This chapter contains these topics:
Movie Player is a tool with VCR-like controls for viewing movies on your workstation (refer to “Viewing Movies” for basic instructions).
Movie Player offers a number of viewing controls (see “Setting Viewing Options”), and enables you to copy parts of the movie into other applications (see “Copying Selected Frames and Audio Into Other Applications”).
Here are two ways to open the Movie Player tool:
To open it immediately, click these red launch words: Movie Player
To open it by clicking on an icon:
Open the Find menu on the desktop Toolchest, and choose “Media Tools.”
The Media Tools page of the Icon Catalog appears.
Double-click the Movie Player icon.
Tip: Use the Find an Icon tool (click on these red words to launch this tool now) to locate the icon.
| Tip: You can also open Movie Player with a movie file, by dropping a movie file icon directly onto the Movie Player icon. |
You select a portion of your movie when you want to copy it, save it as another file, or just view it.
To select a section of a movie:
Place your cursor on the selection bar; then click the left mouse button.
The selection bar is pointed out in Figure 7-1.
Hold down the mouse button and drag the cursor to select an area.
In the selection bar, the section you select is colored in.
Once you have made your selection, you have the following options:
If you want to play the selected section, open the View menu and select “Play Selection Only,” then click the Play button. A check mark indicates that “Play Selection Only” is enabled. To turn it off, select it again.
If you want to copy the selection, open the Edit menu and select “Copy.” See “Copying Selected Frames and Audio Into Other Applications” for more information.
To view a movie file:
Open Movie Player.
For instructions, see “Starting Movie Player.”
Open the File menu and select “Open...”
A file browser window appears.
Use the file browser to select the movie file you want to view, then click OK.
Tip: To open a movie file in Movie Player at anytime, you can drag and drop the movie file icon directly onto the Movie Player icon or Movie Player viewing area. Tip: You can drag-and-drop to open a different movie from one you are currently viewing. For example, if you are currently viewing Movie A, you can drop the Movie B icon into the viewing area in order to view Movie B instead. The movie appears in the viewing area. Click the Play button, as shown in Figure 7-2.
Use the Stop, Return to Start and Volume controls as desired.
Figure 7-2 points out these controls. See “Adjusting Volume” for more information on volume control.
| Tip: Clicking in the viewing area while a movie is playing pauses the movie (click Play to continue viewing). |
Use the Movie Player volume dial (shown in Figure 7-3) to adjust the volume of the movie you are viewing. Click on the dial and hold down the mouse button as you drag the mark on the dial clockwise to raise the volume, or counterclockwise to bring it back down.
 | Note: Movie Player volume settings can operate independently of the Audio Panel volume settings. For example, if you are playing a CD over your workstation while using Movie Player, the CD volume is not affected by the Movie Player volume. |
| Note: When a movie is played in “Play Every Frame” mode, the movie's audio is turned off because audio synchronization is turned off (see “Changing Playback Settings” for more information). |
This section contains:
The Movie Player viewing options include:
You can zoom the viewing area up or down, thus increasing or decreasing the size of the window, respectively.
To zoom in or out:
Open the View menu and select “Zoom Up” or “Zoom Down.”
The viewing area reflects the zoom command. You can continue to zoom the window up or zoom down by selecting either command repeatedly.
Tip: Instead of using the View menu, place the cursor over the Movie Player window, then press <Ctrl-u> to zoom up, or <Ctrl-d> to zoom down.
To set the zoom percentage:
Open the View menu and select the “Zoom” rollover menu. Choose 25%, 50%, 100%, 200%, 300%, or 400%.
This setting is applied until you change it or exit Movie Player.
When you are viewing a movie, there are three different ways you can have the movie's time displayed: by seconds, by frames, or by timecode.
| Note: The timecode display will not be relevant for most non-professional users; it is generally only applicable when working with professional video equipment. |
To choose the time unit to display:
Open the View menu and choose “Seconds,” “Frames,” or “Timecode.” A check mark next to any of these menu items indicates that it is selected.
Figure 7-4 points out where the time unit is displayed in the Movie Player window. The time unit displayed is the time of the current frame—that is, the frame shown in the Movie Player viewing area. This time is also marked by a thin line on the selection bar.
