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iShell
02/01/99
Multimedia
authoring environment
by
Joel
Cannon
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Editors
Note: Joel
Cannon originally
posted this on the QuickTime VR mailing list. Since
I'd already written a bit about iShell I was
interested in publishing other peoples experiences.
I'm grateful to Joel for giving permission to
reproduce this.
I have used
just about every Mac Multimedia Integration Tool to
some degree. In the QTVR early days HyperCard was
a nice solution (but Mac only) and the programming
interface for Director was similar, but Mac and
Windows required extensive modifications. Later,
the QTVR Xtra solved the cross-platform headaches
for Director - but the product was so expensive (by
the time you both both Mac and PC versions and the
frequent upgrades). I tried to learn Lingo and
found it to be more trouble than I was willing to
invest.
Instead, I
used Apple Media Tool (very simple and with good
QTVR features) -- but scripting was not supported
(unless you used AMTPE) and then it was orphaned
before the QTVR 2.0 support was shipped. mTropolis
was a popular choice that I played with, but could
not justify the cost ($1000?) - and then it was
acquired and then canceled before QTVR 2.0 support
was provided.
In the last
few years, HTML has become the only popular
alternative for QTVR integration, but it is not
well suited for CDROM delivery (too slow) and the
plug-in has lots of limitations. Director 6.5 is
much better - but the upgrade costs continue with
v7. The latest new tool is Electrifier Pro - but
it still requires a player to play the movies it
creates.
For the last
year there had been rumors that the creators of
Apple Media Tool were working on a second (actually
the third) generation tool. The code name was
Toto, and a number of innovators in the QTVR
community were involved in the beta test. The 1.0
version of the product - iShell - has been
shipping since December - but in January (at
MacWorld), Tribeworks announced that they were
going to give away a full version of the Editor and
Runtime - at no cost to license and distribute with
titles. No strings attached.
I thought the
offer sounded too good to be true - until I saw a
demo during MacWorld and heard their business plan
- which includes a Professional Support Program
where "members" pay $2,000/yr for technical and
marketing support. I downloaded the Mac version
(Identical Mac and Windows versions available),
read the 100 page Users Guide and started
inspecting the many demo projects. There is no
introductory tutorial - which might be a problem
for someone completely new to scripting, but I
found it very similar to my experiences with AMT
and mTropolis and was quickly able to use the
editor and add features to the demos.
I have found
that porting to iShell takes only hours. For me,
the time consuming part is designing the user
interface - but if I'm just imitating an existing
look and feel - and using existing artwork, it is
just a matter of wiring the pieces together. I can
make a pretty sophisticated project in a few hours
(5 screens, 40 movies, 50 photos, 10
buttons).
What I like
most is that I can add a lot of impressive effects
with little effort - panoramas with nodes that
dissolve from one into another. Hotspot rollovers
that trigger sounds, etc. Filters that let me
overlay effects over QT movies - and too many cool
features to mention. Essentially any QT3 media
format can be integrated into a seamless title with
ease.
Others who
have downloaded the tool are equally surprised with
the performance and speed compared to alternatives.
You can use one Editor (Mac or Windows) and build projects that run
on both platforms - so you only need one set of
media on a CD or Website. The Mac and Windows
Editors are less than 1 meg each, and use a modest
amount of RAM. The iShell project media can either
be stored on a CD/DVD - or downloaded from the WWW
(like a browser) - or a Hybrid project can get most
of the data from a CD and then get specific pieces
from an HTTP server. This lets a CD-ROM title
download updates that add new media - or even
features; and all this can be done transparently
and cached on the users hard disk for as long as
desired. Projects can even save variables to disk
so that it can remember where the user left off,
etc.
I was so
impressed with the product that I joined the Full
Member program to get access to the open source
code to the entire package (editor, runtime,
framework, plug-ins, etc). The language is called
Key and is similar to any other object oriented
programming language (ie Java), I understand that
it is a variant of Eifel(?) The magic is the
brilliant multimedia framework that defines all the
functionality. The SDK is very extensive and even
more impressive than the Editor - the only thing
missing at this early date is extensive SDK
documentation. Still, in one evening, I was able
(with the help of a friend) to create a simple
plug-in (random number generator) that extended
the functionality of the project I was working on -
and can be shared with any other iShell project.
Since we also had all the source to the product, we
looked at a limitation that we found involving
wired panoramas and we were able to change a few
lines and recompile everything and get it to work
like we wanted. Note, that even the iShell Editor
is written in Key and uses the same framework - so
it gives you an idea how sophisticated a title can
be.
Normally, I
would not be excited about the idea of open source
to a lot of complicated code (ie NetScape) - but I
was amazed how easy it was to create a new class
and inherit attributes and methods from existing
classes (ie Panorama, Movie, Picture, Scroller,
etc). For example, there is someone working on a
QTVR plug-in that supports most of the advancd
features of panoramas and objects - and it mostly
inherits from the existing basic panorama class and
just adds calls to the QTVR API. It is amazingly
elegant. And with thousands of people downloading
the Free tools there should be a decent
after-market for these custom plug-ins.
To summerize,
I think that these free tools are ideal for anyone
using QuickTime media - especially QTVR. After
using the tools and delivering work, you can decide
if you need the benefits that the Full Membership
provides. Give it a try and see what you think for
yourself. I found it to be just what I have been
waiting for.
<www.tribeworks.com>
Note:
Joel supplied us with a copy of his Random Plugin.
If you want a copy you can either email us, or
contact Joel directly.
Other
articles:
<iShell
Multimedia Musings> Dec 1,
1998
COMMENTS?
Email us at news@m2w.net
Copyright 1999 by Joel
Cannon
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