Video Interactive Media

Video Interactive media

Video interactive media uses many different types of videos. The videos that are used in video interactive media are used to appeal to viewers and target audiences and/or just general interest. However some videos are designed to bring the audiences awareness to something either a company or website or media company is trying to appeal to the possible customers. For example YouTube, the worlds largest video streaming website. They upload videos now with advertisements on, so if you want to watch a new song that has been released then you have to watch the 2 minutes of adverts. This is product advertisement. 

What is Videos are used in interactive media?

·      ADVERTISEMENT VIDEOS FOR

o   FILMS

o   TV SHOWS

o   PRODUCTS

o   GAMES

·      MARKETING

o   Selling products, films, TV show etc…

o   Bringing possible customers to the company

o   Research

Where can you see them?

The videos can be seen in cinemas, airports, taxis, cars, cash machines and of course the internet. Interactive videos have become more popular since advertising has boosted. However interactive media is not only advertisement based but to offer the user options. Therefore on DVDs and television you can select what you want to watch when you want like TV on demand or the red button on the sky remote. Video interactive media allows you to choose options from menus, which allow you to go to where either a company consumer is trying to appeal to you. You can also see video interactive videos on your phone or games consoles.

The different types of Technology used in Video Interactive Media

MPG

MPG video file is a variant of the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) video and audio compression format, optimized for broadcast quality video. MPG videos have the file extension .mpg. 

MPEG stands for Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4), one of the compression formats, is in charge of the development of standards for coded representation of digital audio and video, supported by DVD, VCD, Epson for entertainment. There are several audio/video formats which bear this group's name, such as compression formats - MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

MP4

MP4 is an abbreviation for Moving Picture Expert Group-4. First published in 1998, MPEG-4 or MP4 was designed to encompass all the features that were part of earlier releases of MPEG files, and add a few more that would prove helpful with the advancing online technology of the day. As a standardized group of video and perceptual coding formats, MP in general quickly became a hit with the average Internet user. The introduction of MP4 made it possible for the audience to continue growing by providing quicker, faster, and higher quality broadcast media for the average user.

MOV

MOV is an audio and video file type that was developed by Apple Inc. and primarily is used with the company's QuickTime media player. It acts as a multimedia container for digital videos, and its multi tracking ability allows editors to shape the file in a variety of ways. MOV has enjoyed one of the longest lives of any file type during the digital age.

First appearing in 1991 when Apple unveiled QuickTime 1.0, the MOV file type was one of the first multimedia files available to the public. Over the course of its lifetime, this media format has seen seven versions of the QuickTime program but has remained the primary format for viewing videos through the player. The file type's simplicity is the chief reason for its longevity.

AVI

AVI means Audio Video Interleave, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback. Like the DVD video format, AVI files support multiple streaming audio and video, although these features are seldom used.

WMV

WMV is short for Windows Media Video. This video format was developed by Microsoft upon non-standard version of MPEG-4. But as WMV was standardized as an independent SMPTE standard and is considered to be a unique format now.

The video stream is often combined with an audio stream of Windows Media Audio. WMV deals with all types of video content. The advantage of the format it that it allows to compress large video files yet retaining considerably high quality. On-line radio stations use this format to deliver continuous flow of data.

WMV is similiar to ASF (Advanced Systems Format). In fact, WMV is often packed into ASF and the resulting file can be named .wmv or .asf. WMV can also be put in AVI container.

SWF

The SWF file format delivers vector graphics, text, video, and sound over the Internet and is supported by Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR software. Flash Player already reaches over 98% of Internet-enabled desktops and more than 800 million handsets and mobile devices.

