WO1994028480A1 - Interactive multimedia development system and method - Google Patents

Interactive multimedia development system and method Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1994028480A1
WO1994028480A1 PCT/US1994/005218 US9405218W WO9428480A1 WO 1994028480 A1 WO1994028480 A1 WO 1994028480A1 US 9405218 W US9405218 W US 9405218W WO 9428480 A1 WO9428480 A1 WO 9428480A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
screen
callisto
screens
inspector
assets
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1994/005218
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
David D. Gregory
Henry S. Flurry
Newton S. Lee
Original Assignee
Media Station, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Media Station, Inc. filed Critical Media Station, Inc.
Priority to AU70933/94A priority Critical patent/AU7093394A/en
Publication of WO1994028480A1 publication Critical patent/WO1994028480A1/en

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00—Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/10—Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/34—Indicating arrangements 
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F16/00—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
    • G06F16/40—Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and additional audio data
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
    • G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
    • G06F40/10—Text processing
    • G06F40/103—Formatting, i.e. changing of presentation of documents
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B27/00—Editing; Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Monitoring; Measuring tape travel
    • G11B27/02—Editing, e.g. varying the order of information signals recorded on, or reproduced from, record carriers
    • G11B27/031—Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
    • G11B27/034—Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals on discs
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G11—INFORMATION STORAGE
    • G11B—INFORMATION STORAGE BASED ON RELATIVE MOVEMENT BETWEEN RECORD CARRIER AND TRANSDUCER
    • G11B2220/00—Record carriers by type
    • G11B2220/20—Disc-shaped record carriers
    • G11B2220/25—Disc-shaped record carriers characterised in that the disc is based on a specific recording technology
    • G11B2220/2537—Optical discs
    • G11B2220/2545—CDs
    • G11B2220/255—CD-I, i.e. CD-interactive

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a system and method for authoring interactive multimedia presentations, and more particularly, to a streamlined interactive multimedia authoring system and method utilizing a simplified user interface which facilitates creating, charting and testing during the authoring process.
  • multimedia computers are computers capable of combining any two or more distinct media types on one computer screen with an integrated sound system. This combination has many possible applications.
  • multimedia includes consumer products such as video games which are based upon relatively primitive animation and sound technology.
  • multimedia computers can function as a library of different media forms (such as still photos, movie clips or sound bites), making storage and retrieval of media forms significantly faster and less expensive.
  • many special effects in movies are created using a combination of animation, video and sound produced with multimedia computers.
  • multimedia and “interactive media” (also referred to by some as “interactive multimedia”) is that the former is linear and the latter is non-linear.
  • a television program is a multimedia presentation but is considered “linear” (it plays a single sequence of events from beginning to end), viewing an interactive multimedia presentation, which is non-linear, is similar to watching television except that the presentation will vary as a result of viewer interaction.
  • video game machines can be considered interactive media players since the viewer controls the media in the events on the screen. While these devices are manufactured for the limited purpose of arcade style video games, interactive media has much broader potential for delivering a variety of titles to the consumer and professional markets.
  • Interactive media players based on compact disk technology can deliver a range of programming including games, educational, entertainment, interactive travel guides, marketing and business presentations, music videos, and conventional movies.
  • games educational, entertainment, interactive travel guides, marketing and business presentations, music videos, and conventional movies.
  • CD-I Compact Disc-Interactive
  • CD-I is the latest outgrowth of compact disk technology invented by Phillips, Sony and Matsushita. It is an advancement over both CD-Audio and CD-ROM in that it allows full motion video and advanced interactive features as well as sound and text.
  • CD-Audio Compact Disc-Interactive
  • CD-ROM Compact Disc-Interactive
  • the authoring of existing CD-I tides involves the writing of long and complicated computer code and takes as long as 24 months. This often involves learning a scripting language, and in some cases editing hundreds of frames of animation.
  • the effective authoring of multimedia presentations generally required both artistic skills required to create interesting interactive presentations, and also technical skills to understand and utilize complex authoring software techniques.
  • an interactive multimedia authoring system and metfiod which streamlines the authoring process to permit its use by a wider variety of persons, particularly those without specialized training in software or engineering. Further, it would be desirable to provide a system which is easy to learn without requiring extensive training for the user. Further, it would be desirable to provide such a system which speeds up the authoring process and facilitates the implementation of creative ideas during authoring. To this end, it would be desirable to provide such a system which permits the author to easily move from screen to screen, and which makes it easy to visualize and test the product during various stages of its creation. Also it would be desirable to provide such a system which facilitates die creation of screen to screen connections and branching, and which eliminates the necessity of manually creating flow charts to chart these connections.
  • an interactive multimedia autiioring system and method which permits the arrangement of pre-existing media assets in a modifiable sequence for interactive and branching display.
  • This system includes a simulation window in which the individual screens in the multimedia presentation are developed. Also, this system includes a simplified method for adding assets to screens, creating new screens and establishing hierarchical links between a plurality of these screens developed in the simulation window. Further, this system includes a navigator for generating and displaying a graphical representation of each of the screens along with a representation of its position in the hierarchy of linked screens. These graphical representations are generated automatically while the screens and links are generated.
  • the system of the present invention greatly simplifies and speeds up the authoring process and eliminates the need for the manual creation of presentation flow charts. Furthermore, the present invention is extremely user friendly and does not require its user to have extensive training or software knowledge.
  • Figure 1 is an overall system block diagram of the Interactive Multimedia Authoring Tool (IMAT) in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 2 is a diagram depicting further details of the simulator window and tool panel of the Interactive Multimedia Authoring Tool shown in Figure 1.
  • Figure 3 is a diagram showing additional details of the screen navigator of the IMAT in Figure 1.
  • Figure 4 is a tool panel with exemplary icons in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 5 is a diagram of an exemplary screen layout for the simulator window, screen navigator, tool panel, and inspector in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 6 is a diagram of a portion of the presentation spreadsheet generated by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
  • Figure 7 is an additional portion of the hierarchy diagram created by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
  • Figure 8 is a portion of a hierarchy diagram generated by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
  • Figure 9 illustrates the effect of deleting screens in the navigator shown in Figure 3.
  • Figure 10 shows the effect of deleting branches in the hierarchy diagram created by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
  • Figure 11 shows the process of inserting screens in the hierarchy diagram created by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
  • Figure 12 is a diagram depicting further details of the inspector of the IMAT shown in Figure 1.
  • Figure 13 is a diagram of a movie inspector window in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 14 is an illustration of a sound inspector window.
  • Figure 15 is an illustration of a image/graphics inspector window.
  • Figure 16 is an illustration of a hot spot inspector window.
  • Figure 17 is an illustration of & timer inspector window.
  • Figure 18 is a diagram of an exemplary screen in the initial stages of the creation of a multimedia work in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 19 is a diagram showing the simulator and tool panel during the process of dragging an image icon onto the simulator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 20 is a diagram showing the dropping of a hot spot onto the simulator.
  • Figure 21 is a diagram of a hot spot with sizing handles on the simulator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 22 is an example of the screen navigator depicting the first screen created utilizing the IMAT in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 23 is a diagram of portions of the simulator and navigator showing the process of creating a branch from a hot spot to a screen in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 24 is a diagram of a color panel in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 25 depicts the simulator screen with hot spots created for sounds and images in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
  • Figure 26 depicts the creation of buttons used to select sounds in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 27 depicts' the selection of sounds to be generated using a hot spot on the simulator in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 28 depicts the inspector window and the information it displays at a particular stage in the creation of a multimedia work in accordance with the present invention.
  • Figure 29 depicts a portion of the screen navigator with the multiple screen hierarchical spreadsheet displayed.
  • Figure 30 is a diagram showing additional details of the screen navigator showing the connections and branches between various screens in a chart diagram.
  • the present invention is a system and method for generating interactive multimedia works. That is, the present invention is used to generate digital information, including text, graphics, video and sound for interactive playback either over a computer network or a compact disc playback device.
  • the present invention is an authoring system and technique which provides a simple but powerful tool for assembling audio and video in an interactive environment.
  • the present invention utilizes an intuitive design that makes it possible to produce interactive media faster and more effectively than other currently available tools, thus avoiding the writing of long and complicated computer code.
  • the present invention can be utilized not only by computer progress but by persons who have appropriate artistic talents, but may lack the computer programming skills.
  • FIG 1 there is shown an overall system block diagram of the interactive multimedia authoring tool (IMAT) 10 of the present invention.
  • the IMAT system receives as input a plurality of assets 12 which may comprise sound, video, images, etc. from an external source.
  • assets 12 may be prepared, stored and organized in such a matter to facilitate their utilization in the IMAT system 10.
  • the assets 12 may be stored and managed by an asset management tool which provides ready access to the various stored assets.
  • asset management tool which may be utilized with the present invention is known as MediaStation'sold by Imagine Multimedia, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
  • These assets are utilized in the authoring environment 14 to create the desired multimedia presentation.
  • the finished presentation may be sent to an output file 16 where it is stored or utilized by conventional multimedia hardware.
  • the multimedia presentation may be played back on dedicated "players" that attach to standard televisions, or, on a personal computer.
  • products for the consumer market comprise interactive media players which attach to standard televisions, and the professional market utilizes the playback of interactive media on computers.
  • a dedicated interactive media playback device for the consumer market is the above discussed Compact-Disc- Interactive, or CD-I.
  • the authoring environment 14 of the IMAT 10 includes a simulator window 18, a tool panel 20, a screen navigator 22 and an inspector 24.
  • the simulator window 18 is the main document window of the IMAT 10. This is where the interactive presentation is built and displayed. Its main feature is the display area, the size of which is determined by the author. The display area has the characteristics of a draw program with the ability to move graphic elements around on the screen, eg., type in text, cut, copy and paste any graphic element, draw hot spots on the screen, draw lines, squares and circles.
  • the tool panel 20 interacts with the simulator window 18 to add media and other assets to each screen.
  • the inspector 24 provides tools for manipulating the parameters of the assets such as scaling and rotation. Also the inspector is used to quickly review each screen and its contents.
  • the screen navigator 22 dynamically builds a flow chart of the presentation. This provides the author with a visual representation of all the screens and branches in the interactive presentation. The navigator also permits the author to navigate or search in a rapid manner through the application. Particular screens identified in the navigator can be quickly reviewed in the inspector or tested in the simulator. 2.
  • the Simulator and Tool Panel
  • the simulator window 18 and tool panel 20 are shown in more detail.
  • the simulator window includes controls to permit toggling between edit and play modes.
  • the edit mode the author builds and views individual screens of a presentation.
  • the play mode the author can test the functionality of the work in progress or view a completed presentation.
  • Each screen can contain a combination of sounds, images, hot spots, paths, text and/or timers.
  • Actions can only take place as a result of two types of events: (1) mouse events (user interaction) received by a hot spot tool or (2) timed events sent from the timer tool.
  • mouse events user interaction
  • timed events sent from the timer tool.
  • the simulator window in the preferred embodiment also includes an icon shelf 26 in which sound, path, and timer icons appear when they are dragged into the simulator window from the tool panel 20.
  • the tool panel 20 contains all the tools for adding media, hot spots, paths, animation and branching to the presentation. After adding an asset to the simulator, it can be inspected with the inspector 24. Different tools have different inspectors for such things as changing certain parameters, setting actions and timings, and setting transition effects such as dissolves from one screen to another. The tool panel will generally appear on the screen alongside the simulator window. The author can detach and drag the tool panel anywhere on the screen using an interface device such as a mouse. There are three types of tools: (1) media tools, (2) event tools, and (3) miscellaneous tools. The media tools all have the characteristic of being performance based. That is, they can start and stop (and in some cases they can pause).
  • media tools are always dropped into the simulator window. By default, all media tools are connected to the screen and will start automatically upon entrance to that screen.
  • the media tools include an image tool, sound tool, movie tool and text tool. These tools will be discussed in more detail below.
  • Event tools are the tools that cause action based on a mouse click or a timed event. Event tools are always dropped into the simulator window.
  • the event tools include a hot spot tool and a timer tool.
  • the miscellaneous tools include in the preferred embodiment a path tool, a script tool, a cursor tool and a screen tool.
  • Figure 2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a screen layout for the IMAT 10 in accordance with the present invention. This screen shows simultaneously the simulator 18, navigator 22, inspector
  • a main menu 25 (which is shown with the tool selection 27 choice) and a tool menu 29 appearing to the right.
  • An open panel is a file finder which consists of a small window that appears with a list of files to permit the user to browse through the files until the desired image file is found. Once the desired file is opened, it appears in the simulator in the place that the image tool icon was dropped. The image may be moved around the simulator by clicking and dragging it. Resizing the images may be accomplished in the preferred embodiment by clicking on any one of the handles which appear around the image and dragging them. In the preferred embodiment holding down the alternate key while dragging resizes proportionately.
  • the movie tool 30 is activated by dragging it into the simulator. This brings up an open panel which permits any movie file to be opened.
  • the movie is connected to the screen and plays as soon as the current screen is entered in the play mode.
  • the default can be overridden by control-dragging from a hot spot or timer to the movie.
  • the inspector By using the inspector for the hot spot or timer, the user can set the hot spot or timer to start, pause, or stop the movie.
  • the visual location of the movie can be moved around the simulator by clicking and dragging it. Also, it can be resized by clicking on any one of the handles and dragging them.
  • the text inspector 32 is dragged into the simulator to establish a field for generating text. Doing so places the word "text" on the screen. The user can double-dash click on the word "text” and type in any words or letters desired.
  • the text can be moved around the simulator or resized in a similar manner as other tools as described above.
  • the font panel and font commands found in the format menu see main menu 25 in Figure 5
  • the desired text can be selected and the font changed to any type face and size.
  • a color panel can be opened from the colors menu (see tool menu 29 in Figure 5). If the text is selected, a color can be dragged directly from the well on the color panel and dropped over the text to change its color.
  • the sound tool 34 is dropped into the simulator to import sound files. Doing so brings up an open panel from which any sound file can then be opened. A sound icon appears in the simulator. By default, the sound will be connected to the screen and play as soon as the current screen is entered in play mode. One can override the default by control-dragging from a hot spot or timer to the sound icon. By using the inspector for the hot spot or timer, it can be set to start, pause or stop the sound. In edit mode, a sound icon appears in the lower left corner of the screen.
  • the hot spot tool 36 can be dropped into the simulator to create a button that performs actions on assets and screens based upon mouse events. In the preferred embodiment, dragging the hot spot tool into the simulator places a black rectangle up the screen.
  • a hot spot can be placed anywhere, eg., over an image or text, and is invisible in play mode. The hot spot is the interaction tool. Depending upon its settings in the inspector, the hot spot receives mouse events and sends commands to whatever it is connected to. It can branch to a new screen, start or stop some media or pause or resume some media.
  • a hot spot can be connected to several different media simultaneously (i.e., starting a sound and movie at the same time).
  • the user control -drags from the hot spot to the item it is desired to connect it to.
  • the user is provided visual confirmation that a hot spot link is being created by showing a line connecting the hot spot to the desired item.
  • the connection is selected in the connection window in the inspector and "delete" or "cut” from the edit menu is chosen.
  • the hot spots can be moved around the simulator or resized in a similar manner as the other tools. A color can be dragged directly from the well on the color panel (opened from the colors menu) and dropped over the hot spot to change its color. This is useful for making it easier to see in edit mode in the event it is the same color as the background.
  • the timer tool 38 is dropped into the simulator to perform actions on assets and screens based upon timed events. Simply dragging the timer tool into the screen will creates a timer that, by default, begins upon entry of the current screen. In edit mode, a timer icon appears in the lower right corner of the screen. Settings for the timer can be edited in the inspector as described below. A timer is capable of doing everything a hot spot can do, except it performs its commands as a result of time settings rather than mouse events received.
  • the path tool 40 is dropped into the simulator to create a route along which assets can move. When dragged into the simulator, a path icon appears in the shelf 26. To create the animation path, the user double clicks on the path icon in the simulator, clicks and draws the path on the screen.
  • the user control-drags from the graphic item to the path icon In order for the graphic item to move along the path in play mode, it must receive a start command from a hot spot or timer. To do this, the user control-drags from a hot spot or timer to the graphic that will move along the path.
  • the screen tool 42 can be dragged into a timer or hot spot in the simulator to add a new screen to a presentation. That is, by dragging the screen tool into a timer or a hot spot, a branch to a new screen is created. The new screen will show up in the navigator. To create a branch to an existing screen, the user clicks and drags a screen to which the user wants to branch from the navigator into the hot spot or timer in the simulator window. If the screen tool was dropped into a timer, the time delay before the branch occurs can be set in the inspector.
  • the draw tools 44 are basic draw tools for creating graphics within the presentation. These draw tools include conventional drawing capabilities as shown in more detail in Figure 4.
  • the script tool 45 provides a means for adding small programs to a hot spot or timer so that they can set values of variables, perform arithmetic calculations, and create conditions upon which certain actions will be performed.
  • the author could create a small script that would allow a branch to occur upon clicking a hot spot only when a variable was set to a certain value (this is known as conditional branching).
  • the cursor tool 47 allows the author to create custom cursors. The cursors can be attached to hot spots so that when the user moves the mouse into a hot spot the cursor changes.
  • the Navigator Referring now to Figure 3, further details of the screen navigator 22 are shown.
  • the main function of the screen navigator 22 is to provide the author with a visual representation of all the screens and branches in an interactive media presentation and a means for navigating through them.
  • the visualization of the structure of the application is accomplished using a row/column representation similar to a spreadsheet.
  • Each screen of the application is represented by an icon-sized snapshot and text within a cell of the hierarchy diagram.
  • the screen navigator has three primary functions: facilitating adding new screens, branching between screens, and navigating throughout the presentation.
  • the screen tool 42 in the tool panel 2 0 is dragged and dropped in the simulator window 18 to create a new screen.
  • the screen navigator 22 will appear showing the new screen 48.
  • new screen D 48 is dragged and dropped from the navigator to a hot spot in the simulator (step 50).
  • the inspector for screen A may be selected to view the parameters of the hot spot (step 52).
  • the hierarchy of the presentation is depicted by the navigator by the placement of the screens and the hierarchy diagram directional orientation of flow arrows.
  • the first screen of every presentation is in row 1 column A. Each child's screen of the first screen will be in the next row.
  • a screen labeled music in row 2 is the child of the first screen (not shown).
  • the music screen has three children of its own in row 3. Each has an arrow pointing to it from the music screen. That means the music screen must have three hot spots or timers, each one branching to one of three child screens.
  • Branches from screens are represented in three ways: (1) downward arrows that connect parent screens to child screens, (2) two way arrows that show branching from parent to child and from child to parent, and (3) a line connected to a circle containing the letter "b" as shown in Figure 7.
  • the "b” signifies that there is at least one branch from this screen to another that is non-hierarchical.
  • the names of the screens being branches to are in a field of the navigator.
  • An important feature of the IMAT 10 of the present invention is that the hierarchy diagram of the navigator is created as the presentation is built using the simulator.
  • the navigator automatically places new screens in the appropriate cells and draws the connecting arrows as new screens are added to the simulator. Every new presentation begins with a screen in A:I of the navigator.
  • the screen tool 42 from the tool panel 20 is dragged into a hot spot or timer in the parent screen in the simulator window.
  • a new screen (child) will appear in the navigator in the row below the parent screen.
  • a line with an arrow pointing from the parent to the child screen also appears.
  • a column will be added for each new child's screen of the same parent, as shown in Figure 6.
  • Branches to screens created in this fashion are said to be hierarchical, forming a kind of family tree of parent and child screens.
  • Nonhierarchical branches to existing screens are created by the user by selecting the screen it is desired to branch from in the navigator. This screen will appear in the simulator.
  • the navigator is then used to go to the screen to which it is desired, where the branch icon is dragged into a hot spot or timer in the screen in the simulator.
  • Any screen can branch to any other screen in the presentation using this method without regard to hierarchy.
  • a line with a circle containing the letter "b" appears attached to the screen being branched from as shown in Figure 7.
  • a two-way branch from a child to a parent is created in the same way as described above for creating branches to existing screens (since a parent must exist before a child). The only difference is that the branch will not appear as a line with a circle but instead as a two way arrow as shown in Figure 7.
  • Orphans are screens that have lost their parents either by having had the parent screen deleted or the branch from the parent screen deleted. An orphan can still have child screens and those child screens can have child screens. In other words it is possible, by deleting a parent or branch, to disconnect a whole segment of your presentation from the rest of the presentation, leaving no way for the user to actually branch there.
  • the navigator will draw a gray line from it to the cell that formerly contained the parent. The gray is an indication to the author that currently there is an orphan screen. All editing commands can cause orphans. As discussed below, this is actually a powerful and easy way to rearrange the hierarchy of the presentation.
  • Dragging the screen tool into a hot spot that already has a branch will create a panel to appear alerting the author that a branch exists and asking the author if he or she would like to insert a new screen. Choosing yes will cause the new screen to be inserted between the parent and existing child screen.
  • the existing child screen becomes an orphan.
  • a new screen has been inserted after music.
  • the original child screen "pop" is shifted down one row and is now an orphan. It is possible to branch to an orphan as a way of altering the hierarchy and moving screens around in the navigator.
  • the author creates a branch to an existing screen (as described above) that is an orphan, the orphan becomes the child of the screen being branched from.
  • the navigator will then redraw itself, placing the newly adopted child in the appropriate row:column along with any of its children.
  • the method for moving screens or sections containing mini screens around in the hierarchy diagram is comprised of first making them orphans, and then creating a branch to them from the desired parent.
  • Templates are screens that are shared by more than one screen in the navigator. Template screens appear in a separate window. There can be more than one template windows per presentation document. Templates are screens where all the graphics and media are "locked. " A template is created in the simulator when it was in template edit mode. Any asset put into the simulator in template edit mode will be part of the template including hot spots and sounds.
  • the template is selected in the template window. It then appears in the simulator in template edit mode.
  • the template can be edited using applicable tools from the tool panel (all others will be inactive).
  • clicking on any screen in the navigator returns the simulator to normal edit mode.
  • the author control drags from the template in the template window to a screen in the navigator.
  • An alert panel will give the author the option of connecting the template to (1) screen only, (2) screen and all children, or (3) screen and children in the same column as screen.
  • Templates can be duplicated and deleted. Duplicating a template makes a copy of the selected template and adds it to the template window with a slightly different name. It can then be edited to make it slightly different or whatever is desired. Deleting a template raises an alert panel in the event the template being deleted is connected to any screens in the navigator. Clicking OK deletes the template from the application and the template window. Contents of the navigator can be printed out on multiple sheets. If the navigator contents printout extends over multiple sheets, these sheets may be taped together. This is a useful tool frequently used by designers of interactive media in conceptualizing their product, similar to the manner in which story boards are employed by animators and film directors.
  • Navigating is accomplished as follows. Clicking on a screen in the navigator brings that screen up in the simulator. Clicking on a line/circle space non-linear branch representation jumps to that screen in the navigator and causes it to appear in the simulator. Vertical and horizontal scrollers allow the author to move to any spot in the navigator.
  • Collapse and expand commands affect how much of the hierarchy is shown.
  • the collapse command shows only its immediate children (none of their children).
  • the expand command does the opposite, showing all descendants of the selected screen.
  • the view is also saved so that, when the author reopens the file, the navigator will be in the same place as it was when the file was closed. 4.
  • the 20 has an inspector panel that provides the tools needed to customize the components of the presentation.
  • the inspector is accessed by using the mouse to click on an image in the simulator window as shown in block 58.
  • the inspector panel then displays parameters of the selected image for optional editing as shown in block 60.
  • FIG. 13 an example of a screen inspector panel is shown.
  • the screen inspector When the inspector is opened from the tools' menu, the screen inspector is always displayed regardless of whether any assets are selected. Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the inspector panel. If no asset is selected, the lower portion of the panel reads "no graphic object selected.” If an asset is selected, its inspector panel is appended beneath the screen inspector.
  • the screen inspector includes a name field, a template field, a background color field, and an asset list. This scrollable list box lists all the assets associated with the current screen.
  • an image inspector panel is shown.
  • information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the inspector panel and information about the selected image appears in the bottom portion.
  • the image inspector includes a name field, as well as show in hide buttons to indicate whether the image should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during play mode.
  • Horizontal and vertical fields are used to specify precisely where the lower left corner of the image should be positioned on the screen. Size settings lets the user refine in images size more precisely than possible with the mouse, by adjusting a parameter such as width, height, scale, etc.
  • Figure 15 illustrates a movie inspector which includes fields such as name, and show and hide buttons to indicate whether the movie should be displayed or not when the screened is open during play mode.
  • Other parameters will define how the movie plays, independent from its startup settings, size, or location. These include settings such as number of frames in movie, start frame, loop count, loop forever, play reverse, back and forth, and frames per second.
  • location settings and size settings are provided which includes a name field, show and hide buttons, location settings, dimension settings, text color, attributes and path connection settings.
  • the sound inspector is shown which includes a number of sound parameters which is read only and displays the same rate, length, size, format and channel of this selected sound. Loop settings are used to determine how many times the selected sound should repeat.
  • a sound view is provided which contains a graphic depiction of the sound. The starting point of the sound, start percent, selected size and selected percent are also provided.
  • the continuous zoom buttons change the size of the sound view displayed in the box.
  • the selection buttons permit the playback of a sound or permit the inserting of new recordings into it from the computer's microphone. Further details of the other inspectors including, the hot spot inspector, timer inspector, path inspector and graphics inspector may be found in the appendix entitled "Callisto User Guide” which is incorporated by reference. 15. Authoring Process Example
  • the tool panel 20 appear.
  • the presentation selection 62 on the main menu 25 is selected and a new presentation from the presentation menu is selected. This will cause a blank simulator screen 18 to appear.
  • the template button 64 is clicked at the bottom of the simulator. This causes the system to enter the edit template mode.
  • the template button will turn white to indicate that a template is being edited and not an ordinary screen.
  • a template is used for graphics, sounds, and other media that are to be common to every screen in the presentation. A simple example would be a background color.
  • the "create one" button in the middle of the simulator window (not show) is clicked and the image tool 28 is dragged from the tool panel to the simulator as shown in Figure 19. This will cause an open panel file finder to appear (not shown) to allow the selection of a particular desired template.
