Macromedia MX 2004 User Guide

DIRECTOR®MX

2004

Using Director

Trademarks

ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Add Life to the Web, Afterburner, Aftershock, Andromedia, Allaire, Animation PowerPack, Aria, Attain,
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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
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Copyright © 2004 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. Part

Second Edition: September 2004

Macromedia, Inc.
600 Townsend St.

San Francisco, CA 94103

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

About Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

What’s new in Director MX 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Guide to instructional media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

CHAPTER 2: Score, Stage, and Cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Using the Tool palette with the Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Setting Stage properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Using multiple Score windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Changing Score settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Selecting and editing frames in the Score. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

About Cast Members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Creating new casts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Creating cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Using the Cast window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Naming cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Using Cast List view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Using Cast Thumbnail view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Moving cast members within the Cast window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Organizing cast members within the Cast window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Setting Cast window preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Changing Cast properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Viewing and setting cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Finding cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Importing cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Launching external editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Managing external casts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Creating libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Setting cast member properties using Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Setting Xtra cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

3

CHAPTER 3: Sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Creating sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Setting sprite general preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Selecting sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Naming sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Finding sprites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating sprite channel names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Layering sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Displaying and editing sprite properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Locking and unlocking sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Positioning sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Changing the appearance of sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Using sprite inks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Assigning a cast member to a sprite with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Exchanging cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

CHAPTER 4: Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

About tweening in Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Tweening the path of a sprite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Accelerating and decelerating sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Tweening other sprite properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Suggestions and shortcuts for tweening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Changing tweening settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Switching a sprite’s cast members. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Editing sprite frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Frame-by-frame animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Shortcuts for animating with multiple cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Using film loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Setting film loop properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Step-recording animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Real-time recording animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Linking a sequence with Paste Relative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Animating sprites with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

CHAPTER 5: Bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

About importing bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Using animated GIFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Using the Paint window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Changing selected areas of a bitmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Flipping, rotating, and applying effects to bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Using Auto Distort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Changing registration points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Changing size, color depth, and color palette for bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Controlling bitmap images with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Using gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Using patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Creating a custom tile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Using Paint window inks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

4 Contents

Using bitmap filters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Using onion skinning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

About the Paste as Pict option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Setting bitmap cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Setting PICT cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Setting Paint window preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Compressing bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Working with Macromedia Fireworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

CHAPTER 6: Vector Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Drawing vector shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Editing vector shapes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Defining gradients for vector shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Controlling vector shapes with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Setting vector shape properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Using shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Setting shape cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

CHAPTER 7: Color, Tempo, and Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Controlling color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Setting palette cast member properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

About tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Using transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

CHAPTER 8: Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Embedding fonts in movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Creating text cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Editing and formatting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Creating a hypertext link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Working with fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Using editable text. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Converting text to a bitmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Mapping fonts between platforms for field cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Setting text or field cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Formatting chunks of text with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Formatting text or field cast members with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . 178

Controlling scrolling text with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Checking for specific text with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Modifying strings with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Contents 5

CHAPTER 9: Using Flash, Flash Components,

and Other Interactive Media Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Using Flash Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Adding a Flash content cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Editing a Flash cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Controlling Flash content with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Controlling Flash content appearance with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . 185

Streaming Flash content with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Playing back Flash content with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Using Lingo or JavaScript syntax to set and test Flash variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Sending messages from Flash content using getURL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Sending XML Data from Flash to Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Using Flash objects in script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Using the Flash local connection object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Using Flash Communication Server MX 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Using the Flash Settings panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Playback performance tips for Flash content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Using Director movies within Director movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Setting linked Director movie properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Using ActiveX controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Using Flash components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Button component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

CheckBox component. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

DateChooser component. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Label component. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

List component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

NumericStepper component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

RadioButton component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

ScrollPane component. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

TextArea component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

TextInput component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Tree component . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

CHAPTER 10: Sound and Synchronization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Importing internal and linked sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Setting sound cast member properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Controlling sound in the Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Looping a sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Using sound in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Playing sounds with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

About Shockwave Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Compressing internal sounds with Shockwave Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Streaming linked Shockwave Audio and MP3 audio files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Playing Shockwave Audio, Windows Media Audio, and

MP3 audio with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Synchronizing media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Synchronizing sound with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Accessibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

6 Contents

CHAPTER 11: Using Digital Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

About digital video formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

Using the video windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Playing digital video direct-to-Stage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Controlling digital video in the Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Playing digital video with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

Setting QuickTime digital video cast member properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Controlling QuickTime with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Using Windows Media files in Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Using DVD media content in Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Cropping digital video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

About using digital video on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Synchronizing video and animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Using RealMedia content in Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Using Lingo or JavaScript syntax sound elements with RealMedia. . . . . . . . . . . . 272

CHAPTER 12: Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Attaching behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Changing the order of attached behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Getting information about behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Creating and modifying behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Writing behaviors with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Setting up a Parameters dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Setting behavior properties with script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Customizing a behavior’s property. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Creating an on getPropertyDescriptionList handler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Including a description for the Behavior inspector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Example of a complete behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Sending messages to behaviors attached to sprites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Using inheritance in behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

CHAPTER 13: Navigation and User Interaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Creating basic navigation controls with behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Adding push buttons, radio buttons, and check boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Jumping to locations with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Detecting mouse clicks with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Making sprites editable and draggable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Making sprites editable or moveable with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . 295

Checking which text is under the pointer with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . 296

Responding to rollovers with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Finding mouse pointer locations with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Checking keys with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Equivalent cross-platform keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Identifying keys on different keyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

About animated color cursors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Creating an animated color cursor cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Using an animated color cursor in a movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Contents 7

CHAPTER 14: 3D Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

What you need to know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

About 3D in Director MX 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

The 3D Xtra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Using the Shockwave 3D window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306

Using the Property inspector for 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

Using rendering methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Using 3D Anti-aliasing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310

3D behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

The 3D world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313

CHAPTER 15: The 3D Cast Member, 3D Text, and 3D Behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . 315

About the 3D cast member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Model resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316

Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318

Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

Motions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322

Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Creating 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Modifying 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Script and 3D text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Using 3D behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

CHAPTER 16: Working with Models and Model Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

About models and model resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Model resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Primitives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Cast member methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345

Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Shaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360

Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Modifiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

Animation modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Motions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

About lights and cameras. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

Light properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Light methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384

Cameras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

8 Contents

CHAPTER 17: Controlling the 3D World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

3D Lingo or JavaScript syntax events. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

Collisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Vector math. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 397

Transforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Rendering functionality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

CHAPTER 18: Movies in a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

About MIAWs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Creating or declaring a MIAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Opening and closing a MIAW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Setting the window size and location for a MIAW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Controlling the appearance of a MIAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413

Controlling MIAW layering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

MIAW events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

Listing the current MIAWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

Controlling interaction between MIAWs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

CHAPTER 19: Using the XML Parser Xtra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

About XML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Using XML parser objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Using XML document nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

Accessing attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Parser objects and XML nodes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Treating white space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

XML and character sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425

CHAPTER 20: Making Director Movies Accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

About government requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Making Director movies accessible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Using the Accessibility behavior library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

Accessibility scripting with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Deploying accessible movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

CHAPTER 21: Managing Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

How Director unloads items from memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Loading and unloading individual cast members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Preloading digital video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

CHAPTER 22: Managing and Testing Director Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

Managing Director projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441

About testing movies to avoid problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Printing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Contents 9

CHAPTER 23: Packaging Movies for Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

About distributing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Shockwave browser compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

Previewing a movie in a browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 448

About Xtra extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Managing Xtra extensions for distributed movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

About distribution formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Creating Shockwave content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Using default Publish settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Changing Publish Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Using dswmedia folders and the support folder to publish Shockwave content . . 459

Using linked media when testing Shockwave content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

Converting movies created in previous versions of Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

About projectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Creating projectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

About cross-platform projectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

Processing movies with Update Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Exporting digital video and frame-by-frame bitmaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

Setting QuickTime export options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466

About organizing movie files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 468

CHAPTER 24: Using Shockwave Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

About streaming movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

About network operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Setting movie playback options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Setting Shockwave playback options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

About creating multiuser applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

About streaming with the Score and behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473

Checking whether media elements are loaded with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . 474

Downloading files from the Internet with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . 474

Retrieving network operation results with Lingo or JavaScript syntax . . . . . . . . . 476

Using Lingo or JavaScript syntax in different Internet environments . . . . . . . . . . 477

Testing your movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

About downloading speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

10 Contents

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Welcome to Macromedia Director MX 2004. With Director, you can develop high-performance

multimedia content and applications for CDs, DVDs, kiosks, and the Internet. This guide, Using

Director, includes comprehensive descriptions and detailed step-by-step instructions that explain

how to use all of the features in Director.

In this chapter, you can get an overview of Director, learn about the features that are new in this

release of Director, and find additional sources of information.

About Director

With Director, a proven multimedia authoring tool for professionals, you can develop high-

performance content and deploy it anywhere: on CDs, DVDs, intranets, kiosks, or the Internet.

Whether you are creating enhanced CD/DVD-ROM content, educational content, or

entertainment applications, Director handles the widest variety of media, letting you unleash your

creativity and build rich, interactive experiences that deliver measurable results. Director provides

all the tools you need to maximize productivity, including a choice of scripting languages and

cross-platform publishing.

With Director, you can now do all of the following:

• Embed most major media formats in your multimedia projects, including DVD-Video,

Windows Media, RealMedia, QuickTime, and Macromedia Flash content, in addition to
audio, bitmap, and 3D formats.

• Work seamlessly with other Macromedia MX products, including Macromedia

Flash MX 2004.

• Extend the authoring environment and playback engine with the Xtra extension plug-in

architecture in Director. Use third-party Xtra extensions or write your own to control external
devices, such as joysticks and cameras, and perform sophisticated operating system-level tasks.

• Write scripts to add interactivity and automation to your projects, using the Lingo scripting

language, JavaScript syntax, or a combination of the two.

• Publish content across platforms and to different formats, including Macintosh and

Windows projectors.

11

Users view your completed Director movies in one of the following ways:

• In a projector, which plays on your user’s computer as a stand-alone application.

• In the Macromedia Shockwave Player 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
the Macromedia website at www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/.

