In an earlier article, Streaming Media World featured an article about Confluent Technologies, a Canadian company that offers a SMIL authoring tool known as Fluition. This article features some explanations of how the Fluition software functions, including screenshots. There is also a Tips and Tricks section on SMIL authoring, provided by the team at Confluent Technologies.

SMIL, as more people are beginning to appreciate, can be used for a variety of applications, such as interactive video, video on demand, online training, audio, animation, and more, in ways that were previously unavailable. With SMIL, the ability to create rich media presentations is simplified and is available to any user with a computer and an Internet connection.

The Fluition software was designed for ease of use and to eliminate the need to manually write code. It features a WYSIWYG interface, a Visual Layout Environment, Advanced Hyperlinking, Sequencing Abilities, compatibility with any SMIL compatible player, including RealPlayer and QuickTime.

Final presentations are written in SMIL-compliant code. The use of SMIL allows the creator to synchronize timing for media playback within a presentation. Using Regions, playback of a video can be taking place in one Region, while another Region can be synchronized and brought into the presentation at specific, designated time points to enhance the impact.

To get started with Fluition, an online tutorial is provided. To build a simple presentation, the elements are Preparation, Presentation Layout, Region Layout, Adding Media, Controlling Media, Linking Media, Saving the Presentation, Expanding the Presentation and Previewing.

regions_layout.jpg In the Presentation Layout Window, several different regions are created. One, the large box to the left is where the main video will play. The other boxes to the right are labeled “Walk” and “Run,” with two extra boxes to spare. These will be designated as hotspots, later on in the tutorial. Clicking on them will allow other videos to play in the main video box.