MEKELLE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF COMPUTING
MULTIMEDIA
Chapter-2
Multimedia Basics And Data Representaion

INTRODUCTION
2.1 WHAT IS AUTHORING SYSTEM

 Authoring is the process of creating multimedia applications.

 An Authoring system is a program which has pre-programmed elements for the
development of interactive multimedia presentations.
 Authoring tools provide an integrated environment for binding together the different
elements of a Multimedia production.
 Multimedia Authoring Tools provide tools for making a complete multimedia
presentation where users usually have a lot of interactive controls.

Multimedia presentations can be created using:

 Simple presentation packages such as PowerPoint
 Powerful RAD tools such as Delphi, .Net, JBuilder;
 True Authoring environments, which lie somewhere in between in terms of technical
complexity.

Authoring systems vary widely in:

 Orientation
 Capabilities, and
 Learning curve: how easy it is to learn how to use the application

Why should you use an authoring system?

 Can speed up programming i.e. content development and delivery
 Time gains i.e. accelerated prototyping
 The content creation (graphics, text, video, audio, animation) is not affected by choice of
authoring system

Authoring Vs Programming

There is big distinction between authoring and programming.

Authoring Programming
1. Assembly of multimedia 1. Involves low level assembly of multimedia
2. High level Graphical Interface Design 2. Construction and control of multimedia
3. Some high level scripting e.g. Lingo, Action 3. Involves real languages like C and Java
Script

Characteristics of Authoring Tools

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A good authoring tool should be able to:
 Integrate text, graphics, video, and audio to create a single multimedia presentation.
 Control interactivity by the use of menus, buttons, hotspots, hot objects etc.
 Publish as a presentation or a self-running executable; on CD/DVD, Intranet, WWW
 Be extended through the use of pre-built or externally supplied components, plug-ins etc
 let you create highly efficient, integrated workflow
 Have a large user base.

2.2 DIGITAL MULTIMEDIA REQUIREMENT

1) Software tools

2) Hardware Requirement
I. Software Requirement

Video Editing Tools

Image Editing Tools

Painting & Drawing
Tools
Multimedia Project 3D Animated Tools
OCR Software

Text Editing Tools

Multimedia Authoring Sound Editing Tools

Tools

1. 3-D and Animation Tools:

These software provide 3D clip art object such as people, furniture, building, car, airplane,
tree, etc. You can use these objects in your project easily.
A good 3D modeling tool should include the following features:

 Ability to drag and drop primitive shape into screen

 Ability to create objects from scratch
 Ability to add realistic effects such as transparency, shadowing, fog, etc.
 Multiple window that allow user to view model in each dimension
 Color and texture mapping
Examples:

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 1. 3D Studio Max: Rendering tool that includes a number of very high‐end professional
tools for character animation, game development, and visual effects Production.
2. Softimage XSI: A powerful modeling, animation, and rendering package used for
animation and special effects in films and games.
3. Maya: Competing product to Softimage; as well, it is a complete modeling package.
4. RenderMan: Rendering package created by Pixar.
5. GIF Animation Packages: A simpler approach to animation, allows very quick
development of effective small animations for the web.

2. Text editing and word processing tools:

Word processors are used for writing letters, invoices, project content, etc. They include features
like:
 spell check
 table formatting
 thesaurus
 templates ( e.g. letters, resumes, & other common documents)

Examples: Microsoft Word, Word perfect, Note pad

In word processors, we can actually embed multimedia elements such as sound, image, and video.
3. Sound Editing Tools

They are used to edit sound ( music, speech, etc)

The user can see the representation of sound in fine increment, score or wave form. User can cut,
copy, and paste any portion of the sound to edit it. You can also add other effects such as distort,
echo, pitch, etc.
Examples:
1. Cool Edit: A very powerful and popular digital audio toolkit; emulates a professional
audio studio —multi track productions and sound file editing including digital signal
processing effects.
2. Sound Forge: A sophisticated PC‐based program for WAV audio files.
3. Pro Tools: A high‐end integrated audio production and editing environment MIDI
creation and manipulation; powerful audio mixing, recording and editing software.

4. Multimedia authoring tools:

Multimedia authoring tools provide important framework that is needed for organizing and editing
objects included in the multimedia project (e.g graphics, animation, sound, video, etc). They provide
editing capability to limited extent.

Examples:

1. Macromedia Flash: Allows users to create interactive movies using the score metaphor
i.e. a timeline arranged in parallel event sequences.

