Apple 7.2 manual Changing a Movie’s Shape with a Video Mask, Changing a Track’s Transparency

Changing a Movie’s Shape with a Video Mask

With QuickTime Pro, you can change the shape of a movie from rectangular to other shapes using a video mask. In combination with a media skin; you can “skin” a movie so that it plays in a non-rectangular region (for example, a movie could play from within a ship porthole), and then use a mask to restrict the movie’s shape to the desired playback region.

Use a graphics program to create the mask and save it as a QuickTime-compatible file (for example, BMP, GIF, JPEG, or PICT). The mask should be a black shape on a white background. The movie appears through the black shape.

To add a video mask:

1In QuickTime Player, choose Window > Show Movie Properties.

2Select the video track you want to assign the mask to, then click Visual Settings.

3Drag the mask file to the Mask well in the Properties window, or click Choose to select the file.

Changing a Track’s Transparency

With QuickTime Pro, you can create a track that is partly transparent. This technique is useful, for example, for overlaying a movie with a logo.

To change a track’s transparency:

1Add the track to the movie. (See “Extracting, Adding, and Moving Tracks” on page 32.)

2Choose Window > Show Movie Properties.

3Select the track and click Visual Settings.

4Choose Blend from the Transparency pop-up menu and drag the Transparency Level slider.

Creating a Chapter List for a Movie

With QuickTime Pro, you can create a pop-up chapter list to navigate to specific points in a movie. First you create a list of topics (or entry points), and then you import the list into the movie as a text track. When you play the movie in QuickTime Player, the current chapter displays in the movie controller. (See “Opening and Playing Movies in QuickTime Player” on page 11.)

To create a chapter list:

1In a text editor or word processor, type your list of chapters and save the document as plain text.

Make each item very short (preferably one word but no more than two or three words) and separate each item with a return character.

2In QuickTime Player, choose File > Open File, select the text file, and click Open.

Chapter 3 Editing and Authoring with QuickTime Pro

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