Publications

High-level scripting environments for interactive multimedia systems

Agamanolis, Stephan

ic

February 1996

MS Thesis in Media Arts and Sciences, MIT

Abstract
Interave multimedia systems typically consist of many kinds of media objects and input and output components, all of which must be controlled in real time to form a presentation. Although nothing can replace human to human interaction, in many cases it is desirable to automate these management tasks. As the complexity of such systems grow, some method of scripting these presentations in a high-level manner becomes a necessity.

Current solutions are inadequate. Ultra-high-level visual (non-scripted) authoring systems restrict the creativity of the artist, whereas programming in a low-level general-purpose language forces the artist to become a computer scientist. Many systems that lie between these two extremes handle interactivity in a very primitive manner. This thesis details work on the design and implementation of an intuitive and elegant scripting environment that does not sacrifice expressivity or extensibility. in addition, a real-time interactive object-based audio and video system has been created to operate under this new environment.

http://mf.media.mit.edu/pubs/thesis/agamanolisMS.pdf