  • the hot spot tool 36 is then dragged into the lower right comer of the simulator as shown in Figure 20. As shown in Figure 21, the sizing handles can be used to expand the hot spot to cover the entire lower right comer of the simulator.
  • the tools menu 27 in the main menu 25 is then selected and the screen navigator command 46 is then selected to cause the screen navigator to appear as shown in Figure 22.
  • the snapshot of the screen from the screen navigator is then dragged to the hot spot in the simulator and dropped into the hot spot. This creates a branch to the main screen (i.e., screen one) that will be present in all screens (since the system is in the template mode).
  • the template button is clicked again to exit template edit mode.
  • the first screen will be created with text and two hot spots.
  • One hot spot will lead to a sound samples the text, the text tool 32 is dragged into the simulator.
  • the word text appears surrounded by sizing handles to permit enlarging the text area.
  • the word "text” is double clicked and the desired text is typed over it. For example, "this is a demonstration of an interactive media presentation.”
  • the font menu may be selected to permit a particular font to be chosen for the text.
  • the text color can be selected by selecting the tool menu 27 in the main menu and clicking on the colors command to cause a color panel to appear as shown in Figure 24.
  • Future hot spots can be labeled by dragging the text tool 32 into the simulator, which causes the word text to appear surrounded by sizing handles. Double clicking the word “text” and typing the following over it "click here for sounds”, and repeating the steps and typing "click here for images", is performed next. Then the hot spot tool 36 from the tool panel is dropped over the text "click here for sounds” as well as the text "click here for images.” The screen tool 42 from the tool panel is dropped into one of the hot spots and then dropped into one of the other hot spots. The navigator will automatically display these new screens. Next, the screen in column A, row 2 of the navigator is clicked “on” and the text tool is dragged into the simulator and dropped over the hot spot. The word "text” is double clicked and
  • the text tool is dragged on top of each button and they are labeled "bell”, "click”, and “crowd.”
  • the hot spot tool is then dragged over each button to resize the hot spots to fit the buttons.
  • the sound tool 34 is dragged from the tool panel and dropped anywhere in the simulator window. This causes the open panel to come up which permits the selection of the "bell” sound from a sounds directory.
  • the user control drags from the button labeled "bell” to die sound icon in the lower left comer of the simulator shelf 26. When it connects, the sound icon is surrounded by a gray border. See Figure 27.
  • the screen in column B, row 2 of the navigator (see Figure 29) is dragged into the simulator. This causes the open panel to come up and the button image is selected from the icons directory. This step is repeated until two buttons are in the simulator. Text is placed on the button so they are labeled "flowers" and "beach.”
  • a hot spot tool is dragged and dropped over each button and they are resized to fit the buttons.
  • the screen tool 42 is then dragged and dropped onto the hot spot labeled "flowers" which creates a new screen that appears in column B, row 3 of the navigator as shown in Figure 29.
  • the image tool is then dragged from the tool panel into the simulator and the "petunias" file is selected from the images directory.
  • the timer tool is dragged from the tool panel and dropped anywhere on the simulator.
  • the snapshot of the screen in column B, row 2 of the navigator is then dragged into the timer in the simulator.
  • the tools menu 27 is selected and the inspector.
  • Clicking on the play button 68 at the bottom of the simulator will result in a delay of five seconds (as set in the timer) after which the screen should change to the screen with the flower and the beach buttons.
  • the presentation can also be tested by clicking on each of the "click here" messages as described above.
  • the resulting screen navigator shown in Figure 30, thus provides an easy to read overview of the screens just created.
  • the navigator screen includes a current field which shows the column and row of the screen currently in the simulator.
  • a children field shows the column and row of the child screens of the screen currently in the simulator.
  • the branches field shows the column and row of all the screens to which the screen currently in the simulator branches (that are not children). When a screen branches to screens that are not children, a line with a circle around "B" is displayed to indicate these branches exist. 6.
  • the IMAT 10 of the present invention is adapted to operate on the NextStep 3.0 operating system available from NeXt Computer Inc. It will be appreciated that the software code necessary to complement a system with the features of the present invention described herein can be written by computer programmers having the requisite skills. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and teachings of the present invention can also be implemented in various forms on other operating systems besides NextStep 3.0.
  • the present invention provides an Interactive Multimedia Authoring Tool 10 which permits an author to produce interactive media applications in an intuitive, graphical environment without spending time learning complicated producing procedures or scripting languages.
  • the invention can be readily learned by those having the appropriate creative skills and does not require advanced knowledge and skills in computer programming.
  • the simulator window permits the user to see a real time simulation of the application as it is being constructed.
  • the tool panel's use of drag-drop techniques makes it easy to quickly build an interactive media application. Tedious charting of applications by hand or by draw programs is eliminated by the navigator which dynamically builds a flow chart of the application.
  • NeXT and NeXTSTEP are trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc.
  • PANTONE is a registered trademark of Pantone, Inc. -BETA RELEASE-
  • the Sound Tool 6-20 Adding Sound, 6-20 Testing the Sound, 6-20 Connecting Sound to a Hotspot or Timer, 6-20 Using the Sound Record Panel, 6-21
  • the Movie Inspector 9-10 Name, 9-3 Startup Setting, 9-10 Parameter Setting, 9- 11 Location Setting, 9- 11 Size Settings, 9-12 Path Connection, 9-13
  • the Text Inspector 9-14 Name, 9-14 Startup Setting, 9-14 Location Setting, 9-14 Dimension Setting, 9-15 Text Color, 9-15 Attributes, 9-15 Path Connection, 9-15
  • the Hotspot Inspector 9-20 Name, 9-20 Connections, 9-20 Mouse Events, 9-21 Actions, 9-21 Edit Script, 9-22 Effects, 9-22 Effect Time, 9-22 Path Connection, 9-23
  • the Path Inspector 9-27 Name, 9-27 Path Geometry, 9-27 Path Speed, 9-28 Connections, 9-28
  • CallistoTM offers a quick and intuitive way to create high-quality interactive media presentations on your NeXTTM computer network. More importantly, Callisto lets you start creating those presentations immediately; you won't need to spend weeks or months learning complicated procedures or scripting languages. Whether you're preparing a sales presentation, a point-of- information (POI) network, or an advanced computer-based training course, Callisto gives you the power you need with the simplicity you've been waiting for.
  • POI point-of- information
  • NeXTSTEPTM 3.0 now available on 486-based PCs
  • Callisto incorporates all the advanced features of NeXTSTEPTM 3.0 (now available on 486-based PCs), allowing you to use Callisto with other standard NeXT graphics, paint, image processing, and audio applications.
  • Novell Netware® and AppleTalk® support from NeXTSTEP Callisto can even accept files from your favorite PC and Macintosh applications.
  • This guide is designed for those somewhat familiar with both the NeXTSTEP environment and with the technologies used to create the media assets (e.g., image, movie, or sound files) used in Callisto.
  • media assets e.g., image, movie, or sound files
  • This guide contains a chapter describing the basics concepts and procedures used in Callisto, a chapter about each Callisto tool, a glossary of terms, and an index.
  • the topics addressed in each chapter are described below:
  • Control-drag means to hold down the Control key while dragging the mouse.
  • Callisto is self- contained and needs no other software in order to run. It does require, however, that you have either the media assets you want to include in your presentations (for example, image files stored in .tiff or .eps format) or the means to produce them.
  • a Callisto presentation is made up of a series of screens, each of which is created in a window called the Simulator.
  • Each screen may contain one or more of these media elements: images movies text sound hotspots timers paths graphics
  • Assets can also be grouped; for example, you may want to ensure that a specific image and its accompanying text always go together. Once assets are grouped, the group behaves just like any other single asset.
  • a screen may have a template attached to it.
  • a template consists of one or more assets that you wish to be common among all or a selected group of screens. For example, templates are commonly used to assign a background color or pattern to a set of related screens. For more information about templates, see chapter 8, The Template Navigator.
  • Assets fall into two distinct types: those you can see and those you can't. Images, movies, text, graphics, and hotspots will be visible when you play a presentation, but sound, timers, and paths won't be.
  • Assets that you can see are called spatial (since they take up space on a screen), and assets that you can't see are called non- spatial.
  • spatial assets are added to a screen, they are visible in the Simulator's Display Area (the upper part of the window).
  • non-spatial assets are added to a screen, they are represented by an icon in the Icon Shelf (the lower part of the window).
  • Callisto accepts the following file formats:
  • the remaining assets are created in Callisto and do not have associated source files.
  • Hotspot and Timer tools are key to making a presentation work. Hotspots and timers send action commands to screens and their assets. In turn, action commands determine how screens and their assets function during a playing presentation.
  • Hotspots and timers share the same basic function, the only difference being that hotspots send action commands in response to a mouse event and timers send action commands after a specified amount of time has elapsed (you don't have to do anything to make the action occur).
  • Branch command is the only action command that is not sent to an asset, but is instead used to open another screen.
  • Branch command is the only action command that is not sent to an asset, but is instead used to open another screen.
  • Show, Hide, and Branch action commands can have visual effects attached with them that determine how a transition looks on the screen. By default, no visual effects are attached to an action command, however you can choose to add one of the following effects:
  • Hotspots can have different responses (i.e., send different action commands to an asset) based upon the type of mouse event that occurs within the bounds of the hotspot:
  • the hotspot is connected to a sound
  • the Main menu and all of its submenus contain all the commands you'll need to use Callisto. You can either use the mouse to select commands from a menu or, in many cases, use a command key to execute them without opening a menu.
  • the Tool Panel is used to add assets to your screens, and to add screens to your presentation. In most cases, assets are added to a screen by dragging them with the mouse from the Tool Panel into the Simulator.
  • the Screen Navigator automatically creates a graphic "outline" of your presentation as you build it, giving you a quick and easy way to see the whole presentation at a glance or to move instantly to any screen.
  • the Screen Navigator Connecting arrows show you how the screens branch to and from one another.
  • Templates are assets that you wish to be common among all or a selected group of screens (a background color or pattern, for example).
  • the Template Navigator displays all of the templates in a Callisto presentation. Use the Template Navigator to select a template to edit or to attach a template to a screen.
  • the Inspector is used to examine and make changes to a screen and the assets it contains.
  • the Inspector automatically displays the parameters and settings of the currently selected item in the Simulator. Changing the selection within the Simulator will change the contents of the Inspector.
  • the Colors panel used in most NeXTSTEP applications, is used to add color to text, hotspot, and graphic assets. Using the panel, you can use the mouse to "drag color" from the panel into an asset on a Callisto screen. You can also choose among several methods for mixing color, select PANTONE® colors, and create custom color palettes.
  • the Sound Record panel lets you add sound to a screen without an .snd file. Use the microphone on your workstation along with this panel to record, stop, playback, pause, and erase sound. Using the Sound Tool icon on the panel, you can drag the recorded sound directly into your presentation.
  • This section covers basic operations such as creating and opening presentations, adding assets, and saving and closing presentations.
  • the Tool Panel consists of two sections:
  • spatial assets images, movies, text, hotspots, and graphics
  • Non-spatial assets are represented by an icon in the Icon Shelf.
  • the Graphics palette is used to create freehand graphics in the screen or template shown in the Simulator.
  • Any spatial asset (image, movie, text, hotspot, graphic) or group can be moved using the mouse. Move the cursor over the asset, press the mouse button, and drag the asset to its new location.
  • Any spatial asset on a screen can be resized using the mouse.
  • Deleting any asset not only removes it from the screen, but also deletes its connections to other assets. For example, if you delete a path, the assets connected to that path remain on the screen but their connections to the path are severed. The same rule applies to hotspots and timers.
  • Selected assets on your screen can be cut or copied into a buffer (the "pasteboard") and then pasted into a new location on either the current screen or into another screen.
  • Hotspots and timers can be cut and pasted, but not copied.
  • the Align and Grid commands on Callisto ' s Layout menu are used to refine how your assets are positioned on the screen. These commands apply only to spatial assets appearing in the Simulator's Display Area; if an icon in the Icon Shelf is selected, the Align and Grid commands are disabled.
  • the Align command is used to align spatial assets in a variety of ways relative to their
  • the Text Baseline button applies only to a set of selected text assets. Use this button to set a common baseline for text assets regardless of their font or point size.
  • the four Distribute buttons are used to evenly distribute horizontal or venical spacing among assets based on either their center points or the gap between their edges. Three or more assets are needed to enable the Distribute buttons.
  • the Grid button is used to go directly to the Grid panel without having to select it from the Layout menu.
  • the Grid command is used to control the existence and appearance of a grid with which you can refine the alignment of size of your assets.
  • the Grid Visible box determines whether or not a grid is displayed in the Simulator's Display Area.
  • the Size to Grid and Align to Grid buttons are enabled only if the Snap to Grid box is checked. Use these buttons to adjust the size and/or alignment of selected assets based on their proximity to the grid.
  • the Align button is used to go directly to the Align panel without having to select it from the Lavout menu.
  • Assets are "layered,” meaning that each new asset added to the screen is added "on top of” any existing assets. Assets have an inherent layering order whether or not they visually overlap on the screen.. You can move assets backward and forward through the layers with the various commands in the Layout menu.
  • Groups have their own Inspector panel, and perform like any other spatial asset. Groups can be connected to a path, timer or hotspot, and can be either shown or hidden when a screen is opened in Play mode.
  • An asset's connections to paths, timers, or hotspots do not automatically carry over when it becomes part of a group. Groups need to have their own connections defined.
  • One or more assets must be selected in order to use the Lock command. Selected assets must also be spatial; paths, sounds, and timers cannot be locked.
  • Locking an asset protects it from being repositioned or altered, but does not lock its connections to other assets. For example, if locked text is connected to a path, the path can still be deleted, and with it, the text ' s connection to it.
  • Unlock command Use the Unlock command to revert your assets back to an editable state. Because individual assets can't be selected when they are locked, the Unlock command unlocks all locked assets in a screen.
  • Your presentation is automatically saved before the play-only version is generated. This prevents any unsaved changes from being included in a play-only version and then lost if the version is later resaved as editable.
  • the Windows menu also notes whether a given presentation is in Edit or Play mode, and whether changes have been made since it was last saved.
  • Printing Presentation Screens Use the Print command to print out a copy of a presentation screen. Use the three options in the Simulator Print Option group to determine what gets printed:
  • the Performance button prints your Content or Window selection in Play mode (no hotspots are visible).
  • the Format menu's Page Layout command is used to change the layout of your printed screens.
  • Width/Height the size of the paper as defined by the Units selection; if you want a paper size not available from the pop-up menu, enter the size values here.
  • Callisto's menu structure provides all the commands you'll need to build and refine your presentations.
  • the Main menu appears automatically when you open Callisto. All other submenus are opened from the Main menu.
  • Command keys are case sensitive: for example, the uppercase "V" after the Paste Under command means to press Command-Shift-V, while the lowercase “v” after the Paste command means to press Command-v, without the Shift key.
  • Info opens the Information menu, from which you can access release data for Callisto, set usage preferences, and obtain online help.
  • Presentation opens the Presentation menu used to create, save, and close Callisto presentations.
  • Edit opens the Edit menu used to cut, copy, and paste screens and assets, check the spelling of text, and add new templates.
  • Format opens the Format menu used to design how the text in a screen will look and determine the physical layout of printed screens.
  • Layout opens the Layout menu used to reposition, group, lock, and align spatial assets.
  • Windows opens the Windows menu used to reposition, resize, and select open windows.
  • Info Panel displays release information about Callisto.
  • Open brings up the Open panel used to open an existing presentation.
  • New brings up the New panel used to create a new presentation.
  • Cut removes the selected screen or asset from the Simulator or Screen Navigator and places it in a memory buffer so that you can move it from one place to another.
  • Paste inserts the contents of the memory buffer at the cursor location.
  • Paste Under is used only with the Screen Navigator, and pastes cut or copied screens as children of a selected screen.
  • Add Template adds a new template to the template Navigator.
  • Spelling opens the Spelling panel used to manage the contents of the online dictionary; if a text string is selected, use this panel to search the dictionary for similarly spelled words.
  • Check Spelling checks the online dictionary to see if it contains a word that matches the selected text. To enable this command, double-click within the text to highlight the text string(s) you want to check.
  • Font opens the Font menu. o Bold bolds the selected text.
  • ° Copy Font copies the current font type and point size for later use.
  • o Paste Font applies the currently saved font type and point size to selected text.
  • Text opens the Text menu. Text menu options are valid only for selected text assets.
  • Paste Ruler inserts the copied ruler settings.
  • Page Layout brings up the Page Layout panel used to define the physical layout of printed screens.
  • Group will group selected spatial assets.
  • Ungroup will separate assets that have been grouped.
  • Lock will cause selected(s) asset to be unselectable, and thus uneditable.
  • Unlock will unlock all locked assets on a screen.
  • Align brings up the Align panel used to align selected spatial assets.
  • Grid brings up the Grid panel used to modify grid settings in the Simulator's Display Area.
  • Tool Panel opens the Callisto Tool Panel.
  • Screen Navigator opens the Screen Navigator for the active presentation.
  • Template Navigator opens the Template Navigator for the active presentation.
  • Inspector opens the Inspector panel for the active screen and, optionally, a selected asset within it.
  • Sound Record opens the Sound Record panel used to record and play sounds from a microphone.
  • Arrange in Front moves the active window to the front of the display.
  • the Services menu is used to request the services of another application.
  • Some menu selections access standard NeXT applications (e.g., Grab, Edit, Mail), but the rest of the menu's content depends on which applications have been installed on your workstation or network.
  • the Simulator is where your Callisto application is built and tested. It has two modes: Edit and Play. Use Edit mode to create screens and templates, and add assets to them. Use Play mode to play the presentation back one screen at a time and interact with it by clicking on defined hotspots.
  • the Simulator has three main components:
  • the Display Area is the upper part of the Simulator window where spatial assets are displayed and edited. It operates much like a drawing program in that you can draw freehand graphics; add and edit text; and move, cut, copy, and paste a screen's assets. When you add assets to a screen by dragging a tool icon from the Tool Panel, you drop it inside the Display Area.
  • the Size Bar directly beneath the Display Area is used to change the screen size either horizontally, vertically, or both.
  • the current screen width and height (in pixels) is displayed in the Simulator's title bar.
  • the Edit and Play radio buttons let you alternate between Edit and Play mode. Use Edit mode to add screens and assets to a presentation, and use Play mode to test it to ensure that the presentation operates correctly.
  • the Simulator's title bar will say "Editing” when in Edit mode, and "Playing” when in Play mode.
  • the Width and Height fields allow you to change the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the screen. Using these fields, you can set the exact size (in pixels)of the
  • Resizing a screen does not resize the assets contained within it. In addition, resizing adjusts screen size from the top and right only. If you make a screen smaller, assets at the very top and right of a screen may shift out of view; if you make a screen larger, extra space appears at the top and right.
  • a template consists of one or more assets that may be shared among screens. Templates may consist of images, hotspots, timers, sounds, or any asset that you want several screens to have in common. Any asset you put into the Display Area while in Edit Template mode becomes part of the template, and will appear as an unselectable asset while in Edit mode for the screen.
  • the Icon Shelf appears at the bottom on the window, and displays icons representing the non-spatial assets (sounds, timers, and paths) in a screen. To make connections between spatial and non-spatial assets, drag the mouse between the assets in the Display Area and those in the Icon Shelf.
  • Each row of the Icon Shelf holds ten icons; if you add more than that, scroll bars appear so that you can scroll through the shelf. Or, you can use the size bars at the bottom of the Simulator window to increase the size of the Icon Shelf.
  • Notched icons represent assets that are part of the screen's template. These kinds of assets can only be modified in Edit Template mode.
  • a notched icon indicates an asset that is part of a template
  • Callisto Tool Panel Use the Callisto Tool Panel to add assets and screens to your presentation. Callisto offers the following tools:
  • Hotspots and timers are used to control the display of the other assets; in other words, they make your presentation run. Hotspots perform actions (such as branching to a new screen) when a user clicks on them; timers perform the same actions actions based upon how much time has elapsed.
  • Image files may be in either .tiff or .eps format.
  • the Image Inspector displays detailed information about a selected image. Use the Image Inspector to:
  • Movies may be in either .mw or .anim format.
  • a movie begins to play as soon as the screen opens in Play mode. You can change that default by changing the settings in the movie's Inspector panel and then connecting the movie to a hotspot or timer. See Connecting a Movie to a Hotspot or Timer for details.
  • Movies can also be dragged into the Display Area from the NeXT File Viewer.
  • the folder can now be added to your screen the same way as with any other movie: either drag the folder from the NeXT File Viewer into the Simulator's Display Area, or drag-drop the movie icon from the Tool Panel into the Display Area and select the folder you just created from the Open panel.
  • the movie is played, Callisto cycles through the images in the order they were placed in the folder.
  • the Movie Inspector provides detailed information about a selected movie. With the Movie Inspector you can:
  • Text from other applications can be added to a Callisto screen only if the text is saved in TIFF or EPS format and included as an image asset.
  • Paste Font applies the previously copied font type and point size to selected text.
  • Font and Text menu commands affect only the text comprising a single asset; they are not used to align multiple text assets with one another. Aligning multiple assets (regardless of type) is accomplished using the Layout menu's Align command.
  • Sizing the text field does not change the size of the text itself, but only the amount of space surrounding it.
  • a text asset's font and point size are changed only by using the options on the Format menu's Font panel.
  • the Spelling command opens the Spelling panel used to manage the contents of one or more online dictionaries. Initially, the Spelling panel manages the online dictionary provided by NeXT. If you've installed other dictionaries, you can use this panel to manage them as well.
  • Text doesn't have to be selected to open the Spelling panel, but if it is (in other words, if you've double-clicked on a text
  • Dictionary menu this button opens a menu of all installed online dictionaries from which you can make a selection.
  • Forget use this button to delete a word you've previously added to a dictionary.
  • Entry Field if no text is selected, you can use this field to type in a word whose spelling you want to query, and then click Guess.
  • List Box lists words similar to the selected word. If one of them is the word you want, either select it from the list and click Correct or double-click it on the list.
  • Find Next locates the next misspelled word in the selection.
  • the Check Spelling command checks the online dictionary to see if it contains a word that matches selected text. This command does not open the Spelling panel. To enable this command, double-click within the text to highlight the text string(s) you want to check.
  • Text is commonly used to label hotspots, since the hotspot' s border isn't displayed when a screen is in Play mode. Placing text over a hotspot (the words "click here," for example) is one way of telling the user where to click to initiate some other action.
  • Hotspot Connecting Text to a Hotspot or Timer Connect a timer or hotspot to your text if you want it to appear or disappear only after a certain amount of time has elapsed or when a hotspotdetects a given mouse event. For example, you could create a screen with two text assets: a question and an answer. Using a hotspot, you could set the answer to be hidden
  • the answer could appear automatically after a given amount of time had elapsed.
  • a sound will occur automatically when a screen is opened. Connect sound to a hotspot or timer if you want it to start only after a certain amount of time has elapsed or when a hotspot detects a given mouse event.
  • the Sound Inspector displays detailed information about the sound file, such as how long it plays and how many times it repeats (loops).
  • the panel also contains a graphic representation of the sound so that you can cut and paste sound segments. Use the Sound Inspector to:
  • Hotspot tool to add interactive capability to your media presentation.
  • an action command is sent to whatever assets the hotspot is connected to.
  • the hotspot may direct the presentation to branch to a new screen; start, stop, pause or resume sound; show or hide an image; and even activate another hotspot.
  • a hotspot may be connected to multiple assets, allowing it to send more than one action command at the same time (starting a movie and soundtrack together, for instance).
  • a hotspot performs the same functions as a timer, the only exception being that it performs them as a result of mouse events rather than elapsed time.
  • the Screen is not considered a media asset.
  • Branch command is somewhat unique in that it indicates a branch to another screen.
  • Hotspot Tool icon To add a hotspot, drag the Hotspot Tool icon from the Tool Panel and drop it on the screen where you want the hotspot to be.
  • the hotspot can overlap other assets (you can place a hotspot over an image or a text string, for example).
  • a thick line will outline the hotspot while the Simulator is in Edit mode, but will be invisible in Play mode.
  • Hotspots can be connected to all types of assets:
  • One hotspot can be connected to several different assets; for example, you can connect a hotspot to both a movie and sound to start them at the same time when the presentation is played.
  • the same hotspot has two connections to the same sound.
  • the sound begins playing when the screen opens. The first time you press the left button, the sound pauses, the sound resumes when you release it.
  • Timers with multiple connections to the same asset work much the same way, except that instead of each action happening after a given number of mouse clicks, each action occurs after a a predetermined amount of time.
  • the hotspot will be temporarily bordered in grey to show you that the connection is being made.
  • the Branch action command is automatically assigned to the connection between the hotspot and the screen.
  • Hotspot Inspector When a hotspot is used to display or hide an asset or a screen (in other words, when it has a Show, Hide, or Branch action assigned to it), you can use the Hotspot Inspector to select from a variety of visual effects:
  • the screen When the screen is opened in Play mode (in other words, when the hotspot detects a mouse event and its associated Branch action occurs), the screen will open using the visual effect you selected, and the transition will occur in the amount of time you specified.
  • the Hotspot Inspector displays precisely what happens when a hotspot detects a given mouse event, and lets you change which
  • Hotspot Inspector to:
  • Timer Tool Use the Timer Tool to add timed events to your presentation. For example, you may choose to branch from one screen to another after a specified number of seconds, or time-delay the appearance of
  • a timer performs the same functions as a hotspot, the only exception being that it performs them as a result of elapsed time rather than mouse events.
  • a timer starts the moment a screen is opened in Play mode.
  • use the Time field in the Timer Inspector to enter the amount of time it takes before the timer's associated action command is sent to whatever asset it is linked to.
  • the Screen is not considered a media asset.
  • Branch command is somewhat unique in that it indicates a branch to another screen.
  • Timer Tool icon To add a timer, drag the Timer Tool icon from the Tool Panel and drop it into the Simulator's Display Area. A timer icon appears in the Icon Shelf.
