Principles of Digital Audio and Video

Arch Luther is president of Arch Luther Associates, a DVI and computer multimedia consultant company. He is the author of four books, holds 32 patents, and has won the SMPTE David Sarnoff Gold Medal and the RCA David Sarnoff Gold Medal for outstanding Technical Achievement. A Life Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the SMPTE, Mr. Luther holds a B.S.E.E. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

• Introduction: What is Multimedia? Interactivity. Creating Multimedia. Uses of Multimedia. Equipment and Software for Multimedia: Data Demands of Multimedia. Hardware for Multimedia. The Multimedia PC. Special Multimedia Hardware. Additional Hardware for Authoring. Software for Multimedia. Multimedia Authoring Workstation. Objectives for Multimedia: Typical Multimedia Projects. Understanding the User. Multimedia for Selling. Multimedia for Teaching. Multimedia for Information Delivery. Multimedia Used for Entertainment. The Content. Writing Down Objectives. Video Camcorder Selling Application. Multimedia Architectures: Building Blocks. Topology. Multimedia Presentations: Interactivity in Presentations. Steps of a Presentation. Using an Authoring Program: What Does an Authoring System Do? Programming in Authoring Systems. Choosing an Authoring System. Description of an Authoring System. User Interfaces: Types of Multimedia User Interfaces. User Task Analysis. Consistency. Simplicity. Metaphors. User Control. The Television-Style Interface -- Touch Screens. Selection Metaphors. Immediate Feedback. Windowing Environments. Designing an Application's Style: The Ingredients of Good Style. The Television Look or Style. The Computer Look or Style. Screen Design. Elements of Aural Style. Style for A Business Presentation. Style for a Selling Application. Style in a Training Application. Style Maintenance. Multimedia Assets: Asset Files. Audio Assets. MIDI. The DVI.AVS File Format. Motion Video Assets. Image Assets. Animation Assets. Graphics and Text Assets. Data Assets. Using the Assets. Producing Your Own Audio: Equipment for Audio Capture and Processing. Basics of Audio Production. Achieving Audio-Video Synchronization. Equipment Setup. Audio Production Tips. Digital Audio Capture. Producing Your Own Still Images: DVI Images. File Format Conversion. Image Compression. Equipment for Digitizing Images. Image Processing. Image Scanners. Images from Paint Programs. Producing Your Own Motion Video: Characteristics of Motion Video. Motion Video Compression. Video Production. Video Postproduction. Planning for Video. The Shoot. Using RTV Compression. Using PLV Compression. Animation: Frame Animation. Cel Animation. Animation with Graphics. Animated Transitions. Completing an Application: the Planning Process. Creating the Pets Application. Planning for the Camcorder Application. The Soldering Training Application. Distributing Your Application. Where Do We Go from Here?: Ingredients of a Forecast. Now for the Forecast. Appendix A: Multimedia Hardware. Appendix B: Multimedia Software. Glossary