User manual MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX - USING DIRECTOR MX

Using Director MX Macromedia Director MX Trademarks Afterburner, AppletAce, Attain, Attain Enterprise Learning System, Attain Essentials, Attain Objects for Dreamweaver, Authorware, Authorware Attain, Authorware Interactive Studio, Authorware Star, Authorware Synergy, Backstage, Backstage Designer, Backstage Desktop Studio, Backstage Enterprise Studio, Backstage Internet Studio, Contribute, Design in Motion, Director, Director Multimedia Studio, Doc Around the Clock, Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver Attain, Drumbeat, Drumbeat 2000, Extreme 3D, Fireworks, Flash, Fontographer, FreeHand, FreeHand Graphics Studio, Generator, Generator Developer's Studio, Generator Dynamic Graphics Server, Knowledge Objects, Knowledge Stream, Knowledge Track, Lingo, Live Effects, Macromedia, Macromedia Contribute, Macromedia M Logo & Design, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Xres, Macromind, Macromind Action, MAGIC, Mediamaker, Object Authoring, Power Applets, Priority Access, Roundtrip HTML, Scriptlets, SoundEdit, ShockRave, Shockmachine, Shockwave, Shockwave Remote, Shockwave Internet Studio, Showcase, Tools to Power Your Ideas, Universal Media, Virtuoso, Web Design 101, Whirlwind and Xtra are trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, servicemarks, or tradenames of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally. This guide contains links to third-party Web sites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party Web site mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites. Apple Disclaimer APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE ENCLOSED COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE, ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO STATE. Copyright © 2002 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without prior written approval of Macromedia, Inc. Third Party Software Notices and/or Additional Terms and Conditions can be found at http://www.macromedia.com/go/ thirdparty/. Part Number ZDR90M100 Acknowledgments Writing: Jay Armstrong, George Brown, Stephanie Gowin, and, Tim Statler Editing: Rosana Francescato, Mary Ferguson, Mary Kraemer, and Noreen Maher Project Management: Stuart Manning Production: Chris Basmajian, Caroline Branch, John Francis, and Patrice O'Neill Multimedia: Aaron Begley and Benjamin Salles First Edition: December 2002 Macromedia, Inc. 600 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94103 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 13 14 14 16 18 System requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Installing Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What's new in Director MX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Resources for learning Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conventions used in Director Help and printed books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 1 Director Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 19 20 34 41 41 42 43 44 45 45 50 51 52 Creating a new movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introducing the Director workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing the workspace in Director MX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using multiple Score windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing Score settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selecting and editing frames in the Score. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About adding interactivity with Lingo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Converting movies created in previous versions of Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing the Director authoring environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About using Xtra extensions to extend Director functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About distributing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Answers panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 2 Director MX Basics Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 What you'll learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 About the Director metaphor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 View the completed movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Open the tutorial movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Set up the movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 View your cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Edit a text cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Build the first scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Edit sprites in the Score window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Create an animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Change the tempo of an animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Create a sunset animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 3 Add navigation buttons to the animation scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Build the sound and video scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Write Lingo scripts to control movie playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Add Lingo to navigation buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Write Lingo that refers to scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 About controlling video in Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Add scripts for video control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Control sound with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Add sounds to buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Publish your movie for the web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Continue learning about Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 CHAPTER 3 Director MX 3D Tutorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 What you'll learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 What you should know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 View the completed movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Open the tutorial movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Create 3D text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 Modify behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 View a 3D world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Use the camera . