Creator (software)
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- This article is about a software application. For the notion of "The Creator", see creator deity.
[Creator] is a software multimedia authoring application which allows 'point of information' systems to be easily created. The program was designed and developed by Nigel Pearce whilst working for the monitor manufacturer Microvitec.
Creator is also the name of an Irish electronica artist, playing hybrid styles of electro, techno and 8-bit.
[edit] History
Creator has its roots in an application written for the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford in 1991. The original software written in Turbo Pascal for DOS ran on touchscreen driven PCs housed in interactive booths within the theatre foyer. The application allowed visitors to browse the program for forthcoming shows, to books seats using a visual seating plan and to look for restaurants in the locality. This 'point of information' system was the brainchild of Brian Lumb of Visual Solutions who along with Pearce implemented the working solution. Much of the coding logic within the application was based upon the research by Pearce during his thesis on 'Point of Information Systems', submitted as part of his Computer Studies BSc at Sheffield Hallamshire University in 1992.
When Visual Solutions dissolved in 1992, Lumb brought the concept to Microvitec where Pearce matured the package and converted the code into a Windows application using a mixture of the programming languages Visual Basic 3 and C. The program became the commercial application Creator in 1993. Version 1 of the application was made available in late 1993 followed by Creator Professional in 1994. The program achieved a significant user base and rivalled more sophisticated authoring packages such as Toolbook and early versions of Director. Creator was distributed by Cosmi UK between 1994 and 1995.
In 1995, Plymouth County Council adopted Creator as it's general point of information system across the city and was implemented using a network of touch screen driven PCs connected via modems. The satellite systems received updates from the central control server on a daily basis.
In 1996 Microvitec were suffering significantly in the sector and the Creator application was sold to newly formed interactive whiteboard manufacturer Promethean after seeing the program demonstrated at Ceebit in the same year. Pearce joined Promethean at the same time.
[edit] Description
Creator uses a book and page metaphor. A book is a file containing one or more pages where each page is a computer screen of objects such as text, images and video. Each object can have an action which when clicked upon can link the user to another page in the book, change the appearance of another object on the page or play a video or sound file. The application can run unattended in slide show mode or interactively via touch screen, mouse and/or keyboard. Creator employs database searching techniques and uses sophisticated page transitions and hi-resolution graphics to attract it's target audience.
[edit] External links
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