Create a file on Windows to play on a Mac
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I was asked to help out a dance company with some projection in a city across the country from where I live. As I don't have the ability to work directly with them, I am planning on preparing the content and sending it to them to use on their own. I could make a simple video file that will hopefully work with what they want, but it would be easier to create a scene in Isadora that added the layers as they want them. The problem is, I work on Windows and they only have access to a Mac. I have had files that were created on a Mac work for me on Windows (as long as they didn't use Core Image or Core Audio), but I didn't want to assume that it would go the other way around. I tried searching the knowledge base, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer yet.
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Dear @dgaddy
The real issue is movie playback. Probably, if you use Apple Pro Res, and both computers have an SSD, you'll be fine. But you also might consider the HAP codec.. that's really emerging as the only truly workable cross platform standard in terms of them both performing well.Everything else should be OK as long as you, as you said, don't use Core Video/Audio. (Note however, if you use third party FreeFrame plugins, you'll need to ensure there versions for both platforms.)Best Wishes,Mark -
I've recently been to-ing fro-ing between Mac and PC on a project.
Since you can't encode to ProRes on the PC unless you use the (no longer available) Mirazon Codec
I've been using 720p video H264 CBR 10Mbps encoded on the PC. It plays fine on the Mac.
In the project the movie files play straight through from beginning to end and are not manipulated in any way except for their placement at 100% on the (1920 x 1080) stage.
I have not tried the HAP Codec yet. I am concerned that since it's in a Quicktime wrapper, it may only have a short-term future on the PC. (@mark, do you think that, given what we know to date about Quicktime and PC security, that my concern has any justification?)HTH
Mark (not the same one)
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Dear @mark_m,
For sure, we will remove Isadora's reliance on QuickTime. We will still offer it as a possibility for playback, but I am already working toward removing the references in the main program that require QuickTime to be installed to run Isadora on Windows. It's clear that we must severe our relationship to QuickTime in this way. But, as I've said elsewhere on this forum, it is not going to be an overnight affair. I'm hopeful that by July I'll have an updated version for Windows that no longer requires QuickTime.RE: HAP and it's future on Windows. I'm close to getting HAP to play inside a WMV. It will be in the next major release for sure. They have a Windows encoder that is DirectShow (WMV, AVI, etc.) compatible.Best,Mark -
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@Fred, thank you, I did not know that.
