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You can create slammin mutimedia for free by writing it all in HTML,
CGI, or VRML code yourself. If you don't have the
time, (and we all know teachers never have enough time), to take on
such a monumental task as generating all the code you
will need to make your Web pages multimedia enriched multimedia authoring
software can be your salvation. Authorware is
the buzz word for software that will write the code for you so you
don't have to. There will be some initial upfront investment
of time to learn the basic commands and functions of these programs
but it will be well worth the time.
Most multimedia works through browser plug-ins so if you want to view
multimedia content or create your own interfaces,
make sure you have the plug-ins installed in your browser plug-in folder.
The link below will take you to a site that
includes every plug-in you'll ever need.
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These are really cool plugins
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Most of these programs can be downloaded from the Internet and offer
free trial periods.
Some programs are full working versions of the software while others
have certain features
such as "save" disabled. Disabling features is particularly annoying,
especially if you are
learning a program by doing. You cannot get to a certain point
and save anything you've
done and come back to it later. I suppose the manufacturer feels
that this will frustrate
enough people into buying the product before the 30-day trial period
expires. Also, once
you install a trial version of a program, it leaves a disabling feature
on your computer that will
not allow you to re-install the software for another free trail.
Darn! The upside to this however
is that most come with on-line PDF user manuals. If you do not have
Adobe Acrobat installed
on your computer, get it now to read any files in PDF
format.
These are professional multimedia, design, and video editing software
programs so they are
a little pricey. Most of these products have academic pricing which
will save you some
money. If you are really serious about creating dynamic multimedia,
these are programs you can't
live without.
Adobe has been a leader in design and mutlimeda software for years.
The photographic manipulation,
graphic creation, and some web page layout on this module were all
done with with the following
Adobe products:
Photoshop
Illustrator
PageMill
Premiere
To make the graphics move without driving myself crazy, I did my animation
coding the easy way. Using
Macromedia Flash, Director, and Dreamweaver, you will get stunning
results for your Web pages as
well as great presentations for workshops, class projects, or even
the wonderful teacher inservice!
Macromedia
Flash
Dreamweaver
Director
After Effects
The list does not end here however. In this multimedia rich world
of software creators, there are dozens of
other programs that will give you a variety of results. To other
really great paint and photo manipulation
programs are Paint Shop Pro and Painter 5