The SWF file format is designed to be an efficient binary delivery format, not a format for exchanging graphics between graphics editors

3GGP

The 3GP file type is primarily associated with '3GPP'. 3GPP and 3GPP2 are the new worldwide standards for the creation, delivery and playback of multimedia over 3rd generation, high-speed wireless networks. Defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project and 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 respectively, these standards seek to provide uniform delivery of rich multimedia over newly evolved, broadband mobile networks (3rd generation networks) to the latest multimedia-enabled wireless devices. 3GPP and 3GPP2 are based on the MPEG-4 standard which was derived from Apple's QuickTime. QuickTime 6.5 includes support for key components of the 3GPP and 3GPP2 specifications. The Macintosh type is: 3GPP

File Compression types

There are several types of file compression types. A good example of file compression it I-tunes for the Ipod. The file compression for this is avi. Itunes use this to save space. The idea of compression is to save space. The other file compression types are

.ZIP

.bit

These file types of compression are used on a windows operating system. Different operating systems have different file compression types. ZIP types are for when a file is being downloaded of the internet to increase download speed. Some times when downloading a file which is compressed they can be corrupt or loss file features such as the data rate, frame rate and resolution. This is because you download or upload a file they go thought 

New To Digital Graphics

New To Digital Graphics?

This is a guide to any considerations you may have for when undertaking a Digital Graphics Project

• Pixels 
• Raster and Vector images
• Bit Depth 
• Colour
• Applications of interactive Graphics
• Finished output considerations

Pixels 

Pixels are small dots in which cover a monitor. They have many colours inside them, the less the colour the less the quality of image.

RASTER IMAGE

What is raster image?

A raster image, also called a bitmap, is a way to represent digital images. The raster image takes a wide variety of formats, including the familiar .gif, .jpg, and .bmp. A raster image represents an image in a series of bits of information which translate into pixels on the screen. These pixels form points of color which create an overall finished image.

When a raster image is created, the image on the screen is converted into pixels. Each pixel is assigned a specific value which determines its color. The raster image system uses the red, green, blue (RGB) color system. An RGB value of 0,0,0 would be black, and the values go all the way through to 256 for each color, allowing the expression of a wide range of color values. In photographs with subtle shading, this can be extremely valuable meaning a better quality image

When a raster image is viewed, the pixels usually smooth out visually for the user, who sees a photograph or drawing. When blown up, the pixels in a raster image become apparent. While this effect is sometimes a deliberate choice on the part of an artist, it is usually not desired. Depending on resolution, some raster images can be enlarged to very large sizes, while others quickly become difficult to see. The smaller the resolution, the smaller the digital image file. For this reason, people who work with computer graphics must find a balance between resolution and image size.

Resolution refers to the number of pixels per inch (PPI) or dots per inch (DPI) in the image. The higher the resolution, the greater the number of pixels, allowing for a greater gradation of color which will translate better as the image is enlarged. Of course, the more pixels, the more individual points of data to be stored, as well. For high quality photography, a high DPI is preferred because the images will look more appealing to the viewer. For small images which do not need to be blown up, or when quality is not important, a low DPI can be used.

Common File Types

These file types are common and most widely used file types used today. The file types we will be looking at are

bmp.

jpg.

Png.

Gif.

Tiff.

BMP

The BMP File Format, also known as Bitmap Image File or Device Independent Bitmap (DIB) file format or simply a Bitmap, is an Raster graphics image file format used to store bitmap digital images, independently of the display device (such as a graphics adapter), especially on Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems.

The BMP File Format is capable of storing 2D digital images of arbitrary width, height, and resolution, both monochrome and color, in various color depths, and optionally with data compression, alpha channels, and color profiles.

JPG

JPG file extension. This is the right format for those photo images which must be very small files, for example, for web sites or for email. JPG is often used on digital camera memory cards, but RAW or TIF format may be offered too, to avoid it. The JPG file is wonderfully small, often compressed to perhaps only 1/10 of the size of the original data, which is a good thing when modems are involved. However, this fantastic compression efficiency comes with a high price. JPG uses lossy compression (lossy meaning "with losses to quality"). Lossy means that some image quality is lost when the JPG data is compressed and saved, and this quality can never be recovered.

