SM3117 Interactive Installation and Physical ComputingDirector Workshop I 26th January, 2005

Introducing Macromedia Director MX 2004

Key windows often used in Director MX 2004 : Stage, Cast, Score, Properties Inspector, Control panel and message window.

The Environment

P.1

Score

Score Library

PlayPaint

Vectorshape Text Shockwave 3D

StopRewind

Script Behaviour Inspector

Message

Message

Stage

Stage

Control PanelCast

Cast

Property Inspector

Property Inspector

Menu Bar Shortcut to bring up different windows

The primary Director file. It contains one or more Casts and a Score. It’s the only Director file you need for most productions. Also called the movie file.

The list of cast members used in a move. Also called the cast library.

A single element, such as a bitmap, some text, a sound, a shape, a vector drawing, a Flash movie, or a piece of digital video. Also called a cast member.

A chart showing which members appear on the Stage at certain times.

An instant of time in Director. While you are working on a movie, the stage shows a single frame. While the movie is animating, the stage moves through frames to create the visual effect of animation.

A numbered position in the Score. Every sprite occupies a channel over a series of frames. The score can have as many as 1,000 channels, as well as a few special channels at the top. The specific chan-nel a sprite is in determines whether it gets down on top of or underneath another sprite. Also called a sprite channel.

The description of which member is shown, where it is in the Score, where it appears on the Stage, and many other properties.

The Cast PanelCast members-- The most basic elements of any Director movie. Almost any form of media can be represented in Director as a cast member. Each type of cast member can be viewed or edited in the Media Editor panel.

There are two viewing modes : List and Thumbnail mode

Movie

Cast

Member

Score

Frame

Channel

Sprite

Director’s Terminology

Exploring Windows and Panels

click here to change view style

P.2

Cast Member Type How you work with Cast member types vary greatly. Some can be created and edited in Director. Ohters need to be created in programs such as video or sound-editing tools and then imported.

Multiple / External CastsDirector allows you to break your members up into multiple cast libraires. The default Cast named “internal”. To create a new Cast, open the Cast panel and use the Choose Cast button menu at the upper left to choose the New Cast option. You can also choose File > New > Cast from the main menu bar.

When you create a new cast, you have the choice of whether this new cast should be internal or external. An internal cast is stored in the same Director file as your default cast and the rest of the movie’s information. An external cast is stored in its own file with a .cst extension.

P.3

Cast Member NameTab to switch between Casts

Choose Cast /Create new Cast

Icons representing different Member Type

Cast Member Properties

Cast Member Number

Stage PropertiesYou can change the actual Stage size by choosing Modify > Movie > Properties and looking at the Movie tab of the Property Inspector.

Property InspectorThe most versatile and most useful tool panel in Director. This panel contains information about the current sprite selected. So its appearance and function change constantly.

It shows all the tab associated with the selected items. For instance, if you have a bitmap sprite selected, the Property Inspec-tor will have Sprite, Behavior, Member, Bitmap, and Movie tabs.

P.4

hide / show effect channels

zoom menu

The ScoreThe score is the real heart and soul of a movie. As you can see below, it is a chart of the contents of the movie. Time, represented by frames, goes across the Score, whereas sprite channels and other elements are listed as rows in the chart.

The left side of the Score shows channel numbers. By default, the score has 150 sprite channels. You can change the number of channels in a movie through the movie’s Properties Inspector.

effect channels

behaviour inspector behaviours ink

marker

sprite

show/ hide spritechannel name

channel number

marker’s menu

blend start / end frame

tempopalette

transitionsound

frame script

sprite channels

Effects channelsTempo

Palette

Transition

Sound

Frame Script

To specify the speed (fps) at which the movie moves through this frame. This setting persists until another frame contains a new setting to override it. You can also set the Tempo channel to pause for a certain number of seconds.

You can use the palette channel of the Score to set which palette is used in which frame.

Predefined visual transition that can be applied to a frame. The transition defines how the frame appears as the movie goes from the preceding frame to the current one.

The two Sound channels enable you to defind sounds that automatically play when a frame is shown. You can use even more sound channel in Lingo.

You can place Lingo / JavaScript members that are meant to control that specific frame, the sprites on it, and the entire Director environment, as long as the movie is passing through that frame.

ball

The StageThe Stage is the only window that the end user will actually see. It is where all the visual action of a movie takes place. The Stage has two main purposes: 1) to show you a preview of what the users will see. 2) to allow you to position sprites on the screen.

You can change the actual Stage size by choosing Modify > Movie > Properties and looking at the Movie tab of the Property Inspector.