  • Timers can be connected to all types of assets:
  • One timer can be connected to several different assets; for example, you can connect a timer to both a movie and sound to start them at the same time when the presentation is played.
  • the same timer has three unique connections to the same sound.
  • the sound begins playing when the screen opens.
  • the first timer then instructs the sound to pause after 5 seconds, the second timer resumes the sound after ten seconds, and the third timer stops the sound entirely.
  • Hotspots with multiple connections to the same asset work much the same way, except that instead of each action happening after a predetermined amount of time, each action occurs after a given mouse event.
  • the timer will be temporarily bordered in grey to show you that the connection is being made.
  • the Branch action command is automatically assigned to the timer.
  • Timer Actions with Visual Effects When a timer is used to display or hide an asset or a screen (in other words, when it has a Show, Hide, or Branch action assigned to it), you can use the Timer Inspector to select from a variety of visual effects:
  • the timer begins counting down as soon as the screen opens in Play mode. This default can be changed using the Time field in the Timer Inspector panel.
  • the Timer Inspector is used to edit time settings for a timer. Use the Timer Inspector to:

Abstract

A system and method for authoring interactive multimedia presentations (14). This system is a streamlined authoring system utilizing a simplified user interface which facilitates the creation (20), charting (22) and testing (24) of interactive multimedia presentations (14) during the authoring process. The system uses an intuitive design (10) which makes it possible to produce interactive media (16) faster and more effectively than current systems. The system provides for the creation and arrangement of new and preexisting media assets (12) in a modifiable sequence for interactive and branching display. The system utilizes a simulation window (18) in which individual screens in a multimedia presentation are developed. Also, a simplified method for establishing hierarchical linked between these screens is provided. A navigator (22) generates and displays a graphical presentation of each screen along with a presentation of its position in the hierarchy of link screens automatically while the screens and links are generated. This eliminates the need for manual creation of presentation flow charts. As a result, the present invention is extremely user friendly and does not require extensive knowledge of programming by the user.

Description

INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field The present invention relates to a system and method for authoring interactive multimedia presentations, and more particularly, to a streamlined interactive multimedia authoring system and method utilizing a simplified user interface which facilitates creating, charting and testing during the authoring process.
2. Discussion Computers currently handle the bulk of the world's text and graphics processing.
Within the next 20 years, it is expected that computers will handle virtually all of the world's sound, image, and video processing as well. The dramatic increase in sales of computers and software specifically designed to handle these tasks shows that this process has already begun. Broadly defined, multimedia computers are computers capable of combining any two or more distinct media types on one computer screen with an integrated sound system. This combination has many possible applications. In its simplest form, multimedia includes consumer products such as video games which are based upon relatively primitive animation and sound technology. On a more complex level, multimedia computers can function as a library of different media forms (such as still photos, movie clips or sound bites), making storage and retrieval of media forms significantly faster and less expensive. On d e upper end, many special effects in movies are created using a combination of animation, video and sound produced with multimedia computers.
The distinction between "multimedia" and "interactive media" (also referred to by some as "interactive multimedia") is that the former is linear and the latter is non-linear. For example, a television program is a multimedia presentation but is considered "linear" (it plays a single sequence of events from beginning to end), viewing an interactive multimedia presentation, which is non-linear, is similar to watching television except that the presentation will vary as a result of viewer interaction. In a sense, video game machines can be considered interactive media players since the viewer controls the media in the events on the screen. While these devices are manufactured for the limited purpose of arcade style video games, interactive media has much broader potential for delivering a variety of titles to the consumer and professional markets. Interactive media players based on compact disk technology can deliver a range of programming including games, educational, entertainment, interactive travel guides, marketing and business presentations, music videos, and conventional movies. Thus, virtually anything currently published in linear format, from books to movies, has the potential to be published in interactive format on compact disk.
The emerging field of Interactive Media Publishing involves the publishing of digital information, including text, graphics, video and sound for interactive playback either over a computer network or in a compact disk playback device. One example of such a playback device is the Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I) player which operates in conjunction with standard television sets. CD-I is the latest outgrowth of compact disk technology invented by Phillips, Sony and Matsushita. It is an advancement over both CD-Audio and CD-ROM in that it allows full motion video and advanced interactive features as well as sound and text. However, one of the impediments to the widespread use of interactive multimedia presentations has been the difficulty in auti oring multimedia works, which is in general a slow, time consuming.-arduous process. For example, the authoring of existing CD-I tides involves the writing of long and complicated computer code and takes as long as 24 months. This often involves learning a scripting language, and in some cases editing hundreds of frames of animation. Thus, up to now, the effective authoring of multimedia presentations generally required both artistic skills required to create interesting interactive presentations, and also technical skills to understand and utilize complex authoring software techniques.
As a result, the technical difficulties of prior authoring programs has prevented many artistic and creative types who are not programmers from applying their skills to the creation of multimedia works. Moreover, even for trained programmers and engineers, the task of creating multimedia works remains somewhat daunting. This process generally requires either the time consuming creation of hand charts of the entire presentation or requires the author to learn a complicated scripting language in which to author and edit die presentation. Further, as the presentation evolves, the aumor must manually create a flow chart of the various branching within the presentation in order to visualize the overall organization of the work. Changing from screen to screen during d e authoring process is generally difficult and the ability to test the work during die autiioring process generally limited or difficult.
In brief, presently available interactive multimedia authoring software does not permit quick and efficient authoring. Moreover, such programs are generally difficult to use, thus discouraging their use by individuals who are not trained programmers or engineers. Even for those with such training, the authoring process is so cumbersome as to discourage, rather than encourage, creativity in the authoring process.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an interactive multimedia authoring system and metfiod which streamlines the authoring process to permit its use by a wider variety of persons, particularly those without specialized training in software or engineering. Further, it would be desirable to provide a system which is easy to learn without requiring extensive training for the user. Further, it would be desirable to provide such a system which speeds up the authoring process and facilitates the implementation of creative ideas during authoring. To this end, it would be desirable to provide such a system which permits the author to easily move from screen to screen, and which makes it easy to visualize and test the product during various stages of its creation. Also it would be desirable to provide such a system which facilitates die creation of screen to screen connections and branching, and which eliminates the necessity of manually creating flow charts to chart these connections.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Pursuant to the present invention an interactive multimedia autiioring system and method is provided which permits the arrangement of pre-existing media assets in a modifiable sequence for interactive and branching display. This system includes a simulation window in which the individual screens in the multimedia presentation are developed. Also, this system includes a simplified method for adding assets to screens, creating new screens and establishing hierarchical links between a plurality of these screens developed in the simulation window. Further, this system includes a navigator for generating and displaying a graphical representation of each of the screens along with a representation of its position in the hierarchy of linked screens. These graphical representations are generated automatically while the screens and links are generated.
As a result, the system of the present invention greatly simplifies and speeds up the authoring process and eliminates the need for the manual creation of presentation flow charts. Furthermore, the present invention is extremely user friendly and does not require its user to have extensive training or software knowledge.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The various advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the following specification and by reference to the following drawings in which:
Figure 1 is an overall system block diagram of the Interactive Multimedia Authoring Tool (IMAT) in accordance with the present invention. Figure 2 is a diagram depicting further details of the simulator window and tool panel of the Interactive Multimedia Authoring Tool shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a diagram showing additional details of the screen navigator of the IMAT in Figure 1. Figure 4 is a tool panel with exemplary icons in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 5 is a diagram of an exemplary screen layout for the simulator window, screen navigator, tool panel, and inspector in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 is a diagram of a portion of the presentation spreadsheet generated by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
Figure 7 is an additional portion of the hierarchy diagram created by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
Figure 8 is a portion of a hierarchy diagram generated by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
Figure 9 illustrates the effect of deleting screens in the navigator shown in Figure 3.
Figure 10 shows the effect of deleting branches in the hierarchy diagram created by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
Figure 11 shows the process of inserting screens in the hierarchy diagram created by the navigator shown in Figure 3.
Figure 12 is a diagram depicting further details of the inspector of the IMAT shown in Figure 1.
Figure 13 is a diagram of a movie inspector window in accordance with the present invention. Figure 14 is an illustration of a sound inspector window.
Figure 15 is an illustration of a image/graphics inspector window.
Figure 16 is an illustration of a hot spot inspector window.
Figure 17 is an illustration of & timer inspector window.
Figure 18 is a diagram of an exemplary screen in the initial stages of the creation of a multimedia work in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 19 is a diagram showing the simulator and tool panel during the process of dragging an image icon onto the simulator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 20 is a diagram showing the dropping of a hot spot onto the simulator. Figure 21 is a diagram of a hot spot with sizing handles on the simulator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 22 is an example of the screen navigator depicting the first screen created utilizing the IMAT in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 23 is a diagram of portions of the simulator and navigator showing the process of creating a branch from a hot spot to a screen in accordance with the present invention. Figure 24 is a diagram of a color panel in accordance with the present invention. Figure 25 depicts the simulator screen with hot spots created for sounds and images in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Figure 26 depicts the creation of buttons used to select sounds in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 27 depicts' the selection of sounds to be generated using a hot spot on the simulator in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 28 depicts the inspector window and the information it displays at a particular stage in the creation of a multimedia work in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 29 depicts a portion of the screen navigator with the multiple screen hierarchical spreadsheet displayed.
Figure 30 is a diagram showing additional details of the screen navigator showing the connections and branches between various screens in a chart diagram. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
1. Overview
The present invention is a system and method for generating interactive multimedia works. That is, the present invention is used to generate digital information, including text, graphics, video and sound for interactive playback either over a computer network or a compact disc playback device.
The information that comprises an interactive multimedia work, including audio, video, and interaction, must be produced and formatted. The present invention is an authoring system and technique which provides a simple but powerful tool for assembling audio and video in an interactive environment. The present invention utilizes an intuitive design that makes it possible to produce interactive media faster and more effectively than other currently available tools, thus avoiding the writing of long and complicated computer code. As a result, the present invention can be utilized not only by computer progress but by persons who have appropriate artistic talents, but may lack the computer programming skills. Referring now to Figure 1 , there is shown an overall system block diagram of the interactive multimedia authoring tool (IMAT) 10 of the present invention. In general, the IMAT system receives as input a plurality of assets 12 which may comprise sound, video, images, etc. from an external source. These assets 12 may be prepared, stored and organized in such a matter to facilitate their utilization in the IMAT system 10. For example, the assets 12 may be stored and managed by an asset management tool which provides ready access to the various stored assets. One such asset management tool which may be utilized with the present invention is known as MediaStation'sold by Imagine Multimedia, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan. These assets are utilized in the authoring environment 14 to create the desired multimedia presentation. The finished presentation may be sent to an output file 16 where it is stored or utilized by conventional multimedia hardware. For example, the multimedia presentation may be played back on dedicated "players" that attach to standard televisions, or, on a personal computer. In general, products for the consumer market comprise interactive media players which attach to standard televisions, and the professional market utilizes the playback of interactive media on computers. One example of a dedicated interactive media playback device for the consumer market is the above discussed Compact-Disc- Interactive, or CD-I.
As shown in Figure 1, the authoring environment 14 of the IMAT 10, includes a simulator window 18, a tool panel 20, a screen navigator 22 and an inspector 24. The simulator window 18 is the main document window of the IMAT 10. This is where the interactive presentation is built and displayed. Its main feature is the display area, the size of which is determined by the author. The display area has the characteristics of a draw program with the ability to move graphic elements around on the screen, eg., type in text, cut, copy and paste any graphic element, draw hot spots on the screen, draw lines, squares and circles. The tool panel 20 interacts with the simulator window 18 to add media and other assets to each screen. This permits the interactive presentation to be developed one screen at a time by using the tool panel to drag-drop text, graphics, images, sound, music, animation, digital movies, background images, special effects, and hot spots into the application. The inspector 24 provides tools for manipulating the parameters of the assets such as scaling and rotation. Also the inspector is used to quickly review each screen and its contents.
As the interactive presentation is being constructed, the screen navigator 22 dynamically builds a flow chart of the presentation. This provides the author with a visual representation of all the screens and branches in the interactive presentation. The navigator also permits the author to navigate or search in a rapid manner through the application. Particular screens identified in the navigator can be quickly reviewed in the inspector or tested in the simulator. 2. The Simulator and Tool Panel
Referring now to Figure 2, the simulator window 18 and tool panel 20 are shown in more detail. The simulator window includes controls to permit toggling between edit and play modes. In the edit mode the author builds and views individual screens of a presentation. In the play mode the author can test the functionality of the work in progress or view a completed presentation. Each screen can contain a combination of sounds, images, hot spots, paths, text and/or timers. It should be noted that, when the interactive presentation is being run or played by a user, none of the authoring tools or windows appear. User interaction in a presentation created using the present invention will typically be limited to pointing and clicking with a mouse. Actions (i.e., sound play, screen change, movie play, etc.) can only take place as a result of two types of events: (1) mouse events (user interaction) received by a hot spot tool or (2) timed events sent from the timer tool. Thus, nothing will happen in the interactive presentation unless the user clicks on something or the author has created a timed event that will cause some sort of action to occur if the user does not click. The simulator window in the preferred embodiment also includes an icon shelf 26 in which sound, path, and timer icons appear when they are dragged into the simulator window from the tool panel 20.
The tool panel 20 contains all the tools for adding media, hot spots, paths, animation and branching to the presentation. After adding an asset to the simulator, it can be inspected with the inspector 24. Different tools have different inspectors for such things as changing certain parameters, setting actions and timings, and setting transition effects such as dissolves from one screen to another. The tool panel will generally appear on the screen alongside the simulator window. The author can detach and drag the tool panel anywhere on the screen using an interface device such as a mouse. There are three types of tools: (1) media tools, (2) event tools, and (3) miscellaneous tools. The media tools all have the characteristic of being performance based. That is, they can start and stop (and in some cases they can pause). Even static graphics, like images, can start and stop (if they are set to show and hide in their inspector). Media tools are always dropped into the simulator window. By default, all media tools are connected to the screen and will start automatically upon entrance to that screen. In the preferred embodiment, the media tools include an image tool, sound tool, movie tool and text tool. These tools will be discussed in more detail below.
Event tools are the tools that cause action based on a mouse click or a timed event. Event tools are always dropped into the simulator window. In the preferred embodiment the event tools include a hot spot tool and a timer tool.
The miscellaneous tools include in the preferred embodiment a path tool, a script tool, a cursor tool and a screen tool.
When media tools are dropped on the screen, the graphics appear in the location they are dropped. Except that icons for tools that are not graphics will appear in an icon shelf in the simulator window. When event tools are dropped on the screen hot spots appear where they are dropped and timers appear in the simulator window shelf. When any media or event tool is selected on the screen, its various parameters can be changed using the inspector. The path tool is dropped on the simulator. The screen tool dropped into a hot spot or timer. In more detail, the tools in the tool panel 20 are shown in Figure 2. Also, Figure 5 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a screen layout for the IMAT 10 in accordance with the present invention. This screen shows simultaneously the simulator 18, navigator 22, inspector
24 and tool panel 20. In addition, there is a main menu 25 (which is shown with the tool selection 27 choice) and a tool menu 29 appearing to the right. When an image tool 28 is dropped into the simulator window 18, an open panel is brought up. An open panel is a file finder which consists of a small window that appears with a list of files to permit the user to browse through the files until the desired image file is found. Once the desired file is opened, it appears in the simulator in the place that the image tool icon was dropped. The image may be moved around the simulator by clicking and dragging it. Resizing the images may be accomplished in the preferred embodiment by clicking on any one of the handles which appear around the image and dragging them. In the preferred embodiment holding down the alternate key while dragging resizes proportionately.
The movie tool 30 is activated by dragging it into the simulator. This brings up an open panel which permits any movie file to be opened. By default the movie is connected to the screen and plays as soon as the current screen is entered in the play mode. The default can be overridden by control-dragging from a hot spot or timer to the movie. By using the inspector for the hot spot or timer, the user can set the hot spot or timer to start, pause, or stop the movie. The visual location of the movie can be moved around the simulator by clicking and dragging it. Also, it can be resized by clicking on any one of the handles and dragging them.
The text inspector 32 is dragged into the simulator to establish a field for generating text. Doing so places the word "text" on the screen. The user can double-dash click on the word "text" and type in any words or letters desired. The text can be moved around the simulator or resized in a similar manner as other tools as described above. By using the font panel and font commands found in the format menu (see main menu 25 in Figure 5), the desired text can be selected and the font changed to any type face and size. A color panel can be opened from the colors menu (see tool menu 29 in Figure 5). If the text is selected, a color can be dragged directly from the well on the color panel and dropped over the text to change its color.
The sound tool 34 is dropped into the simulator to import sound files. Doing so brings up an open panel from which any sound file can then be opened. A sound icon appears in the simulator. By default, the sound will be connected to the screen and play as soon as the current screen is entered in play mode. One can override the default by control-dragging from a hot spot or timer to the sound icon. By using the inspector for the hot spot or timer, it can be set to start, pause or stop the sound. In edit mode, a sound icon appears in the lower left corner of the screen.
The hot spot tool 36 can be dropped into the simulator to create a button that performs actions on assets and screens based upon mouse events. In the preferred embodiment, dragging the hot spot tool into the simulator places a black rectangle up the screen. A hot spot can be placed anywhere, eg., over an image or text, and is invisible in play mode. The hot spot is the interaction tool. Depending upon its settings in the inspector, the hot spot receives mouse events and sends commands to whatever it is connected to. It can branch to a new screen, start or stop some media or pause or resume some media. A hot spot can be connected to several different media simultaneously (i.e., starting a sound and movie at the same time). To connect a hot spot to something (i.e., a sound), the user control -drags from the hot spot to the item it is desired to connect it to. The user is provided visual confirmation that a hot spot link is being created by showing a line connecting the hot spot to the desired item. To delete a connection, the connection is selected in the connection window in the inspector and "delete" or "cut" from the edit menu is chosen. The hot spots can be moved around the simulator or resized in a similar manner as the other tools. A color can be dragged directly from the well on the color panel (opened from the colors menu) and dropped over the hot spot to change its color. This is useful for making it easier to see in edit mode in the event it is the same color as the background.
The timer tool 38 is dropped into the simulator to perform actions on assets and screens based upon timed events. Simply dragging the timer tool into the screen will creates a timer that, by default, begins upon entry of the current screen. In edit mode, a timer icon appears in the lower right corner of the screen. Settings for the timer can be edited in the inspector as described below. A timer is capable of doing everything a hot spot can do, except it performs its commands as a result of time settings rather than mouse events received. The path tool 40 is dropped into the simulator to create a route along which assets can move. When dragged into the simulator, a path icon appears in the shelf 26. To create the animation path, the user double clicks on the path icon in the simulator, clicks and draws the path on the screen. The timing of the drag will be recorded so that during playback the animation will have the same speed. To have a graphic, image, movie or text move along the path, the user control-drags from the graphic item to the path icon. In order for the graphic item to move along the path in play mode, it must receive a start command from a hot spot or timer. To do this, the user control-drags from a hot spot or timer to the graphic that will move along the path.
The screen tool 42 can be dragged into a timer or hot spot in the simulator to add a new screen to a presentation. That is, by dragging the screen tool into a timer or a hot spot, a branch to a new screen is created. The new screen will show up in the navigator. To create a branch to an existing screen, the user clicks and drags a screen to which the user wants to branch from the navigator into the hot spot or timer in the simulator window. If the screen tool was dropped into a timer, the time delay before the branch occurs can be set in the inspector.
The draw tools 44 are basic draw tools for creating graphics within the presentation. These draw tools include conventional drawing capabilities as shown in more detail in Figure 4.
The script tool 45 provides a means for adding small programs to a hot spot or timer so that they can set values of variables, perform arithmetic calculations, and create conditions upon which certain actions will be performed. As an example, the author could create a small script that would allow a branch to occur upon clicking a hot spot only when a variable was set to a certain value (this is known as conditional branching). The cursor tool 47 allows the author to create custom cursors. The cursors can be attached to hot spots so that when the user moves the mouse into a hot spot the cursor changes.
3. The Navigator Referring now to Figure 3, further details of the screen navigator 22 are shown. The main function of the screen navigator 22 is to provide the author with a visual representation of all the screens and branches in an interactive media presentation and a means for navigating through them. The visualization of the structure of the application is accomplished using a row/column representation similar to a spreadsheet. Each screen of the application is represented by an icon-sized snapshot and text within a cell of the hierarchy diagram.
As shown in Figure 3, the screen navigator has three primary functions: facilitating adding new screens, branching between screens, and navigating throughout the presentation. When adding a new screen, the screen tool 42 in the tool panel 2 0 is dragged and dropped in the simulator window 18 to create a new screen. When the screen navigator (46 in Figure 5) is selected from the tools menu 29, the screen navigator 22 will appear showing the new screen 48. In the branching function, with screen A in the simulator, new screen D 48 is dragged and dropped from the navigator to a hot spot in the simulator (step 50). Next, the inspector for screen A may be selected to view the parameters of the hot spot (step 52). To navigate through the presentation, the user mouse clicks on screen A in the navigator to place screen A in the simulator window as shown in step 54 in Figure 3. Likewise, when the user mouse clicks on screen B in the navigator, screen B appears in the simulator window as shown in step 56 in Figure 3.
In more detail, the hierarchy of the presentation is depicted by the navigator by the placement of the screens and the hierarchy diagram directional orientation of flow arrows. The first screen of every presentation is in row 1 column A. Each child's screen of the first screen will be in the next row. As shown in Figure 6, a screen labeled music in row 2 is the child of the first screen (not shown). The music screen has three children of its own in row 3. Each has an arrow pointing to it from the music screen. That means the music screen must have three hot spots or timers, each one branching to one of three child screens. Branches from screens are represented in three ways: (1) downward arrows that connect parent screens to child screens, (2) two way arrows that show branching from parent to child and from child to parent, and (3) a line connected to a circle containing the letter "b" as shown in Figure 7. The "b" signifies that there is at least one branch from this screen to another that is non-hierarchical. The names of the screens being branches to are in a field of the navigator.
An important feature of the IMAT 10 of the present invention is that the hierarchy diagram of the navigator is created as the presentation is built using the simulator. The navigator automatically places new screens in the appropriate cells and draws the connecting arrows as new screens are added to the simulator. Every new presentation begins with a screen in A:I of the navigator.
To add a new screen to the presentation, the screen tool 42 from the tool panel 20 is dragged into a hot spot or timer in the parent screen in the simulator window. A new screen (child) will appear in the navigator in the row below the parent screen. A line with an arrow pointing from the parent to the child screen also appears. A column will be added for each new child's screen of the same parent, as shown in Figure 6. Branches to screens created in this fashion are said to be hierarchical, forming a kind of family tree of parent and child screens. Nonhierarchical branches to existing screens are created by the user by selecting the screen it is desired to branch from in the navigator. This screen will appear in the simulator. The navigator is then used to go to the screen to which it is desired, where the branch icon is dragged into a hot spot or timer in the screen in the simulator. Any screen can branch to any other screen in the presentation using this method without regard to hierarchy. A line with a circle containing the letter "b" appears attached to the screen being branched from as shown in Figure 7. A two-way branch from a child to a parent is created in the same way as described above for creating branches to existing screens (since a parent must exist before a child). The only difference is that the branch will not appear as a line with a circle but instead as a two way arrow as shown in Figure 7.
Even though the navigator hierarchy diagram looks like a spreadsheet, this is primarily a convenience for the author. Having screens placed in columns and rows makes it easy to reference them and find them. It is particularly useful for showing the non-hierarchical connections between screens which may be very far apart. The column:row structure, however, does not represent the actual hierarchy of the presentation. A spreadsheet is a two-dimensional matrix of cells while an IMAT interactive presentation is an upside down logic tree. In such interactive presentations, for instance, there can never be more than one screen in the first row since all subsequent child screens would have to be in rows below. This is why the traditional types of editing features in a spreadsheet are not used in the present invention. For instance, edit commands that manipulate whole rows would cross hierarchical boundaries and the result would not necessarily by what the author intended. Instead, edit commands work down the hierarchy, since an edit on a parent would affect all subsequent child screens (and their child screens).
Understanding the hierarchy (every screen has a parent) is the key to understanding how to edit the structure of the interactive presentation. An important concept is that of orphans. Orphans are screens that have lost their parents either by having had the parent screen deleted or the branch from the parent screen deleted. An orphan can still have child screens and those child screens can have child screens. In other words it is possible, by deleting a parent or branch, to disconnect a whole segment of your presentation from the rest of the presentation, leaving no way for the user to actually branch there. When a screen is an orphan, the navigator will draw a gray line from it to the cell that formerly contained the parent. The gray is an indication to the author that currently there is an orphan screen. All editing commands can cause orphans. As discussed below, this is actually a powerful and easy way to rearrange the hierarchy of the presentation.
Clicking on a screen in the navigator selects it and causes it to appear in the simulator. The author can select multiple screens by clicking and dragging in the navigator. Choosing "delete" from the edit menu will delete the selected screen (S). Deleting eliminates the screen (S) and all branches to and from the screen (S). The cell (S) in the navigator will be empty where the screen (S) was deleted. If the screen was a parent, then its child's screens will be orphans. Figure 8 shows the effect of one deleted screen. Figure 9 shows the effect of two deleted screens. Note the gray lines connected to the now empty cells of the deleted screens.
There are two ways to delete a branch: one way is to cut the hot spot that contains the branch from the simulator window; the other way is to select the branch in the navigator (by clicking on it) and choosing "delete" from the edit menu. Deleting a hierarchical branch will cause orphans but deleting a non-hierarchical branch simply eliminates the branch. Deleting a branch does not delete the hot spot. Figure 10 shows two hierarchical branches that have been deleted. The missing branches are replaced by gray lines.
