The Quartz Composer 4.0 interface and a composition | |
Developer(s) | Apple Computer |
---|---|
Stable release | |
Operating system | Mac OS X v10.4 (Version 2.0) Mac OS X v10.5 (Version 3.0) |
Available in | English |
Type | Visual programming language/Software development tool |
License | Proprietary |
Website | Apple - Quartz Composer (User Guide) |
Quartz Composer is a node-based visual programming language provided as part of the Xcodedevelopment environment in macOS for processing and rendering graphical data.
The Apple 'Reduce file size filter' scales images by 50%, with target dimensions between 128 and 512 pixels, which can give very unusable results. The filters I use 2 two things: resample images to 75, 150, 300 or 600 dpi (I do not not if there is upsampling) compress the images using Jpeg compression at average or low quality. If the Quartz Filter is not correctly written (it's an XML file), then it will not load. The ColorSync Utility should show you all the installed Filters on the system. You can also create and edit them here. As you say, Filters will be loaded from any 'Filters' subfolder of the User or root-level Library. The XQuartz project is an open-source effort to develop a version of the X.Org X Window System that runs on macOS. Together with supporting libraries and applications, it forms the X11.app that Apple shipped with OS X versions 10.5 through 10.7.
Mac users interested in Quartz extreme download generally download: Quartz Extreme Check 1.2 Free Analyze your system and check if it is compatible and using the Quartz Extreme acceleration for OpenGL content. Quartz Desktop 1.0.1 - View.qtz files on your desktop. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate Download, install, or update Quartz Desktop for Mac from MacUpdate.
Quartz Composer uses OpenGL (including GLSL), OpenCL (only in Mac OS X 10.6 and later), Core Image, Core Video, JavaScript, and other technologies to create an API and a developer tool around a simple visual programming paradigm. Apple has embedded Quartz technologies deeply into the operating system. Compositions created in Quartz Composer can be played standalone in any QuickTime-aware application[1] (although only on Mac OS X 10.4 and later), as a system Screen Saver,[2] as an iTunes Visualizer, from inside the Quartz Composer application, or can be embedded into a Cocoa or Carbon application via supplied user interfacewidgets. While Quartz Composer is included with the iPhone SDK, as of December 2015 there is no way of running Quartz Compositions on iOS devices. Starting in macOS 10.15, the Quartz Composer framework has been deprecated, although it is still present for compatibility.[3]
Download online and offline Quartz for PC from TechAppsforpc.com. You can make use of Bluestacks, Andy OS and Remix OS. Follow the steps mentioned in this guide to play or run Quartz on Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10, Windows XP or Mac OSX / MacOS.
The native quartz build can potentially be less stable, and less well integrated into the desktop environment (e.g. For copy-pasting). Packaged installers for MacPorts are available for MacOS X versions 10.4 (Tiger) to present 10.12 (Sierra). QuartzCode 1.65.0 - Turn vector drawing and animation into Objective-C and Swift code. Download the latest versions of the best Mac apps at safe and trusted MacUpdate Download, install, or update QuartzCode for Mac from MacUpdate.
Patches[edit]
Quartz programming through Quartz Composer works by implementing and connecting patches.[4] Similar to routines in traditional programming languages, patches are base processing units. They execute and produce a result. For better performance, patch execution follows a lazy evaluation approach, meaning that patches are only executed when their output is needed. There are three types of patches: Consumers, Processors, and External Input patches that can receive and output mouse clicks, scrolls, and movements; MIDI and audio; keyboard; or other movements. A collection of patches can be melded into one, called a macro. Macros can be nested and their subroutines also edited.
To control the order of rendering, each renderer is assigned a layer, indicated in its upper-right corner. Layers are rendered sequentially, lowest to highest. Renderers can be enabled or disabled, essentially turning on or off that particular layer. Turning off unused layers often results in better performance, since fewer upstream patches need to be evaluated.
Some patches can have subpatches, which allows for global parameter changes to just the included subpatches. This is useful for lighting, 3D transformation, and GLSL shaders, among other things. Subpatch support is indicated by square corners on a patch, rather than the typical rounded corners.
