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QuickTime Effects

Introduction

QuickTime 3 integrates powerful real-time special effects capabilities, including filters and transitions .

The QuickTime team has written a utility called MakeEffectsMovie to let you experiment with effects and filters. This document explains how to use MakeEffectsMovie. You can download MakeEffectsMovie from the Utilities page .

Getting Started

MakeEffectsMovie can work with zero, one or two files:

  • If you don't open any files with MakeEffectsMovie, you will see a list of effects that don't require any media (the fire effect, for example).
  • If you only open one file, you will get a list of filters you can apply to that file.
  • If you open two files, you will see a list of transitions you can apply between the two files.

The files you use with MakeEffectsMovie do not have to be QuickTime movies. Still images also work, as will any visual file type that QuickTime 3 supports.

Note for Macintosh users: You can drag and drop files onto MakeEffectsMovie in the Finder. If you are having problems doing this, you may want to turn Macintosh Easy Open on, or delete the preferences for Mac Easy Open and try again.

Using Effects without Media

Follow these steps to use the effects that don't require media:
  1. Launch MakeEffectsMovie.

  2. MakeEffectsMovie will ask you for a file. You do not need a file for these effects, so click Cancel.

  3. MakeEffectsMovie will display a list of the effects that don't require media.

  4. Select an effect from the list. The parameters on the right will change to those appropriate for the effect you selected. As you adjust the options, the preview image at the lower left changes to reflect your selections.

  5. Once you have selected a effect and set the parameters as you like, click Save. Enter the name to save the movie as. MakeEffectsMovie will save the file and quit.

  6. See the Important Note and the Questions and Answers at the end of this document for further information.

Applying a Filter to a Movie or Picture

To apply a filter to a movie or picture, follow these steps:
  1. Launch MakeEffectsMovie.

  2. MakeEffectsMovie will ask you for a file on which to apply the filter. Chose any movie or image file you want.

  3. MakeEffectsMovie will ask you for another file. Since you want to apply a filter to a single file, you can dismiss this dialog by clicking Cancel.

  4. MakeEffectsMovie presents the filters that can be applied to the file:

    MakeEffectsMovie Filters

  5. Select a filter from the list. The parameters on the right will change to those appropriate for the filter you selected. As you adjust the options, the preview image at the lower left changes to reflect your selections.

    Some filters (such as the Film Noise filter shown above) may have additional parameters that can be accessed by a popup menu above the parameters displayed.

    Some filters (RGB Balance, HSL Balance, and Solarize) have additional parameters that are not shown by default. To see these parameters, you must hold down one or more keys when you select the filter from the list. Macintosh users: Hold down the Option key when you select the filter. Windows users: Hold down the Control and Alt keys when you select the filter.

  6. Once you have selected a filter and set the parameters as you like, click Save. Enter the name to save the movie as. MakeEffectsMovie will save the file and quit.

  7. The resulting movie is very small, since it is saved by reference (points to the original media files). If you want to play it on a different computer from the one you made it on you will need to flatten it. To do so, open the movie in QuickTime Player, Save As... and select the "Make movie self-contained" radio button.

  8. See the Important Note and the Questions and Answers at the end of this document for further information.

Applying a Transition Between Two Movies or Pictures

To apply a transition between two movies or pictures, follow these steps:
  1. Launch MakeEffectsMovie.

  2. MakeEffectsMovie will ask you for a file. This will be the file that the effect starts with. Chose any movie or image file you want.

  3. MakeEffectsMovie will ask you for another file. This will be the file that the effect ends with. Chose any movie or image file you want.

  4. MakeEffectsMovie presents the transitions that can be applied between the files:

    MakeEffectsMovie Transitions

  5. Select an effect from the list. The parameters on the right will change to those appropriate for the filter you selected. As you adjust the options, the preview image at the lower left changes to reflect your selections.

    Some effects have a popup of variations. There are dozens of kinds of wipes, for example.

    Some effects (Iris, Matrix Wipe, Radial and Wipe) have additional parameters that are not shown by default. To see these parameters you must hold down one or more keys when you select the filter from the list. Macintosh users: Hold down the Option key when you select the filter. Windows users: Hold down the Control and Alt keys when you select the effect.

  6. Once you have selected an effect and set the parameters as you like, click Save. Enter the name to save the movie as. MakeEffectsMovie will save the file and quit.

  7. The resulting movie is very small, since it is saved by reference (points to the original media files). If you want to play it on a different computer from the one you made it on you will need to flatten it. To do so, open the movie in QuickTime Player, Save As... and select the "Make movie self-contained" radio button.

  8. See the Important Note and the at the end of this document for further information.

Important Note

By default, effects are rendered in real-time when the movie is played back. This is good because it keeps the movie small in size and because the effect will be rendered at a much higher frame rate than the movie itself. On the other hand, users who have not upgraded to QuickTime 3 will not see the effect, and users with slow machines may not get as smooth playback as users with fast machines.