P.5

The Message PanelThe Message window provides a way for you to test scripting commands and to monitor what is happening in your scripts while a movie plays.

The Message window has an Input pane and an Output pane. The Input pane is editable. The Output pane is read-only. The only way to display text in the Output pane is by calling the put() or trace() functions.

You can test Lingo and JavaScript syntax statements to see how they work by entering them in the Message window and observing the results. When you enter a command in the Message window, Director executes the command immediately, regardless of whether a movie is playing.

For example, if you type the following statement into the Message window:

// JavaScript syntaxtrace(50+50);

and press Enter, the result appears in the Output pane:

// JavaScript syntax// 100

input pane

script languagechooser

output pane

P.6

Using Text Members

Using Field Members

Working with Director member types

Create TextDirector provides two ways to create text cast members: directly on the Stage or in the Text Editor window.

To create text cast members directly on the Stage, use from the tool palette.

To create text cast members in the Text window, open up the Text Editor by clicking the icon from the menu bar.

You can set a variety of options to change the appearance of your text member. To change text member properties, use the Property Inspector. However, if you want to change the text properties (e.g. font, size, color etc.) of that text member, you need to use the Text Inspector instead. (or you can actually do that inside the Text Editor window)

Text ImportingDirector allows you to import text of various format into the movie. To import an external text file, choose File > ImportFile format supported by Director : RTF, HTML, ASCII (often called Text Only), Lingo, or JavaScript syntax

Note: The Text tool is available when the Tool palette is in Classic or Default view. When in Flashcomponent mode, the tool becomes a textInput Flash component.

Once the only text option in Director, field members are still useful for a variety of tasks. For one, they take up much less space than text members. The difference is even more dramatic when you use anti-aliased text in the text member.

Field text is standard text controlled by your system software, the same as the text you see in dialog boxes and menu bars. Director does not anti-alias field text or support paragraph formatting and tabs for fields. As with regular text, script can control field text and specify whether field text is editable while a movie plays.

Whereas regular text is best suited for large type that you want to look as good as possible, field text is an excellent choice for large blocks of smaller text in standard fonts (such as Times or Helvetica) that don’t need to be anti-aliased.

Note: The Field tool is only available when the Tool palette is in Classic view.

Konwingwhen to use Text and when to use Fields

Must look smooth TextMust display quickly FieldMust not add too much to the file size FieldMust be capable of displaying indents TextConsistent line spacing TextMust be capable of displaying tables TextMust be capable of receiving imported RTF and HTML files TextMust be able to add borders and margins easily FieldMust be able to add a text shadow easily FieldMust be able to add hypertext links easily TextMust never change appearance from platform to platform Text

Factor Which to use

P.7

Using Bitmaps

Creating Vector Members

Bitmaps are usually photographs, rendings, scanned image, or non-vector illustrations. You can created bitmaps in a variety of programs and then bring these images into Director by importing from a variety of standard formats. You can also create and edit bitmaps by using Director’s Paint Editor.

Photoshop filterDirector can borrow some Photoshop filters and use them on cast members or in the Paint Editor. You can do so by making an alias or shortcut to your Photoshop filters folder and placing it in the Director Xtras folder. You can also copy filters, or folders of filters, into the Xtras folder.

The simplest way to use filters is to apply them to an entire single cast member. Select that cast member in the Cast and choose Xtra > Filter Bitmap. This bring up the filter Bitmap dialog box, which organises the filters into categories.

There are two types of vector member in Director. Vector Shape and Shape.Vector Shapes are created in the Vector Shape Window. (Choose Insert > Media Element > Vector Shape).Shapes are created directly on the Stage with the Tool palette.

There are little differences between them except that Director does not ant-alias Shape members. So they don’t appear as smooth on the Stage as vector shapes.

You can edit bitmap images in Director with the Paint Editor. To fire up the Paint Editor, just double-click a bitmap cast member or using [Crtl + 5]

Types of BitmapsBit DepthThe biggest difference between types of bitmaps is that they can be of different bit depths. Bits refer to the amount of information stored for each pixel of a graphic. A 1-bit image has only one piece of information: on and off. An 8-bit image has eight pieces of information, which corresponds to 256 possible combinations. With today’s computers, there is little need to use anything less than 32-bit graphics.

Formats which are supported in Director:BMP, GIF, JPEG, LRG, Photoshop, MacPaint, PNG, PICT, Targa, TIFF

After you import any of these file formats into Director as a bitmap, it no longer matters what the original format of the document was; it is now a bitmap cast mamber.

