IconAuthor 6.0: Conducting the Multimedia Symphony News & Views Software Review

Chris Larsen Principal Consultant Management Process Integrators, Inc. (Scottsdale, Arizona) Originally published in News & Views November, 1995 issue. Copyright 1996 STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter. For permission to reprint this article, contact the Managing Editor.

It's hard to resist thinking about multimedia projects as something like a high school garage band. Hey, guys, I've got a guitar and Andy's got an amp! Let's rock 'n' roll! But Guns 'N' Roses didn't make it in a day (despite what they sound like), and the same holds true for computer-based training and multimedia authoring. A full-blown multimedia project usually requires subject matter experts, content developers in various media, and programmers. The fruits of these laborers must eventually come together like symphony players at the hands of a software conductor who puts the title together. From this need has arisen a genre of multimedia authoring tools that include IconAuthor 6.0 from AimTech Corporation. Cue each "instrument" in turn Like its cousins Macromind Director and Authorware, IconAuthor 6.0 strives to make it easier to put together content with form in a multimedia title. Built like an object-oriented CASE (computer-aided system engineering) tool, IconAuthor presents a highly graphical methodology. To construct a title, the author drags and drops any of 39 icons representing multimedia objects, variables, events, and process components (loops, conditions, branches, and so forth) into a project workspace. By double-clicking on an object, you can assign properties and determine object behavior. In support of its strength as a tool for CBT, IconAuthor lets you use custom and system variables to provide branching, scorekeeping (for tests), user input, and timekeeping. IconAuthor titles can also interact with external databases through Microsoft's Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) middleware. IconAuthor's wide-ranging support for media formats is impressive. To help develop content components, the package includes IconAnimate, an easy-to-use intermediate-level animation editor. It also features a limited bitmap resolution and scaling utility, and an elementary video editor. Its text handling, however, will be a disappointment to those used to professional DTP-like capabilities. A complete project looks like an elaborate flowchart that you can scroll around and zoom in or out. To test a title, you can run all of it or just selected parts. An external debugger provides a behind-the-scenes view of the properties and processes at work, along with tools for stepping through the title one object at a time. IconAuthor also provides an annotation capability and other features that support team development. Media objects can be reused in multiple projects because IconAuthor separates the actual content from a title's logical structure. Support for delivery, too You can deliver titles on Windows, OS/2, Mac and Motif platforms. An extremely handy utility called the Resource Manager tracks all of the title's files and provides an easy path to creating installation diskettes complete with a standard setup utility. The setup routines include the installation on the target system of any media drivers required by the title. A run-time viewer lets you run your title on systems that do not have the authoring program. For all of its graphicality, IconAuthor can present a steep learning curve for authors with no elementary programming experience. A 200-page tutorial, part of the seven pounds of IconAuthor user and reference documentation, helps a great deal. But those with even a little experience programming in Visual Basic or macro languages will have an edge in getting up to speed quickly.

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Last updated: November 6, 1996 (wq)