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 2. Macromedia Director: Uses a movie metaphor to create interactive presentations —
very powerful and includes a built‐in scripting language, Lingo, that allows creation of
complex interactive movies.
3. Authorware: A mature, well‐supported authoring product based on the
Iconic/Flow‐control metaphor.
4. Quest: Similar to Authorware in many ways, uses a type of flowcharting metaphor.
However, flowchart nodes can encapsulate information in a more abstract way (called
frames) than simply subroutine levels

5. OCR software
These software’s convert printed document into electronically recognizable ASCII character. It is
used with scanners. Scanners convert printed document into bitmap. Then these softwares break the
bitmap into pieces according to whether it contains text or graphics. This is done by examining the
texture and density of the bitmap and by detecting edges.
Text area  ASCII text

Bitmap area  bitmap image

To do the above, these software’s use probability and expert system.

Use:
 To include printed documents in our project without typing from keyboard
 To include documents in their original format e.g signatures, drawings, etc

Examples: OmniPage Pro, Perceive

6. Painting and Drawing Tools

To create graphics for web and other purposes, painting and editing tools are crucial.
Painting Tools:
They are also called image-editing tools. They are used to edit images of different format. They
help us to retouch and enhance bitmap images. Some painting tools allow to edit vector based
graphics too.
Some of the activities of editing include:
 Blurring the picture
 Removing part of the picture
 Add texts to picture
 Merge two or more pictures together, etc

Examples:

1. Adobe Photoshop: the standard in a graphics, image processing and manipulation tool.
Allows layers of images, graphics, and text that can be separately manipulated for
maximum flexibility.
Filter factory permits creation of sophisticated lighting‐effects filters.
2. Macromedia Fireworks: software for making graphics specifically for the web.

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Drawing Tool: Used to create vector based graphics.

1. Adobe Illustrator: A powerful publishing tool from Adobe. Uses vector graphics; can
be exported to Web graphics Web.
2. Macromedia Freehand: A text and web graphics editing tool that supports many bitmap
formats such as GIF, PNG, and JPEG.

Drawing and painting tools should have the following features:

 Scalable dimension for restore, stretch, and distorting images/graphics

 Customizable pen and brush shapes and sizes

 Multiple undo capabilities

 Capacity to import and export files in different formats

 Ability to create geometric shapes from circle, rectangle, line, etc

 Zooming for magnified image editing

 Support for third party plug-ins.

7. Video Editing:

Animation and digital video movie are sequence of bitmapped graphic frames rapidly played
back. Some of the tools to edit video include:

Examples:
1. Adobe Premiere: An intuitive, simple video editing tool editing i e clips for nonlinear
editing, i.e., putting video into any order.
Video and audio are arranged in "tracks" tracks. Provides a large number of video and
audio tracks, superimpositions and virtual clips. => Effective multimedia productions
with little effort.
2. Adobe After Effects: A powerful video editing tool that enables users to add and change
existing movies. Can add many effects: lighting, shadows, motion blurring; layers.
3. Final Cut Pro: A video editing tool by Apple; Macintosh only.
These applications display time references (relationship between time & the video), frame counts,
audio, transparency level, etc.
II. Hardware Requirement

Three groups of hardware for multimedia:

1) Memory and storage devices
2) Input and output devices
3) Network devices
1) Memory and Storage Devices :

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Multimedia products require high storage capacity than text-based data. Huge drives are essential
for the enormous files used in multimedia and audiovisual creation.
I) RAM: It is the primary requirement for multimedia system. Why?
Reasons:
- You have to store authoring software itself. E.g Flash takes 20MB of memory,
Photoshop 16-20MB, etc.
- Digitized audio and video is stored in memory
- Animated files, etc.
To store this at the same time, you need large amount of memory

II) Storage Devices: large capacity storage devices are necessary to store multimedia data.

Floppy Disk: Not sufficient to store multimedia data. Because of this, they are not used to store
multimedia data.

Hard Disk: The capacity of hard disk should be high to store large data.

CD: Is important for multimedia because they are used to deliver multimedia data to users. A
wide variety of data like:

 Music(sound, & video)

 Multimedia Games
 Educational materials
 Tutorials that include multimedia
 Utility graphics, etc

DVD: have high capacity than CDs. Similarly, they are also used to distribute multimedia
data to users. Some of the characteristics of DVD:
 High storage capacity "4.7-17GB
 Use narrow tracks than CDs" high storage capacity
 High data transfer rate"4.6MB/sec

2) Input-Output Devices

Input Devices:
I) Interacting with the system: To interact with multimedia system, we use either keyboard,
mouse, track ball, or touch screen, etc.

Mouse: Multimedia project is typically designed to be used with mouse as an input pointing device.
Other devices like track ball and touch screen could be used in place of mouse. Track ball is
similar with mouse in many ways.

