Totally Hip LiveStage Professional 4

Who knew QuickTime could do all this? It's not a rhetorical question, because Apple hasn't exactly been real busy spreading the word about all the cool stuff lurking in QuickTime that LiveStage Professional gives you unfettered access to. Perhaps if this product was made by Apple itself and branded "QuickTime Studio Pro," QuickTime might be widely known by now as much, much more than a video format. Alas, we have to rely on Totally Hip for assistance in tapping into the large helping of interactive goodness that's been a largely hidden part of QuickTime for many moons now.

Now, I can probably count on one hand the number of readers who actually remember the Interactive QuickTime Authoring series penned by yours truly a while back. If you do happen to be one of the few rabid fans who eagerly waited on each new installment, you'll recall the feature on LiveStage Professional 4, (hereafter, LSP) in which I offered an overview of LSP in the larger context of interactive QuickTime, as well as a discussion of the various tracks available to you and what they could be used for. You might want to at least gloss over that previous piece, as I'll be attempting to not duplicate too much in this full review of LSP.

Think differently about QuickTime

Perhaps the most difficult thing about understanding how LSP works is trying to wrap your brain around what role QuickTime plays. QuickTime isn't just a format you can use in LSP to create interactive projects, as is likely the case with other authoring packages. In LSP, QuickTime is the actual platform your interactive project is built on. Your projects become, in the end, "nothing" more than QuickTime movies that get played back in either the QuickTime Player or with the QuickTime browser plug-in. In other words, LSP creates QuickTime movies, and that's "it." If you've been following QuickTime for a while, this may not be such a tall order in terms of grasping the interactive potential of QuickTime; after all, Apple has positioned QuickTime as a media layer rather than just a video format for a while now (even if details about how one were to tap into QuickTime's functionality as such are somewhat scarce). But even if your QuickTime experience doesn't go any farther than using it only as a video format, you've likely noticed that QuickTime can open, play, or display an unholy number of file types, from simple plain text, to oodles of (sometimes obscure) image formats, to various flavors of video, and is even extensible through third-party plug-ins. QuickTime's surface flexibility also extends to the not-so-obvious as well in the form of some not-too-widely-known track types, which is where LSP steps up to the plate.

Integration only

If you've worked with an interactive authoring program before, such as Director or Flash, you may be used to some level of in-app asset creation. Flash has a decent drawing environment, for example, so you can actually generate artwork from scratch in Flash, add interactivity, and publish. LSP is a little different in that it's a dedicated integration environment, meaning that every asset you plan on using in your project has to exist already before you fire up LSP to add interactivity. Ultimately, this means that you'll need to have other programs at your disposal, such as Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, Cleaner, or whatever else (even Flash) that exports QuickTime-compatible content to assist you in preparing the media you plan to integrate in LSP.

Once you get all your assets together, you'll find that LSP works extensively through the Library panel (fig. 1), which allows you to stash current project assets, global assets, and scripts all in one place. The global assets and scripts tabs are customizable, of course, making it quite flexible as far as being able to mix and match project-specific and persistent assets. The other two main interface elements of LSP are:

Figure 1

• The Movie Inspector (fig. 2), which is a context-sensitive panel that allows you to change the properties of the host project or individual assets on the fly, and
• The Project window (fig. 3), which combines the project's stage and timeline along with various track, layout, and trimming tools all within a single window.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Another major piece of LSP's interface that you'll likely be spending a lot of time with is the QScript Reference panel (fig. 4), which isn't visible by default but is a major component of LSP nonetheless. More on that later, though. The bottom line is that LSP distills quite a bit of often varied functionality down to just a few, straightforward interface elements, making LSP, in general, pretty simple to learn and use. Now, you may have noticed by this point that LSP's interface might resemble a NLE program rather than one suited for interactive authoring, which makes sense in this case due to the nature of QuickTime's (largely) linear track structure. Speaking of which, this is probably a good time to discuss...

Figure 4

Track madness

Granting access to the underlying plumbing of QuickTime, by definition, means that LSP is subject to QuickTime's various vagaries and idiosyncrasies, so you'll probably find when working in LSP that the pure linear timeline metaphor put forth in the LSP interface doesn't always hold up. QuickTime's various tracks are an often eclectic mix of linear (movie or sound track) and non-linear (Flash or sprite tracks), meaning that LSP will likely be old hat to Flash veterans that may be used to multiple, independent timelines running around a project.

