression ratios respectively) without excessive quality loss, making Video CDs, digital
cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting (DAB) possible. Today, MPEG-1 has become the
most widely compatible lossy audio/video format in the world, and is used in a large number of
products and technologies. Perhaps the best-known part of the MPEG-1 standard is the MP3 audio
format it introduced. The MPEG-1 standard is published as ISO/IEC 11172 - Information
technology—Coding of moving pictures and associated audio for digital storage media at up to about
1,5 Mbit/s. The standard consists of the following five Parts:
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Systems (storage and synchronization of video, audio, and other data together)
Video (compressed video content)
Audio (compressed audio content)
Conformance testing (testing the correctness of implementations of the standard)
Reference software (example software showing how to encode and decode according to the
standard)
Part 1: Systems
MPEG-1 Systems specifies the logical layout and methods used to store the encoded audio, video,
and other data into a standard bitstream, and to maintain synchronization between the different
contents. This file format is specifically designed for storage on media, and transmission over data
channels, that are considered relatively reliable. Only limited error protection is defined by the
standard, and small errors in the bitstream may cause noticeable defects. This structure was later
named an MPEG program stream: "The MPEG-1 Systems design is essentially identical to the
MPEG-2 Program Stream structure." This terminology is more popular, precise (differentiates it
from an MPEG transport stream) and will be used here.
Part 2: Video
MPEG-1 Video exploits perceptual compression methods to significantly reduce the data rate
required by a video stream. It reduces or completely discards information in certain frequencies and
areas of the picture that the human eye has limited ability to fully perceive. It also utilizes effective
methods to exploit temporal (over time) and spatial (across a picture) redundancy common in video,
to achieve better data compression than would be possible otherwise. (See: Video compression)
Part 3: Audio
MPEG-1 Audio utilizes psychoacoustics to significantly reduce the data rate required by an audio
stream. It reduces or completely discards certain parts of the audio that the human ear can't hear,
either because they are in frequencies where the ear has limited sensitivity, or are masked by other
(typically louder) sounds.
Channel Encoding:
Mono
Joint Stereo - intensity encoded
Joint Stereo - M/S encoded for Layer 3 only
Stereo
Dual (two uncorrelated mono channels)
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Sampling rates: 32000, 44100, and 48000 Hz
Bitrates: 32, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256, 320 and 384 kbit/s
MPEG-1 Audio is divided into 3 layers. Each higher layer is more computationally complex, and
generally more efficient at lower bitrates than the previous.[9] The layers are also backwards
compatible, so a Layer II decoder can also play Layer I audio, but NOT Layer III audio.
Part 4: Conformance Testing
Conformance: Procedures for testing conformance. Provides two sets of guidelines and reference
bitstreams for testing the conformance of MPEG-1 audio and video decoders, as well as the
bitstreams produced by an encoder.
Part 5: Reference Software
Simulation: Reference software. C reference code for encoding and decoding of audio and video, as
well as multiplexing and demultiplexing.
Applications
Most popular computer software for video playback includes MPEG-1 decoding, in addition
to any other supported formats.
The popularity of MP3 audio has established a massive installed base of hardware that can
playback MPEG-1 Audio (all 3 layers).
"Virtually all digital audio devices" can playback MPEG-1 Audio.[30] Many millions have
been sold to-date.
Before MPEG-2 became widespread, many digital satellite/cable TV services used MPEG-1
exclusively.
The widespread popularity of MPEG-2 with broadcasters means MPEG-1 is playable
by most digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, and digital disc and tape players, due
to backwards compatibility.
MPEG-1 is the exclusive video and audio format used on Video CD (VCD), the first
consumer digital video format, and still a very popular format around the world.
The Super Video CD standard, based on VCD, uses MPEG-1 Audio exclusively, as well as
MPEG-2 video.
The DVD-Video format uses MPEG-2 video primarily, but MPEG-1 support is explicitly
defined in the standard.
The DVD Video standard originally required MPEG-1 Layer II audio for PAL countries, but
was changed to allow AC-3/Dolby Digital-only discs. MPEG-1 Layer II audio is still allowed on
DVDs, although newer extensions to the format, like MPEG Multichannel, are rarely supported.
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Most DVD players also support Video CD and MP3 CD playback, which use MPEG-1.
The international Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard primarily uses MPEG-1 Layer
II audio and MPEG-2 video.
The international Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) standard uses MPEG-1 Layer II audio
exclusively, due to MP2's especially high quality, modest decoder performance requirements, and
tolerance of errors.
MPEG-2:-MPEG-2 is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio
information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data
compression methods which permit storage and transmission of movies using currently available
storage media and transmission bandwidth.
Main Characteristics:-MPEG-2 is widely used as the format of digital television signals that are
broadcast by terrestrial, cable, and direct broadcast satellite TV systems. It also specifies the format
of movies and other programs that are distributed on DVD and similar discs. As such, TV stations,
TV receivers, DVD players, and other equipment are often designed to this standard. MPEG-2 was
the second of several standards developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) and is an
international standard. Parts 1 and 2 of MPEG-2 were developed in a joint collaborative team with
ITU-T, and they have a respective catalog number in the ITU-T Recommendation Series. While
MPEG-2 is the core of most digital television and DVD formats, it does not completely specify them.
