Less than an hour before release of iChat hologram effect

elbows · Oct 27, 2007, 06:33 PM

Spent my day trying to recreate the missing effect, using Quartz Composer. I havent seen the original Apple version but I think this is probably close.

I wouldnt say its perfect yet but its working so I am going to share it here shortly. It should work on any Leopard machine but will probably run quite badly on slower machines.

Any ideas for a name? That all thats stopping me releasing it this minute, so come up with a good name and its yours

Names that avoid infringing Star Wars trademarks would probably be a good idea

If nobody comes up with anything its going toend up getting called HoloGeek or HoloGit

ascham87 · Oct 27, 2007, 06:40 PM

The Phantom Menace or anything else equally as trademarked.

Brianstorm91 · Oct 27, 2007, 07:02 PM

Call it whatever the bloody hell you want to, I want to see it!

elbows · 06:01 PM

NOTE: Other people have now created some very interesting effects which can be found on later pages of this thread, for example see page 4 and 5 for an invisible effect and attempts to make effects that look more like a hologram. These may be more to your tastes than my attempts.

It also seems that PPC users are out of luck, these effects are for Leopard Intel Macs only, unless you get them to work with 3rd party iChat effects software that exist for Tiger.

Unzip the attached file and put the .qtz files in /Library/Compositions/ (note that the Compositions folder will have a different name if your Leopard install is not English). HoloGit.qtz.zip is the original effect I posted on Saturday, it is superceded by the contents of HolloGPack1.zip.

Then launch iChat and it should be there somewhere in the grid of effects. Unfortunately preview images are not working at the moment but the actual effect works.

Instructions for getting these working in PhotoBooth can be found later in the thread.

Most of these use your existing background but a test one uses custom backgrounds that you drag onto the effect.

Not sure if I got the blue or the glow right. The mixing Ive used to make you transparent isnt quite perfect yet either.

Feedback needed.

Edited Sunday to add new HoloGPack1 file which has versions of the effect in various different colours, plus a couple of other experimental effects. The Test1.qtz should work with user backdrops but its not really right yet, an early work in progress. HoloGeek versions suffer from some clipping issues.

Edited Tuesday to clear up some details and point out that other effects are lurking much later in this thread.

OttawaGuy · Oct 27, 2007, 07:17 PM

Can I see a screen shot? Please and Thank you.

ascham87 · Oct 27, 2007, 07:21 PM

This is a no go on a 24" Aluminum 2.4/4gb...it doesn't make form of an effect at all. Not sure what's wrong?

psychofreak · Oct 27, 2007, 07:23 PM

Any successes yet? I should be upgrading to 10.5 in the next few days, and this would be awesome

If you can do it in a few days, how come Apple scrapped it?

CavemanUK · Oct 27, 2007, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elbows

OK here it is. Like I said its not quite right yet, probably need some effects to make the image look grainy etc. And the preview is messed up and it doesnt seem to work in PhotoBooth, just iChat, but give it a try anyway.

Unzip the attached file and put HoloGit.qtz in /Library/Compositions/

Then launch iChat and it should be there somewhere in the grid of effects.

This version uses your existing background but will see about doing one with custom backgrounds.

Not sure if I got the blue or the glow right. The mixing Ive used to make you transparent isnt quite perfect yet either.

Feedback needed.

I have to say... thats just friggin fantastic. I love that effect... maybe you could modify it to make a ghostly one for halloween too

Eric Lewis · Oct 27, 2007, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CavemanUK

I have to say... thats just friggin fantastic. I love that effect... maybe you could modify it to make a ghostly one for halloween too

can u post screenshots and or videos?

CavemanUK · Oct 27, 2007, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Lewis

can u post screenshots and or videos?

Here you go... i was using one Mac to Talk to the other so you can see my real pic in the top left.

Very cool effect...

Please excuse the mess!

Eric Lewis · Oct 27, 2007, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CavemanUK

Here you go... i was using one Mac to Talk to the other so you can see my real pic in the top left.

Very cool effect...

Please excuse the mess!

1)so can anyone make these new effects?

2) does this work with photobooth? can u make it work?

Ariez · Oct 27, 2007, 07:35 PM

Not bad.

mysterui · 07:53 PM

I don't have a Library/Compositions folder... Do I create it or what?

Edit: I found it, nvermind

ascham87 · Oct 27, 2007, 07:39 PM

Nice, got it to work. Impressive!

CavemanUK · Oct 27, 2007, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Lewis

1)so can anyone make these new effects?

2) does this work with photobooth? can u make it work?

Doesnt seem to work in photobooth and yes anyone can see the effect.. the machine i took the snap with is leopard but doesnt have that effect installed.

elbows · Oct 27, 2007, 07:45 PM

Hmm no There should already be a /Library/Compositions folder in Leopard. Sure you arent looking at the Library within your user folder instead of the root?

If it doesnt work for some people then I need more info about your setup and symptoms to stand a chance of helping.

Performance might be really slow because of the way Ive tried to make the transparency.

This stuff is done with Quartz Composer. You can install it off the Leopard DVD, its a developer tool but you dont have to write any code to use it. Still it takes a bit of effort to learn how to use it properly. You can use it to create screensavers and itunes visualizers too.

If you have Quartz Composer installed then you can open the Hologit.qtz file and try to work out how it works. Its made a lot more complex by my fudge to do transparency, but never mind, a very simple beginners exercise would be to try changing the colour Ive used from blue to something else.

I dont know why preview and photobooth arent working with it yet, hopefully some other people will be able to improve things as my knowledge is limited.

Brianstorm91 · Oct 27, 2007, 08:58 PM

Great work CavemanUK, three cheers for the correct side of the pond

michaelvjsmyth · 10:04 AM

Any chance of a recreation of the Hero effect?

