Get Ready to SMIL
You can think of the World Wide Web Consortium's Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) 1.0 specification as "HTML for multimedia." But don't call it that at the next tech launch party you attend, because SMIL (pronounced "smile") is based on Extensible Markup Language (XML), which is considerably more powerful than HTML. Online media producers are finally seeing a way to integrate different media elements such as sounds, pictures, videos and animations, all choreographed against a precise layout grid and timeline. And best of all, it's bandwidth constrainable — with a bit of creativity, just about anyone armed with SMIL authoring tools can build big, bright presentations that fit through a narrow pipe.
What's the catch? Writing and testing code is time consuming, even for seasoned pros. And because vendors have added various proprietary extensions to their SMIL servers and players (to add much-needed functionality to the 1.0 specification) the task of creating advanced presentations for multiple players is complicated.
Each of these three issues is addressed to varying degrees by products now on the market, including GRiNS for RealSystem G2 Pro 1.5 by Oratrix development software (
www.oratrix.com/GRiNS/grp/index.html ), Real SlideShow Plus by RealNetworks (
www.real.com), and Fluition 1.5 by Confluent Technologies Inc. (
www.smilsoftware.com).
In order to test out these applications, I hand-coded a streaming SMIL file that synchronized a music audio track that a DJ friend gave me with text, images and a short video. I then used each application to replicate the results to see how easily I could do it, and to compare the quality of the code produced. Because Microsoft doesn't officially support SMIL at present, testing was limited to the RealPlayer 8.x and Apple's QuickTime 4.1.
Real SlideShow Plus 2.0
RealNetworks has been instrumental in developing SMIL with the World Wide Consortium. RealPlayer G2 was the first major media player to support SMIL 1.0, transforming SMIL from a nice idea to a practical entity. For creating SMIL presentations, RealNetworks offers RealSlideshow Plus 2.0. The application makes it very easy — even for beginners — to create SMIL presentations with pictures, audio and text captions. However, advanced media creators will probably feel it lacks features.
The timeline interface, along with the audio recording and picture editing features in Real SlideShow Plus 2.0, are easy to navigate. Simply select images (.png, .jpg, .gif, or .bmp) and they appear in the timeline, ready to be rearranged. Audio can be recorded within Real SlideShow, or you can open an MP3 or .wav or other file. Where Real SlideShow Plus 2.0 shines is with bandwidth calculation. Entire projects can be set up to stream to a certain bandwidth, and individual pictures and audio files within a presentation can be compressed to ensure smooth delivery.
Once all images, links, text captions and audio are set, the SMIL files can be generated. Because Real SlideShow Plus 2.0 uses RealNetworks' proprietary RealPics and RealText formats when outputting a slideshow, presentations can only be played by RealPlayer G2. So while the SMIL 1.0 code generated by the application is solid, the scope of a complete Real SlideShow Plus 2.0 presentation is limited.
The lack of video integration capabilities is another limitation. However, Real SlideShow Plus 2.0 is so easy to use and efficient that it could be a useful tool for laying down the audio and photo foundation of a more advanced SMIL presentation. Real SlideShow Plus 2.0 runs on Windows 95/98/2000/Me/NT and costs $69.95. Real SlideShow 2.0, with a much more basic feature set, is available as a free download.
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