If you choose to display:
| Seconds | the number displayed will represent the current frame, measured by numbered of seconds into the movie. | |
| Frames | the number displayed will represent the current frame, measured by frames into the movie. For example, the number might be 42, representing the forty-second frame in the movie. | |
| Timecode | the number displayed will represent the current frame, measured in SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) timecode. SMPTE is a standard for determining the location of individual frames on video; a time stamp that is used by professional equipment. It numbers frames in this way: hour:minute:second:frame. |
To alter certain playback settings of the current opened movie, open the View menu and choose from:
| Set Playback Mode |
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| Set Playback Speed |
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| Play Every Frame |
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Movie Player has two kinds of default viewing preferences that you can control:
By default, movie files are set to play through once. To control this behavior:
Open the File menu and choose “Preferences...”
The Preferences dialog box appears.
Under the words “Loop Mode,” click on “Stop,” “Loop,” or “Swing,” depending on whether you want the movie to play once, loop (play over and over), or swing (play forward, then backward, then forward, and so on).
Click OK to apply the settings and exit the dialog box.
To program Movie Player to automatically play a movie file when you open it within Movie Player:
Open the File menu and select “Preferences...”
The Preferences dialog appears.
Click the “Automatically play files on open” check box.
A check mark indicates it is selected. (To turn it off, click it again.)
Click OK to apply and exit the dialog box.
You can select a section of a movie and paste a copy of it into another application, such as Movie Maker . In addition to copying and pasting between Movie Maker and Movie Player, you can copy and paste from Movie Player and Movie Maker to IRIS Showcase, Image Works, and the InPerson whiteboard. Note that with these applications, you can only copy one frame at a time, as opposed to a selection of frames. You can also copy and paste audio clips between Media Player, Media Maker, and Sound Editor.
To do so:
Select the section of the movie that you would like to copy.
See “Selecting a Section of a Movie” for instructions on selecting.
Choose “Copy” from the Edit menu.
Open the application that you wish to paste the copied clip into.
Invoke the new application's “Paste” command.
Note: Refer to the application's Help menu for paste instructions if necessary. The track or frame is pasted at the point you have specified in the new application.
| Tip: Instead of using the “Copy” and “Paste” commands, use the keyboard shortcut <Ctrl-c> for copy, and <Ctrl-v> for paste. |
The Movie Player interface includes the following:
If you have opened a movie in Movie Player, the viewing area displays one frame of that movie. When you click the play button, the movie plays in the viewing area. If you click once in the viewing area while a movie is playing, the movie pauses. Click the Play button to continue viewing the movie. See “Viewing Movies” for more details.
In addition to the Help menu, there are three Movie Player menus. As follows:
The File menu contains the following commands:
| Open... | Brings up a file browser dialog box so that you can select a media file to open in Movie Player. | |
| Save As... | Brings up a Save As dialog box so that you can save the current file under a new name and/or location. | |
| Preferences... | Brings up the Preferences dialog box. See “Setting Default Viewing Preferences.” | |
| Exit | Exits Movie Player. |
The Edit menu contains the following command:
| Copy | Copies the current selection so that you can paste it somewhere else. See also “Selecting a Section of a Movie” and “Copying Selected Frames and Audio Into Other Applications.” |
| Note: The View menu is a “tear off” menu, which means that once it is open, you can display it as separate window. To do this, open the View menu and highlight the dashed (- - - - - - ) line that appears at the top of the menu. |
The View menu contains the following commands:
| Zoom Up | Zooms the movie viewing window up. See “Zooming Up and Down” for more information. | |
| Zoom Down | Zooms the movie viewing window down. See “Zooming Up and Down” for more information. | |
| Zoom | Allows you to choose the zoom percentage. | |
| Time Unit | Choose from Seconds, Frames, or Timecode. These commands set the type of time unit displayed. See “Setting and Reading the Time Display” for more information. | |
| Playback Mode |
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| Playback Speed |
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| Play Selection Only |
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| Play Every Frame | |
The selection bar represents the movie's timeline. A thin line in the selection bar indicates the time of the frame you are currently viewing. Use the selection bar to select a section of the movie. See “Selecting a Section of a Movie.”
Displays frames, seconds, or timecode representing current selection. See “Setting and Reading the Time Display.”
Click and drag clockwise to increase the volume, or counterclockwise to decrease volume. See “Adjusting Volume” for more information.
Click the Return to Start button to return to the beginning of a movie. Figure 7-2 gives a visual overview of the Movie Player controls.
Click the Stop button to stop a movie while playing. Figure 7-2 gives a visual overview of the Movie Player controls.
Click the Play button to start or resume playing of a movie. Figure 7-2 gives a visual overview of the Movie Player controls.