Rich Media Then Smart Graphics

Static graphics is giving away to rich media just as static web pages were replaced by dynamic ones. A dynamic web page is able to react directly and even intelligently to a users input or actions. Rich media includes bitmap images, vector drawings, 3D models, animations, audio and video. After several years of development vendors such as Adobe, Deneba, Jasc, Ulead and others are producing graphic editors that can mix and match bitmap images, vector shapes and animations into composite media. Likewise at the high-end of 3D models and video - sound, 2D textures, plus 3D images are being combined most often for the cinematic and movie special effects; but also in games and rich media ads. So different media are being mixed together to make imaginative imagery.

Figure 1 - Macromedia Flash Environ for Smart Graphics Developemnt

However just as dynamic web pages whose contents were pulled together at the last moment depending on a surfers previous visits or query or some - so too are smart graphics able to interact intelligently with a web browser. Its all in the ability to detect events such as mouse gestures or clicks, keyboard actions and other interface events - and then have attached scripts intercept and then interpret the actions and provide context sensitive responses to the use. Graphics objects are having the smarts of scripts and macros built in so they can interact with a user intelligently.

This is the first state of change of web images from static to dynamic and engaging. Thus web designers want to do more than catch the eye of their surfers. After piquing their interest, web designers want to direct them to the specific areas of their own or associates sites where they can serve the surfer's needs- be it entertainment, shopping, communication or info services. Smart graphics then takes over and helps deliver the final web service and experience. Think of it as Rich Media lures the surfers in and Smart Graphics delivers the goods.

For example scrolling images in a window pane are not just static images but may have an audio message attached to them that is triggered when the users mouse hovers over an image. Or a click on a feature or icon in the scrolling image can trigger an uderlying animations or, in traditional fashion, redirect the user to new page. Or maybe the graphic releases a pop-up window that offers help and advice or maybe a fill in form. Examples of rich media are animations as seen in banners ads and the savvy new web ad-panes. Other rich media are seen as ticker and plot updates, web teleconfernces, webfm radio broadcasts, video lesson playback,3D product viewings, and many others. So where does smart graphics fit in ?

3 Characteristics of Smart Graphics

Well smart graphics takes each of these examples to a new level of built in intelligence and smart responses to users/web surfers actions. Take 3D product animations. It is nifty to be able to view a new car from all the angles under user control - this is rich animation. Smart animation allows the user to zoom in anywhere on the car - and then open up and inspect the interior or engine design or wheel suspension and braking systems. The 3D viewer takes you to the surface, smart graphics takes you inside using a variety of media - video, layers, embedded animations. And that is the first key to smart graphics, it is able to control and use many different graphics/media to achieve its effects. Example of this kind of smart graphics are the SVG standard from the W3C standards(and currently being implemented by Adobe, Corel, Jasc and others) plus the defacto standard of Flash SWF multimedia animations from Macromedia. These smart graphics integrate many different graphic media such as bitmap images, vector graphics, animations, sound and video in a API callable fashion.

Another example is ViewPoint's Metastream product. ViewPoint gives away its basic development tools for free. It also, like Macromedia and others, gives away its players which run as plugins in Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers for free. Yet with ViewPoint's tools, graphics developers are able to integrate 3D models from such major players as Alias Maya, Discreet, and NewTek Lightspeed. Viewpoint presentations can even ccntain Macromedia Flash files and SVG animations, plus a wide range of video formats.

Video itself is a very compelling rich media but also very resource intensive. Both server and client machines must devote substantial storage and computing power to control video. And network bandwidth is also challenged by streaming video. That is why the recent move by Apple, Macromedia and Microsoft to supply video formats which allow users to control the tradeoff between quality versus filesize will have the same impact as JPG did on static graphics where it was the first format to allow extensive user control. This is the second characteristic of smart graphics - greater control is provided to users over the some of the key trade-offs directly involved in using rich media such as quality versus size of file, delivery speed versus error rates, layout and customization versus standard, automated/wizard use etc. By having control over speed of connection and size of buffering versus quality of transmission for noise and delays; or size of file versus quality of image, users can decide to make the precise trade-offs required to meet their display and presentation needs.

In addition, the market is demanding more standard formats: Adobe and Corel have just recognized the defacto animation standard that is the Macromedia Flash SWF file format by supporting SWF in their LiveMotion and RAVE products respectively. This in effect bows to the pressure put on by a number of intermediate sized software vendors like like Toon Boom Studios (cartoon animations), Swish (text and 3d animations) and Swift 3D (3D and modeling) which thrived on their ability to produce Flash .SWF files along with their own creative output. In a similar fashion, Adobe, Corel, Macromedia and others are supporting PDF, SVG, and/or XML tags and storage formats. So user control of smart graphics storage is gravitating towards better and more standardized integration among the various media.