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Set model rollover cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 Use 3D behaviors for navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Play your completed movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 To learn more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 CHAPTER 4 Cast Members and Cast Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Creating new casts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 Creating cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Using the Cast window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Naming cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Using Cast List view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Using Cast Thumbnail view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Moving cast members within the Cast window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Organizing cast members within the Cast window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Setting Cast window preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Changing Cast properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Viewing and setting cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Finding cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Importing cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Launching external editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Managing external casts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Creating libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Setting cast member properties using Lingo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Setting Xtra cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 4 Contents CHAPTER 5 Sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 157 158 158 161 161 167 167 175 180 184 Creating sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing sprite preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selecting sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layering sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Displaying and editing sprite properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Locking and unlocking sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Positioning sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing the appearance of sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using sprite inks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Assigning a cast member to a sprite with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 6 Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 About tweening in Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Tweening the path of a sprite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186 Accelerating and decelerating sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Tweening other sprite properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Suggestions and shortcuts for tweening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Changing tweening settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Switching a sprite's cast members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Editing sprite frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Frame-by-frame animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Shortcuts for animating with multiple cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Using film loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Setting film loop properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Step-recording animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Real-time recording animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Linking a sequence with Paste Relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Animating sprites with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 CHAPTER 7 Bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 204 205 206 214 215 218 219 220 222 224 228 229 229 232 234 236 About importing bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using animated GIFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Paint window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing selected areas of a bitmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flipping, rotating, and applying effects to bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Auto Distort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing registration points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing size, color depth, and color palette for bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling bitmap images with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a custom tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Paint window inks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using bitmap filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using onion skinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About the Paste as Pict option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contents 5 Setting bitmap cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Setting PICT cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Setting Paint window preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Compressing bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 Working with Macromedia Fireworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 CHAPTER 8 Vector Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Drawing vector shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Editing vector shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 Defining gradients for vector shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251 Controlling vector shapes with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Setting vector shape properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Using shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Setting shape cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 CHAPTER 9 Color, Tempo, and Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 255 266 267 270 Controlling color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting palette cast member properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 10 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 274 275 276 282 282 283 284 284 285 288 289 290 290 291 Embedding fonts in movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating text cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing and formatting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a hypertext link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working with fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using editable text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Converting text to a bitmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mapping fonts between platforms for field cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting text or field cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Formatting chunks of text with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Formatting text or field cast members with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling scrolling text with Lingo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking for specific text with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modifying strings with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Contents CHAPTER 11 Using Flash and Other Interactive Media Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 293 296 297 297 300 300 301 302 304 306 309 311 312 313 314 316 Using Flash Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing a Flash cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling a Flash movie with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling a Flash movie's appearance with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Streaming Flash movies with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playing back Flash movies with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Lingo to set and test Flash variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sending Lingo instructions from Flash movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Flash objects in Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Flash