To use a filter, select it and click the Filter button. If the filter has its own dialog box, as must do, you see that idalog box first and can then choose your options. The filter is then applied to the cast member.

vector shape member

shape member

P.8

Using SoundsThere are various ways to handle sounds in Director :

Importing soundsYou can import sounds into Director with the same import function used for bitmaps and text. Choose File > Import > and select the sound file or files you want to import. After the sound is in the Cast, you can use the Property Inspector to view information about the sounds.

Imported sounds will be placed in the sound channel. (In addition to the two sound channels in the Score, Director can use as many as six additional sound channels simultaneously. However, the additional channels are accessible only from Lingo or JavaScript syntax or from behaviors. )

There is only one available option in the Property Inspector -- Looping.If looping is turned on, Director plays this sound over and over as long as the sound is in one of the Sound channels in the Score. As soon as you jump to a frame that does not have this sound, it stops.

Using External SoundsSounds tend to be large and add significantly to the file size of a Director movie. For this reason, you might want to keeping sounds as external files and creating a linked cast member that uses this external sound.

Choose File > Import > to get to the Import dialog box, and then selecting Link to External File instead of Standard Import.

Another method for using an external sound involves no cast member at all, but simply playing a sound file directly with a Lingo command, which will not be discussed here.

Importing Sound : Director stores all the sound data for an internal sound cast member in a movie or cast file and loads the sound completely into RAM before playing it. After an internal sound is loaded, it plays very quickly. This makes internal sound best for short sounds, such as beeps or clicks, that occur frequently in your movie. For the same reason, making a large sound file an internal sound is not a good choice because the sound might use too much memory.

Using External Sounds : Director does not store sound data in a linked sound cast member. Instead, it keeps a reference to a sound file’s location and imports the sound data each time the sound begins playing. Because the sound is never entirely loaded into RAM, the movie uses memory more efficiently.

Streaming Shockwave Audio : Director begins playing the sound while the rest of the sound continues to load from its source, whether on disk or over the Internet. This can dramatically improve the downloading performance of large sounds.

select “Link to External File”

Import Dialog Box

You can always check or update the file location from the Property Inspector.

Director imports AIFF and WAV sounds (both compressed and uncompressed), AU, Shockwave Audio, and MP3.

P.9

Streaming Shockwave Audio

Director can stream the following sounds: QuickTime, Shockwave Audio, and MP3 sounds that are linked from a URL QuickTime, Shockwave Audio, MP3, AIFF, and WAV sounds that are linked to a local file

To stream a linked Shockwave Audio or MP3 sound:1) Select Insert > Media Element > Shockwave Audio. This process creates a cast member that controls the streaming Shockwave Audio.

2) In the SWA Cast Member Properties dialog box that appears, click Browse and select a Shockwave Audio file on a local disk, or enter a URL in the Link Address text box.

3) Set the remaining cast member properties in the Property inspector, as described in the following list:

4) Drag the Shockwave Audio cast member to a sprite channel (not one of the sound channels) to create a sprite.

Extend the sprite through all frames in which the sound should play, or use the tempo channel to make the movie wait for the end of the sound. You can’t place streaming audio cast members in the sound channels. The sound streams from the source location when the movie plays.

You can create a Shockwave Audio file from the Shockwave converter Xtra: select Xtras > Convert WAV to SWA, and select the WAV files to convert

To set the volume of the sound, use the Volume slider in the SWA tab in the Property inspector.

To select the sound channel for the sound, select a number from the Channel pop-up menu in the SWA tab. To avoid potential conflicts, select Any, which causes the sound to play in the highest numbered available sound channel.

To specify the size of the stream buffer, use the Preload option in the SWA tab.

Director attempts to load enough sound data to play for the specified time in seconds. This prevents gaps in sounds that play over slow or interruption-prone Internet connections.

P.10

Importing Digital VideoMedia support for Windows : QuickTime video, RealMedia, (AVI, Mpeg-1, Mpeg-4 : through Window Media Xtra )Medai suppor for Macintosh: QuickTime video, RealMedia

When you import Windows Media, DVD content files, AVI, QuickTime, or RealMedia, the cast members you create always remain linked to the original external file, even if you select the Standard Import option. When you distribute a movie, you must always include all digital video files along with the movie.

To import digital video:1) Select File > Import. 2) Select QuickTime, AVI (Windows only), Windows Media (Windows only), or RealMedia from the Files of Type pop-up menu. 3) Select the digital video files to import. 4) Click Import.