Wireless mouse: Important when the presenter has to move around during presentation

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Touch Screen: We use fingers instead of mouse to interact with touch screen computers.

Use: Touch screens are used to display/provide information in public areas such as air ports,
museums, transport service areas, hotels etc.,
Advantage:

 User friendly
 Easy to use even for non technical people
 Easy to learn how to use

II) Information Entry Devices: The purpose of these devices is to enter information to be included
in our multimedia project into our computer.

OCR: They enable us to use OCR softwares convert printed document into ASCII file.

Graphical Tablets/ Digitizer: Both are used to convert points, lines, and curves from sketch into
digital format. They use a movable device called stylus.

Scanners: Enable us to convert printed images into digital format. Two types of scanners:

 Flat bed scanners

 Portable scanners

Microphones: they are important because they enable us to record speech, music, etc. The
microphone is designed to pick up and amplify incoming acoustic waves or harmonics precisely and
correctly and convert them to electrical signals. You have to purchase a superior, high-quality
microphone because your recordings will depend on its quality.

Digital Camera and Video Camera (VCR): are important to record and include image and video
in MMS respectively. Digital cameras store images as digital data, and they do not record on film.
You can edit the video taken using video camera and VCR using video editing tools.

Remark: video takes large memory space.

Output Devices

Depending on the content of the project, & how the information is presented, you need different
output devices. Some of the output hardware are:

Speaker: If your project includes speeches that are meant to convey message to audience, or
background music, using speaker is obligatory.

Projector: when to use projector:

-If you are presenting on meeting or group discussion,

-If you are presenting to large number of audience

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Types of projector:
 LCD projector (Liquid Crystal Display)
 CRT projector (Cathode Ray Tube)
Plotter/printer: When the situation arises to present using papers, you use plotters and/or plotters. In
such cases, print quality of the device should be taken into consideration.

 Impact printers: not good quality graphics/poor qualitynot used

 Non-impact printers: good quality graphics

3) Network Devices

Why do we require network devices?

The following network devices are required for multimedia presentation:

i) Modem: Which stands for modulator demodulator, is used to convert digital signal into analog
signal for communication of the data over telephone line which can carry only analog signal? At the
receiving end, it does the reverse action i.e. converts analog to digital data.

Currently, the standard modem is called v.90 which has the speed of 56kbps (kilo bits per second).
Older standards include v.34 which has the speed of 28kbps.

Types:
 External
 Internal

Data is transferred through modem in compressed format to save time and cost.

ii) ISDN: Stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. It is circuit switched telephone network
system, designed to allow digital transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper
wires. This has the advantage of better quality and higher speeds than available with analog
systems. It has higher transmission speed i.e faster data transfer rate. They use additional
hardware hence they are more expensive.

iii) Cable modem: Uses existing cables stretched for television broadcast reception. The data transfer
rate of such devices is very fast i.e. they provide high bandwidth. They are primarily used to
deliver broadband internet access, taking advantage of unused bandwidth on a cable television
network.
iv) DSL: provide digital data transmission over the telephone wires of local telephone network. The
speed of DSL is faster than using telephone line with modem. How? They carry a digital signal over
the unused frequency spectrum (analog voice transmission uses limited range of spectrum) available
on the twisted pair cables running between the telephone company's central office and the customer
premises.

2.2.1 Selecting Authoring Tools

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The multimedia project you are developing has its own underlying structure and purpose. When
selecting tools for your project you need to consider that purpose. Some of the features that you
have to take into consideration when selecting authoring tools are:

1) Editing Feature: Editing feature for multimedia data especially image and text are often
included in authoring tools. The more editors in your authoring system, the less specialized
editing tools you need. The editors that come with authoring tools offer only subset of features
found in dedicated in editing tool. If you need more capability, still you have to go to dedicated
editing tools (e.g. sound editing tools for sound editing).

2) Organizing feature: The organization of media in your project involves navigation diagrams,
or flow charts, etc. Some authoring tools provides a visual flowcharting facility. Such features
help you for organizing the project.
E.g Icon Author, and Author Ware use flowcharting and navigation diagram method to organize
media.