Dragging the screen tool into a hot spot that already has a branch will create a panel to appear alerting the author that a branch exists and asking the author if he or she would like to insert a new screen. Choosing yes will cause the new screen to be inserted between the parent and existing child screen. The existing child screen becomes an orphan. In Figure 11 a new screen has been inserted after music. The original child screen "pop" is shifted down one row and is now an orphan. It is possible to branch to an orphan as a way of altering the hierarchy and moving screens around in the navigator. When the author creates a branch to an existing screen (as described above) that is an orphan, the orphan becomes the child of the screen being branched from. The navigator will then redraw itself, placing the newly adopted child in the appropriate row:column along with any of its children. The method for moving screens or sections containing mini screens around in the hierarchy diagram is comprised of first making them orphans, and then creating a branch to them from the desired parent.
Templates are screens that are shared by more than one screen in the navigator. Template screens appear in a separate window. There can be more than one template windows per presentation document. Templates are screens where all the graphics and media are "locked. " A template is created in the simulator when it was in template edit mode. Any asset put into the simulator in template edit mode will be part of the template including hot spots and sounds.
To edit a template, the template is selected in the template window. It then appears in the simulator in template edit mode. The template can be edited using applicable tools from the tool panel (all others will be inactive). When the author is done editing the template, clicking on any screen in the navigator returns the simulator to normal edit mode.
OnCe editing, the revised template is reflected throughout the application wherever it is used.
To connect a template to a screen, the author control drags from the template in the template window to a screen in the navigator. An alert panel will give the author the option of connecting the template to (1) screen only, (2) screen and all children, or (3) screen and children in the same column as screen.
Templates can be duplicated and deleted. Duplicating a template makes a copy of the selected template and adds it to the template window with a slightly different name. It can then be edited to make it slightly different or whatever is desired. Deleting a template raises an alert panel in the event the template being deleted is connected to any screens in the navigator. Clicking OK deletes the template from the application and the template window. Contents of the navigator can be printed out on multiple sheets. If the navigator contents printout extends over multiple sheets, these sheets may be taped together. This is a useful tool frequently used by designers of interactive media in conceptualizing their product, similar to the manner in which story boards are employed by animators and film directors.
Navigating is accomplished as follows. Clicking on a screen in the navigator brings that screen up in the simulator. Clicking on a line/circle space non-linear branch representation jumps to that screen in the navigator and causes it to appear in the simulator. Vertical and horizontal scrollers allow the author to move to any spot in the navigator.
Collapse and expand commands affect how much of the hierarchy is shown. When a screen is selected, the collapse command shows only its immediate children (none of their children). The expand command does the opposite, showing all descendants of the selected screen. The view is also saved so that, when the author reopens the file, the navigator will be in the same place as it was when the file was closed. 4. The Inspector
Referring to Figure 12, an overview of the inspector 24 is shown. The inspector allows the user to quickly review each screen and its contents. Each tool on the tool
20 has an inspector panel that provides the tools needed to customize the components of the presentation. The inspector is accessed by using the mouse to click on an image in the simulator window as shown in block 58. The inspector panel then displays parameters of the selected image for optional editing as shown in block 60. To edit tools, such as sound, path and timer tools which appear in the icon shelf 26, the user mouse clicks on the tool icon in the icon shelf and the inspector then displays parameters of the selected item for optional editing.
Different inspector panels exist for screens (including templates), images, movies, text, sounds, hot spots, timers, paths, graphics, and grouped assets. For example, referring now to Figure 13, an example of a screen inspector panel is shown. When the inspector is opened from the tools' menu, the screen inspector is always displayed regardless of whether any assets are selected. Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the inspector panel. If no asset is selected, the lower portion of the panel reads "no graphic object selected." If an asset is selected, its inspector panel is appended beneath the screen inspector. The screen inspector includes a name field, a template field, a background color field, and an asset list. This scrollable list box lists all the assets associated with the current screen.
Referring now to Figure 14, an image inspector panel is shown. Thus, information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the inspector panel and information about the selected image appears in the bottom portion. The image inspector includes a name field, as well as show in hide buttons to indicate whether the image should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during play mode. Horizontal and vertical fields are used to specify precisely where the lower left corner of the image should be positioned on the screen. Size settings lets the user refine in images size more precisely than possible with the mouse, by adjusting a parameter such as width, height, scale, etc.
Figure 15 illustrates a movie inspector which includes fields such as name, and show and hide buttons to indicate whether the movie should be displayed or not when the screened is open during play mode. Other parameters will define how the movie plays, independent from its startup settings, size, or location. These include settings such as number of frames in movie, start frame, loop count, loop forever, play reverse, back and forth, and frames per second. Also, location settings and size settings are provided which includes a name field, show and hide buttons, location settings, dimension settings, text color, attributes and path connection settings.
In Figure 17, the sound inspector is shown which includes a number of sound parameters which is read only and displays the same rate, length, size, format and channel of this selected sound. Loop settings are used to determine how many times the selected sound should repeat. A sound view is provided which contains a graphic depiction of the sound. The starting point of the sound, start percent, selected size and selected percent are also provided. The continuous zoom buttons change the size of the sound view displayed in the box. Finally, the selection buttons permit the playback of a sound or permit the inserting of new recordings into it from the computer's microphone. Further details of the other inspectors including, the hot spot inspector, timer inspector, path inspector and graphics inspector may be found in the appendix entitled "Callisto User Guide" which is incorporated by reference. 15. Authoring Process Example
The following section will provide further illustration of the use of the IMAT system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Figure 18, once the multimedia application is opened, the tool panel 20 appear. The presentation selection 62 on the main menu 25 is selected and a new presentation from the presentation menu is selected. This will cause a blank simulator screen 18 to appear. To create a background (or template), the template button 64 is clicked at the bottom of the simulator. This causes the system to enter the edit template mode. The template button will turn white to indicate that a template is being edited and not an ordinary screen. A template is used for graphics, sounds, and other media that are to be common to every screen in the presentation. A simple example would be a background color. A message would appear in the center of the simulator indicating that there is no template currently attached to this screen. The "create one" button in the middle of the simulator window (not show) is clicked and the image tool 28 is dragged from the tool panel to the simulator as shown in Figure 19. This will cause an open panel file finder to appear (not shown) to allow the selection of a particular desired template. The hot spot tool 36 is then dragged into the lower right comer of the simulator as shown in Figure 20. As shown in Figure 21, the sizing handles can be used to expand the hot spot to cover the entire lower right comer of the simulator. The tools menu 27 in the main menu 25 is then selected and the screen navigator command 46 is then selected to cause the screen navigator to appear as shown in Figure 22. A box with a miniature snapshot of screen one appears in the screen navigator. The snapshot of the screen from the screen navigator is then dragged to the hot spot in the simulator and dropped into the hot spot. This creates a branch to the main screen (i.e., screen one) that will be present in all screens (since the system is in the template mode). Next, the template button is clicked again to exit template edit mode.
Next, the first screen will be created with text and two hot spots. One hot spot will lead to a sound samples the text, the text tool 32 is dragged into the simulator. The word text" appears surrounded by sizing handles to permit enlarging the text area. The word "text" is double clicked and the desired text is typed over it. For example, "this is a demonstration of an interactive media presentation." Using the format menu 66 in the main menu, the font menu may be selected to permit a particular font to be chosen for the text. The text color can be selected by selecting the tool menu 27 in the main menu and clicking on the colors command to cause a color panel to appear as shown in Figure 24.
Future hot spots can be labeled by dragging the text tool 32 into the simulator, which causes the word text to appear surrounded by sizing handles. Double clicking the word "text" and typing the following over it "click here for sounds", and repeating the steps and typing "click here for images", is performed next. Then the hot spot tool 36 from the tool panel is dropped over the text "click here for sounds" as well as the text "click here for images." The screen tool 42 from the tool panel is dropped into one of the hot spots and then dropped into one of the other hot spots. The navigator will automatically display these new screens. Next, the screen in column A, row 2 of the navigator is clicked "on" and the text tool is dragged into the simulator and dropped over the hot spot. The word "text" is double clicked and
"click here to return" is typed over it. The text is clicked again and dragged to center it over the hot spot. The steps are then repeated for the screen in column B, row 3 of the navigator.
This results in the simulation screen shown in Figure 25. To test this presentation, the play button 68 at the bottom of the simulator is clicked. Next, the screen in column A, row 2 of the navigator (see Figure 29) is clicked and the system is returned to the edit mode by clicking on the edit button 70 in the simulator. Next, the media assets are placed in their respective screens. First, images that look like buttons will be added and sounds will be added. First the image tool is dragged into the simulator and, when the open panel comes up a "button.tiff file is selected and "OK" is clicked. The image will appear where it was dropped in the simulator. This is repeated until there are three buttons in the simulator spaced evenly in the screen. See Figure 26. Next, the text tool is dragged on top of each button and they are labeled "bell", "click", and "crowd." The hot spot tool is then dragged over each button to resize the hot spots to fit the buttons. The sound tool 34 is dragged from the tool panel and dropped anywhere in the simulator window. This causes the open panel to come up which permits the selection of the "bell" sound from a sounds directory. Next, the user control drags from the button labeled "bell" to die sound icon in the lower left comer of the simulator shelf 26. When it connects, the sound icon is surrounded by a gray border. See Figure 27. These steps are then repeated for the "click" and "crowd" sounds.
To create the images screen, the screen in column B, row 2 of the navigator (see Figure 29) is dragged into the simulator. This causes the open panel to come up and the button image is selected from the icons directory. This step is repeated until two buttons are in the simulator. Text is placed on the button so they are labeled "flowers" and "beach." Next, a hot spot tool is dragged and dropped over each button and they are resized to fit the buttons. The screen tool 42 is then dragged and dropped onto the hot spot labeled "flowers" which creates a new screen that appears in column B, row 3 of the navigator as shown in Figure 29. The image tool is then dragged from the tool panel into the simulator and the "petunias" file is selected from the images directory. The timer tool is dragged from the tool panel and dropped anywhere on the simulator. The snapshot of the screen in column B, row 2 of the navigator is then dragged into the timer in the simulator. The tools menu 27 is selected and the inspector.
This causes the inspector to appear as in Figure 28. The branch item in the connections field of the inspector is clicked and the effects and branch pop-up menus below are activated. The effects pop-up menu is slid to select the "wipe from bottom" effect. Next, the timer is set for five seconds by typing a 5 over the third 0 from the right in the time field in the inspector in Figure 28. Next, the screen that appears in column C, row 3 of the navigator (Figure 29) is clicked and the simulator will change to new screen. These steps are then repeated for the "beach" image and the inspector is then closed. As a result of the above steps, the simulator should be showing the screen with the beach image just placed in it. Clicking on the play button 68 at the bottom of the simulator will result in a delay of five seconds (as set in the timer) after which the screen should change to the screen with the flower and the beach buttons. The presentation can also be tested by clicking on each of the "click here" messages as described above.
The resulting screen navigator, shown in Figure 30, thus provides an easy to read overview of the screens just created. Note that the navigator screen includes a current field which shows the column and row of the screen currently in the simulator. Also, a children field shows the column and row of the child screens of the screen currently in the simulator. The branches field shows the column and row of all the screens to which the screen currently in the simulator branches (that are not children). When a screen branches to screens that are not children, a line with a circle around "B" is displayed to indicate these branches exist. 6. Epilogue
In the preferred embodiment, the IMAT 10 of the present invention is adapted to operate on the NextStep 3.0 operating system available from NeXt Computer Inc. It will be appreciated that the software code necessary to complement a system with the features of the present invention described herein can be written by computer programmers having the requisite skills. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and teachings of the present invention can also be implemented in various forms on other operating systems besides NextStep 3.0.
Further details of the IMAT 10 are described in the attached Appendix which is copyrighted by the assignee of this application and is hereby incorporated by reference.
As described above, the present invention provides an Interactive Multimedia Authoring Tool 10 which permits an author to produce interactive media applications in an intuitive, graphical environment without spending time learning complicated producing procedures or scripting languages. The invention can be readily learned by those having the appropriate creative skills and does not require advanced knowledge and skills in computer programming. The simulator window permits the user to see a real time simulation of the application as it is being constructed. The tool panel's use of drag-drop techniques makes it easy to quickly build an interactive media application. Tedious charting of applications by hand or by draw programs is eliminated by the navigator which dynamically builds a flow chart of the application. Those skilled in the art can appreciate that other advantages can be obtained from the is invention and that modification may be made without departing from the true spirit vention after studying the specification, drawings and following claims.
INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD
APPENDIX
"Callisto USER guide"
•22-
Figure imgf000024_0001
E
Callisto User Guide
Beta Version
Copyright© 1993 Imagine, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Callisto is a trademark of Imagine Multimedia, Inc.
NeXT and NeXTSTEP are trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc.
PANTONE is a registered trademark of Pantone, Inc. -BETA RELEASE-
Table of Contents
1 About Callisto
Getting Technical Support, 1-3
About this Guide, 1-4 Chapter Contents, 1-4 Documentation Conventions, 1-5
2 Getting Started
Running Callisto, 2-1
Installing and Registering Callisto, 2-1
Licensing Callisto, 2-1
3 Callisto Basics
What is a Callisto Presentation, 3-1 Different Types of Assets, 3-2 Acceptable File Formats, 3-3 What Makes the Presentation Work, 3-3
The Callisto Interface, 3-6 Menus, 3-6 The Simulator, 3-7 The Tool Panel, 3-8 The Screen Navigator, 3-9 The Template Navigator, 3-10 The Inspector, 3-1 1 Colors, 3-12 Sound Record, 3-13
Common Callisto Tasks, 3-14
Creating a New Presentation. 3-14 Opening an Existing Presentation, 3-15
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Adding Assets to a Screen, 3-15
Moving Assets, 3-17
Resizing Assets, 3-18
Deleting Assets, 3-18
Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Assets, 3-19
Aligning Assets, 3-19
Reordering Assets. 3-22
Grouping Assets, 3-23
Locking an Asset's Position, 3-23
Connecting Assets, 3-24
Saving Your Presentation, 3-25
Switching Between Presentations. 3-27
Printing Presentation Screens, 3-28
Hiding Callisto, 3-29
Closing Your Presentation, 3-30
Quitting Callisto, 3-30
Callisto Menus
Main Menu, 4-1 Information Menu, 4-2 Presentation Menu, 4-3 Edit Menu, 4-4 Format Menu, 4-5
Font Menu, 4-5
Text Menu, 4-6 Layout Menu, 4-7 Tools Menu, 4-8 Windows menu, 4-8
The Simulator
The Display Area, 5-2 Controls, 5-2 Size Bar, 5-2
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Edit/Play, 5-3 Width/Height, 5-4 Template Button, 5-4 The Icon Shelf, 5-5
6 The Tool Panel
The Image Tool, 6-3
Adding an Image to a Screen, 6-3 Connecting an Image to a Hotspot or Timer, 6-3 Connecting an Image to a Path. 6-4 The Image Inspector, 6-4
The Movie Tool, 6-6
Adding a Movie to a Screen, 6-6 Connecting a Movie to a Hotspot or Timer, 6-7 Connecting a Movie to a Path, 6-7 Creating Movies from Images, 6-8 The Movie Inspector, 6-9
The Text Tool, 6-11
Adding Text to a Screen, 6-1 1
Editing Text, 6-12
Sizing Text Fields, 6-14
Changing Text Attributes, 6-15
Spellchecking Text, 6-15
Using Text to Identify Hotspots, 6-17
Connecting Text to a Hotspot or Timer, 6-17
Connecting Text to a Path, 6- 18
The Text Inspector, 6-18
The Sound Tool, 6-20 Adding Sound, 6-20 Testing the Sound, 6-20 Connecting Sound to a Hotspot or Timer, 6-20 Using the Sound Record Panel, 6-21
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The Sound Inspector, 6-22 The Hotspot Tool, 6-24
Hotspot Action Commands, 6-24
Creating Hotspots, 6-25
Multiple Connections, 6-27
Screen Branching with Hotspots, 6-28
Hotspot Actions with Visual Effects, 6-28
Deleting an Asset Connection, 6-29
The Hotspot Inspector, 6-29 The Timer Tool, 6-31
Timer Action Commands. 6-31
Creating Timed Events, 6-32
Multiple Connections, 6-34
Screen Branching with Timers, 6-34
Timer Actions with Visual Effects, 6-35
Changing the Starting Time, 6-36
The Timer Inspector, 6-36 The Path Tool, 6-37
Creating Animation, 6-37
Playing the Animated Asset, 6-38
Changing the Starting Time, 6-39
Redrawing a Path, 6-41
The Path Inspector, 6-41 The Screen Tool, 6-43
Creating New Screens, 6-43
Branching to Another Screen 6-43
Deleting a Branch, 6-45
The Screen Navigator, 6-45
The Screen Inspector, 6-46 The Graphics Palette, 6-47
Adding Graphics to a Screen, 6-47
Drawing Techniques, 6-48
Editing Graphics, 6-49
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Adding a Fill Color to a Graphic, 6-49 Connecting Graphics to a Hotspot or Timer, 6-49 Connecting Graphics to a Path, 6-50 The Graphics Inspector, 6-50
7 The Screen Navigator
The Navigator Matrix, 7- 1
Screen Branches, 7-3 Creating a Branch, 7-4 Changing Screen Order, 7-5
Moving Between Screens, 7-6
Adding New Screens and Branches. 7-6
Creating Branches to Existing Screens, 7-7 Creating Reciprocal Branches, 7-8
Selecting Screens, 7-8
Renaming a Screen, 7-8
Cutting a Screen, 7-8
Deleting a Screen, 7-9
Pasting a Screen, 7-10
Pasting into an Existing Screen, 7-10 Pasting Under an Existing Screen, 7-11
Collapsing and Expanding Columns, 7-1 1
Using the Screen Navigator in Play Mode, 7-12
8 The Template Navigator
Creating a Template, 8-2
Attaching a Template to a Screen, 8-3
Templates and Screen Descendants, 8-3 Adding a New Template, 8-4 Editing an Existing Template, 8-5
Editing the Current Template, 8-5
Editing a Different Template, 8-6
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Copying Template Assets. 8-6 Detaching a Template, 8-7
The Inspector
The Screen Inspector, 9-3 Name, 9-3 Template, 9-4 Background Color, 9-4 Asset List, 9-4
The Image Inspector, 9-6 Name, 9-6 Startup Setting, 9-6 Location Setting, 9-6 Size Settings, 9-7 Path Connection, 9-9
The Movie Inspector, 9-10 Name, 9-3 Startup Setting, 9-10 Parameter Setting, 9- 11 Location Setting, 9- 11 Size Settings, 9-12 Path Connection, 9-13
The Text Inspector, 9-14 Name, 9-14 Startup Setting, 9-14 Location Setting, 9-14 Dimension Setting, 9-15 Text Color, 9-15 Attributes, 9-15 Path Connection, 9-15
The Sound Inspector, 9-16 Name, 9- 16 Sound Parameters, 9-16
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Loop Settings, 9-17 Sound View. 9-17 Continuous Zoom, 9- 18 Selection, 9-18
The Hotspot Inspector, 9-20 Name, 9-20 Connections, 9-20 Mouse Events, 9-21 Actions, 9-21 Edit Script, 9-22 Effects, 9-22 Effect Time, 9-22 Path Connection, 9-23
The Timer Inspector, 9-24 Name, 9-24 Connections, 9-24 Actions, 9-25 Edit Script, 9-25 Effects, 9-26 Effect Time, 9-26 Time, 9-26
The Path Inspector, 9-27 Name, 9-27 Path Geometry, 9-27 Path Speed, 9-28 Connections, 9-28
The Graphics Inspector, 9-29 Name, 9-29 Startup Setting, 9-29 Location Setting, 9-29 Dimension Setting, 9-30 Line Width, 9-30
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Fill, 9-30 Join, 9-31 Cap, 9-31 Arrow, 9-32
Fill & Line Color Wells, 9-32 Path Connection, 9-32 The Group Inspector, 9-34 Name, 9-34 Startup Setting, 9-34 Location Setting, 9-34 Dimension Setting, 9-35 Path Connection, 9-35
10 Using Color
The Colors Panel, 10-1
Color Wheel Button, 10-2 Color Models Button, 10-2 Palette Button, 10-3 PANTONE Button, 10-5
Glossary
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__ 1 About Callisto its. Callisto™ offers a quick and intuitive way to create high-quality interactive media presentations on your NeXT™ computer network. More importantly, Callisto lets you start creating those presentations immediately; you won't need to spend weeks or months learning complicated procedures or scripting languages. Whether you're preparing a sales presentation, a point-of- information (POI) network, or an advanced computer-based training course, Callisto gives you the power you need with the simplicity you've been waiting for.
Some of the elements a Callisto presentation can contain are:
Postscript® multi-font scalable text
CD-quality sound
Photo-realistic images
32-bit color
Color digital movies
Using Callisto, you can:
• Develop your interactive presentation one screen at a time in Callisto' s Simulator — a window that lets you see a teal-time simulation of your presentation as you construct it.
• Use the Tool Panel to add media assets to the Simulator to create an interactive media presentation without the need to script. Some of the things you can add to a presentation are:
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0 descriptive titles
° graphic images and movies
° sound effects, background music, and voice annotation
° screen effects such as fades, wipes, and dissolves
0 timed events
0 hotspots
° path animation
• Use the Inspector to review each screen in your presentation.
• Open the Screen Navigator to view a dynamic "outline" of your presentation, and to move instantly from one point of your presentation to another.
• Play back your presentation at your own workstation or distribute it over the network for others to play.
Callisto incorporates all the advanced features of NeXTSTEP™ 3.0 (now available on 486-based PCs), allowing you to use Callisto with other standard NeXT graphics, paint, image processing, and audio applications. With Novell Netware® and AppleTalk® support from NeXTSTEP, Callisto can even accept files from your favorite PC and Macintosh applications.
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Getting Technical Support
For technical support, we offer you four ways to reach us:
Phone: (313) 930-7777
EMAIL: Callisto@imagine.com
FAX: (313) 930-7776
Mail: Imagine Multimedia, Inc.
44 Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, P.O. Box 473 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 USA
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About this Guide
This guide is designed for those somewhat familiar with both the NeXTSTEP environment and with the technologies used to create the media assets (e.g., image, movie, or sound files) used in Callisto.
■ Chapter Contents
This guide contains a chapter describing the basics concepts and procedures used in Callisto, a chapter about each Callisto tool, a glossary of terms, and an index. The topics addressed in each chapter are described below:
• Chapter 1, About Callisto, introduces Callisto' s features and purpose, describes the structure and intent of this user guide, and lists several ways for you to obtain technical support.
• Chapter 2, Getting Started, describes recommended hardware requirements, and how to install, register, and license Callisto.
• Chapter 3, Callisto Basics, explains fundamental concepts and procedures used in Callisto. Topics include creating and editing a presentation, printing presentation screens, and saving your work.
• Chapter 4, Callisto Menus, describes the commands on the Main menu and each of its submenus.
• Chapter 5, The Simulator, describes the window used to build and test your Callisto presentations.
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• Chapter 6, 77ι<? Tool Panel, describes each Callisto tool and how to use it within a presentation.
• Chapter 7, The Screen Navigator, describes the window used to view the overall structure of a presentation, and to move to specific screens within it.
• Chapter 8, The Template Navigator, discusses what templates are, how they are used, and how to attach or detach templates to a screen.
• Chapter 9, The Inspector, describes the many modifications and refinements you can make using each asset's Inspector panel.
• Chapter 10, Using Color, describes how to use the Colors panel to enhance your presentation.
■ Documentation Conventions
The following terms and notations are used throughout this guide:
• "Click" means to click the mouse button.
• "Drag" means to hold down the mouse button while moving the mouse.
• "Control-drag" means to hold down the Control key while dragging the mouse.
• Boldface type is used to highlight Callisto field names and menu commands.
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Italic type is used to highlight potentially unfamiliar words, phrases, or concepts.
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2 Getting Started iϋ This chapter explains the software and hardware requirements necessary for successfully running Callisto, and describes how to install, register, and license your software.
Running Callisto
Other than the NeXT operating system itself, Callisto is self- contained and needs no other software in order to run. It does require, however, that you have either the media assets you want to include in your presentations (for example, image files stored in .tiff or .eps format) or the means to produce them.
■ Recommended Hardware
To use Callisto most efficiently, it's recommended that you have the following hardware configuration:
• a NeXT ColorStation
• 16 megabytes of memory (RAM)
• a 450 megabyte or larger hard disk
Installing and Registering Callisto
(Information not available at this time.)
Licensing Callisto
(Information not available at this time.)
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3 Callisto Basics
This chapter introduces the fundamental concepts
Figure imgf000041_0001
and components of Callisto, and describes common procedures such as opening, editing, printing, and closing Callisto presentations.
What is a Callisto Presentation?
A Callisto presentation is made up of a series of screens, each of which is created in a window called the Simulator. Each screen may contain one or more of these media elements: images movies text sound hotspots timers paths graphics
These elements are called assets, and are added to your presentation using the Tool Panel.
Assets can also be grouped; for example, you may want to ensure that a specific image and its accompanying text always go together. Once assets are grouped, the group behaves just like any other single asset.
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In addition to assets, a screen may have a template attached to it. A template consists of one or more assets that you wish to be common among all or a selected group of screens. For example, templates are commonly used to assign a background color or pattern to a set of related screens. For more information about templates, see chapter 8, The Template Navigator.
■ Different Types of Assets
Assets fall into two distinct types: those you can see and those you can't. Images, movies, text, graphics, and hotspots will be visible when you play a presentation, but sound, timers, and paths won't be.
Assets that you can see are called spatial (since they take up space on a screen), and assets that you can't see are called non- spatial. When spatial assets are added to a screen, they are visible in the Simulator's Display Area (the upper part of the window). When non-spatial assets are added to a screen, they are represented by an icon in the Icon Shelf (the lower part of the window).
Images, Movies, Sound, Timers, Text, Hotspots, and Paths are Note: The Display and Graphics are Non-Spatial Spatial Area and Icon Shelf are described in more detail in chapter 5, The Simulator.
Figure imgf000042_0001
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■ Acceptable File Formats
Some assets are created in Callisto itself, while others are files that come from external sources. Callisto accepts the following file formats:
Figure imgf000043_0001
The remaining assets (text, hotspots, timers, paths, and graphics) are created in Callisto and do not have associated source files.
■ What Makes the Presentation Work? The Hotspot and Timer tools are key to making a presentation work. Hotspots and timers send action commands to screens and their assets. In turn, action commands determine how screens and their assets function during a playing presentation.