When you import an AVI file, you are prompted to select QuickTime or AVI as the import format.If you select QuickTime, Director imports the video as a QuickTime Asset Xtra, which provides additional playback options.

Using DVD media content in DirectorYou can link DVD media content to a Director movie and use the DVD media editor to inspect that linked content. However, you can't actually make changes to DVD content within Director. Rather, you can change the attributes of the DVD media by using either the Property Inspector prior to playback or via Director's scripting capabilities while the movie's playing by polling events and modifying properties and methods that affect the linked DVD content.

To link DVD media content to a movie by using the Insert menu:1) Select Insert > Media Element > DVD.

To link DVD media content to a movie by using the DVD Editor:1) Select Window > DVD. (The DVD Editor appears.)2) Enter a name for the DVD member in the Cast Member Name text box of the DVD Editor. Director creates a new DVD cast member in the first available Cast slot.

Video WindowWhether a digital video is a cast member or a sprite on the Stage, you can preview it in its corresponding video window. There are different versions of the window for QuickTime, Windows Media, DVD, RealMedia, and AVI digital content. To open the Video Window, choose Window > QuickTime (or DVD, RealMedia, Windows Media, AVI Video)

Synchronizing mediaTo pause the playhead until a specified cue point in a sound or digital video is reached, you can use the Wait for Cue Point option in the Tempo dialog box. You can also use this method to wait for the end of the sound or digital video, even if it has no cue points. Cue points can also be used to trigger events that scripts can interpret.

Note: AVI and DVD media does not support Cue Point

P.11

Simple Animation in DirectorSomething more about Sprite A sprite is an object that controls when, where, and how cast members appear in a Macromedia Director MX 2004 movie. Multiple sprites can use the same cast member. You can also switch cast members assigned to a sprite as the movie plays. You use the Stage to control where a sprite appears, and you use the Score to control when it appears in your movie.

Sprite properties include the sprite’s size and location, the cast member assigned to the sprite, the sprite’s name, and the frames in which the sprite occurs. Different properties can alter the appearance of a sprite. You can rotate, skew, flip, and change the color of sprites without affecting cast members. You can change sprite properties with the Prop-erty inspector or Lingo or JavaScript syntax.

You can also give each sprite a unique name. You can assign a name by using the Property inspector, and then view the sprite by name in the Score and on the Stage. Assigning a name lets you refer to the sprite by that name in Lingo or JavaScript syntax and not just by the channel number that it occupies. You can move a sprite to a different channel and not worry about changing scripts. Editing scores and code scripts is much easier when you refer to a sprite by its name.

In Lingo or JavaScript syntax, some properties are available only for certain types of sprites. Such properties typically are characteristics that are related to the specific sprite type. For example, Lingo or JavaScript syntax has several digital video properties that determine the contents of tracks in digital video sprites.

sprite channel number

a sprite

cast member type

cast member

cast member

sprite name

cast

P.12

Tweening in Director

To tween the path of a sprite:1. Place a sprite on the Stage where you want the path to start. If the sprite is already on the Stage, select it. This places the start frame of the sprite in the proper location. The start frame is also the first keyframe of the sprite.

2. If necessary, select View > Sprite Overlay > Show Paths. The Show Paths option is on by default. With this option turned on, Director displays the paths of moving sprites on the Stage. Keyframes appear as hollow circles. Small tick marks show the sprite’s position in tweened frames.

3. Insert keyframes in any additional frames where you want the sprite’s animation path to change.

4. Drag the red handle within the sprite to the place on the Stage where you want the sprite’s path to end. The red handle represents the sprite’s location in the end frame. For bitmaps, the red handle is usually in the center of the image. For vector shapes and other media types, the handle is often in the upper left corner.

5 Director displays the path the sprite follows. The tick marks along the path show the sprite location in each frame in between.

6. To make the sprite’s path curve between more points, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Macintosh) and move the pointer on the Stage over a tick mark. When the pointer changes color, drag the tick mark to a new location.

7. To make the property changes defined by a keyframe occur at a different time, drag the keyframe in the Score to a new frame within the sprite.

8. To change the degree of curvature between keyframes, select Modify > Sprite > Tweening and adjust the Curvature slider. To make the sprite move in the same direction at the beginning and end, select Continuous at Endpoints in the Sprite Tweening dialog box. This creates a circular motion.

To specify tweening properties for a sprite, you use the Sprite Tweening dialog box.Select a sprite, then select Modify > Sprite > Tweening.