Tip: To see some of the exciting and varied ways in which developers use Director, visit the Director

showcase at www.macromedia.com/go/discreet_inspiration. You can also see great examples of

Shockwave content at www.shockwave.com.

What’s new in Director MX 2004

Director MX 2004 introduces many new features, designed to save time during authoring or to

improve integration with other software, media types, and multimedia development processes.

Importing Macromedia Flash MX 2004 content You can now access Macromedia Flash MX

2004 from within Director.

Scripting in JavaScript syntax Director now supports scripting in JavaScript syntax, in

addition to Lingo. You can use whichever language is more familiar to you or use both languages

in the same movie to develop interactive features and functionality.

Using prebuilt components Prebuilt Macromedia Flash MX 2004 components are now

available to reduce your scripting time. You can drop components, such as calendars and user

interface elements, into movies to cut the time that it takes to develop interactive features.

Adding DVD-Video You can now embed, control, and play back the popular DVD-Video

format inside Director movies. This feature makes DVD possible and affordable for a wide variety

of developers—including entertainment studios, distance learning professionals, DVD authors,

and corporate presentation specialists.

Publishing to Mac and Windows in one step After you complete a movie, you can now

publish across platforms in one step, creating either stand-alone applications or web-based

Shockwave content that runs on Mac and Windows. The new projector publishing feature

eliminates extraneous dialog boxes, saves projector settings on a per-project basis, and eliminates

redundancies.

Naming sprites and channels Sprites and channels can now have custom names, and absolute

references to sprites are no longer necessary. This feature is an advantage when you make last-

minute changes to your movie. With absolute references, your Lingo or JavaScript syntax scripts

might break. But with sprite names, you can move sprites on the Score without worrying about

broken scripts.

Customizing your workspace You can arrange your workspace in multiple configurations and

save each workspace for later use. As a new part of this feature, you can now create workspace

settings that include Movie in a Window (MIAW) windows that are docked alongside your other

windows. These docked MIAW windows can extend Director functionality.

Integrating with other Macromedia Studio MX 2004 products If you already use other

Macromedia Studio MX 2004 products, such as Macromedia Flash MX 2004 and Macromedia

Fireworks MX 2004, then the Director interface is already familiar to you. In addition to a

common interface, you can now start and edit other Macromedia Studio MX 2004 files from

directly within Director.

12 Chapter 1: Introduction

Integrating with Macromedia server technologies You can now choose to integrate Director

with Macromedia server technologies, such as Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 and Macromedia

Flash Communication Server MX. For multi-user games, distance learning content, and other

server-controlled content, this link between your Director content and IT infrastructure extends

your interactivity options.

Getting help from the reference panel A new reference panel is now available in Director to

simplify getting help with using Director, behaviors, Xtra extensions, and application

programming interfaces (APIs) for both Lingo and JavaScript syntax.

Guide to instructional media

Director contains a variety of information sources to help you learn the program quickly and

become proficient in creating multimedia. This information includes several printable PDF files

and online help. The Director workspace contains tooltips and context-sensitive help, and

additional help is available on the Director website at www.macromedia.com/go/

director_support.

Getting online help

As you use Director, you can get immediate online help by opening Director Help. You can also

get help with the specific item in Director that you are currently using. This feature is called

context-sensitive help.

To access Director Help:

1 Select Help > Director Help.

2 Browse for a topic on the Contents tab, or type a keyword on the Search tab.

Guide to instructional media 13

To access context-sensitive help, do one of the following:

• If you are working in a window, display the Options menu for that window and select Help.

• If you are working in a dialog box, click the Help button.

Director Help opens and displays a topic that relates to the window or dialog box that you
are using.

Sources of information

Getting Started with Director This printed manual contains the essential information that you

need to get started, including information about installing the latest version of Director. This

manual also guides you through the workspace and offers a tutorial, designed for those who are

new to Director.

Director Help Panel This online help system is the comprehensive information source for all

Director features. It includes overviews of the features, examples, how-to procedures, descriptions

of interface elements, and a reference of all scripting objects in both Lingo and JavaScript syntax.

Topics are linked and indexed to make finding information and jumping to related topics quick

and easy. To view the Director Help Panel, select Help > Director Help while you are working

in Director.

Using Director This manual is available in printable PDF format from the Director

Documentation Center at www.macromedia.com/go/director_docs. It explains how to use all of

the features and functionality offered in Director. Information in the manual is also available in

the online Director Help.

14 Chapter 1: Introduction

Director Scripting Reference This manual is available in printable PDF format from the

Director Documentation Center at www.macromedia.com/go/director_docs. It provides a

complete reference of the Director application programming interfaces (APIs), including both

Lingo and JavaScript syntax. Information in the manual is also available in the online

Director Help.

Creating Your First 3D Movie in Director This tutorial is available in printable PDF format

from the 3D tutorial page on the Macromedia website at www.macromedia.com/go/

drmx2004_3d_tutorial_en. It takes you step by step through creating a simple 3D movie.

Tooltips When you place your mouse pointer over a Director tool or another item in the

Director workspace for a few seconds, a small tooltip appears that explains what you can do with

the item.

Director Support Center The Director Support Center website (www.macromedia.com/go/

director_support) contains the latest information about Director, plus additional topics,

examples, tips, and updates. Check the website often for the latest news and how to get the most

out of Director.

Document conventions

Director Help and the Director product manuals all follow a few basic conventions:

• The term Director typically refers to the most recent version of Director.

• Lingo refers to a scripting language that is shipped with Director. JavaScript syntax refers to the

Director implementation of JavaScript.

• How-to procedures are identified with bold headings that begin with “To...” and end with a

colon. For example, if To access Director Help: appears in a heading, then the heading is
followed by a set of steps.

• Examples of Lingo and JavaScript syntax are shown in a fixed-width font. For example,

answer = 2 + 2 is a sample Lingo statement.

• Variables used to represent parameters in Lingo and JavaScript syntax appear in italics. For

example,
of a cast member in Lingo or JavaScript syntax.

whichCastMember is commonly used to indicate where you should insert the name

• Text that you should type in a window or dialog box is shown in a bold font.

Guide to instructional media 15

16 Chapter 1: Introduction

CHAPTER 2

Score, Stage, and Cast

If you are new to Macromedia Director MX 2004, see the Getting Started topics in the Director

Help Panel to become familiar with the Director workspace and features. (In Macromedia

Director MX 2004, select Help > Director Help to view the Getting Started topics.) These topics

include overviews and basic definitions of the primary windows and tools in Director, some of the

basic tasks that you need to know how to do, and a tutorial that guides you through the process of

creating a simple movie.

The topics presented here go into greater detail about how to use three of the most important

windows in Director: the Score, the Stage, and the Cast windows.

Using the Tool palette with the Stage

The Tool palette contains useful tools for creating and manipulating sprites on the Stage. It also

contains drawing tools and elements you can place directly on the Stage. There are three views

that you can access: Default, Classic, and Flashcomponent. Each view of the Tool palette contains

some of the same tools; for example, they each contain the arrow, hand, and magnifying glass

tools. The Flashcomponent view contains primarily Flash components, while the Classic view has

no components at all. The Default view combines elements from the other two: some Flash

components but also some Classic items.

17

To change Tool palette views:

1 If the Tool palette is not already available, select Window > Tool Palette.

The default Tool palette appears.

2 Click on the Tool palette view menu and select the view you want: classic, flashcomponent,

or default.

The Tool palette changes to display the tools available for each view.

In Windows, you can also dock the Tool palette to the docking channels contained by the

application window. (There are no docking channels on the Macintosh.)

• To dock the Tool palette (Windows only), click and drag the palette by the palette gripper

over a docking channel. A placement preview line or rectangle appears when the palette can
be docked.

How to use each tool in the Tool palette is covered in topics that relate to that specific tool. For

example, to find out how to use the Flash component tools, see “Selecting components using the

Tool palette” on page 208.

Setting Stage properties

When active, the Stage has three tabs in the Property inspector available at all times: Guides,

Movie, and Display Template.

• The Display Template tab lets you set properties for Movies in a Window. For more

information, see Chapter 18, “Movies in a Window,” on page 409.

• The Movie tab lets you set the properties of the movie on the Stage. These properties include

color definitions, size, and location of the Stage while the movie plays and channels in the
movie’s Score. For more information about setting movie properties, see “Setting movie
properties” in the Getting Started topics in the Director Help Panel. (In Director, select Help >
Director Help to view the Getting Started topics.)

• The Guides tab lets you control the guides and grid that appear on the Stage to assist with

movie authoring. The bottom half of the Guides tab contains grid settings.

Setting guides and grid properties

Guides are horizontal or vertical lines that you can either drag around the Stage or lock in place to

assist you with sprite placement. The Guides tab also lets you activate the grid. The grid contains

cell rows and columns of a specified height and width that you use to assist in visually placing

sprites on the Stage. Moving a sprite with the Snap to Grid or Snap to Guides feature selected lets

you snap the sprite’s edges and registration point to the nearest grid or guide line. (For more

information about sprites, see Chapter 3, “Sprites,” on page 51.)

You must create guides before they become available; you do this by using the Guides tab on the

Property inspector. The grid is always available. Guides and the grid are visible during authoring

only. When you are not using the guides or the grid, you can hide them.

18 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

To create and set guide properties:

1 With the Property inspector open, click the Guides tab.

The top half of the tab contains settings for Guides.

2 Click the Guide Color box to select a different color.

3 Select the options you want to make the guides visible, lock them, or to make the sprites snap

to the guides.

4 To add a guide, move the cursor over the new horizontal or vertical guide, and then drag the

guide to the Stage. Numbers in the guide tooltip indicate the distance, in pixels, the guide is
located from the top or left edge of the Stage.

5 To reposition a guide, move the pointer over the guide. When the sizing handle appears, drag

the guide to its new position.

6 To remove a guide, drag it off the Stage.

7 To remove all guides, click Remove All on the Guides tab in the Property inspector.

To set grid properties:

1 With the Property inspector open, click the Guides tab.

The bottom half of the Guides tab contains grid settings.

