Editing QuickTime Movies > Using Sprite tracks > Importing images (creating sprites)
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Importing images (creating sprites)


Note: Images you import as sprites will default to a black background. This is because you have to add a sprite to the image to see something. Once you add a sprite, you can change the background color in the Sprite Track Inspector.

To use images as sprites, you first add them to the image pool. You can use still images with the following formats as sprites: BMP, GIF, JPEG/JFIF, MacPaint, Photoshop, PICT, PNG, QuickDraw GX (Mac OS only, requires the QuickDraw GX extension), QuickTime Image Format, SGI, Targa, and TIFF. By importing images, you create an image gallery in the Images tab of the Sprite Track Inspector.

To import images into the image pool:

1 Select the newly added Sprite track in the track list.

2 In the Sprites tab of the Sprite Track Inspector, enter a number in the Add New Sprites text box. For now, enter the number two (2).

3 Click the Images tab of the Sprite Track Inspector, and click Import. (For now, do not check Import Photoshop Layers; choose a Photoshop file that is not layered. For details on importing Photoshop layers, see Importing Photoshop layers as sprites.) This opens a file selection dialog box. Find your first image and click Open (Windows) or Add (Mac OS) to start importing. Select your second image and click Open or Add. When you are finished adding the two images, click Done.

4 The Compression Settings dialog box appears.
  • Select an image compressor from the pop-up menu. QuickTime comes with numerous built-in image format compressors that cover most of the media formats used on the Internet and for general screen publishing purposes. Your choice of compressor should depend on the type of image and reasonable movie file-size limitations. We recommend that you try the default option first, which is JPEG. If this proves unsatisfactory, experiment with other compressors to find the format that best suits your needs.
  • Select a color depth to use in your movie from the Best Depth pop-up menu. The options available depend on the compressor you choose. Most graphics compressors offer choices that just say "Color" (equivalent to 256 colors) and "Greyscale." The preview pane to the right shows how your color settings affect the image.
  • Drag the Quality slider to set the quality of the images in your Sprite track. As you drag the slider between the Least and Best labels, it shows numerical values from 0 to 100. Image quality and degree of compression are inversely proportional: the higher you set the quality, the lower the compression ratio will be. The preview pane to the right shows how your quality settings affect the image.

    • 5 Click OK. Adobe GoLive imports the images and adds each sprite object to the subtrack below the Sprite track. You'll see Sprite 1 and Sprite 2 listed and you'll see a keyframe on each track.

    6 Click Sprite 1 and notice that the Sprite Object Inspector appears. You can rename the sprite in the Title field.

    7 Click again on the Sprite track in the Tracks list. Click the Basic tab in the Sprite Track Inspector. If you want to position the sprite differently, go ahead and experiment with these settings. You can watch the sprite move around in the Movie Viewer window as you change the settings.

    Note: You can select Direct Input For Textfields in Preferences/General/User Interface so that Adobe GoLive will use the entered values and you won't have to press Return for the setting to take effect.

    You're now ready to apply some basic behaviors and actions to your sprites.

    Editing QuickTime Movies > Using Sprite tracks > Importing images (creating sprites)