With Version 3.0, it became possible to turn compositions into Virtual Patches. These allow the user to reuse functionality without having to store duplicate copies in each composition. The Quartz Composer Editor allows the user to save a 'flattened' copy (with the virtual patches fully expanded inside), for easy distribution. Version 4.0 extended this functionality even more, and automatically includes 'flattened' copies of virtual patches for use as a fallback if the desired virtual patch isn't installed on the host system. This greatly simplifies composition distribution.
Network functionality was greatly improved with the release of Leopard. It became possible to transmit data and synchronize over a network interface, and it also added support for Open Sound Control transmission and reception.
Plugins[edit]
Also new in Version 3.0 was the possibility to write custom patch plugins, using an Xcode template, and the notion of a 'safe mode', where plugins and other unsafe patches fail to load. This prevents malicious compositions from performing dangerous or insecure operations. Custom patches using Apple's Xcode template are always considered unsafe.
It was possible to develop custom patch plugins for Version 2.0, but the API was undocumented and private, and was never supported by Apple. Eventually, templates were released to simplify this procedure.[5]
Hidden options[edit]
In the Quartz Composer editor, holding the option key while selecting 'Preferences..' from the menu adds 3 additional tabs of options for the user to configure. These options include System settings, Editor settings, and QuickTime integration settings. Notable options include expanded tooltips, software rendering, and uncapped framerate rendering. Multisample antialiasing (MSAA) was added as a hidden option in version 4.0, allowing for antialiasing inside the QC Editor, though it only works on GPU's that support MSAA.
Native datatypes[edit]
Data inside QC can be one of the following types:
- Boolean - a boolean value, 0 or 1
- Index - a positive integer between 0 and 2147483647
- Number - a double precision floating point number
- String - a unicode string
- Color - an RGBA or CMYK quartet, or a Grayscale value
- Image - a 2D image of arbitrary (possibly infinite) dimensions
- Structure - a named or ordered collection of objects, including nested structures
- Virtual - any of the above
Two additional types were introduced in version 4.0:
- Mesh - a collection of vertices, and per-vertex normals, texture coordinates, and colors in 3-space
- Interaction - a valueless type used to associate user input with user-interactive elements of the composition
Mac Windows Download
Type conversion[edit]
Data can usually be converted to other types transparently. In Quartz Composer 3.0, the connections between patches change color to indicate conversions that are taking place. Yellow connections mean no conversion is taking place, Orange indicates a possible loss of data from conversion (Number to Index), and Red indicates a severe conversion; Image to Boolean, for example.
Compositions[edit]
Quartz Composer documents are called Compositions. Compositions are Binary Property Lists (though XML versions are also supported) with a filename extension.qtz, and a com.apple.quartz-composer-compositionUTI.[6] Patches, their connections, and their input port states are saved in the composition file. Images can be stored inside a composition as well, making for self-contained compositions with embedded graphics. By dragging a movie file into the Quartz Composer editor, a reference to the movie file is created, providing a changing image that can be connected to a renderer.
Compositions also store metadata such as composition author, copyright, and description. The user can also add arbitrary metadata items, if desired.
Many image formats are supported, including JPEG, JPEG2000, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA, OpenEXR, BMP, ICO, PDF, PICT, ICNS, and some raw digital camera types.[7] Images are maintained in their native form for as long as possible before rasterizing for display. This means that Quartz Composer will keep vector images as vectors when cropping, scaling, rotating, or translating which allows it to work with very large logical image dimensions without consuming large amounts of memory or processing time. Such functionality is most apparent when working with text-based images, or PDFs.
Version 3.0 added the ability to add annotations to areas of the composition, called notes. These notes parallel comments in other programming languages. Notes can be yellow, red, green, blue, or gray, and can overlap other notes.
Composition protocols[edit]
In Version 3.0, the concept of Composition Protocols was introduced. Protocols provide a template of required and optional inputs and outputs to qualify conforming compositions for various purposes. The following protocols are available by default:
- Graphic Animation - These don't have required inputs or outputs, but are required to render to the screen. Graphic Animations are useful for animated backgrounds in applications such as Keynote.
