Authoring
When developing multimedia, some basic tools such as graphics editing, screen capturing, video making, voice recording and editing etc. can be useful. Some of these basic tools I have used and recommend are lited below.
| Name of software | Details |
|---|---|
| Adobe Fireworks CS4 (excellent) | 30day Trial graphics editing |
| Paint.Net | Opensource graphics editing |
| Adobe CS4 Photoshop (excellent) | 30day trial graphics editing |
| Jing (very easy) | Free by Tech Smith Screen capture |
| Tipcam (very easy) | Free Screen capture |
| Photostory 3 (very easy) | Free video making from still images |
| Camtasia Studio (excellent) | Free 30 day trial video editing |
| Audacity (easy) | Free voice recording and editing need the lame encoder to convert to MP3 |
| Wavepad (easy) | Free download voice recording and editing |
| CS4 Adobe Soundbooth (excellent) | free trial voice recording and editing |
| SwishMax2 | 15day free trial Flash creator - much cheaper than Flash with many builtin presets |
| Scratch multimedia creator (easy to difficult. Students may use this in the classroom. Large supportive community. Excellent.) | Opensource interactive multimedia |
Activity 2.3
Powerpoint:
Download: The Very Hungry Caterpillar Powerpoint presentation
Microsoft Powerpoint has a simple custom animation feature. It contains a list of effects that you can apply to objects to have them animate during the slide show. It has simple entry and exit effects. It is relatively easy to add sound effects and button. This has been saved as a presentation so when the user clicks the slideshow automatically appears. I have used Articulate Presenter software to convert powerpoint presentations to swf files to place on the internet however the sound effects are lost during the process. Adobe Captivate 4 also converts powerpoint presentations to swf files for display on the internet.
Activity 3.1