Try a selection of tools to find out what you're comfortable with. Don't forget that free trials are trials, and eventually you'll want to purchase software to create your work.
Multimedia Hardware Multi-media computers need to have the components required for viewing and creating Multi-media. Your computer is called your "platform." Basic needs consist of A sound board A video card with built-in memory High capacity hard drive Input devices mouse keyboard microphone Output devices monitor speakers printer Nice extras include External Super-Disk floppy drive Scanner Digital camera Digital movie camera 3-D video card Return to top	Multimedia Software Multi-media computers need to have the software required for viewing and creating Multi-media. Some of the software pieces you need are called "plugins." Basic plugin needs consist of Windows Media Player Apple QuickTime Viewer Flash Shockwave Java and JavaScript enabling RealPlayer Other software needs for proper viewing and downloading include: Browsers such as Opera, Internet Explorer 4 or 5, Netscape 4 or better ZIP programs capable of compressing and decompressing files, such as PKUnZip or WinZip Basic creation software includes Netscape Composer (part of the Netscape Communicator Browser Package) A text editor (such as Windows Notepad) A photo manipulation program, such as LLView, Adobe PhotoShop, MGI PhotoSuite, or EZPhoto Nice additions for creation software include Dreamweaver Flash Microsoft Front Page Adobe PageMill Roger Wagner's Hyperstudio Return to top
Scanners A scanner is a device that plugs into your computer, with appropriate software, and allows you in essence to take a picture of whatever you want to make into an electronic file. Some scanners and other software have "optical character recognition" which allows scanned print to be turned into a word processor or text file. Return to top	Digital Camera A digital camera either records to a floppy disk or electronic card and may plug into your computer to allow pictures to be saved as electronic files. My camera (a Kodak 210) lets me plug it into the computer to view and save the pictures, or into a VCR to view the pictures. Return to top