Fig. 4[an error occurred while processing this directive]The bottom line is that LSP distills quite a bit of often varied functionality down to just a few, straightforward interface elements, making LSP, in general, pretty simple to learn and use. Now, you may have noticed by this point that LSP's interface might resemble a NLE program rather than one suited for interactive authoring, which makes sense in this case due to the nature of QuickTime's (largely) linear track structure. Speaking of which, this is probably a good time to discuss....

Track madness
Granting access to the underlying plumbing of QuickTime, by definition, means that LSP is subject to QuickTime's various vagaries and idiosyncrasies, so you'll probably find when working in LSP that the pure linear timeline metaphor put forth in the LSP interface doesn't always hold up. QuickTime's various tracks are an often eclectic mix of linear (movie or sound track) and non-linear (Flash or sprite tracks), meaning that LSP will likely be old hat to Flash veterans that may be used to multiple, independent timelines running around a project.

Some tracks available to you in LSP are fairly straightforward, even though they might go by funky names. For example, the Color track gives you a solid or gradient background to work on (Fig. 5); the Effect track grants you access to QuickTime's various built-in filters (Fig. 6); and the Picture track gives you the means to create containers for still images or slideshows. It gets a little hairier once you get into the track types that you can add interactivity to, or "wire" (Flash, Sprite, Text, etc.), and it can get super-gorilla-hairy once you start delving into, for example, the wacky process of Fig.uring out when QuickTime's samples actually matter or how to use the not-exactly-intuitive Modifier and Tween tracks (Fig. 7). And while LSP's interface to some of the lower-level stuff can be a bit convoluted and/or daunting (Fig. 8), fortunately, LSP's manual is pretty good about explaining these quirkier aspects of QuickTime's underlying architecture, so it's not too difficult to eventually Fig.ure out what's what.


Fig. 5: LSP's Color track options.


Fig. 6: LSP gives you access to the many filters native to QuickTime.


Fig. 7: In order to add animation to a sprite, you have to hook up a Tween track to a Sprite in what is a pretty convoluted process. Fortunately, you can just use Flash natively in QuickTime if you like and avoid this procedure entirely.


Fig. 8: Some sprites as contained in a single Sprite track sample. Little freaky with the interface here.



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