Technical Q&As
The Apple Media Tool and Apple Media Tool Programming Environment products have been discontinued.
For more information check out: AMT/PE Discontinued.
AMT_PE 13 - "Preloading" Media Objects in AMT (1-Aug-95)
Q Can I force AMT not to preload (into RAM) media for a screen until the user
wants to enter that screen?
A Yes. In fact, this is the way AMT applications work by default. Whenever you
change screens, all media on the old screen but not used on the new screen is
unloaded. There is some state information about all objects on all screens kept
in RAM at all times, but this size of information is negligible compared to the
size of the media assets for a screen in all but the largest of projects.
Once the user goes to a screen, all WAV audio files are preloaded. QuickTime
movies are opened but only read into RAM if you have chose "Preload" from the
Media Properties dialog. The same goes for PICT files. If you specify many
items to preload, it can take longer to go to the screen and your RAM
requirements will increase. On the other hand, if you do not preload
items, they may be slow to re-draw. (As a rule, always preload background
PICTs, since these need frequent updating). By carefully choosing which items
to preload and which not, you can balance screen load times and RAM
requirements against performance issues.
Technical Q&As
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