PNG

This document describes PNG (Portable Network Graphics), an extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, grayscale, and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits.

GIF

The Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability.

The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel thus allowing a single image to reference a palette of up to 256 distinct colors. The colors are chosen from the 24-bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of 256 colors for each frame. The color limitation makes the GIF format unsuitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with continuous color, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid areas of color.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format (abbreviated TIFF) is a file format for storing images, popular among Apple Macintosh owners, graphic artists, the publishing industry,[1] and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems

PIXELS

What are pixels?

Pixels are in images, pixels are dots used to display an image on a screen. PIXEL the word is the words picture and element. The pixel or the picture element is the smallest , smallest, smallest unit of any image.

What is the smallest, smallest, smallest unit of a pixel?

The unit is not measurement given to an image from the size of the image taken or processed of saved as on a computer, the unit is just basically the smallest part of an image. A pixel.

FOR EXAMPLE?

You have just taken a picture on a camera.

The picture is loaded onto a computer.

You see the image?

You zoom in?

The image now looks like great big square blocks?

The square blocks are the images units. The units contains colours that make up the image. The pixels are set in pixels per inch (PPI).

It is important to recognize that pixels are not a measure of size, though often the term is used as though they are. Many digital cameras, for example, give a measure of pixels-per-inch (PPI), which they embed in the image files created. Users then see this measurement and assume that pixels have a real size which uniformly holds true.

What are Vector Images?

Vector images are images that are loaded on a computer in mathematical equations. The Equations look at the images lines, points and curves, basically all the images features that are loaded on a computer screen. Vector images are illustrations of images represented on pixels. A vector cannot lose definition when the image is being re sized. The image can transform freely on a document or application allowing the image to keep true size.

What is the difference then?

The difference between a raster image and vector image is pure and simply that raster cannot be transformed from size range without losing quality in the image. A Raster image shows the pixels of the image on the screen in any format. Whereas the vector images only show files that are saved as a vector image. When you understand the limitations of each form of technology you will have better advantages of using Vector and Raster images.

Look at the quality in difference

Raster Left image (Blown up image)
Vector Image Right
In computer graphics, color depth or bit depth is the number of bits used to represent the color of a single pixel in a bitmapped image or video frame buffer. This concept is also known as bits per pixel (bpp), particularly when specified along with the number of bits used. Higher color depth gives a broader range of distinct colors.
Color depth is only one aspect of color representation (formally, the gamut: which colors can be expressed), expressing how finely levels of color can be expressed (formally, gamut depth); the other aspect is how broad a range of colors can be expressed. The RGB color model, as used below, cannot express many colors, notably saturated colors such as yellow. Thus, the issue of color representation is not simply "sufficient color depth" but also "broad enough gamut".

Color Space Fundamentals

Computer monitors emit color as RGB (red, green, blue) light. Although all colors of the visible spectrum can be produced by merging red, green and blue light, monitors are capable of displaying only a limited gamut (i.e., range) of the visible spectrum.

Whereas monitors emit light, inked paper absorbs or reflects specific wavelengths. Cyan, magenta and yellow pigments serve as filters, subtracting varying degrees of red, green and blue from white light to produce a selective gamut of spectral colors. Like monitors, printing inks also produce a color gamut that is only a subset of the visible spectrum, although the range is not the same for both. Consequently, the same art displayed on a computer monitor may not match to that printed in a publication. Also, because printing processes such as offset lithography use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks, digital art must be converted to CMYK color for print. Many printers now prefer digital art files be supplied in the RGB color space with ICC profiles attached. Images can then be converted to the CMYK color space by the printer using color management methods that honor profiles if present; this helps preserve the best possible detail and vibrancy.

 Color Space Fundamentals

Computer monitors emit color as RGB (red, green, blue) light. Although all colors of the visible spectrum can be produced by merging red, green and blue light, monitors are capable of displaying only a limited gamut (i.e., range) of the visible spectrum.