local connection object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Flash Communication Server MX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Flash Settings panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playback performance tips for Flash movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Director movies within Director movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting linked Director movie properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using ActiveX controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 12 Sound and Synchronization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 320 321 321 322 323 323 325 326 326 327 328 329 329 Importing internal and linked sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting sound cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling sound in the Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looping a sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using sound in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playing sounds with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About Shockwave Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Compressing internal sounds with Shockwave Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Streaming linked Shockwave Audio and MP3 audio files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playing Shockwave Audio and MP3 audio with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Synchronizing media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Synchronizing sound with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 13 Using Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 332 332 333 334 335 336 337 339 340 341 341 341 354 Importing digital video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Video window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting digital video cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playing digital video direct-to-Stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling digital video in the Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Playing digital video with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Controlling QuickTime with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cropping digital video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About using digital video on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preloading AVI digital video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Synchronizing video and animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using RealMedia content in Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Lingo sound elements with RealMedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contents 7 CHAPTER 14 Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 357 360 361 361 365 365 366 366 367 368 369 369 371 Attaching behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changing the order of attached behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Getting information about behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating and modifying behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Writing behaviors with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting up a Parameters dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting behavior properties with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Customizing a behavior's property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating an on getPropertyDescriptionList handler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Including a description for the Behavior inspector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Example of a complete behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sending messages to behaviors attached to sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using inheritance in behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 15 Navigation and User Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Creating basic navigation controls with behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 Adding push buttons, radio buttons, and check boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374 Jumping to locations with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 Detecting mouse clicks with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Making sprites editable and draggable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Making sprites editable or moveable with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378 Checking which text is under the pointer with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Responding to rollovers with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379 Finding mouse pointer locations with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Checking keys with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Equivalent cross-platform keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Identifying keys on different keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 About animated color cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Creating an animated color cursor cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382 Using an animated color cursor in a movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 CHAPTER 16 Writing Scripts with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Scripting basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Lingo terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389 Lingo syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390 Writing Lingo statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 Using handlers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396 Using lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398 Expressing literal values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Using operators to manipulate values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 Controlling flow in scripts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 Creating and attaching scripts with the Script window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412 Using linked scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 Using parent scripts and child objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417 Troubleshooting Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 8 Contents CHAPTER 17 3D Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 443 444 446 446 448 449 450 452 452 452 What you need to know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From 2D to 3D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The 3D Xtra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Shockwave 3D window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Property inspector for 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using rendering methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using 3D Anti-aliasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3D behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The 3D world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 18 The 3D Cast Member, 3D Text, and 3D Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 455 455 456 458 458 459 460 460 461 462 462 463 464 466 About the 3D cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Model resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Motions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modifying 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lingo for 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using 3D behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 19 Working with Models and Model Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473 473 473 474 481 482 487 494 496 498 502 510 511 512 513 515 About models and model resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Model resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cast member commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Modifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Animation modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Motions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About lights and cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Contents 9 CHAPTER 20 Controlling the 3D World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 3D Lingo events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521 Collisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522 Vector math. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 524 Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 526 Rendering functionality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 CHAPTER 21 Movies in a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537 Creating a MIAW using Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 Opening and closing a MIAW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 538 Setting the window type for a MIAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 Setting the window size and location for a MIAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 Cropping and scaling a MIAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 540 Controlling the appearance of a MIAW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Listing the current movies in windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Controlling interaction between MIAWs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 Controlling events involving MIAWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 542 CHAPTER 22 Using the XML Parser Xtra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 About XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543 Using XML parser objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544 Using XML document nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Accessing attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 Parser objects and XML nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548 Treating white space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 XML and character sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549 CHAPTER 23 Making Director Movies Accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551 551 551 552 559 560 About government requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making Director movies accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Accessibility behavior library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using accessibility Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deploying accessible movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER 24 Managing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 How Director unloads items from memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563 Loading and unloading individual cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564 Preloading digital video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 CHAPTER 25 Managing and Testing Director Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 Managing Director projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567 About testing movies to avoid problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568 10 Contents CHAPTER 26 Packaging Movies for Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571 Shockwave browser compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 571 Previewing a movie in a browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572 About Xtra extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 572 Managing Xtra extensions for distributed movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 About distribution formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574 Creating Shockwave movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576 Setting movie options for browser resizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580 About projectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Creating projectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582 Processing movies with Update Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585 Exporting digital video and frame-by-frame bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586 Setting QuickTime export options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 588 About organizing movie files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590 CHAPTER 27 Using Shockwave Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 591 592 592 593 594 594 595 596 597 598 601 601 About streaming movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About network operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting movie playback options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Setting Shockwave playback options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About creating multiuser applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About streaming with the Score and behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Checking whether media elements are loaded with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Downloading files from the Internet with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Retrieving network operation results with Lingo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Lingo in different Internet environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Testing your movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About downloading speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 603 Contents 11 12 Contents INTRODUCTION Getting Started Macromedia Director MX is the world's foremost authoring tool for creating interactive multimedia. Developers rely on Director to create attention-grabbing business presentations, advertising kiosks, interactive entertainment, and educational products. To see some of the exciting and varied ways in which developers use Director, visit the Director showcase at www.macromedia.com/software/director/special/inspiration/. You can also see great examples of Shockwave at www.shockwave.com. Your users can view your completed Director movie over the Internet, either in a web browser or independent of a browser,or in a stand-alone projector suitable for LANs and distribution through CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. System requirements The following hardware and software are the minimum required to author Director movies: · For Microsoft Windows: An Intel Pentium II 200 processor running Windows 98, 2000, or XP; 128 MB of available RAM plus 100 MB of available disk space; a color monitor; and a CD-ROM drive · For the Macintosh: A Power Macintosh G3 running System 10.1 or later; 128 MB of available RAM plus 100 MB of available disk space; a color monitor; and a CD-ROM