QUICKTIME MOVIE IN
• Terms necessary for the understanding of QuickTime:
- A time coordinate system contains a time scale marked in time units.  The number of units that pass per second quantifies the scale [the units/sec value]; that is a time scale of 26 means that 26 units pass per second and each time unit is 1/26 of a second. A time coordinate system also contains a duration, which is the length of the movie or media in numbers of time units it contains.  Particular points in a movie can be identified by a time value, the number of time units to that point [the unit #].
IMPORTANT NOTE: when specifying which unit to display, be aware that the numbers are ONE based; that is, the first unit in the movie is referred to as unit # 1.
- A frame is the more conventional method of accessing images in a file. Frames per second is the customary way of referring to the speed at which to play back these multiple images. Accessing frames will deliver to you those images which were discretely and explicitly saved to the file. Frame is not to be confused with keyframe, which is a special variety of frame used with temporal compression. 

• The chosen frame to be opened is displayed in the small preview box in the upper right corner. To turn off this display, click in the little checkbox at the upper left corner of the preview box.

• Select the mode of opening frames from the “Open” popup menu. Choices are All Frames, Frames in Range, All Units, Units in Range, Poster Frame.

• All Frames (default): this will open every frame in the movie, from the first to the last. You can enter the Current Frame Number (see below).
 - Current Frame Number: Enter the current frame # you want to open at this time, or click the + or - buttons to step forward or backward through valid frame numbers.  The next time a frame is to be opened from this movie, it will increment this current frame number to the next frame, and after doing the last frame, will indicate that it’s done with that movie. For whichever frame # you enter, it will show you the duration of that frame in units, and the start unit # for the frame.

• All Units: this will open every unit in the movie, from the first to the last. You can enter the Current Unit Number (see below). Since units are very tiny slices in time, you will rarely use this option.
- Current Unit Number: Enter the current unit # you want to open at this time, or click the + or - buttons to step forward or backward through valid unit numbers.  The next time a unit is to be opened from this movie, it will increment this current unit number to the next unit, and after doing the last unit, will indicate that it’s done with that movie. 

• Poster Frame: select this mode if you want to always open the Poster Frame ( the frame chosen to represent the movie by the movie maker).  The unit # of this poster frame is displayed.

• Frames In Range: select this mode to open a specific range of frames in the movie. Selecting this option will enable several popups to appear below, allowing you to enter start and end frame #s, and a frame increment value.

• Units In Range: select this mode to open a specific range of units in the movie. Selecting this option will enable several popups to appear below, allowing you to enter start and end unit #s, and a unit increment value.

• Frame Definition checkboxes: these are for advanced users only. Normal users should select “Default” from the popup menu.

•"In Open Dialog Preview" popup menu allows you to chose one of the following options for displaying the movie in the Open/Preview area (the large gray area): • Don't play the movie; • Play the movie once, stop, and display the chosen frame; • Repeat the movie from beginning to end until the user presses the mouse button or any key; • Play forward and backward continuously until the user hits the mouse button or hits any key.  Note that the movie will not play when you do a regular Open. It only plays in the Open/Preview Dialog box. 

• Skip this dialog [OPTION overrides]: check this box to skip this dialog the next time it would appear.  This is especially useful in two situations:
- running a batch in which you are opening all the images in a file and you don't want to click OK for every frame.  You simply set the parameters and click the "Skip this box" and it will run through all the images in the file for you without your intervention.
- previewing several images in the file: check this box, then in the Open/Preview Dialog, click the preview checkbox on and off and back on, and the next image in the file will appear.   
- to see the dialog again, hold down the Option key when it would normally appear and it will appear.  Or choose the "Misc:Preferences:Cancel All Skip Boxes" command

• To stop movie playback in the Open/Preview Dialog, hold down the mouse button or hit any key.