Peter Hoddie (recently retired lead architect of QuickTime) has written a great little Macintosh utility called XMLtoRefMovie. You create an XML description (nothing too complicated--a fairly simple text file), and then use this tool to create a reference movie from that text file. (You can also create reference movies using Apple's MakeRefMovie or the Alternates function of Terran's Media Cleaner Pro, but this tool has more flexibility.) Get version 0.91 of XMLtoRefMovie and documentation at Peter's XMLtoRefMovie page.
SQUAMISH Media Group, Inc. has released NodeSaVR, a tool that splits multi-node QuickTime VR panos into individual QuickTime movies and converts the QuickTime VR hotspots into URL hotspots. Check out theNodeSaVR page.
The Wrinkle 2000 CD, containing QuickTime VR panoramas from around the world, shot in the first 24 hours of the year 2000, is now available at The Wrinkle 2000 CD Rom page.
There's a screen shot of an early development version of the OS X QuickTime Player at MacOSRumors. Go to the MOSR Automated Gallery: OSXDP3/6-qtplayer page.
Another company with a global content delivery network, Digital Island, has announced that it will use QuickTime. Check out a 2/24 Digital Island Press Release.
Apple is sponsoring free events in various locations in the U.S. and Canada about desktop movies: a Desktop Movie Studio conference, a seminar on Making Desktop Movies, and a seminar on QuickTime Streaming. Go to the Apple Seminars & Events -- Desktop Movies page for more info and to register.
iRez has new Zoomed-Video drivers for MacOs. Get themt at the iRez Video Products Downloads page.
A MacCentral article, "Totally Hip's outlook improving" discusses Totally Hip's financial outlook as well as upcoming products. (Totally Hip's flagship product is LiveStage Pro, for creating interactive QuickTime movies.)
A column at the Mac Observer, How
QuickTime Saved The Idiots, explains how QuickTime provides a better solution
than PowerPoint or Director for creating a slide show.
A short article at MacCentral about Totally Hip's LiveStage Pro says that a QuickTime 4.1 enabled version of this tool for creating interactive QuickTime movies will ship earlier than expected, and that Totally Hip is also coming out with a Web slide show product.
Software updates:
PuppetTime, Inc. has released an update (to version 1.0.1) of their story-telling application, PuppetTime Producer. You can get it at the PuppetTime web site.
Pinnacle Systems has released an update of their Targa 2000 software, bringing it to version 3.1.1. (However, the software is all labeled 3.1.2; also there is no word about what it fixes.) You can download the update from the Truevision FTP site.
There's a beta patch for Strata VideoShop (QuickTime editing software). VersionTracker has a More Info page re. Strata VideoShop that's got details and links to the download site.
Aurora Video Systems has a new version (1.2.2) of the Igniter Drivers. VersionTracker has a More Info page re. Igniter that's got details and links to the download site.
Buena Software has released version 1.0.3 of Effects Pack #2, 10 QuickTime-based filters for $30. VersionTracker has a More Info page re. Effects Pack 2 that's got details and links to the download site.
The inetfilm.com site has a collection of short films, all delivered via QuickTime.
SightPath, a content delivery network provider , announced in a 2/9 SightPath press release that they would be offering QuickTime streaming services to their enterprise customers.
New Apple Tech Info Library articles related to QuickTime (and other video topics):
Today Apple introduced new PowerBooks with built-in FireWire ports. These sound like good portable video capture and editing machines. Check out the PowerBoook G3 page. Apple also "speed bumped" the G4 line by 50 MHz, topping out at 500MHz; read the PowerMac G4 page.
Terran Interactive has upgraded its software and hardware compression package, Power Suite, to version 4.0.2. See Terran's Power Suite page.
If you're starting to set up a QuickTime Streaming Server, you might want to check out Apple's QuickTime Streaming Server 2 pages. Lots of info!
iMovie 1.0.2 was released last week. Get the free update at Document
#11549 of the Apple Software Library.
Ther are a bunch of iMovie-related tech notes at Apple's Tech Info Library:
BTV is new AppleScriptable QuickTime capture software for Macs.Check out the BTV Home Page.
The VRtools' QTVRInfo plugin for MoviePlayer has been updated for QuickTime Player.
(This adds a new panel to the Movie Info window that shows the pan, tilt and zoom
of a QuickTime VR 2.0 scene, and allows you to change the node and warp correction.)
You can get it at the VRtools Free Tools Page.
.
If you're interested in having someone else do your capture and compression,
you might want to look into a new audio/video encoding service called AVEncoding.com.
They'll encode in all the standard formats, including QuickTime.