3) Programming feature: There are different types of programming approach:

i)Visual programming: this is programming using cues, icons, and objects. It is done using drag
and drop. To include sound in your project, drag and drop it in stage.
Advantage: The simplest and easiest authoring process. It is particularly useful for slide show
and presentation.

ii) Programming with scripting language: Some authoring tool provide very high leve l scripting
language and interpreted scripting environment. This helps for navigation control and enabling
user input.

iii) Programming with traditional language such as Basic or C. Some authoring tools provide
traditional programming tools like program written in C. We can call these programs to
authoring tools. Some authoring tools allow to call DLL (Dynamic Link Library).

iv) Document development tools

4) Interactivity feature: Interactivity offers to the end user of the project to control the content
and flow of information. Some of interactivity levels:

i) Simple branching: Enables the user to go to any location in the presentation using key press,
mouse click, etc.

ii) Conditional branching: Branching based on if-then decisions

iii) Structured branching: Support complex programming logic such as nested if-then
subroutines.

5) Performance-tuning features: Accomplishing synchronization of multimedia is sometimes

difficult because performance varies with different computers. In such cases you need to use
authoring tools own scripting language to specify time and sequence on system.

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6) Playback feature: Easy testing of the project. Testing enables you to debug the system and
find out how the user interacts with it. Not waste time in assembling and testing the project.

7) Delivery feature: Delivering your project needs building run-time version of the project
using authoring tools. Why run time version (executable format):
 It does not require the full authoring software to play
 It does not allow users to access or change the content, structure, and programming of
the project.

8) Cross platform feature: Multimedia projects should be compatible with different platform
like Macintosh, Windows, etc. This enables the designer to use any platform to design the
project or deliver it to any platform.

9) Internet playability: Web is significant delivery medium for multimedia. Authoring tools
typically provide facility so that output can be delivered in HTML or DHTML format.

10) Ease of learning: Is it easy to learn? The designer should not waste much time learning how
to use it.

2.3 GRAPHICS/IMAGE DATA REPRESENTATION

An image could be described as two-dimensional array of points where every point is allocated
its own color. Every such single point is called pixel, short form of picture element. Image is a
collection of these points that are colored in such a way that they produce meaningful
information/data. Pixel (picture element) contains the color or hue and relative brightness of that
point in the image. The number of pixels in the image determines the resolution of the image.

 A digital image consists of many picture elements, called pixels.

 The number of pixels determines the quality of the imageimage resolution.
 Higher resolution always yields better quality.
 Bitmap resolution most graphics applications let you create bitmaps up to 300 dots per
inch (dpi). Such high resolution is useful for print media, but on the screen most of the
information is lost, since monitors usually display around 72 to 96 dpi.
 A bit-map representation stores the graphic/image data in the same manner that the
computer monitor contents are stored in video memory.
 Most graphic/image formats incorporate compression because of the large size of the
data.

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Types of images

There are two basic forms of computer graphics:

1. Bit-maps
2. Vector Graphics.

The kind you use determines the tools you choose. Bitmap formats are the ones used for digital
photographs. Vector formats are used only for line drawings.

Bit-map images (also called Raster Graphics):

They are formed from pixels. A matrix of dots with different colors. Bitmap images are defined
by their dimension in pixels as well as by the number of colors they represent. For example, a
640X480 image contains 640 pixels and 480 pixels in horizontal and vertical direction
respectively. If you enlarge a small area of a bit-mapped image, you can clearly see the pixels
that are used to create it (to check this open a picture in flash and change the magnification to
800 by going into View->magnification->800.).

Each of the small pixels can be a shade of gray or a color. Using 24-bit color, each pixel can be
set to any one of 16 million colors. All digital photographs and paintings are bitmapped, and
any other kind of image can be saved or exported into a bitmap format. In fact, when you print
any kind of image on a laser or ink-jet printer, it is first converted by either the computer or
printer into a bitmap form so it can be printed with the dots the printer uses.

To edit or modify bitmapped images you use a paint program. Bitmap images are widely used
but they suffer from a few unavoidable problems. They must be printed or displayed at a size
determined by the number of pixels in the image. Bitmap images also have large file sizes that
are determined by the image’s dimensions in pixels and its color depth. To reduce this problem,
some graphic formats such as GIF and JPEG are used to store images in compressed format.

Vector graphics:

They are really just a list of graphical objects such as lines, rectangles, ellipses, arcs or curves
called primitives. Draw programs, also called vector graphics programs, are used to create and
edit these vector graphics. These programs store the primitives as a set of numerical coordinates
and mathematical formulas that specify their shape and position in the image. This format is
widely used by computer-aided design programs to create detailed engineering and design
drawings. It is also used in multimedia when 3D animation is desired. Draw programs have a
number of advantages over paint-type programs.

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Theseinclude:
 Precise control over lines and colors.
 Ability to skew and rotate objects to see them from different angles or add perspective.
 Ability to scale objects to any size to fit the available space. Vector graphics always print
at the best resolution of the printer you use, no matter what size you make them.
 Color blends and shadings can be easily changed.
 Text can be wrapped around objects.

