SHARP Electronics is one of the largest technology companies in the world. It's hard for a day to go by that you don't come in contact with a SHARP television, microwave oven, fax machine, copier or any of the hundreds of other products they manufacture. When SHARP decided to create a computer- based training tool to teach dealers and customers about their new AR-C150 Digital Color Imager, they turned to BLAZE inter.NET. When it was debuted at the SHARP Electronics national sales meeting, our tireless staff was proud to hear that the CD-Rom received a standing ovation from the sales and marketing departments.

Web Objective: To create a self-running CD-Rom multimedia program that will serve as a virtual manual for SHARP's new AR-C150 Color Copier, providing dealers and customers with a valuable resource and teaching tool.

The Challenge: In an interactive project of this size it is a tremendous challenge to create and produce all the many pieces that are sewn together to make the final product. Add to that the dynamic of a sophisticated piece of digital equipment and continuity, error checking and quality control became huge issues. To properly complete this project, the BLAZE team had to add Digital Copier Specialist to their already long list of titles.

The BLAZE inter. NET Solution: After in-depth discussions with Mr. Colin Regina, the SHARP Senior Manager Of Education Services, it was determined that the CD-Rom would need to use a combination of exciting graphics, live video clips, animation, voice-overs and a wide range of motion. Cutting-edge transitions between events and sound effects to keep the student interested and focused on the material was imperative. All areas would also include specifications buttons that provide important text resources. This allows students to research even more information on the topics being presented via the multimedia content.

BLAZE inter.NET went to work designing an interface that would seamlessly intertwine the existing look developed by SHARP's marketing department for the AR-C150's roll-out with the educational needs of the material.

An intriguing "porthole" navigational look was established. Through this porthole over 30 self-running demonstration pieces can be easily found via four main color-coded categories, with some breaking into sub-categories.

Each demonstration piece was looked at as a separate entity and each story was told with the techniques that work best to teach the specific subject. It was determined that some areas lend themselves better to animated graphics and text that back-up the voice-over explanations, while others need custom-shot video of the unit to properly tell the story. Still others need a combination of all of the above.

The Operation Panel area required a completely different approach. It became apparent that the best way to familiarize a student with the panel was through interaction. A virtual operation panel was built wherein the student can use the mouse to actually click-on a specific area and get immediate feedback on that item's function, and instruction on its use.

BLAZE inter.NET also created a custom installation program that checks the student's hard drive to ensure that all required programs are present on their computer. If not, the custom installation program offers to install the necessary programs.