Regional institutions can adapt it to their needs by restricting and augmenting aspects of the standard.
See Profiles and Levels.
Systems:-MPEG-2 includes a Systems section, part 1, that defines two distinct, but related,
container formats. One is the MPEG transport stream, designed to carry digital video and audio over
possibly lossy media, where the beginning and the end of the stream may not be identified, such as
broadcasting or magnetic tape, examples of which include ATSC, DVB, SBTVD and HDV. MPEG2 Systems also defines the MPEG program stream, a container format designed for file-based media
such as hard disk drives, optical discs and flash memory.
Video:-The Video section, part 2 of MPEG-2, is similar to the previous MPEG-1 standard, but also
provides support for interlaced video, the format used by analog broadcast TV systems. MPEG-2
video is not optimized for low bit-rates, especially less than 1 Mbit/s at standard definition
resolutions. All standards-compliant MPEG-2 Video decoders are fully capable of playing back
MPEG-1 Video streams conforming to the Constrained Parameters Bitstream syntax. MPEG2/Video is formally known as ISO/IEC 13818-2 and as ITU-T Rec. H.262. With some enhancements,
MPEG-2 Video and Systems are also used in some HDTV transmission systems.
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Audio:-The MPEG-2 Audio section, defined in part 3 of the standard, enhances MPEG-1's audio by
allowing the coding of audio programs with more than two channels, up to 5.1 multichannels. This
method is backwards-compatible (also known as MPEG-2 BC, allowing MPEG-1 audio decoders to
decode the two main stereo components of the presentation.MPEG-2 part 3 also defined additional
bit rates and sample rates for MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, II and III Part 7 of the MPEG-2 standard
specifies a rather different, non-backwards-compatible audio format (also known as MPEG-2 NBC).
Part 7 is referred to as MPEG-2 AAC. AAC is more efficient than the previous MPEG audio
standards, and is in some ways less complicated than its predecessor, MPEG-1 Audio, Layer 3, in
that it does not have the hybrid filter bank. It supports from 1 to 48 channels at sampling rates of 8 to
96 kHz, with multichannel, multilingual, and multiprogram capabilities. Advanced Audio is also
defined in Part 3 of the MPEG-4 standard.
MPEG-2 standards were published as parts of ISO/IEC 13818. Each part covers a certain aspect of
the whole specification.
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Part 1 Systems – describes synchronization and multiplexing of video and audio. See MPEG
transport stream (Also known as ITU-T Rec. H.222.0.[2]) and MPEG program stream.
Part 2 Video – compression codec for interlaced and non-interlaced video signals (Also
known as ITU-T Rec. H.262).
Part 3 Audio – compression codec for perceptual coding of audio signals. A multichannelenabled extension and extension of bit rates and sample rates for MPEG-1 Audio Layer I, II and III
of MPEG-1 audio.
Part 4 Describes procedures for testing compliance.
Part 5 Describes systems for Software simulation.
Part 6 Describes extensions for DSM-CC (Digital Storage Media Command and Control).
Part 7 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC).
Part 8 Studio video
Part 9 Extension for real time interfaces.
Part 10 Conformance extensions for DSM-CC.
Part 11 Intellectual property management (IPMP)
Digital Audio Tape (DAT):-Digital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium
developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette,
using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54
mm × 10.5 mm. As the name suggests, the recording is digital rather than analog. DAT has the
ability to record at higher, equal or lower sampling rates than a CD (48, 44.1 or 32 kHz sampling
rate respectively) at 16 bits quantization. If a digital source is copied then the DAT will produce an
exact clone, unlike other digital media such as Digital Compact Cassette or non-Hi-MD MiniDisc,
both of which use lossy data compression. Like most formats of videocassette, a DAT cassette may
only be recorded on one side, unlike an analog compact audio cassette.
Digital Audio:-Digital audio uses digital signals for sound reproduction. This includes analog-todigital conversion, digital-to-analog conversion, storage, and transmission. In effect, the system
commonly referred to as digital is in fact a discrete-time, discrete-level analog of a previous
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electrical analog. While modern systems can be quite subtle in their methods, the primary usefulness
of a digital system is that, due to its discrete (in both time and amplitude) nature, signals can be
corrected, once they are digital, without loss, and the digital signal can be reconstituted. The
discreteness in both time and amplitude is key to this reconstitution, which is unavailable for a signal
in which at least one of time or amplitude is continuous. While the hybrid systems (part discrete, part
continuous) exist, they are no longer used for new modern systems. Digital audio has emerged
because of its usefulness in the recording, manipulation, mass-production, and distribution of sound.
Modern distribution of music across the internet through on-line stores depends on digital recording
and digital compression algorithms. Distribution of audio as data files rather than as physical objects
has significantly reduced costs of distribution. Digital audio is the method of representing audio in
digital form. An analog signal is converted to a digital signal at a given sampling rate and bit
resolution; it may contain multiple channels (2 channels for stereo or more for surround sound).
Generally speaking: the higher the sampling rate and bit resolution the more fidelity, as well as
increase the amount of digital data.
