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Chapter 1: New Features

RealOne Player gives you more possibilities for creating Web-based multimedia than ever. If you're familiar with previous versions of RealPlayer, this chapter gives you a quick look at the many changes to streaming media production in RealOne Player.

RealOne Player Introduced

The successor to RealPlayer 8, RealOne Player provides the most advanced media playback possibilities available, combining streaming media, digital downloads, and Web browsing. For more on RealOne Player, see "Step 2: Learn the RealOne Player Interface".

SMIL 2.0 Support

RealOne Player supports SMIL 2.0, which adds many new features to SMIL 1.0. RealOne Player is backwards-compatible with SMIL 1.0, so it can play any existing SMIL presentation. RealPlayer G2, RealPlayer 7, and RealPlayer 8 cannot play SMIL 2.0 presentations. These versions of RealPlayer autoupdate to RealOne Player before playing a SMIL 2.0 file. See Chapter 8 for basic SMIL 2.0 information.

Note: This guide describes SMIL 2.0 only. For SMIL 1.0 information, see RealSystem iQ Production Guide for Release 8. That guide is available in HTML and PDF formats at http://service.real.com/help/library/encoders.html.

SMIL 2.0 Files Require an XML Namespace

A simple <smil> tag designates a SMIL 1.0 file. To write a SMIL 2.0 file, you need to include an XML namespace like this:

<smil xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/SMIL20/Language">

For More Information: See "The SMIL 2.0 Tag and Namespace" for more information.

SMIL 2.0 Attributes Use "Camel Case"

In SMIL 2.0, most attributes and predefined values that have multiple words now use camel case, in which all words are compounded and words following to the first word are capitalized. For example, the system-bitrate attribute in SMIL 1.0 becomes systemBitrate in SMIL 2.0. For more information, see "Tags, Attributes, and Values".

New and Updated SMIL Resources

In addition to the chapters that describe SMIL 2.0 features, this guide adds or updates several resources that will help you with creating presentations:

Introductory Production Guide

Beginning users, or those looking to create simple presentations, can start with Introduction to Streaming Media, which is available for download at http://service.real.com/help/library/index.html. That guide provides a simplified, streamlined introduction to SMIL 2.0 and Ram files.

New Clip Tag Attributes

Chapter 9 explains the changes to SMIL clip source tags, such as <video/> tags. SMIL 2.0 introduces several new clip attributes, as the following sections explain.

Color Attributes

As described in "Modifying Clip Colors", RealOne Player supports new color attributes that allow you to make the following transparent or semi- transparent:

Image Streaming Rates

SMIL 2.0 provides a new method for setting streaming rates for static clips such as images. See "Setting a Clip's Streaming Speed".

Text Handling

In addition to support for RealText clips (.rt), RealOne Player and SMIL 2.0 can display plain text files (.txt), and support the inclusion of text directly within the SMIL markup. For more information, see "Adding Text to a SMIL Presentation".

Descriptive Metatags

In addition to title, author, copyright, and abstract attributes, clip source tags can have alt, longdesc, and readIndex attributes. These attributes allow assistive devices to read clip information for visually impaired viewers. For more information, see "Adding Accessibility Information".

Colored Objects with the <brush/> Tag

The <brush/> tag functions just like a clip source tag such as <video/>. It does not link to a media clip, however. Instead, it defines a color that displays in a region. For more information, see "Creating a Brush Object".

Expanded Grouping Possibilities

Chapter 11 explains <seq> and <par> groups, which have changed little from SMIL 1.0. It also covers the <excl> tag, which is new in SMIL 2.0.

Sequences Act Like a Single Presentation

In SMIL 2.0, a simple sequence of clips defined in a <seq> group acts like a single presentation instead of a series of separate presentations. See "Playing Clips in Sequence" for more information.

New <excl> Groups

The exclusive group is a powerful feature that you can use to add interactivity to a presentation. The new <excl> tag creates an exclusive group, in which only one clip can play at a time. Unlike with a <seq> group, though, you can specify the order in which the <excl> group members play, have them interrupt each other, and select them based on any criteria, including mouse clicks. See "Creating an Exclusive Group" for more information.

Synchronizing Parallel Elements

The section "Synchronizing Playback in Parallel Groups" explains how to control which clips in parallel groups stay synchronized if bandwidth drops. This advanced feature also lets you create an independent timeline for a clip to make it act like a broadcast. In this case, viewers cannot rewind or fast-forward through the clip.

Enhanced Layout Choices

Chapter 12 explains how to lay out clips in RealOne Player using SMIL 2.0 layout tags and attributes, which provide many new layout possibilities. The following sections describe the principal new features of SMIL 2.0 layout.

Secondary Pop-Up Windows

You can now use <topLayout> tags to create secondary media playback windows that pop up during a presentation. This window is useful for playing supplemental clips, or clips that do not fit the main media playback pane's layout. See "Secondary Media Playback Windows" for more information.

Subregions

The section "Subregions" describes how to create regions within regions. Creating a subregion is useful if you want to associate a smaller region with a larger region so that the smaller region changes position automatically if you reposition the larger region.

Region Size and Position Attributes

To set a region's size and position within a window, you can now use bottom and right attributes, as well as height, width, left, and top. You can also use any combination of these attributes to create a region, giving you more ways to define layouts. See "Defining Region Sizes and Positions" for more information.

Registration Points

With registration points, which are described in the "Clip Position and Fit", you can easily position clips within large regions. You can use a registration point to center clips, for example, or align them to a region's lower-right corner.

