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I'd like to export my prepared quartz composition (I'm using Quartz Composer 4.6) to .mov. I tried to it with "File > Export as a QuickTime Movie", but it asks me about duration time and after clicking OK it creates a file .mov what is "zero kilobytes".

I wonder it's a bug or I'm doing something wrong? How can I export it to .mov in another way?

Konrad Kolasa
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1 Answers1

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Quartz Composer's built-in "Export" command takes the composition and wraps it in a special kind of QuickTime movie — in order to play this movie back, you need a Mac, you need QuickTime Player version 7, and you can't use any "unsafe" plugins (i.e., almost all 3rd-party plugins). So, even when it works, it's of limited utility.

There are a few other options for taking the visual rendered output of a Quartz Composition and turning it into a normal movie (which you can share with non-Mac users) —

  1. Use qtzrendang — it renders composition frames to a movie file.
  2. Use Kineme QuartzCrystal — it renders composition frames to a movie file, with additional features like antialiasing and motion blur. (*)
  3. Put your composition inside a Render In Image patch, and feed the output to the Movie Exporter Plugin.

(*) Disclosure: I'm one of the developers of this software.

smokris
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  • I'm using a mac and the exported mov file is still not playable in QuickTime. By the way, it seems that the Kineme QuartzCrystal is marked not supported since Mountain Lion. – Lenciel Dec 23 '13 at 15:04
  • @Lenciel: You need QuickTime Player version 7 to play these movies back. I updated my answer to reflect that. – smokris Dec 23 '13 at 15:47
  • @Lenciel: Kineme QuartzCrystal works on 10.8 and 10.9, even though it is not officially supported. – smokris Dec 23 '13 at 15:48
  • @smokris Thank you for answer. I didn't use any "unsafe" plugins in my composition and I obviously use the Mac. "qtzrendang" works, but the quality isn't the best. ``Render In Image`` with ``Movie Exporter`` gave the same effect like "Export as a QuickTime Movie". I use QT 10. So I would have to downgrade it. – Konrad Kolasa Dec 23 '13 at 19:33
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    @KonradKolasa: In that case I'd recommend trying Kineme QuartzCrystal. (The free trial shows a checkerboard over the image; purchasing a license allows rendering without the checkerboard.) – smokris Dec 23 '13 at 20:56
  • @smokris Yup, this tool works awesome. It works even with mouse interaction when use ``Record Input``. I need to consider buying this. – Konrad Kolasa Dec 28 '13 at 14:46
  • @smokris trying out Kineme QuartzCrystal and it's successfully exporting into .mov but I can't seem to interact with the composition. I built a simple iPhone click animation but I can't seem to trigger the animation from inside Kineme QuartzCrystal. Any ideas? I tried Record Input but still didn't work. I'm on Mavericks and using Quartz Composer v4.6 with latest Origami. Thanks. – Mac Sep 18 '14 at 02:12
  • @Mac: Kineme QuartzCrystal records and plays back Quartz Composer events, which work with the built-in `Mouse` and `Interaction` patches (and any other patches that use Quartz Composer events). But Origami's `Interaction 2` patch (and other patches derived from it, like `Scroll`) doesn't use Quartz Composer events, so Kineme QuartzCrystal has no way to record and play back Origami's patches. – smokris Sep 26 '14 at 03:55