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Archive-name: sgi/faq/movie
Last-modified: Wed Aug 24 15:34:33 CDT 1994

    SGI movie Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:

    SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
    SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
    SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
    SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
    SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
    SGI Impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
    SGI Inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
    SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
    SGI movie FAQ - Movies
    SGI Performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
    SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs

Read the misc FAQ for information about the FAQs themselves.  Each FAQ
is posted to comp.sys.sgi.misc and to the news.answers and comp.answers
newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) twice per month.  If you
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    rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/
    rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/
    rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/
    viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/faq/

Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational
documents, and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer
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    http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html

The SGI FAQs are freely distributable and we encourage wide circulation.
The contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers
apply. Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu.

Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
   -1- Is there a QuickTime movieplayer available for SGI (IRIX
       4.0.5F)???
   -2- I cannot play a QuickTime movie on my Silicon Graphics computer.
       How can I make it work?
   -3- I cannot play a QuickTime movie created on a Silicon Graphics
       computer on my Macintosh.  How can I make it work?
   -4- What version of QuickTime does Silicon Graphics support?
   -5- How can I create a QuickTime file on an SGI?
   -6- I need to play MPEG movies.  Does SGI offer MPEG support?
   -7- I created a movie with Capture, but now I can't edit it with
       Movie Maker or play it with Movie Player.
   -8- How can I write a program to create, edit, convert, or play
       movies?
   -9- I can't use images exported with Moviemaker in any of my
       applications.  What image format does Moviemaker use?
  -10- Can anyone provide details on the SGI movie format?
  -11- Can anyone provide details on the QuickTime movie format?
  -12- How can I convert from SGI movie format to MPEG?
  -13- How can I convert from Microsoft AVI movie format to SGI movie
       format?
  -14- Is there a way to bring up a movie (using movieplayer) within
       Showcase using a button click...and having it place itself
       automatically in a certain location and start?
  -15- I am using Mosaic.  When I try to view a movie, movieplayer
       starts, but then shows a message: no movie.  How can I make it
       work?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:    -1- Is there a QuickTime movieplayer available for SGI (IRIX
                4.0.5F)???
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

SGI provides QuickTime movie support as part of Movieplayer in IRIX 5.1
and later.  If you can't or don't wish to upgrade, you may wish to
investigate a public domain program called Xanim which offers some form
of Quicktime capability.

One place where you can find version 2.64 of Xanim is:

    file://colonsay.dcs.ed.ac.uk/export/X11R5/Misc-contrib/xanim/x264/

------------------------------

Subject:    -2- I cannot play a QuickTime movie on my Silicon Graphics
                computer. How can I make it work?
Date: Mon Aug 15 11:21:19 PDT 1994

Here is a checklist of things to try:

- You should be using the 5.2 MR version of the OS.
- The QT movie must be "flattened".  Use the Apple Movie Converter
  program and choose "Make playable on non-Apple systems" in the
  Save As dialog.  The file must also be compressed with an
  algorithm we support.  For example, do not choose "Cinepak" or
  "Compact Video".
- Try changing the compression to something else, say "none" to see if
  that may be the problem.

SGI has licensed the QuickTime movie file format and 2 compressors from
Apple.  As a result, one can display QuickTime movies compressed with
the RLE or RPZA algorithms (Apple Video and Apple Graphics) with the
bundled SGI movieplayer. SGI currently does not support Cinepak
compression.  Also, the SGI movie tools currently do not support
QuickTime movies which contain an edit list.

Typically, a QuickTime file on the Macintosh stores all of the movie
parameters and header information in the resource fork, and the actual
media (sound + video) in the data fork.  To be used on a computer which
has a conventional file system (such as the Indigo), you must first
"flatten" the movie on the Macintosh before transferring it to the
Indigo.  This is what the "Make playable on non-Apple systems" option
in the Apple Movie Converter does.

The Apple Movie Converter is part of the QuickTime Starter Kit, a
software package sold by Apple Computer for Macintosh systems.  It is
available from retail software distributors.

Finally, if you have not read them already, the release notes for the
5.2 Movie Tools provide important information on compatibility with
QuickTime movies.

------------------------------

Subject:    -3- I cannot play a QuickTime movie created on a Silicon
                Graphics computer on my Macintosh.  How can I make it
                work?
Date: Mon Aug 15 11:21:19 PDT 1994

When going from an SGI to a Mac, the file must have a
creator and file type.  This can be done in "ResEdit".

To move a file to the Mac...

