MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-GETTING STARTED WITH DIRECTOR User Manual

DIRECTOR®MX2004Getting Started with Director

10 Chapter 1: IntroductionTo access context-sensitive help, do one of the following:• If you are working in a window, display the Options menu for th

Guide to instructional media 11Director Scripting Reference This manual is available in printable PDF format from the Director Documentation Center a

12 Chapter 1: Introduction

13CHAPTER 2Installing and Configuring DirectorInstalling Macromedia Director MX 2004 takes only a few minutes. After installation, you may want to cus

14 Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring DirectorInstalling DirectorFollow these steps to install Director on either a Windows or a Macintosh compute

Connecting to the Internet 15Connecting to the InternetDirector can connect to the Internet to import media files and retrieve data. Follow the steps

16 Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring Director

17CHAPTER 3Getting to Know the WorkspaceThe Macromedia Director MX 2004 workspace is designed to make the most efficient use of the space on your scre

18 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceThe action in a Director movie takes place in a window called the Stage. To create a Director movie, you a

Navigating the Director workspace 19Getting to know the default workspaceWhen creating and editing a basic movie, you typically work in four of the wi

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20 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceTo change window preferences:1 Select Edit > Preferences.2 Select one of the following commands: Genera

Using the Stage 21To move around on the Stage:1 If the Stage is not already displayed, select Window > Stage.2 Do one of the following: From the T

22 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceUsing the ScoreLike the Stage, the Score provides a view of your movie. The Stage provides a graphical vie

Using the Score 23To create a new marker:1 If the Score is not already displayed, select Window > Score.2 Display the frame that you want to mark w

24 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceTo show or hide the effects channels:• Click the Hide/Show Effects Channels button in the upper right corn

Using the Control panel 25To change the zoom setting:1 On the right side of the Score, click the Zoom Menu button.2 Select a size from the Zoom menu.

26 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceNavigating frames in a movieAs you build a movie, you sometimes need to check individual frames or examine

Using the Property inspector 27To create a new cast member:1 If the Cast window is not already displayed, select Window > Cast.2 On the Tool palett

28 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceTo switch between a list view and a graphical view:1 If the Property inspector is not already displayed, s

Using the Property inspector 29To set the properties of a sprite or cast member:1 Do one of the following: On the Stage or in the Score, select a spr

3CONTENTSCHAPTER 1: Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7About Director . . . . . .

30 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceDirectX 5.2 specifies the DirectX 5.2 drivers for hardware acceleration that work only with Windows platfo

Using the Script window 31By scripting in the Script window, you can accomplish many of the same tasks that you can in the graphical interface of Dire

32 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceUsing the Message windowThe Message window supports testing and debugging in Director. These features are

Customizing your workspace 33Most panels or panel groups have a header bar that displays the name and includes the following features: an expander arr

34 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceTo move a panel to a different panel group:1 Select a stand-alone panel or a panel within a panel group.2

Customizing your workspace 35Docking panel groupsYou can dock stand-alone panels and panel groups in two ways: to each other and to the docking channe

36 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceSaving panel setsYou can save your current workspace layout as a panel set. Later, you can open that panel

Working with Xtra extensions 37To collapse or expand a panel group:• Click the expander arrow or the panel group’s title in the header bar.To close or

38 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the WorkspaceAdding mediaXtra extensions can import media as cast members into Director. Some of these media Xtra exten

Working with Xtra extensions 39Adding transitionsTransition Xtra extensions supply transitions in addition to the predefined transitions that are avai

4 ContentsUsing the Property inspector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Controlling your view of th

40 Chapter 3: Getting to Know the Workspace

41CHAPTER 4Building Your First Basic MovieThis tutorial takes you through the steps of creating your first movie in Macromedia Director MX 2004. If yo

42 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieView the completed movieStart by viewing a completed version of the tutorial movie to become familiar wi

Preparing to build the movie scenes 43If the Property inspector is not in graphical view, as shown in the following illustration, click the List View

44 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieView your cast membersTo create a Director movie, you need cast members. Cast members are the objects th

Building the first scene with text and an image 45Building the first scene with text and an imageBuilding a scene in Director requires creating or imp

46 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie3 Click the Bold button and the Italic button. The style of the selected text changes from plain to bold

Building the first scene with text and an image 47b Click the Forecolor color picker, and select white.c In the X text box, type 15. In the Y text box

48 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieAdd sprites to the ScoreWhen you place a cast member on the Stage, the sprite is added to both the Stage

Building the first scene with text and an image 49Create a new button cast memberNow you are ready to create the second button. Remember that button c

