UNIT-II
Sound:
Sound and it Attributes, Mono Vs Stereo sound, Sound channels, Sound
and its effect in multimedia. Analog Vs Digital sound, Basics of digital
sounds-Sampling, Frequency, Sound Depth, Channels, Sound on Pc,Sound
standards on PC, Capturing and Editing sound on PC, Overview and using some
sound recording. editing software. Overview of various sound file formats on
PC - WAV, MP3, MP4, Ogg Vorbise etc.
Animation:
Basics of animation, Principle and use of animation in multimedia, Effect
of resolutions. pixel depth. Images size on quality and storage. Overview
of 2-D and 3-D animation techniques and software- animation pro. 3D studio
& Paint Shop pro animator.
Animation on
the Web - features and limitations, creating simple animations for
the Web using GIF Animator and Flash.
Sound and Its Attributes
The amount of noise in a sound varies independently of its
amplitude; you can have a nice, clean, resonant sound, or you can have a
wheezier sound. In the waveform display, you've got to know how to distinguish
these: noise is irregular whereas pitched sounds are regular. But if the degree
of noisiness could be computed, it could be displayed separately; for example,
a clean sound could look like this:
and a noisy one with a similar envelope could look like this:
The characteristics (Attributes) of sound are frequency,
wavelength, amplitude and velocity.
Sound - Frequency:
The frequency is the number of air pressure oscillations per
second at a fixed point occupied by a sound wave. One single oscillatory cycle
per second corresponds to 1 Hz.
Sound-Wavelength:
The wavelength is the distance between two successive crests
and is the distance that a wave travels in the time of one oscillatory cycle.
The wavelength of a sound wave of frequency f and travelling at speed c is given by c/f. Given a speed of 343
m/s, a 20 kHz sound wave has a wavelength of about 17 mm.
Sound - Amplitude
The amplitude is the magnitude of sound pressure change within
the wave, or basically, the maximum amount of pressure at any point in the
sound wave. A sound wave is caused literally by increases in pressure at
certain points, high pressure points are the crests mentioned above, and behind
them are low pressure points which tail them. Amplitude is the maximal
displacement of particles of matter that is obtained in compressions, the
amplitude is more often referred to as sound pressure level and measured in decibels.
Sound - Velocity
Sound's propagation speed depends on the type, temperature and
pressure of the medium through which it propagates. Under normal conditions,
however, because air is nearly a perfect gas, the speed of sound does not
depend on air pressure. In dry air at 20 °C (68 °F) the speed of
sound is approximately 343 m/s (approximately 1 meter every 2.9
milliseconds). The speed of sound relates frequency to wavelength.
Sound Channels and
Sound Depth:
The audio signal is split into multiple channels so that
different sound information comes out of the various speakers. Mono has only
once channel whereas Stereo Sound has two channels, left and right.
If one instrument or voice is only produced in the left
channel, it will seem to originate from the left side of the listening area. If
a particular sound is only slightly louder in one of the channels, that sound
will seem to originate off center slightly toward the channel in which the
sound is louder. The two channels in stereo are used to give the audio a sense
of depth.
Stereo Vs Mono:
Stereo sound has two independent channels, one left and one
right. The left and right signals of the stereo signal are similar but not
exactly the same. The two channels are used to give the audio a sense of depth.
If one instrument or voice is only produced in the left channel, it will seem
to originate from the left side of the listening area. If a particular sound is
only slightly louder in one of the channels, that sound will seem to originate
off center slightly toward the channel in which the sound is louder. If you
have two speakers but supply mono signal to both of them, there will be no
sense of separation or depth. If a mono signal fed to both channels of a stereo
amplifier, with a speaker on each channel, the output will be mono.
Note:
In the following diagrams, 'X',
'Y', and 'Z' are the different sounds (instruments, vocals...) in the audio.
The red letters are where the signal 'appears' to originate from and the yellow
letters are where they are being reproduced.
Mono with one speaker:
In this diagram, the speaker is
directly in front of the listening position and the audio appears to (and does)
originate from the speaker.
Mono with 2 speakers:
In this diagram, you can see that the same signal is
reproduced by both speakers. Since the signal content going to each speaker is
precisely the same, this is a mono system. If the level of the signal is the
same in both speakers, the signal will appear to originate precisely in the
center of the speakers.
