Introduction

Though Quicktime was originally designed for the Macintosh, it has become a standard for the World Wide Web. Players for various machines are available from http://www.mcad.edu/Guests/EricB/xplat.movie.html. In addition Quicktime files can easily be converted to MPEG files using the Macintosh Sparkle application, as discussed below.

Two basic methods for generating Quicktime and MPEG movies are presented. The first method involves the use of the Macintosh and software specific to the Macintosh. The second method will use only Unix applications. This method is limited to creating MPEG movies. Both of these methods will use Sun rasterfiles as the input. Sun rasterfiles are easily generated with IDL or by converting an NCAR metacode file to a Sun rasterfile. A third method will soon be added that covers the PC architectures (e.g. Windows and DOS-based machines).

Method 1

• Transfer the Sun rasterfiles to the Macintosh. For those with a TCP/IP connection the Fetch application is very useful. If the connection to your source of Sun rasterfiles is a simple serial connection you will find the kermit file transfer application useful.

• Use GraphicConverter to convert the Sun rasterfiles into the PICT file format. This is required input format for the ConvertToMovie application.

  Example use of GraphicConverter:

  • Use ConvertToMovie to generate the Quicktime movie from a series of PICT files. You will be asked to set a number of parameters:
    • Select first frame
    • Select last frame
    • Compression settings
    • Conversion Options
    • Name the output
    • Quit ConvertToMovie

• Quicktime 2.1 or greater is required to support MoviePlayer 2.1 the program used to prepare the Quicktime file for use on non-Macintosh computers.

• To create an MPEG version of this movie start the Sparkle application. Load the Quicktime file into Sparkle then "Save As..." and select MPEG, click OK. The next window asks for a number of parameters to be selected. You can safely ignore these and just click OK.

• Now you have a Quicktime version AND an MPEG version of the movie ready to upload to your Unix machine.

Method 2

• The details involved in generating MPEG movies can be found here.
  However, the mpeg_create script can be used to generate MPEG movies from Sun rasterfiles or GIF formatted files. The script requires the following three executables - be sure to select Load to Local Disk from the Options menu if using Mosaic before downloading a file.
  • rasttopnm ( for Solaris/Sparcstation)
    
  • ppmtoyuvsplit( for Solaris/Sparcstation)
    
  • mpeg( for Solaris/Sparcstation)

• Creating a Sun rastefile from an NCAR metacode files
  The NCAR Graphics command ctrans can be used to convert NCAR Graphics metacode into Sun rasterfile format. The Sun rasterfile can then be decomposed into individual frames using the rassplit command. The mpeg_create command is then used to generate the MPEG movie from the individual Sun rasterfiles. Here's an example of creating an MPEG movie from an NCAR Graphics metacode file. For more information on NCAR Graphics you can go here.

• Creating multipane movies.
  The animations seen in the November 1993 (Preliminary) sequence is an example of a multipane animation. Each frame of this sequence was generated using the following IDL procedures:
  • mk4pane.pro

  • mkCOMBINED.pro

  • overlay.pro

--Revised 31 January 1996 bill@ncar.ucar.edu

Top of page