Contents 5Create a QuickTime sprite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Specify direct-to-Stage playback

50 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie5 When you release the mouse button, the rectangle you created becomes an editable text box in which you

Building the first scene with text and an image 51Edit sprites in the Score windowYou can shorten or lengthen sprites as needed. To make the Score inf

52 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieChange the default length of spritesYou can change the default length of sprites that you drag to the St

Building the second scene with animation 53• From cast slot 4, drag the black background image to channel 1, frame 15 of the Score.When you place a sp

54 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie4 Click the Import button.5 In the Image Options dialog box, click the OK button.The tire has taken up t

Building the second scene with animation 55Animate the image to travel downYou now have an animation of a tire rising off the ground. To animate the t

56 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie1 In the Score, click channel 1, frame 24 and drag it to frame 34.2 Scrub the playhead again. This time,

Building the second scene with animation 5710 Scrub the playhead. The tire accelerates as it reaches the bottom.Change the span of an animationIt may

58 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieAdd an existing navigation button to the ScoreTo complete the animation scene, you will add navigation b

Building the third scene with sound and video 594 At the bottom of the Stage, click the Rewind button, and then click the Play button. The movie plays

6 Contents

60 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie4 Click the Import button.The new digital video cast member appears in the Cast window in the first avai

Building the third scene with sound and video 613 When you finish playing the video, close the QuickTime window.Create a QuickTime spriteYou are now r

62 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieSpecify direct-to-Stage playback for a QuickTime cast memberDirector can play QuickTime video using dire

Building the third scene with sound and video 63The Pause button’s sprite appears on the Stage and in channel 3, frames 55 through 64, of the Score.4

64 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieImport a soundThe QuickTime movie has no sound track. You can make the scene more interesting by adding

Building the third scene with sound and video 653 From the Cast window, drag the track1 cast member to frame 55 in sound channel 1 of the Score.The so

66 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie3 From the Cast window, drag the Animation cast member to the Stage, placing it in the lower right corne

Writing scripts to control the movie 67To make the playhead stay in one scene, you loop it in a single frame or a series of frames. For the start scen

68 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie7 At the bottom of the Stage, click the Stop button to stop the movie.The handler that you wrote has thr

Writing scripts to control the movie 691 In the Score, display frame 15.2 Click the Marker bar above frame 15. A new marker appears in the Marker bar

7CHAPTER 1IntroductionWelcome to Macromedia Director MX 2004. With Director, you can develop high-performance multimedia content and applications for

70 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieAdd Lingo to navigation buttonsTo make the navigation buttons function, you need to add scripts to the b

Writing scripts to control the movie 71Add markers to two additional scenesYour first button is complete. To use similar scripts on the remaining navi

72 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie1 Make sure that the Cast window and the Score are both open.2 Display frame 15 of the Score.3 From the

Writing scripts to control the movie 73Digital video movies use a timeline instead of a Score. The timing of the video playback is tied closely to the

74 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie9 Rewind and play your movie. 10 In the start scene, click the Go to Sound and Video button.The movie ju

Writing scripts to control the movie 751 In the Cast window, select the PlayScript cast member. 2 Click the Cast Member Script button near the upper r

76 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic MovieModify the script for the Rewind buttonYou can modify the RewindScript cast member so that the sound sto

Publishing your movie 77Publishing your movieIn general, you can publish your movie for the web by simply selecting File > Publish. Using default P

78 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie4 From the Basics folder, copy the Start folder and all of its contents to the dswmedia folder on your d

Summarizing what you learned 79Summarizing what you learnedBy completing this tutorial, you have become familiar with the basic tasks and procedures u

8 Chapter 1: IntroductionUsers view your completed Director movies in one of the following ways:• In a projector, which plays on your user’s computer

80 Chapter 4: Building Your First Basic Movie

81INDEXNumerics3D properties 29BBehavior channel 22behaviors, definition of 31browser, choosing preferred 15Ccache, clearing 15canvas, definition

82 IndexFFlash Communication Server MX 9Flash MX 2004 8font maps 30framesdefinition of 22navigating 23, 26Ggraphical view mode in Property inspe

Index 83panel setsdefinition of 32saving, opening, and removing 36panelsclosing, opening, and collapsing 36definition of 32docking 35moving betwe

84 IndexUundocking panels and panel groups 35VView Port 35volume, changing 25WWindow menu 20windowschanging preferences 20displaying and hiding

Guide to instructional media 9Integrating with Macromedia server technologies You can now choose to integrate Director with Macromedia server technol