Different Types of images:

1. Monochrome/Bit-Map Images:

 Pixels are also called as Pels.

 Each pixel is stored as a single bit (0 or 1), so referred as binary image.
 Such an image is also called as 1-bit monochrome image since it contains no color.
 The value of the bit indicates whether it is light or dark.
 A 640 x 480 monochrome image requires 37.5 KB of storage.
 Dithering is often used for displaying monochrome images

Monochrome bit-map image

2. Gray-scale Images:

 Each pixel is usually stored as a byte and has a gray-value between 0 and 255.
 This value indicates the degree of brightness of that point. This brightness goes from
black to white. e.g., a dark pixel might have a value of 10 and bright one might be 230.
 The two‐dimensional array of pixel values that represents the graphics/image data.
 Image resolution refers to the number of pixels in a digital image (higher resolution
always yields better quality).
 Fairly high resolution for such an image might be 1, 600 × 1, 200, whereas lower
resolution might be 640 × 480.
 A 640 x 480 gray-scale image requires over 300 KB of storage i.e (640×48 = 307, 200).
 If we want to print such image, things become more complex.

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  When an image is printed, the basic strategy of dithering is used, which trades intensity
resolution for spatial resolution to provide ability to print multi‐level images on 2‐level
(1‐bit) printers.

Gray-scale bit-map image

3. 8-bit Color Images:

 One byte for each pixel

 Supports 256 out of the millions possible, acceptable color quality
 Requires Color Look-Up Tables (LUTs)
 A 640 x 480 8-bit color image requires 307.2 KB of storage (the same as 8-bit grey-
scale)
 Examples: GIF

8-bit Color Image

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 Color Look-Up-Table (LUT) also called as Pallete

4. 24-bit Color Images:


 Each pixel is represented by three bytes (e.g., RGB)
 Supports 256 x 256 x 256 possible combined colors (16,777,216)
 A 640 x 480 24-bit color image would require 921.6 KB of storage
 An important point: many 24‐bit color images are actually stored as 32‐bit images, with
the extra byte of data for each pixel used to store an alpha value representing special
effect information (e.g., transparency).

Dithering:

 Full color photographs may contain an almost infinite range of color values. Dithering
is the most common means of reducing the color range of images down to the 256 or
fewer colors seen in 8-bit GIF images.
 For printing, Dithering is used to calculate large patterns of dots such that values from 0
to 255 corresponds to pleasing patterns that correctly represent darker and brighter pixel
values.

Image Resolution

 Image resolution refers to the spacing of pixels in an image and is measured in pixels per
inch, ppi, sometimes called dots per inch, dpi. The higher the resolution, the more pixels
in the image.
 A printed image that has a low resolution may look pixelated or made up of small
squares, with jagged edges and without smoothness.
 Image size refers to the physical dimensions of an image. Because the number of pixels
in an image is fixed, increasing the size of an image decreases its resolution and
decreasing its size increases its resolution.

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2.3 DIGITAL AUDIO FORMATS AND MIDI

What is Sound?

Sound is produced by a rapid variation in the average density or pressure of air molecules above
and below the current atmospheric pressure. We perceive sound as these pressure fluctuations
cause our eardrums to vibrate. These usually minute changes in atmospheric pressure are
referred to as sound pressure and the fluctuations in pressure as sound waves. Sound waves
are produced by a vibrating body, be it a guitar string, loudspeaker cone or jet engine. The
vibrating sound source causes a disturbance to the surrounding air molecules, causing them
bounce off each other with a force proportional to the disturbance. The back and forth
oscillation of pressure produces a sound waves.

Source --- Generates Sound

 Air Pressure changes

 Electrical - Microphone produces electric signal
 Acoustic - Direct Pressure Variations

Destination --- Receives Sound

 Electrical - Loud Speaker

 Ears - Responds to pressure hear sound

How to Record and Play Digital Audio ?

In order to play digital audio (i.e WAVE file), you need a card with a Digital To Analog
Converter (DAC) circuitry on it. Most sound cards have both an ADC (Analog to Digital
Converter) and a DAC so that the card can both record and play digital audio. This DAC is
attached to the Line Out jack of your audio card, and converts the digital audio values back into
the original analog audio. This analog audio can then be routed to a mixer, or speakers, or
headphones so that you can hear the recreation of what was originally recorded. Playback
process is almost an exact reverse of the recording process.