Below, you can see that the signal content from each speaker
is the same but it is slightly louder in the right channel. This means that it
will seem to originate a little to the right of center.
Stereo audio:
In this diagram, you can see that the 'x' portion of the
audio is reproduced equally in both channels and appears to originate in the
center of the 2 speakers. The 'y' portion of the audio is only in the left
speaker and appears to originate from the left speaker's position. The 'z'
portion of the audio is only reproduced by the right speaker. This means that
it will appear to originate from the right speaker's position.
Below, you can see that the 'y' portion of the audio is
produced in both channels but is at a reduced level in the right channel. This
will cause the 'image' of the y part of the audio signal to appear to originate
from left of center (not the far left or the center). This is how the audio
'stage' is reproduced with a stereo signal (different signals are
recorded/reproduced at different levels in each of the speakers).
Analog vs Digital
Well, they are both ways of encoding information. Digital lends itself to computers and other electronic equipment by recording information into 1's and 0's. This data can then be read by electronic instruments and then produced into something familiar we can understand such as words, picture or sound.
Analog on the other hand is comprised of continuous and variable electrical waves that represent an infinite number of values. If sound was recorded digitally, it is made into 0s and 1s right? Those 0s and 1s represent all the little bits of a sound. When you put them together you get a full sound. Analog records sound just as it hears it, it doesn't break it down into all these separate pieces...it's CONTINUOUS.
Analog sound on the other hand
basically records sound as it produced, evidently giving a deeper richer
representation of the original. As we become more computerized, everything is
going digital, and why not? Digital offers a lot of improvements over analog.
Surround Sound Basics
The main thing that sets a home theater apart from an
ordinary television setup is the surround sound. For a
proper surround-sound system, you need two to three speakers in front of you
and two to three speakers to your sides or behind you. The audio signal is
split into multiple channels so that different sound information comes out of
the various speakers.
The most prominent sounds come out of the front speakers. When
someone or something is making noise on the left side of the screen, you hear
it more from a speaker to the left of the screen. When something is happening
on the right, you hear it more from a speaker to the right of the screen.
The third speaker sits in the center, just under or above the
screen. This center speaker is very important because it anchors the sound
coming from the left and right speakers -- it plays all the dialogue and front
sound effects so that they seem to be coming from the center of your television
screen, rather than from the sides.
The speakers behind you fill in various sorts of background
noise in the movie -- dogs barking, rushing water, the sound of a plane overhead. They also
work with the speakers in front of you to give the sensation of movement -- a
sound starts from the front and then moves behind you.
Today, there are two main sources for surround-sound formats
-- Dolby Laboratories and Digital Theater Systems. Dolby Laboratories formats
include various versions of Dolby Digital® and Dolby Pro Logic®. Digital
Theater Systems has created a range of DTS Digital Theater Sound formats.
DTS encoding uses less compression than Dolby encoding. This
means that DTS sound is clearer and sharper.
However, DTS encoding is also less commonly used on DVDs and
television broadcasts.
Most DVDs have some Dolby sound options, and some also offer
choices for DTS sound.
The most common options are 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1 surround, named
for the number of channels. The ".1" indicates a channel for a
subwoofer. The subwoofer channel carries low-frequency sound to give a bass
boost and create a rumbling effect for certain special effects sounds, such as
explosions and trains. These are the typical speaker setups and formats that
will support them:
Importance of Sound
on multimedia
Sound Effects are present in almost every media that you see
and hear on a daily basis. Television, movies, web sites, and digital music
uses sound effects for our brains to get understood the topic or environment
easily. Their importance can easily be measured by their absence. for example
if we see a gun, we watch it fire, but if we don't hear the gunshot we feel
that the experience is somehow broken, fake, or just doesn't make any sense.
Having the exact right sound for your images can be crucial to get attention of the audience. Sometimes the sounds can be isolated or symbolic, like the ceiling fan in the beginning of "Disaster Now". Much of the other sound effects are removed to focus on the ceiling fan, which is a combination of blades moving quickly past the microphone, and the blades of a helicopter.
Sometimes the sounds are a little more collaborative and are mixed together to make a scene sound realistic. For example sound of a busy airport can create the unconsciously expected realism that your brain is expecting.
