A foundation course in digital media for image, sound and video creation

This book is a foundation course in digital media. It introduces students to the key concepts, technologies and tools for the design and creation of digital media. The number of courses connected with digital media is on the increase. Even conventional courses such as graphic design now involve a significant amount of digital work. Practitioners too are being called upon to get involved in an ever increasing number of different digital media tasks involving the computer.

As computers get more powerful the designers and developers need to control this great power that is being unleashed and to turn it to their own ends. What sort of books can help them do this? Huge technical texts can become part of the problem. Glossy, coffee-table books show what can be done but don't help you to do it. Detailed how-to-do-it books take you through step-by-step recipes that you can trot out like a dog doing tricks, but they don't give you what you need to do it yourself.

What is needed is a text that covers the area, but does so in an informed and non-technical manner. A text that gives the readers a handle on the many possibilities that digital media has to offer and explains those ideas that are necessary. That is the goal that this book fulfills; to give the student an overview of the area and to give them conceptual tools to design in the area and make informed decisions about tools, formats and technologies. From image formats to key Photoshop concepts, from file-sizes for digital audio to scripting for web-sites, from bitmaps and vectors to programming in Flash. A range of key topics are covered on a 'need to know' basis; technical details are only included if they are relevant and are explained in simple and direct terms. This books is a valuable resource for anyone getting to grips with the world of digital media.