Whereas monitors emit light, inked paper absorbs or reflects specific wavelengths. Cyan, magenta and yellow pigments serve as filters, subtracting varying degrees of red, green and blue from white light to produce a selective gamut of spectral colors. Like monitors, printing inks also produce a color gamut that is only a subset of the visible spectrum, although the range is not the same for both. Consequently, the same art displayed on a computer monitor may not match to that printed in a publication. Also, because printing processes such as offset lithography use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) inks, digital art must be converted to CMYK color for print. Many printers now prefer digital art files be supplied in the RGB color space with ICC profiles attached. Images can then be converted to the CMYK color space by the printer using color management methods that honor profiles if present; this helps preserve the best possible detail and vibrancy.

Web Animation

Web animation

Banner ads

Banner ads are used in advertisements, the banner ads are used to promote and entertain viewers and clients of the Internet or other such locations where you can find banners is online, and other electrical devices such as:

·      Cash machines

·      Cinemas

·      Television/ Sky box

·      Bus Stations/Train station Bill Boards

Linear and interactive animations

Linear animations have one starting point and one finishing point. Linear animation game would be like World of warcraft. The only way to complete the game is to follow the games rules, you start at one point and finish at another. 

Interactive animations

Interactive animations have the option of travel where you want them to go for example, an interactive animation game would be call of duty. In the game you can choose how you react to the action in the game. Compared to a linear animation game you could only travel where the game wants you to go. This would be the same for linear animations. 








Promotion uses in animations and banner advertisement

Animation advertisement is an increasing popular use of product placement. The promotion value increases for every time an interactive animation is used. When someone clicks to view a certain animation or so see the other related videos, there will be other related imagery or videos that you can select on the same page, either to promote a certain product such as a film, TV show, item of food, clothing or sponsorship. The main uses are seen everyday on the internet, you can on almost anything to connect to product being advertised.

Introduction

In this report I am going to talk about the history of animation and how is changed over the Centenary. I am going to express what tools were used for the some of the first animations and why it was so hard work to produce one. With aid of age of technology, animation has become a great value for music, cartoons and films.

Some of the first Animations started back in the 1900s, when Thomas Edison made his first animation called the enchanted drawing in November 16 1900. He used a technique of animation which involved taking multiple pictures of ever time he moved, drew or made any changes to the picture. This way when he played it back it would look like it was moving. This is because the FPS, or the frame rate is too fast for the eye to see, therefore making it look like the image is moving and rather than just seeing a load of different pictures.

Animation has changed quite a lot over the years and the technology has increased massively compared to Thomas Edison First animation.

In the 1900 Thomas Edison would not have been able to make animations like AVATER because that film is CGI. Which is computer aided imagery. This is quicker in some respects towards the old method. As there is a lot more going on in a CGI film , meaning it takes more patience to move everything around and place all the background, the colors, the effects etc. Whereas in a in an animation like Thomas Edison, you would need to do it one by one by hand.

http://tishtoshtesh.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/avatar-001.jpg

http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/animp/1592.mpg

Timeline of Animation From 1900

This time line shows the use of frames being used as animation and how the quality changes over the Centenary

1.                  1902 -Fun in a Bakery Shop (© April 3, 1902, Thomas A. Edison)

2.                  1906 - Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (© April 6, 1906, The Vitagraph Co. of America)

3.                  1915 -[Men’s Styles] from Keeping Up with the Joneses (1915, Gaumont)

1.                  -[Women’s Styles] from Keeping Up with the Joneses (1915, Gaumont)

2.                  -He Resolves Not to Smoke from Dreamy Dud Series (© June 22, 1915, Essanay Mfg. Co.)