But you'll never get lucky enough to find a prefabricated sound byte that has everything you need laid into it at exactly the right time. That's why clean, individual sounds are vitally necessary to create the feel that you'll need.
The importance of sound in your production is paramount. Cheap sounds pull your audience out of the realism of the experience. This is why high quality sounds should be collected and used.
Having the exact right sound for your images can be crucial to get attention of the audience. Sometimes the sounds can be isolated or symbolic, like the ceiling fan in the beginning of "Disaster Now". Much of the other sound effects are removed to focus on the ceiling fan, which is a combination of blades moving quickly past the microphone, and the blades of a helicopter.
Sometimes the sounds are a little more collaborative and are mixed together to make a scene sound realistic. For example sound of a busy airport can create the unconsciously expected realism that your brain is expecting.
But you'll never get lucky enough to find a prefabricated sound byte that has everything you need laid into it at exactly the right time. That's why clean, individual sounds are vitally necessary to create the feel that you'll need.
The importance of sound in your production is paramount. Cheap sounds pull your audience out of the realism of the experience. This is why high quality sounds should be collected and used.
SOUND AND ITS EFFECT
IN MULTIMEDIA
There are mainly five (5) sound/audio effects available in all most audio (Editing software. These are the followings:
There are mainly five (5) sound/audio effects available in all most audio (Editing software. These are the followings:
1. Amplitude Effect
2. Delay effects
3. Time/Pitch effects
4. Reverse effect
5. Invert effect
1. Amplitude Effects:
The amplitude effect classified in the following eight (8) groups:
1) Amplify
2) Fade In/ Fade Out
3) Normalize
4) Compressor
5) Expander
6) Envelope
7) Mute
8) Vibrato
Amplify: Amplify effect is used to increase or decrease the amplification of the sound in the media file. If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will amplify or attenuate this exact part of the file. if not the sound of the entire file will be amplified or diminished.
Fade In and Fade Out:
Use the Fade In effect to fade in the sound in the media file. If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will fade in the sound of this exact part of the file. Otherwise the sound of the beginning of the file will be faded in.
Use the Fade Out effect to fade out the sound in the media file. If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will fade out the sound of this exact part of the file. Otherwise the sound of the end of the file will be faded out.
Normalize: Use this effect to achieve the maximum amount of amplification that will not result in clipping. If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will amplify the highlighted selection to the percentage of the greatest level. if not the sound of the entire file will be normalized.
Compressor: Compressor effect is used to reduce the dynamic range of an audio signal. For example, compressors can be used to remove the variations in the peaks of an electric bass signal by clamping them to a constant level (thus providing an even, solid bass line.) Compressors can also be useful in compensating for the wide variations in the level of a signal produced by a singer who moves frequently or has an unreliable dynamic range.
Expander: Expander effect is used to expand the dynamic range of an audio signal. Expander boosts the high-level signals and satisfies low level signals.
Envelope: Envelope effect is used to change the audio file amplitude in accordance with the specified coordinates. It allows absorbing the sound and making it quiet slowly. It generally used to smooth beginning or ending of the sounds. Also this effect is useful for creating the audio loops and samples.
Mute: Mute effect is used to switch off the sound in the edited audio file.
Vibrato: Vibrato equals to a cyclical changing of a certain frequency of the input signal.
2. Delay Effects:
The Delay effect classified in the following five (5) groups:
1) Delay
2) Phaser
3) Flanger
4) Chorus
5) Reverb
Delay: This effect permits you to create an echo effect of your audio track by replaying the sounds of the selected audio portion after a certain period of time. Applying of this filter can bring life to dull mixes, widen and fill out your instrument's sound.
You can use this function to create single echoes, as well as a number of other effects. Delays of 35 milliseconds (ms) or more will be received as discrete echoes, while those falling within the 35-15 ms range can be used to creeate a simple chorus or flanging effect. (These effects will not be as effective as the actual Chorus or Flanger effects, as the delay settings will be fixed and will not change over time).
Phaser: The Phaser filter makes the selected portion of your audio thinner or fuller through mixing the automatically filtered and unfiltered audio signals. You can apply this filter to give a "synthesized" or electronic effect to natural sounds.
The Phaser achieves its distinctive sound by creating one or more notches in the frequency domain that eliminate sounds at the notch frequencies.
