Chapter 16 Creating Desktop Video and Animation

Getting Started FAQs: – What is digital video? – How do I transfer video footage to my computer? – How do I edit a digital video? – How do I finalize my video for DVDs, Web sites, and other uses? – What are the most popular video formats? – What is a codec? – What about animation? 2Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What is digital video? Video is a series of still frames projected at a rate fast enough to appear to have continuous motion Digital video uses bits to store color and brightness data for each pixel in a video frame – Easy to post, view, and download digital videos – Maintains quality no matter how many times copied – Easily manipulated on a personal computer – Store on CDs, DVDs, videotapes, memory cards, or the Web – Display on a computer screen with video player software 3Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What is digital video? 4Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

How do I transfer video footage to my computer? The video must be on your hard disk to view and edit – Digital camera: Connect camera to computer with cable and use video editing software to edit photos and control data transfer – VHS tape, analog video camera, or television broadcast: Convert into digital data stream using video capture device – DVDs: DVD ripping and decryption software can convert, decrypt, and copy your DVD to your computer – Cell phone: Connect cell phone using cable or the video to computer 5Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

How do I transfer video footage to my computer? 6Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

How do I edit a digital video? Video editing software helps cut unwanted frames, add special effects, arrange segments, overlay a soundtrack, and designate transitions Wide variety of video-editing software available To edit a digital video – Open your video editing software – Import any files you want in the final video – Drag the elements onto a storyboard – Add transfer effects, if desired – Add titles and other special effects 7Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

How do I edit a digital video? 8Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

How do I finalize my video for DVDs, Web sites, and other uses? Video settings depend on intended use – Some software allows you to select a use: Sending as an attachment Posting on Web Publishing it on YouTube Viewing from hard disk – You can also manually select settings: Aspect ratio refers to relative height and width of video frame Display size corresponds to the resolution of video window Frame rate is number of frames displayed per second Videos intended for DVD use need to be laid out in DVD-Video format 9Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

How do I finalize my video for DVDs, Web sites, and other uses? 10Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What are the most popular video formats? There is no standard file format. Digital video file formats, sometimes called container formats, are a receptacle for video elements – Quick Time Movie (MOV): Apple QuickTime Player – Advanced System Format (ASF): Windows Media Video – Audio Video Interleave (AVI): An original format; used with open source players – MPEG (MP4 & M4V): Variety of formats; used by iTunes store – Flash Video (FLV): Proprietary video format used on YouTube, CNN.com, and other Web sites; uses.flv and.swf extensions – RealMedia: RealPlayer multimedia software;.rm extension – Video Object File (VOB): Used with commercial DVDs – Ogg: open source container Videos can be converted from one format to another using a process called transcoding 11Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What’s a codec? Codec (compressor/decompressor) is software that compresses video stream when stored and decompresses it when played Locate and download the appropriate codec to view a video Each codec uses a unique algorithm to shrink the file − Compression ratio indicates the ratio of compressed data to uncompressed data − Bit rate refers to the amount of data transferred per second − Lower bit rates download smoother but are usually lower quality than high bit rates 12Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What’s a codec? 13Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What about animation? Computer animation, sometimes referred to as CGI (computer-generated imagery), generates moving images from 2-D or 3-D objects – In hand-drawn animation, a chief artist draws keyframes and then assistants create the in-between images (24 images per second) − With computer animation, a computer creates the in- between images Graphics design companies use 3-D animation techniques to produce films, such as Toy Story You can create 3-D animations by using software, which is available in varying degrees of complexity and price levels 14Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

What about animation? 15Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

Hardware: Digital camcorders A digital camcorder is a portable electronic device that captures and records visual and auditory elements of a scene containing moving objects – Budget camcorders are priced below $300 and are suitable for home movies – Amateur videographers can step up to a prosumer-quality camera in the $400 to $1,000 price range – Professional videographers and independent filmmakers can easily pay $5,000 16Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

Hardware: Digital camcorders Digital camcorders are available in standard definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) models 17Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

Hardware: Digital camcorders A digital camcorder performs two major functions: – Captures a series of images using camera components – Stores images using recorder components To capture an image – The camera’s lens focuses light onto a charge-coupled device (CCD) Grid of light-sensitive diodes called photosites 18Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

Hardware: Digital camcorders 19Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

Hardware: Digital camcorders After an image is captured, the image data is stored using the camcorder’s recorder components – Memory cards – Solid state hard drive (SSD) – Built-in hard drive – Mini-DVD or Blu-ray – MiniDV tape 20Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16

Dead celebrities live again What do you think? – Have you seen deceased celebrities featured in any recent TV ads or films? – Do you think that multimedia developers should have the right to create a digital character by digitizing a celebrity look-alike? – Should laws prohibit the creation of digital characters based on the composite traits of several deceased celebrities? 21Practical PC 6th Edition Chapter 16