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QuickTime
QuickTime
is a media architecture for handling time based
media. Available for both Macintosh and Windows,
QuickTime provides a standard file format,
compression technologies for reducing the size of
digital files, and a mechanism for displaying the
media as needed.
QuickTime
is most often associated with digital video on
computers. It is well suited for this, but there
are a lot of other features included in QuickTime
including; MIDI file support, a vector graphics
format, a 3D graphics engine (QuickDraw 3D) and
QuickTime
VR.
You
can download
the current
release
(QuickTime 3) from Apple's website. Note that there
are two "versions" of QuickTime 3. The
standard version, available at the Apple
website, includes the basic architecture, standard
compressors, a plug-in for Web browsers, and
Picture Viewer and Movie Player applications.
Paying $30 to Apple gets you a code that unlocks
the "Pro" features. Specifically, it enables
file saving and editing in Movie Player, and it
stops the "Do you want to get QuickTime Pro"
advetisement from running.
If
you are serious about digital video editing, you
will probably want to get a better editing
application.
You may also need to get digitizing hardware if
your computer didn't come with a
digitizer.
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May
28, 1998
MacInTouch's Ric Ford has been
following the QuickTime Autostart
9805 virus. This virus is replicated
using the QuickTime AutoStart function
when an infected disk is inserted into the
computer.
To protect themselves against infection,
Macintosh QuickTime users should turn off
the AutoPlay function in the QuickTime
Control Panel. Instructions for
determining whether you might be infected,
and how to remove the infection are also
described. (MacInTouch
resource page "AutoStart
9805 Worm a.k.a. "Hong Kong"
virus")
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May
14, 1998
MacWEEK
has a
report
covering Apple's QuickTime
announcements at the World Wide Developers
Conference. Of particular interest was a
demo of interactive movies that used an
"Object Track" which detected user mouse
clicks.
This technology already exists in
QuickTime 3, but Apple says they didn't
mention it because there are currently no
tools available for creating these
tracks.
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May
11, 1998
Not altogether unexpectedly, at Apple's
World
Wide Developer
Conference
Steve Jobs announced that Apple will
deliver QuickTime streaming technology
this fall, using the RTP (Real Time
Protocol) protocol.
Apple announced
today that since its March 30
introduction, over one million Macintosh
and Windows users are now using QuickTime
3 or QuickTime 3 Pro.
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May
5, 1998
Apple has announced that it has purchased
technology from Macromedia that will be
used in future versions of QuickTime.
There has been speculation that Apple has
purchased Final Cut, a high end
editing application that Macromedia had
been developing.
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QuickTime
3.0 released!
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Our
Tips Page
Our own collection of QuickTime Tips and
Help.
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QuickTime
Gazette
General news, technical information,
links.
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QuickTime
3.0
FAQ
At the QuickTime Gazette
website.
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The
Little QuickTime
Page
A collection of News related to QuickTime
as well as other bits and
pieces.
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Sorenson
vs
Cinepak
A web page that shows an example clip
compressed with the two compressors.
There's also tips on using the Sorenson
compressor.
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Tips
&
Info
Terran Interactive, makers of the
compression utility Movie
Cleaner,
has a Tips & Info page which covers
mainly movie compression
issues.
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Terran
has posted an informative section entitled
"How to Produce High-Quality
QuickTime." The document is written
for developers and video professionals and
covers many of the features new in
QuickTime 3 (new codecs, etc) as well as
general features and (of course) how to
better use their product Media Cleaner
Pro.
<www.terran.com
article "How
to Produce High-Quality
QuickTime">
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Adobe
Premiere
A semi-professional digital video editor
(probably the most well known, if not the
most popular.) We also have a
Premiere
page.
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Movie
Cleaner
Pro
A movie compression utility; useful if you
have a lot of movies to compress and want
to create the most efficient and best
quality movies for web or CD-ROM
distribution.
Terran Interactive also sells several
compressors developed by third
parties.
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MyVidCap
A shareware utility that lets you watch
video, capture video as still frame picts
or as Quicktime movies, play quicktime
movies and do simple cut-copy-paste
editing. MyVidCap was specifically
designed to work with Apple's and the
XClaim VR low end video capture cards,
providing excellent capture performance
with YUV compression.
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MyVidEditor©
A shareware utility that allows you to
edit and compress your movies, adding
fades, cross fades, QuickTime 3 effects
between clips and titling to them using a
simple interface
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P-in-P
1.1.1
A QuickTime movie player that displays the
movie on an always-on-top window. Supports
drag-and-drop.
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PuppetTime
A new media type for QuickTime that
defines a standard API for digital puppets
(and avatars) that can be controlled via a
pre-recorded or realtime event stream,
called a PuppetScript.
Read an introductory
article
at their website.
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MediaPaint
Video editor that lets users paint
directly on the alpha-channel layer of a
QuickTime video and keeps the original
movie intact. The program records changes
as the movie is playing.
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Commotion
1.5,
from Puffin Designs is a video paint, and
rotoscoping application. Features include
a Motion Tracker which lets you create an
unlimited number of points to track
objects over multiple frames, enhanced
wire removal, Cineon import/export,
recordable painting and write-on effects,
and support for QuickTime 3.0. Commotion
lists for $2,495.00.
Commotion
Player NT, allows users to play back
uncompressed, resolution-independent
footage in real time on a PC running
Windows NT. Player NT is being marketed as
an adjunct for Adobe After Effects,
Lightwave, and 3D Studio Max users who
need realtime playback of multimedia,
video, or film resolution images directly
on their desktop system.The Commotion
Player NT has a suggested list price of
$399.
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QT
Gallery 1.0 is a QuickTime 3.0-powered
image browser and graphic design tool. For
a limited time, QT Gallery is on sale for
$29.95 U.S., a 40% savings off the list
price.
Interestingly, QT Gallery was developed
using SuperCard. A demo version is
available at their website.
<www.lakewoodsoftware.com>
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Media
Cleaner Pro 3.0 isa media optimization
and compression tool. Media Cleaner Pro
allows content developers to compress
audio, video, and still images for CD-ROM,
DVD-ROM, Kiosk and the Web. Media Cleaner
3.0 is available for the Mac OS. The
product can be purchased for a street
price of $359 (U.S.)
<www.terran.com>
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TrueMotion
2.0 Compression Tool Kit for
QuickTime 3 is a compression codec
that seems to be marketed primarily to
games developers and multimedia authors.
Under Windows it was used in the game
Final Fantasy VII, developed by Square
Soft, Inc. Key
features of TrueMotion 2.0 include the
following:
- QuickTime-native
codec for Windows and Mac
OS
- High
quality playback
- Improved
data rate control
- Optimized
profiles for video, rendered animation
and film, enabling integration of
various media in a single
environment
- Scalability
and optimization for multiple platforms
such as Macintosh computers, PCs,
consoles, kiosks and arcade
machines
<www.duck.com>
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last
updated: 2/10/99
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