Publisher's Synopsis
The computer's ability to control different media sources simultaneously is only one aspect of today's communication revolution. For the first time, people have discovered a domain that challenges the way we organize and interact with text, images and sound. It is available on low-cost personal computers and is accessible to virtually everyone.;Multimedia is developing at an incredible rate. Hardware and software products may have short lives, but new and imaginative multimedia packages appear with increasing regularity. This text brings together a collection of international contributions on multimedia systems and applications and examines some of the current issues in the research and development of multimedia and the applications which exploit it.;Part 1 (systems) looks at technology, interfaces and techniques; Part 2 (applications) looks at simulation, education, publishing and multimedia features. This book should enable those new to the field to obtain a good grounding in the technology required, and the applications which can utilize it effectively. It shoudl also be useful reading for graduates and professionals in computer graphics, human-computer interaction and multimedia.