QuartzCrystal

Release: QuartzCrystal, v2.2

Release Type: Production
Version: 2.2
Release Notes

Changes

  • Added workaround for bug in QuartzComposer.framework on Mac OS 10.11, which creates the offline rendering context without a depth buffer, causing incorrect rendering.

Known Issues

See the QuartzCrystal 2.0 release notes.

Release: QuartzCrystal, v2.1

Release Type: Production
Version: 2.1
Release Notes

Changes since QuartzCrystal 2.0

  • Fixed glitchy/flashing movies when rendering with motion blur enabled (thanks to @songcarver for reporting this)

Known Issues

See the QuartzCrystal 2.0 release notes.

Release: QuartzCrystal, v2.0

Release Type: Production
Version: 2.0
Release Notes

Upgrading from QuartzCrystal 1.x to QuartzCrystal 2.0 is only $5! Add QuartzCrystal 2.0 to your shopping cart, and enter your QuartzCrystal 1.x license key as a coupon code during checkout.

Changes since QuartzCrystal 1.4

  • Added ability to record mouse, keyboard, and scroll events and play them back while rendering a composition.
  • Now supports rendering images up to 4096x4096 via the GUI (without antialiasing).
  • Now allows motion blur amounts between 1 and 16 via the GUI.
  • Improved support for color profiles on ATI X1600.
  • Fixed rendered-image-too-dark issue when rendering with motion blur.
  • Fixed crash when canceling in-progress renders on Snow Leopard.
  • Simplified idle composition.
  • Reduced severity of defaced images when QuartzCrystal is unregistered.
  • Added translation en español.

How to Record Input to a Composition

  1. Drag a composition into the QuartzCrystal window.
  2. Click the Record Input button.
  3. Click the Record button and interact with the composition. QuartzCrystal will record mouse, keyboard, and scroll events.
  4. Click the Pause button.
  5. Click the Go To Beginning button followed by the Play button to review your interactions.
  6. If you want to record over (overwrite) any section of the recording, click Play and then Pause when you reach the beginning of that section. Make sure the record mode is set to Replace Events. Click Record and record new events.
  7. If you want to add events to (overdub) any section of the recording without overwriting the existing events, do the same as above but make sure the record mode is set to Add Events.
  8. If you want to delete all events recorded so far, click Clear.
  9. When you're finished recording, click Done. The recording is automatically saved to a .QCRecording file in the same folder as the composition. If you later re-open the composition in QuartzCrystal, the saved recording is automatically loaded into QuartzCrystal. If you don't want QuartzCrystal to load the saved recording, rename or delete the .QCRecording file.
  10. Click Render.

Known Issues

  • Mouse-dragged events performed on a Trackball patch render weirdly when playing back in the Record Input window, but don't affect the rendered movie.
  • Record Input uses a single-stream event model -- it assumes that a mouse-up (or key-up) event is paired with the most recent mouse-down (or key-down) event, and not an earlier mouse-down (or key-down) event. As a result, mouse-up/mouse-down and key-up/key-down events can get mismatched when recording in Add Events mode.
  • For mouse-up, mouse-down, key-up, and key-down events, at most one event can be rendered per frame. If multiple events occur per frame, then the events carry over into subsequent frames. As a workaround, you can render with motion blur, or render at a higher framerate.

Release: QuartzCrystal, v1.4

Release Type: Production
Version: 1.4
Release Notes

This release adds additional time controls, render time estimation, reduced memory usage, some bug fixes, and some performance improvements. The command line interface also allows parameter inputs.

Release: QuartzCrystal, v1.3

Release Type: Production
Version: 1.3
Release Notes

This release contains a rewritten render engine designed to work with Mac OS X 10.5.5 and 10.5.6's CoreImage updates. Stability has been improved, and some UI bugs have been fixed.

A command line version, QuartzCrystalCLI, is included in the App bundle. This is for use in scripts. The GUI relies on this as well, allowing the GUI to continue running even in the event of a render failure/crash.