The "get started" developer's guide to MPEG-4, the
future of Internet and Web multimedia!
MPEG-4 will transform Internet- and Web-based multimedia
by enabling breakthrough audio, video, 2D, and 3D
capabilities. This book is for every developer and
technical decision-maker. In MPEG-4 Jump-Start, two
leaders of the Internet multimedia community introduce the
MPEG-4 standard: its key concepts, capabilities,
applications, requirements, and limitations. Aaron E. Walsh
and Mikael Bourges-Sevenier cover what you need to know to
start developing MPEG-4 players and content today,
including:
- How MPEG-4 builds on the success of the MPEG standards
that enabled CDs, DVDs, and MP3
- MPEG-4's underlying technical capabilities and
requirements
- 2D/3D scene composition and the MPEG-4 Binary Format
for Scenes (BIFS)
- MPEG-4 techniques for facial and body animation
- New compression methods for 3D meshes
- XMT: The XML-based textual format for storing MPEG-4
contents and authoring commands
MPEG-4 offers unprecedented opportunities for delivering
media in any networked communications
environment—Internet, Web, broadcast, satellite, or
even wireless. MPEG-4 Jump-Start gives you specific,
insider's techniques for building tomorrow's breakthrough
media applications—starting right now.
Every Jump-Start book is:
- AUTHORITATIVE
- written by world-class experts personally involved with
the design and development of that technology
- FOCUSED
- providing exactly what you need to know to get started
immediately with minimum effort
- PRACTICAL
- teaching you the skills and techniques that you need to
develop professional, real-world software applications
Contents
Foreword.
Preface.
1. Introduction to MPEG-4.
The MPEG Brain and Its
Artifacts. MPEG and Memes. The MPEG Brain. MPEG Standards.
MPEG-4 in a Nutshell. MPEG-4 Design Goals and Principles.
Navigating MPEG-4. MPEG-4 and Other Multimedia Standards.
Architecture and Tools. End-to-End Architecture. MPEG-4
Browser Architecture and Tools. Applications. Next
Generation of Portals. Interactive Broadcast. Multimedia
Conferencing and Communities. Conclusion. References.
2. Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML)
Overview. Introduction to VRML97.
How MPEG-4
BIFS Extends VRML. Major Features and Related
Jargon. VRML Browsers. VRML Plug-Ins. Objects, Scenes, and
Worlds. VRML Files. Scene Graphs.
Nodes. Fields. Events.
eventIn and eventOut Fields. Shapes, Geometry, and
Appearance. Primitive Objects. Complex Objects. Text
Objects. Coordinate Systems. Moving, Scaling, and Rotating.
Summary.
Binary Format for Scenes
(BIFS). Fundamental Differences with VRML97. A Note on
Coordinate Systems. New Scene Features and New Nodes.
Geometry Nodes. Interpolator Nodes. Grouping Nodes.
Material Nodes. Sensor Nodes. Audio Nodes. Face and Body
Animation Nodes. Stream Synchronization and Control Nodes.
Other Nodes. Summary.
4. BIFS-Updates. Overview of the Binary
Format for Scenes (BIFS). BIFS-Update Decoding Process.
Overview of the SDL Language. Structures Used by the
Decoder. Configuring the Decoder. Decoding Commands.
Examples. Writing BIFS-Update Codecs: Considerations.
Summary. References.
5. Quantization in BIFS-Updates. Why We Need Quantization.
A Crash Course on Quantization. Fourteen BIFS Quantizers.
Local and Global QuantizationParameter Nodes. Quantizers 1
to 8. Quantizing Normals and Rotations (9, 10). Quantizing
Object Size (11, 12). Linear Scalar Quantizers (13, 14).
Efficient Float
Coding. Using Quantization in BIFS.
Example: Using QuantizationParameter Node. Summary.
References.
Synthetic Animations in
MPEG-4. The BIFS-Anim Protocol. Encoding BIFS-Anim.
Decoding the BIFS-Anim Mask. Decoding the BIFS-Anim Frames.
Interpolators Encoded by PredictiveMFFields.
PredictiveMFFields and BIFS Scenes. PredictiveMFFields
Decoding. Summary.
7. D Mesh Animation. 2D Mesh Animation Tools in
MPEG-4. Tools. Profiles. 2D Mesh Generation and Coding.
Mesh Generation. Mesh Coding. Summary. References.
8. MPEG-4 Face and Body Animation Tools and
Applications. Face Definition Parameters
(FDPs). Face Animation Parameters (FAPs). FAP
Interpolation. FDP Information vs the FDP Node. FAP
Estimation from Video. FBA File Formats. Connecting the
Head to an Animated Body. FAP/ BAP Quantization.
Applications. Streaming. Implications of FAP Normalization.
Real Faces vs Animated Characters. Authoring
Considerations. Real Time. FBA Visual Bitstream Syntax. FBA
Object. FBA Object Plane. FBA Temporal Header. Decode Frame
Rate and Skip Frames. Decode New Minmax. Decode ifap.
Decode pfap. Decode Viseme and Expression. FBA Systems BIFS
Nodes. Text To Speech (TTS) Node. Face Model Predictability
Hierarchy. Summary. References.
9. MPEG-4 Human Virtual Body Animation. Body Modeling and
Animation. Body System BIFS Nodes. Body Node. BAP Node. BDP
Node. BodySceneGraph Node. BodyDefTables Node. Body
Bitstream Syntax. Summary. References.
10. 3D Mesh Coding. Functionalities of 3DMC.
Introduction to IndexedFaceSet. 3D Mesh Coding. Topological
Analysis—Topological Surgery. Connectivity Coding.
Geometry and Properties Coding. Entropy Coding. Bitstream
Syntax. 3D Mesh Object. Stitching Mode. Error Resilience
Mode. Progressive Transmission Mode. Performance
Demonstrations. Compression. Incremental Rendering. Error
Resilience. Summary. References.
11. Extensible MPEG-4 Textual Format (XMT). Cross-Standard
Interoperability. XMT Two-Tier Architecture. XMT-?Format.
Reusing SMIL in XMT-?. Extensible Media (xMedia) Objects.
Animation. Timing. Spatial Layout. XMT-?Examples. XMT-A
Format. Document Structure. Timing. Scene Description.
Object Descriptor Framework. Deterministic Mapping.
Interoperability with X3D. Summary. References.
12. What's Next? Summary.
APPENDIX A: Arithmetic Coding. APPENDIX B: BIFS Node Coding Tables. APPENDIX C: MPEG-4 Profiles and Levels. Index.