Region Transparency

RealOne Player supports true region transparency, meaning that clips behind transparent areas of another clip are visible. See "Transparency in Regions and Clips" for more information.

Backgrounds Can Appear Only When Clips Play

You can now set region background colors to appear only when a clip plays in the region. Previously, all regions and backgrounds appeared automatically at the start of the presentation. See "Setting When Background Colors Appear" for more information.

More Timing Possibilities

SMIL 2.0 provides many new ways to construct presentation timelines. Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 explain basic and advanced timing attributes, respectively.

New Element Repeat Attributes

The new repeatCount and repeatDur attributes replace the SMIL 1.0 repeat attribute. The new attributes let you specify a total number of repetitions, or the total length of the repeating cycle, respectively. See "Repeating an Element" for details.

Additional fill Values

The fill attribute includes new values (auto, default, hold, and transition) that let you specify additional fill behaviors. A new fillDefault attribute lets you set the fill behavior for entire groups. For more information, see "Setting a Fill", as well as "Specifying a Default Fill".

Advanced Timing Values

See Chapter 14 for information on advanced SMIL timing values. These values work with the begin and end attributes to start and stop elements when certain events occur, such as when the viewer clicks a clip or presses a keyboard key.

New Linking Attributes

Chapter 15 covers hyperlinking, explaining how to link a SMIL presentation to a Web page or another SMIL presentation.

The <area/> Tag Replaces <anchor/>

The SMIL 2.0 <area/> tag replaces the SMIL 1.0 <anchor/> tag. The <area/> tag lets you turn an entire clip into a link, as well as create hot spots (image maps) over a clip. You can now create hot spots as rectangles, circles, and polygons. See "Using the <area/> Tag".

New Ways to Open Links

SMIL 2.0 includes new ways to specify when a link opens. You can define a keyboard key that the viewer can press to open a link, for instance, or you can make links open automatically at any point in the presentation. See "Defining Basic Hyperlink Properties" for more information.

Ability to Control RealOne Player State

The SMIL attribute sourcePlaystate in a link controls RealOne Player's state when a link is clicked. You can make the RealOne Player presentation pause, stop, or continue playing when the link opens. For more on sourcePlaystate, see "Linking to HTML Pages" or "Linking to Streaming Media".

RealOne Player Browsing Windows

RealOne Player on Windows includes its own browsing windows, which allow you to display HTML pages within the RealOne Player environment, as well as in the viewer's default Web browser. The RealOne Player related info window, which appears to the right of the media playback window, can display HTML pages that supplement the streaming presentation. For more information, see "Linking to HTML Pages".

Clip Transition Effects

Chapter 16 explains how to define clip transition effects, which are special effects that display when a clip starts or stops. You can use transition effects to crossfade sequential clips, for example, or introduce a new clip with a slide, a wipe, or over a hundred other effects found in professional video production.

SMIL Animations

Chapter 17 explains how to create SMIL animations, which are special effects that display as a clip plays. You can use SMIL animations to shrink a clip, move it around the screen, alter its background color, and change its volume level, for example. Unlike Flash animation, SMIL animations are not clips. Rather, they are instructions that tell RealOne Player how to alter the display of other clips, whether videos, still images, audio clips, or so on.

Powerful Content Control Capabilities

SMIL 2.0 has sophisticated content control features that allow the advanced SMIL author to tailor presentations for different audiences and network conditions.

Additional Switching Test Attributes

SMIL 2.0 includes several new test attributes that you can use in <switch> groups. These attributes let you display alternative presentations for different monitor sizes or operating systems, for example. For a list of test attributes, see "Available Test Attributes".

Inline Switching

You can add any switching test attribute directly to a clip source tag or a group tag without using a <switch> tag. RealOne Player then plays the clip or group only if it satisfies the attribute value. Although not recommended for all situations in which switching is required, inline switching can be useful in many cases. For more information, see "Using Inline Switching".

Prefetching Clip Data

With <prefetch/> tags, you can download clip data before clips play. This feature gives you a powerful way to manage your presentation's streaming bandwidth. See Chapter 19 for information on prefetching.

Additions and Deletions to this Guide

In addition to describing new features of RealOne Player, this manual includes several organizational changes from previous versions.

RealText and RealPix Markup Described

Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 of this guide provide instructions for writing RealText and RealPix markup, respectively. The RealText Authoring Guide and RealPix Authoring Guide, which cover RealText and RealPix through Release 8, are obsolete, though still available for download from the RealNetworks Technical Support Web site.

RealOne Player does not include significant updates to RealText and RealPix, and the RealText and RealPix clips you create according to instructions in this guide will be backward-compatible with earlier versions of RealPlayer. When used with RealOne Player and SMIL 2.0, however, RealText and RealPix offer significant improvements. For example, you can use SMIL 2.0 to turn a RealText clip's background transparent or semi-transparent. This is useful for overlaying a video with subtitles.

For More Information: See "Creating a Transparent Window Background".

No Chapters on Advertising and Broadcasting

This guide no longer contains chapters on the Advertising Application and broadcasting. Information about using SMIL with the Advertising Application is available separately. For information about broadcasting media, see Helix Producer User's Guide and Helix Universal Server Administration Guide.

Authoring Kit Discontinued

The Authoring Kit, a zipped bundle of content production guides and utilities, has been discontinued. Production guides are available as separate downloads at the following Web page:

http://service.real.com/help/library/encoders.html

Note: The RealPix and Flash utilities formerly included in the Authoring Kit are now available in the utilities folder of the zipped HTML bundle of this production guide.


RealNetworks, Inc. ©2002 RealNetworks, Inc. All rights reserved.
For more information, visit RealNetworks
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