Eric Lewis · 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michaelvjsmyth

Any chance of a recreation of the Hero effect?

http://tinyurl.com/23wp83

thats sweet...i want that!

powerbook911 · Oct 27, 2007, 11:20 PM

Would you mind putting a file with the instructions together? I'm going to forget how to install it. ha-h

arn · Oct 27, 2007, 11:53 PM

very cool.

arn

Eric Lewis · Oct 27, 2007, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arn

very cool.

arn

make the mouth one PLEASE!

boeingair · Oct 28, 2007, 12:06 AM

Thanks so much for doing this!! This is excellent, and seems (to me) to be much less plagued by the 'hole' issue than the other backgrounds.

Much appreciated!

arn · Oct 28, 2007, 12:12 AM

here's the original one for reference

WildPalms · Oct 28, 2007, 01:04 AM

Ahhhh yes, I can see a whole market producing new Quartz effects for iChat

Oct 27, 2007, 06:33 PM	#1
elbows macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2005	Less than an hour before release of iChat hologram effect Spent my day trying to recreate the missing effect, using Quartz Composer. I havent seen the original Apple version but I think this is probably close. I wouldnt say its perfect yet but its working so I am going to share it here shortly. It should work on any Leopard machine but will probably run quite badly on slower machines. Any ideas for a name? That all thats stopping me releasing it this minute, so come up with a good name and its yours Names that avoid infringing Star Wars trademarks would probably be a good idea If nobody comes up with anything its going toend up getting called HoloGeek or HoloGit

Oct 27, 2007, 07:02 PM	#3
Brianstorm91 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Hampshire, England.	Call it whatever the bloody hell you want to, I want to see it! __________________ 12.1" PowerBook G4; 23" Apple Cinema Display; 40GB Playstation 3; 16GB iPod Touch

Oct 27, 2007, 07:37 PM	#13
mysterui macrumors newbie Join Date: Jun 2007	I don't have a Library/Compositions folder... Do I create it or what? Edit: I found it, nvermind Last edited by mysterui : Oct 27, 2007 at 07:53 PM.

Oct 27, 2007, 08:58 PM	#17
Brianstorm91 macrumors 65816 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Hampshire, England.	Great work CavemanUK, three cheers for the correct side of the pond __________________ 12.1" PowerBook G4; 23" Apple Cinema Display; 40GB Playstation 3; 16GB iPod Touch

Oct 27, 2007, 09:20 PM	#18
michaelvjsmyth macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2005	Any chance of a recreation of the Hero effect? Last edited by xUKHCx : Jan 5, 2008 at 10:04 AM. Reason: timg tags

Oct 27, 2007, 06:40 PM	#2
ascham87 Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chicago, Illinois	The Phantom Menace or anything else equally as trademarked.

Oct 27, 2007, 07:17 PM	#5
OttawaGuy macrumors 6502 Join Date: Mar 2006	Can I see a screen shot? Please and Thank you.

Oct 27, 2007, 07:21 PM	#6
ascham87 Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chicago, Illinois	This is a no go on a 24" Aluminum 2.4/4gb...it doesn't make form of an effect at all. Not sure what's wrong?

Oct 27, 2007, 07:23 PM	#7
psychofreak Retired Join Date: May 2006 Location: London	Any successes yet? I should be upgrading to 10.5 in the next few days, and this would be awesome If you can do it in a few days, how come Apple scrapped it?

Oct 27, 2007, 07:35 PM	#12
Ariez macrumors regular Join Date: Jul 2007	Not bad.

Oct 27, 2007, 07:39 PM	#14
ascham87 Banned Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chicago, Illinois	Nice, got it to work. Impressive!

Oct 27, 2007, 07:45 PM	#16
elbows Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2005	Hmm no There should already be a /Library/Compositions folder in Leopard. Sure you arent looking at the Library within your user folder instead of the root? If it doesnt work for some people then I need more info about your setup and symptoms to stand a chance of helping. Performance might be really slow because of the way Ive tried to make the transparency. This stuff is done with Quartz Composer. You can install it off the Leopard DVD, its a developer tool but you dont have to write any code to use it. Still it takes a bit of effort to learn how to use it properly. You can use it to create screensavers and itunes visualizers too. If you have Quartz Composer installed then you can open the Hologit.qtz file and try to work out how it works. Its made a lot more complex by my fudge to do transparency, but never mind, a very simple beginners exercise would be to try changing the colour Ive used from blue to something else. I dont know why preview and photobooth arent working with it yet, hopefully some other people will be able to improve things as my knowledge is limited.

Oct 27, 2007, 11:20 PM	#20
powerbook911 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Mar 2005	Would you mind putting a file with the instructions together? I'm going to forget how to install it. ha-h __________________ 12-in Powerbook G4 1.5ghz, 20-in iMac 2.4 Core 2 Duo, Mac Mini (Early '09),20-in Cinema Display, AppleTV, iPhone 32GB; Airpot Extreme (Late 2009) iPod 160GB

Oct 27, 2007, 11:53 PM	#21
arn macrumors god Join Date: Apr 2001	very cool. arn

Oct 28, 2007, 12:06 AM	#23
boeingair macrumors member Join Date: May 2006	Thanks so much for doing this!! This is excellent, and seems (to me) to be much less plagued by the 'hole' issue than the other backgrounds. Much appreciated!

Oct 28, 2007, 12:12 AM	#24
arn macrumors god Join Date: Apr 2001	here's the original one for reference

Oct 28, 2007, 01:04 AM	#25
WildPalms macrumors 65816 Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Honolulu, HI	Ahhhh yes, I can see a whole market producing new Quartz effects for iChat __________________ Shiny ! "Yep!..... that went well."

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