Fred Endsley

Exporting:

Quicktime movies can capture all movement, tempos, transitions, etc., and they are the most accurate method of locking syncronization of video and sound, - but they lose all interactivity and can no longer be opened or changed as Director movies.

Before converting a Director movie to Quicktime, first play the movie that will become a Quicktime movie through entirely with lingo disabled; this will record correct tempos.

To convert and export as Quick Time:

• Select all frames/sprites in movie to be exported as QT, so that the 'bounding rectangle' that would encompass all possible different size sprites is defined as large enough to accomodate them all. With all frames/sprites selected get Sprite Info from the Modify Sprite Properties. Write down the indicated W & H dimensions of the accommodating bounding rectangle.

• Open the Modify Movie Properties. If the animation bounding rectangle is no larger than 160 W x 120 H, then choose that setting from the stage pop-up menu. If bounding rectangle is larger than 160 x 120, then round dimensions to the next nearest numbers where the width is divisible by 16, and enter the numbers in the Width & Height spaces.

  Set coordinates of movie location to 0, 0 (upper left).

• Open the Export Window (comm-shift-r). Select Quicktime Movie export format. Select Quicktime Options; when Options dialog box opens set Frame Rate (probably to "Real Time" which matches the Director movie's performance), type of compression quality level (Cinepak is probably the best option for photographic tonality that is standard for both Macintosh and Windows. Intel Indeo is just as good a codec, or better, but is not standard on all Mac machines.), color bit depth (if necessary to change), scale, and inclusion of sound channels.

• Return to Export Window and export to desired file location. This QT movie can now be played as a stand-alone application or imported/placed into many types of text or layout files, or embedded in an HTML World Wide Web document. It can also be imported into Premier or back into Director.

To import Quicktime movies into Director:

• Open or reopen a Director movie. Import the QT file into the cast window (comm-r). It is imported as a "linked Digital Video" cast member. This means that the Quicktime movie is not actually contained in the Director cast, but is only referred to externally by the Digital Video cast member. This can save a tremendous of cast memory, but can cause various other playback and logistical problems. Unfortunately there is no other viable option.

• To preview or edit (cut, copy, paste only), select it in the cast window. Open the Digital Video Window under the Windows Menu, or double-click the castmember. You can then play or step through the movie, and edit frames or a range of frames. If necessary you can duplicate the movie window. Remember that your Digital Video cast member is always linked to the original Quicktime movie, and any changes you make in Director will also be permanently made to the referenced Quicktime movie.

• To enter Digital Video movie into the score, drag the cast member to the stage or a score cell. Either set the tempo to "wait until digital video movie is finished in channel (#)", or in-between the movie over enough frames so that it has time to finish playing. Digital Video can also be played in a single frame loop.

• Select DV movie cast member in cast window. Get cast info (comm-I) and select the appropriate options (crop, loop, sound, etc.)

  Note:Selecting "direct to stage" will cause the DV movie to be layered in front of all other channels no matter what channel it occupies, and also will prevent using 'background transparent' or any other ink effects. Disabling direct-to-stage allows normal ink effects to be applied to the Digital Video, as well allowing other sprites to be layered on top of it.

  Why then use direct-to-stage? Most importantly, it is the only way to enable use of a visible controller. It also provides the best frame rate and is the only current method of allowing Quicktime Digital Video to play on Windows machines. Enabling the "Play every frame" option can also provide smoother playback, but disables sound and can cause the playback length to vary.

• If necessary or desired, select DV movie frame(s) in score, set ink to background transparent, go to the movie onstage and drag corners of selection outline to crop.

  Movies can also move across screen while playing by using in-between or in-between special.

• Lingo Control of Quicktime movies:
  • To play from a 'Paused' state with a button, use sprite script:

    set the movie rate of sprite 5 to 1
    

    1 = forward/normal speed,
    2 = forward/double speed,
    -1 = backward/normal speed,
    -2 = backward/double speed

  • Unlooped movies can be rewound with a button sprite script:

    set the movieTime of Sprite 5 to 0

• The Director tempo settings can be set to wait for a Quicktime movie to finish before leaving a frame.

• Again, remember, the Digital Video movie is permanently linked to the original Quicktime movie, and vice-versa. Any changes made to either the Digital Video or the Quicktime movie are reflected in the other.

  Finally, the original Quicktime movie (or a copy) needs to reside in the same folder as the Director movie that contains the linked Digital Video movie cast member. Problems arise when trying to use a Director/Shockwave movie with linked Digital Video on a webpage, because the original is not normally present with the download for playback reference.
  

  Avoid using linked media in Director movies intended for the Web.

  
  For more information on Quicktime and Quicktime VR click here.