Tools for multimedia content creation, manipulation and management: The ACTS perspective

Abstract

In today's fast-changing world, content creation and delivery can hardly afford to ignore technology. Content-related activities in the ACTS (Advanced Communication Technology and Services) Programme are grouped in the “Multimedia Content Manipulation and Management∝ domain, part of a larger Multimedia area. R&D activities in this group show that content elements and underlying creation and manipulation tools are increasingly common to “communication∝ and “consumption∝ application environments. As communication support becomes more sophisticated, it increasingly borrows from the advanced content creation tool box. ACTS content-related research contributes to the development of tools required to produce, represent, manipulate and manage the multimedia content of the future. Whether this content is 2D or 3D, whether it is natural or synthetic, whether it is used for broadcast or interactive entertainment or whether it is supporting communication, these tools will need to be flexible, intelligent and widely accepted by traditionally separated sectors.