Picture, Animation, Video & Audio Formats

MPEG-2

"Broadcast quality" resolution 720 x 480 with CD quality sound.

MPEG-1

"Postage stamp" resolution 352 x 240.

Example of Presentation-Graphics Software

Microsoft Powerpoint

FPS

(Frames per second) - the number of picture images displayed per second, giving digital video the illusion of motion. (30 fps considered to be TV quality)

GIF

(Graphic Interchange Format) - A graphics file format originated by CompuServe, usable for web pages and some multimedia software.

Aspect ratio

(height x width) Proportions of graphics. Some programs allow you to maintain the aspect ratio when sizing a picture. (i.e. - no distortion)

Rules of Thumb for Powerpoints

-outline your ideas -use large, readable fonts -use a consistent design -be stingy with words (eliminate the, an, and a) -be smart with your art -remember your audience

Media player

A Windows utility that can play video clips, animation, or sound files.

Audio card

A card (set of chips) that converts analog sound to digital data for use or storage inside a computer.

Motion card

A card that enables a presentation to display a motion picture on a computer monitor.

QuickTime (MOV)

A cross-platform real-time video and multimedia data format developed by Apple Computer. QuickTime can include text, sound, and video.

MIDI file

A file containing musical data encoded according to Musical Instrument Digital Interface specifications. (Extension .MID)

TIFF

A file format used to store scanned images on disk--stands for Tagged Image File Format.

Waveform file

A file that stores digitized sound (such as music or spoken words). Was developed jointly by Microsoft and IBMThese files have a .WAV extension.

MPEG video

A format for the compression of digitized videos and animations developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group.

Inline image

A graphic file in a web page that is aligned with text using special HTML tags.

Animated GIF

A graphic with animation or movement. Created by showing several drawings quickly, one right after the other, creating the illusion of movement.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

A graphics format capable of representing up to 16.7 million colors that is ideal for complex pictures of natural, real world scenes, including photographs, realist artwork, and paintings. (10-1 or 20-1 compression ratios)

Graphic

A line, circle, or box which has been created or an image which is imported into a publication.

RGB color code

A list of extended color names and corresponding hexadecimal triplets supported by most web browsers. To view these colors, you must have a video card and monitor capable of displaying up to 256 colors. Different browsers may render these colors differently or not at all.

Videodisk

A magnetic disk device that records both video and audio from a television signal.

Halftone

A method of producing grayscale art (especially to reproduce a photograph).

Digitize

A method of recording information in binary pulses so it can be stored in computers. Example: Digital cameras.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

A method used to transfer files and data from one computer to another on the Internet.

Charts

A pictorial representation of data used to explain and enhance word processing documents.

storyboard

A storyboard is a graphic organizer that provides the viewer with a high-level view of a project. Used for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

Photo CD

A system used to store camera photographs on a compact disk.

Thumbnails

A tiny sketch of a brochure or flyer used by a designer to arrange layout of text and drawings in a publication.

Vector

A type of graphic composed of computer-defined graphic routines such as lines and arcs. Vector-based graphics are the highest quality graphics, capable of infinite scaling without loss of resolutions.

Logo

A unique symbol designed to represent a "calling card" for a person, product, business, or organization.

File formats (examples)

ASCII, CAD, BMP, EPS, JIFF, PC Paintbrush, PIC, TIFF, GIF, JPG, AU, DOC. The format often is shown in the extension for the file name.

Example of Drawing Software

Adobe Illustrator

Example of Image-Processing Software

Adobe Photoshop

White space

An area of empty space on a page used to aid the reader in reading the information.

Watermark

Faint, lightly shaded image that appears behind other images.

Audio files

Files that add music or voice sounds to a presentation.

MPEG-3

High Definition Television.

Bitmap images

Images created in paint programs or through scanners; the information is stored as a group of pixels and mapped to a grid.

Digital/ Digitization / Digitized

Process of converting video or audio signals, normally in waveform, into 1's and 0's. This digital format actually patterns of on's/high voltage (1's) and off's/low voltage (0's) can be processed by the computer.

CODEC

Program/device that COmpresses and DECompresses digital video. Cinepak, Indeo (Intel), and RealVideo are examples of CODEC's.

Gallery

Set of predefined graph options with sample data and types of graphics.

Greeking

Text or that which serves as a placeholder until the real text replaces it (used when basic layout ideas are first shown). Also refers to lines that represent text when viewing a page layout. The text cannot be read.

Animation

The process of adding movement to a graphic.

Resolution

The sharpness of an image; a device's ability to produce detail on the monitor or printout (also, the number of dots per inch a printer can produce).

Cropping

Trimming an image in order to make it fit in a publication or to make the image more powerful in a publication.

(Audio Video Interleaved) AVI

Windows format for saving video with sound. Same as Mac's QuickTime MOV format.

Bitmap (.bmp) format

Windows format for storing simple graphics and manipulated as organized collections of pixels rather than as shapes and lines. Can create bitmaps with Paint program.

Presentation-Graphics Software

automates the creation of visual aids for lectures, training sessions, and other presentations; can include everything from spreadsheets to animation-editing software to most commonly creating and displaying a series of onscreen slides

Color Depth

bit depth; number of bits devoted to each pixel

Image-Processing Software

enables the user to manipulate photographs and other high-resolution images

dpi (dots per inch)

measurement of the density of pixels, defining the resolution of a graphic

Podcast

radio or television-style programs that can be downloaded on demand or automatically by subscription

Video-Editing Software

software for editing digital video, including titles, sound, and special effects

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)

standard interface that allows electronic instruments and computers to communicate with each other and work together

Drawing Software

stores a picture as a collection of lines and shapes; also stores shapes as shape formulas and text as text

Interactive Multimedia

technology that creates the illusion that the user is immersed in a world that exists only inside the computer; an environment that contains both scenes and the controls to change those scenes

VR (Virtual Reality)

technology that creates the illusion that the user is immersed in a world that exists only inside the computer; an environment that contains both scenes and the controls to change those scenes

MP3 (Motion Picture Audio Layer 3)

type of compression that can squeeze a music file to a fraction of its original CD file size with only slight loss of audio quality

Augmented Reality

use of computer displays that add virtual information to a person's sensory perceptions, supplementing rather than replacing the world the user sees

Multimedia

using some combination of text, graphics, animation, video, music, voice, and sound effects to communicate

Morphing

video clips in which one image metamorphoses into another

Example of Interactive Multimedia

video games

Digital Video

video reduced to a series of numbers, which can be edited, stored, and played back without loss of quality; opposite is analog

WMF (Windows Metafile Format)

windows graphic format that can hold both vector and bitmapped images