XP Practical PC, 3e Chapter 15 1 Creating Desktop Video and Animation

Practical PC, 3eChapter 15

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XP

Chapter 15

Creating Desktop Video and Animation


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XPCreating Desktop Video and Animation

• In this Chapter, you will learn:– How to equip your PC to play video

– How to create your own desktop video

– How to edit a digital video

– What compression affects desktop video quality

– How to create and play animation

– How to change display settings

– About PC display devices


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XPEquipping your PC to play video

• You can play a DVD in a DVD drive.• You can watch TV, cable TV or a video tape using

a TV tuner card which converts the signal.• Desktop videos need a software player that works

with the video file format.• Formats include .mpg, .avi and .mov.• Streaming video technology allow watching

videos while they are downloading.


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XPEquipping your PC to play video

Windows Media Player


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XPCreating desktop videos

• You can use desktop video techniques to create a video scrapbook, a desktop sales video or a video greeting card.

• You can create video footage from nondigital sources using a video capture device.

• Video capture devices digitize video tape by converting periodic images into bitmap graphics.

• You may need to add a video capture card to your computer to be able to do this conversion.


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• Video capture software which comes with the device allows you to control how the video is digitized.

• You can select display size, capture rate, length and file format.

• Digital camera files can be transferred directly to your PC with a 1394 communications link.

• You will want to use small segments that you can edit before combining into larger videos.


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A digital camera transferring data to the PC


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XPEditing digital video

• Video editing software allows:– Cutting out frames

– Adding titles

– Adding special effects

– Resequencing segments

– Overlaying soundtracks

– Adding transitions between segments


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• To edit a video:– Import the files containing the audio and video clips

– Drag the clips onto a timeline in the sequence you wish them to appear

– Decide on and insert transition effects so that the clips blend into each other

– Add titles and special effects

– Preview it, select a file format and compression and save the finished video


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Using video editing software


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XPThe affect of compression on desktop video quality

• Every frame of a digitized video is a full-screen true color graphic and would require about 900 KB of storage.

• At 30 frames/ second that amounts to 27MB for each second of video.

• Since these sizes cannot currently be managed properly with today’s technology, compression is needed.


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XPThe affect of compression on desktop video quality

• Video data can be managed by:– Shrinking the video to 1/4 or 1/8 screen size

– Reducing the number of frames per second

– Using a compression technique

• Compression techniques store only the data that changes from one frame to the next.

• You will have to balance quality and file size when you create your video.


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XPCreating and playing an animation

• Computer animation works like a “flip book” with a series of frames showing a scene in motion.

• Animation file formats such as FLC save this series of frames in one file which can be played to show the animation.

• Web page animation uses an animated GIF format.• These GIF formatted animation files are small and

transfer relatively easily.


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XPCreating and playing an animation

Creating an animated GIF file

Each frame of an animation is created and stored individually

The software allows you to specify order and timing of each individual image to form the animation


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XPHardware – PC Display devices

• A PC display device is used to: – Display what you typed

– Show you your Windows desktop and the icons you selected to display

– View windows, dialog boxes and messages

– View graphics and videos

• What you see is created by a series of picture elements or pixels


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• The most common PC display device is called a CRT monitor.

• Factors affecting the quality and price of your monitor are: – Screen size, usually from 14 to 17 inches

– Viewable image size (vis measurement)

– Dot pitch – the distance between the pixels - usually between .28 and .24 dot pitch

– Resolution – the size of the pixel grid


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• Most notebook computers use an LCD panel, which manipulates light as it passes through liquid crystal cells and color filters.

• LCD monitors or flat panel display devices are now available for PCs.

• LCD monitors use less power than CRT devices.


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A new flat panel display


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• Monitors connect to the PC through a video port into a graphics card that converts data between the processor and the display device.

• Graphics cards are also called video cards or display adapters.

• Better quality graphics cards are available that give you better animation or viewing (for games or video editing).


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• Graphics cards contain memory chips where an image is assembled before sending to the display device.

• The resolution and color depth on your PC is controlled by the amount of memory available in the graphics card memory chip.

• Some graphics cards also include graphics accelerator technology to speed up higher graphic operations.


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Comparison of graphics memory cards


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XPChanging display settings

Changing the display properties of your monitor

Setting tab holds main controls

To quickly access display settings, right-click the desktop, click Properties.

Resolutions and color quality can be adjusted

Other tabs to adjust appearance or monitor’s energy setting, etc.


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XPWhat do you think?

Idoru

1. Have you seen deceased celebrities featured in any new TV ads or films?

2. Do you think that multimedia developers should have the right to create a digital character by digitizing a celebrity look-alike?

3. Should laws prohibit the creation of digital characters based on the composite traits of several deceased celebrities?


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XPChapter Summary

• You should now be able to:– Equip your PC to play video

– Know how to create your own desktop video

– Edit a digital video

– Balance compression and size when creating a desktop video using compression

– Create and play an animation

– Change your display settings

– About the basic types of PC display devices

Documents

XP Practical PC, 3e Chapter 15 1 Creating Desktop Video and Animation