Well now in the video world multiply this control by an order of magnitude because the next version of Windows Media Player and the currently delivered versions of Apple QuickTime and Macromedia Flash Mx add a whole new range of parametric controls to video. Users will be able to control size, speed, and quality settings to tune their Web and/or PC video experience to match the equipment and resources they have available. Even more important Macromedia Flash Mx is in a strong position because it has a complete scripting language (a direct JavaScript clone called ActionScript) which can be used to program interactions and effects between all of its supported media for stunning effects. Go to www.friendsofed.com/fmc to see the wonderful world of Flash with and without video..

But Flash does not just produce nifty media effects(its excessive use is called the Skip-Intro syndrome)but also allows programming sophisticated interactions with users. The key is that Flash's ActionScript is able to recognize a whole range of keyboard, mouse, and other computer events and then respond to them with specific ActionScripts. For example, in video lessons, Flash scripts can pop up more detailed explanations on a mouse click. Or depending on students' answers to a summary quiz, the program can offer different review options while keeping track of and storing on file the scores for teacher counseling. Having a full scripting language with editor and interactive debugger allows developers to build in smart interactions among the different supported media as well as close collaboration and smart Windows++ interfaces with end users. This embedded scripting capability is the third characteristic of smart graphics systems.

Future Trends

Competitors have reacted to this programming advantage in Flash. As noted, ViewPoint gives its development software away; Microsoft has followed suit by allowing for embedded VB.NET scripts in its new Windows Media format. And its no rumor - Adobe and Corel both support Macromedia's ActionScript in their animation tools Live Motion 2 and RAVE respectively. Meanwhile Macromedia has recently raised the ante with its new Flash Communication Server which is chock full of collaboration features such as shared messaging among task members, common whiteboards or video portals shared over the web, interactive webcams, and a host of other shared communication media. In addition, with FlashPaper, they have made the automatic creation of Flash .swf files dead simple - users just choose the FlashPaper printer when outputing to file in any Windows program. Thus the ability to create smart graphics has become ever more nainstream and simple. because more and more graphics can be enhanced with interaction and collaboration features with a smart graphics foundation, developers will be able to create amazing graphics programs not over the Internet but for PCs, PDAs, mobile phones as well as standalone .


Watch for the following smart graphics innovations to appear not in 5 years but in the next one or two. Users will have a 3D rotatable view of a car or appliance and be able to steer it around, and show by marking with a stylus pen over the Internet exactly where the leak is or damage done. The service rep will then be able to respond by audio or instant message with exact instructions on what to do next. Or products with "some assembly required" will come with a CD or website reference that will both show an animation of all the assembly steps required including a soothing voice for reassuring users - "if you can't find the nuts there is an extra pouch available in the emergency supply box...". Or medical students will be able to review a video of a complex operation, pause it while they popup an explanatory window on a potentially dangerous side effect, and then continue - all in near-real time scattered over a wide campus. Or investors worldwide can attend a video briefing with access to the underlying graphs and numbers and can ask live audio or instant messaging questions among themselves as to why they should believe the numbers and projections.

Macromedia is obviously in the lead with smart graphics, but they are obviously not alone. For example, IBM's Lotus division has long experience with a scripting language and collaborative communication plus sophisticated data sharing. The new portal vendors such as Plumtree, Hummingbird, and Sybase among others are also savvy about pulling together graphics, rich media plus data sources and presenting them to users in highly interactive, user customizable consoles. And the Canadian graphics connection with influential players such as Alias, Corel, Discreet, Kaydara, Mind Avenue, SoftFX, SoftImage, and ToonBoom who are setting the standards in 3D animation, modeling, and many other rich media will also influence the directions of smart graphics profoundly. And recently W3C's standard, SVG has taken off as an open, standards based approach to rich media and smart graphics interaction.

Currently, Macromedia has snuck up on the outside with its smart graphics savvy Flash software and technically agnostic but powerful Dreamweaver Web development software. In the process, the company has gained a number of technology and market penetration leads in the fast evolving smart graphics world. But let me assure readers that a)the race is far from over, and b)current positions will probably change, and c)smart graphics is where the most profound competitive advantages are to be found over the next 2-5 years not just over the Internet but in delivering goods and services.