Controlling quicktime movies

[mickeykeenan]

Hi,
I am really new to Director so this may seem like a daft question. Is it
possible to have a quicktime movie as a cast member but to only play bits of it
on the stage? Consder the following. I ask this because I would like to have 4
buttons that each play a different part of the quicktime movie when clicked. I
don't want the whole movie to appear on the stage, only each of the sections
identified by the buttons.

[Rob Dillon]

Yes, you can do that. Use the movieTime property to control how much
and what is displayed at any point in your movie.

--
Rob
_______
Rob Dillon
Team Macromedia
[url]http://www.ddg-designs.com[/url]
412-243-9119

[url]http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial/[/url]

[mickeykeenan]

Hi Rob,
Where can I see an example of this. Imagine for a moment that the QT movie was called 'Learning' and it was 200 ticks long. What should be in the script of each button?

Mickey

[Rob Dillon]

Hi Mickey,

I don't know of a ready reference for exactly what you want to do. 200
ticks isn't very long, that's just over 3 seconds. How about 2000
ticks?

You could build something like this:

--------
property thisSprite
property DV sprite
property thisStartTime
property thisStopTime
property playMe

on getPropertyDescriptionList
myPropList = [#DVSprite:[#comment:"enter the sprite number for the DV
sprite:",#format:#integer,#default:4],#thisStartTime:[#comment:"enter
the starting time for this video segment in
ticks:",#format:#integer,#default:""],#thisStopTime:[#comment:"enter
the ending time for this video segment in
ticks:",#format:#integer,#default:""] ]
return myPropList
end

on beginSprite me
thisSprite = me.spriteNum
sprite(DVSprite).movieTime = thisStartTime
sprite(DVSprite).movieRate = 0
playMe = 0
end

on mouseUp me
if sprite(DVSprite).movieRate = 0 then
sprite(DVSprite).movieRate = 1
playMe = 1
end if
end

on prepareFrame me
if playMe then
if sprite(DVSprite).movieTime > thisStopTime then
sprite(DVSprite).movieRate = 0
playMe = 0
end if
end if
end
-----------

that's off the top of my head, so it may creak a bit. You tell the
button sprite which sprite to run, it will preset the dv to the
starting time and, when clicked, will let the dv play to the ending
time.

This button needs to work alone. If you want to a bunch of buttons at
the same location, then you'll have to adapt.

--
Rob
_______
Rob Dillon
Team Macromedia
[url]http://www.ddg-designs.com[/url]
412-243-9119

[url]http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial/[/url]

[mickeykeenan]

Hi Rob,
Gee that looks really complicated. My only previous scripting came from
Hypercard, and even then it was pretty basic. At lest I knew where to put the
script. Now I can't seem to make sense of how scripting is organised. I have a
long long way to go. At the risk of annoying you, are you saying that I simply
put the QT movie on the stage, add a button and insert your script into the
button? If yes, then how will I be prompted to specificy my start time and end
time? Also, when you say this works only for 1 button does that mean I can't
just duplicate the button and use the new one to specify different start and
end time?

Mickey

[mickeykeenan]

Rob,
After my previous response to you I thought I would try your script in the
manner I outlined. However, I got an error saying that a comma was needed.
After some time trying to 'guess' where the comma should be I have given up. I
had hoped to be able to build upon your script and get back to you.

Mickey

[Rob Dillon]

The comma problem is most likely from a broken line. If you are
copying and pasting that code, you will probably have to go into the
script window and clean up any line wrap issues.

The getPropertyDescription function is the most problematic. It is also
the function that will open a window during authoring to let you set
the sprite number for the digital video sprite and set the start and
stop times.

The way that this is written, it will take command of the dv sprite, so
if you wanted to have more than one simultaneous control button, you
would have to change the code.

--
Rob
_______
Rob Dillon
Team Macromedia
[url]http://www.ddg-designs.com[/url]
412-243-9119

[url]http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial/[/url]