Multimedia

Recommended Prerequisites

Object-oriented programming (very important), basic data compression techniques (useful).

Teaching Methods

- Seminar lectures with theoretical exposure of materials and practice of concepts about the whole program

- Theoretical-practical classes with practice of programming concepts in ActionScript 3.0 and project planning and design

- Laboratory classes with practice of programming concepts in ActionScript 3.0 and project development

Learning Outcomes

After completion of the curricular unit, students must demonstrate they have acquired, have understood and know how to apply the knowledge and skills in: i) multimedia projects and ii) multimedia fundamentals. Namely:

- Planning, design, development and management of multimedia projects in team

- Topics of usability and its application to multimedia projects

- Digital image, audio and video, focusing on the involved physiological and perceptual aspects and in the representation and compression of the mentioned multimedia data types

It is also intended that the student acquires/develops the following 5 core competencies (according to the Dublin descriptors):

- Analysis and synthesis, problem solving, critical thinking, independent learning and practical application of theoretical knowledge;

and the following 5 secondary competencies:

- Teamwork, creativity, initiative and entrepreneurial spirit, concern for quality and planning and acting skills.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

- Introduction to multimedia
- Adobe Flash CS5 and ActionScript 3.0 programming

- Multimedia project: planning, design, development and management

- Usability topics
- Digital image:

                - notions of color, human vision (physiology and perception) and color models and spaces

                - digital image representation (bitmaps and vector graphics)

                - digital image codecs (lossy and lossless) and perceptual compression of digital image

- Digital Audio

                - notions of sound and human audition (physiology and perception)

                - representation of digital audio (sampled audio and MIDI)

                - digital audio codecs (lossy and lossless) and perceptual compression of digital audio

- Digital Video

                - notions of video and perceptual phenomena in moving images

                - digital video representation

                - digital video codecs (lossy and lossless)

Head Lecturer(s)

Paulo Fernando Pereira de Carvalho

Assessment Methods

Assessment
- Project: planning, design, development and management of a free-theme multimedia project, conducted in groups throughout the semester; percentage of the final score: 40%, minimum project’s score: 47.5% - Exam covering all topics of the curricular unit; percentage of final grade: 60%; minimum exam’s score: 47.5%: 100.0%

Bibliography

Módulo 1 / Module 1:

- Adobe (2009). “Programming Adobe ActionScript 3.0” – Manual oficial da Adobe: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/ActionScript/3.0_ProgrammingAS3/flash_as3_programming.pdf

- Rosenzweig, Gary (2011). “ActionScript 3.0 Game Programming University”, Que

- Braunstein, Mims & Noble (2007), “ActionScript 3.0 Bible”, Wiley

- Vaughan, Tay (2010). “Multimedia, making it work”, McGraw-Hill
- Galitz, Wilbert (2007). “The Essential Guide to User Interface Design – an Introduction to GUI Design Principles and Techniques”, third edition, Wiley Publishing, Inc.
- Nielsen, Jacob (1993). “Usability Engineering”, Academic Press

Módulo 2 / Module 2:
- Symes, Peter (2003). "Digital Video Compression“, McGraw-Hill
- diversos artigos de referência para os codecs respectivos  / Several articles of reference regarding the studied codecs