Creator (software)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
[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 system was the brainchild of Brian Lumb of Visual Solutions (Saltaire), who along with Pearce helped to implement the working solution. Much of the coding logic within the application was based upon the research by Pearce for his BSc thesis: 'Point of Information Systems' undertaken at Sheffield Hallamshire University in 1992.
When Visual Solutions dissolved in 1992, Lumb brought the 'touch interactive software' concept to Microvitec where Pearce evolved the application into a Windows based version using a mixture of the programming languages Visual Basic and C. This matured version became the commercially available application 'Creator'. Version 1 was released in late 1993 followed by Creator Professional in 1994. The program achieved a significant user base with the functionality rivalling more sophisticated authoring packages of the time. 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 rights to the Creator application were 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.