Some tracks available to you in LSP are fairly straightforward, even though they might go by funky names. For example, the Color track gives you a solid or gradient background to work on (fig. 5), the Effect track grants you access to QuickTime's various built-in filters (fig. 6), and the Picture track gives you the means to create containers for still images or slideshows. It gets a little hairier once you get into the track types that you can add interactivity to, or "wire" (Flash, Sprite, Text, etc.), and it can get super-gorilla-hairy once you start delving into, for example, the wacky process of figuring out when QuickTime's samples actually matter or how to use the not-exactly-intuitive Modifier and Tween tracks (fig. 7). And while LSP's interface to some of the lower-level stuff can be a bit convoluted and/or daunting (fig. 8), fortunately, LSP's manual is pretty good about explaining these quirkier aspects of QuickTime's underlying architecture, so it's not too difficult to eventually figure out what's what.

Figure 5: LSP's Color track options.

Figure 6: LSP gives you access to the many filters native to QuickTime.

Figure 7: In order to add animation to a sprite, you have to hook up a Tween track to a Sprite in what is a pretty convoluted process. Fortunately, you can just use Flash natively in QuickTime if you like and avoid this procedure entirely.

Figure 8: Some sprites as contained in a single Sprite track sample. Little freaky with the interface here.

The last thing I'll touch on here is that in addition to all the track types native to QuickTime, LSP packs a few proprietary ones called FastTracks. Don't worry, though. LSP isn't actually adding anything that isn't already part of QuickTime. They're simply extending the track-based interface to simplify the process of creating custom QuickTime player elements, such as progress bars, playback controls, and nonstandard window shapes (figs. 9-10).

Figure 9: You can easily add custom player controls and progress bars with LSP's FastTracks.

Figure 10: Custom player shapes via LSP's skinning FastTrack open up huge branding possibilities (not to mention just-plain-coolness possibilities as well).

The Flash track: Still the King

The greatest thing about QuickTime, and, by extension, LSP, is the ability to use Flash movies natively as a track. Sadly, QuickTime still only supports Flash 5 SWF files by default, even though Macromedia has had the version 7 spec public for a while now (thanks, Apple!). Even so, there's an amazing amount of synergy between SWF files and QuickTime that LSP lets you take advantage of. For example, you can add ActionScript to objects in Flash, and augment those ActionScripts with QScript directly in LSP (fig. 11). Plus, using Flash instead of QuickTime's really nasty Tween tracks to handle animated sprites is, in my opinion, always a good idea. Put simply, Flash and LSP make a pretty potent interactive combo, even if you are stuck with Flash 5 SWFs for now.

Figure 11: You can combine ActionScript with QScript in LSP to create hybrid Flash/QuickTime movies.

QScript

One of the cruddy parts about using various interactive authoring tools is that each one seems to have a different scripting language. It's because of this that I've sometimes clung to a tool longer than I probably would have otherwise, because getting up to speed in a new language is often a gi-normous undertaking. However, I've found that scripting languages like Lingo or ActionScript are getting "JavaScriptier" in nature, making it a little easier to pick up new languages that at least resemble the ECMAScript model. And while QScript, LSP's scripting language, does use JavaScript-like "dot syntax" to construct its scripts, it's different enough to perhaps cause some problems even to veterans of other languages. Fortunately, the QScript Reference panel is a huge timesaver, one which you'll likely discover and use from the giddy-up. In addition to providing detailed usage descriptions of every QScript command organized by function, it also lets you simply drag-and-drop the commands where you need them to go. I've been used to working this way in both Director and Flash for a long time now, and it's good to see a well-thought out implementation of on-demand script reference and implementation in LSP.

And, in keeping with an industry trend of providing some level of out-of-the-box functionality for the non-scripters among us, LSP also allows for pre-packaged scripts called behaviors. Many common functions and effects ship with LSP as behaviors (fig. 12), and you can, of course, "roll your own" once you inevitably become a QScript guru. There are also quite a few free, add-on behaviors available on the Stagedoor section of the Totally Hip Web site.

