Table of Contents | Authoring Reference

Producing Fast Multimedia | Delivering Multimedia | Compressing Audio and Video | Special Effect Options | Transition Options



Delivering multimedia

Electrifier Pro creates multimedia which can easily be delivered to the web or to other software programs.

Electrifier Pro multimedia can be seamlessly imported into any standard WYSIWYG website design tool or can easily be embedded on a web page using simple HTML.

Electrifier Pro can also be simply integrated into any other program which supports QuickTime, from Director to Microsoft word.

Delivering multimedia on the Web

Embedding QuickTime movies on a web page

Embedding a QuickTime movie created with Electrifier is simple. If you are using a visual HTML editor such as PageMill or Cyber Studio, import the QuickTime movie into the page as you would any other element. If you are generating the HTML by hand, using a text editor, you will need to set up the necessary tags for the example you are creating. The necessary HTML code to embed a QuickTime movie on a page is:

<embed src="URL" pluginspage="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" width="h" height="v">
Additional parameters may be added following the height of the movie, as desired. If you don't need to adjust the playback options for your movie, you can omit all the optional parameters.

Required parameters
src="URL"
Specifies the full name of the QuickTime movie to embed in the web page. As with all embedded content, the src pameter can either be a full URL such as http://www.apple.com/quicktime/preview/samp/trans/samplest/explode.mov or a relative URL such as samplest/explode.mov.

pluginspage="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/"
Specifies the URL from which the user can fetch the necessary plug-in if it is not installed. This parameter is handled by your browser. If your browser cannot find the plug-in when loading your page, it will warn the user and allow them to bring up the specified URL, from which they can download the QuickTime Plug-In. This parameter should be set to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ which will point to the latest version of the plug-in.

width=h
Specifies the width of the QuickTime movie in pixels. You should never specify a width of less than 2 since this can cause problems with some browsers: if you want to hide the movie, use the hidden tag instead.
Under normal circumstances, the width you specify in the HTML should be the same as the width of the Electrifier movie. If you use a different width and do not use the scale tag, the movie will be cropped or padded to fit the embedded box, as necessary.

height=v
Specifies the height of the embedded document, in pixels.You should never specify a height of less than 2 as this can cause problems with some browsers: if you want to hide the movie, use the hidden tag instead.
Under normal circumstances, the height you specify in the HTML should be the same as the height of the Electrifier movie (plus 16, if you will be showing the controller). If you use a different height and do not use the scale tag, the movie will be cropped or padded to fit the embedded box, as necessary.
For more information

For a list of additional HTML attributes for embedded Quicktime movies, see the QuickTime Plug-in HTML options section of the Appendices.

Configuring your server for QuickTime

To use QuickTime movies on your web pages, your Web server needs to be configured to recognize the QuickTime file name extensions and assign them the correct MIME type. MIME (Multipurpose Internet Multimedia Extensions) types are used by web servers to identify what kind of data they are sending.

Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have already configured their web servers to support QuickTime. If yours has not, the server will need to be reconfigured.

Some ISPs maintain a single set of MIME settings fro the entire server, in which case the settings must be changed by the system administrator rather than the user. The configuration files and settings for the most commonly used Web servers are as follows:
ServerConfiguration fileText
NCSAsrm.confAddType video/quicktime mov
Netscapemime.typestype=video/quicktime exts=mov
Apachesrm.confAddType video/quicktime mov

Once the file is updated the server will need to be restarted.

Some ISPs allow the user to set MIME settings for their own files as an alternative to changing the configuration of the entire server. In this case, you can create a file to add the MIME types in your personal web directory. The configuration files and settings for the most commonly used Web servers are as follows:
ServerFileText
NCSA.htaccessAddType video/quicktime mov
Netscape.nsconfig<Files *.mov>
exp=*.mov type=video/quicktime
</Files>
Apache.htaccessAddType video/quicktime mov

If you use another server, you will need to consult your server' documentation for configuration instructions. The MIME type for a QuickTime movie is video/quicktime and the correct file name extension is mov.

Generating multiple-data-rate movies

The new QuickTime web browser plug-in supports movies which refer to other movies for their data. Now you can create a small movie that points to several other tracks, customized for different connection speeds. Since the QuickTime plug-in can specify the user's conection speed, this allows you to create a single movie which will adjust its compression algorithm and data rate to fit the user's web connection. You can designate one version of a multiple-rate movie as the default that will be played with older versions of QuickTime, so the feature is fully backwards-compatible.

Multiple-data-rate movies can be created using MakeRefMovie, which is available from the QuickTime site <http://www.apple.com/quicktime/>.

Creating animated GIF files for the web

Animated GIF files are intended for simple, short animations, since they are much larger in file size than QuickTime 3 files, and cannot be interactive.

Electrifier's animated GIF export has been carefully tuned to allow the GIF to mirror the Electrifier animation as closely as possible. VR and 3D actors will be converted to images before exporting, but the soundtrack should be exported as a separate Wave file, which can be included on a web page along with the animated GIF.

There are various options for tuning a GIF to achieve the optimum balance of quality and size. Electrifier allows you to choose the color palette, number of colors, and whether to use transparency, interlacing, or dithering. GIF optimization takes some practice, so we encourage you to experiment to find the best settings for your purposes.

Creating Wave sound files for the web

Wave files are intended for simple, short audio clips, since they are much larger in file size than QuickTime 3 files, and cannot be interactive.

The export options for Wave files are the same as the audio options for a QuickTime 2.x movie, except that the Wave format does not support compression, so the only available compressor is None.

Delivering multimedia to other programs

Delivering multimedia to applications which can display QuickTime movies is as easy as exporting a movie. Because of the structure of QuickTime, any application that can play movie files can play movie files from any application, regardless of the nature of the movie! Electrifier-generated multimedia can be used in all your favorite programs, from multimedia applications such as Director or mTropolis to your lowly word processor.

Some Windows applications may need to be upgraded to play back QuickTime 3 movies because of major improvements in QuickTime 3, but this issue is not specific to Electrifier Pro.

Users of Macromedia Authorware and Director should download the new QuickTime 3 Xtra to take advantage of QuickTIme 3's advanced features.

For more information

For detailed information about exporting files, see the File menu section of the Menu Reference.

For an overview about your export options, see Understanding your export options in Electrifier Overview.

Producing Fast Multimedia | Delivering Multimedia | Compressing Audio and Video | Special Effect Options | Transition Options

Copyright © 1998 Electrifier, Inc. All rights reserved.