pseudostereo

Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a "getframe" message?

I mean, I know how to figure it from the other get* messages, but...

So shouldn't frame have getframe, at least for consistency if nothing else?

Reason I'm asking: When I'm trying to teach Jitter and Max at the same time to a roomful of beginners, I like to start with jit.qt.movie, it gets them all excited because they quickly see that Max makes complicated tasks simple.

But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have to spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, routing, etc - it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff anyway, it's just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max looks like it makes simple tasks complicated.

duration has getduration
time has gettime
rate has getrate
framecount has getframecount
fps has getfps
and so on...

But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have to spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, routing, etc - it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff anyway, it's just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max looks like it makes simple tasks complicated.


why-no-getframe-message

Are you overlooking the "frame n" message - which makes jit.qt.movie 

>Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a 

>I mean, I know how to figure it from the other get* messages, but...

>So shouldn't frame have getframe, at least for consistency if nothing else?

>Reason I'm asking: When I'm trying to teach Jitter and Max at the 

>same time to a roomful of beginners, I like to start with 

>jit.qt.movie, it gets them all excited because they quickly see that 

>But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have to 

>spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, routing, etc 

>- it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff anyway, it's 

>just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max looks like it 

Are you overlooking the "frame n" message - which makes jit.qt.movie 
jump to the absolute frame in the movie?

>Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a 
>"getframe" message?
>
>I mean, I know how to figure it from the other get* messages, but...
>
>duration has getduration
>time has gettime
>rate has getrate
>framecount has getframecount
>fps has getfps
>and so on...
>
>So shouldn't frame have getframe, at least for consistency if nothing else?
>
>Just wondering.
>
>Reason I'm asking: When I'm trying to teach Jitter and Max at the 
>same time to a roomful of beginners, I like to start with 
>jit.qt.movie, it gets them all excited because they quickly see that 
>Max makes complicated tasks simple.
>
>But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have to 
>spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, routing, etc 
>- it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff anyway, it's 
>just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max looks like it 
>makes simple tasks complicated.


No, I'm asking for a 'getframe' message, which would report the 

current frame (the same way 'gettime' reports the current time)

>Are you overlooking the "frame n" message - which makes jit.qt.movie 

>jump to the absolute frame in the movie?

>>Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a 

>>I mean, I know how to figure it from the other get* messages, but...

>>So shouldn't frame have getframe, at least for consistency if nothing else?

>>Reason I'm asking: When I'm trying to teach Jitter and Max at the 

>>same time to a roomful of beginners, I like to start with 

>>jit.qt.movie, it gets them all excited because they quickly see 

>>that Max makes complicated tasks simple.

>>But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have to 

>>spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, routing, 

>>etc - it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff anyway, 

>>it's just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max looks 

>>like it makes simple tasks complicated.

Visiting Professor, Interactive Media Division

No, I'm asking for a 'getframe' message, which would report the 
current frame (the same way 'gettime' reports the current time)

>Perry,
>
>Are you overlooking the "frame n" message - which makes jit.qt.movie 
>jump to the absolute frame in the movie?
>
>Kind regards,
>--Aadjan
>
>>Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a 
>>"getframe" message?
>>
>>I mean, I know how to figure it from the other get* messages, but...
>>
>>duration has getduration
>>time has gettime
>>rate has getrate
>>framecount has getframecount
>>fps has getfps
>>and so on...
>>
>>So shouldn't frame have getframe, at least for consistency if nothing else?
>>
>>Just wondering.
>>
>>Reason I'm asking: When I'm trying to teach Jitter and Max at the 
>>same time to a roomful of beginners, I like to start with 
>>jit.qt.movie, it gets them all excited because they quickly see 
>>that Max makes complicated tasks simple.
>>
>>But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have to 
>>spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, routing, 
>>etc - it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff anyway, 
>>it's just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max looks 
>>like it makes simple tasks complicated.

-- 
PERRY HOBERMAN
Visiting Professor, Interactive Media Division
School of Cinema-Television, LUC310a
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089 * (310) 560-3526
phoberman@cinema.usc.edu


On Feb 7, 2007, at 2:50 PM, Perry Hoberman wrote:

> Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a 

frame is just a handy alias for "time", and isn't necessarily correct 

since QT movies do not require fixed framerates. If you look in the 

reference page you'll see it is a *message* not an attribute.

>
> Is there any particular reason why jit.qt.movie doesn't have a  
> "getframe" message?

frame is just a handy alias for "time", and isn't necessarily correct  
since QT movies do not require fixed framerates. If you look in the  
reference page you'll see it is a *message* not an attribute.

On Feb 7, 2007, at 3:23 PM, Perry Hoberman wrote:

>>> But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have 

>>> to spend an hour or two teaching them about message order, 

>>> routing, etc - it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff 

>>> anyway, it's just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max 

>>> looks like it makes simple tasks complicated.

Btw, if this seems too complicated, I might suggest you demonstrate 

the current frame to the students using @framereport 1, or provide a 

prebuilt abstraction for this function which postpones communicating 

the mechanics of the patch and at the same time demonstrates that 

where ever there is a task one wishes to accomplish for something 

that otherwise seems complicated it can be solved once and re-used. 

Software of any complexity, like religion and life itself, is 

typically full of inconsistencies. One need only learn the filters to 

make an inconsistent world feel consistent, and navigation becomes 

much easier (though never that easy if you're forging new 

ground...reminds me of a recent salon article on "why software is 

>>> But then we run into the lack of a getframe message, and I have  
>>> to spend an hour or two teaching them about message order,  
>>> routing, etc - it's not that they wouldn't be learning that stuff  
>>> anyway, it's just that it's such a trivial task, and suddenly Max  
>>> looks like it makes simple tasks complicated.

Btw, if this seems too complicated, I might suggest you demonstrate  
the current frame to the students using @framereport 1, or provide a  
prebuilt abstraction for this function which postpones communicating  
the mechanics of the patch and at the same time demonstrates that  
where ever there is a task one wishes to accomplish for something  
that otherwise seems complicated it can be solved once and re-used.  
Important thing to teach people.

Software of any complexity, like religion and life itself, is  
typically full of inconsistencies. One need only learn the filters to  
make an inconsistent world feel consistent, and navigation becomes  
much easier (though never that easy if you're forging new  
ground...reminds me of a recent salon article on "why software is  
hard").

why no getframe message?