1.Define Multimedia? What are the Characteristics of multimedia and illustrate i t's application?

Ans: Multimedia is more than one concurrent presentation medium (for example, on CD-R OM or a Web site). Although still images are a different medium than text, multimedia is typically used to mean the combination of text, sound, and/or motion video. Some people might say that the addition of animated images (for example, animated GIF on the Web) produces multimedia, but it has typically meant one of the following: * Text and sound * Text, sound, and still or animated graphic images * Text, sound, and video images * Video and sound * Multiple display areas, images, or presentations presented concurrently * In live situations, the use of a speaker or actors and "props" together wi th sound, images, and motion video characteristics of multimedia: Multimedia presentations may be viewed by person on stage, projected, tr ansmitted, or played locally with a media player. A broadcast may be a live or recorded multim edia presentation. Broadcasts and recordings can be either analog or digital electronic media techn ology. Digital online multimedia may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming multimedia may be live or on-demand. Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with spec ial effects, with multiple users in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game system, or simul ator. The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to en hance the users' experience, for example to make it easier and faster to convey information. Or i n entertainment or art, to transcend everyday experience. Application: 1.Creative industries: Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from fine a rts, to entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software services provided for any of the industries listed below. 2.Commercial uses: Much of the electronic old and new media used by commercial artists is multimedi a. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in advertising. 3.Entertainment and fine arts: In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especiall y to develop special effects in movies and animations. Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are software programs available eithe r as CD-ROMs or online. Some video games also use multimedia features. Multimedia applications that allo w users to actively participate instead of

just sitting by as passive recipients of information are called Interactive Mult imedia. In the Arts there are multimedia artists, whose minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way incorporates interaction with the viewer. 4.Education: In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses (pop ularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopedia and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go throu gh a series of presentations, text about a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various informati on formats. 5.Engineering: Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training. Multimedia for software int erfaces are often done as a collaboration between creative professionals and software en gineers. ================================================================================ ========================================================= 2.What are the various media that are incorporated in multimedia? Explain each o f them briely. Ans: (i) Text Inclusion of textual information in multimedia is the basic step towards develop ment of multimedia software. Text can be of any type, may be a word, a single line, or a paragraph. The textu al data for multimedia can be developed using any text editor. However to give special effects, one needs graphics software which supports this kind of job. Even one can use any of the most popular word processing software to create text ual data for inclusion in multimedia. The text can have different type, size, color and style to suit the professional requirement of the multimedia software.

(ii) Graphics Another interesting element in multimedia is graphics. As a matter of fact, taking into consideration the human nature, a subject is more explained with som e sort of pictorial/graphical representation, rather than as a large chunk of text. This also helps to develop a clean multime dia screen, whereas use of large amount of text in a screen make it dull in presentation. (iii) Animation Moving images have an overpowering effect on the human peripheral vision. Follow ings are few points for its popularity. Showing continuity in transitions: Animation is a set of static state, related to each other with transition. When something has two or more states, then changes between states will be much

easier for users to understand if the transitions are animated instead of being instantane ous. An animated transition allows the user to track the mapping between different s ubparts through the perceptual system instead of having to involve the cognitive system to deduce the mappings. Indicating dimensionality in transitions: Sometimes opposite animated transitions can be used to indicate movement back and forth along some navigational dimension. One example used in several us er interfaces is the use of zooming to indicate that a new object is "grown" from a previous o ne (e.g., a detailed view or property list opened by clicking on an icon) or that an object is closed or minimized to a smaller repre sentation. Zooming out from the small object to the enlargement is a navigational dimension and zooming in again as t he enlargement is closed down is the opposite direction along that dimension.

Illustrating change over time: Since animation is a time-varying display, it provides a one-to-one mapping to p henomena that change over time. For example, deforestation of the rain forest can be illustrated by showing a m ap with an animation of the covered area changing over time.

Multiplexing the display: Animation can be used to show multiple information objects in the same space. A typical example is client-side imagemaps with explanations that pop up as the user moves the cursor over the various hypertext anchors.

Enriching graphical representations: Some types of information are easier to visualize with movement than with still pictures. Consider, for example, how to visualize the tool used to remove pixels in a graphics appl ication.

