Simple Anatomy of HotMedia

There are a few fundamental parts to a HotMedia object. This basic overview is simplified to help you get started in understanding how to create elementary HotMedia objects.

HotMedia objects are loaded progressively so there are some fundamental differences between the initial downloaded image, and the remaining image sequence.

The initial image is sometimes referred to as a thumbnail, but this tutorial will define it simply as the initial image.

 

Initial Image

The first image in a HotMedia object is special because it may be static on the page, waiting for a user to interact with it. It may also be programmed to pan in order to attract people to the image. This image may be larger in resolution than the image window so as to provide extra information that will be visible when the image effects are created. (Please see section on Image Effects.)

 

Animation Frame

The images loaded after the initial image are part of the animation sequence.

There can be any number of frames in the sequence.

 

Final Frame

The final frame may be considered a special frame as many typical uses of HotMedia stop animation at this frame. For this reason, you may keep in mind that the last frame might be created or processed differently from the rest of the frames in a HotMedia project.

 

Finally, bear in mind that all of these images are put together and create as a whole a HotMedia object.

 

Remember... click and drag to interact, then click to restart!