P.13

Step Recording

Real-Time Recording

To step-record animation:

1. Place sprites on the Stage where you want the anima-tion to begin. 2. Select all the sprites you want to animate.

3. In the Score, click the frame where you want animation to begin.

4. Select Control > Step Recording. The step-recording indicator appears next to the channel numbers for the sprites being recorded, and the selection border widens.

5. Press 3 on the numeric keypad (make sure Number Lock is off) or click the Step Forward button in the Control panel.The movie advances to the next frame. If you reach the last frame of a sprite, Director extends the sprites being recorded into the new frame.

6. Drag the sprite to reposition it. You can also stretch the sprite, exchange cast members, or change any property.

7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you have completed the sequence you want to record.

You can set up a real-time recording session in the same way as a step-recording session. After the first frame of the sprite is selected, choose Control > Real-Time Recording from the menu.

Click and drag the sprite. The movie starts going and the frame indicator on the Score moves with it. Drag the sprite around the Stage to change its position.

When you are finished, you can go back and edit individual frames of animation.

step forwardstep backward

P.14

Using Behavior Library

A behavior in Macromedia Director MX 2004 is prewritten Lingo or JavaScript syntax that you use to provide interac-tivity and add interesting effects to your movie. You drag a behavior from the Library palette and drop it on a sprite or frame to attach it.

If the behavior includes parameters, a dialog box appears that lets you define those parameters. For example, most navigation behaviors let you specify a frame to jump to. You can attach the same behavior to as many sprites or frames as necessary and use different parameters for each instance of the behavior.

Most behaviors respond to simple events such as a mouse click on a sprite or the entry of the playhead into a frame. When the event occurs, the behavior performs an action, such as jumping to a different frame or playing a sound.

To attach a behavior to a single sprite or frame using the Library palette:

1. Select Window > Library Palette. \

2. Select a library from the Library pop-up menu in the upper left corner of the palette.

3. To view a brief description of included behaviors, move the pointer over a behavior icon. If the behavior includes a longer description, you can view it in the Behavior inspector or in Director Help.

4. To attach a behavior to a single sprite, drag a behavior from the Library palette to a sprite on the Stage or in the Score.

5. To attach a behavior to a frame in the behavior channel, drag a behavior from the Library palette to a frame in the behavior channel.

6. Enter parameters for the behavior in the Parameters dialog box.

To change parameters for a behavior attached to a sprite or frame:

Select the sprite or frame to which the behavior is attached. In the Behavior tab of the Property inspector, use the pop-up menus or text boxes to change any parameters. The Behavior tab has the same fields for the behavior as those in the Parameters dialog box.

P.15

Publishing Shockwave Movies

Formats TabUse the Formats tab to select the movie format you want and determine the types of files you wish to publish. It includes support for creating cross-platform projectors.

Projector TabThe Projector tab lets you set options that include how the projector movie appears on stage or in a browser, and what type of player it is shown on.

File TabThe Files tab lets you set file options for projectors. For example, by default a projector consists of just the current movie, but you can add external casts to the movie using this tab. You can also exclude Xtra extensions from your projector.

Shockwave Tab The Shockwave tab lets you set options that determine the Shockwave Player version, how images are compressed, how users interact with the movie once it’s published, and more.

HTML TabIf users view your movie in browsers, chances are they will resize their browsers. How your movie behaves when the browser size changes depends on how you set HTML options in the Publish Settings dialog box.

Image TabYou can specify the images that should appear if the user doesn’t have Shockwave or the ActiveX control.

You can distribute movies as Shockwave content (with the DCR extension), projectors, Shockwave projectors, or protected movies (DXR extension). You should not distribute source movies (DIR extension) unless you want your users to be able to change the movie in the Director authoring environment.

Shockwave content is a compressed version of a movie’s data and does not include a player. Shockwave content is created primarily to distribute over the Internet for playback in a web browser.

A projector is a movie intended for play outside of a web browser. A projector can include a player (called the Standard player), Xtra extensions, multiple casts, and linked media in a single file. A projector can also include several different movie files. Configured in this way, a projector can be a completely stand-alone application.

A Shockwave projector makes a much smaller projector. A Shockwave projector uses an installed Shockwave Player on the user’s system to play a movie instead of including the player code in the projector itself.

Protected movies (.DXR extension) are uncompressed movies that users can’t open for editing. These can be useful when you want to distribute uncompressed movies on a disk, but you don’t want users to edit the source file. Protected movies may play faster than Shockwave content from a disk because they do not need to be decom-pressed.

To open the Publish setting dialogue box, choose File > Publish setting