2 To change the grid color, click the Grid Color box and select a different color.

3 Select the desired options to make the grid visible and to make the sprites snap to the grid.

4 To change the width and height of the grid, enter values in the W and H text boxes.

5 Select the desired options to display the grid as dots or lines.

Using multiple Score windows

You can view and work in different parts of a movie at the same time by opening additional Score

windows. If your sprite spans occupy many frames in the Score, for example, you can open a

second Score window to work on another place in the movie without scrolling. You can also drag

sprites from one Score window to another.

To open a new Score window:

1 Activate the current Score window.

2 Select Window > New Score Window.

You can scroll in this window to a different location in the Score.

Using multiple Score windows 19

Changing Score settings

To control the appearance of the Score and the information that appears in numbered sprite

channels, you set preferences for the Score. By doing so, you can display a script preview and cast

member information.

To change Score settings:

1 Select Edit > Preferences > Score.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of
the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

2 The Extended display option lets you display information about sprites in the Score. For more

information, see “Displaying sprite labels in the Score” on page 62. To specify what information
appears in the numbered sprite channels when Extended display is on, select from the following
options:

Name displays sprites by name, if they have names assigned to them.
Cast Member displays the cast member number, name, or both.
Behaviors displays the behaviors attached to the sprite.
Ink Mode displays the type of ink applied to the sprite.
Blend displays the blend percentage applied to the sprite.
Location shows the sprite’s x and y screen coordinates.
Change in Location shows the change in x and y coordinates relative to the previous cast

member in that channel.

3 To display the first few lines of the selected script in a box at the top of the Score, select

Script Preview.

4 To display the cast member’s name and number when the pointer is over a sprite for a few

seconds, select Show Data Tips.

You can also change when a sprite span starts in the score (different frames or a marker, perhaps)

by setting it through Edit > Preferences > Sprite. For more information, see “Sprites” on page 51.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of the

Edit menu, to access Preferences.

20 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Selecting and editing frames in the Score

You can select a range of frames in the Score and then copy, delete, or paste all the contents of the

selected frames.

To move, copy, or delete all the contents of a range of frames:

1 Double-click in the frame channel to select frames.

Double-click here to select all sprites in a frame, including markers, special
effects, and sounds. Double-click and drag to select a range of frames.

2 If you want to move or copy frames, select Edit > Cut Frames or Edit > Copy Frames.

3 If you want to delete frames, select Edit > Clear Frames, or press the Delete key on your

keyboard.
If you cut, clear, or delete the selected frames, Director removes the frames and closes up the

empty space.

Note: To delete a single frame, you can also select Insert > Remove Frame.

4 To paste frames that you have cut or copied, select any frame or sprite, and select

Edit > Paste Sprites.
If there aren’t enough empty frames available for the entire sprite to be pasted, the Paste

Options dialog box appears, so you can decide how you want the frames to be pasted.

Overwrite Existing Sprites copies the entire sprite over the frames of any existing sprites
Truncate Sprites Being Pasted pastes the sprite into the number of available empty frames

by shortening its frame span.

Insert Blank Frames to Make Room inserts frames into the Score so the entire sprite can fit

without being truncated or overwriting other sprites.

Selecting and editing frames in the Score 21

To add new frames:

1 Select a frame in the Score.

2 Select Insert > Frames.

3 Enter the number of frames to insert.

The new frames appear to the right of the selected frame. Sprites in the frames you select are
extended or tweened. For more information about tweening, see Chapter 4, “Animation,”

on page 83.

About Cast Members

Cast members are the media and other assets in your movie. They can be bitmaps, vector shapes,

text, scripts, sounds, Macromedia Flash content or components, DVD content, QuickTime

movies, Windows Media video or audio, Macromedia Shockwave 3D content, Rich Text, sounds

of various formats, and more. When you place a cast member on the Stage or in the Score, you

create a sprite. For more information about sprites, see Chapter 3, “Sprites,” on page 51.

You use windows called casts to group and organize your cast members. To populate casts, you

import and create cast members. You can create and use multiple casts in a movie. You can also

group multiple Cast windows together in a tabbed panel layout:

Cast window with tabs in Thumbnail view

You can create and edit cast members in Director by using basic tools and media editors such as

the Paint and Text windows, or you can edit cast members by using external editors. In addition,

you can import cast members from nearly every popular media format into a movie file. For some

media types, you can link cast members as external files located on a disk or the Internet. Linked

cast members can be updated dynamically.

The Property inspector contains asset management fields for cast members on the Member tab.

These fields let you name cast members, add comments about them, and view information such

as creation and modification dates and file size.

22 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Casts can be internal—stored inside the movie file and exclusive to that movie—or external—

stored outside the movie file and available for sharing with other movies. When you create a new

movie, an empty internal cast is created automatically, and when you open the Cast window it is

in the default List view. For more information about Cast window views, see “Switching from one

Cast window view to another” on page 26.

Cast window in List view

External casts are also useful for creating groups of commonly used cast members. You can use

external casts as a way of switching large groups of cast members in a single step. For example, you

could switch the text cast members in your movie from English to French by simply switching the

cast that the movie uses, rather than each individual cast member.

Using external casts can keep the movie size small for downloading because an external cast can

download separately from the movie file if or when it is needed.

Creating new casts

Before assembling a large number of cast members, it’s good practice to create the casts that are

necessary to keep them organized. You can sort casts by type, edit cast properties, and use external

casts for storing and sharing common media elements.

You can create as many casts as necessary; the number of casts does not affect the size of a movie

for downloading.

You can include as many as 32,000 cast members in a single cast, but it’s usually best to group

media such as text, buttons, and images logically in a few different casts for each movie.

Creating new casts 23

To create a new cast:

1 Do one of the following:

■ Select File > New > Cast.

■ Select Modify > Movie > Casts to open the Movie Casts dialog box, and click the

New button.

■ In the Cast window, click the Cast button and select New Cast from the pop-up menu.

(See “Using Cast window controls” on page 29.)

Cast button

2 In the New Cast dialog box, type a name for the new cast.

3 Specify how to store the cast:

Internal stores the cast within the movie file. This option makes the cast available only to the

current movie.

External stores the cast in a separate file outside the movie file. This option makes the cast

available for sharing with other movies. For information about internal and external casts, see

“Managing external casts” on page 47.

4 If you chose External and you don’t want to use the cast in the current movie, deselect the Use

in Current Movie option.

Note: You can link the external cast to your movie later. See “Managing external casts”

on page 47.

5 Click Create.

The cast is created and appears as a tabbed panel in the Cast window.

Note: Creating a new cast by selecting Modify > Movie > Casts does not automatically display a
tabbed panel. To display the tabbed panel, click the Cast button and select the cast you created
from the pop-up menu.

6 If you created an external cast, select File > Save while its Cast window is active, and then save

the cast in the desired directory.

Creating cast members

You can create several types of cast members in Director. Director includes editors to create and

edit common media such as video, text, shapes, and bitmaps. You can also define external editors

to launch from within Director when you double-click a cast member, and you can edit almost

any type of supported media. For more information, see “Launching external editors” on page 46.

You can also import cast members. For more information, see “Importing cast members”

on page 42.

24 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

To create a new cast member from the Insert menu:

1 Open the Cast window for the cast member you are creating.

To place a cast member in a specific position in the Cast window, select the position in
Thumbnail view. For more information, see “Using Cast Thumbnail view” on page 33.
Otherwise, Director places the new cast member in the first empty position or after the current
selection in the Cast window.

2 Select Insert > Media Element, and then select the type of cast member to create.

For more information about each choice, see the following sections:

■ “Using the Paint window” on page 102

■ “Using the Color Palettes window” on page 151

■ “Streaming linked Shockwave Audio and MP3 audio files” on page 238

■ “Creating text cast members” on page 165

■ “Embedding fonts in movies” on page 164

■ “Creating an animated color cursor cast member” on page 299

■ “Drawing vector shapes” on page 135

■ “Using Flash Content” on page 181

■ “Using Windows Media files in Director” on page 252

■ “Using DVD media content in Director” on page 254

■ “About digital video formats” on page 244

■ “Using animated GIFs” on page 101

3 To create a control or button, do one of the following:

■ Select Insert > Control > Push Button, Radio Button, or Check Box to create a button cast

member and a sprite on the Stage. For more information, see “Using shapes” on page 143.

■ Select Insert > Control > Field to create a field cast member. Creating a field cast member

also creates a sprite on the Stage. For more information, see “Working with fields”

on page 172.

■ (Windows only) Select Insert > Control >ActiveX to create an ActiveX cast member. For

more information, see “Using ActiveX controls” on page 204.

Note: You can also use Flash components to create controls and buttons. For more information

about using Flash components, see “Selecting Flash components” on page 207.

To create a cast member in a media editing window:

1 Open a media editing window by selecting Window and then selecting the type of cast member

you want to create (Paint, Vector Shape, Text, Windows Media, DVD, and so on).

2 Click the New Cast Member button to create a cast member of the corresponding type. The

cast member is added to the most recently active Cast window.

New Cast Member button

Creating cast members 25

To create a cast member using the Script window:

1 Open the Script window by selecting Window > Script.

2 Click the New Cast Member button to create a script cast member.

To create a cast member on the Stage:

1 Open the Tool palette, if it is not already open, by selecting Window > Tool Palette.

2 Using the tools in the Tool palette, create content directly on the Stage. Each object you create

automatically becomes a cast member.

Note: Cast members created on the Stage are automatically placed in the Score.

Using the Cast window

In the Cast window, you can view the cast in either the default List view or the Thumbnail view.

(You can change the default so that the Cast window opens in Thumbnail view. See “Setting Cast

window preferences” on page 36.)

The Cast window lets you do the following actions:

• Organize and display all media in a movie.

• Move groups of cast members.

• Start editors for cast members.

• Launch the Property inspector to view, add, and change comments about your cast members

and to view and modify cast member properties.

• Group multiple casts in a tabbed view using panel groups (see “Working with Cast panel

groups” on page 27).

To view the Cast window:

• Select Window > Cast or press Control+3 (Windows) or Command+3 (Macintosh).

If there is more than one cast in the movie, you can select which Cast window to open by
selecting Window > Cast and then selecting a cast name from the Cast submenu.

Switching from one Cast window view to another

You can easily toggle between List and Thumbnail views of the Cast window.

To switch from one Cast window view to another, do one of the following:

• Click the Cast View Style button on the Cast window to toggle between the two views.

Cast View Style

• With the Cast window active, select View > Cast, and select either List or Thumbnail,

as desired.

• Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the Cast window, and select either List or

Thumbnail, as desired, from the context menu.

26 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Working with Cast panel groups

Each Cast panel and panel group has an Options menu located in its upper right corner. The

Options menu contains items for grouping, closing, and renaming panels.

To use a Cast panel Options menu:

• Click the Options menu control in the upper right of the panel, and select the desired

menu item.

Help launches the page in the help system that is relevant to the current panel.
Group [Panel name] With lets you group the currently selected tab in a panel group with

another Cast panel or panel group.

Rename Panel Group opens the Rename Panel Group dialog box where you can rename the

Cast panel group.

Maximize Panel Group maximizes the panel group to occupy the entire height of the

docking channel.

Close Panel Group closes the panel group.

To group a Cast panel with another Cast panel or Cast panel group:

1 Select a Cast panel or a tab within a Cast panel group.

2 From the panel’s Options menu, select Group [Panel Name] With, then select a panel or panel

group name from the submenu that appears.

To remove a panel (tab) from a Cast panel group:

1 Select a tab within a Cast panel group.

2 From the panel group’s Options menu, select Group [Panel Name] With, then select New

Panel Group from the submenu that appears.
The selected panel opens in its own floating panel. The new panel assumes the name

previously assigned to it.

Note: The New Panel Group submenu option is dimmed if the panel group only contains a
single panel.

To rename a Cast panel group:

1 Select Rename Panel Group from the panel’s Options menu.

2 In the Rename Panel Group dialog box, type a new name for the panel group in the Panel

Group Name text box, and click OK.

Using the Cast window 27

To rearrange the order of tabs within a Cast panel group:

1 Select a tab within the Cast panel group.

2 Select Group [Panel Name] With from the panel group’s Options menu, then choose the name

of the Cast panel group that contains the selected panel.
The tab is moved to the last (rightmost) position in the panel group.

Note: Save your panel layout if you want to restore your Cast panel configuration the next time you

open your file. To save your panel layout, select Window > Panel Sets > Save Panel Layout.

Managing Casts

When casts are grouped with other casts, they appear as tabs in the Cast panel group.

To save the configuration of your Cast panel tabs, you must save the panel layout before closing

your file. When you open the file again, restore the tab configuration by opening the panel layout

you created. For more information, select Help > Director Help and see “Saving panel sets” in the

Getting Started topics.

Managing casts in older Director movies

When you open a multicast movie created in a previous version of Director, only the first cast

appears in the Cast window. You can display the remaining casts as tabs in a panel group, or in a

new Cast window.

To open a cast as a tabbed panel:

• In the Cast window, click the Cast button and select the cast from the pop-up menu.

To open a cast in a new window:

• Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Macintosh) the Cast button and select a cast from the

pop-up menu.

A dialog box reminds you to save your panel layout if you want to restore the configuration of

your Cast windows the next time you open your file.

28 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Using Cast window controls

The controls along the top of the Cast window are the same in both the List and Thumbnail

views. You use the controls to change the cast that appears in the Cast window, the cast member

selection, or the name of a cast member. You can also use them to move cast members and to

open a cast member’s Script window or the Property inspector.

Cast

To change the cast displayed in the current Cast window, do one of the following:

Cast Member Name

Drag Cast Member

Previous/Next Cast Member

Cast View Style

Cast Member Script

Cast Member Number

Cast Member Properties

• Click the Cast button and select a cast from the pop-up menu.

The cast is displayed as a tabbed panel in the current panel group.

• Click a tabbed panel to make it active.

• Press Control+Alt (Windows) or Command+Option (Macintosh) followed by the Right

Arrow key or Left Arrow key to move from tab to tab.

To open a cast in a new Cast window:

• Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Macintosh) the Cast button and select a cast from the

context menu.
A dialog box reminds you to save your panel layout if you want to restore your Cast panel

configuration the next time you open your file.

To select the previous or next cast member:

• Click the Previous Cast Member or Next Cast Member button.

To move a selected cast member to a new position in the Cast window (Thumbnail view) or

to the Stage:

• Drag the Drag Cast Member button to the desired position in the Cast window or to

the Stage.
This procedure is useful when the selected cast member has scrolled out of view.

To enter a cast member name:

• Select a cast member, and enter the name in the Cast Member Name text box.

To edit a cast member script:

• Select a cast member and click the Cast Member Script button.

Using the Cast window 29

To view cast member properties:

1 Select a cast member.

2 Do one of the following:

■ Click the Cast Member Properties button.

■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh), and select Cast Member Properties

from the context menu.

■ Select Window > Property Inspector. The Property inspector displays only those properties

associated with the selected cast member.

For more information, see “Viewing and setting cast member properties” on page 39.

To view the cast member number:

• Refer to the Cast Member Number field in the upper right corner of the Cast window.

Selecting cast members in the Cast window

Before changing, sorting, or moving cast members, you must select them in the Cast window.

To select a single cast member, do one of the following:

• In List view, click the name or icon (Windows) or click any part of the text or icon

(Macintosh).

• In Thumbnail view, click the thumbnail image.

To select multiple adjacent cast members, do one of the following:

• In List view, Shift-click or marquee-select the cast members.

• In Thumbnail view, click the first cast member in the range and then Shift-click the last cast

member in the range.

To select multiple nonadjacent cast members:

• In either List or Thumbnail view, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh)

each cast member that you want to select.

Copying cast members

You can easily create multiple versions of a cast member in a single cast. For example, you might

want several cast members to be identical except for color or size. You can also copy cast members

from one Cast window to another.

To copy a cast member:

1 In either List or Thumbnail view, select the cast member (or multiple cast members) that you

want to copy.

2 Alt+click (Windows) or Option+click (Macintosh), and drag the cast member to a new location

in Thumbnail view or to the bottom of the list in List view.
You can drag the cast member to a location in the same Cast window or to a different Cast

window. Director creates a cast member with a new number, but with all of its other
information identical to the original.

3 If you copied the cast member into the same Cast window, change the name of the copied cast

member so that you (and scripts) can distinguish it from the original. For more information,
see “Naming cast members” on page 31.

30 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Naming cast members

To avoid problems in Lingo or JavaScript syntax when referring to cast members, you should

name them and then refer to them by name. Naming cast members doesn’t affect Director

performance. The name stays the same even if the cast member number changes.

Avoid duplicating cast member names. If more than one cast member has the same name, Lingo

or JavaScript syntax uses the cast member with the lowest number in the cast.

To name a cast member:

1 Select the cast member in either the List or the Thumbnail view of the Cast window.

2 Do one of the following:

■ Enter a name in the Cast Member Name text box at the top of the Cast window or in any of

the editing windows.

■ Enter a name in the Name text box on the Cast or Member tab in the Property inspector.

To name a cast member using Lingo or JavaScript syntax:

• Set the name cast member property. For more information about this property, see the

Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

Using Cast List view

Cast List view, the default view in which the Cast window opens, provides seven columns of

information by default. They are shown in the following table:

Column Title Column Information

Name The name of the cast member and an icon that describes the cast member

type. For information about what the icons represent, see “Using Cast

Thumbnail view” on page 33.

# The number that is assigned to the cast member. This number represents the

order in which this cast member appears in Thumbnail view.

* An asterisk (*) in this column indicates the cast member has changed, but

Script The word Member in this column means the cast member contains a script.

Type The cast member type

Modified The date and time the cast member was changed

Comments Displays text entered on the Property inspector Member tab, in the

you have not yet saved those changes.

The word Movie in this column means the cast member is a movie script.
The word Behavior in this column means the cast member is a Behavior.
You can use the Script icon to view the script or behavior.

Comments text box.

Using Cast List view 31

Four additional columns are available in the Cast Window Preferences dialog box. For more

information, see “Setting Cast window preferences” on page 36. The additional columns that you

can display are described in the following table:

Column Title Column Information

Size The size in bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes

Created The date and time the cast member was created

Modified By Who modified the cast member. This value comes from the user login name

Filename The full path to the cast member if it is a linked asset

(Windows) or the Sharing setup name (Macintosh).

Resizing columns in Cast List view

You can resize columns in Cast List view.

To resize a column:

1 Hold the pointer over the column boundary to activate the Resizing tool.

2 Drag the column to the desired size.

Sorting Cast List view columns

You can sort the Cast List view columns in ascending and descending order by clicking the

column title. When you sort the Cast List window by clicking the column title, you’re changing

the way in which the information appears but are not changing any cast member attributes.

About cast member order in Cast List view

Unlike the way in which cast members appear in Thumbnail view, in List view the cast member

order does not always correspond to the member’s physical location in the cast.

When you work in List view, also keep in mind the following:

• In List view, Director places new cast members at the end of the list, and the cast member

number becomes the first available number after the current selection.

• You can use Thumbnail view to reorder (and renumber) cast members by dragging them to

different locations in the window; you cannot reorder cast members by dragging in List view.

32 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Using Cast Thumbnail view

As the name suggests, the Cast Thumbnail view shows a very small (thumbnail) version of the

cast member, along with an icon that represents the cast member media type, as shown in the

following table:

Icon Cast member type Icon Cast member type

Animated GIF Behavior

Bitmap Button

Check box Custom cursor

Digital video DVD

Field Film loop

Flash component Flash movie

Font Linked bitmap (all linked cast member icons are

changed in the same way)

Movie script OLE

Palette Parent script

PICT QuickTime video

Radio button RealMedia

Shape Shockwave 3D

Shockwave Audio Sound

Text Transition

Vector shape Windows Media

Xtra

Using Cast Thumbnail view 33

To turn off or on the display of cast member icons in Thumbnail view and change the Cast

window display:

• Select Edit > Preferences > Cast. For more information, see “Setting Cast window preferences”

on page 36.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of
the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

Creating a custom cast member thumbnail

Note: For most cast members, Director displays a scaled version as the thumbnail unless you define

a custom thumbnail. Creating a custom thumbnail is useful for behaviors that you want to identify in

the Library palette, because behaviors have no identifying image.

To create a custom cast member thumbnail:

1 Select the bitmap image to use as the new thumbnail, and copy it to your system’s Clipboard.

You can copy the image from any bitmap editor, including the Paint window. The image can
be any size, but smaller images look better because they require less scaling.

2 Select any cast member in the Cast window and open the Property inspector.

3 Right-click or Control-click (Macintosh) the Thumbnail window.

4 From the context menu, select Paste Thumbnail.

The image from the Clipboard replaces the current cast member thumbnail, creating a
custom thumbnail.

