Cue
Points
DirectMediaXtra supports cue points as introduced in Director
6. Cue points can be marked in the Properties Dialog box that appears when
you create or when you double-click a DirectMediaXtra cast member. (Note:
cue points can not be used with Director 5)
Each DirectMediaXtra can have up to 64 different cue points marked.
Cue points times are measured in milliseconds, and the name of the cue
point can have up to 32 characters. To create a cue point you should first
locate the time using the preview movie in the Properties Dialog window.
Then select "ADD". A window will appear for you to define the name of
the cue point. If you need to modify a cue point later you can double-click
its name on the list of cue points and edit its name and time directly.
You can use the "GOTO" button to check the location of a cue point, and
the "REMOVE" button can be used to delete a cue point.
DirectMediaXtra does not modify the video file in any way. The cue
points are maintained by your DirectMediaXtra cast members, so you do
not need to leave Director or mark them again if the original video is
recompressed.
Creating Cue Points from Lingo
There are two functions that you can use to create and remove cue points
from Lingo.
| addcuepoint(member
x, cuepointtime, cuepointname) |
| removecuepoint(member
x, cuepointindex) |
Using Cue Points
DirectMediaXtra cue points can be used just like Director built-in
media cue points. You can use the "Wait for cue point" option in the Tempo
channel of the score for easy synchronization of media, as shown in the
"Testbed.dir" sample movie. For advanced Lingo users, the following properties
are supported:
| isPastCuePoint(sprite
x) |
the
mostRecentCuePoint of sprite x |
| the
cuepointtimes of member x |
the
cuepointnames of member x |
Please consult Director's documentation for more information about these
properties.
DirectMediaXtra sprites also receive the onCuePassed Lingo message.
However, Director's documentation is inaccurate when it comes to the
syntax of this particular Lingo message. The correct syntax is:
| on
cuePassed me, whichChannel, cuePointNumber, cuePointName |
Director's help does not mention the me parameter, but we verified
that this syntax also applies to SWA and Quicktime generated cue points.
You can use this event to get information about cue points from inside your
behaviors. Again, the "Testbed.dir" movie uses this command to display the
name of the most recent cue point on the screen. Please examine the movie
for more information.
IMPORTANT: The "Wait for cue point" setting in the Tempo channel
does not work correctly if the DirectMediaXtra sprite is in the very last
frame of the score. This is also true for SWA and Quicktime sprites. It is
always a good idea to avoid using the very first and the very last frame of the
score in Director, since they do not behave exactly like all the others.