A great site to check out is FlickTips, an extensive guide to creating high-quality web video.
We really dislike reporting this bit of news but... Peter Hoddie, Lead Architect of QuickTime, is leaving Apple. He's not going anywhere but home for now; his e-mail address is peter@hoddie.net. He has been a great help to us over all these many years. Good luck, Peter, and thanks.
There's a new Media Cleaner mailing list which you can join at the Cleaner Info Page. (This will likely be a good place to get lots of info about using Media Cleaner Pro, the premier compression tool.)
In Search of New Media (a series at VFS Live at the Vancouver Film School) is presenting a series focusing on some Canadian companies that make QuickTime tools, including Squamish (makers of VR-related tools), Totally Hip (makers of LiveStage, for authoring interactive QuickTime movies) and QDesigns (makers of the QDesign Music compressor). Check the QuickTime Series page for showtimes.
Software updates:
Pinnacle Systems has released a beta version of the driver for the miroMOTION DC30; they report full compatability with both Premiere 5.1c and Final Cut Pro 1.21. Get this software at Pinnacle's beta download page.
BetterPlayer is a freeware movie playing application for the Mac OS that uses the standard controller, rather than the clunkier interface of the QuickTime Player. Get it at the Foxchange BetterPlayer page.
Entera has killed its ELSA (Entera Lightweight Streaming Application) Server, for serving streaming QuickTime movies.It has replaced it with TeraCAST Lite and it's available for download at Entera's TeraCAST server download page. (Versions are available for Solaris on x86, Linux on x86, FreeBSD on x86, Windows NT/98, and Solaris SPARC.) Also, they have announced a Professional version of the TeraCAST server to ship on Feburary 21st. Read a 2/2 press release about the TeraCAST servers for more info.
Version 1.0 of NodeMedia, a $99 Macintosh tool for adding directional sound, 3D models, transition effects and more to QuickTime VR movies, is finally available. Go to the NodeMedia page for info and a link to purchase the tool.
A new video e-mail greeting card site, called Guycon, features QuickTime videos which can be personalized and sent to friends.
A new article in the Apple Tech Info Library: QuickTime Streaming Server 2.0: How to Create Streaming MP3 Files
Fastware.net is coming out with the Video Converter Case (VCC), which is an analog to digital conversion product that will be useful if you've got analog video equipment but a FireWire capture system. (They haven't announced a price, yet.) Check out the Video Convert Case section of the Fastware.net Product Line Up page.
Brennan Young has created some wired QuickTime playback controls (i.e. sprites)
that you can use in your own movies.Check out Brennan's b
a c k s t a g e page for more info and to download the controls.(Scroll down
to "Other wired gadgets and gizmos".)
There are now almost 14,000 signatures on a Petition
to Apple For A Linux QuickTime Player.
Probably the biggest problem with QuickTime 4.1 is that URL Hot spots in QuickTime VR movies don't work correctly. A new page, Mark Christal's QuickTime 4.1 URL Hot Spot Bug Workarounds page documents the problem and provides extensive information about how to deal with the bug until Apple releases a fix.
Apple has posted stand-alone installers for Windows and Macintosh for both QuickTime 4.1 and QuickTime 4.0.3 (You'll need 4.0.3 for 68k Macs.)
A PCworld online article, posted at CNN "RealPlayer vs. Windows Media: A streaming shootout" make no mention of QuickTime! However, the associated CNN QuickVote Poll asking voters to choose between RealPlayer, WindowsMedia, and QuickTime shows QuickTime as the clear winner (at least as of the date we're posting this)!
QResearch has announced VideoGenetics Software, a $249 tool for enhancing the quality of QuickTime video. (Looks like a potentially useful tool to have around!) Read a Q-Research January 19 press release for more info.
Software updates:
Beta versions of VideoScript 1.9 for both platforms are now available at the VideoScript beta page. (VideoScript is a tool that can be used to write scripts for processing video.)
There's a QuickTime 4.1 version of the patch (for MacOS) that "zaps the Quicktime Player's metallic look and puts the Player back into a normal window." Get it at Raul's QuickTime Patcher page .
There's a new beta of the Adobe Premiere DV plug-in (the file need to make Premiere be able to access the built-in Firewire port on your Mac) To get it go to Downloading the DV Device Beta Plug-in for OS 9, G4, and iMac DV page.
Aurora Video Systems has a new version (1.8.4) of their Fuse Drivers, which are G4 and MacOS 9 compatible. Check out the Aurora Software page.
Beta version 1.0.0b6 of SoundScript is available from Michael Norris's Software page. (This is a tool that lets you have different sounds in a QuickTime movie play or loop individually under script control.)
