Audio, Video, Effects and Animation

Multimedia features you need to build any kind of application, presentation

LiveCode’s suite of multimedia features includes everything you need to create stunning content. Create exquisite user interfaces with complete control over skinning. Add graphic effects such as drop shadows and glows, object blends or gradient fills. Apply deep masks to create custom, translucent window shapes. Bring it all together with audio and video, visual effects and animation.

One of LiveCode’s unique strengths is its ability to mix native themed interface elements with completely custom objects or effects. For example, you can apply translucency and drop shadow effects to standard interface objects or make them fade in and out. Standard interface objects can be layered with custom objects. LiveCode’s broad feature set combined with this unparalleled flexibility allows you to deliver the most polished or sophisticated end-user experience. If you can design it, then you can build it with LiveCode.
Graphics

LiveCode includes support for working with bitmap graphic formats. It also includes support vector graphics. As with all LiveCode objects, new images and vector graphics can be created at runtime.

Import, export and manipulate bitmap graphics in popular formats, including PNG, GIF and JPEG. Image data can be manipulated from code, through paint tools controlled by the user and through paint tools manipulated from code.

Vector graphics support includes antialising, dashing, join and end caps, patterns and 7 configurable gradient fills. As with all LiveCode objects, vector graphics can be created, deleted and all properties manipulated from code.

Effects

Create stunning effects with support for object graphic effects and visual transition effects.

All LiveCode controls including both custom and native themed elements support graphic effects such as drop shadows, inner shadows, outer glow, inner glow and color overlay. Settings for these effects include quality, spread, size, and blend modes include normal, multiply and color dodge.

Visual transition effects include QuickTime effects, Core Image Effects (e.g. page curl on OS X machines) and built-in transitions.

Skinning

Customize your user interface as much or as little as you like. Whether you simply need to support buttons with custom rollover states or you want to go for a completely custom look, LiveCode makes it easy. You can create a user interface element with any look or functionality that you might wish. Build your own scrollbars, create scrolling credits that fade out, incorporate beautiful color cursors, or create alpha blended images with translucence areas and holes – the limit is your imagination.

Audio and Video

Play back audio in standard formats and video using QuickTime. Full programmatic control is included for the QuickTime feature set including playback, sound volume, streaming and QTVR. Insert callbacks into your movies to execute code at key points as they play.

Audio and video capture is provided on Windows using DirectShow and on Mac OS X using QuickTime. Access the system settings dialog and save settings for future use.
Media Manipulation Commands

In addition to full programmatic control over the other features listed, LiveCode has a number of additional commands and functions for interactive with multimedia.

The import snapshot feature allows you to capture a region of the screen. The import snapshot allows you to create a rendering of any LiveCode object. For example to render an image from a button:

import snapshot from button “Hello World”

This command works even if the object is offscreen. If you import a snapshot from a group of objects, each of the individual objects is rendered within the image and the rest of the image is given a transparent alpha channel.

The move command allows you to move objects around the screen. For example to move an object 200 pixels along a freeform vector graphic called “path” in 5 seconds, without blocking user interaction:

move image “Sun” to the points of graphic “path” in 5 seconds without waiting

Timer based messaging is also utilized when creating many multimedia effects. Timers allow you to send a message to be delivered in the future, usually within a certain number of milliseconds and can be used to redraw the screen.

Web Browser Object

Render web pages directly in your application (uses WebKit on Mac OS X and MSHTML (IE) on Windows). Display standard HTML content or render content using popular browser plugins, such as PDF.