Product Description

Designed as the foundation text in multimedia, this book covers basic principles of each media type – text, graphics, audio, animation and video – describing their digitization and progressing onto issues that arise when media are combined; interaction provided by scripting and multimedia distributed over networks – principally the web.
This edition completely updates content to address the XHTML standard and to add appropriate weight to XML content. There will be a web/Flash emphasis and proper coverage of MPEG4 and DVD in line with current technology trends.
∗ New edition of a best–selling resource – now in FULL COLOUR throughout
∗ Covers the basic principles of each media type–– text, graphics, audio, animation, and video
∗ Updated content addresses the XHTML standard and adds appropriate weight to XML coverage
∗ Includes a Web/Flash emphasis and thorough coverage of MPEG4 and DVD in line with current technology trends

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #299545 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 698 pages

Review
"This is a core text for undergraduate and masters courses in multimedia." (Digital Arts, October 2007)

Review
"This is a core text for undergraduate and masters courses in multimedia." (Digital Arts, October 2007)

From the Back Cover

Text, images, sound, video and animation can all be represented in digital form. When two or more of these digital media are combined into an integrated whole, with the added element of interactivity provided by computer systems, we have multimedia.

Digital Multimedia is a core text for undergraduate and masters courses in multimedia. It combines a broad and deep account of technology with an inside understanding of multimedia content and its practical applications. Coverage begins with the nature of multimedia, including the cultural and social context, before examining hardware and software requirements for its creation and delivery. There are chapters devoted to each media type, detailing how it is represented in digital form and what demands are placed on computer systems. Later chapters cover design principles and accessibility, XML, SMIL and SVG, creating interaction through scripting and networking media. There are end–of–chapter exercises as well as suggestions for substantial projects and a detailed glossary of terms.

A prologue by Professor Brent MacGregor of Edinburgh College of Art examines the creative challenge presented by these new media.

Visit the booksite at: www.digitalmultimedia.org for examples, product reviews, a collection of multimedia related Web links, and more.

Customer Reviews

Very good, lots of detail - well written and attractive.
You might suppose that a book which covers such a wide subject would have to be rather cursory on any particular topic. Well, it could be like that, but it isn't like that. Each chapter (vector graphics, colour, hypertext, animation etc.) is written very carefully, with a wealth of detail.

The format is clear and attractive, with asides and technical passages set in a smaller font which makes it easily digestible, even when describing intricacies - "the following description of character code standards is necessarily somewhat dry", we are warned - actually I liked this bit a lot.

The illustrations are excellent, not only when showing techniques for image manipulation and 3D graphics, but also to help clarify other topics like audio compression, colour management, font selection, synchronised multimedia etc. There's also a lot of good advice on aspects of presentation and style, but delivered gently, with a touch of humour. The book itself shows that the authors know what they are talking about.

When necessary, attention is drawn to the constraints that might limit what can be achieved with current hardware, and to the complexities of the numerous sound and video formats. The section on video standards and compression techniques is very informative here.

I was surprised by how much this book could tell me even in areas that I thought I already knew well. It will be valuable as a course text and also as a reference work.

Only place to find SMIL
The only published book in which SMIL information has been written (or of those I could find). This is a great book for a wide variety of digital multimedia subjects from typography, graphic design, SMIL, html, xml and sound. Written like a college text book, it has broad reach and appears very good for multimedia proffessionals who need info on new technologies but don't speak full-on geek techie (aka those who dont like to learn from white papers or W3C specification lists). And it does exactly what it says it does on the tin...

Great Book
This book has really helped me with my studies so far and i have only had it a couple of weeks. It is really detailed, maybe a bit too detailed but i am at uni so this amount of detail is needed i suppose. I recommend this book to anyone doing a practical media related subject.