Sound Quality: - While the goal of both analogue and digital systems is to reproduce audio
perfectly, there are several obstacles to achieving this, including:
Analogue noise floor in the capturing circuitry has inherent capacitance and inductance that
limits the bandwidth of the system, and resistance that limits the amplitude.
Digital quantization noise in the capturing circuitry, and sampling rate limits the bandwidth
and its bit resolution limits the dynamic range (resolution of amplitude creation).
In order to achieve better fidelity, higher quality components are required, which increases overall
cost.
Digital Video: - Digital video is a type of video recording system that works by using a digital rather
than an analog video signal. The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used
interchangeably in this article. Digital video cameras come in two different image capture formats:
interlaced and progressive scan. Interlaced cameras record the image in alternating sets of lines: the
odd-numbered lines are scanned, and then the even-numbered lines are scanned, then the oddnumbered lines are scanned again, and so on. One set of odd or even lines is referred to as a "field",
and a consecutive pairing of two fields of opposite parity is called a frame. A progressive scanning
digital video camera records each frame as distinct, with both fields being identical. Thus, interlaced
video captures twice as many fields per second as progressive video does when both operate at the
same number of frames per second. Progressive scan camcorders are generally more desirable
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because of the similarities they share with film. They both record frames progressively, which results
in a crisper image. They can both shoot at 24 frames per second, which results in motion strobing
(blurring of the subject when fast movement occurs). Thus, progressive scanning video cameras tend
to be more expensive than their interlaced counterparts. Digital video can be copied with no
degradation in quality. No matter how many generations a digital source is copied, it will be as clear
as the original first generation of digital footage. Digital video can be processed and edited on an
NLE, or non-linear editing station, a device built exclusively to edit video and audio. These
frequently can import from analog as well as digital sources, but are not intended to do anything
other than edit videos. Digital video can also be edited on a personal computer which has the proper
hardware and software. Using an NLE station, digital video can be manipulated to follow an order,
or sequence, of video clips. Digital video has a significantly lower cost than 35 mm film, as the
digital tapes can be erased and re-recorded multiple times. Although the quality of images can
degrade minimally each time a section of digital video tape is viewed or re-recorded, as is the case
with MiniDv tapes, the tape stock itself is very inexpensive — about $3 for a 60 minute MiniDV
tape, in bulk, as of December, 2005. Digital video also allows footage to be viewed on location
without the expensive chemical processing required by film. By comparison, 35 mm film stock costs
about $1000 per minute, including processing. Digital video is used outside of movie making.
Digital television (including higher quality HDTV) started to spread in most developed countries in
early 2000s. Digital video is also used in modern mobile phones and video conferencing systems.
Digital video is also used for Internet distribution of media, including streaming video and peer-topeer movie distribution.
Video Editing Software: - Video editing software, also known as Non Linear Editing (NLE), is
application software which handles the editing of video sequences on a computer. NLE systems
replace traditional flatbed celluloid film editing tools and analogue video tape-to-tape machines.
NLE software is typically based on a Timeline interface paradigm where sections of moving image
video recordings, known as Clips, are laid out in sequence and played back. The NLE offers a range
of tools for trimming, splicing, cutting and arranging Clips across the timeline. As digital NLE
systems have advanced their toolset and role has expanded and most consumer and professional
NLE systems alike now include a host of features for color manipulation, titling and visual effects,
as well as tools for editing and mixing audio in conjunction with the image. Once a project is
complete the NLE system can then be used to export to movie in a variety of formats in context
which may range from broadcast TAPE formats to compressed formats for the internet, DVD and
mobile devices.
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Multimedia Tools: - The basic toolset of building multimedia projects, contains, one or more
authoring systems and various application for text, images, sounds and motion video editing. A few
applications are useful for capturing images from screen, changing file formats and moving files
among computers when you are part of team. These are basically tools for the housekeeping tasks
that make your creativity and productivity better. The software in your multimedia toolkit and your
skill at using it will determine the king of multimedia work you can do how fine and fancy you can
render it.
Types of Basic Tools
Various types of basic tools for creating and editing multimedia elements are:
Painting and drawing tools
Image editing tools
OCR software
3-D modeling and animation tools
Sound editing programs
Animation movies and digital movies
Painting and Drawing Tools: - Painting software is dedicated to producing bitmapped images.
Drawing software like Corel draw and canvas is dedicated to producing vector based line art easily
printed to paper using postscript or another page mark up system such as Quick draw.
Main features/criteria for selection are:
Intuitive graphical interface with pull down menus, status bars, palette control and dialog
boxes for quick logical selection.
Scalable dimensions for resizing, stretching and distorting.
Paint tools to create geometric shapes.
Ability to pour a color, pattern or gradient.
Ability to paint with pattern and clip arts
Customizable pen and brush shape and sizes.
Eye dropper tools for color sampling.
Auto trace for converting bitmapped images into vector based outlines.
Multiple undo capabilities
Support for scalable text fonts.
Painting feathers with anti-aliasing, air brushing, color washing, blending, masking.
Support for third party special effects.
Object and layering capability.
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Zooming for magnifying pixel editing.
All common color depths
Good file importing and exporting capability.