You can also use text as a thumbnail. Create and copy text from any bitmap editor instead of
an image and follow the same steps.

34 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Moving cast members within the Cast window

To move a cast member to a new position within the Cast window, you can use Thumbnail view

to see the representation of the cast member’s position.

Note: When you move a cast member to a new position, Director assigns it a new number and

updates all references to the cast member in the Score, but it doesn’t automatically update

references to cast member numbers in Lingo or JavaScript syntax. The best practice is to always

name cast members and refer to them by name in scripts that refer to them.

To move a cast member to a new position or a different cast:

• Using Thumbnail view, drag the cast member to a new position in any open Cast window.

In Thumbnail view, a highlight bar indicates where the cast member will be placed. If you
drag the cast member over a position that already contains a cast member, Director places
your selected cast member in that position and moves the existing cast member one position
to the right.

In List view, the cast member is added to the bottom of the list.

To cut, copy, and paste cast members to a new position or a different cast:

1 Select one or more cast members, then select Cut or Copy from the Edit menu.

2 Do one of the following:

■ In Thumbnail view, select an empty position in any open Cast window, and then select

Edit > Paste.

■ In List view, deselect all cast members by clicking anywhere in the window except on a cast

member name. Then select Edit > Paste.

Note: In either Thumbnail or List view, if you paste cast members while other cast members are

selected, you will overwrite the selected cast members.

To move a cast member to a position that is not currently visible in Thumbnail view:

1 Select the cast member you want to move.

2 Scroll the Cast window to display the destination position.

3 Drag the Drag Cast Member button to the destination position.

Organizing cast members within the Cast window

The Sort command in the Modify menu helps clean up and organize the Cast window. Use Sort

to sort cast members by their media type, name, size, or usage in the Score. You can also use Sort

to remove empty positions in a Cast window.

When you use the Sort command to organize a Cast window, Director can move cast members to

new positions, with new cast member numbers.

Note: If you’ve written scripts that refer to cast members by number, these scripts can’t find moved

cast members. To avoid this problem, always name your cast members and refer to them by name in

your scripts.

If you want to view the cast members in a different sort order without changing cast member

numbers, click a column title in Cast List view. See “Sorting Cast List view columns” on page 32.

Organizing cast members within the Cast window 35

To sort the cast using the Modify menu:

1 With the Cast window active, select the cast members to sort or select Edit > Select All.

2 Select Modify > Sort.

3 In the Sort Cast Members dialog box, select one of the following sorting methods:

Usage in Score places selected cast members that are used in the Score at the beginning of

the selection.

Media Type groups all cast members according to their media type.
Name groups the selection alphabetically by cast member name.
Size arranges the selection with the largest files appearing first.
Empty at End places all empty cast positions in the selection at the end.

4 Click Sort.

Director reorders the cast members according to the sorting method you selected. The Score
automatically adjusts to the new cast member numbers.

Setting Cast window preferences

You use the Cast window preferences settings to control the appearance of the current Cast

window or, if desired, all Cast windows. You can set different preferences for each Cast

window. The title bar of the dialog box displays the name of the Cast window preferences

you are changing.

To set Cast window preferences:

1 Select a Cast window to change, or a click a tab within a Cast panel group.

2 Select Edit > Preferences > Cast.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of
the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

36 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

3 To set the Cast window to display in either List or Thumbnail view, select the appropriate Cast

View option.

4 If you want your preferences to apply to all Cast windows, select Apply to All Casts.

5 To select the columns that appear in Cast List view, select the desired List Columns options.

See “Using Cast List view” on page 31.

6 To specify the maximum number of cast members to appear in the Cast window, select a value

from the Thumbnails Visible pop-up menu.
This option does not limit the number of cast members that can exist in the cast. If you have a

small number of cast members, you can hide the remaining unused cast positions to make
better use of the vertical scroll bar. The default is 1000.

7 To specify the number of thumbnails in each row of the Cast window, select an option from

the Row Width pop-up menu.
The options for 8 Thumbnails, 10 Thumbnails, and 20 Thumbnails specify fixed-row widths

that are independent of the window size; if the Cast window is smaller horizontally than the
width of the cast row, you must use the horizontal scroll bar to reveal the rest of the cast. The
Fit to Window option automatically adjusts the number of cast members per row to fit the
current width of the Cast window. In this mode, the horizontal scroll bar is disabled because
the entire width of the cast is always in view. The default is Fit to Window.

8 To set the size of each cast thumbnail image that appears in the Cast window, select one of the

following options from the Thumbnail Size pop-up menu:

Small 44 x 33 pixels
Medium 56 x 42 pixels (default)
Large 80 x 60 pixels

Thumbnails always maintain the standard 4:3 aspect ratio.
If the thumbnails appear fuzzy, they are probably displaying larger than their original size. To

correct this, change the Cast window preferences thumbnail setting to a smaller size. Click OK
when the alert message asks whether thumbnails should be regenerated.

9 To select the display format of the cast member ID that appears below each cast thumbnail

image in the Cast window, select one of the following options from the Label pop-up menu:

Number displays the cast number.
Name displays the cast name, if one exists; otherwise, this option displays the cast number in

decimal format.

Number:Name displays the cast number in decimal format and the cast name, separated by a

colon (:) (for example, 340:Dancing Potato). If no name exists, this setting displays the cast
number in decimal format.

The selected format is also used in other windows, including the Score, whenever a cast
ID appears.

10 To specify whether Director displays an icon in the lower right corner of each cast member that

indicates the cast member’s type, select one of the following from the Media Type Icons pop­up menu: All Types, All but Text and Bitmap, or None.

11 To display a script indicator icon in the lower left corner of each cast member that has a script

attached, select Script.

12 To make your preference settings the default settings, click Save as Default.

13 When you finish selecting your preferences, click OK.

Setting Cast window preferences 37

Changing Cast properties

You use the Property inspector to change the name of a Cast and to define how its cast members

are loaded into memory.

To change Cast window properties:

1 With the Cast window as the active window, open the Property inspector and click the Cast tab.

2 To change the name of the current cast, enter the new name in the Name text box.

3 Select one of the following Preload options to define how cast members are loaded into memory

when the movie runs:

When Needed loads each cast member into memory when it is required by the movie. This

setting can slow down the movie while it plays, but it makes the movie begin playing sooner.
This setting is the best choice when controlling cast members loading with Lingo or JavaScript
syntax.

After Frame One loads all cast members (except those required for frame 1) when the movie

exits frame 1. This setting can ensure that the first frame appears as quickly as possible, and it
might be the best choice if the first frame of the movie is designed to remain onscreen for a
number of seconds.

Before Frame One loads all cast members before the movie plays frame 1. This setting makes

the movie take longer to start playing, but it provides the best playback performance if there is
enough memory to hold all cast members.

38 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Viewing and setting cast member properties

You can display and set properties for individual cast members, or for multiple cast members at

once, even if the cast members are different types. In both cases, you use the Property inspector.

You can also set cast member properties by using Lingo or JavaScript syntax (see “Setting cast

member properties using Lingo or JavaScript syntax” on page 49).

To view and set cast member properties:

1 Select one or more cast members.

2 Do one of the following:

■ If the Property inspector is open, click the Member tab.

■ If the Property inspector is not open, select Window > Property Inspector, and click the

Member tab.

As with all fields in the Property inspector, if you’ve selected multiple cast members, the
information that is common to all the selected cast members appears. Any changes you make
apply to all the selected cast members.

3 Display the Graphical view on the Member tab.

The Member tab displays the following items:

■ Editable fields to view or change the cast member’s name (the Name text box), a Comments

text box to enter text that appears in the Comments column of the Cast List window, and
an Unload pop-up menu that lets you select how to remove a cast member from memory.
For more information about using the Unload pop-up menu, see “Controlling cast member

unloading” on page 47.

■ View-only fields which indicate the cast member’s size, when the cast member was created

and modified, and the name of the person who modified the cast member.

For an Xtra cast member, the information displayed in the Property inspector is determined by
the developer of the Xtra. Some Xtra extensions have options in addition to those listed here.
For non-Macromedia Xtra extensions, refer to documentation supplied by the developer.

Viewing and setting cast member properties 39

For information about specific cast member properties, see the following topics:

• “Using animated GIFs” on page 101”

• “Embedding fonts in movies” on page 164

• “Using Flash Content” on page 181

• “Setting bitmap cast member properties” on page 128

• “Setting vector shape properties” on page 142

• “Synchronizing media” on page 240

• “Setting film loop properties” on page 95

• “Setting palette cast member properties” on page 155

• “Setting PICT cast member properties” on page 128

• “To specify a shape’s fill in Lingo or JavaScript syntax:” on page 144

• “Setting sound cast member properties” on page 232

• “Setting text or field cast member properties” on page 174

• “Setting transition cast member properties” on page 162

• “Setting Xtra cast member properties” on page 49

• “Creating an animated color cursor cast member” on page 299

• “Streaming linked Shockwave Audio and MP3 audio files” on page 238

• “Setting Flash component parameters” on page 209

• “Setting Windows Media properties” on page 253

• “Setting DVD Cast member properties” on page 257

Launching cast member editors

You can open any cast member in the appropriate editor directly from the Cast window. You can

use the Director internal media editors, such as the Text, Paint, or Vector Shape window, or you

can specify external editors for certain types of cast members. For more information, see

“Launching external editors” on page 46.

To launch an editor for a cast member, do one of the following:

• Double-click a cast member in the Cast window.

• Double-click a sprite that contains the cast member in the Score or on the Stage. See “Sprites”

on page 51.

Finding cast members

You can search for cast members by name, type, and color palette. You can search for selected cast

members used in the Score, such as when you are preparing a movie for distribution. You can also

search for cast members not used in the Score—for example, to clean up a movie and reduce the

space and memory required to save and run the movie.

Before releasing a movie, it’s a good idea to remove unused cast members to make the movie as

small as possible for downloading.

40 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

To find cast members:

1 Select Edit > Find > Cast Member.

2 In the Find Cast Member dialog box, select a Cast window to search from the Cast

pop-up menu.
To search every cast in the movie, select All Casts.