- Image Filter - Modifies an image using filters. No renderers are allowed in Image Filters, unless they are inside of a Render In Image environment.
- Graphic Transition - Generates a transition from a source image to a destination image over a fixed time interval.
- RSS Visualizer - Parses and Displays an RSS Feed.
- Screen Saver - Integrates with Finder for animated screen savers.
- Music Visualizer - Integrates with iTunes for audio visualization.
There is an additional protocol that Apple uses in their private API:
- Photo Visualizer - Receives an image list, provides information about total image count and currently displayed image.
One new protocol was added in version 4.0:
- Mesh Filter - deforms an input mesh.
There is no officially supported way to add additional protocols to Quartz Composer. However, there are some undocumented methods that may make this possible in the future.[8]
Composition runtimes[edit]
In addition to protocols, compositions can also conform to different runtimes where Quartz Composer is available. In Leopard, there are runtimes for Tiger (32-bit), as well as 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Leopard Quartz Composer runtime. The editor can also indicate used patches that are unsafe, or unavailable in Tiger to aid in making compatible compositions.
Composition repository[edit]
A System-wide Composition Repository is available as of Version 3.0.[9] This allows applications to share and make use of common compositions for effects and processing. It is also possible for applications to query the repository for compositions that match certain criteria, such as protocol conformance.
The Repository is spread across 3 file system locations:
- /System/Library/Compositions - core system compositions (the user typically doesn't modify these)
- /Library/Compositions - compositions available for all users
- /Users/username/Library/Compositions - compositions available for only this user
Adding compositions to the repository is as simple as adding the composition file to one of these locations.
Comparing compositions[edit]
It became possible to compare compositions in Quartz Composer 3.0. This feature allows the user to compare inputs, rendered output, and graph appearance of any two compositions.
Related software[edit]
Quartz Composer Visualizer[edit]
A developer tool called Quartz Composer Visualizer was released with Quartz Composer 3.0 that allows compositions to be rendered across multiple screens on a single machine, or even spanned across several machines and displays.
Automator support[edit]
Support for some Automator actions was added with the release of Leopard.
- Apply Quartz Composition Filter to Image Files
- Convert Quartz Compositions to QuickTime Movies
- Render Quartz Compositions to Image Files
History[edit]
Pierre-Olivier Latour originally developed the predecessor to Quartz Composer under the name PixelShox Studio.[10]
References[edit]
- ^Quartz Composer User GuideArchived March 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Quartz Composer Users Guide - Making a Screen SaverArchived March 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^Xcode 11 Release Notes
- ^Quartz Composer User Guide - Patches[permanent dead link]
- ^fdiv.net: Xcode Template for Custom Quartz Composer Patches
- ^Uniform Type Identifiers Overview
- ^Using the ImageIO Framework
- ^Creating Your Own Protocols
- ^Quartz Composer User Guide: Composition Repository[permanent dead link]
- ^PixelShox Technology
External links[edit]
Books[edit]
- Quartz Composer Book in Japanese
- Learning Quartz Composer Book & DVD in English
Tutorials and documentation[edit]
- Quartz Composer Programming Guide from Apple
- quartzcomposer.com (unofficial website)
Mailing list[edit]
Compositions[edit]
Custom patches / plugins[edit]
Images and videos[edit]
Quartz For Mac
Installer Packages
XQuartz 2.7.11 - 2016-10-29
XQuartz 2.7.10 - 2016-10-22
XQuartz 2.7.9 - 2016-05-05
XQuartz 2.7.8 - 2015-10-17 - First release supported on El Capitan
XQuartz 2.7.7 - 2014-08-18 - First release supported on Yosemite
Automatic Updates for Beta Versions
If you would like to receive automatic updates for beta versions in addition torelease versions, please update to our beta SU feed by running the followingcommand:
MacPorts
Another way to get a current X11 installation on your system is throughMacPorts. This is currently tested and supported on Tiger and newer versionsof OS X. Visit MacPorts to install it on yoursystem. Once installed, run this command from Terminal.app to install thelatest X11 server on your system:
Download Quartz Debug For Mac
If you want to try a development version of the server, use “xorg-server-devel”instead of “xorg-server” in the command above.
