EnhancedQT - Adding Chapters

[cborn]

I'm attempting to use the EnhancedQT external to add chapter markings into a movie. However, the qtAddMovieAnnotation does not seem to work. The demo stack from Blue Mango includes a qtSetMovieAnnotation handler, but it also doesn't seem to actually work. I've used another application (Hootenanny) to verify that QT can actually do this, so I know it should be possible. I'm just wondering if I'm missing something about how to do this. The Blue Mango site seems to be having some problems, when I attempt to research that documentation, I get a bunch of php errors from their wordpress.

Has anyone else used EQT to add chapters? Could you share the code that worked?

I million thank yous!

[cborn]

I should add that the qtSetMovieAnnotation does add other types of Annotations, just not Chapters. I suspect that there needs to be another parameter (timecode) for the chapter setting to work, I'm just not sure if the handler is aware of that and what the syntax might be.

[bn]

Carly,
I am afraid that the enhancedQT external is not able to add chapters. At least that is what I gather from the documentation. Annotation is a completely different matter. Do you really want to add a chapter or just a segment to the movie?
What exactly is it that you want to do?

I append the documentation, I guess Trevor does not mind.

regards
Bernd

[cborn]

Hi Bernd,

I have been combing through the documentation and the qtAddMovieAnnotation lists chapter as one of the annotation types that it is supposed to handle. But I was guessing that it was not actually true, because exactly as you said chapters are not annotations.

I have created an audio recorder in RunRev (haven't moved to LiveCode yet) that allows the faculty at my institution to listen to a student recording (foreign language practice) and insert bookmarks at any point in the student file where they can leave oral feedback for the student. This is so that they can insert their comments on pronunciation directly after the point at which the student made the mistake. I use the EQT to compose each of the subsequent segments of the student recording and the feedback recordings in order and output to a standard QT .aif file. This recorder is embedded into our course management system, so the output file is sent there and ultimately ends up being embedded in a webpage.

I would like to include chapter headings at each point the faculty inserted comments, as a way of giving students a visual key to how much feedback and where in the file the faculty feedback is. Otherwise, they have no choice but to listen to their whole recording and wait for a different voice to start telling them what they did wrong.

I suppose if I can't use chapters, then I could maybe add a visual bookmark of some kind. It would be idea if it could be clickable, so that means making wired sprites, right? I might be getting in a bit over my head with that one.

Do you have any other suggestions by any chance?

[bn]

Carly,

seems like a perfect use-case for chapters.

Chapters are actually a text file imported into a track of the quicktime movie. You would have to make up your text file and import it.

For the weekend I dont have the time to look further into this. If I remember well, you are on a Macintosh so maybe this helps:

http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=21357

it is a discussion of adding a chapterlist to a movie via applescript. If you read further down you will find the format for the text file the chapter list consists off. I remember vaguely doing chapters just for fun long time ago.

The above link might give you an idea about the format and searching for "chapter" and "quicktime" you will certainly find a description how to add chapters manually.

Next week I may find the time to look into this if you dont find a solution till then. I would try to do it from within Livecode with the help of Trevors external. After all it lets you add a track.

Dont know if it will work, but I will try.

regards

Bernd

[cborn]

Bernd,

Yes, I was starting to think along these lines later today when I realized that the chapters were a text file. I'm certain I can sort that out next week with a little bit more time. But if you have a chance to play with it, I'm always happy to receive help!

Have a great weekend!

[cborn]

Bernd,

I've resorted to embedding some AppleScript in my applet for now to insert the text track and then set it as the chapter.

But I have a slightly different concern that I think you might know the answer to:
Is it possible to use the EnhancedQT on a machine that does not have a Pro license to QT 7? I thought I had tested that it does, in fact, work. But now, I am having some trouble and wondering if this is a big show-stopper for me.

Thanks for your help!

[bn]

Carly,

I did try to do the chapters with the EnhancedQT external but gave up after some tries. I am not shure if it could work.

Regarding the QT-Pro License. The EnhancedQT external is completely independent of the QT-Pro License. So no problem there. The big advantage of the EnhancedQT External is that it is cross platform, i.e. it also work on a Windows operating machine if Quichtime is installed.

As far as AppleScript is concerned: that also works without the Pro license for the Quicktime Player.

Although in MacOS X 10.6.x (snow leopard) the Quicktime Player 7.x.x is not installed by default. Instead there is the Quicktime Player X which is called "Quicktime Player". QT Player X is very limited at present as far as Applescript is concerned and you would have to install the QT Player 7.x.x. for your scripts. QT Player 7.x.x is a free download from the Apple site as a version for 10.6.x. This is an additional install beside the Player X and they install it in the utilities folder inside the program folder and the name changed to "QuickTime Player 7". So if your AppleScripts are supposed to run on 10.6 you would have to change to:

tell application "QuickTime Player 7"

etc. You might want to check the system and make a conditional. Other than that the scripts work for me.

Kind regards

Bernd

[cborn]

This is great news!! So I'm not dead in the water yet!

I'm having trouble getting the stack to include and/or see the EQT bundle when put in a revlet. When you go to Standalone Application Settings, EnhancedQT shows up as a Library to include. But it may be that the revlet is not capable of including it. (Although it did include the VideoGrabber...). So I was attempting to distribute the bundle to the client machine and then set the externals to that path. But that doesn't seem to be working either, on either Mac or Windows.

I'll play with it a bit more today and then see what I can figure out. Thanks for the confirmation!

[cborn]

Yep, I can't get EQT to work in a revlet on any other machine than my own. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, if it works on my machine, why not others?

[bn]

Carly,

did you set all permissions for the revlet to true? Just a guess. I would try this and if it works turn them off one by one to find out which one is the one you need. You would get the security dialog though.

regards

Bernd

[cborn]

Bernd,

Yeah, I had tried the permissions. Actually, I think I may have gotten it. I found a page that described how to embed the externals in a sub-stack, and that got it going. Now I'm just toying with the timing of stuff to get it all to go!

Thanks, again for your help!