Hey all,
As of the latest update (b6.4.2) you can embed an image file in Quartz Composer patches that will be used as a custom thumbnail when the patch is loaded into VDMX. Thought this was a handy new feature worthy of pointing out in the QC section.
This feature is particularly useful when making patches whose dynamically generated thumbnail just comes out as a non-descript image (such as with audio reactive patches, animations, and patches that relies on using "safe" objects).
It is a pretty simple process, but it does require running Leopard in order to take advantage of this feature in QC.
Embedding a custom thumbnail for a Quartz Composer patch:
1) Create the thumbnail image (by screenshot or other means).
2) In Quartz Composer, choose the Editor > Edit Information... menu option.
3) Click the + button to create a new property row
4) Set the property key to "thumbnail" (no quotes).
5) Set the class to the <data>. An open dialog panel will automatically open. Find and choose the image file you want to use as a thumbnail.
6) Close the information window and save your patch.
As a note, during file loading VDMX will automatically scale down the embedded image to 80x60 pixels making this is the ideal resolution to use for the image you attach to the patch. Anything larger would only increase both the byte size of the QC document, and the amount of time needed to load the patch.
- David @ VV