4.                  1916 -The Phable of a Busted Romance (© January 7, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

1.                  The Phable of the Phat Woman (© January 18, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

2.                  Mr. Nobody Holme--He Buys a Jitney (© February 1, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

3.                  Never Again! The Story of a Speeder Cop (© February 4, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

4.                  Krazy Kat Goes A-Wooing from Krazy Kat Series (© February 29, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

5.                  Krazy Kat--Bugologist from Krazy Kat Series (© March 14, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

6.                  Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse at the Circus from Krazy Kat Series (© March 17, 1916, International Film Service, Inc.)

7.                  Bobby Bumps Starts a Lodge (© September 21, 1916, Bray Studios, Inc.)

5.                  1917 -Mary & Gretel from Motoy Films Series (1917, Toyland Films)

1.                  The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, A Prehistoric Tragedy (© March 24, 1917, Thomas A. Edison, Inc.)

6.                  1918 -Policy and Pie from Original Katzenjammer Kids Series (1918, International Film Service, Inc.)

1.                  W.S.S. Thriftettes (ca. 1918, BDF Films)

7.                  1919-AWOL--All Wrong Old Laddiebuck (ca. 1919, American Motion Picture Co.)

1.                  Dud Leaves Home from Us Fellers Series (© October 9, 1919, Bray Studios, Inc.)

8.                  1921

1.                  The Centaurs [fragment] (1921, Rialto Productions)

2.                  The First Circus from Tony Sarg’s Almanac (1921, Herbert M. Dawley)

3.                  Gertie on Tour [fragment] (1921, Rialto Productions)

Tools used in animation

Phenakistoscope. (invented by Joseph Plateau (1832)– This is a device that uses a spinning disc that is attached on a handle, vertically inserted into the middle of the image. The image is drawn corresponding to the movement in the image meaning, when it is span the image will look likes it moving. These images are known as frames. With the aid of a mirror this will reflect the image onto the eye to give the illusion more effect. This was used for about two years only by the rapid increase of use the technology had proven to make a projected image meaning more people could view, as this tool was only limited to one viewer.

A zoetrope is a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures. The term zoetrope is from the Greek words ζωή - zoe, "life" and τρόπος - tropos, "turn". It may be taken to mean "wheel of life".

It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. Beneath the slits on the inner surface of the cylinder is a band which has either individual frames from a video/film or images from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs. As the cylinder spins the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinder's interior. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together so that the user sees a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion, the equivalent of a motion picture. Cylindrical zoetropes have the property of causing the images to appear thinner than their actual sizes when viewed in motion through the slits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope

Conclusion

In conclusion I have found that animation has grown over the years and increased popularity. Animation is a group of images collected and then used in a form of motion creating a kinetic image.

ANIMATION

Stop motion

Stop motion (also known as stop action) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Motion animation using clay is called clay animation or clay-mation.

Frame rate

Frame rate, or frame frequency, is the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems. Frame rate is most often expressed in frames per second (FPS), and in progressive scan monitors as hertz (.Hz)

Film Frame

A film frame, or just frame, is one of the many single photographic images in a motion picture. The individual frames are separated by frame lines. Normally, 24 frames are needed for one second of film. In ordinary filming, the frames are photographed automatically, one after the other, in a movie camera. In special effects or animation filming, the frames are often shot one at a time.
The term may also be used more generally as a noun or verb to refer to the edges of the image as seen in a camera viewfinder or projected on a screen. Thus, the camera operator can be said to keep a car in frame by panning with it as it speeds past.
The size of a film frame varies, depending on the still film format or the motion picture film format. In the smallest 8 mm amateur format for motion pictures film, it is only about 4.8 by 3.5 mm, while an IMAX frame is as large as 69.6 by 48.5 mm. The larger the frame size is in relation to the size of the projection screen, the sharper the image will appear.
The size of the film frame of motion picture film also depends on the location of the holes, the size of the holes, the shape of the holes. and the location and type of sound stripe.
The most common film format, 35 mm, has a frame size of 22 by 16 mm when used in a still 35 mm camera where the film moves horizontal but the frame size varies when used for motion picture where the film moves vertically (with the exception of VistaVision where the film moves horizontally).
A key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition. They are called "frames" because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film. A sequence of keyframes defines which movement the viewer will see, whereas the position of the keyframes on the film, video or animation defines the timing of the movement. Because only two or three keyframes over the span of a second do not create the illusion of movement, the remaining frames are filled with inbetweens.