It is very similar to flanging. If two signals that are identical, but out of phase, are added together, then the result is that they will cancel each other out. If, however, they are partially out of phase, then partial cancellations and partial enhancements occur. This leads to the phasing effect .
F1anger: The Flanger effect is one of the other elaborated audio effects that is created by mixing a signal with a slightly delayed copy of itself, where the length of the delay is constantly changing. With the Flanger filter you can "shape" the sound through controlling how much delayed signal is added to the original. Use it if you want to create the ''whooshing'' sound effect in some fragment of your audio track.
Flanger is a special case of the Chorus effect: it is created in the same way that Chorus is created. In days gone by, flanging used to be created by sound engineers who put their finger onto the tape reel's flange, thus slowing it down. Two identical recordings are played back simultaneously, and one is slowed down to give the flanging effect.
Fanger gives a ''whooshing'' sound, like the sound is pulsating. It is essentially an exaggerated Chorus.
Chorus: The Chorus effect allows you to make your audio sound fuller. It can make a single instrument sound like there are actually several instruments being played. It adds some thickness to the sound, and can be described as 'lush' or 'rich'.
The Chorus effect is so named because it makes the recording of a vocal track sound like it was sung by two or more people singing in chorus. This is achieved by adding a single delayed signal (echo) to the original input.
The Chorus differs from the Hanger in only a couple of ways. One difference is the amount of delay that is used. The delay times in a Chorus are larger than in a Flanger. This longer delay doesn't produce the characteristic sweeping sound of the Hanger. The Chorus also differs from the Flanger in that there is generally no feedback used.
Reverb: The Reverberation filter helps you apply the particular effect when the sound stops but the reflections continue, decreasing in amplitude, until they can no longer be heard.
You can use this function to set Reverb effect that is used to simulate audio space, and consists of both early reflections and echoes that are so closely spaced that they are perceived as a single fading sound. Reverb is different from the basic echo function in that the delays are not repeated at regularly spaced intervals. Reverb function can create a wide range of highly quality reverb effects.
It is the sound you hear in a room with hard surfaces where sound bounces around the room for a while after the initial sound stops. Reverb is used to simulate the acoustical effect of rooms and enclosed buildings. In a room, for instance, sound is reflected off the walls, the ceiling and the floor. The sound heard at any given time is the sum of the sound from the source, as well as the reflected sound.
3. Time/Pitch Effects:
The Tune/Pitch effect classified in the following two (2) groups:
1) Tune Stretch
2) Pitch Shift
Time Stretch: The Time Stretch effect permits to change the tempo (rhythm), but keep the pitch the same throughout. If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will change the tempo of this exact part of the file. Otherwise the tempo of the whole file will be changed.
Pitch Shift: The Pitch Shift effect shifts the frequency spectrum of the input signal. It can be used to mask a person's voice, or make the voice sound like that of the "chipmunks", through to "Darth Vader". It is also used to create harmony in lead passages, although it is an ''unintelligent" harmonizer.
4. Reverse effect:
With the help of this function you can make a selection play backwards by reversing the order of its samples. It is useful for creating special effects.
If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will applied to this exact part of the file. Otherwise the sound of the whole file will be changed.
5. Invert effect:
With the help of this function you can simply invert the samples, so that all positive offsets are negative and all negative offsets are positive. Inverting does not produce an audible effect, but it can be useful in lining up amplitude curves when creating loops, or pasting. On stereo waveforms, both channels are inverted. If you select a part of the file with the mouse, this effect will be applied to this exact part of the file. Otherwise the sound of the whole file will be altered.
Sound Standards
Sound card produces sound; sound cards
have an audio connector for CD-audio output. Sound cards when attached to a
system the system becomes multimedia system.
The hardware configuration of the AdLib soundcard was the
first standard of sound cards.
Later on sound card developed by Creative Labs' (SoundBlaster) set standard for
digital audio on PC.
Creative Lab developed 8-bit sound card later on it developed 16-bit sound card, followed by AWE32 (32 bit), and AWE32 satisfied the requirements of pc users. AWE32 was sold to PC manufacturers as OEM kit that helped to bring down price and uplift the standard. The AWE64, launched in late 1997 and offering 64-note polyphony from a single MIDI device, 32 controlled in hardware and 32 in software, is the current benchmark.
