GRiNS for RealSystem G2 Pro 1.5
Another SMIL authoring tool geared toward the G2 environment is GRiNS from Oratrix Software, an outgrowth of the Netherlands' CWI, which helped to develop SMIL 1.0 itself. GRiNS is available in three formats: GRiNS for RealSystem G2 Lite Version 1.5, GRiNS for SMIL 1.0 Version 1.5, and GRiNS for RealSystem G2 Pro Version 1.5.I found the GRiNS interface to be somewhat counter-intuitive. Instead of a typical timeline, GRiNS uses an oddly color-coded structure view, along with a limited timeline view and layout view. GRiNS relies on a lot of dialog boxes to author content, something that might dismay a visually oriented user. However, users may find this style of media layout beneficial in creating huge media presentations, as it allows for a more complex structure.
After some trial and error, I was able to recreate my hand-coded SMIL file, and the resulting code was good. GRiNS boasts some hard-core SMIL 1.0 features such as sync arcs, which allow events to control timing issues; and switch tags, which permit media presentations to be switched depending on a user's media player bandwidth setting.
Priced at $345, GRiNS runs on Windows NT 4.0/95/98, and PPC MacOS 8.5 or later. A UNIX version is slated for launch soon.
Fluition 1.5
Since RealPlayer G2 was the first media player on the block to support SMIL 1.0, it's no wonder that many authoring tools are geared for G2. But if you want a multiplatform solution, check out Fluition 1.5 from Confluent Technologies Inc. Fluition authors for both RealPlayer G2 and QuickTime 4.1 — and it authors well.Fluition 1.5 looks and feels like many image/animation editors, with lots of floating palettes and a visual click-and-drag interface. Organizing the files and layout of my SMIL presentation was a breeze. Fluition 1.5 adds a lightweight Realtext editor, making exporting to RealPlayer G2 easier than in version 1.0.Another great feature is Fluition's anchor function. Similar to HTML anchors, which allow linking to specified points within or without a Web page, SMIL anchors can be placed within a media clip. You can get really creative with SMIL anchors by linking to files within files of your presentation. Fluition's anchor palette lets you manually enter the specs of an anchor, or you can create them from scratch using the anchor draw tool.
Unfortunately, Fluition doesn't include a bandwidth calculator, so streaming a SMIL file with a lot of media elements will require a good deal of bandwidth math. Still, Fluition created a good replica of my SMIL file, with flawless code. Fluition 1.5 runs on Windows 95 or higher, or Mac OS 8 or better. It is priced at $139.95.
The Bottom Line
Real SlideShow Plus is a friendly, easy-to-use product, but works only with Real's player and lacks some advanced features. It is best for families or casual home users. On the other end of the scale, GRiNs is an elegant product that engineers will love, but that may daunt casual computer users. GRiNs works with Real's player or basic SMIL 1.0, and is a good choice for large or complicated projects that don't need QuickTime player support.
Fluition sits between the two in terms of ease of use and power, but adds the ability to export a single project to the Real and QuickTime formats, rendering extensions correctly for each player in separate code sets. It's a great choice for nearly all users who don't mind doing a little math.
With a second generation of tools and the new 2.0 specification coming soon, the prospects for SMIL are bright. However, in a streaming media arena where the seemingly strongest contenders are sometimes the first to fall, SMIL has a lot of fighting ahead before its potential can be realized.
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