Save the file in a Quicktime format (using quicktime_dev, the
QuickTime Development option or another tool)
Move the file to a Mac (using the floptical, or ftp)

  NOTE:  If using ftp, make sure the mode is binary, *not* macbinary

Open the Mac program "ResEdit"
Select "Get File info..." from File menu
Type "MooV" into file type field, and "TVOD" into creator field
Close dialog (Choose Yes to save changes)
Quit "ResEdit"

It should just work from here.

In IRIX 5.3 the file type and creator will be created
automatically if you drag the file to a Mac volume using
the Indigo Magic desktop.

------------------------------

Subject:    -4- What version of QuickTime does Silicon Graphics support?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

Silicon Graphics does not provide support for the QuickTime programming
library, but only for the QuickTime file format.

The definition of the QuickTime file format has not changed since its
original release.  Apple's enhancements have mostly been in the form of
performance improvements and new features to QuickTime which have not
changed the basic file format.  So, in some sense SGI supports every
version of QuickTime.  But to answer the question practically, we do
not support some features which Apple introduced in later releases of
QuickTime, such as the Cinepak codec.

------------------------------

Subject:    -5- How can I create a QuickTime file on an SGI?
Date: Mon Aug 15 11:21:19 PDT 1994

Regretfully, SGI does not provide a method to create QuickTime movie
files in the 5.2 release of the Movie Tools.  If you obtain the Digital
Media Development Option, together with the QuickTime Development
option, you can obtain a tool which will create QuickTime files on an
SGI system.  We are not able to include this tool with the basic IRIX
distribution due to our licensing agreements with Apple Computer.

See elsewhere in this FAQ for more information on both the Digital Media
Development Option and the QuickTime Developer's Option.

IRIX 5.3 will contain a update to Movie Maker which will enable it to
export to the QuickTime file format.

------------------------------

Subject:    -6- I need to play MPEG movies.  Does SGI offer MPEG
                support?
Date: Mon Aug 15 11:21:19 PDT 1994

The current SGI movieplayer does not support MPEG movies.  Support for
MPEG playback and file conversion will appear in the IRIX 5.3 release.

For free, you have several options.

1) You can use the Berkeley mpeg_play. You can get the file
mpeg_play.Z by anonymous ftp from

    file://sgigate.sgi.com/pub/Mosaic/mpeg_play.Z

Please use the binary transfer mode to get that file, and
then enter:

    uncompress mpeg_play.Z

to get mpeg_play.  You can use mpeg_play to play MPEG files specified
in Mosaic documents.

2) Another MPEG player is available via FTP.  Here is its URL:

    file://geom.umn.edu/priv/daeron/src/mpeg_play-src.tar.Z

This MPEG player has Motif frame controls.

3) Finally, you might want to check out sgimpeg, a program based on
mpeg_play, with all graphics replaced with IrisGL calls.  It also
features some limited frame controls. The full package, bit, also
offers conversions of any frames within the MPEG stream to jpeg/pnm/rgb
and other formats.  Both bit and sgimpeg are available from

    file://monte.svec.uh.edu/pub/bit/

via anonymous ftp.

------------------------------

Subject:    -7- I created a movie with Capture, but now I can't edit it
                with Movie Maker or play it with Movie Player.
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

Check to see that you are using compatible versions of the tools.  Odds
are that you created the movie with Capture (an application in IRIX 5.1
and later), but are trying to use the tools from an IRIX 4.0.5 to view
and manipulate them.

The IRIX 5.x versions of the movie tools can read files created by the
4.0.5 tools, but the reverse is not true.

------------------------------

Subject:    -8- How can I write a program to create, edit, convert, or
                play movies?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

Under IRIX 5.2, you can order the Movie Library as part of the Digital
Media Development option (latest version is 2.0).

The Digital Media Development Option contains the Video, Audio, Audio
File, MIDI, CD, DAT, Movie, and Compression Libraries for your digital
media programming enjoyment.

The part number for the Digital Media Development Option is
SC4-DMDEV-2.0.   If you would like to develop applications which
manipulate QuickTime files, you must also order the companion product,
QuickTime 1.0 Compressor Library, part number SC4-QTCL-1.0.

In the United States, you can order these products by calling Silicon
Graphics toll-free at 1-800-800-SGI1 (1-800-800-7441).  If you live in
a country other than the United States, contact your nearest Silicon
Graphics office.

------------------------------

Subject:    -9- I can't use images exported with Moviemaker in any of my
                applications.  What image format does Moviemaker use?
Date: Mon Aug 15 11:21:19 PDT 1994

Moviemaker exports images using the ImageVision FIT file format.  This
library is supported by the SGI ImageVision Library and its assorted
tools.