Image Editing Tools: - These are specialize and powerful tools for enhancing and re-touching
existing bitmapped images. These applications also provide many of the feathers and tools the
painting and drawing programs and can be used for creating images from scratch as well as images
digitized from scanners, video frames grabbers, digital camera, clip art files or original art work files
created with a drawing packages.
Features typical of image editing application are:
Conversion of major images data type and industry standard file formats.
Direct input for scanners etc,
Employment of virtual memory scheme
Multiple window scheme
Image and balance control for brightness, contrast etc.
Maskings undo and restore features.
Multiple video, anti-aliasing, sharpening and smoothing controls.
Color mapping control.
Geometric transformations.
All color palettes.
Support for third party special effects plugins.
Ability to design in layers that can be combined, hidden and recorded.
Optical Character Recognition Software (OCR):- OCR software turns bitmapped characters into
electronically recognizable ASCII text. A scanner is typically used to create the bitmap. Then, the
software breaks the bitmap into chunks according to whether it contains text or graphics by
examining of the texture and density of areas of the bitmap and by dedicating edges. The text areas
of the bitmap are then converted to ASCII characters using probability and expert system algorithm.
3-D Modeling and Animation Tools: - With 3-D modeling software, objects rendered in
prospective appear more realistic. One can create stunning scenes and wander through them,
choosing just the right lighting and prospective for your final rendered image. Powerful 3-D
modeling packages are also bundled with assortments of pre-rendered 3-D clit art objects such as
people, furniture, buildings, cars, aero plane, trees, and plants.
Features for good 3-D modeling software are:
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Multiple window that allow you to view you model in each dimension.
Ability to drag and drop primitive shapes into a scene.
Crete and sculpt organic objects from scratch.
Latch and extrude features.
Color and texture mapping.
Ability to add realistic effects such as transparency, shadowing and fog.
Ability to add spot, local and global lights, to plane them anywhere and manipulate them for
special effects.
Unlimited cameras with local with focal length control.
Sound Editing Programs: - Sound editing tools for both digitised and MIDI sound lets you see
music as well as here it. By drawing a representation of a sound in fine increments, whether a score
or a waveform, you can cut, copy, pate and otherwise edit segments of it with great precision something impossible to do in real time with playing. System sounds are beeps used to indicate and
error, wringing or special user activity. Using sound editing software, you can make your own sound
effects and install them as system beeps.
Animation, Video and Digital Movies: - Animation and digital video movies are sequences of
bitmapped graphic scenes or frames, rapidly played back. But animations can also be made within
the authoring system by rapidly changing the location of the object to generate an appearance of
motion. Most authoring tools adapt either a frame or object oriented approach to animation but rarely
both.
Animation: - Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or
model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to
the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways.
The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although
several other forms of presenting animation also exist.
Traditional Animation or Cel Animation:-Traditional animation (also called cel animation or
hand-drawn animation) was the process used for most animated films of the 20th century. The
individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn
on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it.
The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels, which
are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite the line drawings. The
completed character cels are photographed one-by-one onto motion picture film against a painted
background by a rostrum camera. The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the
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beginning of the 21st century. Today, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned
into or drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to color the
drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated piece is output to one of
several delivery media, including traditional 35 mm film and newer media such as digital video. The
"look" of traditional cel animation is still preserved, and the character animators' work has remained
essentially the same over the past 70 years. Some animation producers have used the term
"tradigital" to describe cel animation which makes extensive use of computer technology.
Computer Animation: - Computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques, the unifying
factor being that the animation is created digitally on a computer.
2D Animation:-2D animation figures are created and/or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap
graphics or created and edited using 2D vector graphics. This includes automated computerized
versions of traditional animation techniques such as of tweening, morphing, onion skinning and
interpolated rotoscoping. Some common 2D animations are:
Analog computer animation
Flash animation
PowerPoint animation
3D Animation:- 3D animation digital models manipulated by an animator. In order to manipulate a
mesh, it is given a digital skeletal structure that can be used to control the mesh. This process is
called rigging. Various other techniques can be applied, such as mathematical functions (ex. gravity,
particle simulations), simulated fur or hair, effects such as fire and water and the use of Motion
capture to name but a few, these techniques fall under the category of 3d dynamics. Many 3D
animations are very believable and are commonly used as Visual effects for recent movies.
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Terms
Cel-shaded animation
Crowd simulation
Deep Canvas
Morph target animation
Motion capture
Non-photorealistic rendering
Skeletal animation
2D animation techniques tend to focus on image manipulation while 3D techniques usually build
virtual worlds in which characters and objects move and interact. 3D animation can create images
that seem real to the viewer.
Animation Technique
Full Animation refers to the process of producing high-quality traditionally animated films,
which regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement. Fully animated films can be done in
a variety of styles, from realistically designed works such as those produced by the Walt Disney
studio (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King) to the more "cartoon" styles of those produced by
the Warner Bros. animation studio (Iron Giant, Quest for Camelot, Cats Don't Dance).
Limited Animation involves the use of less detailed and/or more stylized drawings and
methods of movement. Pioneered by the artists at the American studio United Productions of
America, limited animation can be used as a method of stylized artistic expression, as in Gerald
McBoing Boing, Yellow Submarine, and much of the anime produced in Japan. Its primary use,
however, has been in producing cost-effective animated content for media such as television (the
work of Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and other TV animation studios) and later the Internet (web
cartoons).
