search site  |  contact us  HOME PRODUCTS DOWNLOADS SALES SUPPORT NEWS Tutorials Teaching Science with CrystalMaker   Guiding Principles     Hands-On Learning     Educational Resources   Whilst direct use of CrystalMaker in teaching can be of immense benefit, there are also advantages in using the program to prepare teaching materials for use elsewhere, or in other contexts, such as distance learning, over the internet or in CD-ROM based materials, or perhaps simply to illustrate lectures or research seminars. Graphics Files You can use CrystalMaker's File > Export > Pixel Graphics command to generate high-resolution graphics in a wide-range of formats, including JPEG, TIFF, PNG and BMP. Graphics can also be copied to the clipboard. In Mac OS X, you can also generate high-resolution PDF graphics using the Print command, and clicking the Save As PDF... button in the Print sheet. QuickTime Video Recording movies or animations is a great way to convey highly-specific material, without the time and learning overhead associated with "hands-on" computer use. You simply provide a "linear theme" - maybe a 3D tour of a structure, perhaps with zooming in and changing the model type - and which students can watch from beginning to end - and then replay, at their convenience. You can use CrystalMaker's Views pane to assemble the frames for your movie or animation. The important thing is that there is a simple evolution of ideas. You can reinforce this with text subtitles (easily added using CrystalMaker's annotation tools). If you have access to a video editing program such as Adobe Premiere or perhaps even iMovie, you might want to experiment with video transitions: fade-ins between different video tracks, text overlays, and all kinds of other visual effects... What advantages does this bring? Well, QuickTime movies can be played back on virtually any computer system, or via the internet - you don't need to install CrystalMaker on the machine. On slower machines, QuickTime movies may show smoother animation that CrystalMaker's own drawing. This is because CrystalMaker does all its calculations in real-time, whereas QuickTime movies simply replay stored images (which tends to be very fast). QuickTime VR Object Movies QuickTime VR is an adaptation of Apple's movie technology which allows the generation of self-contained, rotatable 3D objects. Users simply open a VR "movie" (e.g., in the QuickTime Player application), then click and drag with the mouse to rotate the 3D object. As far as we know, CrystalMaker is the only crystal structure program that can automatically generate QuickTime VR movies for you! All you need to do is to display the Video Recorder window, select the QuickTime VR option (the small button with the sphere icon), and click record. You'll be presented with a graphical dialog that lets you control the extent of 3D rotation. Once you've set this option, click the OK button and CrystalMaker does all the rest! An example QuickTime VR movie is shown on the right exported direct from CrystalMaker (if this does not display properly, you may need to download the QuickTime plug in.) Other example QuickTime VR movies are also available on this web site. Embedded Multimedia You can use CrystalMaker to generate resources for multimedia projects such as interactive CD-ROMs or websites. Because QuickTime is a cross-platform format, it is possible to produce platform-independent resources that can be widely distributed, even though the parent program (CrystalMaker) is a Macintosh product. Cross-platform image formats, such as JPEG, plus QuickTime and QuickTime VR movies can be embedded within a multimedia control structure, or "shell". Many professional multimedia designers use programs such as Macromedia Director, which includes powerful support for QuickTime, as well as the ability to generate PC and Mac versions. See our online news section for an example of this at the Natural History Museum in London. At a more basic level, you can embed QuickTime and VR movies within PowerPoint or KeyNote presentations - ideal for lectures or research seminars! All media types can be referenced from HTML documents (see the "Publishing Web Movies" sidebar), allowing you to produce dynamic and interactive web sites. A Learning Partnership If you have found CrystalMaker useful in your own teaching, why not let us know? We'd be interested in comments and feedback -- and any suggestions for further improvements are gratefully accepted! Please contact us at: info@crystalmaker.com. Cross-Platform Digital Media QuickTime is the de facto standard for digital media on all major computing platforms. QuickTime is a wide-ranging media technology that including linear movies, graphics and virtual reality scenes and objects. QuickTime Animation This is a QuickTime movie, recorded in CrystalMaker - with no editing or post-processing required. QuickTime Virtual Reality This is a QuickTime VR object! Simply place your mouse pointer over this image, then click and drag left or right to rotate the structure. This QuickTime VR object movie was recorded in CrystalMaker - with no editing or post-processing required. Publishing Web Movies It is very easy to include QuickTime movies or VR objects in your web pages. You need to include a link to your movie, as part of your HTML code. For example, to embed a QuickTime VR movie with filename "movie.mov", you might specify: <EMBED SRC="movie.mov" WIDTH=150 HEIGHT=150 CONTROLLER="FALSE" SCALE="TOFIT" AUTOPLAY="TRUE" LOOP="TRUE"> © 2008 CrystalMaker Software Limited. All rights reserved worldwide.