Interactive QuickTime: Authoring Wired Media (QuickTime Developer Series) [Paperback]

Matthew R. Peterson (Author)

Book Description

Series: QuickTime Developer Series | Publication Date: August 22, 2003

Interactivity is one of the most captivating topics for today's online community. It is a fast-growing field pushed by the rapid development and dispersion of Java, Shockwave, Flash, and QuickTime. While several good books are available about the interactive capabilities of Java, Shockwave, and Flash, until now there hasn't been a book about QuickTime interactivity. A logical follow-up to QuickTime for the Web, this eagerly awaited book by Matthew Peterson details the power of QuickTime's wired media technology and provides a resource for professionals developing and deploying interactive QuickTime content. This content can extend far beyond simple movies-it can act as application user interfaces, educational multimedia, scientific display panels, musical instruments, games and puzzles, etc., and can interact with you, your browser, a server, or with other movies.

*Describes concepts and techniques of interactivity applicable to technologies beyond QuickTime-including Flash.
*Features real-world, hands-on projects of progressive sophistication allowing developers to start with a project appropriate to their own level of QuickTime experience.
*A companion CD-ROM contains the book's source code, tutorials, and demo software, including a demo version of Live Stage Pro (with a discount offer for the full version).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Matthew Peterson, one of the world's most innovative minds, infuses Interactive QuickTime with applicable insight and helpful humor. This book goes well beyond the basics, far into the best practices, with plenty of supporting scripts and sample projects. Covering a wide spectrum of topics, Interactive QuickTime: Authoring Wired Media addresses the building of UIs, repurposing already existing media, using physics for richer motion, and that's just getting started. The appendices along with the exploration of XML in QuickTime are indispensable resources for the active producer of QuickTime media. I am excited to have this resource available for QuickTime authors!"
-Michael Shaff, founder of Small Hands

"This book belongs on the shelf of anyone who takes multimedia development seriously. For the aspiring QuickTime media developer, it addresses the most critical authoring issues-and the techniques described are clever and applicable to multimedia development of any ilk."
-Ken Loge, Oregon Research Institute

"You are holding a book written by one the smartest people I have ever met-and it has been my pleasure to know some VERY smart people-a book about one of the most exciting technologies on the planet. The writing is clear and enjoyable. It starts with material suitable for beginners and proceeds steadily through intermediate, advanced, and into previously uncharted territory . . . . It's a trip, my friend. And one worth taking . . . Be warned: this is not an ordinary book. It can literally change your life."
-from the foreword by Steven Gulie, author of QuickTime for the Web

"This book is chock-full of useful algorithms and interesting approaches to programming interactive behaviors in QuickTime movies." - MacTech

Book Description

Matthew Peterson's tour de force about making media interactive.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 597 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann (August 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558607463
• ISBN-13: 978-1558607460
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,344,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference book with all projects included on th, October 25, 2003

By 

Ian James Wood (Dawlish, Devon United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Interactive QuickTime: Authoring Wired Media (QuickTime Developer Series) (Paperback)

If you think that QuickTime is just a media player for showing video and listening to audio, this book will make you think again. Delving into the depths of the QuickTime architecture Matthew shows the reader the huge breadth of interactivity that is possible and encourages the reader to think how techniques can be applied in different ways. Each chapter ends with an 'Explorations' section asking the reader to think about various topics that have been looked at, and how they can be applied.

The book is broken up into six main sections covering topics such as sprites- communicating with them, moving them, interaction, modelling physics etc. Other sections include the structure of QT, adding interactivity to existing movies, user interfaces, multimedia and communicating with the world.

Each section is subdivided into chapters looking at a specific area (39 chapters in all), and usually going through several small projects. ALL of these projects are included on the CD, often in both beginning and final forms so that you can go through all the steps or just look at the final version if you are more advanced. Because the book is structured with more complex issues handled later on, even a relative newcomer can work through the book, while the experienced QT content producer can go directly to the sections of particular interest.

There is a 42 day trial version of LiveStage Pro on the Cd as most of the projects are done using it, along with demos of several other programs and examples of the best QT work by other people.

In the introduction Matthew mentions that he often looks at the contents and index of a reference book first, as these tell you a lot about a book. Nine pages of Contents, twenty pages of Index, a Glossary and Appendix S! Even including a list of every file on the CD and many http links.

As Matthew explains how things are done rather than simply showing you the program-specific scripts a lot of the book can be applied to other multimedia environments such as Flash, Director and Runtime Revolution. I regard this book as required reading for all people working to create highly interactive media, whether they use QT or not.

In summary this book will revolutionise how you think of and use QuickTime. By showing what is possible rather than what is commonly used Matthew expands the interactive medium in a way that pushes the boundaries.

Highly recommended, and I found that the author quickly replies to any questions that you ask him by email.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent lessons useful in other dev environments as well, February 3, 2004

By 

Trevor K. Devore (La Canada, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Interactive QuickTime: Authoring Wired Media (QuickTime Developer Series) (Paperback)

This really is an excellent book. The examples that Matthew uses to teach in each chapter are useful far beyond just wired QuickTime. I keep it next to my desk for use in my other development environments as well.

For example there is a chapter on scripted motion which talks about linear interpolation, easing in and out, motion along mathematical functions, circular motion, paths and spline interpolation. I incorporated a few of these animation algorithms into my desktop applications and they work/look great.

Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super helpful book, October 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Interactive QuickTime: Authoring Wired Media (QuickTime Developer Series) (Paperback)

I just started using Live Stage Pro to author quicktimes 2 months ago and found the software's manual to be helpful but light on insight. In a nutshell 'Interactive Quicktime' is a crucial book to get if you're learning LSP (although the author goes into other methods of working with quicktime too). What can I say? It helps you understand what's going on within the world of the quicktime architecture and walks you through tons of projects to help you get it. I wasn't getting it with the LSP manual. As the author states it would be helpful to know a little bit of applescript or some other programming language but I'm picking it up slowly but surly and I've never written a word of code in my life. It's well worth the price.