Hotspots and timers share the same basic function, the only difference being that hotspots send action commands in response to a mouse event and timers send action commands after a specified amount of time has elapsed (you don't have to do anything to make the action occur).
The list of action commands that hotspots and timers can send are:
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Start
Stop
Pause
Resume
Show
Hide
Branch
For example, you could have a hotspot send a Start command to a sound, instructing it to start playing music when you click on the hotspot. Or, you could have a timer send a Show command to an image, causing it to appear on the screen after a certain amount of time — 10 seconds, for instance — has elapsed.
Note: The Branch command is the only action command that is not sent to an asset, but is instead used to open another screen. For more information about branches, refer to the Screen Tool section of chapter 6.
A table showing which action commands can be sent to which assets is included in the Hotspot Tool section of chapter 6.
Visual Effects
Show, Hide, and Branch action commands can have visual effects attached with them that determine how a transition looks on the screen. By default, no visual effects are attached to an action command, however you can choose to add one of the following effects:
• Dissolve
• Wipe from Left
• Wipe from Right
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• Wipe from Top
• Wipe from Bottom
• Open Box"
• Close Box*
• Fade In/Ouf
• Valid for Branch actions only.
Mouse Events
Hotspots can have different responses (i.e., send different action commands to an asset) based upon the type of mouse event that occurs within the bounds of the hotspot:
• RightMouseDown: the right button is pressed.
• RightMouseUp: the right button is released.
• LeftMouseDown: the left button is pressed.
• LeftMouseUp: the left button is released.
• MouseMoved: the cursor is moved, but the button isn't clicked.
• MouseEntered: the cursor enters the bounds of the hotspot.
• MouseExited: the cursor exits the bounds of the hotspot.
For example, if the hotspot is connected to a sound, you could arrange for pressing the left mouse button to pause the sound and releasing it to resume the sound. Or, you could arrange for sound to play when the cursor moves into the hotspot and to stop playing when the cursor exits the hotspot; in this case, the mouse button itself is never clicked.
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The Callisto Interface
Callisto is composed of these primary tools:
Menus Simulator Tool Panel Screen Navigator Template Navigator Inspector Colors Sound Record
With the exception of Sound Record, which is discussed in the Sound Tool section of chapter 6, each of these tools has its own chapter in this guide. A brief orientation to the uses of each tool is included here.
Menus
The Main menu and all of its submenus contain all the commands you'll need to use Callisto. You can either use the mouse to select commands from a menu or, in many cases, use a command key to execute them without opening a menu.
Figure imgf000046_0001
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The Simulator
Figure imgf000047_0001
Panel, you'll build each screen of your presentation in the Simulator. In Play Mode, you can test your presentation to see if it runs correctly.
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The Tool Panel
The Tool Panel is used to add assets to your screens, and to add screens to your presentation. In most cases, assets are added to a screen by dragging them with the mouse from the Tool Panel into the Simulator.
Figure imgf000048_0001
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The Screen Navigator
Figure imgf000049_0001
The Screen Navigator automatically creates a graphic "outline" of your presentation as you build it, giving you a quick and easy way to see the whole presentation at a glance or to move instantly to any screen. When you create a new screen with the Simulator, it is automatically reflected in the Screen Navigator. Connecting arrows show you how the screens branch to and from one another.
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The Template Navigator
Templates are assets that you wish to be common among all or a selected group of screens (a background color or pattern, for example). The Template Navigator displays all of the templates in a Callisto presentation. Use the Template Navigator to select a template to edit or to attach a template to a screen.
Figure imgf000050_0001
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■ The Inspector
The Inspector is used to examine and make changes to a screen and the assets it contains. The Inspector automatically displays the parameters and settings of the currently selected item in the Simulator. Changing the selection within the Simulator will change the contents of the Inspector.
Figure imgf000051_0001
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■ Colors
The Colors panel, used in most NeXTSTEP applications, is used to add color to text, hotspot, and graphic assets. Using the panel, you can use the mouse to "drag color" from the panel into an asset on a Callisto screen. You can also choose among several methods for mixing color, select PANTONE® colors, and create custom color palettes.
Figure imgf000052_0001
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■ Sound Record
The Sound Record panel lets you add sound to a screen without an .snd file. Use the microphone on your workstation along with this panel to record, stop, playback, pause, and erase sound. Using the Sound Tool icon on the panel, you can drag the recorded sound directly into your presentation.
Figure imgf000053_0001
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Common Callisto Tasks
This section covers basic operations such as creating and opening presentations, adding assets, and saving and closing presentations.
■ Creating a New Presentation
1. If Callisto isn't running yet, double-click on the Callisto icon in the File Viewer (or on the dock if you put it there after installation). Callisto' s Main Menu and Tool Panel appear.
2. Open the Presentation menu and choose New. The New panel is displayed so that you can name your presentation.
Figure imgf000054_0001
presentation in the title bar. The Simulator is opened in Edit mode.
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■ Opening an Existing Presentation
1. If Callisto isn't running yet, double-click on the Callisto icon in the File Viewer (or on the dock if you put it there after installation).
2. Open the Presentation menu and choose Open. The Open panel is displayed. (This panel looks almost identical to the New panel.)
3. Select the presentation (the .clsto file) you want to open and click the OK button. The selected presentation appears in the Simulator in Edit mode.
■ Adding Assets to a Screen
All assets are added to a screen using the Tool Panel. The Tool Panel consists of two sections:
• a set of eight large icons at the top of the panel that represent the different assets you can "drag and drop" into a screen or template.
• a set of six small icons at the bottom of the panel, called the Graphics palettte, that represent the types of graphics you can add to a given screen or template by drawing them with the mouse.
All assets, with the exception of graphics created with the Graphics palette, are added to a screen by dragging an icon from the Tool Panel into the Simulator.
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Figure imgf000056_0001
When you drop an icon into the Simulator, an Open panel may appear asking for the name of the file that contains that asset. File names are needed for images, movies, and sounds. Other types of assets, such as text and paths, are created in Callisto and don't have file names.
Note: Details about adding each type of asset to a screen are included in chapter 6, The Tool Panel.
When you drop an tool icon into the Simulator, spatial assets (images, movies, text, hotspots, and graphics) are placed in the Display Area. Non-spatial assets (timers, paths, and sounds) are represented by an icon in the Icon Shelf.
The Graphics Palette
The Graphics palette is used to create freehand graphics in the screen or template shown in the Simulator.
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Most assets are added to a a screen by "drag- dropping" the tool icon into the Simulator.
Figure imgf000057_0001
Adding graphics using the t Rectangle Graphics palette works somewhat differently:
1. Select the type of graphic you want to draw (such as an oval) by clicking on its icon.
2. Using the mouse, draw the graphic on the screen shown in the Simulator.
3. When finished, either select another graphic icon or click on the Selection tool (the arrow) to cancel the current graphic tool.
Note: Until you click the Selection tool, you won't be able to select any assets on the screen. If you add some other type of asset (an image, for example), the Graphics palette reverts to the Selection tool automatically.
Graphics are discussed in more detail in the Graphics Palette section of chapter 6.
■ Moving Assets
Any spatial asset (image, movie, text, hotspot, graphic) or group can be moved using the mouse. Move the cursor over the asset, press the mouse button, and drag the asset to its new location.
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■ Resizing Assets
Any spatial asset on a screen can be resized using the mouse.
1. Click on the asset to select it. The selected asset is bordered by a set of resizing handles.
2. Using any of the handles, drag the mouse to increase the asset's size in that direction.
Note: To resize the text asset proportionately, hold the Alternate key while you drag.
Figure imgf000058_0001
■ Deleting Assets
Deleting any asset not only removes it from the screen, but also deletes its connections to other assets. For example, if you delete a path, the assets connected to that path remain on the screen but their connections to the path are severed. The same rule applies to hotspots and timers.
1. Click on the asset to select it. The selected asset is bordered by a set of handles.
2. Press the Delete key.
Caution: Callisto 1.0 does not contain an "undo" feature; if you delete an asset and then want it back, you'll need to add it to the screen again and recreate any connections to other assets.
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■ Cutting, Copying, and Pasting Assets
Selected assets on your screen can be cut or copied into a buffer (the "pasteboard") and then pasted into a new location on either the current screen or into another screen.
1. Select the asset(s) to be cut or copied.
2. Choose Cut or Copy from the Edit menu.
Note: Hotspots and timers can be cut and pasted, but not copied.
3. Move the cursor to another location on the current screen or use the Screen Navigator to open another new screen.
4. Select Paste from the Edit menu to add the cut or copied asset.
Screens can be cut, copied, and pasted as well, but the procedure is somewhat different and the ramifications to your presentation more extensive. For information about pasting screens, see chapter 1, The Screen Navigator.
■ Aligning Assets
The Align and Grid commands on Callisto' s Layout menu are used to refine how your assets are positioned on the screen. These commands apply only to spatial assets appearing in the Simulator's Display Area; if an icon in the Icon Shelf is selected, the Align and Grid commands are disabled.
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Using the Align Command
The Align command is used to align spatial assets in a variety of ways relative to their
Figure imgf000060_0001
Figure imgf000060_0002
buttons.
The Text Baseline button applies only to a set of selected text assets. Use this button to set a common baseline for text assets regardless of their font or point size.
The four Distribute buttons are used to evenly distribute horizontal or venical spacing among assets based on either their center points or the gap between their edges. Three or more assets are needed to enable the Distribute buttons.
The Grid button is used to go directly to the Grid panel without having to select it from the Layout menu.
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Using the Grid Command
The Grid command is used to control the existence and appearance of a grid with which you can refine the alignment of size of your assets.
•The Grid Visible box determines whether or not a grid is displayed in the Simulator's Display Area.
•If the Snap to Grid box is checked, assets will automatically adhere to the grid.
•The Color well is used to adjust the color of the grid.
Figure imgf000061_0001
•The Spacing field and slider bar are used to set how many pixels apart the horizontal and vertical lines of the grid should be from one another.
The Size to Grid and Align to Grid buttons are enabled only if the Snap to Grid box is checked. Use these buttons to adjust the size and/or alignment of selected assets based on their proximity to the grid.
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The Align button is used to go directly to the Align panel without having to select it from the Lavout menu.
Reordering Assets
Assets are "layered," meaning that each new asset added to the screen is added "on top of" any existing assets. Assets have an inherent layering order whether or not they visually overlap on the screen.. You can move assets backward and forward through the layers with the various commands in the Layout menu.
In addition to using the Layout menu, you can also change asset order by opening the Inspector and viewing the order assets are listed in the scroll box. To change the layering, hold down the Control key and drag an asset so that it is positioned where you want it.
Figure imgf000062_0001
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■ Grouping Assets
To keep a collection of assets together, combine them into a group. To do this, select the assets and choose Group from the Layout menu.
Note: Only spatial assets (images, movies, hotspots, text, and graphics) can be included in a group.
Groups have their own Inspector panel, and perform like any other spatial asset. Groups can be connected to a path, timer or hotspot, and can be either shown or hidden when a screen is opened in Play mode.
Groups and Existing Asset Connections
An asset's connections to paths, timers, or hotspots do not automatically carry over when it becomes part of a group. Groups need to have their own connections defined.
For example, if a text asset has been connected to a path, including the text in a group of other assets "suspends" its connection to the path. The connection is still listed in the Path Inspector panel, but the text won't move along the path unless its group is connected to the path. If you disband the group using the Ungroup command, the text's path connection functions again.
■ Locking an Asset's Position
Once you have an asset positioned or looking exactly the way you want it, you can use the Layout menu's Lock command so that it can no longer be selected.
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One or more assets must be selected in order to use the Lock command. Selected assets must also be spatial; paths, sounds, and timers cannot be locked.
Note: Locking an asset protects it from being repositioned or altered, but does not lock its connections to other assets. For example, if locked text is connected to a path, the path can still be deleted, and with it, the text's connection to it.
Use the Unlock command to revert your assets back to an editable state. Because individual assets can't be selected when they are locked, the Unlock command unlocks all locked assets in a screen.
■ Connecting Assets to Hotspots, Timers, and Paths Connecting assets to hotspots let you control when they occur; connecting assets to paths lets you animate them. To make asset connections:
• Control-drag from the hotspot or timer icon to the asset, OR
• Control-drag from the asset to the path icon.
Existing connections between assets are listed on the Hotspot, Timer, or Path Inspector panels.
The following matrix shows you which types of assets can be connected to one another:
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Figure imgf000065_0001
Note: Screen connections are made using the Screen Navigator; for more information, see chapter 6.
For more information about connecting specific assets, see chapter 6, The Tool Panel.
■ Saving Your Presentation
To avoid losing changes to your presentation in case of a system or power failure, it's a good idea to save it at regular intervals.
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To save your presentation, open the Presentation menu and choose Save.
Two other save options are available:
• Save All saves the contents of every window that is currently open.
• Save To saves your presentation under another name, or creates a play-only version.
Saving a Play-Only Version
Use the Save To command to save a version of your presentation that cannot be edited, only played.
Your presentation is automatically saved before the play-only version is generated. This prevents any unsaved changes from being included in a play-only version and then lost if the version is later resaved as editable.
1. Open the Presentation menu and choose Save To. The Save To panel is displayed.
2. Enter a file name for the play-only version of your presentation.
Note: If you don't want to preserve an editable version of the presentation, you can leave the current file name in this field.
3. Click on the icon beneath the Name field. The words "Play Only Document" will appear to the icon's right.
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4. Click the OK button.
Figure imgf000067_0001
You can distinguish
Choose between an editable or play-only play-only versions of version of your presentation your presentation by the suffix .cmp that is appended automatically.
To edit a presentation that has already been saved as Play-Only, use the Save To command again, this time clicking the icon on the panel until it reads "Author Document."
■ Switching Between Presentations Even though you can only work on one presentation at a time, you can have several different Callisto presentations open at the same time. The name of each open presentation is listed in the Windows menu; clicking on a name makes that presentation the active one.
Unsaved Presentation in Play Mode
Saved or Unchanged Presentation in Edit Mode
Figure imgf000067_0002
The Windows menu also notes whether a given presentation is in Edit or Play mode, and whether changes have been made since it was last saved.
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■ Printing Presentation Screens Use the Print command to print out a copy of a presentation screen. Use the three options in the Simulator Print Option group to determine what gets printed:
Figure imgf000068_0001
• Content prints the Simulator's Display Area in Edit mode (hotspots will be visible as rectangles).
• Window prints the entire Simulator window in Edit mode (the title bar, control buttons, and Icon Shelf will be visible).
• The Performance button prints your Content or Window selection in Play mode (no hotspots are visible).
Note: Only the screen currently shown in the Simulator will be printed.
Altering Page Layout
The Format menu's Page Layout command is used to change the layout of your printed screens.
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Paper Size: the
Page Layout size of the paper in your pπnter.
— Paper Size - Letter Layout: the
- Layout - number of screens
1 Up printed per page.
■ Units ■
Width 18 s Helght| ' ' . Incnes Units: how page
- Scale - measurements are
100
Portrait Lan sc-pe defined (inches, centimeters, ponts,
Cancel OK <A~ or picas).
Scale: the size relative to the original that the screen should print.
* Width/Height: the size of the paper as defined by the Units selection; if you want a paper size not available from the pop-up menu, enter the size values here.
• Portrait Landscape: the orientation of the printed screen on the paper.
■ Hiding Callisto
Use the Main menu's Hide command to clear the screen of Callisto-related windows without closing the presentatιon(s) you're working on. To show the presentation(s) again, double¬ click on the Callisto icon in your dock.
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■ Closing Your Presentation To close a Callisto presentation:
• Click on the close button in the upper-right corner of the Simulator,
OR
• Open the Presentation menu and choose Close.
If you haven't saved the presentation since the last time you made changes, an alert panel appears asking you if you want to save your changes before closing the presentation.
■ Quitting Callisto To quit Callisto:
• Open the Main menu and choose Quit, OR
• Press Command-q.
If you haven't saved your work, an alert panel appears asking you if you want to save your changes.
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4 Callisto Menus
Callisto's menu structure provides all the
Figure imgf000071_0001
commands you'll need to build and refine your presentations. The Main menu appears automatically when you open Callisto. All other submenus are opened from the Main menu.
You can either use the mouse to select commands from a menu or, in many cases, use a command key to execute them without opening a menu. If a command key is available, it is shown next to the command on the menu. Command keys are case sensitive: for example, the uppercase "V" after the Paste Under command means to press Command-Shift-V, while the lowercase "v" after the Paste command means to press Command-v, without the Shift key.
Main Menu
Info opens the Information menu, from which you can access release data for Callisto, set usage preferences, and obtain online help.
Presentation opens the Presentation menu used to create, save, and close Callisto presentations.
Edit opens the Edit menu used to cut, copy, and paste screens and assets, check the
Figure imgf000071_0002
spelling of text, and add new templates.
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• Format opens the Format menu used to design how the text in a screen will look and determine the physical layout of printed screens.
• Layout opens the Layout menu used to reposition, group, lock, and align spatial assets.
• Tools opens the Tools menu, from which you can open other Callisto tools.
• Windows opens the Windows menu used to reposition, resize, and select open windows.
• Print prints out copies of your Callisto screens.
• Services opens a menu of other applications from which you can request services.
• Hide hides Callisto to clear the screen without closing the presentation you're working on.
• Quit saves your work and closes Callisto.
Information Menu
Info Panel displays release information about Callisto.
Info Panel...
Hβiρ„, fa Help accesses online help for Callisto.
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Presentation Menu
Open brings up the Open panel used to open an existing presentation.
New brings up the New panel used to create a new presentation.
Save saves any changes made to the current presentation since the
Figure imgf000073_0001
last time it was saved.
• Save To brings up the Save panel so you can save the presentation under a new name and/or create play-only versions on your presentation.
Save All saves the contents of every window that is currently open.
• Revert to Saved returns an edited presentation to its status as of the last save.
• Close closes the current presentation while leaving open any other Callisto files.
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Edit Menu
Cut removes the selected screen or asset from the Simulator or Screen Navigator and places it in a memory buffer so that you can move it from one place to another.
Copy copies the selected screen or asset from the Simulator or Screen Navigator into a memory buffer, letting you reuse it throughout your
Figure imgf000074_0001
presentation.
Paste inserts the contents of the memory buffer at the cursor location.
Paste Under is used only with the Screen Navigator, and pastes cut or copied screens as children of a selected screen.
Delete permanently removes the selected screen or asset from the Simulator or Screen Navigator.
Add Template adds a new template to the template Navigator.
Spelling opens the Spelling panel used to manage the contents of the online dictionary; if a text string is selected, use this panel to search the dictionary for similarly spelled words.
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Check Spelling checks the online dictionary to see if it contains a word that matches the selected text. To enable this command, double-click within the text to highlight the text string(s) you want to check.
Select All selects all assets in the Simulator (both in the Display Area and the Icon Shelf).
Format Menu
■Font opens the Font menu. o Bold bolds the selected text.
° Italics italicizes the selected text.
° Underline underlines the selected text.
° Superscript moves selected text up 1/2 line.
° Subscript moves selected text down 1/2 line. o Unscript moves selected superscript or subscript text back into line.
Figure imgf000075_0001
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° Copy Font copies the current font type and point size for later use. o Paste Font applies the currently saved font type and point size to selected text.
Text opens the Text menu. Text menu options are valid only for selected text assets.
Align Left aligns the text from the left mmaarrggiirn, creating a "ragged right" effect.
° Center centers the text, leaving both left and right edges ragged.
Align Right aligns the text from the
Figure imgf000076_0001
right margin, creating a "ragged left" effect. o Show Ruler displays the ruler. o Copy Ruler copies ruler settings for later use.
~> Paste Ruler inserts the copied ruler settings.
• Page Layout brings up the Page Layout panel used to define the physical layout of printed screens.
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Layout Menu
Bring to Front will move the selected asset to the front of the screen (it will be in front of all other assets).
Send to Back will move the selected asset to the back of the screen (it will be behind all other assets).
Bring Closer will move the selected asset one layer closer to the front.
Send Further will move the selected asset one layer farther to the back.
Figure imgf000077_0001
Group will group selected spatial assets.
Ungroup will separate assets that have been grouped.
Lock will cause selected(s) asset to be unselectable, and thus uneditable.
Unlock will unlock all locked assets on a screen.
Align brings up the Align panel used to align selected spatial assets.
Grid brings up the Grid panel used to modify grid settings in the Simulator's Display Area.
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Tools Menu
Tool Panel opens the Callisto Tool Panel.
Screen Navigator opens the Screen Navigator for the active presentation.
Template Navigator opens the
Figure imgf000078_0001
Template Navigator for the active presentation.
• Inspector opens the Inspector panel for the active screen and, optionally, a selected asset within it.
• Colors opens the Color panel used to set and modify asset and screen colors.
• Sound Record opens the Sound Record panel used to record and play sounds from a microphone.
Windows Menu
Arrange in Front moves the active window to the front of the display.
Figure imgf000078_0002
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• Miniaturize window turns the active window into an icon.
• Each open Callisto presentation is listed by name: selecting the name makes that the active window.
• Close window closes the active window.
The Services Menu
The Services menu is used to request the services of another application. Some menu selections access standard NeXT applications (e.g., Grab, Edit, Mail), but the rest of the menu's content depends on which applications have been installed on your workstation or network.
For information about the applications listed on the Services menu, refer to the NeXT User's Guide or the application's accompanying documentation.
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5 The Simulator
The Simulator is where your Callisto application
Figure imgf000080_0001
is built and tested. It has two modes: Edit and Play. Use Edit mode to create screens and templates, and add assets to them. Use Play mode to play the presentation back one screen at a time and interact with it by clicking on defined hotspots.
The Simulator has three main components:
• the Display Area
• controls
• the Icon Shelf
Figure imgf000080_0002
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The Display Area
The Display Area is the upper part of the Simulator window where spatial assets are displayed and edited. It operates much like a drawing program in that you can draw freehand graphics; add and edit text; and move, cut, copy, and paste a screen's assets. When you add assets to a screen by dragging a tool icon from the Tool Panel, you drop it inside the Display Area.
Controls
Below the Display Area are the following buttons and fields:
• Size Bar
• Edit/Play
• Width/Height
• Template
Control Buttons
C Edit C'PI-≠AΛ S8 WWUril 424 Height
■ Size Bar
The Size Bar directly beneath the Display Area is used to change the screen size either horizontally, vertically, or both.
As you resize the Display Area, the current screen width and height (in pixels) is displayed in the Simulator's title bar.
All screens in a presentation will resize automatically when you resize any individual screen. Before the resizing takes place, an alert panel is displayed asking you to confirm the change.
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a
Figure imgf000082_0001
Caution: Resizing can take a long time if your presentation contains a large number of screens.
■ Edit/Play Buttons
The Edit and Play radio buttons let you alternate between Edit and Play mode. Use Edit mode to add screens and assets to a presentation, and use Play mode to test it to ensure that the presentation operates correctly. The Simulator's title bar will say "Editing" when in Edit mode, and "Playing" when in Play mode.
When you open a new or existing presentation with the Presentation menu, the Simulator always opens in Edit mode.
■ Width/Height Fields
Like the size bar, the Width and Height fields allow you to change the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the screen. Using these fields, you can set the exact size (in pixels)of the
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Display Area. All screens in a presentation will resize automatically when you resize any individual screen.
Caution: Resizing can take a long time if your presentation contains a large number of screens.
Resizing a screen does not resize the assets contained within it. In addition, resizing adjusts screen size from the top and right only. If you make a screen smaller, assets at the very top and right of a screen may shift out of view; if you make a screen larger, extra space appears at the top and right.
■ Template Button
Clicking the Template button so that it is displayed in a highlighted state puts the Simulator into Edit Template mode. Clicking the button again so that it is displayed in an unhighlighted state puts the Simulator back into Edit mode for the screen.
A template consists of one or more assets that may be shared among screens. Templates may consist of images, hotspots, timers, sounds, or any asset that you want several screens to have in common. Any asset you put into the Display Area while in Edit Template mode becomes part of the template, and will appear as an unselectable asset while in Edit mode for the screen.
When you click on the Template button to enter Edit Template mode, you will be editing the template associated with the current screen. If the current screen does not have a template associated with it, you will be given the option to create a new one. While you are in Edit Template mode, you can edit any template within the presentation by selecting a template from the Template Navigator.
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Note: The Template button is disabled while you are playing the presentation.
See chapter 8, The Template Navigator, for more details about templates.
■ The Icon Shelf
The Icon Shelf appears at the bottom on the window, and displays icons representing the non-spatial assets (sounds, timers, and paths) in a screen. To make connections between spatial and non-spatial assets, drag the mouse between the assets in the Display Area and those in the Icon Shelf.
Each row of the Icon Shelf holds ten icons; if you add more than that, scroll bars appear so that you can scroll through the shelf. Or, you can use the size bars at the bottom of the Simulator window to increase the size of the Icon Shelf.
Note: Increasing the size of the Simulator window does not change the size of the Display Area.
Notched icons represent assets that are part of the screen's template. These kinds of assets can only be modified in Edit Template mode.
A notched icon indicates an
Figure imgf000084_0001
asset that is part of a template
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6 The Tool Panel
Use the Callisto Tool Panel to add assets and
Figure imgf000085_0001
screens to your presentation. Callisto offers the following tools:
Image
Movie
Text
Sound
Hotspot
Timer
Path
Screen
Graphics
With the exception of graphics, assets are added to a screen by dragging a tool icon from the Tool Panel and dropping it into the Simulator's Display Area. Spatial tools (images, movies, text, and hotspots) will appear where the tool icon is dropped in the Simulator. Non-spatial tools (timers, paths, and sounds) will be represented by icons in the Icon Shelf. Newly-added screens do not appear in the Simulator, but are visible and accessible through the Screen Navigator.
Hotspots and timers are used to control the display of the other assets; in other words, they make your presentation run. Hotspots perform actions (such as branching to a new screen) when a user clicks on them; timers perform the same actions actions based upon how much time has elapsed.
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Note: The kinds of actions that hotspots and timers perform were discussed in chapter 3. Callisto Basics.