First, to record digital audio, you need a card which has an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC)
circuitry. The ADC is attached to the Line In (and Mic In) jack of your audio card, and converts
the incoming analog audio to a digital signal. Your computer software can store the digitized
audio on your hard drive, visually display on the computer's monitor, mathematically
manipulate in order to add effects, or process the sound, etc. While the incoming analog audio is
being recorded, the ADC is creates many digital values in its conversion to a digital audio
representation of what is being recorded. These values must be stored for later playback.

Digitizing Sound

 Microphone produces analog signal.

 Computers understands only discrete(digital) entities.

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  This creates a need to convert Analog audio to Digital audio . specialized hardware. This
is also known as Sampling.

Common Audio Formats

There are two basic types of audio files:

 The traditional discrete audio file, that you can save to a hard drive or other digital
storage medium.
 The streaming audio file that you listen to as it downloads in real time from a
network/internet server to your computer.

1. Discrete Audio File Formats:

Common discrete audio file formats include WAV, AIF, AU and MP3. A fifth format, called
MIDI is actually not a file format for storing digital audio, but a system of instructions for
creating electronic music.

(a) WAV

The WAV format is the standard audio file format for Microsoft Windows applications,
and is the default file type produced when conducting digital recording within Windows.
It supports a variety of bit resolutions, sample rates, and channels of audio. This format is
very popular upon IBM PC (clone) platforms, and is widely used as a basic format for
saving and modifying digital audio data.

(b) AIF/AIFF

The Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) is the standard audio format employed by computers
using the Apple Macintosh operating system. Like the WAV format, it supports a variety of bit
resolutions, sample rates, and channels of audio and is widely used in software programs used
to create and modify digital audio.

(c) AU

The AU file format is a compressed audio file format developed by Sun Microsystems and
popular in the Unix world. It is also the standard audio file format for the Java programming
language. Only supports 8-bit depth thus cannot provide CD-quality sound.

(d) MP3

MP3 stands for Motion Picture Experts Group, Audio Layer 3 Compression. MP3 files provide
near-CD-quality sound but are only about 1/10th as large as a standard audio CD file. Because
MP3 files are small, they can easily be transferred across the Internet and played on any
multimedia computer with MP3 player software.

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(e) MIDI/MID

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), is not a file format for storing or transmitting
recorded sounds, but rather a set of instructions used to play electronic music on devices such as
synthesizers. MIDI files are very small compared to recorded audio file formats. However, the
quality and range of MIDI tones is limited.

2. Streaming Audio File Formats:

Streaming is a network technique for transferring data from a server to client in a format that
can be continuously read and processed by the client computer. Using this method, the client
computer can start playing the initial elements of large time-based audio or video files before
the entire file is downloaded. As the Internet grows, streaming technologies are becoming an
increasingly important way to deliver time-based audio and video data.

For streaming to work, the client side has to receive the data and continuously feed it to the
player application. If the client receives the data more quickly than required, it has to
temporarily store or .buffer. the excess for later play. On the other hand, if the data doesn't
arrive quickly enough, the audio or video presentation will be interrupted. There are three
primary streaming formats that support audio files: RealNetwork's RealAudio (RA, RM),
Microsoft.s Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) and its audio subset called Windows Media
Audio 7 (WMA) and Apple.s QuickTime 4.0+ (MOV).
(a) RA/RM

For audio data on the Internet, the de facto standard is RealNetwork's RealAudio (.RA)
compressed streaming audio format. These files require a RealPlayer program or browser plug-
in. The latest versions of RealNetworks. server and player software can handle multiple
encodings of a single file, allowing the quality of transmission to vary with the available
bandwidth. Webcast radio broadcast of both talk and music frequently uses RealAudio.
Streaming audio can also be provided in conjunction with video as a combined Real Media
(RM) file.

(b) ASF

Microsoft’s Advanced Streaming Format (ASF) is similar to designed to RealNetwork's

RealMedia format, in that it provides a common definition for internet streaming media and can
accommodate not only synchronized audio, but also video and other multimedia elements, all
while supporting multiple bandwidths within a single media file. Also like RealNetwork's
RealMedia format, Microsoft.s ASF requires a program or browser plugin.

The pure audio file format used in Windows Media Technologies is Windows Media Audio 7
(WMA files). Like MP3 files, WMA audio files use sophisticated audio compression to reduce
file size. Unlike MP3 files, however, WMA files can function as either discrete or streaming
data and can provide a security mechanism to prevent unauthorized use.