Rotoscoping is a technique, patented by Max Fleischer in 1917, where animators trace liveaction movement, frame by frame. The source film can be directly copied from actors' outlines into
animated drawings, as in The Lord of the Rings, used as a basis and inspiration for character
animation, as in most Disney films, or used in a stylized and expressive manner, as in Waking Life
and A Scanner Darkly.
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Live-action/animation is a technique, when combining hand-drawn characters into live
action shots. One of the earlier uses of it was Koko the Clown when Koko was drawn over live
action footage.
Anime is a technique primarily used in Japan but originated in USA. It usually consists of
detailed characters but more of a stiff animation. mouth moments primarily use 2-3 frames, leg
moments use about 6-10, etc. A lot of the time the eyes are very detailed, so sometimes instead of
the animator drawing them over again in every frame, two eyes will be drawn in 5-6 angles and
pasted on each frame (modern times uses computer for that).
Stop Motion:- Stop-motion animation is used to describe animation created by physically
manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a time to create the
illusion of movement. There are many different types of stop-motion animation, usually named after
the type of media used to create the animation. Computer software is widely available to create this
type of animation.
Puppet Animation typically involves stop-motion puppet figures interacting with each other
in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in model animation. The
puppets generally have an armature inside of them to keep them still and steady as well as
constraining them to move at particular joints. Examples include The Tale of the Fox, Nightmare
before Christmas, Corpse Bride, Coraline.
Puppetoon, created using techniques developed by George Pál, are puppet-animated films
which typically use a different version of a puppet for different frames, rather than simply
manipulating one existing puppet.
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Clay Animation, or Plasticine animation often abbreviated as Claymation, uses figures made
of clay or a similar malleable material to create stop-motion animation. The figures may have an
armature or wire frame inside of them, similar to the related puppet animation (below), that can be
manipulated in order to pose the figures. Alternatively, the figures may be made entirely of clay,
such as in the films of Bruce Bickford, where clay creatures morph into a variety of different shapes.
Cutout Animation is a type of stop-motion animation produced by moving 2-dimensional
pieces of material such as paper or cloth.
• Model animation refers to stop-motion animation created to interact with and exist as a part of a
live-action world. Intercutting, matte effects, and split screens are often employed to blend stopmotion characters or objects with live actors and settings. Examples include the work of Ray
Harryhausen, as seen in films such Jason and the Argonauts, and the work of Willis O'Brien on
films such as King Kong.
Go motion is a variant of model animation which uses various techniques to create motion
blur between frames of film, which is not present in traditional stop-motion. The technique was
invented by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett to create special effects scenes for the film
The Empire Strikes Back .
• Object Animation refers to the use of regular inanimate objects in stop-motion animation,
as opposed to specially created items. One example of object animation is the brick film, which
incorporates the use of plastic toy construction blocks such as Lego.
Graphic Animation uses non-drawn flat visual graphic material (photographs, newspaper
clippings, magazines, etc.) which are sometimes manipulated frame-by-frame to create movement.
At other times, the graphics remain stationary, while the stop-motion camera is moved to create onscreen action.
Pixilation involves the use of live humans as stop motion characters. This allows for a
number of surreal effects, including disappearances and reappearances, allowing people to appear to
slide across the ground, and other such effects. Examples of pixilation include The Secret Adventures
of Tom Thumb and Angry Kid shorts.
Other Animation Techniques
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Drawn on film animation: a technique where footage is produced by creating the images
directly on film stock, for example by Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage.
Paint-on-glass animation: a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow
drying oil paints on sheets of glass.
Pinscreen animation: makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved
in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast
shadows. The technique has been used to create animated films with a range of textural effects
difficult to achieve with traditional cel animation.
Sand animation: sand is moved around on a backlighted or frontlighted piece of glass to
create each frame for an animated film. This creates an interesting effect when animated because of
the light contrast.
Flip book: A flip book (sometimes, especially in British English, flick book) is a book with a
series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned
rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are
often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of
photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an
added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and
websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books.
