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Diggory Laycock · May 5, 2005, 03:08 PM

Tiger includes new hotness called QuartzComposer - it allows you to create 'compositions' that use CoreImage, CoreMovie & OpenGL without writing any code.

These compositions can be used as views in applications - e.g. the RSS ScreenSaver demo.

It seriously rocks, here's a screenshot of something I hooked-up very quickly: (The gradient looks a lot smoother on the screen.)

That's three cubes oscillating in and out of the screen, while rotating around two of their own axes. The 6 faces of the cubes have two different videos on them.

One is a QT movie off disc, and the other is live video coming out of a FireWire Device - which is live TV.

This is all running smoothly on a 1GHz powerbook with a GeForce 4 MX Card.

xMetal · May 5, 2005, 03:27 PM

I assume these are part of the dev tools? How doth one get to this greatness if it's not installed right now? Just run the dev tools install?

Diggory Laycock · May 5, 2005, 03:42 PM

Oh yes, sorry, forgot to mention that - It's a developer's app, so yes, you'll need to install the dev tools if you want to muck around with it.

Judge_Fire · May 5, 2005, 04:14 PM

Rock it does.

MacNN Screensaver Contest, anyone?!!?!

(Quartz Composer lets you save your comps as screensavers!)

(Turn on the RSS feed for the forums already

)

J

Diggory Laycock · 06:37 PM

Here's one:

http://www.diggory.net/grazing/tiger/swayingCubes.qtz

I find it slightly mesmerising, but it may be too simple for anyone else.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · May 5, 2005, 07:08 PM

Originally Posted by Diggory Laycock

That's three cubes oscillating in and out of the screen, while rotating around two of their own axes. The 6 faces of the cubes have two different videos on them.

One is a QT movie off disc, and the other is live video coming out of a FireWire Device - which is live TV.

This is all running smoothly on a 1GHz powerbook with a GeForce 4 MX Card.

I remember doing that with QuickDraw 3D on a 100MHz Performa in 1997.

d0ubled0wn · May 5, 2005, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by Judge_Fire

(Turn on the RSS feed for the forums already

)

How? The RSS button in the url field does not show for me.

Cadaver · May 5, 2005, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by d0ubled0wn

How? The RSS button in the url field does not show for me.

Uh, because there isn't one.

He was suggesting that the forum gods (mods) turn one on.

MaxPower2k3 · May 5, 2005, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Diggory Laycock

Here's one:

http://www.diggory.net/grazing/tiger/swayingCubes.qtz

I find it slightly mesmerising, but it may be too simple for anyone else.

alas, i tried in vain to download this in Panther, but Finder knows not what to do with it. Actually, Quicktime opens it; .QTZ must be some obsolete video format or something.

Tiger sure does look nice, but i'm holding out until september when i can get an edu discount...

TETENAL · May 5, 2005, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

alas, i tried in vain to download this in Panther, but Finder knows not what to do with it. Actually, Quicktime opens it; .QTZ must be some obsolete video format or something.

It's not some obsolete video format, it's the Quartz Composer file format. If you have Quartz Composer installed, Finder knows what to do with it.

MaxPower2k3 · May 5, 2005, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

It's not some obsolete video format, it's the Quartz Composer file format. If you have Quartz Composer installed, Finder knows what to do with it.

I'm talking about in Panther. do qtz files open in QuickTime in Tiger?

Diggory Laycock · May 5, 2005, 09:38 PM

Re-read the first line of the first post of the thread.

Chuckit · May 5, 2005, 09:49 PM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

It's not some obsolete video format, it's the Quartz Composer file format. If you have Quartz Composer installed, Finder knows what to do with it.

He's saying, "QuickTime Player tried to open it under Panther. Since Panther does not know about Quartz Composer, it seems like QTZ must also be some obscure video format that QuickTime recognizes."

MaxPower2k3 · May 5, 2005, 10:32 PM

Thanks, Chuck

d0ubled0wn · May 5, 2005, 10:33 PM

Originally Posted by Cadaver

Uh, because there isn't one.

He was suggesting that the forum gods (mods) turn one on.

Gah, I've been sticked.

TETENAL · May 5, 2005, 10:38 PM

I'm sorry. I misunderstood what you said.

Judge_Fire · May 6, 2005, 04:34 AM

Lol, I modified the oscillating particle blob (blob.qtz) example to follow the mouse and tried running it as a 'desktop pic', but the screensaver engine (obviously) doesn't capture the mouse coordinates.

Still, the .qtz files do run as desktop screensavers and one could compose some quite simple, slow and soothing live desktops. How can any guikit theme now be complete without a dedicated live desktop?

Nobody has mentioned this yet, but Quartz Composer is more or less the VJ kinda software called PixelShox, which Apple assimilated a while back. So if you liked that, you'll love Quartz Composer.

J

Millennium · May 6, 2005, 06:49 AM

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

I remember doing that with QuickDraw 3D on a 100MHz Performa in 1997.

I remember doing it on a G3 a couple of years later, but that was only with one video on a flat quad, not eighteen videos on three cubes. Where did you do it before then?

The Godfather · Aug 13, 2006, 03:02 AM

Originally Posted by Judge_Fire

Lol, I modified the oscillating particle blob (blob.qtz) example to follow the mouse and tried running it as a 'desktop pic', but the screensaver engine (obviously) doesn't capture the mouse coordinates.

Still, the .qtz files do run as desktop screensavers and one could compose some quite simple, slow and soothing live desktops. How can any guikit theme now be complete without a dedicated live desktop?

Nobody has mentioned this yet, but Quartz Composer is more or less the VJ kinda software called PixelShox, which Apple assimilated a while back. So if you liked that, you'll love Quartz Composer.

J

Isadora is another insteresting video handling product.

Tyre MacAdmin · Aug 13, 2006, 03:28 AM

I've got xcode installed but I can't find Quartz Composer anywhere. Where is it supposed to be located?

Judge_Fire · Aug 13, 2006, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by The Godfather

Isadora is another insteresting video handling product.

I actually compiled a small list of video processing related software for Mindwaves' list, but I'm not sure if it's up-to-date... do you know more about some of these apps - descriptions would be nice?

I'll edit Isadora in and perhaps bump it for Mindwaves, if we could get some descriptions there

Judge_Fire · Aug 13, 2006, 04:02 AM

Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams

I've got xcode installed but I can't find Quartz Composer anywhere. Where is it supposed to be located?

Macintosh HD : Developer : Applications : Graphics Tools : Quartz Composer

Lots of decent tutorials available through Google, too.

Tyre MacAdmin · Aug 13, 2006, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by Judge_Fire

Macintosh HD : Developer : Applications : Graphics Tools : Quartz Composer

Lots of decent tutorials available through Google, too.

Strange.. it's not there on mine. Is it an application that is not installed by the delault xcode/developer tools install?

Judge_Fire · Aug 14, 2006, 03:14 AM

Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams

Strange.. it's not there on mine. Is it an application that is not installed by the delault xcode/developer tools install?

Which version is your install (or xCode app)?

Tyre MacAdmin · Aug 14, 2006, 04:26 AM

version 1.1

Adam Betts · Aug 14, 2006, 07:47 AM

Originally Posted by Tyler McAdams

version 1.1

That's waaay old

They're at Xcode 2.3

eevyl · Aug 14, 2006, 08:10 AM

Zombie version for a zombie thread!

Judge_Fire · Aug 15, 2006, 06:35 AM

And xCode 2.4 is now available, let's see if QC has been upgraded