A cool tool written by David Egbert of Brigham Young University helps you create text track transcripts or captions for your movies. Check out David's QT Transcripter page.
Wrinkle 2000, a collection of QuickTime VR panos shot within the first 24 hours of the new century by QTVR enthusiasts worldwide is now at the Wrinkle In Time web site.
Last week we noted the disappearance in the About panel of the list of people that helped create QuickTime. We think this is pretty crummy, so below we have copied the list from the 4.0.3 About panel (which we have on good authority is a pretty close approximation to those that worked on QuickTime 4.1, too):
Architects
Jim Batson, Peter Hoddie
Software Engineering
Giovanni Agnoli, Sean Allen, Sam Bushell, Duane Byram, Eric Carlson, Greg Chapman, Geoff Chatterton, Cary Dean, Robert Dierkes, Mike Dodd, Thomas Dowdy, Ken Doyle, Mark Eaton, Mikel Evins, Chris Flick, Gary Flint, Brian Friedkin, Jay Geagan, Kevin Gong, Andy Grignon, Maynard Handley, Ed Harp, anne NMI jones, Hong Kaura, Eddie Kelly, Mike Kellner, Casey King, Jay Lloyd, Jian Lu, Stephen Luce, Kevin Marks, Jim Matthews, Tom McHale, Takayuki Mizuno, Tim Monroe, Jeff Moore, Brian Nie, Alagu Periyannan, Jim Reekes, Sylvain Rouzé, Ian Ritchie, Richard Sepulveda, Roger Smith, Steve Smith, Anant Sonone, Bill Stewart, Walter Sun, Tina Tian, Ken Turkowski, Kevin Williams, Jed Wilson, Bryce Wolfson, Hsi-Jung Wu
Administrative Support
Amini Abraham, Brandee Allen, Danthanh Huynh, Maggie Paez, Krystin Sawyer, Sharon Yates, Alana Wood
Art and Design
Eric Blanpied, Elizabeth Dykstra-Erickson, Imran Chaudri, Jylian Gustlin, Tim Wasko
Developer Relations
Deeje Cooley, Mark Fernandes, David Harrington, Scott Kuechle, Ron Peters, Charles Wiltgen
Documentation
Dave Arrigoni, Lorraine Findlay, Gerri Gray, Steven W. Gulie, Bill Harris, Michael Hinkson, Bunny Laden, Tom Maremaa, Sharon Preston, Laurel Rezeau, Susan Stuart, George Towner, Ann Walker, Mei Wang, Allen Watson
Legal
Leslie Fithian, Tyler Gerhart, Stephanie Gwerder, Kevin Saul, Laura Wagerman
Localization
Denney Kelleher, Hung Lieu, Ken Muto, Mina Norona, Michele Pidek, Mohamed Shoukry, Joan Trainer, Reagan White
Management
Kevin Calhoun, Ken Chu, Dan Crow, Jeff Mitchell, Greg Mullins, Guillermo Ortiz, Tim Schaaff, David Singer, Kathy Stevens
Product Marketing
Steve Bannerman, Frank Casanova, John A. Chan, Ken Feehan, David Palermo, Rhonda Stratton, Mitch Weinstock
Product Marketing Compressionist
Doug Werner
Project Management
Thom Franklin, Suzanne Seibert
Public Relations
Russell Brady, Eileen Stanley, Suzanne Ramirez
Quality Assurance
Bob Aron, Bruce Barrett, meriko blink, Scott Bongiorno, David Burnham, Mona Chow, Anne Church, Steve Dawson, Raul Deju, Bob Eddings, David Eldred, Paul Foraker, Will Hawkins, Matthew Hoppa, Tusha Kia, Kevin Kono, Marc McGeever, Mike Mitchell, Ann Nunziata, Ted Oliverio, Naz Saeed, Elaine Ung, Jason Watts, Bill Wright, Paul Zemanek
QuickTime Installer Support
Matt Dorsey, Brian Sutter, and the rest of the MindVision Team
QuickTime Trademarks
Sue Runfola, Elizabeth Berry
Software Configuration Management
David Judge, Wayne Kilthau, Karl Secks, Johnathon Suker, Aron Talburt, Jamie Taylor
Support Readiness
Daniel Carr, Richard Long, and the Austin Support Team
Web-Site Support
Tim Bernsen, Trebor Carpenter, Jason Clark, Greg Gilman, Michael Jordan, Jackie Macapanpan, Matt Shafer, Todd Troutman
Dedication
à la mémoire de Sylvain Rouzé