Visualizing three-dimensional structures: As you know the computer screen is two-dimensional. Hence users can never get a full understanding of a three-dimensional structure by a single illustration, no matter how well designed. Animation can b e used to emphasize the three-dimensional nature of objects and make it easier for users to visualize their spatial struct ure. ========================================== 3.Differentiate between BMP, JPG, GIF and TI image file formats mentioning where each is used. Ans:

File Format Explanation PICT - A widely used format compatible with most Macintosh JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group - a format that compresses files and let s you choose compression versus quality TIFF - Tagged Image File Format - a widely used format compatible with both Maci ntosh and Windows systems Windows BMP - A format commonly used on MS-DOS and MS-Windows computers GIF - Graphics Interchange Format - a format used on the Internet, GIF supports only 256 colours or grays ==================================================================== 4. What is meant by continuous tonc? half-tone and bi-tone images? Ans: A continuous tone image is one where each color at any point in the image is rep roduced as a single tone, and not as discrete halftones, such as one single color for monochromatic prints , or a combination of halftones for color prints. The most common continuous tone images are digital photographs. Film is a halfto ne medium. Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone imagery th rough the use of dots, varying either in size, in shape or in spacing.[1] "Halftone" can also be used t o refer specifically to the image that is produced by this process. Where continuous tone imagery contains an infinite range of colors or greys, the halftone process reduces visual reproductions to a binary image that is prin ted with only one color of ink. This binary reproduction relies on a basic optical illusion that these tiny halftone dots are blended into smooth tones by the human eye. At a microscopic l evel, developed black-and-white photographic film also consists of only two colors, an d not an infinite range of continuous tones. ================================================================== 5.How is the appearance of an image on a monitor dependent on monitor resolution and monitor size? Ans: The display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number o f distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlle d by all different factors in cathode ray tube (CRT), flat panel or projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel) arrays. It is usually quoted as width height, with the units in pixels: for example, "1024 768" means the width is 1024 pixels and the height is 768 pixels. This example would normally be spoken as "ten twenty-four by seven sixty-eight" or "ten twenty-four by seven six eight". One use of the term display resolution applies to fixed-pixel-array displays such as plasma display panels (PDPs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), digital light processing (DLP) projectors, or si milar technologies, and is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display (e.g., 19

20 1080). A consequence of having a fixed-grid display is that, for multi-format video in puts, all displays need a "scaling engine" (a digital video processor that includes a memory array) to match the incoming picture format to the display. ============================================= 6. What is the unit for measuring loudness of sound and discuss the fundamental characteristics of sound. There are two important characteristics of sound or noise - frequency and loudne ss. Sound is the quickly varying pressure wave travelling through a medium. When sou nd travels through air, the atmospheric pressure varies periodically. The number of pressure variations per second is called the frequency of sound, and is measured in Hertz (Hz) which is defined as cycles per second. The higher the frequency, the more high-pitched a sound is perceived. The sounds produced by drums have much lower frequencies than those produced by a whistle, as shown in the following diagrams. Please click on the demo button to hear thei r sounds and the difference in pitch. Another property of sound or noise is its loudness. A loud noise usually has a larger pressure variation and a weak one has smaller pressure variation. Pressur e and pressure variations are expressed in Pascal, abbreviated as Pa, which is defined as N/m2 (Newton per square metre). Human ear can perceive a very wide range of sound pressure. The softest sound a normal human ear can detect has a pressure variation of 20 m icro Pascals, abbreviated as Pa, which is 20 x 10-6 Pa ("20 millionth of a Pascal") and is call ed the Threshold of Hearing.

==================================================================== 7. What is a synthesizer? what are its characteristics and types? A sound synthesizer (often abbreviated as "synthesizer" or "synth") is an electr onic instrument capable of producing a wide range of sounds. Synthesizers may either imitate other instrume nts ("imitative synthesis") or generate new timbres. They can be played (controlled) via a variety of differ ent input devices (including keyboards, music sequencers and instrument controllers). Synthesizers generate electric si gnals (waveforms), and can finally be converted to sound through the loudspeakers or headphones. Types of Synthesizers There are three principal synthesizer types, namely analog synthesizers, digita l synthesizers and software synthesizers. Each synthesizer is classified according to the method of sound production. Sy nthesizers that use a combination of all these three are also available in today s market. Such synthesizers are called hy brid synthesizers. Contemporary synthesizers vary considerably in their operating method, capability, size and outlook, and i