The rest of this chapter will describe each Callisto tool and the ways in which it can be used in a presentation.
Figure imgf000086_0001
Drawing Tools
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* The Image Tool
Use the Image Tool to add static graphic images to a screen. Image files may be in either .tiff or
Figure imgf000087_0001
.eps format.
By default, an image appears as soon as the screen opens in Play mode. You can change that by changing the settings in the image's Inspector panel and then connecting the image to a hotspot or timer. See Connecting an Image to a Hotspot or Timer for details.
■ Adding an Image to a Screen
1. Drag the Image Tool icon from the Tool Panel into the Simulator's Display Area.
2. In the Open panel, select any .tiff or .eps file and click OK. The image appears in the Display Area in the location the tool icon was dropped.
Note: Images can also be dragged into the Display Area from the NeXT File Viewer.
Once the image appears in your screen, you can move or resize it any way you like. These procedures are discussed in chapter 3, Callisto Basics.
■ Connecting an Image to a Hotspot or Timer Connect the image to a hotspot or timer if you want certain actions to be performed on that image. For example, you can set the image to be hidden when the screen is opened in Play mode, and then appear only when a hotspot detects a given mouse
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event. Or, you could set the image to be shown when the screen is opened in Play mode, and then have it gradually fade away after a certain amount of time has elapsed.
Note: The hotspot or timer must already be included in your screen before you can connect an image to it.
To connect the image to a hotspot, hold down the Control key and drag from the hotspot to the image. To connect an image to a timer, hold down the Control key and drag from the timer icon in the Icon Shelf to the image.
■ Connecting an Image to a Path
Connect the image to a path if you want it to move along a pre¬ defined route while the screen is played.
Note: The path must already be included in your screen before you can connect an image to it.
To connect an image to a path, hold down the Control key and drag/ram the image to the path icon in the Icon Shelf. When the screen is opened in Play mode, the image will begin to move along the path. By connecting a hotspot or timer to the path, you can delay the start of this motion until the hotspot detects a given mouse event or until a given amount of time has elapsed. See the Path Tool section of this chapter for more details.
Use the Path Inspector to refine the image's movement along the path; see The Path Inspector in chapter 9 for more details.
■ The Image Inspector
The Image Inspector displays detailed information about a selected image. Use the Image Inspector to:
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• Rename the image.
• Indicate whether the image should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
• Specify precisely where the image should appear on the screen.
• Change the size of the image, and preserve its aspect ratio during future resizings.
• Disconnect the image from a path.
For detailed information about the fields on the Image Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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The MovieTool
Use the Movie Tool to add a movie to your presentation. Movies may be in either .mw or
Figure imgf000090_0001
.anim format.
By default, a movie begins to play as soon as the screen opens in Play mode. You can change that default by changing the settings in the movie's Inspector panel and then connecting the movie to a hotspot or timer. See Connecting a Movie to a Hotspot or Timer for details.
■ Adding a Movie to a Screen
1. Drag the Movie Tool icon from the Tool Panel into the Simulator's Display Area.
2. In the Open panel, select any .mw or .anim file and click OK. The movie appears in the Display Area in the location the tool icon was dropped.
Note: Movies can also be dragged into the Display Area from the NeXT File Viewer.
Once the movie appears in your screen, you can move or resize it any way you like. These procedures are discussed in chapter 3, Callisto Basics.
Note: For best results during playback, place your movie assets on the top of a screen's asset layer. (Change the layering of a screen's assets with the Screen Inspector or the Layout menu.)
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■ Connecting a Movie to a Hotspot or Timer Connect the movie to a hotspot or timer if you want the movie to start only after a certain amount of time has elapsed or when a hotspot detects a given mouse event. As discussed in the Image Tool section, you can also use hotspots and timers to control whether the movie is displayed or not when the screen opens (regardless of whether it has started playing).
Note: The hotspot or timer must already be included in your screen before you can connect a movie to it.
To connect the movie to a hotspot, hold down the Control key and drag/rom the hotspot to the movie. To connect a movie to a timer, hold down the Control key and drag from the timer icon in the Icon Shelf to the movie.
■ Connecting a Movie to a Path
Connect the movie to a path if you want it to move along a pre¬ defined route while the screen is played.
Note: The path must already be included in your screen before you can connect a movie to it.
To connect a movie to a path, hold down the Control key and drag/rom the movie to the path icon in the Icon Shelf. When the screen is opened in Play mode, the movie will begin to move along the path as it plays. By connecting a hotspot or timer to the path, you can delay the start of this motion until the hotspot detects a given mouse event or until a given amount of time has elapsed. See the Path Tool section of this chapter for more details.
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Use the Path Inspector to refine the movie's movement along the path; see The Path Inspector in chapter 9 for more details.
■ Creating Movies from Images
In addition to using existing . w or .anim files, you can create your own movies by collecting a series of images (files in .tiff or
.eps format) and arranging them in sequence within their own folder.
1. Open a new folder in the NeXT File Viewer.
2. Place a collection of .tiff or .eps files into the new folder.
3. Name the images so that they denote a numbered sequence (e.g., movie01.eps, movie02.eps, movie03.eps).
Note: Callisto assumes that all of the images will be the same size. If they're not, you may get different results than you intended when the movie is played.
4. Give the folder the name that you want to give the finished movie, and add the .mw extension to it (e.g., movie.mw).
The folder can now be added to your screen the same way as with any other movie: either drag the folder from the NeXT File Viewer into the Simulator's Display Area, or drag-drop the movie icon from the Tool Panel into the Display Area and select the folder you just created from the Open panel. When the movie is played, Callisto cycles through the images in the order they were placed in the folder.
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■ The Movie Inspector
The Movie Inspector provides detailed information about a selected movie. With the Movie Inspector you can:
Rename the movie.
Indicate whether the movie should be visible when the screen is opened during Play mode.
View the number of frames in the movie.
Define on which frame the movie will start during playback.
Specify how many iterations of the movie you want.
Specify that you want the movie to loop until some other action causes it to cease.
Specify that you want the movie to play from the last frame to the first.
Specify that you want the movie to play forward and then backward.
Specify the speed at which the movie should play.
Specify precisely where the movie should appear on the screen.
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• Change the size of the movie and preserve its aspect ratio during future resizings.
• Disconnect the movie from a path.
For detailed information about the fields in the Movie Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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numbers to a
Figure imgf000095_0001
when the screen is opened n ay mode, but you can change that by changing the settings in the text's Inspector panel.
Note: Text from other applications can be added to a Callisto screen only if the text is saved in TIFF or EPS format and included as an image asset.
■ Adding Text to a Screen
1. Drag the Text Tool icon from the Tool Panel into the
Simulator's Display Area. The word "Text" appears at the location where the icon was dropped. the
Figure imgf000095_0002
bullet to your text, hold down the Alternate key and press 7.
3. Click elsewhere on the screen to deselect the text string.
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Additional Characters
Add characters other than letters and numbers by using the Alternate key in combination with the keys listed in the following table:
■ Editing Text You can edit a text asset
! Alt + 2 = t Alt + - = - in two different ways: editing the asset itself, or j Alt + 3 = £ Alt + = = ≠ editing the text that comprises the asset. j Alt H- 4 = © Alt + [ = ' j Clicking once on a text asset selects it (a set of
I Alt + 5 = ∞ Alt + ] = ~ handles appears around the text). You can then Alt + 6 = H Alt + ; = " use the Edit menu's Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete Alt + 7 = • Alt + ' = ' commands for the text asset just as you would Alt + 8 = ° Alt + . = ... for other assets like images or graphics.
Alt + 9 = < Alt + / = + i To edit the text characters
! Alt + 0 = > that comprise the asset, double-click on the text instead of single- clicking. When you do, the text string you clicked on will be highlighted. Next, either click the mouse to place the cursor exactly where editing should begin or drag the mouse to highlight additional words or characters. In addition to the Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete commands on the Edit menu, the following text-editing commands on the Font and Text menus become enabled:
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• Superscript moves selected text up 1/2 line.
• Subscript moves selected text down 1/2 line.
• Unscript moves selected superscript or subscript text back into line.
• Copy Font copies the font type and point size of selected text for later use.
• Paste Font applies the previously copied font type and point size to selected text.
• Align Left aligns text from the left margin, creating a "ragged right" effect. (This command affects all text in an asset, regardless of what portion is highlighted.)
• Center centers text, leaving both left and right edges ragged. (This command affects all text in an asset, regardless of what portion is highlighted.)
Align Right aligns text from the right margin, creating a "ragged left" effect. (This command affects all text in an asset, regardless of what portion is highlighted.)
• Show Ruler displays the ruler.
• Copy Ruler copies ruler settings for later use.
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• Paste Ruler inserts the copied ruler settings.
Note that the Font and Text menu commands affect only the text comprising a single asset; they are not used to align multiple text assets with one another. Aligning multiple assets (regardless of type) is accomplished using the Layout menu's Align command.
■ Sizing Text Fields
When text is added to a screen, it is contained within a text field: the rectangular area defined by the handles whenever the text is selected. Once the text appears in your screen, you can move or resize the text field any way you like. These procedures are discussed in chapter 3, Callisto Basics.
Sizing the text field does not change the size of the text itself, but only the amount of space surrounding it. A text asset's font and point size are changed only by using the options on the Format menu's Font panel.
When you size a text field, the positioning of the text changes along with it, expanding or collapsing to fit in the defined space. Because the text itself doesn't change size, you have the option of sizing a text field small enough so that only a portion of the text is shown.
Figure imgf000098_0001
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■ Changing Text Attributes
Use either the Font panel ot the font commands on the Format menu to change the text's typeface and size.
1. Select the text asset (single-click on it).
2. Open the Format menu. Select an attribute type from the menu (e.g., bold) or open the Font panel to change the text's typeface and point size.
You can have different font sizes and styles within the same text string. To do this, double-click on the text to edit the characters or words individually, rather than selecting the text asset as a whole. See the Editing Text section for an explanation of how single- and double-clicking changes your editing options.
Note: Changing point size does not automatically change the size of the text field. If you select a larger point size, you may need to size the text field later to accomodate the larger text.
■ Spellchecking Text
The Spelling command opens the Spelling panel used to manage the contents of one or more online dictionaries. Initially, the Spelling panel manages the online dictionary provided by NeXT. If you've installed other dictionaries, you can use this panel to manage them as well.
Text doesn't have to be selected to open the Spelling panel, but if it is (in other words, if you've double-clicked on a text
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asset and highlighted all or part of it), you can use this panel to check its accuracy.
Dictionary menu: this button opens a menu of all installed online dictionaries from which you can make a selection.
Learn: if the panel identifies a word as misspelled that you want to use as is (or if the dictionary doesn't know the word at all), click Learn to add the selected word to the open dictionary.
Forget: use this button to delete a word you've previously added to a dictionary.
Figure imgf000100_0001
Entry Field: if no text is selected, you can use this field to type in a word whose spelling you want to query, and then click Guess.
List Box: lists words similar to the selected word. If one of them is the word you want, either select it from the list and click Correct or double-click it on the list.
Find Next: locates the next misspelled word in the selection.
Ignore: use this button to bypass all future instances of the flagged word, and treat all instances of the word as correct
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for this search only, without adiing the word to the dictionary.
• Guess: opens a list of possible corrections for a given word.
• Correct: replaces the selected word on your screen with the one in the Spelling panel. Double-clicking a word in the list box performs the same action.
The Check Spelling command checks the online dictionary to see if it contains a word that matches selected text. This command does not open the Spelling panel. To enable this command, double-click within the text to highlight the text string(s) you want to check.
■ Using Text to Identify Hotspots
Text is commonly used to label hotspots, since the hotspot' s border isn't displayed when a screen is in Play mode. Placing text over a hotspot (the words "click here," for example) is one way of telling the user where to click to initiate some other action.
Note: Using text to label a hotspot isn't the same as connecting text to a hotspot. See Connecting Text to a Hotspot or Timer for details.
■ Connecting Text to a Hotspot or Timer Connect a timer or hotspot to your text if you want it to appear or disappear only after a certain amount of time has elapsed or when a hotspotdetects a given mouse event. For example, you could create a screen with two text assets: a question and an answer. Using a hotspot, you could set the answer to be hidden
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when the screen is opened, and the user could click the hotspot to obtain the answer. Or, using a timer, the answer could appear automatically after a given amount of time had elapsed.
To connect text to a hotspot, hold down the Control key and drag from the hotspot to the text. To connect text to a timer, hold down the Control key and drag from the timer icon in the Icon Shelf to the text.
■ Connecting Text to a Path
Connect text to a path if you want it to move along an assigned route when the screen is opened in Play mode.
1. Select the text.
2. Hold down the Control key and drag/rom the text to the path icon in the Icon Shelf. A thick line will follow the mouse movement, and the path icon will be temporarily bordered in grey to denote that the connection is being made.
When the screen is opened in Play mode, the text will move along the path relative to its own starting position. To change this default or make other path modifications, see The Path Tool section of this chapter.
■ The Text Inspector
Use the Text Inspector to modify characteristics of a text asset on the screen. Using the Text Inspector, you can:
• Rename the text.
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• Indicate whether the text should appear or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
• Specify the text's color.
• Specify text attributes (font, point size, bold, italic).
• Disconnect the text from a path.
• Determine the precise size of the text field.
For detailed information about the fields on the Text Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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The Sound Tool
Use the Sound Tool to add sound to a screen in your presentation. By default, the sound plays
Figure imgf000104_0001
whenever the screen opens in Play mode, but you can change that by connecting the sound to a timer or hotspot.
Note: By default, sound plays "across screens." For example, if a piece of music was started on one screen, moving to another screen does not automatically turn the music off.
■ Adding Sound
1. Drag the Sound Tool icon from the Tool Panel into the Simulator. An Open panel is displayed asking for the name of the sound file.
2. Select an .snd file from the Open panel and click OK. The sound icon appears in the Icon Shelf.
Note: Sound files can also be dragged in from the NeXT File Viewer.
■ Testing the Sound
While working in Edit mode, you can listen to the sound by double-clicking on the sound's icon in the Icon Shelf.
■ Connecting Sound to a Hotspot or Timer
By default, a sound will occur automatically when a screen is opened. Connect sound to a hotspot or timer if you want it to start only after a certain amount of time has elapsed or when a hotspot detects a given mouse event.
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To connect the sound, hold down the Control key and drag the mouse from the hotspot or timer to the sound icon in the Icon Shelf.
To control when the sound occurs, connect a hotspot or timer to the sound and set the action command to Start.
You can delay the beginning of the sound by opening the timer Inspector and enter the amount of time-delay in the Time field. You can also add additional timers (or hotspots) to pause, resume, or stop a sound.
Note: If you use a timer or hotspot to send a Stop command to any sound (regardless of whether it is actually playing), all sounds in the screen will stop. This lets you avoid sending separate Stop commands to each sound.
■ Using the Sound Record Panel
You can add sound to a screen without using an .snd file. To do this, open the Tools menu and choose Sound Record.
Figure imgf000105_0001
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Click Record. The microphone on your machine will begin recording. Click Stop when finished. To test the sound, click Play; to erase it, click Erase.
To include the sound in a screen, drag the sound icon from the Sound Record panel into the Simulator's Display Area: the icon is displayed in the Icon Shelf.
■ The Sound Inspector
The Sound Inspector displays detailed information about the sound file, such as how long it plays and how many times it repeats (loops). The panel also contains a graphic representation of the sound so that you can cut and paste sound segments. Use the Sound Inspector to:
Rename the sound file.
View the sample rate, length, size, format, and channel of the sound.
Specify more than one iteration of the sound.
Specify the number of iterations you want.
Specify that you want the sound to loop until some other action interrupts it.
Select segments of the sound for editing or listening.
Enlarge or shrink the sound view.
Start, stop, pause, or resume the sound.
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• Record into the sound from the microphone.
For detailed information about the fields on the Sound Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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The Hotspot Tool
Use the Hotspot tool to add interactive capability to your media presentation. When a user clicks in a
Figure imgf000108_0001
hotspot in Play mode, an action command is sent to whatever assets the hotspot is connected to. The hotspot may direct the presentation to branch to a new screen; start, stop, pause or resume sound; show or hide an image; and even activate another hotspot. A hotspot may be connected to multiple assets, allowing it to send more than one action command at the same time (starting a movie and soundtrack together, for instance).
A hotspot performs the same functions as a timer, the only exception being that it performs them as a result of mouse events rather than elapsed time.
■ Hotspot Action Commands
When a user clicks on a hotspot, an action command is sent to the asset(s) that the hotspot is connected to. The following table shows you the action commands that hotspots can send and the assets to which they can send those actions:
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Figure imgf000109_0001
1 The Screen is not considered a media asset.
2 Start, Stop, Pause, and Resume only have an effect if this graphic is connected to a path.
3 Start, Stop, Pause, Resume will effect both performance of the movie and its movement along a path.
Action commands are received and interpreted by the assets that the timer or hotspot is connected to. The Branch command is somewhat unique in that it indicates a branch to another screen.
■ Creating Hotspots
Creating a hotspot involves two steps:
• adding the hotspot to the screen
• connecting the hotspot to another asset
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Adding a Hotspot to a Screen
To add a hotspot, drag the Hotspot Tool icon from the Tool Panel and drop it on the screen where you want the hotspot to be. The hotspot can overlap other assets (you can place a hotspot over an image or a text string, for example).
A thick line will outline the hotspot while the Simulator is in Edit mode, but will be invisible in Play mode.
Once the hotspot appears in your screen, you can move or resize it any way you like. These procedures are discussed in chapter 3, Callisto Basics.
Connecting a Hotspot to Another Asset
Connect a hotspot to an asset if you want actions to be performed on that asset when the hotspot detects a given mouse event. With the exception of screens, you connect the hotspot to another asset by holding down the Control key and dragging the mouse from the hotspot to the asset. For non-spatial assets such as sound, Control-drag from the hotspot to the asset's icon in the Icon Shelf. A thick line will follow the mouse movement, and the asset will be temporarily bordered in grey to show you that the connection is being made.
Note: See Screen Branching with Hotspots for details on connecting a hotspot to a screen.
Hotspots can be connected to all types of assets:
• Images
• Movies
• Text
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Sounds
Other Hotspots
Timers
Paths
Screens
Graphics
Grouped Assets
One hotspot can be connected to several different assets; for example, you can connect a hotspot to both a movie and sound to start them at the same time when the presentation is played.
■ Multiple Connections
You can connect the same hotspot to the same asset more than once and assign different action commands to each connection.
Figure imgf000111_0001
In the above example, the same hotspot has two connections to the same sound. By default, the sound begins playing when the screen opens. The first time you press the left button, the sound pauses, the sound resumes when you release it.
Timers with multiple connections to the same asset work much the same way, except that instead of each action happening after a given number of mouse clicks, each action occurs after a a predetermined amount of time.
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■ Screen Branching with Hotspots
If you want to use a hotspot to branch to another screen:
1. Open the Screen Navigator.
2. Drag the snapshot of the destination screen (the screen the hotspot should branch to) from the Screen Navigator ro the hotspot.
The hotspot will be temporarily bordered in grey to show you that the connection is being made. The Branch action command is automatically assigned to the connection between the hotspot and the screen.
■ Hotspot Actions with Visual Effects
When a hotspot is used to display or hide an asset or a screen (in other words, when it has a Show, Hide, or Branch action assigned to it), you can use the Hotspot Inspector to select from a variety of visual effects:
No Effect (default) Dissolve Wipe from Left Wipe from Right Wipe from Top Wipe from Bottom Open Box* Close Box* Fade In/Ouf
Valid for Branch actions only.
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Assigning a Visual Effect
1. Select the hotspot by clicking on it.
2. Open the Tools menu and choose Inspector.
3. Select the Branch connection in the Connections box.
4. Open the Effects pop-up menu and select the type of effect you want the transition between screens to have.
5. In the Effect total time field, enter the amount of time that the effect should take. For example, if you've selected "Dissolve" as the visual effect, you could set the time to 10 seconds; in this case, the first screen will dissolve into the second in 10 seconds.
When the screen is opened in Play mode (in other words, when the hotspot detects a mouse event and its associated Branch action occurs), the screen will open using the visual effect you selected, and the transition will occur in the amount of time you specified.
■ Deleting an Asset Connection
To delete a connection between a hotspot and an asset, select the connection in the Connections box of the Hotspot Inspector. Choose Delete or Cut from the Edit menu. (Unlike Delete, Cut places the connection in the pasteboard so it can be pasted back later.)
■ The Hotspot Inspector
The Hotspot Inspector displays precisely what happens when a hotspot detects a given mouse event, and lets you change which
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assets a hotspot is connected to and the kinds of action commands it sends to those assets. Use the Hotspot Inspector to:
Rename the hotspot.
View the assets the hotspot is linked to, and the type of action commands it is sending to those assets.
Delete selected connections.
Select the action command sent to an asset.
Select visual effects for Show, Hide, and Branch actions.
Specify the amount of time the transition takes.
Disconnect the hotspot from a path.
For detailed information about the fields in the Hotspot Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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The Timer Tool
Use the Timer Tool to add timed events to your presentation. For example, you may choose to
Figure imgf000115_0001
branch from one screen to another after a specified number of seconds, or time-delay the appearance of
Use a timer to:
• create an automatic branch to another screen
• control the starting time of an asset (when an image or text string appears, when a movie begins, or when sound occurs)
• control the rate and starting time of an asset's movement along a path (animation)
A timer performs the same functions as a hotspot, the only exception being that it performs them as a result of elapsed time rather than mouse events.
By default, a timer starts the moment a screen is opened in Play mode. To delay the start of the timer, use the Time field in the Timer Inspector to enter the amount of time it takes before the timer's associated action command is sent to whatever asset it is linked to.
■ Timer Action Commands
When a timer is connected to an asset, an action command is sent to the asset(s) after a specified amount of time has elapsed. The following table shows you the action commands that timers can send and the assets to which they can send those actions.
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Figure imgf000116_0001
1 The Screen is not considered a media asset.
2 Start, Stop, Pause, and Resume only have an effect if this graphic is connected to a path.
3 Start, Stop, Pause, Resume will effect both performance of the movie and its movement along a path.
Action commands are received and inteφreted by the assets that the timer is connected to. The Branch command is somewhat unique in that it indicates a branch to another screen.
■ Creating Timed Events Creating a timed event involves two steps:
• adding the timer to the screen connecting the timer to another asset
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Adding a Timer to a Screen
To add a timer, drag the Timer Tool icon from the Tool Panel and drop it into the Simulator's Display Area. A timer icon appears in the Icon Shelf.
Connecting a Timer to an Asset
Connect a timer to an asset if you want actions to be performed on that asset after a certain amount of time has elapsed. With the exception of screens, you connect the timer to another asset by holding down the Control key and dragging the mouse from the timer icon to the asset. For non-spatial assets such as sound, Control-drag from the timer icon to the asset's icon in the Icon Shelf. A thick line will follow the mouse movement, and the asset will be temporarily bordered in grey to show you that the connection is being made.
Note: See Screen Branching with Timers for details on connecting a timer to a screen.
Timers can be connected to all types of assets:
Images
Movies
Text
Sounds
Hotspots
Other Timers
Paths
Screens
Graphics
Grouped Assets
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One timer can be connected to several different assets; for example, you can connect a timer to both a movie and sound to start them at the same time when the presentation is played.
■ Multiple Connections
You can connect the same timer to the same asset more than once and assign different action commands to each connection.
Figure imgf000118_0001
In the above example, the same timer has three unique connections to the same sound. By default, the sound begins playing when the screen opens. The first timer then instructs the sound to pause after 5 seconds, the second timer resumes the sound after ten seconds, and the third timer stops the sound entirely.
Hotspots with multiple connections to the same asset work much the same way, except that instead of each action happening after a predetermined amount of time, each action occurs after a given mouse event.
■ Screen Branching with Timers
By connecting a timer to a screen you can automatically branch to another screen after a given amount of time.
1. Open the Screen Navigator.
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2. Drag the snapshot of the destination screen (the one the timer should branch to) from the Screen Navigator to the timer icon in the Simulator's Icon Shelf.
The timer will be temporarily bordered in grey to show you that the connection is being made. The Branch action command is automatically assigned to the timer.
3. Open the Timer Inspector and use the Time field to specify the amount of time that should elapse before the branch takes place.
■ Timer Actions with Visual Effects When a timer is used to display or hide an asset or a screen (in other words, when it has a Show, Hide, or Branch action assigned to it), you can use the Timer Inspector to select from a variety of visual effects:
No Effect (default) Dissolve Wipe from Left Wipe from Right Wipe from Top Wipe from Bottom Open Box" Close Box" Fade In/Out"
Valid for Branch actions only.
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■ Changing the Starting Time
By default, the timer begins counting down as soon as the screen opens in Play mode. This default can be changed using the Time field in the Timer Inspector panel.
■ The Timer Inspector
The Timer Inspector is used to edit time settings for a timer. Use the Timer Inspector to:
Rename the timer.
Set the default time assigned to the action commands sent to new connections.
View the assets the timer is linked to, and the type of action commands it is sending to those assets.
Delete connections between timers and other assets.
Select the type of action the timer sends to an asset.
Define special visual effects for Show, Hide, and Branch actions.
Set the amount of time it takes for special visual effects to take place.
Specify the time it takes for a selected action to be performed.
For detailed information about the fields in the Timer Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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Figure imgf000121_0001
is opened in Play mode, the asset moves along that path.
These types of assets can be connected to a path:
Images
Movies
Text
Hotspots
Graphics
Grouped assets
■ Creating Animation
Creating animation involves two basic steps:
• drawing a path for the animated asset to follow
• connecting the asset to the path
After that, you have several other options. For instance, you can use the Path Inspector to change the amount of time it takes for the animation to play or refine the positioning of the path on the screen.
Drawing the Path
1. Drag-drop the Path Tool icon from the Tool Panel into the Simulator. A path icon is placed in the Icon Shelf.
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2. Double-click on the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
3. Click the mouse button and, holding it, drag the pointer to draw the animation path onto the screen. The speed apd direction of your drag are recorded and reproduced during playback.