drive The following hardware and software are the minimum required to play back Director movies: · For Microsoft Windows: An Intel Pentium II 200 processor running Windows 95/98, 2000, XP, or NT version 4.0 or later; 32 MB of installed RAM; Netscape Navigator 4.0 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, or America Online 4.0 or later web browser; and a color monitor · For the Macintosh OS X: A Power Macintosh G3 running System 10.1 or later; 128 MB of available RAM; Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.1 or later; and a color monitor · For the Macintosh Classic operating system: A Power Macintosh 180 (G3 recommended) running System 8.6 or later; 32 MB of installed RAM; Netscape 4.0 or later, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.5 or later, or America Online 4.0 or later web browser; and a color monitor 13 Installing Director Follow these steps to install Director on either a Windows or a Macintosh computer. To install Director on a Windows or a Macintosh computer: 1 Insert the Director CD into the computer's CD-ROM drive and do one of the following: Windows Start menu, type d:\setup.exe (where d is your CD-ROM drive letter), and click OK. · In Windows, if the installation program doesn't start automatically, choose Run from the · On the Macintosh, double-click the Director Installer icon. 2 3 Follow the onscreen instructions. If prompted, restart your computer. What's new in Director MX New features in Director MX build on a proven development environment to make Director more powerful, more tightly integrated with the Macromedia MX product family, and better suited to create content that is accessible to everyone, even those with disabilities. Developers can deliver rich multimedia content that integrates interactive audio, video, bitmaps, vectors, text, fonts, and more. Director MX lets you work more effectively with the shared Macromedia MX user interface, take advantage of unprecedented Macromedia Flash MX integration, and deliver content to a broader audience. Integration with other Macromedia MX products Director MX is truly a part of the Macromedia MX family; this is evident in the workspace, which matches those of other Macromedia MX products, as well as in other aspects of the application's strong integration with Macromedia Flash MX, ColdFusion MX, Flash Communications Server MX, and other Macromedia MX products. The Macromedia MX workspace lets you organize and customize an environment that's shared among Dreamweaver MX, Fireworks MX, and Macromedia Flash MX. The familiar and flexible working environment helps you maximize productivity. Dockable panels can be grouped and collapsed or expanded as needed for a smooth workflow. Enhanced control of Macromedia Flash media through Lingo gives you complete access to all properties and methods of Flash MX ActionScript objects. Greatly reduce your development time by directly controlling all elements within your content that were authored in Flash MX. you simply double-click a SWF file to automatically launch Flash MX. Once you edit the file, it's automatically saved and reimported into Director MX. This roundtrip editing significantly streamlines your workflow. Access to the Flash MX launch-and-edit feature lets Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX support allows you to use all the functional capabilities provided by Flash Communication Server MX, including the ability to access installed USB or FireWire cameras as well as installed microphones. You can combine the power of the Flash Communication Server MX with Director MX to create multiuser games, distancelearning applications, and real-time collaboration forums. Previous users of the Shockwave Multiuser Server are encouraged to use Flash Communication Server MX. However, the Shockwave Multiuser Server is available on the Director installation CD. 14 Introduction Macromedia Flash MX importing lets you take advantage of the power of Flash MX and its lightweight vector graphics by importing Flash files into Director MX content. Director developers can use this powerful combination to create the most effective multimedia content. Macromedia Flash Remoting MX provides a secure, high-performance connection between Macromedia ColdFusion MX and Shockwave Player. When used with Director MX, Flash Remoting MX lets you easily pass data to ColdFusion MX and back. Macromedia Fireworks MX integration gives Director MX developers access to the robust design and production environment of Fireworks MX, allowing developers to create graphics for presentations or Shockwave content. In addition, the tight integration between Fireworks MX and Director MX offers a roundtrip workflow between these graphic and multimedia environments. Integration features include launching and editing, Fireworks MX importing, launching and optimizing, and the Fireworks MX Import Xtra. Accessible content Director MX allows you to create content that meets internationally recommended guidelines and government accessibility requirements--including Section 508 guidelines. Director MX lets you add text-to-speech, captioning, and tab-navigation features to web-based Shockwave content or stand-alone applications on both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh systems. The cross-platform Speech Xtra makes Director MX applications "self-voicing"--that is, text is converted to speech without a screen reader. The user's operating system provides voices at the system level. You can create completely customizable, accessible content that doesn't rely on screen readers. Any user with Shockwave Player and an installed speech engine (which ships with current operating systems) can then use your accessible content. in Director MX let you easily control speech and tab ordering, as well as synchronize text with spoken words, in order to repurpose existing Director applications to adhere to accessibility guidelines. Drag-and-drop accessibility behaviors Enhanced power of Director Director MX introduces many new features that improve on the renowned power of Director to create rich media multimedia content that can be deployed on CDs, DVDs, or corporate intranets--or to more than 300 million web users with Shockwave Player. Advanced debugging capabilities enhance the power of Lingo, the object-oriented Director programming language. Director MX offers a streamlined professional debugging layout, with everything you need in one convenient place. The unified Script and Debugger windows let you debug, browse, and edit scripts all in the same window. The Script window switches to debugging mode when a Lingo error or a breakpoint is encountered. You can edit scripts while in debugging mode. you development time when you're working in Lingo. Among the buttons are a button that lets you inspect and debug code faster and realize better input responses when editing large files, a button that pinpoints debugging issues more quickly when working with others, and a button that organizes 3D Lingo commands separately from other Lingo commands for faster 3D debugging. New Script window buttons save The Scripting Xtras window helps you organize your third-party scripting Xtra extensions more efficiently. The window detects all installed scripting Xtra extensions, gets their methods and properties, and organizes them in a convenient pop-up menu. Getting Started 15 An Object inspector with data browser functionality lets you