Macromedia Director 8.5

by David Mennenoh

Overview

Master the wide array of animation and multimedia development capabilities available to you with Director Shockwave Studio. Author and seasoned professional David Mennenoh shares his extensive knowledge of the tools and functionality of this ubiquitous Web development application. Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio: The Complete Reference fully explains Lingo, Shockwave, 3-D animation, multimedia presentation, printing, publishing, and more. Each chapter includes tutorials and examples to reinforce the written material and enhance understanding for users of all levels. Learn to use the latest, most powerful version of Director Shockwave Studio to develop delightfully rich multimedia content for Web, CD-ROM, DVD, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780072194098
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill/OsborneMedia
Publication date:	01/18/2002
Series:	Osborne Complete Reference Series
Pages:	692
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.39(d)

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	xx
	Introduction	xxi
1	Quick Tour	1
	The IDE	2
	The Toolbar	6
	Supporting Windows	6
	Preferences	15
	The Help System	16
	Summary	17
2	Getting Started	19
	Director Is an Animation Package	20
	Creating a Cast Member	20
	Using Sprites	21
	Creating Score Animation	26
	Adding Sound	36
	Adding a Transition	38
	Using the Marker Channel	40
	Using the Tempo Channel	41
	Summary	42
3	Your First Presentation	43
	The Basic Corporate Presentation	44
	Creating the Projector	66
	Summary	69
4	A Deeper Look into Director	71
	Saving Your Movies	72
	Exporting from Director	73
	Creating Projectors	75
	Director's Preferences	78
	Sprite Helpers	89
	More on the Score	97
	Working with Casts	100
	Summary	103
5	An Introduction to Lingo	105
	A Word on Dot Syntax	106
	The Ubiquity of Lingo	107
	Events, Messages, and Handlers	108
	Types of Scripts	111
	Changing Script Types	117
	Attaching Scripts	118
	Tutorial: The Button Behavior	118
	Summary	122
6	Intermediate Lingo	123
	Operators and Precedence	124
	Variables	127
	Decision Making	133
	Looping	137
	Writing Behaviors	140
	User Input	144
	User Feedback	148
	Tutorial: Ballistic Motion Simulator	152
	Summary	161
7	Introducing Shockwave 3D	163
	Director's Evolution	164
	The 3D World	165
	Primitives	167
	Modifiers	168
	3D Text	169
	From 2D to 3D	171
	Havok	172
	The Shockwave 3D Window	174
	Tutorial: Your First 3D World	175
	Summary	180
8	Multimedia in Director	181
	Bitmaps	182
	Custom Cursors	189
	Digital Video	196
	Using Sound	219
	Using Flash Members	236
	Summary	240
9	Lists and Strings	241
	Lingo Lists	242
	String Handling	265
	Tutorial: A Simple Lingo Database	279
	Summary	286
10	MIAWs, LDMs, and Film Loops	287
	MIAWs	288
	Linked Director Movies	305
	Film Loops	314
	Summary	323
11	Shockwave 3D: Beyond the Basics	325
	Polling the Hardware	326
	The Skybox	327
	Textures and Shaders	337
	Making Objects Face the Camera	350
	Modifiers	351
	Particle Systems	352
	Picking 3D Models with a 2D Mouse	353
	Overlays and Backdrops	355
	3D Pong	357
	Summary	372
12	Director and the Internet	375
	The Net Support Xtras	376
	The Multiuser Server	391
	Summary	405
13	Tools for the Developer	407
	MIAW Xtras	408
	Keeping a Code Library	420
	Debugging Tools	422
	The Debugger	425
	The Trace Commands	430
	The .INI File	432
	Summary	433
14	Xtra, Xtra, Read All About It!	435
	Using Xtras	436
	Including Xtras in Shockwave	441
	Director's Included Xtras	442
	Third-Party Xtras	452
	Free Xtras	452
	Xtra Error Checking	455
	Getting Started Writing Xtras	456
	Summary	456
15	Menus	459
	Director's Menus	460
	Menu Xtras	463
	Creating a Custom Menu Behavior	464
	Pop Menu 2.1	475
	Summary	475
16	Printing	477
	File | Print	478
	Printing from Lingo	479
	Other Printing Methods	486
	Summary	491
17	Advanced Lingo Topics	493
	OOP Basics	494
	Imaging Lingo	521
	Summary	551
18	Distributing Your Work	553
	Creating Projectors	554
	Projector Customization	560
	Distribution Formats	563
	Licensing Issues	571
	Installing Your Software	573
	Summary	577
A	Other Resources	579
	Director Web Sites	580
	Newsgroups	583
	Mailing Lists	585
	User Groups	587
	Search Engines	587
	Un-Lingo Programming	588
	Summary	591
B	Tips and Tricks	593
	One Frame Movies	594
	Fun in the Score	594
	Numbers	595
	Imaging and Color	596
	Lists	599
	Pre-Initializing Global Variables	599
	Projector Command Line Arguments	599
	Removing Linefeeds in Text Files	600
	Using the itemDelimiter	600
	Cursor Hiding	601
	Network/Internet	601
	Shockwave Audio	601
	MIAWs	602
	Speeding Up Flash	602
	Problems with File Extensions and preloadNetThing	602
	Calculating Frames per Second	603
	Using randomSeed	603
C	Keyboard Shortcuts	605
	Movie Shortcuts	606
	Interface Shortcuts	606
	Stage Shortcuts	607
	Playback Shortcuts	608
	Sprite Shortcuts	609
D	Formulas, Conversions, and Measurements	611
	Astronomical Measurements	612
	Conversion Equivalents	612
	Geometry	614
	Trigonometry	615
	Weights and Measures	616
	Other Useful Stuff	617
	Index	619