This script will assemble the components of a media skin movie and save the results as a self-contained QuickTime movie file. The following text describes how the script works and the steps required to use the example files included with the script. Note that this script only processes standard QuickTime movie files of file type “MooV”.
The Media Skin Image Files
Creating a custom media skin for your movies requires the creation of three image files:
1) The media skin. This image will be the window in which the movie is played. It can be of nearly any shape and size.
In the example included with this script, there is a simple media skin file which adds a standard border and title bar to the movie. This image is designed to display a movie having a width of 240 pixels and a height of 180 pixels. The blue region defines the area to display the video content of the movie.
Note that the offset of the top left of the blue region is 6 pixels horizontally and 22 pixels vertically from the top left of the media skin image. The script will use these measurements in order to place the video track in the corrext position over the media skin background. Note that the size and offset info has been overlayed on the media skin image.
2) The drag mask image. This image will define the areas of the window which can be clicked by the user to drag the window. The black regions of the image will be the clickable areas of the finished window. In this example, the title bar and sides of the movie will be the drag regions.
3) The window mask image. This image defines the visable area of the media skin window. Black regions will be visible to the user, white areas will be invisible. In this example, the entire area defined by the media skin image will be visible.
Transparent Overlay Media Skins
If you want the media skin to partially cover the source video, fill the area to be transparent with a solid color of a specific RGB value such as White, Black, %50 Gray, 100% Blue, etc.
In the following example image, the Q has been filled with %50 Gray. The script preferences can be set to adjust the track’s operation color and transfer mode for this value, and the center of the Q image will become transparent when the skinned movie is created.
Setting the Script Preferences
The script droplet relies on preferences, set by the user, to locate and manipulate the essential files. This script is designed to look for the various image files in the same folder as the droplet. If the essential image files are not in the same folder as the script, the script will not execute.
You can make copies of this droplet to be placed in other folders containing your various media skin files. Set the preferences for each droplet to work with its neighbor files.
To set the preferences for the droplet, double-click its icon in the Finder to summon the status dialog. This dialog shows the current settings for the various script preferences. Click the “Set Prefs” button to set each of the script preferences.
The first three preferences are for identifying the image files to be used by the script when constructing the media skin movie.
In the first dialog, enter the name of the image file which will be used as the media skin background. You may either enter the name in the input field or click the “Choose File” button to locate the appropriate file. The script will then place the name of the chosen file in the input field for you.
When you've entered the name of the appropriate media skin image file, click the “OK” button to proceed.
Repeat this process in the forthcoming dialogs for identifying the window mask image and the drag mask image.
After inputing the names of the other files, two successive dialogs will appear asking for you to enter the offset to be used to position the video track against the chosen media skin background. These measurements depend on the design of your media skin.
In the first dialog, enter the horizontal offset (in pixels) from the left of the media skin image to the left of the video display area.
In the second dialog, enter enter the vetical offset (in pixels) from the top of the media skin image to the top of the video display area.
The next dialog determines whether you want the media skin image to be placed behind the source video or infront of the source video. Media skin images placed over the source video must have areas of a solid color which will be made transparent during the creation of the skinned movie.
If you clicked the “Yes” button, a list dialog will appear from which you can choose the color which the script will make transparent. If your overlay color is not in the list you may enter its RGB values individually by clicking the “Other” button at the bottom of the list dialog.
If you clicked the “Other” button, a series of three dialogs will prompt you for each of the RGB values for color to be made transparent. Every color is specified as a list of individual Red, Green, and Blue values: {Red value, Green value, Blue value}. Each individual RGB color component is an integer between 0 and 65535, with 0 being the minimum and 65535 being the maximun value.
For example, White is {65535, 65535, 65535}, Black is {0, 0, 0}, 100% Red is {65535, 0, 0}, 50% Gray is {32768, 32768, 32768}, etc. NOTE that the values you enter in these dialogs must exactly match those of the area in the overlay image which is meant to be transparent.
The final two preference dialogs are for setting the playback properties.
Click the “Yes” button if you want the movie to automatically start playing when opened.
Click the “Yes” button if you want the movie to automatically close when it has finished playing.
After setting the property, the script will return to the status dialog. Click the “Done” button to exit the script.
If the media skin image is set to overlay, the operation color name or value will be displayed in the status dialog.
Running the Script
To use the script, drag a movie file, or multiple files, or folders of movie files onto the droplet. A dialog will appear prompting for the destination folder for the finished files.
Once chosen, a media skin copy of each dragged-on movie will be created and placed into this folder.
Adding Extra Image Tracks
You may wish to add other image or sprite tracks to the finished movie. You can use the script “Import & Position Image Track” to add and position new tracks to the media skin movie. This script, one of the QuickTime 5.0 Player script collection, is saved in compiled format and must be run from a menu such as OSA Menu (A script menu, written by Leonard Rosenthol (www.Lazerware.com), which provides a convienient means for launching compiled scripts from within any application.
