Integrating Computer Animation and Multimedia

Multimedia provides an immensely powerful tool for the dissemination of both information and entertainment. Current multimedia presentations consist of synchronised excerpts of media (such as sound, video & text) which are coordinated by an author to ensure a clear narrative is presented to the audience. However, each of the segments of the presentation consist of previously recorded footage, only the timing and synchronisation are dynamically constructed. The next logical advance for such systems is therefore to include the capability of generating material ‘on-the-fly’ in response to the actions of the audience. This paper describes a mechanism for using computer animation to generate this interactive material. Unlike previous animation techniques the approach presented here is suitable for use in constructing a storyline which the author can control, but the user can influence. In order to allow such techniques to be used we also present a multimedia authoring & playback system which incorporates interactive animation with existing media.