Introduction to Multimedia Computing and Internet Technology

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Introduction to Multimedia Computing and Internet
Technology

• Multimedia Builder

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Introduction

• Multimedia Builder is an object based environment
  with the concept of functional pages
• On loading up MMB you are presented with the
  application designer menu and a blank screen

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MMB Projects

• A project is the word used within MMB to mean the
  system being developed. You can configure
  settings for the system as a whole.
• Selecting the General Settings Option from the
  project menu brings up a screen where you can set
  attributes such as window size and title which
  will stand for the whole project.
• The run option is available through the project
  menu. You will need to use this frequently to
  test your system. It also has an icon similar to
  play on a tape deck.
• The file menu allows the project file to be saved
  or printed. These options are also available as
  icons.

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Pages and Screens

• A project may be divided into a number of pages.
•  
• The word screen is not used as such in MMB.
  Several screens (states) can be generated as new
  windows from one page. Using multiple pages makes
  the building of the program easier and more
  logical to understand and maintain.
•  
• Multimedia Builder has two special pages that
  provide added functions to your project. Master
  Page - objects on this page will show on all
  pages under that pages objects.
• Master Top Layer - objects on this page will show
  on all pages over that pages objects
•  

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Pages and Screens contd

• From the page menu, the Page Manager option
  which allows pages to be added, ordered, deleted,
  copied etc can be chosen. By selecting the
  Properties option from the page menu, it is
  possible to set properties for each page

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Objects

• MMB has an object based application designer. A
  page is used to contain objects and their
  functions arranged to satisfy a requirement. The
  next screen is the application designer menu for
  MMB.

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Objects
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The menu system

• The MMB application designer has a Microsoft like
  menu system.
• It has a toolbar called Tools which can be
  docked in convenient areas of the screen.
• By positioning the mouse on an object, text
  describing the object shows. Objects may be
  selected from the object menu or from the
  toolbar.
• Objects may be placed on a page and positioned
  and resized as required. Once positioned, double
  clicking on the object causes a box to appear
  allowing properties for that object to be
  changed.

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Menu Systems and Navigation

• Two types of button are available in the MMB
  designer. These are the Text Button and the
  Bitmap Button. They can be selected from the
  tools toolbar and sized and positioned on the
  required page.
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• Text button
• Bitmap button

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Text Buttons

• Once a text button has been positioned and sized,
  you can double click on the object to get to the
  properties box. Here you can change the text, the
  colour of the button and the text and the font.
  Also, the button can appear as a button or just
  as menu text.
•  
• The Actions frame is found on the properties
  boxes for all objects. The actions can be shown
  by positioning the mouse over the icon.
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Bitmap Buttons

• To make a button, you need three images
• The normal Image
• The Highlighted image if mouse is moved over the
  button
• The Click Image if the mouse is clicked on the
  button.
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• Bitmap buttons can be created by selecting the
  bitmap button from the tools. Double clicking
  brings up the properties window shown below.

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Auto-Button

• This allows you to create a bitmap button only
  from one (Normal) image. The button will have
  look of Windows button with your image. You
  need to load only the Normal Image.
•  You can change the relative position of the
  highlight and click image to the normal image To
  get soft delightful effect or if the images dont
  have the same origin.
•  The Library frame enables you to save your
  buttons and make your own library for easy access
  later.
•  The actions available are the same as those
  shown for the text button.

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Hotspots

• A hot spot is an active object. It is invisible
  and can be drawn around a word, on the image etc.
  
• Hot spots are squares/rectangles and so if the
  image has a complex shape, compromises will need
  to be made.
• Double clicking brings up the properties. Among
  other things, the type of cursor which appears
  when the mouse runs over the hot spot can be
  chosen.
• The user can click or move the mouse to make
  something happen. Actions available are as above.
  Hot spots are invisible when the system runs but
  in the designer they are seen as areas with
  dashed borders.

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Background Graphics

• The background graphics are very important in
  defining the look and feel of the system.
• Redrawing the background is much faster than any
  other objects which means that many graphics can
  be added to form the background without affecting
  the usability.
• A page can have a solid background defined by a
  colour. It can also be a bitmap background.To
  load a Bitmap as a background, select the
  Background option from the page menu. From here
  select the Load Image button. If the image is
  smaller than the page size choose Tile to tile
  the image.

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Background Music

• It is possible to play different background music
  on each page by adding a sound file through the
  properties window.
• The music can play across page boundaries.
• If the next page has no background music, the
  last one will continue playing. Music can be
  looped.

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Animation

• The script below shows two rectangle objects
  shown one after the other.
• for i0 to 100
• Show("Rectangle1")
• Refresh()
• Pause("60")
• Hide("Rectangle1")
• Refresh()
• Pause("60")
• Show("Rectangle2")
• Refresh()
• Pause("60")
• Hide("Rectangle2")
• Refresh()
• Pause("60")
• next i

• The times given in brackets after the pause
  statements are in milliseconds. The names of the
  rectangle objects are Rectangle, Rectangle1 and
  Rectangle2.
• The screen is refreshed after each change to show
  the new display. The for loop goes from 0 to 100
  but there is provision for infinite loops from 0
  to infinity.

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Supported file formats - Sound

• Moving the mouse over the object or clicking on
  the object can trigger a sound action.
• The supported files are .WAV files.
• Wave files are external files and are not
  included in the MBD file. You have to provide the
  relative paths to the .WAV files. See comments in
  External Commands
• The On Click section can play instead of a Wave
  file the Audio track from Audio CD or Mixed-mode
  CD.
• To use this function you will write instead of
  wave file name CD Audio command

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Working with sound

• Moving the mouse over the object or clicking on
  the object can trigger a sound action.
• The supported files are .WAV files.
• Wave files are external files and are not
  included in the MBD file. You have to provide the
  relative paths to the .WAV files.

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Working with sound contd

• To use this function you will write instead of
  wave file name CD Audio command.
• Commands
• CDTrackNumber - will play desired track number.
  Note, if youre using Mixed mode audio the audio
  track will starts from 2.
• (example CD2)
• CDSTOP - Stop playing
• CDPLAY - Start Playing use after CDPAUSE or
  CDSTOP
• CDFW - Play next track
• CDBW - Play previous track
• CDPLP - Play or Pause (the same action can play
  or pause playing)

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Supported file formats - Video

• This dialog imports the AVI file and allows you
  to grab the frame to represent video on the
  screen if this is not playing - the Still Image.
• Just play or skip to the frame you would like to
  use as a still image and press OK.
• .

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Video Buttons

• Wizard can insert video buttons for you.
• After you create a video object, select it and
  click on wizard. Select Create video controls.
• This will create a few bitmap buttons attached to
  this video object.
• Click on an item to get more information
• AVI File.
• Hide Still Screen.
• Sound.
• Speed.
• Loop.
• Save Still.
• Load New.
• MMB 1998-2000

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MPEG and VideoDisc support.

• MPEG and VideoDisc support.
• Remember this is done by MCI build-in in
  windows and using directly device drivers.
  Since many user scan have many device drivers
  it could happen that some users might not be able
  to play MPEG or VIDEO disc if they dont have
  driver for it.
• Also you might try to load MOV (Quick Time) video
  as well using Video Object. Just type in the Open
  dialog box .mov and press enter. Again, drivers
  for this format might not be present on your
  system
• The AVI is the safest format to use in Windows as
  it is supported in any versions of Windows.