On Mon, 03 Feb 2003 14:47:57 -0500, Kurt Griffin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Woking on the PC I had this problem many years ago as there > > was no PC software for putting cue points into a QuickTime > > file back then (and still today I think). So I approached it > > from a Lingo level and wrote a behavior that simulates the > > effect of cuepoints by just using counting the amount of time > > the QT sprite has been playing. Works very well and I have > > used it on several CD-ROM projects to great effect. It also > > removes the messy business of having to edit in the QT > > CuePoints in the first place! > > Sure, but the problem with that is it only works in Director ;) I have some cuepoint code which uses ORDINARY text tracks (not the perverted kind called 'chapter tracks' which are a bit of a nightmare to get working consistently as cuepoints in Director). When you drop the behavior onto a QT sprite, it will search the movie and dump all the 'cuepoints' (i.e. the text samples and their movietimes) into the QT member's cast member script (not a bad place, right?). They're stored as script properties, and there are a couple of handlers for accessing them. The behavior itself duplicates most/all of the cuepoint functionality that is supposed to work in Director, but tends not to. It does 'cuepast' callbacks and 'mostrecentcuepoint' and all that. The good thing here is that you can use the same QT movie with text track elsewhere if you wish. Converting to a chapter track is trivial in QT player. > What I'm trying to do is improve on a clunky production process > for making QuickTimes with closed-caption tracks that can be > turned on/off by the end user, as part of an accessible > package. Those movies may run in Director, but also will exist > on their own on the web - so I need it all living in the QT. Have you looked at Applescript? The final step of adding the text track and converting it to a chapter track can be fully automated. Apple even have some scripts available for editing text tracks. If you put them in the 'scriptmenu' (OSX) or OSA menu (OS9) you can run them from inside QuickTime player. You can also write your own scripts. Applescript is very much like old-style verbose lingo in a lot of ways (and quite different in a few important other ways). If your lingo isn't too shabby you can be up and running with Applescript fairly quickly. QuickTime Player is one of the best tools to learn it with because we all know about scripting QuickTime from Director. > I've tried several tools for creating text tracks to fit the > bill. The best I'd found was GoLive, surprisingly... and that > isn't as streamlined as I'd like. So I thought I'd look into > making a tool that is customized to a very specific job (as > some monkey will be creating a few hundred of these by hand, > I'd like to shave as many seconds off the individual creation > time as possible). Haven't checked LiveStage yet... it's a bit > pricey for this. LiveStage is certainly expensive, especially if this is all you want to do, but if you're planning to deliver interactive Quicktime Content on the web, or mess around with some of QuickTime's more esoteric features, it's a must have. VERY Applescriptable too. There's a free demo which now even allows you to export movies for 30 days. Do check it out. Brennan [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