n most of the synthesizers the output must be passed through an external amplifier and loudspeakers to convert it into sound. ================================== 8.What is MIDI and what is its utility? The primary functions of MIDI include communicating event messages about musical notation, pitch, velocity, control signals for parameters (such as volume, vibrato, audio panning, cues, an d clock signals (to set and synchronize tempo) between multiple devices; these complete a signal chain and produce audible sound from a sound source. For users, MIDI enables a single player to so und as though they are playing two or more instruments simultaneously. As an electronic protocol, it is notable for its widespread adoption throughout the music industry. ==================================== 9. What is meant by frames and frame rate in connection with montion video? Frame rate (also known as frame frequency) is the frequency (rate) at which an i maging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras , and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS), and is also expressed in progressive scan monitors as hertz (Hz). ============================== 10. What is meant by luminance and chrominance? Give their quantitative expressi ons. Luminance is a photometric measure of the luminous intensity per unit area of li ght travelling in a given direction. It describes the amount of light that passes through or is emitted from a parti cular area, and falls within a given solid angle. The SI unit for luminance is candela per square metre (cd/m2). A non-SI term fo r the same unit is the "nit". The CGS unit of luminance is the stilb, which is equal to one candela per square centimetre or 10 kcd/m2. Chrominance (chroma or C for short) is the signal used in video systems to conve y the color information of the picture, separately from the accompanying luma signal (or Y for short). Chrominance is us ually represented as two color-difference components: U = B' - Y' (blue - luma) and V = R' - Y' (red - luma). Each of thes e difference components may have scale factors and offsets applied to it, as specified by the applicable video standard. ================================================== 11. What advantages does the computer provide over traditional animation practie es? Computer animation is the art of creating moving images via the use of computers . It is a subfield of computer graphics and animation. Increasingly it is created by means of 3D computer graphics, though 2D computer graphics are still widely used for stylistic, low bandwidth, and faster real-time rendering needs. Sometimes the target of the animation is the computer itself, but sometimes the target is another medium, such as film. It is also referred to as CGI (Computer-generated imagery or computer-generated

imaging), especially when used in films. Virtual entities may contain and be controlled by assorted attributes, such as t ransform values (location, orientation, and scale) stored in an object's transfo rmation matrix. Animation is the change of an attribute over time. Multiple meth ods of achieving animation exist; the rudimentary form is based on the creation and editing of keyframes, each storing a value at a given time, per attribute to be animated. The 2D/3D graphics software will interpolate between keyframes, cr eating an editable curve of a value mapped over time, resulting in animation. Ot her methods of animation include procedural and expression-based techniques: the former consolidates related elements of animated entities into sets of attribut es, useful for creating particle effects and crowd simulations; the latter allow s an evaluated result returned from a user-defined logical expression, coupled w ith mathematics, to automate animation in a predictable way (convenient for cont rolling bone behavior beyond what a hierarchy offers in skeletal system set up). ===================== 12. What is animation and what are its different types? Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistenc e of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video p rogram, although there are other methods. Computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques, the unifying factor bein g that the animation is created digitally on a computer. This animation takes less time than previous traditional animation. [edit] 2D animation 2D animation figures are created and/or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap g raphics or created and edited using 2D vector graphics. This includes automated computerized versions of traditional animation techniqu es such as of, interpolated morphing, onion skinning and interpolated rotoscopin g. 2D animation has many applications, including analog computer animation, Flash a nimation and PowerPoint animation. Cinemagraphs are still photographs in the form of an animated GIF file of which part is animated. [edit] 3D animation 3D animation is digitally modeled and manipulated by an animator. To manipulate a mesh, it is given a digital skeletal structure that can be used to control the mesh. This process is called rigging. Various other techniques can be applied, such as mathematical functions (ex. gravity, particle simulations), simulated fur or hair, effects such as fire and water and the use of motion cap ture to name but a few, these techniques fall under the category of 3D dynamics. Well-made 3D animation s can be difficult to distinguish from live action and are commonly used as visual effects for recent movies. Toy Story (1995, USA) is the first feature-length film to be created and rendered entirely using 3D graphics. ======================================== 13. What is meant by compression and CODEC? A video codec is a device or software that enables video compression or decompre ssion for digital video. The compression usually employs lossy data compression.

