As is the case with Max, you can control Jitter using the message box object. Normally, the message box contains an object, and you click on it or replace a variable typed into the message box to send a message down a patch cord to another Max object. However, if the message in a message box begins with a semicolon (;) followed by the word jitter, any message which follows will be sent directly to the Max application itself, just as though there were a receive object named "jitter".

Another way this may be accomplished is to send messages via the forward object. The forward object works similar to the send object, but is not restricted to sending to named instances of the receive object.

These messages may be also included in a file named "jitter-config.txt", located anywhere in the search path and they will be executed when Jitter loads. This is particularly useful for the nosplash or javaload messages.

Here is listing of the messages you can send using this technique:

Launches the Jitter about box.

(Macintosh only) The word altivec, followed by a zero or one, toggles altivec optimization on/off.

(Macintosh only) The word cursor, followed by a zero or one, toggles cursor visibility on/off.

The word glattribpush, followed by a zero or one, toggles safety measure used to isolate individual OpenGL objects from adversely affecting one another's OpenGL state machine. By default, this is off (as of Jitter 1.5 and later), but it may be useful to turn on if experiencing problems which seem like OpenGL state from one object is affecting another object.

The word glerrorcheck, followed by a zero or one, toggles opengl error testing/reporting on/off. By default this is on, but turning it off can give minor performance boost.

The word html_ref, followed by a symbol that specifies the name of a Jitter object, launches the reference file for the object. (must be in Max's search path).

The word javaload, followed by a zero or one, toggles Jitter Java support on/off.

The word launch_browser, followed by a URL as a symbol, Launches the specified URL in the default system web browser.

(Macintosh only) The word menubar, followed by a zero or one, toggles menubar visibility on/off. Similar to Max's showmenubar, and hidemenubar messages. When using in conjunction with the jit.window object's fullscreen attribute, it is recommended that the jit.window object's fsmenubar attribute is used instead of Jitter's menubar message, in order to prevent possible "pixel trash".

The word nosplash, followed by a one, disables the Jitter splash screen. Only useful if contained in a jitter-config.txt file.

The word parallel, followed by a zero or one, toggles parallel processor support. The default is on if machine has multiple processors (or cores), and otherwise off.

The word parallelthreads, followed by an integer, specifies the number of threads used for parallel processor support. Default is the number of processors (or cores).

The word parallelthresh, followed by an integer, specifies matrix cellcount above which parallel processors are used. Default is 10000 cells.

The word pollthrottle, followed by an integer, sets the number of scheduler events to process per scheduler tick. Equivalent to Max's setpollthrottle message.

Posts the Jitter version string in Max Window.

The word queuethrottle, followed by an integer, sets the number of low priority queue events to process per low priority queue service. Equivalent to Max's setqueuethrottle message.

Set the cache location. Cached audio will be saved:
0 = next to the original movie
1 = in the user-domain common folder (default)
2 = in the system-domain common folder
3 = in the user's temporary items folder
(symbol) = in the folder specified by the symbol


On Macintosh, the user-domain common folder is "~/Library/Application Support/Cycling '74/spigot-cache/".
On Windows, this folder is "C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Local Settings\Application Data\Cycling '74\spigot-cache\"

On Macintosh and Windows, the system-domain common folder is "(Cycling '74 support folder)/spigot-cache/".

The temporary items folder is typically invisible and inaccessible to normal users on both systems.

Set the maximum size of the audio cache in megabytes. A cache size less than 0 indicates that the cache should have no maximum size (the default).

Gets the cache location. The cache location is sent to any receive object with the same name as the receiver argument, and is reported as a fully-qualified path.

Gets the cache site. The cache size is sent to any receive object with the same name as the receiver argument.

Opens the cache location in your Operating System's file browser.

Deletes the contents of the cache, to the limit specified by spigot_cachesize. This method is called automatically every time jit.qt.movie opens a cached audio file, or every time the cache size is set with the spigot_cachesize method.