Creative Lab developed 8-bit sound card later on it developed 16-bit sound card, followed by AWE32 (32 bit), and AWE32 satisfied the requirements of pc users. AWE32 was sold to PC manufacturers as OEM kit that helped to bring down price and uplift the standard. The AWE64, launched in late 1997 and offering 64-note polyphony from a single MIDI device, 32 controlled in hardware and 32 in software, is the current benchmark.
Most sound cards sold today should support the SoundBlaster
and General MIDI standards and
should be capable of recording and playing digital audio at 44.1 KHz stereo.
This is the resolution at which CD-Audio is recorded, which is
why sound cards are often referred to as having "CD-quality" sound.
Surround sound for the movies is pre-recorded and delivered
consistently to the ear, no matter what cinema or home it is replayed in. Just
about the only thing Dolby cares about is how far away the rear speakers are
from the front and from the listener. Beyond that it's the same linear
delivery, without any interaction from the listener - the same as listening to
music.
This is obviously no good for games, where the sound needs to
interactively change with the on-screen action in real time. What now seems
like a very long time ago, Creative Labs came up with its SoundBlaster mono
audio standard for DOS games on PCs. As the standard matured, realism improved
with stereo capabilities (SoundBlaster Pro), and quality of sound uplifted with
CD resolution (SoundBlaster 16). When you started your game, you'd select the
audio option that matched your sound card. Microsoft, however, changed the
entire multimedia standards game with its DirectX standard in Windows 95.
The idea was that DirectX offered a load of commands, also known as APIs, which did things like "make a sound on the left" or "draw a sphere in front". Games would then simply make DirectX calls and the hardware manufacturers would have to ensure their sound and graphics card drivers understood them.
Sound on PC
The sound in a high-end desktop PC is usually produced by a sound card (also known as an audio card) that is
installed on the computer's motherboard in an adapter slot
or it is inbuilt in motherboard which is known as integrated sound card. The
sound card, in turn, is attached to other peripheral devices such as a CD/DVD drive in order to produce sound via the operating
system, which uses the card's software driver and a sound player, such as the Windows Media Player (WMP), or a third-party sound player such as a Winamp, Real Player, or Apple's QuickTime.
A sound card can be supplied to a laptop computer via a PC
card via a CardBus/PCMCIA slot (old
technolody), or via an ExpressCard/54
slot (current technology).
External USB or FireWire sound devices, sometimes called a sound card
that plug into a USB or FireWire port on the computer, are
available. They work externally to the computer in the same way as an internal
sound card.
In a desktop PC, the internal or external connections for
sound devices are found on the sound card (in the form of a a PCI or PCI Express adapter card) or they are provided from the computer's motherboard. For example, if the motherboard has a
built-in sound chip, on its external ports panel, the Line Out or Speaker Output
port is used for the speakers and headphones, and the Line In port is used for an external
CD player. In order to provide sound, an internal
CD/DVD drive would be connected by an internal cable
connected to an internal header on the motherboard. If the computer has an
internal or external sound card, the connections go to it.
If you want to use a video/graphics card with a HDMI (High
Definition Multimedia Interface) output that combines sound and video, you
have to cable the digital S/PDIF
surround-sound output from the sound card or motherboard into the graphics card to provide HDMI with both sound and picture so as
to take advantage of its full capabilities.
However, note that if you are only using a 2.1
stereo speakers for the sound output, you will only get two-channel simulated surround sound from them. A 5.1
or 7.1
surround-sound speaker system is required for actual surround sound.
If you plug an external USB
or FireWire sound card into a USB or FireWire port provided by a desktop or laptop PC, you should remove
any internal PCI sound card
(installed in a PCI slot of a desktop PC's motherboard). Windows will then stop installing its
device driver at startup.
Sound cards are available in two current motherboard standards - PCI and PCI Express .
The ISA standard has become
obsolete, but you can still purchase ISA
sound cards that fit into the ISA
slots on old motherboards, which provide an ISA slot for the use of what is known
as legacy (obsolete) hardware. All new sound
cards fit into a PCI or a PCI Express
x1 slot on the motherboard.
A PCI Express card, such as the Creative
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio sound card, uses a x1 PCI Express
slot on a motherboard that provides one or more of them.
The Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio sound card
can turn downloaded music into a personal concert, allows you to watch DVDs or
downloaded videos with full cinematic surround sound, and provides 3D audio and
EAX
effects in PC games.