Computer-Aided Design: - Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computer technology for
the design of objects, real or virtual. CAD often involves more than just shapes. As in the manual
drafting of technical and engineering drawings, the output of CAD often must convey also symbolic
information such as materials, processes, dimensions, and tolerances, according to applicationspecific conventions. CAD may be used to design curves and figures in two-dimensional ("2D")
space; or curves, surfaces, or solids in three-dimensional ("3D") objects. CAD is an important
industrial art extensively used in many applications, including automotive, shipbuilding, and
aerospace industries, industrial and architectural design, prosthetics, and many more. CAD is also
widely used to produce computer animation for special effects in movies, advertising and technical
manuals. The modern ubiquity and power of computers means that even perfume bottles and
shampoo dispensers are designed using techniques unheard of by shipbuilders of the 1960s. Because
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of its enormous economic importance, CAD has been a major driving force for research in
computational geometry, computer graphics (both hardware and software), and discrete differential
geometry. The design of geometric models for object shapes, in particular, is often called computeraided geometric design (CAGD).Current Computer-Aided Design software packages range from 2D
vector-based drafting systems to 3D solid and surface modellers. Modern CAD packages can also
frequently allow rotations in three dimensions, allowing viewing of a designed object from any
desired angle, even from the inside looking out. Some CAD software is capable of dynamic
mathematic modeling, in which case it may be marketed as CADD — computer-aided design and
drafting. CAD is used in the design of tools and machinery and in the drafting and design of all types
of buildings, from small residential types (houses) to the largest commercial and industrial structures
(hospitals and factories). CAD is mainly used for detailed engineering of 3D models and/or 2D
drawings of physical components, but it is also used throughout the engineering process from
conceptual design and layout of products, through strength and dynamic analysis of assemblies to
definition of manufacturing methods of components. It can also be used to design objects. CAD has
become an especially important technology within the scope of computer-aided technologies, with
benefits such as lower product development costs and a greatly shortened design cycle. CAD enables
designers to layout and develops work on screen, print it out and save it for future editing, saving
time on their drawings. The people that work in this field are called: Designers, CAD Monkeys,
Automotive Design Engineers and Digital Innovation Engineers. Computer-aided design is also a
common work activity for the traditional engineering professions.
Multimedia Software
3D Computer Graphics Software:-3D computer graphics software refers to programs used to
create 3D computer-generated imagery. This article only covers some of the software used. 3D
modelers are used in a wide variety of industries. The medical industry uses them to create detailed
models of organs. The movie industry uses them to create and manipulate characters and objects for
animated and real-life motion pictures. The video game industry uses them to create assets for video
games. The science sector uses them to create highly detailed models of chemical compounds. The
architecture industry uses them to create models of proposed buildings and landscapes. The
engineering community uses them to design new devices, vehicles and structures as well as a host of
other uses. There are typically many stages in the "pipeline" that studios and manufacturers use to
create 3D objects for film, games, and production of hard goods and structures. Many 3D modelers
are general-purpose and can be used to produce models of various real-world entities, from plants to
automobiles to people. Some are specially designed to model certain objects, such as chemical
compounds or internal organs. 3D modelers allow users to create and alter models via their 3D mesh.
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Users can add, subtract, stretch and otherwise change the mesh to their desire. Models can be viewed
from a variety of angles, usually simultaneously. Models can be rotated and the view can be zoomed
in and out. 3D modelers can export their models to files, which can then be imported into other
applications as long as the metadata is compatible. Many modelers allow importers and exporters to
be plugged-in, so they can read and write data in the native formats of other applications. Most 3D
modelers contain a number of related features, such as ray tracers and other rendering alternatives
and texture mapping facilities. Some also contain features that support or allow animation of models.
Some may be able to generate full-motion video of a series of rendered scenes (i.e. animation).
Major Packages: - There are following 3D Graphics packages are:
3ds Max: - It is originally called 3D Studio MAX. 3ds Max is used in many industries that
utilize 3D graphics. It is used in the video game industry for developing models and creating cinema
cut-scenes. It
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is used in architectural visualizations because it is highly compatible with AutoCAD--also developed
by Autodesk. Additionally 3ds Max is used in film production. 3ds Max is available for Windows.
• AC3D:- It is another 3D modeling application that began in the 90's on the Amiga platform. While
it is used in a number of industries, MathWorks actively recommends it in many of their aerospace
related articles due to price and compatibility. Additionally it is the first commercial 3D modeler to
integrate full support for exporting models to the metaverse platform Second Life. AC3D is
available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
• Blender:- It is a free, open-source, 3D studio for animation, modeling, rendering, and texturing
offering a feature set comparable to commercial 3D animation suites such as Maya, 3ds Max, or
Cinema 4D. It includes features such as multi-resolution sculpting; retopology painting. Additionally
it supports 3D view texture painting; stack based modifier system; flexible particle system with
particle based hair; cloth/soft body dynamics, rigid body dynamics and fluid simulation; node based
texturing and node based compositing; an integrated non linear video editor; and integrated game
engine. Blender is developed under the GPL and is available on all major platforms including
Windows, OS X, Linux, BSD, Sun and Irix. It is currently the only 3D animation suite that is
supported both on super computers as well as handheld computers such as the Pocket PC.
• Carrara: - It is a mature, fully-featured 3D tool set package for modeling, texturing, scene
rendering and animation.
• Cinema 4D It is a slightly lighter package than the others in its basic configuration. The software is
claimed to be artist-friendly, and is designed with the less-technical user in mind. It has a lower
initial entry cost due to a modular a-la-carte design for purchasing additional functions as users need
them. For example, a module called MoGraph allows the user to create motion graphics titles more
easily. Originally developed for the Commodore Amiga, it is also available for Mac OS X, Windows
and Linux.
• Electric Image Animation System :- It is a 3D animation and rendering package available on both
Mac OS X and Windows. Mostly known for its rendering quality and rendering speed it does not
include a built-in modeler. EIAS features the ability to handle very large polygon counts.
• Form•Z: - It is a general purpose solid/surface 3D modeler. Its primary usage is modeling, and it
also features photo realistic rendering and object-centric animation support. form•Z claims users
involved in architecture, interior design, illustration, product design, and set design. Its default
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renderer uses the LightWorks rendering engine for raytracing and radiosity. form•Z also supports
Plugins and Scripts and has rendering support via Next Limit's Maxwell Renderer. It has
Import/Export capabilities and was first released in 1991. It is currently available for both Mac OS X
and Windows.
