Essentials of Macromedia Director MX

Several books on the market claim to teach you Director. Some of those books simply toe the company line. While Director is a marvelous program, this book not only will tell you good things about Director but will address some significant limitations and warn you of some likely pitfalls if you are not an experienced Director user.

Many more Director books are Lingo dictionaries, defining the programming language of Director. This sort of information is certainly useful if the student is already well-acquainted with Director, but is inappropriate for the introductory student.

Still other books are encyclopedias—too comprehensive to be digestible in a couple of days of classroom exposure and not expressly designed for classroom work. This book is designed for classroom or at-home use and introduces the diverse capabilities of Director in as logical a progression as possible.

In keeping with the IconLogic series, this book is broken into several lessons. Each lesson builds on information learned from previous modules.

Here is what you will learn:

Director Basics

Add Notes in a Movie Script | Change Stage Properties | Use the Control Panel | Use the Cast Window | Name Cast Members | Explore the Score's Effects Channels | Set Tempo Waits | Set Cue Points | Explore the Palette Channel | Explore the Transition Channel | Explore the Sound Channel | Explore the Script Channel | Review the Sprite Toolbar

Drawing and Basic Animation

Preview a Basic Animation | Create a Cast Member | Add a Sprite to the Stage | Change Sprite Ink Color and Size | Modify Sprites | Create an Animation | Create a More Complex Animation | Stretch a Sprite | Clone Keyframes | Set Blends | Work with Text

Space to Time, Cast to Time and Film Loops

Add Multiple Sprites to the Stage | Create Space to Time Animation | Clone a Keyframe | Add Markers | Exchange Cast Members | Preview a Completed Movie | Import Graphics | Create Cast to Time Animation | Create a Film Loop

Sound, Scripts and Lingo

Preview a Completed Movie | Import Sound | Add Sounds to a Movie | Edit Sound Properties | Preview a Completed Movie | Create a Frame Script | Create a Button | Create a Cast Member Script | Create Sound Level Controls | Create a Field | Create an Override Script | Create a Quit button

Outputting Shockwave Movies and Projectors

Check for Unused Cast Members and Sort the Cast | Publish a Shockwave Movie | Create a Projector

Sprite Scripts and the Behavior Inspector

Observe Behaviors in Action | Create a Single-Frame Loop | Create a Script with the Behavior Inspector | Create a Numeric Pass Code | Apply Sprite Scripts to Multiple Sprites

Finishing Touches

Preview Existing Video Controls | Import Video | Control Video with Scripts and Loops | Create and Test a Navigation Button | Build an Invisible Push Button | Preview Files to be Combined in the Projector | Create a Projector

Price Sheet