The image below shows the slot arrangement on a typical
motherboard.
Remember that all new motherboards do not have any ISA slots. Also note that motherboards are coming out now that use
their own colour schemes for the slots instead of the standard black (ISA), white (PCI), and brown (AGP and PCI Express) colours. The slots can be
any colour.
Note that some motherboards have a PCI-X slot. PCI-X is the extended PCI standard, both of which have been
replaced by the PCI Express
standard. The 64-bit PCI-X bus slot
has double the maximum throughput of PCI, at a maximum speed of 3Gbps. Most PCI-X cards are backwards compatible
with PCI bus slots, which means that
you can install a PCI-X card in a PCI slot provided that it has the
correct voltage keying for the slot and that the area directly behind a PCI slot must have available space to
accommodate the additional length of PCI-X
cards.
The AGP graphics
standard is no longer used on most new motherboards, having been replaced by the PCI Express and PCI Express 2 standards. PCI
Express x1 slots are used for devices,
such as some graphics cards, sound cards, and Ethernet network cards.
The following diagram shows the PCI Express x16 and x1 slots, and the two standard PCI slots on a Gigabyte
GA-MA78GM-S2H motherboard.
Sound Recording System
Today, there are two main sources of sound recording system
-- Dolby Laboratories and Digital Theater Systems.
Dolby Laboratories formats include various versions of Dolby
Digital® and Dolby Pro Logic®.
Digital Theater Systems has created a range of DTS Digital
Theater Sound formats.
DTS encoding uses less compression than Dolby encoding. This
means that DTS sound is clearer and sharper.
However, DTS encoding is also less commonly used on DVDs and
television broadcasts.
Most DVDs have some Dolby sound options, and some also offer
choices for DTS sound.
Sound/Audio Editing Software
Audio editing software allows you to open, edit, manipulate,
transform and save digital audio sound files in various formats. Sound Forge
XP, Audacity, and CoolEdit are some
examples.
Audio editing software permits a pictorial view of the audio
waveform and then allows editing to be done by selecting specific points or
ranges to be selected on the waveform by the mouse and keyboard and choosing
editing functions from a menu.
Following are the common features:
Opening an existing sound file
Playing a file whole or selected portion.
Accurately positioning the playback head by specifying time
or by using zoom feature.
Copying and pasting portions of a file.
magnifying and zooming
mixing sound ,cross-fading and sounds effects
converting between mono and stereo sound
Changing the sampling rate and bit depth.
Recording of sound.
Multimedia Sound Formats
The MIDI Format
The MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a format
for sending music information between electronic music devices like
synthesizers and PC sound cards.
The MIDI format was developed in 1982 by the music industry.
The MIDI format is very flexible and can be used for everything from very
simple to real professional music making.
MIDI files do not contain sampled sound, but a set of
digital musical instructions (musical notes) that can be interpreted by your
PC's sound card.
The downside of MIDI is that it cannot record sounds (only
notes). Or, to put it another way: It cannot store songs, only tunes.
The upside of the MIDI format is that since it contains only
instructions (notes), MIDI files can be extremely small. The example above is
only 23K in size but it plays for nearly 5 minutes.
The MIDI format is supported by many different software
systems over a large range of platforms. MIDI files are supported by all the
most popular Internet browsers.
Sounds stored in the MIDI format have the extension .mid or
.midi.
The RealAudio Format
The RealAudio format was developed for the Internet by Real
Media. The format also supports video. The format allows streaming of audio
(on-line music, Internet radio) with low bandwidths. Because of the low
bandwidth priority, quality is often reduced.
Sounds stored in the RealAudio format have the extension .rm
or .ram.
The AU Format
The AU format is supported by many different software
systems over a large range of platforms. Sounds stored in the AU format
have the extension .au.
The AIFF Format
The AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) was developed by
Apple.
AIFF files are not cross-platform and the format is not
supported by all web browsers.
Sounds stored in the AIFF format have the extension .aif or
.aiff.
The SND Format
The SND (Sound) was developed by Apple.
SND files are not cross-platform and the format is not
supported by all web browsers.
Sounds stored in the SND format have the extension .snd.
The WAVE Format
The WAVE (waveform) format is developed by IBM and
Microsoft.