Tweening

Inbetweening or tweening is the process of generating intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. Inbetweens are the drawings between the key frames which help to create the illusion of motion. Inbetweening is a key process in all types of animation, including computer animation.

DIGITAL ANIMATION

Vector imagery

Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images in computer graphics.

Vector graphics formats are complementary to raster graphics, which is the representation of images as an array of pixels, as is typically used for the representation of photographic images.[1] There are instances when working with vector tools and formats is the best practice, and instances when working with raster tools and formats is the best practice. There are times when both formats come together. An understanding of the advantages and limitations of each technology and the relationship between them is most likely to result in efficient and effective use of tools.

Raster animation

Raster animation is the most basic type of computer animation. Put simply, it involves creating an image, and then using a computer to put that image in motion--as opposed to having a computer render the image based on your instructions.

Graphics

There are two basic kinds of computer graphics: raster and vector. Raster also known as bitmap, defines an image as a block of pixels; vector produces it through mathematical formulas.

Examples

A raster image of the American flag would define it as, say, 260 pixels tall by 500 pixels wide, with each stripe 20 pixels high. A vector image would store it as formulas: The ratio of height to width is 1:1.9, with each stripe 7/13 of the height.

Raster Animation

Raster animation starts with raster images, moving them about the screen as blocks of pixels. If the computer needs to enlarge an image, it blows it up by simple magnification. Vector animation, by contrast, continually recalculates the image.

Compression

Physical Compression

Physical compression is the result of the subjection of a material to compressive stress, which results in reduction of volume as compared to an uncompressed but otherwise identical state. The opposite of compression is tension. In simple terms, compression is a pushing force

Data compression

In computer science and information theory, data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an unencoded representation would use, through use of specific encoding schemes.

In computing, data deduplication is a specialized data compression technique for eliminating coarse-grained redundant data, typically to improve storage utilization.

Compression is useful because it helps reduce the consumption of expensive resources, such as hard disk space or transmission bandwidth. On the downside, compressed data must be decompressed to be used, and this extra processing may be detrimental to some applications. For instance, a compression scheme for video may require expensive hardware for the video to be decompressed fast enough to be viewed as it is being decompressed (the option of decompressing the video in full before watching it may be inconvenient, and requires storage space for the decompressed video). The design of data compression schemes therefore involves trade-offs among various factors, including the degree of compression, the amount of distortion introduced (if using a lossy compression scheme), and the computational resources required to compress and uncompress the data.

The difference

The real difference is pure and simply quality of the file, or format the saved unit has been placed on, either it be a computer hard disk, DVD CDROM or USB pen drive, the compression variables only effect the animation speed, size and quality

File size download speeds

File formats

The FLA file type is primarily associated with 'Flash' by Adobe Systems Incorporated. Adobe Flash, initially known as Shockwave Flash and popularly called simply Flash, refers to both the Adobe Flash Player and to the Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program. The Flash Player, developed and distributed by Adobe Systems (which acquired Macromedia in a merger that was finalized in December 2005), is a client application available in most common web browsers. A number of different sites provide these files as templates (paid or free) for complete Website design. Editors for this format are also available.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/downloadspeed.htm

WEB ANIMATION SOFTWARE

 There are many platforms of software in which you can create and watch animations on the internet here are a few.

Flash is a growing software on pc and mac computers that enables you to watch and create you own animation. Director is an adobe system the same as flash, which is the upgraded and more advanced system for creating animations on. 

Director 

 Here is directors animation graphic working. 

director

 Quicktime. This allows you to watch all videos online providing you have downloaded the right software or updates. Shock wave as  well is the same product of adobe and they allow you to watch videos online. 

 shockwave