• Houdini: - It is used for visual effects and character animation as well as used in Disney's The
Wild. Houdini uses a nonstandard interface that it refers to as a "NODE system". Commercial
licenses of Houdini include unlimited copies of Side Effects Software's hybrid micropolygonraytracer renderer, Mantra, but Houdini also has built-in support for commercial renderers like
Pixar's RenderMan and mental ray.
• Inventor: - The Autodesk Inventor product line provides a comprehensive and flexible set of
software for 3D mechanical design, product simulation, tooling creation, and design communication
that help you cost-effectively take advantage of a Digital Prototyping workflow to design and build
better products in less time.
• Light Wave 3D:- Lightwave is also used extensively in film production and television industry. It
is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
• Massive: - It is a 3D animation system for generating crowd-related visual effects, targeted for use
in film and television. Originally developed for controlling the large-scale CGI battles in the Lord of
the Rings, Massive Software has become an industry standard for digital crowd control in high end
animation. Recently, the software has been utilized for blockbuster feature films including Happy
Feet, King Kong, and I, Robot. It is available for various Unix and Linux platforms as well as
Windows.
• Maya: - It is currently used in the film and television industry. Maya has a high learning curve but
has developed over the years into an application platform in and of itself through extendability via its
MEL programming language. Maya comes in two versions: Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited.
• Modo: - It is a subdivision modeling, texturing and rendering tool with support for camera motion
and morphs/blendshapes. It is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
• NX (software):- It is an integrated suite of software for computer-aided mechanical design
(mechanical CAM), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer-aided engineering (CAE)
formed by combining the former Unigraphics and SDRC Ideas software product lines. NX is
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currently available for the following operating systems: Windows XP and Vista, Apple Mac OS X,
and Novell SUSE Linux.
• Silo: - It is a subdivision-surface modeler available for Mac OS X and Windows. Silo is the
bundled in modeler for the Electric Image Animation System suite.
• SketchUp Pro: - It is a 3D modeling package that features a sketch-based modeling approach. It
has a pro version which supports 2-D and 3-D model export functions among other features. It also
has a free version that is integrated with Google Earth and limits export to Google's "3D Warehouse",
where users can share their content.
• Softimage: - It is used in the production of professional films, commercials, video games, and
other media. Softimage is a 3D modeling and animation package that integrates with mental ray
rendering. Softimage is also used in the video game industry.
• SolidThinking: - It is a 3D solid/surface modeling and rendering software which features a
Construction Tree method of development. This is explained as the history of the model construction
process allowes real-time updates when modifications are made to points, curves, parameters or
entire objects.
• Solid Edge: - It is a commercial application for design, drafting, analysis, and simulation of
products, systems, machines and tools. All versions include feature-based parametric modeling,
assembly modeling, drafting, sheetmetal, weldment, freeform surface design, and data management.
Application-programming interfaces enable scripting in Visual Basic and C programming.
• Solid Works: - It is an application used for the design, detailing and validation of products,
systems, machines and toolings. All versions include modeling, assemblies, drawing, sheetmetal,
weldment, and freeform surfacing functionality. It also has support for scripting in Visual Basic and
C. The licenses/packages are: SolidWorks Standard, SolidWorks Professional, SolidWorks Premium,
SolidWorks Simulation, SolidWorks Student Design Kit, SolidWorks Education Edition, and
SolidWorks Student Edition.
• Swift 3D:- It is a powerful, approachable, and relatively inexpensive 3D design, modeling, and
animation application targeted to entry-level 3D users and Adobe Flash designers. Swift 3D is the
de-facto Mac OS X & Windows application for vector and raster-based 3D animations for Adobe
Flash and Microsoft Silverlight XAML. Swift 3D is the only 3D software to directly integrate with
Flash through the Swift 3D File Importer and SmartLayer Technology, which separates the exported
50
3D animation into different layers (Colors, Outlines, Shadows, Highlights, Reflections and
Transparency), giving designers additional creative control. Initially a pioneer in the 3D-to-vector
Flash world, Swift 3D is now accepted as a highly-capable and versatile 3D authoring application,
while maintaining its reputation as the marquee tool for producing vector-based 3D content for Flash
and Microsoft Silverlight.
• TrueSpace: - It is another 3D program available for Windows, although the company Caligari first
found its start on the Amiga platform. trueSpace features modeling, animation, 3D-painting, and
rendering capabilities. In 2009, Microsoft purchased TrueSpace and now TrueSpace is available
completely free of charge.
• Vue: - It is a tool for creating, animating and rendering natural 3D environments. It was most
recently used to create the background jungle environments in the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the
Caribbean films.
• ZBrush: - It is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing and painting
tool available for Mac OS X and Windows.
 Adobe Flash:-Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform originally acquired by Macromedia and
currently developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Since its introduction in 1996, Flash has
become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly
used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page Flash components, to integrate video
into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications. Flash can manipulate vector
and raster graphics, and supports bidirectional streaming of audio and video. It contains a scripting
language called ActionScript. Several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or
display Flash content, including Adobe Flash Player, which is available free for most common web
browsers, some mobile phones and for other electronic devices. The Adobe Flash Professional
multimedia authoring program is used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform, such as
web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.