3 Select a search option:

■ Select Name, and enter search text in the text box. For example, to search for a group of

related cast members that share a common element in their names, you might enter the
word

Bird to search for cast members named Bird 1, Bird 2, and Bird 3.

■ Select Type, and select an option from the pop-up menu to search for cast members by

media type.

■ Select Palette, and select an option from the pop-up menu. You can use this option to search

for and resolve palette conflicts.

■ Select Usage to locate all cast members that aren’t used in the Score. Cast members that you

find with this option might be used in the movie by a script.

Director displays the specified cast member.

4 Do one of the following:

■ Select a cast member on the list, and click Select to close the dialog box and select the cast

member in the Cast window.

■ Click Select All to close the dialog box and select all listed cast members in the Cast window.

To find a cast member in the Score:

1 Select a cast member for which to search in the cast or the Score. If you select a sprite that

includes multiple cast members, Director searches for the first cast member in the sprite; to
select a cast member other than the first, open the sprite to select the cast member. (For
information about selecting sprites, see “Selecting sprites” on page 53.)

2 Select Edit > Find > Selection, or press Control+Shift+F (Windows) or

Command+Shift+F (Macintosh).
Director searches the Score and highlights the first Score cell it finds.

3 Select Edit > Find Again to find the next occurrence of the cast member in the Score.

Finding cast members 41

Importing cast members

Importing lets you create cast members from external media. You can either import data into a

Director movie file or create a link to the external file and re-import the file each time the movie

opens. Linked files let you display dynamic media from the Internet, such as sports scores,

sounds, and weather pictures, which makes downloading movies faster. For more information

about linked files, see “About linking to files” on page 44.

Director can import cast members from almost every popular media file format. See “About

import file formats” on page 44.

You can import files by using the Import dialog box, dragging files from the desktop to a Cast

window, or by using Lingo or JavaScript syntax.

To import cast members and specify import options:

1 In Thumbnail view, select an empty position in a cast.

If no cast position is selected, Director places the new cast member in the first available
position in the current cast in Thumbnail view. In List view, Director places the new cast
member at the end of the list.

2 Select File > Import.

3 To import a file from the Internet, click Internet and enter a URL in the Find URL text box.

4 To import local files, select the type of media to import from the Files of Type (Windows) or

the Show (Macintosh) pop-up menu.
All the files in the current directory appear unless you make a selection.

5 To select a file or files to import, do one of the following:

■ Double-click a file.

■ Select one or more files, and click Add.

■ Click Add All.

You can switch folders and import files from different folders at the same time.

42 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

6 From the Media pop-up menu at the bottom of the dialog box, select an option to specify how

to treat imported media:

Standard Import imports all selected files, storing them inside the movie file but not updating

them when changes are made to the source material. If you selected the option to import from
the Internet in step 3, Director retrieves the file immediately from the Internet if a connection
is available.

Note: All digital video files like DVD, Windows Media, QuickTime, RealMedia, and so on, are
linked automatically to the original external file (see the next option, Link to External File), even if
you select Standard Import.

Link to External File

creates a link to the selected files and imports the data each time the
movie runs. If you choose to import from a URL via the Internet, the media is dynamically
updated. For more information, see “About linking to files” on page 44.

Note: Text and RTF files are always imported and stored inside the movie file (see the previous
option, Standard Import), even if you select Link to External File.

Include Original Data for Editing

preserves the original data in the movie file for use with an

external editor.
When this option is selected, Director keeps a copy of the original cast member data and sends

the original to the external editor when you edit the cast member. This option preserves all the
editor’s capabilities. For example, if you specify Photoshop to edit PICT images, Director
maintains all the Photoshop object data. For more information, see “Launching external

editors” on page 46.

■ Import PICT File as PICT prevents PICT files from being converted to bitmaps.

7 When you finish selecting the files, click Import.

If you’ve imported a bitmap with a color depth or color palette that differs from the current
movie, the Image Options dialog box appears, so you can enter additional information. See

“Choosing import image options” on page 45.

For information about importing specific media, see the following sections:

• “About importing bitmaps” on page 100

• “Importing internal and linked sounds” on page 231

• “Using Director movies within Director movies” on page 202

• “Importing internal and linked sounds” on page 231

• “Importing text” on page 165

• “Using animated GIFs” on page 101

• “Using Flash Content” on page 181

• “Importing Windows Media” on page 252

• “Using DVD media content in Director” on page 254

• “Using Flash components” on page 207

To import files by dragging:

1 In the Explorer (Windows) or on the system desktop (Macintosh), select a file or files to import.
2 Drag the files from the desktop to the desired position in the Cast window Thumbnail view or

to the Cast window List view.
If you drag the files to List view, the imported files are added at the bottom of the list.

Importing cast members 43

To import files with Lingo or JavaScript syntax:

• Use the importFileInto method to import a file. Set the fileName cast member property to

assign a new file to a linked cast member. For more information about this property, see the
Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

About import file formats

Director can import files in all the formats listed in the following table. For information about
additional file formats Director might support, see the Director Support Center website at

www.macromedia.com/support/director.

Type of file Supported formats

Animation and
multimedia

Image BMP, GIF, JPEG, LRG (xRes), Photoshop 3.0 (or later), MacPaint, PNG,

Multiple-image file Windows only: FLC, FLI

Sound AIFF, WAV, MP3 audio, Shockwave Audio, Sun AU, uncompressed and

Digital Video DVD; Windows Media (WMV); QuickTime; AVI; RealMedia

Text RTF, HTML, ASCII (often called Text Only), Lingo, or JavaScript syntax

Palette PAL, Photoshop CLUT

Flash movies, animated GIF, PowerPoint presentations, Director movies,
Director external cast files

TIFF, PICT, Targa

Macintosh only: PICS, Scrapbook

IMA compressed

About linking to files

Director reimports media every time a movie runs when Link to External File is selected in the
Import dialog box (select File > Import). Linking makes it easy to use bulky media such as long
sounds and is especially useful for showing media from the Internet that changes frequently.
Linking also makes downloading movies faster; users can choose whether to view linked files, so
the files do not download unless they’re needed.

When you link to an external file, Director creates a cast member that stores the name and
location of the file. Saving a movie saves only the link to the linked cast member. Keep linked files
in a folder that’s close to the original movie file. Paths are restricted to 4096 characters by the
system. URLs can be as many as 260 characters. If you store a file too many folders away from the
movie or using a very long URL, it might not link correctly.

When distributing movies with linked media, use the following guidelines:

• If you distribute a movie, you also must include all linked cast member files, and they must be

in their expected locations. In addition, the Xtra extensions that are used to import the media
must be present when the movie runs (either on the user’s computer or included in your
movie). For more information, see “Setting Xtra cast member properties” on page 49.

• When you link to media on the Internet, the media must be present at the specified URL when

the movie runs. Provide for link failure because you can’t guarantee that an Internet transaction
will be successful.

44 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

• To retrieve media from the Internet during playback, Director requires that the projector

include certain Xtra extensions. To include these Xtra extensions automatically, click Add
Network in the Movie Xtras dialog box. Movies playing in web browsers do not require these
Xtra extensions.

Note: Select Edit > Preferences > Network to define standard network settings for the Director
authoring environment. If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director
menu, instead of the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

Choosing import image options

If you import a bitmap cast member with a color depth or color palette that is different from that
of the Stage (the current movie), Director lets you select the image’s color depth and color palette.
You can choose to import the bitmap at its original color depth or at the Stage color depth. (The
Stage color depth is the same as the system color depth.) You can also choose to import the
image’s color palette or remap the image’s colors to a palette in the movie.

In many cases, it’s easiest to change the image’s color depth to the depth of the movie and remap
the image to the color palette that is used in the rest of the movie. For more information about
controlling color in Director, see Chapter 7, “Color, Tempo, and Transitions,” on page 145.

If you change 16-, 24-, or 32-bit cast members to 8 or fewer bits, you must remap the cast
members to an existing color palette.

To select bitmap image options for importing:

1 Import a bitmap image by selecting File > Import. (For more information about this procedure,

see “Importing cast members” on page 42.)

2 If the Image Options dialog box appears while you are importing a bitmap image using

File > Import, select one of the following Color Depth options:

Image specifies the color depth and palette of the image.
Stage specifies the color depth of the current Stage.

3 Select a Palette option to change palette settings for 2-, 4- or 8-bit images:

Import imports the image with its color palette. The palette appears as a new cast member

immediately following the bitmap cast member.

Remap To replaces the image’s colors with the most similar solid colors in the palette you

select from the pop-up menu.

4 Select Image options:

Trim White Space removes any white pixels from the edges of the image. Deselect this option

to preserve the white canvas around an image.

Dither blends the colors in the new palette in the Palette section to approximate the original

colors in the graphic.

5 To apply the current settings to all the remaining files that you selected for importing, select

Same Settings for Remaining Images.

Importing cast members 45

Launching external editors

You can specify external applications to edit many types of media. All the types of media for
which you can define an external editor are listed in the Editors Preferences dialog box. After you
set up an external editor for a particular media type, Director starts the application when you edit
a cast member of that type. When you finish editing a cast member in an external editor and then
save and close the file, Director re-imports the cast member media.

You can easily edit Flash cast members using the launch-end-edit feature in Director MX. For
more information, see “Editing a Flash cast member” on page 184.

If you want to use an external editor for an imported cast member, select Include Original Data
for External Editing during import. For more information, see “Importing cast members”

on page 42.

You cannot define an external editor for any cast member created by an Xtra, such as text, vector
shapes, and custom pointers.

To define an external editor:

1 Select Edit > Preferences > Editors.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of
the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

2 Select a type of media for which you want to define an external editor.
3 Click Edit.
4 Click Browse or Scan to locate the application.

You can specify any application capable of editing the selected type of media.

5 To determine which editor appears when you double-click a cast member, do one of

the following:

■ If you prefer to make changes inside of Director and only occasionally want to use the

external editor, select Use Internal Editor.

■ If you prefer to use the external editor to make changes to the cast member, select Use

External Editor.

To launch an external editor:

1 Select a cast member of a media type for which you have defined an external editor, and do one

of the following:

■ If you specified Use External Editor when you defined the external editor for this media

type, double-click the cast member.

■ Select Edit > Launch External Editor.

■ While the cast member is selected and the Cast window is active, right-click (Windows) or

Control-click (Macintosh) and select Launch External Editor from the context menu.