It is supported by all computers running Windows, and by all
the most popular web browsers. Sounds stored in the WAVE format have the
extension .wav. it is an expandable format which supports multiple data formats
and compression schemes. It is used for uncompress 8, 12 and 16-bit audio file
both mono and multi-channel at a variety of sampling rate including 44.1
kHz. Wav uses some lossless CODECs like
DPCM and ADPCM therefore professional user use this format for maximum audio
quality. WAV audio can also be edited and manipulated with relative ease using
software.
The MP3 Format (MPEG)
MP3 files are actually MPEG files. But the MPEG format was
originally developed for video by the Moving Pictures Experts Group. We can say
that MP3 files are the sound part of the MPEG video format.
MP3 is one of the most popular sound formats for music
recording. The MP3 encoding system combines good compression (small files) with
high quality. Expect all your future software systems to support it.
Sounds stored in the MP3 format have the extension .mp3, or
.mpga (for MPG Audio).
The file can be coded at a variety of bit rate, and provides
good result at bit rates of 96 kbps.
The Ogg Vorbis
The ogg vorbis is a completely free and open audio
compression project from the Xiph.org foundation, and is a part of their ogg
effort to create free and open multimedia and signal processing standards. This
format is popular among open source communities and they argue that due to its
higher fidelity and completely free nature it is a natural replacement for the
MP3 format. Ogg vorbis has replaced as the de facto standard audio CODEC, with
many newer video games titles employing ogg vorbis as opposed to MP3.
Vorbis uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT)
for converting the sound data from time domain to frequency domain and back.
Given 44.1 kHz stereo input, the current encoder will produce output from 45 to
500 kbps depending on specified quality setting.
MP4
Mp4's or rather the term mpeg-4 was developed by ISO
(International Organization for Standardization). It is a format specific for
multimedia, the most common uses are for digital audio and video, and it is a
certain type of container that holds all this information. It can contain other
data such as subtitles and still images. You should also note that mpeg-4 is
identical to QuickTime MOV format. In fact any kind of data can be inserted
into MP4.
MP4 is getting more and more popular. In fact, it is now very
popular to people who use the latest iPod players and PSP owners. This type of
file compression is now providing a way to store DVD quality movies at a very
small size. This type of file compression is known as the MPEG4 format.
In addition, those other extensions have been used for MP4’s,
(which is audio from an iTunes store), to m4a (which includes such things as
chapter markers, images, and hyperlinks). In addition, of course m4b (which has
the ability to work with IPODs, where m4a files cannot. So most of the time
when you find a file with the extension of mp4 or m4v, then they have both the
audio and video aspects.
MP4 can contain codec’s as well.
MP4 Can include and contain audio, video and also still images
(like pictures), and all kinds of other data, making it a diverse file to use.
MP4 can contain other types of competing technology e.g. ogg,
vob, ratdvd, divx media format, Matroska (mkv) and others to name a few.
MP4 works with variety of software and hardware such as in
software: Amarok, Banshee music player, 3ivx, foobar2000, GOM player, iTunes,
Media player classic, QuickTime player, Realplayer, VLC media player, and so
forth, as for hardware: Kiss 1600, Apple iPod, PSP (playstation portable),
Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Nokia.
Therefore, to answer the question what MP4 is, well, it is
technology at its best!
Indeed, the MP4 technology can now make entertainment much
more convenient than ever before. So, next time you think of downloading your
favorite movies to your computer to transfer to your portable multimedia
device, try thinking of MP4. Just make sure that your multimedia devices are
capable of reading the MP4 format.
What Format To Use?
The WAVE format is one of the most popular sound format on
the Internet, and it is supported by all popular browsers. If you want recorded
sound (music or speech) to be available to all your visitors, you should use
the WAVE format.
The MP3 format is the new and upcoming format for recorded
music. If your website is about recorded music, the MP3 format is the choice of
the future.
Principles of Animation:
By definition, animation is the act of making something come
alive. Visual effects such as wipes, fades, zooms and dissolves are a simple
form of animation. In animation a series of images are changed very slightly
and very rapidly, one after the other, giving visual illusion of movement.
We often think of animation as full-length Disney movies and
Saturday morning carton in which illustrated heroes and villains and especially
animal character come to life.
Television programs, movies and videos are part of out daily
lives.
Usages of Animation
Animation plays a huge role in entertainment and provides
action and realism.
