NEWS • OCTOBER 11 , 2000
QuickTime 5 Gets Boost from Developers
Component download feature brings new capabilities to QuickTime

by David Nagel
Executive Producer
dnagel@digitalmedianet.com

Normally we here at Creative Mac avoid stories about companies supporting this or that technology and skip straight to the gear. But since the release of the QuickTime 5 public preview yesterday, a number of companies have stepped forward not just with support for the technology, but also with enhancements. Since QuickTime is so fundamental the the way Mac creatives work, we thought we'd give you a quick rundown on some of the players and how they're bringing an enhanced multimedia experience to the Mac.

First up, On2, a New York-based provider of streaming technologies, says that a plugin for its VP3 codec will be available via the component download feature in the public preview of Apple's QuickTime 5. This new codec will allow any QuickTime user to decode On2-encoded content and allow QuickTime Pro customers to encode video for broadband distribution within the QuickTime Pro application. The VP3.2 codec, according to On2, provides for full-screen, full-motion, television-quality streaming video at data rates as low as 200 kilobits per second. For more information, visit http://www.on2.com.

Dynamic Digital Depth has announced that its OpticBOOM 3D technology will be available for free to QuickTime users via the component download feature as well. The software allows QuickTime users to view stereo 3D content through a plugin. According to DDD, the OpticBOOM plugin is QuickTime's first and only stereo 3D plugin. It's available for free. For more information, visit http://www.ddd.com.

Pulse Entertainment is also taking advantage of QuickTime 5's component download feature. The company's real-time streaming 3D technology is available for new and existing QuickTime Media Players. The Pulse plugin enables the delivery of Pulse-powered content to Internet connected platforms. It delivers 3D rendering and audio features and supports playback of HTTP-streamed audio in synchronization with interactive animation files. The plugin features 32-bit rendering for photorealistic effects, adaptive subdivision smoothing to allow the delivery of more natural characters through curved-surface representation and real-time inverse kinematics (IK) to bring natural character behaviors. It also has a new real-time lip synch feature. For more information, visit http://www.pulse3d.com.

Be Here has also announced that its iVideo technology is available via the component download feature in QuickTime 5. It allows users to view 360 degree Internet video. "We are placing Be Here far ahead of its competition and establishing an industry precedent as being the only 360-degree Internet video technology provider to support QuickTime," said Andrew Thau, CEO of Be Here, in a prepared statement. Be Here's 360lens optical system captures the full 360-degree environment in a single, seamless image. The company's software transforms the image in real time or batch mode into video that can be edited and encoded with tools like Final Cut Pro and QuickTime Pro.

Finally, Internet Pictures Corp. yesterday announced a suite of new dynamic imaging products that are compatible with QuickTime 5. iPIX is providing enhancements to the QuickTime platform and adding new functionality available only on the Macintosh platform. iPIX dynamic imaging solutions, including 360-degree spherical images and movies, can now be created in the QuickTime format. The following iPIX products are now compatible with QuickTime:

• iPIX Builder, which combines two hemispherical images into a single spherical image, can now produce native QuickTime VR images in the new cubic panorama format.
• iPIX Movies, which support navigable spherical video for viewing and offline use.
• The new iPIX Viewer has been written to take advantage of Apple's Velocity Engine, which provides better performance and an improved viewing experience. The iPIX Viewer additionally offers dramatically improved navigation and zooming capabilities, according to iPix.
• The Panoscan2iPIX tool is a Macintosh-only application that, when used in conjunction with the iPIX Builder, allows images captured with the Panoscan to be converted into an iPIX spherical image or QuickTime VR cubic panorama.
• And the iPIX Photoshop Plugin allows developers to edit iPIX image content in Adobe Photoshop.

The iPIX Support QuickTime Component has been developed by iPIX to conform to Apple's new QuickTime Component architecture for automatic installation on client machines without the need for the user to download and install QuickTime components. For more information, visit http://www.ipix.com.

If you have not yet download the QuickTime 5 public preview, it's available now at http://www.apple.com/quicktime.

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