QTVR

Director in a Nutshell

QTVR

This page is still evolving with more to come. Refer also to Chapter 16 (most specificallyTable 16-10) in Director in a Nutshell. Chapter 16 of DiaN is free for downloading here.

Also refer to the following resources:

A tutorial page on QTVR and Director

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Heights/6791/

QTVR2 Sprite Xtra

http://www.glink.net.hk/~gemmay

More QTVR info:

http://qtvr.hypermart.net/

The main questions people come across seem to be these:

Q. How do I import QTVR?

A. As of Director 6.5, the preferred method is to use Insert>Media Element>QuickTime 3, then select your QTVR movie as the file to import. (QuickTime 3 and QuickTime 4 support QTVR as a "native" data type). See Chapter 16 of DiaN for details on the older QTVR 1.0 Xtra for Director 6 and earlier.

Q. What Lingo can I use with QTVR sprites?

A. See Tables B-1 through B-4 in Appendix B of Lingo in a Nutshell and Tables 16-6 through 16-11 in Chapter 16 of Director in a Nutshell.

Q. My QTVR movies are not recongnized by Director as QTVR. I get an #isQTVRMovie, handler not defined error.

A. isQTVRmovie() is a function provided in the QuickTime Asset Xtra included with D6.5 and D7. You need to import the QTVR via Insert>Media Element>QuickTime 3 to use it. It will not work with QTVR files imported with the QTVR 1.0 Xtra.

Q. I'm lost. What am I doing wrong?

A. Using QTVR is a matter of importing the asset, placing the sprite on stage, and using a callback handler. Callback handlers are set up as follows. Attach this Behavior to your QTVR sprite:

on beginSprite me

   set the VRHotSpotEnterCallback of sprite(the spriteNum of me) = #enterHotSpot

end



on enterHotSpot me, hotSpotID

   alert "You entered hotspot ID" && hotSpotID

end

Your enterHotSpot handler should be called when the user rolls the mouse over a hotspot. For details on creating hotspots in a QVTR movie, refer to the QTVR authoring tool tutorial available from Apple's site. (Last time I checked, you "painted" the hotspots with, say, Photoshop and then combined the hotspot layer with your stitched QTVR image).

You can set up callback handlers for the other callbacks, such as VRtiggerCallback (see Table 16-10 of DiaN). In all cases, you define a handler, such as "on enterHotSpot" in your Behavior and then tell Director to use it by setting the callback handler property to point to it (such as by setting the VRhotSpotEnterCallback property to #enterHotSpot).

Be sure to use a symbol (with a # sign) when assigning a value to VRhotSpotEnterCallback and the other callback sprite properties listed in Table 16-10 of DiaN.

Be sure that the mouseLevel of sprite property is set to #all or #share. If it is set to #none or #controller, the events may never reach Director.

Q. What software need to be installed?

You'll need QT3 or later. Earlier versions of QT won't work. You'll also need to be sure you've installed the QTVR components that come with QT3 and later. They should be installed by default, but it is possible they've been deleted by the user. When in doubt, reinstall QT3 or QT4. Refer to Chapter 16 in DiaN for details on detecting whether QT is installed.

..more to come when I get a chance... :-)

If you have a specific question about using QTVR in Director, please submit it to qtvr_questions@zeusprod.com. I can't promise an individual reply, but I will try to incorporate the questions in this technote.