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(c) MOV

Apple QuickTime movies (MOV files) can be created without a video channel and used as a
sound-only format. Since version 4.0, Quicktime provides true streaming c apability. QuickTime
also accepts different audio sample rates, bit depths, and offers full functionality in both
Windows as well as the Mac OS.
Popular audio file formats are:
 au (Unix)
 aiff (MAC)
 wav (PC)
 mp3

MIDI(MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DIGITAL INTERFACE):

Definition of MIDI:

MIDI is a protocol that enables computer, synthesizers, keyboards, and other musical device to
communicate with each other. This protocol is a language that allows interworking between
instruments from different manufacturers by providing a link that is capable of transmitting and
receiving digital data. MIDI transmits only commands, it does not transmit an audio signal.
It was created in 1982.

MIDI and Computer connection

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Components of a MIDI System:

1. Synthesizer:

It is a sound generator (various pitch, loudness, tone color).

A good (musician’s) synthesizer often has a microprocessor, keyboard, control panels, memory,
etc.
2. Sequencer:

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

Basic MIDI Concepts:

Track:
 Track in sequencer is used to organize the recordings.
 Tracks can be turned on or off on recording or playing back.
Channel:
 MIDI channels are used to separate information in a MIDI system.
 There are 16 MIDI channels in one cable.
 Channel numbers are coded into each MIDI message.
Timbre:
 The quality of the sound, e.g., flute sound, cello sound, etc.
 Multitimbral - capable of playing many different sounds at the same time (e.g., piano,
brass, drums, etc.)

Pitch:
 The Musical note that the instrument plays
Voice:
 Voice is the portion of the synthesizer that produces sound.
 Synthesizers can have many (12, 20, 24, 36, etc.) voices.
 Each voice works independently and simultaneously to produce sounds of different
timbre and pitch.
Patch:
 The control settings that define a particular timbre.

Hardware Aspects of MIDI:

MIDI Connectors: Three 5-pin ports found on the back of every MIDI unit
MIDI IN: The connector via which the device receives all MIDI data.
MIDI OUT: The connector through which the device transmits all the MIDI data it generates
itself.
MIDI THROUGH: The connector by which the device echoes the data receives from MIDI IN.

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MIDI Messages:

MIDI messages are used by MIDI devices to communicate with each other.
MIDI messages are very low bandwidth:
 Note On Command
 Which Key is pressed
 Which MIDI Channel (what sound to play)
 3 Hexadecimal Numbers
 Note Off Command Similar
 Other command (program change) configure sounds to be played.

Advantages:

Because MIDI is a digital signal, it's very easy to interface electronic instruments to computers,
and then do manipulations on the MIDI data on the computer with software. For example,
software can store MIDI messages to the computer's disk drive. Also, the software can playback
MIDI messages upon all 16 channels with the same rhythms as the human who originally
caused the instrument(s) to generate those messages.

How is MIDI file Different from a WAV or MP3 Files?

A MIDI file stores MIDI messages. These messages are commands that tell a musical device
what to do in order to make music. For example, there is a MIDI message that tells a device to
play a particular note. There is another MIDI message that tells a device to change its current
"sound" to a particular patch or instrument. Etc.

The MIDI file also stores timestamps, and other information that a sequencer needs to play
some "musical performance" by transmitting all of the MIDI messages in the file to all MIDI
devices. In other words, a MIDI file contains hundreds (to thousands) of instructions that tell
one or more sound modules (either external ones connected to your sequencer's MIDI Out, or
sound modules built into your computer's sound card) how to reproduce every single, individual
note and nuance of a musical performance.

A WAVE and MP3 files store a digital audio waveform. This data is played back by a device
with a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) such as computer sound card's DAC. There are no
timestamps, or other information concerning musical rhythms or tempo stored in a WAVE or
MP3 files. There is only digital audio data.

POPULAR FILE FORMATS

Choosing the right file type for your image to save in is of vital importance. For example If you
are, creating image for web pages, then it should load fast. So such images should be small size.
The other criteria to choose file type is taking into consideration the quality of the image that is
possible using the chosen file type. You should also be concerned about the portability of the
image.

To choose file type:

 Resulting size of the image

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  Large file size or small
 Quality of image possible by the file type
 Portability of file across different platforms
 The most common formats used on internet are the GIF, JPG, and PNG.

