Introduction

Introduced in OS X v10.4, the QTKit framework is a powerful, feature-rich Objective-C API for manipulating and rendering time-based media such as movies and audio files.

This tutorial explains how to build three different applications for playing, editing, and recording audio and video media. You build these applications using the QTKit programming interfaces and Apple’s developer tools, Xcode 3.2 and Interface Builder 3.2. This document describes QTKit for OS X v10.6.

Who Should Read This Document

If you are a developer who wants to learn how to integrate playback, editing and recording of media into your application, you should read the material in this document to get started. You don’t necessarily need to be a seasoned Cocoa programmer to take advantage of the capabilities provided in the QTKit framework, although you’ll find prior experience working with Objective-C, Xcode, and Interface Builder helpful to build and compile the different code examples described in this tutorial.

Organization of This Document

This tutorial follows a progressive, learn-as-you-go structure. To be most successful, work through this tutorial in the order presented.

• Creating a Simple QTKit Media Player Application describes how to build and compile a simple media player application, using Cocoa bindings and with a minimal number of lines of Objective-C code.

• Extending the Media Player Application explains how you can extend and enhance the functionality of the media player application to support editing of video/audio files.

• Customizing the Media Player Application discusses how you can extend the functionality of the media player application by adding custom controls and selecting attributes to handle the precise display and manipulation of high-definition, H.264-enabled movies. QuickTime X methods for more efficient media playback in your Xcode project are also discussed.

• Building a Simple QTKit Recorder Application discusses step-by-step how you can build a simple yet powerful QTKit recorder application that lets you capture a video stream and record the media to a QuickTime movie.

• Adding Audio Input and DV Camera Support describes how you can extend the functionality of your QTKit recorder player application by adding support for audio input and DV cameras with only a few lines of Objective-C code.

• Creating a QTKit Stop Motion Application describes how you can construct a simple stop motion recorder application that lets you capture a live video feed, grab frames one at a time with great accuracy, and then record the output of those frames to a QuickTime movie––with less than 100 lines of Objective-C code.