Director launches or switches to the application that created the cast member, sending the
original data to the external editor.

Note: If you’ve specified an external editor and you want to edit a cast member with the Director
internal editors, select the cast member and select Edit > Edit Cast Member.

46 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

2 Edit the cast member.

If you change an image in the Paint window and then edit the image with an external editor,
changes made in the Paint window, with the exception of registration points, are lost. Director
warns you of this possibility.

3 Save and close the file. Director re-imports the cast member.

Controlling cast member unloading

When Director runs low on memory, it removes cast members from memory. You use the
Property inspector to specify the priority with which a cast member is removed from memory.
When a cast member is available in memory, it appears almost instantly. When it needs to be
loaded from disk, the loading can cause a delay. Set your cast members so that frequently used cast
members remain in memory as long as possible.

These settings are the same for all types of cast members.

To specify the Unload setting:

1 Select the cast members in the Cast window.
2 On the Property inspector Member tab, display the Graphical view and then select an option

from the Unload pop-up menu:

3—Normal sets the selected cast members to be removed from memory after any priority 2 cast

members are removed.

2—Next sets the selected cast members to be among the first removed from memory.
1—Last sets the selected cast members to be the last removed from memory.
0—Never sets the selected cast members to be retained in memory; these cast members are

never unloaded.

Managing external casts

An external cast is a separate file that must be explicitly linked to a movie for the movie to use its
cast members.

If you link an external cast to a movie, Director opens the cast every time it opens the movie. If
you don’t link an external cast to a movie, you must open and save the file separately. You can use
unlinked external casts as libraries to store commonly used elements for authoring, such as scripts,
buttons, and so on. For more information, see “Creating libraries” on page 48.

When you distribute a movie that uses an external cast, you must include the external cast file.
For disk-based movies, the cast must be in the same relative path in your files as it was when the
movie was created. For Shockwave movies on the web, the cast must be at the specified URL.

To create an external cast:

1 Select File > New > Cast.
2 Type a name for the new cast.
3 Specify that the cast be stored as an external cast.

If you don’t want to use the cast in the current movie, deselect the Use in Current
Movie option.

Managing external casts 47

4 Click Create.

The cast is created, and a Cast window for the cast appears in List view. For more information,
see “Using the Cast window” on page 26.

5 Select File > Save while the Cast window is active, and save the cast in the desired directory.

To link an external cast to a movie:

1 Select Modify > Movie > Casts.
2 In the Movie Casts dialog box, click Link.
3 Locate and select the external cast you want, and click Open.

You can link to casts on your local disk or to casts that are stored at any URL. Click Internet
and enter a URL (in the Find URL text box) for a linked external cast. Click OK.

To unlink a cast from a movie:

1 Select Modify > Movie > Casts.
2 In the Movie Casts dialog box, select the external cast.
3 Click Remove.

To save a movie and all open casts, linked or unlinked:

• Select File > Save All.

Note: To use a cast member from an external cast without creating a link to the external cast, first
copy the cast member to an internal cast or to a (different) linked external cast.

Creating libraries

A library is a special type of unlinked external cast that appears in the Library palette. When you
drag a cast member from an external cast library to the Stage or Score, Director automatically
copies the cast member to one of the movie’s internal casts. Libraries are useful for storing any
type of commonly used cast members, especially behaviors. A library cannot be linked to a movie.
For more information, see “Attaching behaviors” on page 275.

When you create a library, as explained in the following procedure, it appears in the Library List
pop-up menu in the Library palette.

To create a library:

1 Create an external cast file, following the procedure under “Creating new casts” on page 23. Do

not select Use in Current Movie.

2 With the Cast window for the external cast active, select File > Save, and place the external cast

in the Libs folder in the Director application folder.

3 Restart Director to see the cast that you just created appear in the Library palette.

48 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

Setting cast member properties using Lingo or JavaScript syntax

Lingo or JavaScript syntax lets you control and edit cast members by setting their properties.
Some properties are available for every type of cast member, and other properties are available
only for specific cast member types. For more information about these properties, see the
Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

To specify the cast member’s content:

• Set the media cast member property.

To specify the cast member’s name:

• Set the name cast member property.

To set the contents of the cast member’s comments field:

• Set the comments cast member property. You can store any text information in this field that

you find useful, and access it at runtime by getting the

To specify the cast member’s purge priority:

comments property.

• Set the purgePriority cast member property.

To specify the content of the script that is attached to the cast member:

• Set the scriptText cast member property.

To specify the file that is assigned to a linked cast member:

• Set the fileName cast member property.

For additional cast member properties that you can test and set using Lingo or JavaScript syntax,
see the properties in the Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

Setting Xtra cast member properties

Xtra cast members have the same Name and Unload properties as other cast members, but they
can also contain an extra panel of options that is accessible from the Property inspector. To set
cast member properties, use the Member tab and the custom tab for the type of cast member you
are working with. The Member tab contains an Edit button and might contain a More Options
button, depending on the type of Xtra. Use the Edit button to edit the cast member with its
default editor. Use the More Options button to display the Cast Member Properties dialog box
for the current cast member.

The custom tab for the type of cast member you are working with might also contain a More
Options button. This button displays the Cast Member Properties dialog box for the current
cast member.

The content of the Properties dialog box is determined by the developer of the Xtra. For
non-Macromedia Xtra extensions, refer to any documentation that the developer supplies.

Setting Xtra cast member properties 49

To view or change Xtra cast member properties:

1 Select an Xtra cast member.
2 Open the Property inspector, and click the Member tab.

The Member tab displays the following information about the member:

■ The cast member name

■ The name of the cast that contains the cast member

■ The size in kilobytes

■ The creation date

■ The date the cast member was last modified

■ The name of the user who last modified the cast member

3 Use the Name field to view or edit the cast member name.
4 To specify how Director removes cast members from memory if memory is low, select options

from the Unload pop-up menu. For information about these options, see “Controlling cast

member unloading” on page 47.

5 To set special options for the current Xtra cast member, click the custom tab for the cast

member you are working with. Some types of Xtra cast members also have a More Options
button on this tab. You can use this button to set any properties of the cast member that are not
displayed on the tab.

50 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast

CHAPTER 3

Sprites

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.

Sprites appear on the Stage layered according to the channel in which they are assigned in the
Score. Sprites in higher-numbered channels appear in front of sprites in lower-numbered
channels. A movie can include as many as 1000 sprite channels. Use the Movie tab of the
Property inspector to control the number of channels.

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 Property 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.

51

Creating sprites

You create a sprite by dragging a cast member to either the Stage or the Score: the sprite appears in
both places. New sprites, by default, span 30 frames.

To create a new sprite:

1 Click to select the frame in the Score where you want the sprite to begin.
2 From the Cast window, in either List or Thumbnail view, do one of the following:

■ Drag a cast member to the position on the Stage where you want to place the sprite.

■ Drag a cast member to the Score. Director places the new sprite in the center of the Stage.

■ To create a sprite one frame long, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and drag a

cast member to the Stage or Score.

Setting sprite general preferences

You use the Sprite Preferences dialog box to control the way sprites behave and appear in the
Score window and on the Stage.

To change preferences for sprites:

1 Select Edit > Preferences > Sprite.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of
the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

2 To determine if selecting a sprite on the Stage selects the entire span of the sprite or only the

current frame in the sprite, select one of the following Stage Selection options:

Entire Sprite selects the sprite in all frames that it occupies.
Current Frame Only selects only the current frame of the sprite.

3 To determine the appearance and behavior of sprites yet to be created, select the following Span

Defaults options. These options don’t change settings for existing sprites.

Display Sprite Frames turns on Edit Sprite Frames for all new sprites. See “Editing sprite

frames” on page 89.

Tweening turns on tweening for all tweenable properties. This option is on by default. With

this option off, sprites must be manually tweened when new frames or keyframes are added to
the sprite. For additional information about tweening, see Chapter 4, “Animation,”

on page 83.

4 To determine the length of sprites measured in frames, select the following Span

Duration options:

Frames defines the default number of frames for sprites.
Width of Score Window sets the sprite span to the visible width of the Score window.
Terminate at Markers makes new sprites end at the first marker.

5 To specify the frame used as the beginning of a sprite span when creating or editing new sprites

on the Stage, select from the following Span Starts options:

Previous Marker sets the sprite span to begin at the sprite’s previous marker.
Current Frame sets the sprite span to begin at the current frame.
First Frame in Score Window sets the sprite span to begin at the first frame in the current

score window.

52 Chapter 3: Sprites

Selecting sprites

To edit or move a sprite, you must select it. You can select sprites, frames within sprites, and
groups of sprites in several ways.

You use the Arrow tool on the Tool palette to select sprites before most operations. You can also
select sprites with the Rotate and Skew tool to enable rotation and skewing. See “Rotating and

skewing sprites” on page 72.

When selecting sprites, you often want to select a certain frame or range of frames within the
sprite instead of the entire sprite. When you make certain changes to a frame within a sprite, it
becomes a selectable object called a keyframe. See “Editing sprite frames” on page 89.

A selected sprite appears on the Stage with a double border. When you select a single frame within
a sprite, the sprite appears on the Stage with a single border.

Entire sprite selected

Single frame within sprite selected

To select sprites, do one of the following:

Note: The following techniques select an entire sprite only if Edit Sprite Frames is not enabled for the
sprite(s) you select.

• On the Stage, click a sprite to select the entire sprite span.

You can change sprite preferences so that selecting a sprite on the Stage selects only the current
frame instead of the entire sprite. See “Setting sprite general preferences” on page 52.

• In the Score, click the horizontal line within a sprite bar; don’t click the keyframes, the start

frame, or the end frame.

Selecting sprites 53

• To select a contiguous range of sprites either on the Stage or in the Score, select a sprite at one

end of the range and then Shift-click a sprite at the other end of the range. You can also drag to
select all the sprites in an area.

• To select discontiguous sprites, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) the

discontiguous sprites.

To select a keyframe, do one of the following:

• To select only a keyframe, click the keyframe indicator.

• To select a keyframe and sprites at the same time, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click

(Macintosh) the keyframe and the desired sprites.

To select a frame within a sprite that is not a keyframe, do one of the following:

• In the Score, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) the frame within the sprite.

• On the Stage, Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh) to select only the current

frame of the sprite. The sprite appears on the Stage with a single border.