Figure 12: The myriad behaviors that ship with LSP mean that you can put off learning QScript for a while.

Disappointments

In these days of point-and-click simplicity, it seems almost unnecessary to include anything about the installation process for any program, but, alas, forces have conspired to make a discussion of product installation relevant again. More and more companies are "offering" product activation as part of their software, and unfortunately, LSP is one such program. In response to the overall trend, I plan on describing (or at least mentioning) the activation process in any affected software package I review from here on out, as I feel it's important for potential users to know the totality of what their hard-earned dollars are buying. And in the interest of complete disclosure, I need to state for the record that as a general rule, I tend to be against most forms of product activation. The process usually results in the legitimate user being made to feel like a common criminal in their attempts to use software that they have bought (often at great expense), even while most activation schemes are quickly, and sometimes almost trivially, circumvented by those bent on cracking the system. But, as with so many things in life, there are a lot of things I don't like that I have to live with anyway. Therefore, even with my stated bias, I do try to take an objective look at how various activation processes affect individual programs on a case-by-case basis.

LSP uses the Interlok system, which requires a separate install of the appropriate drivers for LSP to even run. When you install LSP, you are required to either connect to the Totally Hip Web site to generate an activation key, or have the program generate a file for you to email to Totally Hip later on, which they will then process and send back. You get two activations, allowing LSP to be installed on a primary and secondary (work/home, desktop/laptop, whatever) machine, provided that the same license is not used concurrently. The software is generally "smart" enough to recognize when you reinstall your OS on the same machine, so for those of us that are frequent (or even compulsive) reinstallers, reactivating won't (or, at least, shouldn't) count against the two you get. You also are granted a third, temporary license for circumstances like when you switch machines, giving you a one week grace period to contact Totally Hip to straighten out your particular situation. I was assured by a Totally Hip representative that begging is not required should you run into trouble, as they'll typically be understanding about circumstances that require activation resets. Overall, it's a pretty fair approach to how users "really" work and is generally tolerable, though I did have trouble with my secondary install and am not real crazy about extra drivers floating around my system. Activation aside, though, there's a lot to like in LSP that washes away the bad-ish taste of the anti-piracy stuff, so let's finally get down to business here.

Apart from the presence of product activation, there isn't much to gripe about here. LSP is pretty much the only game in town as far as this particular breadth and depth of QuickTime authoring goes, and even with that position in the interactive QuickTime market, there are really no major areas of concern. I found LSP to be quick, stable, and generally easy to use, which is especially impressive considering the potential for complexity. If I were to pick out one area to harp on, it would have to be the parts of the interface that cover the more obscure tracks, such as the Sprite and Tween tracks. With the crucial role these types of tracks play in creating interactive QuickTime, LSP's interface is, at best, a tad confusing to use, making the overall learning curve longer than it probably needs to be. However, LSP places as brave a face as possible on the somewhat quirky way QuickTime has been extended over the years to handle interactivity, so overall it's not a dealbreaker.

The Bottom Line

I've more or less barely scratched the surface of LSP's features, but suffice it to say that LSP makes QuickTime all it should have always been. We're in Director territory here, quite frankly, because with LSP's help, QuickTime actually leaves very little to be desired as an interactive, full-featured, cross-platform media layer. Data-driven Web sites, XML integration, custom QuickTime players, interactive slideshows, and gobs of whatever else you'd expect from an interactive authoring program are at your fingertips with LSP. Add in LSP's easy publishing for either CD ROM or the Web, and we've got ourselves a winner.

Granted, there are some inherent issues in relying on QuickTime as the basis for any multimedia project, such as the need to sometimes require a separate installation on Windows systems and the probability of extra hassle with licensing and distributing the QuickTime player. But if these issues are non-issues for you, LiveStage Professional 4.1 is a fantastic tool for unlocking QuickTime's full potential as a cross-platform interactive authoring environment for both online and offline projects, and with no major issues to speak of, easily earns a Strong Buy rating. As of this writing, Mac and Windows versions of LiveStage Professional 4.1 are available for $449.95 (download) or $499.95 (boxed retail), with upgrades from version 3 running $249.95, so get while the gettin's good!

Filed under: Review on January 2nd, 2004

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