To convert FIT files to another file format, such as SGI rgb or TIFF,
use the imgcopy(1) program, part of the ImageVision Tools (imgtools)
product.  The ImageVision Tools are bundled with the basic IRIX
distribution.

The following shell script will convert a batch of image files to SGI
format, using imgcopy:

#----------------------- cut here ---------------------------
#!/bin/csh
#
# iv2sgi - convert a batch of imagevision-supported files to SGI
# .rgb format using imgcopy
#
# usage: iv2sgi <filenames>
#

foreach image ($argv)
    imgcopy -fSGI $image $image.rgb
end
#----------------------- cut here ---------------------------

Moviemaker 2.1, to be available in the IRIX 5.3 release,
will support image export in SGI and TIFF, as well as FIT formats.

Finally, if you have the SGI Developer's Toolbox 4.1 CD, you can obtain
a program called Moviemaster.  Moviemaster converts between movies and
images. 32 different image formats are currently supported. All sgi
movie formats are supported.  Moviemaster can extract frames from a
movie, build a movie from frames, or image convert from one format to
another.  This program will also be available (under another name)
in the IRIX 5.3 release.

------------------------------

Subject:   -10- Can anyone provide details on the SGI movie format?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

The contents of the SGI movie file format are not documented.  To
create and manipulate SGI movie files in your own application, we
recommend that you use the SGI Movie Library, part of the Digital Media
Development option.  This will not only save you work in your
application, but will ensure that your program remains compatible with
any revisions SGI makes to its movie file format.

If you need to manipulate movie files for cross-platform purposes, we
recommend that you obtain the QuickTime Developer's Option to create
QuickTime movies which can be used cross-platform.

See elsewhere in this FAQ for more information on both the Digital Media
Development Option and the QuickTime Developer's Option.

------------------------------

Subject:   -11- Can anyone provide details on the QuickTime movie
                format?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

For more details on the Apple implementation of QuickTime and its file
format, see "Inside Macintosh:  QuickTime" (ISBN 0-201-62201-7) and
"Inside Macintosh:  QuickTime Components", both by Apple Computer and
published by Addison-Wesley.  The former book contains a detailed
description of the QuickTime file format.

------------------------------

Subject:   -12- How can I convert from SGI movie format to MPEG?
Date: Thu Aug 18 08:34:52 PDT 1994

Currently, the best way to do this is to export all of the images and
audio track from the SGI movie file by using moviemaker, and feeding
the result into one of the public domain MPEG encoders available on the
net.

For more information on MPEG, and a list of places where you can obtain
MPEG encoder software, consult the MPEG Frequently Asked Questions
document. You can FTP it from

    file://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa11.zip
    file://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa20.zip
    file://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa30.zip
    file://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/msdos/dos/graphics/mpegfa31.zip

These documents are versions 1.1, 2.0, 3.0, and 3.1 of the MPEG FAQ
document.

There is also a publically available program which can convert SGI
movie files to MPEG.  It was developed by Andreas Paul
<paula@informatik.tu-muenchen.de>.  It can be obtained from:

file://ftp.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/sgi/animation/mv2mpeg_final.tar.gz

It is for IRIX 5.x systems, and supports all versions of the
SGI movie file format.

------------------------------

Subject:   -13- How can I convert from Microsoft AVI movie format to SGI
                movie format?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

Currently, there is no utility available to peform this conversion.
Our current focus is on providing MPEG support in the Movie Tools, so
look for MPEG to appear before AVI support.

------------------------------

Subject:   -14- Is there a way to bring up a movie (using movieplayer)
                within Showcase using a button click...and having it
                place itself automatically in a certain location and
                start?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

Not that I know of.  When we want to play a movie, we usually
hyperscript the object to run a script, and in the script we place the
movie where we want to.  Here is an example of the script.  Call it
with the movie name as an argument.

/usr/sbin/movieplayer -fNv -S$X1,$Y1,360,243 -l 1 -z $ZOOM $1

Define your zoom factor ($ZOOM) and position ( X1 Y1 ) in front of
this.

------------------------------

Subject:   -15- I am using Mosaic.  When I try to view a movie,
                movieplayer starts, but then shows a message: no movie.
                How can I make it work?
Date: 20 May 1994 00:00:01 EST

Check the following:

- Is your system running IRIX 4.0.5?  The movieplayer in IRIX 4.0.5
  does not support QuickTime movies.  You will need to upgrade to IRIX
  5.2 in order to receive QuickTime support in movieplayer.

- Check to see that the movie file was copied over completely by
  Mosaic.  Sometimes Mosaic will fail to transfer the file completely
  if the network load is very high.

------------------------------

End of sgi/faq/movie Digest
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