Any time you want to view the path after it is drawn, just double¬ click on the path icon on the Icon Shelf.
Connecting an Asset to a Path
While holding down the Control key, drag the mouse from the asset to the path icon in the icon Shelf. A thick black line will follow the mouse to indicate that the connection is being made.
You can connect multiple assets to the same path. Simply repeat the "control-drag" procedure for each asset you wish to connect to a given path. When the screen is played, each asset will follow the path relative to the asset's own starting position. It's also possible to have an asset following one path and be part of a group following another path.
Note: By connecting hotspot to paths, you can create a
"moving target" effect. When the screen is played, the place on the screen that receives a user's mouse click changes as it follows the path.
■ Playing the Animated Asset By default, an asset begins to move along its assigned path as soon as the screen opens in Play mode (see Changing the Starting Time for details on how to alter this default).
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The asset moves along the path relative to its own starting position. Depending on where the asset is initially placed, it could travel out of view when the screen is played, as shown here:
Unless this is the effect you want, make sure to position your assets such that they stay visible.
■ Changing the Starting Time Unless you indicate otherwise, an animated asset begins to move along its assigned path as
Figure imgf000123_0001
soon as the screen opens in Play mode. To override this default and specify another time for the asset to begin its motion, connect a hotspot or timer to the path.
Using a Hotspot
When you connect a hotspot to assets assigned to a path, animation does not begin until you click on the hotspot. To accomplish this, you need to make sure the hotspot is connected to asset(s), and that the asset(s) are connected to the path.
Note: If you connect a hotspot directly to a path, you are animating the hotspot itself (it will move along the path).
1. Drag the Hotspot Tool icon into the screen. (Skip this step if the hotspot you want to use is already on the screen.)
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2. Hold down the Control key and drag the mouse from the hotspot to the asset on the screen. Repeat this step for each asset you want to connect to the hotspot.
3. To connect the assets to the path, hold down the Control key and drag the mouse from the asset(s) to the path icon in the Icon Shelf. For multiple assets, you might want to group them and then connect the group to the path.
You won't see any visible changes on the screen, but you can open the Path Inspector to view the connections you just made. Likewise, the Hotspot Inspector shows you which assets it is connected to.
Using a Timer
When you connect a timer to assets assigned to a path, you can delay the start time for animation. To accomplish this, you need to make sure the timer is connected to asset(s), and that the asset(s) are connected to the path.
1. Drag the Timer Tool icon into the screen. (Skip this step if the timer you want to use is already on the screen.)
2. Hold down the Control key and drag the mouse from the timer icon to the asset on the screen. Repeat this step for each asset you want to connect to the timer.
3. To connect the assets to the path, hold down the Control key and drag the mouse from the asset(s) to the path icon in the Icon Shelf. For multiple assets, you might want to group them and then connect the group to the path.
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4. (Optional) Select the Timer icon, then open the Tools menu and choose Inspector.
5. (Optional) Set the amount of time delay in the Time field. When the screen is opened during Play mode, this much time will elapse before animation begins.
Note: If you want to specify how much time it takes for the animated asset(s) to travel along the path, and not when wnimation begins, use the Path Inspector instead of the Timer Inspector.
■ Redrawing a Path
1. Double-click on the path icon in the Icon Shelf to select it; the existing path will appear in the Display Area.
2. Redraw another path. When you release the mouse button, the new path takes the place of the old one.
■ The Path Inspector
The Path Inspector is a way of changing and refining a screen's path and asset assignments. Use the Path Inspector to:
• Rename a path.
• Specify whether you want the path to be a straight line or the exact path you drew with the mouse.
• Specify precise horizontal and vertical screen coordinates for the starting and ending points of the path.
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• Indicate the total amount of time you want an asset's movement along the path to take.
• Specify whether you want the asset to move along the path at a constant rate or at the exact rate you drew the path.
• View the assets connected to the path and delete selected connections.
For detailed information about the fields on the Path Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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The Screen Tool
Use the Screen Tool to add new screens to your presentation. Screens are added by dragging the
Figure imgf000127_0001
Screen Tool icon from the Tool Panel into one of three possible locations:
• the Simulator's Display Area, to create a child screen of the current screen
• a timer, to create an automatic branch to the new screen after a certain period of time elapses
• a hotspot, to create an interactive branch to the new screen, meaning a branch that is made when a hotspot detects a certain type of mouse event
■ Creating New Screens
To create a new screen, use the mouse to drag the Screen Tool icon from the Tool Panel into the Simulator. A new screen will be created as a "child" of the current screen (if the Screen Navigator is open, you'll see the new screen added there). If the current screen has a template associated with it, then the new screen will also reference that template.
Note: Callisto does not automatically display the new screen when it is created. To display it, open the Screen Navigator and select it.
■ Branching to Another Screen
Branches are the way in which you move from one screen to another in a presentation. Branches are created two ways:
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• Hotspots create interactive branches (the time you branch to the next screen is up to you)
• Timers create automatic branches (the branch always occurs after a specified period of time)
Remember that when you create a new screen as described in the Creating New Screens section, a branch is not automatically created between them.
Branching to a New Screen
Branches to new screens are created by dragging the Screen Tool icon from the Tool Panel into an existing timer or a hotspot. A Branch action command is automatically added to the targeted hotspot or timer, directing it to the new screen. (Action commands are viewable in the Inspector.)
Note: When you drop the screen icon into a hotspot or timer, the Simulator continues to display the current screen.
Within the Screen Navigator, the branch is denoted by the arrowhead on the line joining the current and new screen. If an arrowhead is absent, it means that the current screen does not branch to the new screen.
Branching to an Existing Screen
Branches to existing screens are created by dragging the snapshot of the destination screen (the one you want to branch to) from the Screen Navigator to the hotspot or timer in the Simulator. The results are the same as when branching to a new screen.
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Branching with Hotspots and Timers
When you create a branch to a new or existing screen using a hotspot, no other action is required; the branch takes place when you click on the hotspot in Play mode. When you create a branch to a new or existing screen using a timer, you'll need to specify how much time needs to elapse before the branch takes place. To specify a time:
1. Select the timer icon in the Icon Shelf of the Simulator.
2. Open the Tools menu and select Inspector.
3. In the Connections box, select the connection linking the timer to the destination screen.
4. In the Time field, enter the amount of time that should elapse before the branch to the next screen occurs.
■ Deleting a Branch
Delete a branch between screens in one of two ways:
• Delete the Branch connection using the Hotspot or Timer Inspector panel (in the Connections box, select the Branch connection linking the timer or hotspot to the destination screen and click the Delete Connection button).
• Delete the hotspot or timer itself.
■ The Screen Navigator
The Screen Navigator automatically creates a graphic outline of your presentation as you build it. It is used to change which
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screen is displayed in the Simulator, to display existing branches and make new ones, to display and rearrange the hierarchy of the presentation, and to delete, cut, copy, and paste screens.
For information about the Screen Navigator, see chapter 7.
■ The Screen Inspector
The Screen Inspector is contained within the top portion of the Inspector panel no matter what is selected in the Simulator. Use the Screen Inspector to:
Rename a screen.
• Detach a template from a screen.
• View the name of the template attached to a screen.
• View the background color assigned to a screen.
• Select an asset in the Simulator.
• Rearrange the layering sequence of assets in a screen.
For detailed information about the fields in the Screen Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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The Graphics Palette
The lower portion of the Tool Panel contains a set of six icons used to create freehand graphics in a screen or template.
Scribble Polygon
Figure imgf000131_0001
I R ectangle
■ Adding Graphics to a Screen Graphics are not drag-dropped into the Simulator like other Callisto tools. Instead, you select the type of drawing you want to make, move the cursor into the Display Area, and begin to draw with the mouse.
1. Select the type of graphic you want to draw by clicking on its icon.
2. Use the mouse to draw the graphic in the Display Area of the Simulator.
3. When finished, either select another graphic icon or click on the Selection tool (the arrow icon) to cancel the current drawing tool.
Note: Until you click on the Selection tool, you won't be able to add any other types of assets to your screen.
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Once the graphic appears in your screen, you can move or resize it any way you like. These procedures are discussed in chapter 3, Callisto Basics.
■ Drawing Techniques
Lines
When this tool is selected, dragging the mouse draws a straight line from the point where the mouse button was pressed to the point where it is released.
Scribbles
When this tool is selected, dragging the mouse draws curved lines from the point where the mouse button was pressed to the point where it is released.
Note: If you have a Fill selected (viewable with the Inspector), the curves of the graphic will be filled in. If you don't want this effect, assign a "no fill" to the graphic.
Figure imgf000132_0001
Ovals
When this tool is selected, dragging the mouse with the button pressed draws an oval on the screen. Use the Alternate key to create perfect circles.
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Rectangles
When this tool is selected, dragging the mouse with the button pressed draws a rectangle on the screen. Use the Alternate
Figure imgf000133_0001
to create perfect squares.
Polygons
When this tool is selected, clicking the mouse button defines the starting point and each additional point of the polygon. Double¬ click to finish drawing.
■ Editing Graphics
Any graphic can be cut, copied, pasted, and deleted using the commands on the Edit menu. Once cut or copied into the pasteboard, a graphic can be pasted into either the existing screen or a different one.
■ Adding a Fill Color to a Graphic
To fill an enclosed graphic such as an oval or rectangle, open the Colors panel and drag a color into the selected graphic. You can also drag from the Colors panel into the well on the Graphics Inspector panel.
■ Connecting Graphics to a Hotspot or Timer
By default, a graphic will appear automatically when a screen is opened. Connect the graphic to a hotspot or timer if you want it to appear or disappear only after a certain amount of time has elapsed or when a hotspot detects a given mouse event.
To connect the graphic, hold down the Control key and drag the mouse from the hotspot or timer to the graphic.
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■ Connecting Graphics to a Path
Connect the graphic to a path if you want it to move along a pre¬ defined route while the screen is played.
To connect a graphic to a path, hold down the Control key and drag from the graphic to the path icon in the Icon Shelf. When the screen is opened in Play mode, the graphic will begin to move along the path. By connecting a hotspot or timer to the path, you can delay the start of this motion until the hotspot detects a given mouse event or until a given amount of time has elapsed. See the Path Tool section of this chapter for more details.
Use the Path Inspector to refine the graphic's movement along the path; see The Path Inspector in chapter 9 for more details.
■ The Graphics Inspector
The Graphics Inspector is used to refine graphics drawn with the Graphics palette. Use the Graphics Inspector to:
• Rename a graphic.
• Indicate whether the graphic should appear or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
• Indicate the precise horizontal and vertical location of the graphic.
• Specify the exact size of the graphic.
• Specify how broad or narrow the graphic's strokes should be.
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Specify a fill style for the graphic.
Specify how the lines join.
Specify a line end style.
Place arrowheads on lines and scribbles.
Specify the graphic's color.
View a list of the graphics in the screen.
Disconnect a graphic from a path.
For detailed information about the fields in the Graphics Inspector panel, see chapter 9.
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7 The Screen Navigator
The Screen Navigator lets you look at the overall structure of your work by creating a
Figure imgf000136_0001
graphic "outline" of a presentation as you build it. As you create new screens and branches with the Simulator, they are automatically added to the Screen Navigator.
Use the Screen Navigator to:
• move to different screens in a presentation
• display the current screen's location within the overall presentation
• show and create screen "branches"
• show and rearrange the hierarchy of the presentation
• delete, cut, copy, and paste screens
The Screen Navigator can also be used when the Simulator is in Play mode. When a presentation is playing, the Screen Navigator automatically highlights the cell of the current screen to help you keep track of where you are within the structure of your presentation. Clicking on any cell will jump the playing presentation to that screen.
The Navigator Matrix
The Screen Navigator represents your presentation as a two-di - ■ • :onal matrix of screens. Screens are organized in a row/con.mn structure similar to a spreadsheet. Each screen of the presentation occupies a "cell" in the Screen Navigator.
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The cell displays an icon-sized "snapshot" of the screen's contents.
Figure imgf000137_0001
The first screen of every presentation is located in row 1 , column A of the Screen Navigator ("cell A:l"). As you create new screens in the Simulator, they are automatically placed in the appropriate cell of the Screen Navigator. You can scroll both horizontally and vertically to display any screen in the presentation.
A Callisto presentation is hierarchical, meaning that all screens must have a parent screen (with the exception of the very first screen). The Screen Navigator shows this top-t - bottom hierarchy with rows. The very first screen (the.parent of every screen in the presentation) is the only screen in row 1. All of its children will be in row 2, their children in row 3, and so on. The branch from a parent screen to a child screen
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is shown as an arrow pointing to the child screen. When a parent has more than one child, the children appear in separate columns. Columns are added automatically as more child screens are added.
Screen Branches
Branching is how a presentation progresses from one screen to the next when it is played. Branching is achieved using timers and hotspots that have a Branch action command assigned to them. (Action commands are discussed in chapter 3, Callisto Basics.)
Three different kinds of branches are illustrated in the Screen Navigator:
• Hierarchical branches flow from a parent to a child screen. They are represented by a line with a single arrowhead.
• Reciprocal branches flow between a parent and a child screen. They are represented by a line with an arrowhead on each end.
• Non-hierarchical branches flow from one screen to another screen outside of the main flow. They are represented by a circle containing the letters BR.
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Figure imgf000139_0001
Note: Just because a screen is a child of a parent doesn't necessarily mean that the parent branches to it. Parent-child relationships do not signify branching, but exist independently of any defined screen branches.
In addition to the graphical representations, child screens and branches can also be seen in two scrollable fields on the right side of the Screen Navigator. The Child field displays the row, column, and name of each child screen of the current screen. The Branch field displays the row, column and name of any non-hierarchical screen the current screen branches to.
■ Creating a Branch
Use the Screen Navigator to make branches from one screen to any other. Click and drag the screen's "snapshot" from the Screen Navigator into a hotspot or timer in the Simulator. This action creates a branch from the screen in the Simulator to the screen represented by the snapshot.
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You can view this branch in the Connections field of the timer or hotspot's Inspector panel. By selecting a visual effect for the Branch action (such as Dissolve), you can make the transition between screens look unique.
■ Changing Screen Order
As you create a presentation, you may wish to rearrange the hierarchical order in which your screens are presented. For instance, you may decide that a certain screen and its children should descend from a different screen than the one from which they currently descend.
1. Find the screen you wish to move in the Screen Navigator.
2. While pressing the Command key, drag the snapshot of the screen to the target screen you want it to descend from. The moved screen, along with all of its children, will become a child of the target screen in the Screen Navigator.
Note: Changing screen hierarchy does not add or change any branches.
In addition to changing screen hierarchy, you can edit the structure of your presentation by cutting, copying, pasting, and deleting screens.
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Moving Between Screens
Use the Screen Navigator to move between presentation screens in a variety of ways:
Click on any cell in the Screen Navigator to move to that point in the presentation and update the Simulator to display the selected screen (whether in Edit or Play mode).
• Click once on the row and column of the screen displayed in either the Children or the Branches field. The Screen Navigator will automatically scroll to the selected screen and flash it.
• Double-click on the target screen to move instantly along a non-linear (or branching) link.
• Double-click on the row and column of the screen displayed in either the Children or the Branches field to cause the Screen Navigator and Simulator to move to that screen.
• To make different pans of the Screen Navigator visible, use the vertical and horizontal scroll bars.
Adding New Screens and Branches
To add a new child screen to the current screen within the presentation, drag-drop the Screen Tool fron; rhe Tool Panel into the Simulator. The new screen appears in the Screen Navigator as a child screen of the current screen. If necessary, the Screen Navigator will shift existing screens over one column to make room for the new child screen.
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When creating new screens, you can drag-drop the Screen Tool into a hotspot or timer to create an automatic branch from the current screen to the new screen.
■ Creating Branches to Existing Screens
1. Click on the screen you want to branch from in the Screen Navigator. It appears in the Simulator.
Note: The screen will need to have either a hotspot or a timer to enable the connection.
2. Scroll the Screen Navigator to the screen you wish to branch to but do not select it.
3. Drag the screen's icon from the screen you wish to branch to and drop it into a hotspot or timer in the Simulator.
If the destination of the Branch action is a child screen of the current screen, then the Screen Navigator will display an arrowhead pointing from the current screen to the child screen.
If the destination of the Branch action is a parent screen of the current screen, then the Screen Navigator will display an arrowhead pointing from the current screen to the parent screen.
If the destination of the Branch action is neither a parent or a child screen, then the letters BR will appear to the right of the current screen. In all cases, the destination screen will appear within the Branch scrolling list on the right side of the Screen Navigator.
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■ Creating Reciprocal Branches
A reciprocal branch between screens is created in the same way that a branch to an existing screen is. The difference is, since there was already one connection when you create the second, a two-way arrow appears.
Selecting Screens
To select a screen, click on it in the Screen Navigator. The selected screen appears in the Simulator.
Renaming a Screen
1. Double-click on the name of the screen in its Screen Navigator cell.
2. Type in a new name. (Because of size limitations, you may not be able to see the screen's entire name within the cell.)
Cutting a Screen
When you cut a screen, its cell in the Screen Navigator is left empty. A cut screen has no screen data associated with it and displays the message "No screen defined for this slot." You can either paste another screen into the Screen Navigator's empty cell or create a new screen for that cell.
Note that any existing branches to a cut screen are not deleted. If you branch to the cut screen during Play mode, you will get the message "No screen defined for this slot."
To cut a screen:
1. Select the screen in the Screen Navigator by clicking on it.
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2. Choose Cut from the Edit menu. A "ghost" of the screen will remain in the Screen Navi *gea"tor.
The "ghost" reserves the space in the hierarchy for a new screen. which can be either pasted in from the pasteboard or created by selecting the "ghost" screen and clicking the Create One button that is subsequently displayed in the Simulator.
Note: If the cut screen was a parent to other screens, those screens become "orphans," meaning that they are no longer connected to any other screens by branches until you reconnect them.
Deleting a Screen
When you delete a screen, you are removing all references to that screen. Any existing children become children of the screen's parents; unlike using the Cut command, no empty cells are created. The child screens become "orphaned," meaning that they are no longer connected to any other screens by branches until you reconnect them.
1. Select the screen you wish to delete in the Screen Navigator by clicking on it.
2. Choose Delete from the Edit menu.
Note: You cannot delete the Main screen (the one referenced in row 1, column A in the Screen Navigator).
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Pasting a Screen
A screen must exist in the pasteboard (meaning you have previously cut or copied another screen) before you can paste it. There are two main ways to paste a screen:
• pasting into an existing screen (deletes the existing screen and replaces it with the pasted one)
• pasting under an existing screen (the pasted screen becomes the child of the existing screen)
You can also paste a screen into an empty cell where a screen was previously cut. All branches that referenced the original screen now reference the newly pasted screen.
■ Pasting into an Existing Screen
1. Select a screen in the Screen Navigator by clicking on it.
2. Choose Paste from the Edit menu. The selected screen will be deleted and replaced by the pasted screen.
If the deleted screen has children, the branches to them will be deleted as well (the screens themselves will not be deleted). They can be reconnected to the pasted screen as described in the section Creating Branches to Existing Screens.
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■ Pasting under an Existing Screen
1. Select a screen in the Screen Navigator by clicking on it.
2. Choose Paste Under from the Edit menu. The screen in the pasteboard becomea a child of the screen that was selected in the Screen Navigator.
Collapsing and Expanding Columns
It is often helpful to collapse (hide) columns of the Screen Navigator's matrix so that you don't have to view screens that you are not currently working on. Use the Expand and Collapse buttons to specify how much of the screen hierarchy is shown.
1. Select the parent screen of the screens in the columns you wish to collapse.
2. Click the Collapse button on the Screen Navigator to hide all the children.
3. Click the Expand button to redisplay the screens.
The All Children and All Screens buttons can be used as shortcuts to expand all children of the current screen or to expand all screens within the entire presentation.
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Using the Screen Navigator in Play Mode
If you are in Play mode when you select a screen within the Screen Navigator, the presentation jumps to that screen and performs as it would normally. Use this feature to repeatedly view or test the performance of a screen.
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8 The Template Navigator
Templates consist of assets that you wish to be shared by all or some of the screens in a
Figure imgf000148_0001
presentation. A template can contain images, hotspots, timers, sounds, or any asset that you want to make consistent from one screen to another. You can use many different templates within a presentation, and switch between them any time you like.
The Template Navigator displays all of ι.πp the templates created for the active
Template # l presentation. Each template is represented in a cell. When you are in Edit Template mode,
Template #2 clicking on one of the cells in the Template Navigator will select that template and present it in the Simulator's Display Area. Using the Template Navigator is a convenient way of editing a template that is different from the one attached to the current screen.
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Creating a Template
To create a template for your presentation:
1. Click the Template button at the bottom of the Simulator. T e Template button is highlighted to indicate that you're now in Edit Template mode.
If the screen is already attached to a template, the template would be displayed automatically. When creating a template for the first time, however, a screen is displayed asking you if you want to create one.
Click the
Figure imgf000149_0001
When you're finished, click the Template button again. The Template button turns grey to indicate that you're now editing the screen and not the template.
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Once you've created the template, any new child screens of the current screen will automatically inherit it. If you don't want one of those screens to reference the template, you can simply detach it using the Inspector (see Detaching a Template for instructions).
Attaching a Template to a Screen
Once a template has been created, you can attach it to a screen that doesn't already have a template or whose existing template you want to replace.
1. If it's not already displayed, open the Tools menu and select Template Navigator.
2. Drag the snapshot of the desired template from a cell in the Template Navigator into the screen in either the Simulator's Display Area or the screen's cell in the Screen Navigator.
Note: Make sure the screen is not in Edit Template mode before attaching the new template.
The screen will now have the selected template attached to it. If the screen already had a template attached to it, the new template replaces it.
■ Templates and Screen Descendants When you attach a new template to a screen, all new children of that screen will automatically inherit the template, but existing children will retain their current template references.
If you hold down the Command key while dragging a template snapshot from the Template Navigator into either the Display
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Area or a cell in the
Dragging a template to a screen Screen Navigator, you ςw*ls = applies that template to all new will not only attach the template to the current screen, but to
Existing ■ Existing ■ all descendants of that screen, whether new
Existing or existing. This
Figure imgf000151_0001
technique makes it easy to update all templates in for
' Command-dragging a template to a screens in a specific screen applies mat template to Poth branch of the Screen new and existing children Navigator.
Figure imgf000151_0002
Adding a New Template
At any time, you can create a new template for later use without having to attach it to any screens. You might use this approach if you want to create some standard screen backgrounds before developing the individual screens that are going to use them.
1. Open the Edit menu from the Main menu.
2. Select Add Template once for each new template you want to create.
If it's not already open, open the Template Navigator to see the new template(s) reflected there.
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Figure imgf000152_0002
Figure imgf000152_0001
Editing a Template
You can edit any template at any time, regardless of whether it is attached to the screen shown in the Simulator.
■ Editing the Current Template To edit the template attached to the current screen, click the Template button on the Simulator to turn on Edit Template mode. Make your changes and then press the Template button again. The changes you make will appear in every screen that shares that template.
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■ Editing a Different Template
To edit a template that is not attached to the current screen:
1. Click the Template button on the Simulator.
2. If it's not already displayed, open the Tools menu and select Template Navigator.
3. Click on a template in the Template Navigator. That template will appear in the Simulator's Display Area.
4. Click the Simulator's Template button again when you're finished with your changes.
■ Copying Template Assets
If you want to create several different templates that share many of the same assets, copy and paste the selected assets from one template to another while in edit Template mode.
1. With a template open in Edit Template mode, select the assets you want to copy and choose Copy from the Edit menu.
Note: If you want to copy the entire template, use the Select All command to select all template assets easily.
2. Select another template from the Template Navigator. (If you haven't already done so, use the Add Template command to add new empty templates.)
3. While still in Edit Template mode, choose Paste from the Edit menu to insert the copied assets into the new template.
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Detaching a Template
A template can be detached from a screen using the Screen Inspector. The Screen Inspector tells you whether a screen has a template, and if so, the template's name. Clicking the Detach Template button removes the template from that screen.
Figure imgf000154_0001
Note: Once you've created a template, it will appear on the Template Navigator regardless of whether it is attached to a screen. Templates can be detached but not deleted.
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9 The Inspector
Any screen or asset can be examined using the Inspector. Besides providing useful
Figure imgf000155_0001
information, the Inspector allows you to adjust certain characteristics; for example, you can detach a template from a screen, set a movie to play in reverse, or assign visual effects to a hotspot or timer's Branch action command.
The Inspector panel displays both the parameters of the screen currently shown Simulator's Display Area and the parameters of the selected asset within it . If nothing is selected, only the screen's parameters are displayed. Changing the selection or screen in the Simulator automatically changes the contents of the Inspector panel, so you don't have to close and reopen it each time you want new information. Different Inspector panels exist for:
• Screens (including templates)
• Images
• Movies
• Text
• Sounds
• Hotspots
• Timers
• Paths
• Graphics
• Grouped assets
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To open the Inspector panel, open the Tools menu and choose Inspector.
Note: The Inspector only displays information about one asset at a time; if more than one asset is selected, the screen's parameters are displayed with the message "Multiple objects selected" beneath them.
The rest of this chapter describes the settings that can be modified using each Inspector.
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The Screen Inspector
When you open the Inspector from the Tools menu, the Screen Inspector is always displayed regardless of whether any assets are selected. Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel. If no asset is selected, the lower portion of the panel reads "No graphic object selected." If an asset is selected, its Inspector panel is appended beneath the Screen Inspector.
Figure imgf000157_0001
Note: If you open the Inspector while in Edit Template mode, the panel shows you information about the template, not the screen to which it is attached. The fields on the Inspector panel work identically for both.
■ Name
The Name field displays the name of the screen currently shown in the Simulator's Display Area. To rename a screen, click on the Name field and type in a new name. (You can also rename a screen from within the Screen Navigator.)
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■ Template
The Template field displays the name of the template currently attached to the screen, if any. Use the Detach Template button to disconnect it.
Note: To reattach a template once it has been detached, open the Template Navigator and drag the icon for the desired template into the Display Area.