Download Xquartz For Mac
If you want all of the X.org client applications as well, run:
Is there a method to compress PDF files on Mac without losing quality? When you need to send some PDF files to Email or Cloud service, there might be a restriction to the large size of the PDF. As for some important PDF files, how do you reduce the size of a PDF without losing quality on Mac?
If you just need to resize the PDF files, you do not have to purchase a PDF compressor or editor. The article introduces 3 free PDF resizers to reduce PDF file size on Mac. Choose the desired one according to your requirement from the article now.
Reduce PDF Size on MacPart 1: How to Reduce PDF Size on Mac Online for Free
In order to compress PDF files on your Mac with a high quality, Free Online PDF Compressor is an online PDF high compression tool to reduce the size of PDF files with the maximum quality. Moreover, it supports all the browsers on Mac/PC, or Android/iPhone.
Step 1Click the “Select PDF File” to select the PDF file you want to reduce or compress from your Mac. You can also drag-n-drop the PDF files directly into the online PDF compressor on Mac.
Step 2Once the PDF files are uploaded, the online tool will slim the PDF and maintain the maximum quality. You can also check the size and how much percentage your PDF has been compressed.
Step 3Click the “Download the PDF” button to download the compressed PDF files to your Mac. You can also reduce the size of another PDF file with the “Compress Next PDF” option.
Part 2: How to Compress PDF Size on Mac via Preview
Preview is the default PDF viewer on Mac, you can also use it as a free method to reduce PDF files on Mac. Moreover, you can either split the large PDF file into several parts or reduce the size of PDF with a good quality via the Quartz filter.
Make a PDF File Smaller with Quartz Filter
Step 1Launch the Preview program on your Mac, click the “File” > “Open…” to load the large PDF file into the program.
Step 2Go to the “File” menu and choose the “Export…” option, you can access to the “Quartz Filter” layer to reduce PDF file size on Mac.
Step 3Unfold the options of “Quartz Filter” and choose the “Reduce File Size”. Click the “Save” button to export a compressed PDF file.
Shrink a PDF File into Several Parts
Step 1Just drag-n-drop the desired large PDF file into Preview. Make sure the “Thumbnails” mode is enabled. Go to “View” > “Thumbnails” to enable the option.
Step 2Navigate to the PDF page you want to save, you can drag and drop the thumbnail from Preview into the Finder location. Each one will be saved to an individual PDF document.v
Step 3After that, open one dragged PDF file with Preview, you can enable the “Thumbnails” again and drag more others in the correct order to combine them as one PDF file.
Part 3: How to Shrink a PDF on Mac with Adobe Acrobat DC
Now, here is the method to reduce a PDF on Mac with Adobe Acrobat DC. It is not a free PDF compressor; instead you should pay a high price. But you can take advantage of the 7 day free trial to reduce the PDF files with a good quality as below.
Mac Download Folder
Step 1Launch the program and choose the “Optimize PDF” option. After that you can select the “Open” option to select the large PDF file into the PDF compressor.
Quartz Sand Filter
Step 2Click the “Reduce File Size” option in the top menu. Choose the file version compatibility from the drop-down menu option. The program is able to reduce the PDF size on Mac.
Step 3Keep the default setting of “Retain existing” and click the “OK” button. If you do not want to replace the original PDF file, select a new name before clicking the “Save” button.
Conclution
When you need to reduce a PDF size on a Mac, you can use the default Preview on Mac, which provides a poor quality. Of course, you can use the Adobe Acrobat DC within the trial period. If the two above solutions do not work for you, you can always choose the Apeaksoft Free Online PDF Compressor to reduce the PDF file with a good quality. More queries about how to compress PDF size on Mac for free, you can share more details in the comments.