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Unit 9: Working with Animation

• authoring systems notes
• authoring languages
The term authoring results from the fact that the person creating the learning material on the
computer is often called the author.
Authoring systems are generally menu-driven systems intended to be easy to use by the
multimedia developer. They do not require the trainer to get involved with program code. Such
systems endeavour to provide a complete, comprehensive authoring.
9.2.1 Multimedia Development tools
A multimedia development environment is the glue that combines different media elements like
images, sounds, text and animation into a coherent project that the user can explore. Although
programs such as Photoshop and Infinite-D enable the user to create bit-mapped graphics or 3D
illustrations, they do not allow adding buttons or data fields. This really limits the productions
created by the user, and that is why he will nearly always want to have access to some kind of
development environment such as HyperCard, Director, Authorware, etc.

The presentation tools available for multimedia development can be divided into three
categories.
1. Slide Presentation Environments

2. Interactive Presentation Environments
3. Authoring Environments
Programs such as HyperCard, Director, etc. add another element to be multimedia developer’s
arsenal i.e., scripting. Scripting really means programming, because you write “scripts” using a
programming language that the development environment understands. The scripts or programs
perform various functions such as importing a text file or sorting a list of words.
With scripting, it is possible to create very complex interactions between the user and the
presentation. For example, by clicking, a single button, the user might inquire about a subject
and then find all the information available on that subject in the presentation.

The authoring, environments can be used to create slide presentation or simple interactive
presentations but what sets them apart from the other classes of programs is the ability to write
scripts and create complex interfaces.
The authoring software must be supported by add-on boards and peripheral
devices to play multimedia otherwise it will not work accurately.

Using HyperCard develop a multimedia image.

9.2.2 features of authoring software

Authoring software is the main production tool for multimedia. An authoring system is a program
which has pre-programmed elements for the development of interactive multimedia software
titles. Authoring systems vary widely in orientation, capabilities, and learning capabilities of
the user. Most of the authoring systems require some basic knowledge of heuristic thinking and
algorithm design. Authoring actually is just a speed-up form of programming; although you
need not know the intricacies of a programming language yet you do need to understand how
programs work.

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