Standard System Independent Formats:

1. GIF (GRAPHICS INTERCHANGE FORMAT)

 Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) devised CompuServe, initially for transmitting

graphical images over phone lines via modems.
 Uses the Lempel-Ziv Welch algorithm (a form of Huffman Coding), modified slightly
for image scan line packets (line grouping of pixels).
 LZW compression was patented technology by the UNISYS Corp.
 Limited to only 8-bit (256) color images, suitable for images with few distinctive colors
(e.g., graphics drawing)
 Supports one-dimensional interlacing (downloading gradually in web browsers.
Interlaced images appear gradually while they are downloading. They display at a low
blurry resolution first and then transition to full resolution by the time the download is
complete.)
 Supports animation. Multiple pictures per file (animated GIF)
 GIF format has long been the most popular on the Internet, mainly because of its small
size
 GIFs allow single-bit transparency, which means when you are creating your image, you
can specify one color to be transparent. This allows background colors to show through
the image.
 GIF Images are of two types:
-GIF87a: The original specification
-GIF89a: The later version. Supports simple animation via a graphical control extension
block in the data, provides simple control over delay time a transparency index etc.,

2. PNG ( PORTABLE NETWORK GRAPHICS)

 It is intended as a replacement for GIF in the WWW and image editing tools.
 GIF uses LZW compression which is patented by Unisys. All use of GIF may have to
pay royalties to Unisys due to the patent.
 PNG uses unpatented zip technology for compression.
 One version of PNG, PNG-8, is similar to the GIF format. It can be saved with a
maximum of 256 colors and supports 1-bit transparency. File sizes when saved in a
capable image editor like Fireworks will be noticeably smaller than the GIF counterpart,
as PNGs save their color data more efficiently.
 PNG-24 is another version of PNG, with 24-bit color support, allowing ranges of color to
a high color JPG. However, PNG-24 is in no way a replacement format for JPG, because
it is a loss-less compression format which results in large file size.
 Provides transparency using alpha value
 Supports interlacing

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  PNG can be animated through the MNG extension of the format, but browser support is
less for this format.

3. JPEG/JPG ( JOINT PHOTOGRAPHIC EXPERTS GROUP)

 A standard for photographic image compression.

 Created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group.
 Intended for encoding and compression of photographs and similar images
 Takes advantage of limitations in the human vision system to achieve high rates of
compression.
 Uses complex lossy compression which allows user to set the desired level of quality
(compression). A compression setting of about 60% will result in the optimum balance of
quality and file size.
 Though JPGs can be interlaced, they do not support animation and transparency unlike
GIF.
 JPEG allows the user to set a desired level of quality, or compression ratio (input divided
by output).

4. TIFF ( TAGGED IMAGE FILE FORMAT)

 TIFF, stores many different types of images (e.g., monochrome, grayscale, 8-bit & 24-bit
RGB, etc.)
 Uses tags, keywords defining the characteristics of the image that is included in the file.
For example, a picture 320 by 240 pixels would include a 'width' tag followed by the
number '320' and a 'depth' tag followed by the number '240'.
 Developed by the Aldus Corporation in the 1980’s and later supported by the Microsoft.
 Its support for attachment of additional information referred to as “tags” provides a
greater deal of flexibility.
 TIFF is a lossless format (when not utilizing the new JPEG tag which allows for JPEG
compression)
 It does not provide any major advantages over JPEG and is not as user-controllable.
 Do not use TIFF for web images. They produce big files, and more importantly, most
web browsers will not display TIFFs.
 TIFF can store many different types of images- 1-bit, grayscale, 8-bit color, 24-bitRGB
etc.,

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5. EXIF (Exchange Image File)

 EXIF is an image format for digital cameras.

 Compressed EXIF files use the baseline JPEG format.
 A variety of tags (many more than in TIFF) are available to facilitate higher quality
printing, since information about the camera and picture‐taking picture conditions (flash,
exposure, light source, white balance, type of scene, etc.) can be stored and used by
printers for possible color correction algorithms.
 The EXIF standard also includes specification of file format for audio that accompanies
digital images. As well, it also supports tags for information needed for conversion to
FlashPix (initially developed by Kodak).

System Dependent Formats

1. Microsoft Windows: BMP

 BitMap (BMP) is the major system standard graphics file format for Microsoft Windows.
 Used in Paint & Many PC Graphics programs.
 It is capable of storing 24-bit bitmap images.
2. Macintosh: PAINT and PICT

 PAINT was originally used in MacPaint program, initially only for 1-bit monochrome
images.
 PICT is a file format that was developed by Apple Computer in 1984 as the native format
for Macintosh graphics.
 The PICT format is a meta-format that can be used for both bitmap images and vector
images though it was originally used in MacDraw (a vector based drawing program) for
storing structured graphics
 Still an underlying Mac format (although PDF on OS X)

3. X-windows: PPM

 PPM(Portable PixMap) Primary graphics format for the X Window system.

 Supports 24-bit color bitmapand can be manipulated using many public domain graphic
editors.
 Used in X Windows for storing icons, pixmaps, backdrops, etc.

4. Windows WMF

 Windows MetaFile(WMF) is the native Vector file format for Microsoft Windows
operating environment.

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