Files in the SWF format, traditionally called "ShockWave Flash" movies, "Flash movies" or "Flash
games", usually have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a
standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie (with the .exe
extension in Microsoft Windows or .hqx for Macintosh). Flash Video files have a .flv file extension
and are either used from within .swf files or played through a flv-aware player, such as VLC, or
QuickTime and Windows Media Player with external codecs added.
51
Adobe Photoshop:-Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics editing program
developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current market leader for commercial bitmap
and image manipulation software, and is the flagship product of Adobe Systems. It has been
described as "an industry standard for graphics professionals" and was one of the early "killer
applications" on the Macintosh, later also for the PC. Adobe's 2005 "Creative Suite" rebranding led
to Adobe Photoshop 8's renaming to Adobe Photoshop CS. Thus, Adobe Photoshop CS4 is the 11th
major release of Adobe Photoshop. The CS rebranding also resulted in Adobe offering numerous
software packages containing multiple Adobe programs for a reduced price. Adobe Photoshop is
included in most of Adobe's Creative Suite offerings. Photoshop's popularity, combined with its high
retail price, makes Photoshop's piracy rate relatively high. Adobe countered by including SafeCast
DRM starting with Adobe Photoshop CS. Photoshop has strong ties with other Adobe software for
media editing, animation, and authoring. The .PSD (Photoshop Document), Photoshop's native
format, stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include
layers with masks, color spaces, ICC profiles, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors,
clipping paths, and duotone settings. This is in contrast to many other file formats (e.g. .EPS or .GIF)
that restrict content to provide streamlined, predictable functionality. Photoshop's popularity means
that the .PSD format is widely used, and it is supported to some extent by most competing software.
The .PSD file format can be exported to and from Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Premiere Pro, and After
Effects, to make professional standard DVDs and provide non-linear editing and special effects
services, such as backgrounds, textures, and so on, for television, film, and the Web. Photoshop is a
pixel-based image editor, unlike Macromedia FreeHand (now defunct), Adobe Illustrator or
CorelDraw, which are vector-based image editors. Photoshop can utilize the color models RGB, lab,
CMYK, grayscale, binary bitmap, and duotone. Photoshop has the ability to read and write raster
and vector image formats such as .EPS, .PNG, .GIF, .JPEG, and Adobe Fireworks.
Autodesk Maya: - Maya is a high-end 3D computer graphics and 3D modeling software
package originally developed by Alias Systems Corporation, but now owned by Autodesk as part of
the Media and Entertainment division. Autodesk acquired the software in October 2005 upon
purchasing Alias. Maya is used in the film and TV industry, as well as for computer and video
games, architectural visualisation and design. Maya is a popular, integrated node-based 3D software
suite, evolved from Wavefront Explorer and Alias Power Animator using technologies from both.
The software is released in two versions: Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited. Maya was originally
released for the IRIX operating system, and subsequently ported to the Microsoft Windows, Linux,
and Mac OS X operating systems. An important feature of Maya is its openness to third-party
52
software, which can strip the software completely of its standard appearance and, using only the
kernel, transform it into a highly customized version of the software. This feature in itself made
Maya appealing to large studios, which tend to write custom code for their productions using the
provided software development kit. A Tcl-like cross-platform scripting language called Maya
Embedded Language (MEL) is provided not only as a scripting language, but as means to customize
Maya's core functionality. Additionally, user interactions are implemented and recorded as MEL
scripting code which users can store on a toolbar, allowing animators to add functionality without
experience in C or C++, though that option is provided with the software development kit. Support
for Python scripting was added in version 8.5.The core of Maya itself is written in C++.
Autodesk 3ds Max:-Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio MAX, is a modeling, animation
and rendering package developed by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. 3ds Max is the largest
selling 3D computer animation program in the world according to Autodesk interal reports. It has
strong modeling capabilities, a flexible plugin architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft
Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers, TV commercial studios and
architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization. In
addition to its modeling and animation tools, the latest version of 3ds Max also features advanced
shaders, dynamic simulation, particle systems, radiosity, normal map creation and rendering, global
illumination, an intuitive and fully-customizable user interface, and its own scripting language.
Autodesk Softimage:-Autodesk Softimage or simply Softimage is a high-end 3D computer
graphics application owned by Autodesk for producing 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling, and
computer animation. The software is predominantly used in the film, video game and advertising
industries for creating computer generated characters, objects, and environments. Two different
versions of the software exist to cater to the differing needs and budgets of users: Softimage and
Softimage Advanced. Additionally, the advanced version is available at an educational discount
price for qualifying students, faculty, and institutions. A further two versions of Softimage have been
developed called Autodesk Face Robot and Autodesk Softimage Mod Tool. The latter version was
developed for the game modding community to create games using the Microsoft XNA toolset for
the PC and Xbox 360, or to create mods for games using Valve Software's Source game engine, Epic
Games' Unreal Engine, and others.

Multimedia - Mohan Kumar Jha

Transcription

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