Visual Basic 2005 for Programmers (2nd Edition)

17.10. Introduction to Multimedia

The FCL offers many convenient ways to include images and animations in programs. People who entered the computing field decades ago used computers primarily to perform arithmetic calculations. As the discipline evolves, we are realizing the importance of computers' data-manipulation capabilities. We are seeing many exciting new three-dimensional applications. Multimedia programming is an entertaining and innovative field, but one that presents many challenges

Multimedia applications demand extraordinary computing power. Today's ultrafast processors make multimedia-based applications commonplace. As the market for multimedia explodes, users are purchasing the faster processors, larger memories and wider communications bandwidths needed to support multimedia applications. This benefits the computer and communications industries, which provide the hardware, software and services fueling the multimedia revolution.

In the remaining sections of this chapter, we introduce basic image processing and other multimedia features and capabilities. Section 17.11 discusses how to load, display and scale images; Section 17.12 demonstrates image animation; Section 17.13 presents the video capabilities of the Windows Media Player control; and Section 17.14 explores Microsoft Agent technology.