■ Background Color
The Background Color field displays the background color currently attached to the screen. To change the background color, open the Color panel from the Tools menu and drag the color you want from the color well and into the well on the Inspector panel.
■ Asset List
The scrollable list box lists all the assets associated with the current screen. Click on the name of an asset to select it in the Simulator.
Locked Asset
Template Asset
Figure imgf000158_0001
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Assets are listed in their "layer order," meaning that the asset at the top of the list is also on the top layer. To change the layering of an asset, hold down the Control key and drag the asset so that it is displayed where you want it.
If an asset in the list is "greyed out," that means it is part of the attached template and cannot be selected. Templates can only be modified while the Simulator is in Edit Template Mode.
If an asset has a "keyhole" icon next to it, it means that the asset has been locked using the Lock command. The asset cannot be selected (either in the Inspector panel or the screen) unless unlocked.
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The Image Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected image appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000160_0001
■ Startup Setting
Use the Show and Hide buttons to indicate whether the image should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
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If the image is connected to a timer or hotspot, you can use your startup settings with action commands to determine when the image appears or disappears. For example, by setting an image to "Hide" on startup, connecting the image to a hotspot, and then assigning that connection a Show action command, the image will appear only when you click the hotspot in Play mode.
■ Location Setting
Use the Horizontal and Vertical fields to specify (in pixels) precisely where the lower-left corner of the image should be positioned on the screen. If the image is not rectangular, the lower-left corner is determined by the handles that appear when the image is selected.
Note: Negative values in these fields means that the image is placed close enough to the boundary of the Display Area that the lower-left handle is positioned off the screen.
■ Size Settings
The Inspector panel's Size settings let you refine an image's size more precisely than you can with the mouse.
• Use the set of Size radio buttons to specify how you want the values in the Width and Height fields to change the size of the image.
° Scale By: the percentage by which the image should be sized (the default is 100%). Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and
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Height fields reduces the image by 509c both horizontally and vertically.
0 Size To: the number of pixels that comprise the width and/or height of the image. Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields redraws the image so that it is 50 pixels high and 50 pixels wide. o Increase By: the number of pixels by which the width and/or height of the image should increase. Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields increases the image's horizontal and vertical dimensions by 50 pixels.
° Decrease By: the number of pixels by which the width and/or height of the image should decrease. Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields decreases the image's horizontal and vertical dimensions by 50 pixels.
Use the Width and Height fields to enter appropriate values for your Size button selection.
Use the Lock w:h Ratio >1 check box to keep the aspect ratio (proportions) of the image the same during resizing.
Click the Revert to Default Size button to return a resized image to its original size values (in other words, the size it was when first added to the screen).
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■ Path Connection
Click the Delete Path Connection button to disconnect the image from the path displayed in the Path field.
Note: To reconnect the image and path later, Control- drag from the image to the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
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The Movie Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected movie appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000164_0001
mode.
If the movie is connected to a timer or hotspot, you can use your startup settings with action commands to determine when the movie appears or disappears. For example, by setting a movie to "Show" on startup, connecting it to a timer, and then assigning that connection a Hide action command,
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the playing movie will disappear after a pre-set amount of time elapses.
■ Parameter Settings
Use the Parameters settings to define how the movie plays, independent from its startup settings, size, or location.
• The Number of Frames in Movie field is read-only.
• Use the Start Frame field to define on which frame the movie will start during playback.
• Use the Loop Count field to specify how many repetitions of the movie you want.
• Check the Loop Forever box to specify that you want the movie to repeat until some other action causes it to stop.
• Check the Play Reverse box to specify that you want the movie to play from the last frame to the first.
Check the Back and Forth box to specify that you want the movie to play forward and then backward.
• Use the Frames per Second field to specify the speed at which the movie should play.
■ Location Setting
Use the Horizontal and Vertical fields to specify (in pixels) precisely where the lower-left corner of the movie should be positioned on the screen. If the movie is not rectangular, the
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lower-left corner is determined by the handles that appear when the movie is selected.
Note: Negative values in these fields means that the movie is placed close enough to the boundary of the Display Area that the lower-left handle is positioned off the screen.
■ Size Settings
The Inspector panel's Size settings let you refine a movie's size more precisely than you can with the mouse.
• Use the set of Size radio buttons to specify how you want the values in the Width and Height fields to change the size of the movie. o Scale By: the percentage by which the movie should be sized (the default is 100%). Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields reduces the movie by 50% both horizontally and vertically.
° Size To: the number of pixels that comprise the width and/or height of the movie. Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields redraws the movie so that it is 50 pixels high and 50 pixels wide.
° Increase By: the number of pixels by which the width and/or height of the movie should increase. Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields increases the
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movie's horizontal and vertical dimensions by 50 pixels. o Decrease By: the number of pixels by which the width and/or height of the movie should decrease. Example: With this button selected, entering "50" in both the Width and Height fields decreases the movie's horizontal and vertical dimensions by 50 pixels.
• Use the Width and Height fields to enter appropriate values for your Size button selection.
• Use the Lock w:h Ratio >1 check box to keep the aspect ratio (proportions) of the movie the same during resizing.
• Click the Revert to Default Size button to return a resized movie to its original size values (in other words, the size it was when first added to the screen).
■ Path Connection
Click the Delete Path Connection button to disconnect the movie from the path displayed in the Path field.
Note: To reconnect the movie and path later, Control- drag from the movie to the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
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The Text Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected text appears in the bottom portion.
■ Name
Figure imgf000168_0001
■ Startup Setting
Use the Show and Hide buttons to indicate whether the text should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
■ Location Settings
Use the Horizontal and Vertical fields to specify (in pixels) where the lower-left comer of the text field should be positioned on the screen. The lower-left comer of the text field is determined by the handles that appear when the text is selected.
Note: Negative values in these fields means that the text is placed close enough to the boundary of the Display Area that the lower-left handle is positioned off the screen.
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■ Dimension Settings
Use the Width and Height fields to determine the precise size (in pixels) of the text field.
Note: The size of the text field can change independently of the size of the text itself. Changing the size of the text field does not change the size of the text within it.
■ Text Color
The Text Color well indicates the current color of the selected text. To change text color, open the Color panel from the Tools menu and drag the color you want from the color well and into the well on the Inspector panel.
■ Attributes
Click on Attributes to open a pop-up menu for specifying text attributes. Select Bold or Italic to assign those attributes to the selected text, or select Font Panel to obtain font type and point size options.
■ Path Connection
Click the Delete Path Connection button to disconnect the text from the path displayed in the Path field.
Note: To reconnect d e text and path later, Control-drag from the text to the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
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The Sound Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected sound appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000170_0001
■ Sound Parameters
The Sound Parameters section of the Inspector is read-only, and displays the sample rate, length, size, format, and channel of the selected sound.
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■ Loop Settings
Use the Loop settings to determine how many times the selected sound should repeat.
• Check the Loop box to specify that you want the sound to occur more than once. (If either the Number of Loops or Loop Forever buttons are selected, this box is checked automatically.)
• To control the exact number of repetitions, check the Number of Loops button. In the accompanying text field, enter the number of times you want the selected sound to occur.
• Check the Loop Forever button to specify that you want the sound to repeat until some other action interrupts it.
■ Sound View
The Sound View box contains a graphic depiction of the sound. Scroll through longer sounds using the scroll bar below the box.
Using the mouse, you can select portions of the sound to edit or play. To edit sound, use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands in the Edit menu.
When you select a portion of the sound with the mouse, four read-only fields display details about the selection:
• Start: the starting point (in samples) of the selected sound
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• Start Percent: the percentage of the total playing time at which the selection begins
• Selected: the size (in samples) of the selected sound
• Selected Percent: the percentage of the selected sound relative to the whole
■ Continuous Zoom
The Continuous Zoom buttons change the size of the sound view displayed in the box.
• Use the In button to make the sound view larger. When you zoom in, you'll need to scroll the sound view box more often.
• Use the Out button to make the sound view smaller. When you zoom out, you'll need to scroll the sound view box less often.
• Use the Default button to reset the sound view to its original size.
■ Selection
Use the Selection buttons to play back a sound or insert new recordings into it from your computer's microphone.
• Use the Play button to start and stop the sound. If you've selected only a portion of the sound, only the selection will play. When you press Play, the button label toggles to Stop.
• Use the Pause button to pause and resume playing sound. When you press Pause, the button label toggles to Resume.
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Use the Record button to insert new sounds from your computer's microphone at a given point in the selected sound. When you press Record, the button label toggles to Stop.
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The Hotspot Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected hotspot appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000174_0001
■ Connections
The Connections window lists the asset or screen the hotspot is connected to and the type of action command it is sending. Callisto automatically updates this list when you Control- drag to connect assets to a hotspot or delete assets that have existing connections to a hotspot.
• Select a connection from the list to make changes to its associated action commands or effects.
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• Click the Delete Connection button to delete a selected connection in the Connections window.
■ Mouse Events
Open the Events pop-up menu to assign action commands to a hotspot based upon the type of mouse event that occurs within the bounds of the hotspot. Available actions are:
LeftMouseDown
LeftMouseUp
RightMouseDown
RightMouseUp
MouseMoved
MouseEntered
MouseExited
■ Actions
Open the Actions pop-up menu to assign an action command to the selected connection in the Connections window. Depending on what the hotspot is connected to, the available actions are:
Start
Stop
Pause
Resume
Show
Hide
Branch
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■ Edit Script
The Edit Script button is used to modify the conditions under which a hotspot's action command performs.
■ Effects
Open the Effects pop-up menu to assign a visual effect to a selected connection in the Connections window.
Note: Effects are valid for connections having a Show, Hide, or Branch action command.
Depending on what the hotspot is connected to, the available visual effects are:
No Effect (default) Dissolve Wipe from Left Wipe from Right Wipe from Top Wipe from Bottom Open Box* Close Box* Fade In/Out*
* Valid for Branch only.
■ Effect Time
Use the Effect total time field to specify how long the visual effect should take. Instead of typing in the time, you can also use the slider box to display it.
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■ Path Connection
Click the Delete Path Connection button to disconnect the hotspot from the path displayed in the Path field.
Note: To reconnect the hotspot and path later, Control- drag from the hotspot to the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
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The Timer Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected timer appears in the bottom portion.
■ Name
Figure imgf000178_0001
■ Connections
The Connections window lists the asset or screen the timer is connected to and the type of action command it is sending. Callisto automatically updates this list when you Control- drag to connect assets to a timer or delete assets that have existing connections to a timer.
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Select a connection from the list to make changes to its associated action commands or effects.
Click the Delete Connection button to delete a selected connection in the Connections window.
Use the Default Time for New Connections field to set tthhee ddeeffaauulltt ttiimmee aa;ssigned to the action commands sent to new connections.
■ Actions
Open the Actions pop-up menu to assign an action command to the selected connection in the Connections window. Depending on what the timer is connected to, the available actions are:
Start
Stop
Pause
Resume
Show
Hide
Branch
■ Edit Script
The Edit Script button is used to modify the conditions under which a timer's action command performs.
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■ Effects
Open the Effects pop-up menu to assign a visual effect to a selected connection in the Connections window.
Note: Effects are valid for connections having a Show. Hide, or Branch action command.
Depending on what the timer is connected to, the available . visual effects are:
No Effect (default) Dissolve Wipe from Left Wipe from Right Wipe from Top Wipe from Bottom Open Box* Close Box* Fade In/Out*
* Valid for Branch only.
■ Effect Time
Use the Effect total time field to specify how long the visual effect should take. Instead of typing in the time, you can also use the slider box to display it.
■ Time
Use the Time field to change the time an action selected in the Connections window is performed. Unless you make an entry in this field, the action will be performed when the screen opens in Play mode.
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The Path Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected path appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000181_0001
• Use the Revert to Scribble and Convert to Straight
Line radio buttons to specify whether you want the path to be a straight line or the path you originally drew with the mouse.
• Use the Start and End fields to specify the screen coordinates for the start and end points of the path. Screen
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coordinates are expressed in pixels. Use the "x" fields for the horizontal start/end values and the "y" fields for the vertical start/end values.
Note: If you want the start or end point of the path to exist beyond the bounds of the Display Area, enter a negative value.
■ Path Speed
The Path Speed options control how long it takes for an asset to move along the path, and at what rate.
• Use the Total time field to enter the total amount of time you want the asset to take to move along the path in Play mode.
• Use the Revert to Variable and Convert to Constant radio buttons to specify whether you want the asset to move at a constant rate or to duplicate the rate at which you drew the path with the mouse.
■ Connections
The Connections window lists the assets that the path is connected to. Callisto automatically updates this list when you Control-drag between assets to connect them to a path or delete assets that have existing connections to the path.
• Select a connection from the list to make changes to its associated action commands or effects.
• Click the Delete Connection button to delete a selected connection in the Connections window.
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The Graphics Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected graphic appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000183_0001
indicate whether the graphic should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
■ Location Setting
Use the Horizontal and Vertical fields to specify (in pixels) precisely where the lower-left corner of the graphic should be positioned on the screen. If the graphic is not rectangular, the
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lower-left corner is determined by the handles that appear when the graphic is selected.
Note: Negative values in these fields means that the graphic is placed close enough to the boundary of the Display Area that the lower-left handle is positioned off the screen.
■ Dimension
Use the Width and Height fields to specify the exact size (in pixels) of the graphic.
■ Line Width
The Line Width fields are used to modify the thickness of lines used to draw freehand graphics.
• Use the Line Width field to specify (in pixels) the thickness of graphic lines.
• Instead of typing in a width, you can use the slider bar to specify the thickness of graphic lines.
■ Fill
Use the Fill pop-up menu to specify how to fill closed graphics (rectangles, ovals, and polygons). Fill options are:
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es to
Figure imgf000185_0001
.
■ Join
Use the Join pop-up menu to specify how edges appear in closed graphics (rectangles, ovals, and polygons). Join options are:
Figure imgf000185_0002
■ Cap
Use the Cap pop-up menu to modify the end styles of open- ended graphics (lines and scribbles). Cap options are:
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Figure imgf000186_0001
■ Arrow
Use the Arrows pop-up menu to put arrowheads on lines and scribbles. Arrow options are:
Figure imgf000186_0002
(line drawn left to right)
■ Fill & Line Color Wells
Use the Fill well to change a graphic's fill color and the Line well to change the line color. To change the color, open the Color panel from the Tools menu and drag the color you want from the color well and into one of the wells on the Inspector panel.
■ Path Connection
Click the Delete Path Connection button to disconnect the graphic from the path displayed in the Path field.
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Note: To reconnect the graphic and path later, Control-drag from the graphic to the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
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The Group Inspector
Information about the current screen occupies the top portion of the Inspector panel; information about the selected group appears in the bottom portion.
Figure imgf000188_0001
indicate whether the group should be displayed or not when the screen is opened during Play mode.
■ Location Settings
Use the Horizontal and Vertical fields to specify (in pixels) where the lower-left comer of the group should be positioned
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on the screen. The lower-left corner of is determined by the handles that appear when the group is selected.
Note: Negative values in these fields means that the group is placed close enough to the boundary of the Display Area that the lower-left handle is positioned off the screen.
■ Dimension Settings
Use the Width and Height fields to determine the precise size (in pixels) of the group.
■ Path
Click the Delete Path Connection button to disconnect the group from the path displayed in the Path field.
Note: To reconnect the group and path later, Control- drag from the group to the path icon in the Icon Shelf.
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10 Using Color
The Colors panel in Callisto is the same one used in many other NeXTSTEP applications.
Figure imgf000190_0001
Full details about the Colors panel can be found in your NeXTSTEP documentation, but a brief summary is included here for your convenience.
Use the Colors panel to change the colors of:
• text
• hotspot borders
• graphics
• screen backgrounds
The Colors Panel
Callisto' s Colors panel is displayed by selecting Colors from the Tools menu.
• The color well is the source for dragging color.
• The magnifying glass is used the crosshairs to identify colors elsewhere on the screen. Click on a given pixel to place the color in the color well.
• The four Colors options let you choose among four different ways of selecting and mixing colors:
° a color wheel
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° one of four "color models" o a user-defined palette o the PANTONE® color set
The swatch bar consists of numerous cells where you can store commonly-used colors.
Color Wheel Button
The color wheel is used to select a color to place in the panel's color well. Colors toward the wheel's rim are more intense, colors toward the center are more "washed out."
In addition to the color wheel, use the brightness slider to adjust the combination of light and dark in the selected color.
Figure imgf000191_0001
Color Models Button
The Color Models button offers four different ways of mixing colors:
Grayscale: used to set the percent of white in an otherwise black color.
Figure imgf000191_0002
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RGB: the standard way of mixing colors for computer screen; a mix of red, green, and blue.
• CMYK: simulates the four-color printing process; a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
Figure imgf000192_0001
ss
Figure imgf000192_0002
Palette Button
The palette button allows you to create custom palettes by using an image file (such as a .tiff or .eps file) as a color source.
1. Open the Palette pop-up menu and select New from file.
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l. In the Open panel displayed next, choose the image file that you want to include as a color palette. When you click OK, the image file will appear as a selection in the Colors panel's Spectrum pop-up menu.
Note: You can also drag one or more files directly from the File Viewer into the image area of the Colors panel.
Figure imgf000193_0001
3. To select a color from the image, select it from the pop¬ up menu, click on a pixel in the image to select the color, and drag the color from the color well into the Simulator's Display Area.
You can also select a portion of an image to copy it into the pasteboard. When you do, open the Palette pop-up menu on the Colors panel and select New from pasteboard. The selection is inserted but unnamed; to use it in a presentation (or any other custom palette), select Copy from the Palette pop-up menu, move the cursor into your presentation, and then select Paste from Callisto' s Edit menu.
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PANTONE Button
PANTONE colors are used to match screen colors with professional printing inks. Icons representing PANTONE colors are outlined in the swatch bar.
The panel's first pop-up menu has three choices:
• PANTONE: a simulation of custom-blended inks typically used by printers on a one- or two-color press.
• PANTONE process: mathematically-produced colors using some combination of the process colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
• NeXT: NeXT workstation colors.
Note: If you create customized color lists, these lists will also appear in the pop-up menu.
If you know the name of the color that you want to place in the color well or swatch bar, you can use the Find command (available from the Colors pop-up menu) instead of scrolling down the entire color list.
Figure imgf000194_0001
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Customized Color Lists
The List pop-up menu lets you make customized lists of frequently-used colors, and allows you to rename them for easy identification. For example, the colors used to create a specific brochure could be grouped together and renamed to identify for which part of the brochure each color is used.
To create a list, select New from the List pop-up menu. To add colors to your list, drag them from the color well or swatch bar into the list area. To rename the color, select the color and then choose Rename from the Color pop-up menu.
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Glossary
Action
Any of the things that a timer or hotspot can tell another asset to do, such as show, hide, start, stop, pause, resume, or branch.
Asset
Anything you want to include in your presentation. Assets include such things as images, sound, text, movies, or path animation. See also Non-spatial Asset, Spatial Asset.
Branch
The process whereby one screen accesses another screen during a playing presentation. Hotspots and timers are used to control screen branches.
Child Screen
A screen that descends (but is not necessarily branched to) from a parent screen. See also Orphan, Parent Screen.
Command-drag
A common NeXT method of moving items on the screen by holding down the Command key and dragging an icon with the mouse. See also Control-drag, Drag.
Control -drag
A common NeXT method of moving items on the screen by holding down the Command key and dragging an icon with the mouse. See also Command-drag, Drag.
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Display Area
The portion of the Simulator in which your presentation is edited and played.
Drag
A common NeXT method of moving items on the screen using the mouse. With the cursor over an item, hold down the button and move the mouse until the item is placed in the desired location, and then release the button. See also Control-drag, Command-drag.
Drawing Tools
See Graphics.
Effects
See Visual Effects.
Graphics
Freehand graphics drawn on a screen using the Graphics palette. See also Graphics Palette.
Graphics Palette
The set of six drawing tool icons on the Callisto Tool Panel that allow you to draw freestyle graphics on a screen. The drawing tools on the Graphics palette are: Selection, Line, Scribble, Oval, Rectangle, and Polygon.
Grouped Assets
Two or more spatial assets combined into a group. Grouped assets function like any other single asset, and can be linked to timers, hotspots, and paths. Non-spatial assets (sounds, timers, and paths) cannot be included in a group.
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Hierarchal Branch
A branch leading from a screen to a child.
Hotspot
A defined area in a screen that responds to mouse events.
Hotspot Tool
The Callisto tool used to add hotspots to a screen or template.
Image
A file in either .tiff or .eps format that you can include in a screen or template.
Image Tool
The Callisto tool used to add images to a screen or template.
Inspector
The Callisto panel used to examine and make changes to assets and screens.
Mouse Event
An action performed with the mouse: MouseDown (left or right button), MouseUp (left or right button), MouseMoved, MouseEntered, MouseExited. Mouse events determine the function of a screen, hotspot, or timer.
Movie
An .mw or .anim file that you can include in a screen or template.
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Movie Tool
The Callisto tool used to add movies to a screen or template.
Navigation
The way a user moves through a completed presentation. Navigation is determined by defined branches between screens, which are displayed in the Screen Navigator.
Navigator
See Screen Navigator, Template Navigator.
Non-hierarchical Branch
A A bbrraarnch leading from a screen to another screen that is not its child.
Non-spatial Assets
Assets that do not occupy physical space on the screen. Non- spatial assets are sound, timers, and paths.
Orphan
A screen that is not connected to any other screen by branches. Note that an orphan can still have a parent. See also Child Screen, Parent Screen.
Parent Screen
A screen from which other screens descend. A parent may or may not branch to its child screens. See also Child Screen, Orphan.
Path
The route on a screen along which an asset has been instructed to move when the screen opens in Play mode.
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Path Tool
The Callisto tool used to add paths to a screen.
Play-only Presentation
A Callisto presentation that can be played but not edited. Play- only presentations have a .cmp suffix.
Presentation
A Ann oorrggaanniizzeedd cc<ollection of related multimedia assets.
Presentations are saved as files with a .clsto suffix.
Reciprocal Branch
A branch leading from a parent screen to a child screen and back again.
Screen
The primary component of a presentation; a screen is viewed, edited, and tested in the Display Area of the Simulator.
Screen Navigator
The Callisto tool that allows you to view the screens of your presentation as a whole and see their connections to one another.
Screen Tool
The Callisto tool that allows you to add screens to your presentation.
Scripting
A method of instructing hotspots, timers, and screens to perform actions based on user-specified conditions.
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Simulator
The window in which you build and test a presentation.
Snapshot
The icon-sized view of a screen or template that appears in the Screen and Template Navigators.
Sound
An .snd file that you can add to a screen or template.
Sound Tool
The Callisto tool that allows you to add sounds to a screen or template.
Spatial Assets
Assets that occupy physical space on the screen. Spatial assets are images, movies, text, hotspots, and graphics.
Template
One or more assets, such as a background color or hotspot, that are shared among several screens.
Template Navigator
A window that displays all of the templates in a Callisto presentation. Use the Template Navigator to select a template for editing or to attach a template to a screen.
Text
Characters that you enter directly onto a screen or template.
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Text Field
The rectangular amount of space bordering a text asset.
Text Tool
The Callisto tool that allows you to add text to a screen or template.
Timer
A pre-set amount of time assigned to an asset or screen that determines when it begins or opens when a presentation is played.
Timer Tool
The Callisto tool that allows you to set timers in a screen or template.
Tool Panel
A palette of icons representing Callisto tools. Use the mouse to drag tool icons from the Tool Panel and drop them into a screen.
Visual Effects
Effects that determine how transitions look. Selections from the Effects pop-up menu can be assigned to Show, Hide, or Branch connections in a timer or hotspot' s Inspector panel. Sample effects are Dissolve, Wipe From Left, and Open Box.
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Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
An autiioring system for creating interactive multimedia presentations wherein a plurality of pre-existing media assets are arranged in a modifiable sequence for interactive and branching display, die authoring system comprising: means for generating a simulation window in which individual screens in the multimedia presentation are developed; means for establishing hierarchical links between a plurality of said screens developed in die simulator window; and navigator means for generating and displaying a graphical representation of each said screen along with a representation of its position in the hierarchy of linked screens, wherein said graphical representations are generated automatically after said screens and links are generated.
2. The authoring system of Claim 1 further comprising an inspector means f o r displaying the characteristics of each screen.
3. The authoring system of Claim 2 wherein the inspector means provides a means for altering parameters of the screen being displayed in d e inspector.
4. The authoring system of Claim 1 further comprising a tool panel means containing a plurality of functions permitting the introduction of various preexisting media assets into die simulation window.
5. The authoring system of Claim 4 wherein said tool panel includes tool means for altering the dynamics of the assets introduced using the tool panel.
6. The authoring system of Claim 5 further comprising means for establishing said hierarchical links between a plurality of screens and assets.
7. The autiioring system of Claim 3 further comprising a plurality of inspectors each reviewing and modifying one of a variety of aspects of the individual screens.
8. A metiiod of autiioring interactive multimedia presentations wherein a plurality of pre-existing media assets are arranged in a modifiable sequence for interactive and branching display, the authoring method comprising generating a simulation window in which individual screens in the multimedia presentation are developed; establishing hierarchical links between a plurality of said screens developed in die simulator window; and automatically generating and displaying a graphical representation of each said screen along with a representation of its position in the hierarchy of linked screens, wherein said graphical representations are generated automatically after said screens and links are generated.
9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of displaying the characteristics of each screen in an inspector panel.
10. The method authoring system of Claim 9 further comprising the step of altering parameters of die screen being displayed in the inspector.
11. The method of Claim 8 further comprising the step of generating a tool panel containing a plurality of functions permitting die introduction of various preexisting media assets into the simulation window.
12. The method of Claim 11 further comprising the step of altering the dynamics of the assets introduced using the tool panel.
13. The method of Claim 12 further comprising the step of establishing said hierarchical links between a plurality of screens and assets.
14. The method authoring system of Claim 10 further comprising the step of using said inspector panel to review and modifying one of a variety of aspects of the individual screens.
PCT/US1994/005218 1993-05-24 1994-05-11 Interactive multimedia development system and method WO1994028480A1 (en)

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