Animation plays a huge role in education and training
programs it provides visualization and demonstration.
The perception of motion in an animation is an illusion. The
move that we see is like a movie, made up of many still images, each it in its
own frame. Movies on video run at about 30 frames per second but computer
animations can be effective at 12 to 15 fps anything less result in a jerky
motion, as the eye detects the changes from one frame to the next.
Basic of Animation
Animation is of normally two types 2d and 3d.
2-d animation:
There are two types of 2-d animation , cel and path.
Cel animation is based on the changes that occur from one
frame to another to give the illusion of movement. Cel comes the word celluloid
(a transparent sheet material) which was first used to draw the images and
place them on a stationary background. In cel animation background remains
stationary whereas object changes it position from frame to frame. You can have
more than one object move against a fixed background.
Path animation moves an object along a predetermined path on
the screen. The path could be a straight line or it could include any number of
curves. Often the object does not change, although it might be resized or
reshaped. Some program allows motion tweening and shape tweening for this
purpose.
3-d animation:
3-d animation is the foundation upon which many multimedia
CD games and adventure titles are constructed. Top-selling products such as
Myst and 7th Guest use 3-d animation to bring the user into the
setting and make him or her seem a part of the action. Whether opening doors,
climbing stairs, or exploring mysterious rooms, the user is participant, not a
spectator. Create 3-d animation is considerably more complex than 2-d animation
and involves three steps:
Modeling is the
process of create 3-d objects and scenes. Modeling involves drawing various
views of an object (top, side, cross-section) by setting points on a grid.
These views are used to define the object’s shape.
Animation step
involves defining the object’s motion and how the lighting and view changes
during the animation.
Rendering is the
final step in creating 3-d animation and involves giving objects attributes
such as colors, surface textures, and degree of transparency. During testing
animators use quicker, lower-resolution rendering process then they use a
slower, higher quality process for the finished animation. Strata Pro 3D,
Swiver 3D and 3D Studio are examples of 3d animation program.
Animation on the web:
Incorporating animation is an excellent way to increase the
appeal of a web site and help ensure return visits. Animations can be as simple
as blinking text, marquee like scrolling headlines, rotation of logos, and
other 2d figure performing action or as complex as 3-d animation.
Animated text: using the html <blink> command
you can cause text to flash on and off. Another way to animate text is by using
a scrolling or marquee-like action to scroll text or to use java-script to make
text animate.
Animated GIF: the GIF graphics file format is a
standard for the web. Gif are still images that can be combined to create an
animation. A program called gif builder allows you to create an animation by
displaying a series of gif files. It allows adjusting the speed of the
animation and how many times it is played.
Director Movie: a director animation can be played
using the shockwave plug-in. this is a way to create somewhat sophisticated
animations and have them delivered via the web. Macromedia flash and QuickTime
are also useful for animation in the web.
3-D environments: the computer language used to
create 3-d environments on the web that allow the user to move through a space
or explore an object is called virtual reality modeling language (VRML). VRML
technology is useful in creating games and educational titles. A browser that
supports VRML or a plug-in is required to display VRML applications.
Limits and features of Web Animation/Design issues of web
animation
Originally www was designed as a simple method for
delivering text and graphics.
Make you web pages look good on minimal system, now layout
should be for 800x600 to 1024x768 resolutions.
Transferring of multimedia file of size 1MB can take approx.
5 minutes on slow internet connection. Therefore keeping file size small and
using file compression technique for that is useful.
Limit animated gifs to small images, and use a more capable plug-in for animations over larger areas.
Limit animated gifs to small images, and use a more capable plug-in for animations over larger areas.
Give the user control over whether or not to display
animation in web page. The icon loads much faster than animation file therefore
icon can be displayed and clicking on some button or link animation can be
displayed.
Allow the user to be active while graphic images or
animation is being displayed. A graphic or animation can be displayed in stages
(streaming) while the user is reading text, scrolling a page, or selecting a
button hyperlinked to another web page.
Provide feedback to the user using timer or progress bar how
much of graphics or animation has been downloaded. It helps the user decide
whether or not to continue with the download and/or complete another task while
waiting for the download to finish.
User may not have a plug-in or helper application to play an
animation file; in this case a series of images can be displayed or button with
text can be given informing what kind of plug-in or helper application is
required to play the animation.
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