Technical Q&As


QTVR 24 - QTVR and 16-bit Colors in Director (27-November-96)


Q I am authoring a title with QTVR and Director for Windows. I must use the 32-bit version of Director because other parts of the Director movie are in 16-bit colors (which is not possible in the 16-bit version of Director). I tried to use the 32-bit version of Director 5.0 along with the QTVR Component 1.0.3 file, QTVRW32.QTC, but it did not work. Why doesn't it work?

A QTVRW32.QTC does not contain the XObject code necessary for Director (any version). XObjects are inherently 16-bit and cannot be called from 32-bit applications. You should use Director 4.0 or the 16-bit version of Director 5.0 along with the 16-bit QTVR Component 1.0.3 file, QTVRW.QTC. You may download the Component file at http://qtvr.quicktime.apple.com/sw/

It is true that Director 4.0 and Director 5.0 (16-bit) are limited to 8-bit color cast members; however, QTVR movies (or any QuickTime movie for that matter) are not. They are displayed at the monitor's current bit depth. Therefore, one workaround is to display some of your graphics as 1-frame QuickTime movies. An alternative is to dither down your 16-bit graphics to 8-bit color depth.

We know that this is a significant problem and we're working with Macromedia on a solution as you read this. Stay tuned for further details.
--Leticia Alarcon
Worldwide Developer Technical Support

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