inspect all properties of script instances, and examine the hierarchy of elements inside 3D cast members and Flash MX sprites. The ability to quickly examine and modify all your movie components reduces both debugging and development time. tracking changes quick and easy with immediate visual feedback. As you step through your code, the Debugger window displays the variables whose values have changed in red. Color-coding of recently changed variables makes The split-paned Message window shows you the results of your code changes immediately. Now movies can execute and display information in the Output pane while you enter and execute Lingo commands in the Input pane. QuickTime 6 support allows you to take advantage of QuickTime 6 features, including support for streaming MPEG4 video and MP3 audio. Macintosh OS X support lets you create Director MX content using Mac OS X, the modern Apple operating system. You can author in Mac OS X and create Shockwave applications and executables that can be viewed on Mac OS X as well as pre­Mac OS X systems. Resources for learning Director The Director package contains a variety of media to help you learn the program quickly and become proficient in creating multimedia--including the printed books Using Director MX and Director MX Lingo Dictionary, both of which are also available as online help. Using Director MX contains two tutorials. The Director MX workspace contains tooltips and context-sensitive help, and additional help is available on the Director MX website at www.macromedia.com/support/ director. The new Answers panel in the Director workspace gives you a quick and easy way to find out about the latest Director materials available on the web. Director Help Director Help is the comprehensive information source for all Director features. The help system includes complete conceptual overviews of all features, animated examples, descriptions of all interface elements, and a reference of all Lingo commands and elements. Topics are extensively cross-referenced and indexed to make finding information and jumping to related topics quick and easy. You can access Director Help from the Help menu. To access context-sensitive help, select Help from the Options menu for any panel, palette, or inspector, or click the Help button in any dialog box. Director MX tutorials When you're ready to start working in Director, begin with Chapter 2, "Director MX Basics Tutorial," on page 53. The tutorial shows you how to create a basic movie using some of the most useful and powerful features of Director. If you want to produce 3D content, see Chapter 3, "Director MX 3D Tutorial," on page 103. Using Director MX manual This printed manual contains all the information found in Director Help. 16 Introduction Director MX Lingo Dictionary The Director MX Lingo Dictionary is a printed version of all the Lingo topics in Director Help. Answers panel The Answers panel provides quick access to information that helps you work effectively with Director. This includes tutorials, TechNotes, and other useful content. You can get the latest Director information from macromedia.com by simply clicking the Update button in the Answers panel. Tooltips When you place the pointer over a Director tool or other workspace feature for a few seconds, a small tooltip appears that explains the function of the item. Keyboard shortcuts Many commands that are available from Director menus are also accessible through keyboard shortcuts. When you display a menu or submenu, the appropriate key combinations are shown next to the commands for which keyboard shortcuts are available. The following illustration shows key board shortcuts for a variety of commands on the Control menu. (The illustration shows Director running on Windows. When Director is running on a Macintosh, the keyboard shortcuts reflect Macintosh keys.) Director Support Center The Director Support Center website (www.macromedia.com/support/director/) contains the latest information on Director, plus additional topics, examples, tips, and updates. Check the website often for the latest news on Director and how to get the most out of the program. Getting Started 17 Conventions used in Director Help and printed books The help system and printed books use the following conventions: · The terms Lingo and Director refer to Director MX. · Within the text and in Lingo examples, Lingo elements and parts of actual code are shown in this font. For example, set answer = 2 + 2 is a sample Lingo statement. · Quotation marks that are part of Lingo statements are shown in the text and Lingo code examples as straight quotation marks (") rather than as curly quotation marks ("). · The continuation symbol (¬), which you enter by pressing Alt+Enter (Windows) or Option+Return (Macintosh), indicates that a long line of Lingo has been broken onto two or more lines. Lines of Lingo that are broken this way are not separate lines of code. When you see the continuation symbol in this book, type the lines as one line when you enter them in the Script window. · Variables used to represent parameters in Lingo appear in italics. For example, whichCastMember is commonly used to indicate where you insert the name of a cast member in Lingo. · Text that you should type is shown in this font. 18 Introduction CHAPTER 1 Director Basics Macromedia Director MX is the tool of choice for legions of web and multimedia developers. With Director, you can create movies for websites, kiosks, and presentations as well as movies for education and entertainment. Movies can be as small and simple as an animated logo or as complex as an online chat room or game. Director movies can include a variety of media, such as sound, text, graphics, animation, and digital video. A Director movie can link to external media or be one of a series of movies that refer to one another. Your users view completed Director movies in one of the following ways: · In the Macromedia Shockwave movie format, which plays in Shockwave-enabled web browsers. Millions of web users already have the Shockwave Player on their computers, browsers, or system software. Others have downloaded Shockwave Player, which is free, from Macromedia's website at www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/. · In a projector, which plays on your user's computer as a stand-alone application. Creating a new movie Director is organized around a movie metaphor. To create a new movie: · Select File > New > Movie. 19 Introducing the Director workspace When you first launch Director, there are several windows in the default layout, including the Stage, the Score, the Cast, and the Property inspector. Tools Stage Property inspector Cast Score Default Director MX window layout (Windows platform) When creating and editing a movie, you typically work in four of these windows: the Stage, the Score, the Cast, and the Property inspector. The Stage If the Stage is not open, select Window > Stage. The Stage is the visible portion of a movie on which you determine where your media elements appear. During authoring, you have the ability to define the properties of your Stage, such as its size and color. As you work on your movie, you can use zooming to make the Stage either larger or smaller than the original movie, while also scaling the coordinates for the Stage objects. To align objects on the Stage, you can select to display guides and grids or use the Align window. 20 Chapter 1