Historically, video was stored as an analog signal on magnetic tape. Around the time when the compact disc entered the market as a digital-format rep lacement for analog audio, it became feasible to also begin storing and using video in digital form, and a variety of such technologies began to emerge. Audio and video call for customized methods of compression. Engineers and mathem aticians have tried a number of solutions for tackling this problem. There is a complex balance between the video quality, the quantity of the data n eeded to represent it (also known as the bit rate), the complexity of the encodi ng and decoding algorithms, robustness to data losses and errors, ease of editin g, random access, the state of the art of compression algorithm design, end-to-e nd delay, and a number of other factors. ================================= 14. Distinguish between the following compression techniques: a. Lossy Compression and Lossless Compression b. Symmetrical Compression and Asymmetrical Compression a.Lossless vs. lossy compression The advantage of lossy methods over lossless methods is that in some cases a los sy method can produce a much smaller compressed file than any known lossless met hod, while still meeting the requirements of the application. Lossy methods are most often used for compressing sound, images or videos. The compression ratio (that is, the size of the compressed file compared to that of the uncompressed file) of lossy video codecs are nearly always far superior to those of the audio and still-image equivalents. Au dio can be compressed at 10:1 with no noticeable loss of quality, video can be compressed immensely with little visible quality loss, eg 300:1. Lo ssily compressed still images are often compressed to 1/10th their original size, as with audio, but the quality loss is more noticeable, especiall y on closer inspection. When a user acquires a lossily-compressed file, (for example, to reduce download -time) the retrieved file can be quite different from the original at the bit le vel while being indistinguishable to the human ear or eye for most practical pur poses. Many methods focus on the idiosyncrasies of the human anatomy, taking int o account, for example, that the human eye can see only certain frequencies of l ight. The psycho-acoustic model describes how sound can be highly compressed wit hout degrading the perceived quality of the sound. Flaws caused by lossy compres sion that are noticeable to the human eye or ear are known as compression artifa cts. Lossless compression algorithms usually exploit statistical redundancy in such a way as to represent the sender's data more concisely, but nevertheless perfectl y. Lossless compression is possible because most real-world data has statistical redundancy. For example, in English text, the letter 'e' is much more common th an the letter 'z', and the probability that the letter 'q' will be followed by t he letter 'z' is very small. Another kind of compression, called lossy data compression, is possible if some loss of fidelity is acceptable. For example, a person viewing a picture or telev ision video scene might not notice if some of its finest details are removed or not represented perfectly. Similarly, two clips of audio may be perceived as the same to a listener even though one is missing details found in the other. Lossy data compression algorithms introduce relatively minor differences and represen t the picture, video, or audio using fewer bits.

Lossless compression schemes are reversible so that the original data can be rec onstructed, while lossy schemes accept some loss of data in order to achieve hig her compression. However, lossless data compression algorithms will always fail to compress some files; indeed, any compression algorithm will necessarily fail to compress any data containing no discernible patterns. Attempts to compress da ta that has been compressed already will therefore usually result in an expansio n, as will attempts to compress encrypted data. b. symmetric compression

A data compression technique that takes about the same amount of time to compres s as it does to decompress. asymmetric compression A data compression technique that typically takes more time to compress than it does to decompress. Some asymmetric compression methods take longer to decompres s, which would be suited for backup files that are constantly being compressed a nd rarely decompressed. ================================================= 15. Explain how data is compressed using the following compression techniques: a. Huffman Encoding Scheme b. Arithmetic Coding Scheme Huffman Encoding This method is named after D.A. Huffman, who developed the procedure in the 1950 s. Figure 27-2 shows a histogram of the byte values from a large ASCII file. More than 96% of this file consists of only 31 characters: the lower case letter s, the space, the comma, the period, and the carriage return. This observation can be used to make an appropriate compression scheme for this file. To start, we will assign each of these 31 common characters a five bit binary code: 00000 = "a", 00001 = "b", 00010 = "c", etc. This allows 96% of the file to be reduced in size by 5/8. The last of the five b it codes, 11111, will be a flag indicating that the character being transmitted is not one of the 31 common characters. The next eight bits in the file indicate what the character is, according to the standard ASCII assignment. This results in 4% of the characters in the input file requiring 5+8=13 bits. T he idea is to assign frequently used characters fewer bits, Arithmetic coding - integer implementation Main features * statistic compression method * two-pass compression method * semi-adaptive compression method * symetric compression method * The whole stream of input symbols is replaced with a single floating point output number [0,1). * The infinite floating point number is replaced by sequence of integers.

Time and space complexities Time complexity of the algorithm: O(|S|+n) Space complexity of the algorithm: O(|S|) Memory complexity depends on a number of different input symbols, at maximum O(n ), where n is length of a message. Time complexity depends on a number of differ ent input symbols and length of a message. So n+n*|S|, where |S| is a number of different input symbols, at maximum O(n*|S|). ===========================================