If you would like to pre-render the effect so that users who have not upgraded to QuickTime 3 can see it, open the movie in QuickTime Player Pro and choose Export... from the File Menu. Select Movie To QuickTime Movie from the popup, and save the movie (if you do not see the Export option, you probably have not registered your copy of QuickTime Player).

When you export the movie in this manner, the effects are rendered at same frame rate as the movie. If you have a movie with a low frame rate and would like the effect to be rendered at a higher frame rate (so it will look smoother), choose Options... from the Export dialog, then click on Settings... for video. Enter the frame rate you want in the Frames Per Second field. Click OK twice to dismiss the two dialogs, then save the movie.

Note: you will probably want to do this step if you a rendering an effect on still images. A movie created with MakeEffectsMovie of a still image is two seconds long a second long, so if you enter a frame rate of 30, the effect will be rendered in 30*2= 60 steps (an easier way of saying this is, "to figure out the frame rate to enter, divide the number of steps you want by 2").

Frequently-Asked Questions

Q:  On Macintosh, if I drag two files on MakeEffectsMovie, which file is used as the source ("from") file and which will be used as the destination ("to") file?

A:  There is no good way of predicting this. If the order is important, launch MakeEffectsMovie and select the two files in the order you want them.

Q:  How does MakeEffectsMovie handle multiple tracks in a movie?

A:  Currently, MakeEffectsMovie ignores all tracks except the first video track. If you want to add additional tracks to your effects movie, use "QuickTime Player." to do this after you have created the effects movie.

Q:  How do I know what all the parameters for an effect or transition mean?

A:  We have not yet documented each effect and its settings, but we've tried to label the parameters to give you a fair idea of what they are. The best way to understand what the parameters do is adjust them and watch how the image in the preview window changes.

Q:  If I use two movies with different dimensions to create an effects movie, what will the dimensions of the resulting movie be, and will it crop or scale the source movies?

A:  MakeEffectsMovie will scale the smaller movie to be the size of the larger movie.

Q:  How long will the effect be, and where will it start and stop?

A:  The effect will be the shorter of the two durations of the two source files and will start at the beginning of the first and end when this duration is reached. If you are using a filter on a single file and that file is a still image, the effect will be two seconds long. If you are creating effects between two files and one of them is a still image, the effect will be the length of the other file. If you create an effect between two still images, the effect will be two seconds long.

Q:  I'm creating effects using stills. I want a duration other than two seconds - but I don't want to render the effect.

A:  You will want to create source movies of the stills for the duration you want. This can be done in QuickTime Player.

Q:  Some of the effects (the ones with the word "alpha" in the name) don't appear to do anything.

A:  These effects require source media with an alpha channel. You can create images with alpha channels using tools such as Adobe Photoshop.

Q:  Many of the effects have sliders to control their parameters. I'm having trouble using the sliders to select the values I want.

A:  There are three ways to control a slider in MakeEffectsMovie:

  • You can click on the numbers below the slider to have the thumb "snap" to that value.
  • You can drag the thumb by clicking on it.
  • For fine control, click and hold on the slider bar itself to the left or right of the thumb. The thumb will move slowly towards the location you clicked.
Q:  Can I use a movie that I created with MakeEffectsMovie as an input to another MakeEffectsMovie movie?

A:  In general, no. The one exception is that movies created with the zero-source fire effect can be used again in MakeEffectsMovie.

Q:  I'm using a Macintosh. In the preview window, instead of seeing my files, I see a picture of an "A" or a "B".

A:  This can happen if you are working with large files in MakeEffectsMovie. Try increasing the RAM requirements for MakeEffectsMovie.

Q:  I can't figure out how the Chroma Key effect works.

A:  Chroma Key is a two-source effect. One source is the background; the other source is the foreground. Where the foreground colour matches the chroma key, it shows the background through.

Q:  I made a cool chroma-key effect but it looks all wrong on 256 color monitors.

A:  You need to use a color for the chroma key that will never be dithered to display. For 256-color monitors, that limits you to the eight fully saturated colors: red, green, blue, magenta, yellow, cyan, black and white. In other words, the red, green, and blue components of the chroma key must be 0% or 100%. Percentages in between can cause the color to be dithered, which will ruin the chroma key effect.

Q:  I've played with the parameters of the Alpha Gain effect but I never see change in the preview window.

A:   Alpha Gain is used to modify the alpha channel of a video input. It's hard to see any change in the preview box because although the video's alpha channel is changed, the video isn't being alpha-composited in the preview window.

Q:  For effects, is the order of movie selection important?

A:  For Alpha Compositor, the alpha channel source should be selected first. For Chroma Key, the key source should be selected first.