To select all the sprites in a channel:

• Click the channel number at the left side of the Score.

54 Chapter 3: Sprites

Naming sprites

You can assign a name to a sprite 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 that once referred to the sprite
by its channel number. The sprite name is different from a cast member name because a sprite is
an instance of that cast member. If you want the sprite name to be displayed in the Score and
Stage, select Edit > Preferences > Score > Name. (If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating
system, select the Director menu, instead of the Edit menu, to access Preferences.) For more
information, see, “Changing Score settings” on page 20.

To name a sprite using the Property inspector:

1 Select a sprite in the Score or on the Stage.
2 Select Window > Property Inspector, and select the Sprite tab.
3 Enter a name for the selected sprite in the Name text box.

You can name the sprite anything you like, but you may want something that is easily
recognizable and that will be easy to script.

Naming sprites 55

To view a sprite in the Score by its name:

1 In the Score, select the Sprite labels pop-up menu.
2 Select Name. All the sprites in the score appear with their sprite name listed.

To view a sprite on the Stage by its name:

• Select a sprite on the Stage. The sprite name appears on the second line of the sprite overlay.

To edit the name of a sprite:

1 Select the sprite and open the Property inspector.
2 Enter a name in the Name text box.

Setting the Sprite name property in Lingo or JavaScript syntax

The new sprite name property is accessible as a standard sprite property. The
be read at all times, but names can only be assigned via script when in score recording mode.

The syntax is as follows:

put sprite(1).name -- this displays the name in the message window.

You can also refer to the sprite by using its given name when evoking script commands on the
sprite. For example:

sendSprite ("pete", #handlername) -- call the "handlername" method in

sprite("pete")

put sprite("somename").rect -- display the sprite's rect

To find out what sprite is targeted for a particular name, you can use the following expression:

sprite("myName").spriteNum

To create a name for a sprite, the assignment must be made in score recording mode. Note that
you don’t have to use the updateFrame command, but the record frame must be a frame where
the sprite exists in the score.

beginrecording
sprite(2).name = "tubular"
endrecording

For more information about this property, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director
Help Panel.

name property can

56 Chapter 3: Sprites

Finding sprites

You can search for and find sprites by name. When you have many sprites in a movie, searching
for a sprite by name is easier and more efficient than searching by channel name or number.

To find a sprite by name:

1 Select Edit > Find > Find Sprite. The Find Sprite dialog box opens with a list of the named

sprites in the current cast.

Note: Only the sprites that you have already named appear in the list.

2 In the Name text box, type the name of the sprite that you want to find.

You can type just the first letters to limit the list to sprites that start with those letters.

3 Select Name if you want the sprites sorted by name; select Number if you want the sprites sorted

by Channel number.

4 Select the sprite that you want to find and click Select. The score opens at the location of the

selected sprite.

Creating sprite channel names

Rather than just referring to channels by number, you can also name sprite channels. When
authoring sprites in Lingo or JavaScript syntax, you often must work in a particular channel or
manage several different channels. Naming a sprite channel can expedite your work when
authoring and managing many composite layers.

Creating sprite channel names 57

To name a sprite channel:

1 Double-click a channel in the Score sprite channel column.

A text box appears.

2 Type a name for the channel and press Enter.

Layering sprites

A sprite appears in front of other sprites on the Stage according to its channel. Sprites in higher­numbered channels appear in front of sprites in lower-numbered channels.

The rocket in channel 2 appears in front of the planet in channel 1.

To change a sprite’s layer:

1 In the Score, select the sprite. To select the contents of an entire channel, click the channel

number at the left side of the Score.

2 Do one of the following:

■ Select Modify > Arrange, and select a command from the submenu to change the order

of sprites.

■ Drag the sprite in the Score from one channel to another.

■ If you selected a channel, drag its contents to another channel.

Note: If you give each sprite a unique name, you don’t have to update any scripts you have written
when you move a sprite to a new channel. For more information, see “Naming sprites” on page 55.

58 Chapter 3: Sprites

Displaying and editing sprite properties

As you work with sprites in your movie, you’ll want to monitor and possibly modify
sprite properties. Director offers several methods of accomplishing this by using one or more of
the following:

• The Property inspector

• The Sprite toolbar, which includes a subset of Sprite text boxes found in the Property inspector

• The Sprite Overlay, which displays, directly on the Stage, the most commonly used properties

for selected sprites

• Sprite labels, which appear within the sprite bars in the Score and let you view important

sprite properties

• Script in Lingo or JavaScript syntax

Displaying and editing sprite properties in the Property inspector

Depending on your preference, you can use either the Sprite toolbar or the Property inspector to
perform many of the same procedures.

To display and edit sprite properties in the Property inspector:

1 Select one or more sprites on either the Stage or the Score.
2 If the Property inspector is not open, select Window > Property Inspector.

The Property inspector opens with focus on the Sprite tab. The Graphical view is the default
view. You can toggle to the List view by clicking the List View Mode icon.

The Property inspector displays settings for the current sprite. If you select more than one
sprite, the Property inspector displays only their common settings.

Thumbnail
List View Mode icon

A thumbnail image of the sprite’s cast member appears in the upper left corner of the
Property inspector.

Displaying and editing sprite properties 59

Note: To open a window in which you can edit the sprite’s cast member, you can double-click the
thumbnail image.

3 Edit any of the following sprite settings in the Property inspector:

Lock changes the sprite to a locked sprite so you or other users can’t change it. For additional

information about locked sprites, see “Locking and unlocking sprites” on page 63.

Editable applies only to text sprites and lets you edit the selected text sprite on the Stage

during playback. For more information, see “Selecting and editing text on the Stage”

on page 166.

Moveable lets you position the selected sprite on the Stage during playback. For more

information, see “Visually positioning sprites on the Stage” on page 65.

Trails makes the selected sprite remain on the Stage, leaving a trail of images along its path as

the movie plays. If Trails is not selected, the selected sprite is erased from previous frames as the
movie plays.

Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical reverse the sprite horizontally or vertically to form an

inverted image. See “Flipping sprites” on page 75.

The Name text box lets you enter a name for the sprite. For more information, see “Naming

sprites” on page 55.

Reg Point Horizontal (X) and Vertical (Y) display the location of the registration point in

pixels from the upper left corner of the Stage. For more information, see “Editing sprite

properties with Lingo or JavaScript syntax” on page 63.

Left (L), Top (T), Right (R), and Bottom (B) show the location of the edges of the sprite’s

bounding rectangle.

Width (W) and Height (H) show the size of the sprite’s bounding rectangle in pixels.
The Ink pop-up menu displays the ink of the current sprite and lets you select a new ink color.

For more information, see “Using sprite inks” on page 77.

Blend determines the blend percentage of the selected sprites. For more information, see

“Setting blends” on page 76.

Start Frame and End Frame display the start and end frame numbers of the sprite. Enter new

values to adjust how long the sprite plays. For more information, see “Changing the duration

of a sprite on the Stage” on page 70.

Rotation rotates the sprite by the number of degrees you enter. For more information, see

“Rotating and skewing sprites” on page 72.

Skew slants the sprite by the number of degrees you enter. For more information, see

“Rotating and skewing sprites” on page 72.

Forecolor and Backcolor color boxes determine the colors of the selected sprite. For more

information, see “Changing the color of a sprite” on page 75.

Restore All reverts the height and width to that of the cast member.
Scale opens the Scale Sprite dialog box, where you can resize the selected sprite. For more

information, see “Resizing and scaling sprites” on page 71.

Displaying sprite properties in the Sprite toolbar

The Sprite toolbar displays a subset of the same information and text boxes found on the Sprite
tab in the Property inspector. You can use either the Sprite toolbar or the Property inspector,
depending on your preference, to perform many of the same procedures.

60 Chapter 3: Sprites

To show or hide the Sprite toolbar in the Score:

• While the Score is active, select View > Sprite Toolbar. The Sprite toolbar is displayed across

the top of the Score.

Using the Sprite Overlay

The Sprite Overlay displays important sprite properties directly on the Stage. You can open
editors, inspectors, and dialog boxes to change sprite properties by clicking the corresponding
icons in the Sprite Overlay.

To display the Sprite Overlay when a sprite is selected:

• Select View > Sprite Overlay > Show Info.

Name, cast, and media type of sprite’s cast member

Channel number; left, top,
right, and bottom coordinates;
ink; and blend settings

Sprite Overlay

Attached behavior(s)

To use Sprite Overlay options to change how the overlay appears:

Overlay opacity control

1 Click the Sprite on the Stage to select it.
2 In the Sprite Overlay, click the icon that represents the data you want to edit:

■ To edit the Sprite’s cast member, click this icon to open the tab in the Property inspector

that applies to this type of sprite. For example, clicking this icon displays the Vector tab for
a vector sprite, the Text tab for a text sprite, and so on.

■ To open the Sprite tab in the Property inspector, click this icon.

■ To open the Behavior tab in the Property inspector, click this icon. See Chapter 12,

“Behaviors,” on page 275.

To change the Sprite Overlay’s appearance to suit your preferences:

1 Select View > Sprite Overlay > Settings.
2 Select a Display option to determine when sprite properties are visible and active:

Roll Over displays sprite properties only when the pointer is over a single sprite.
Selection displays sprite properties when you select a sprite.
All Sprites displays sprite properties for all sprites on the Stage.

3 Use the Text Color box to select the color for text that appears in the Sprite Overlay.

Tip: If the Stage has a dark background, changing the color of the text to a light color lets you read the
sprite information in the overlay.

Displaying and editing sprite properties 61

To change the opacity of the Sprite Overlay:

• Drag up or down the small thin line that appears on the right edge of the Sprite Overlay.

.

Displaying sprite labels in the Score

Sprite labels appear in the Score’s sprite bars and display key information about the sprite in
relation to the movie. For example, if you detect a strange blip caused by an ink effect, you can
select Ink from the Sprite label pop-up menu and quickly locate the problem in those sprites that
have Ink properties by sorting by the Ink label. You can select the way information displays in
channels by selecting from the different sprite labels available; for example, you can use the
Extended display option to display the precise location of a sprite in every frame. i

To display sprite labels:

1 With the Score as the active window, do one of the following:

■ Select View > Sprite Labels.

■ Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) on any Score channel, and select

Sprite Labels.

2 Select from the following options:

■ Keyframes

■ Changes Only (shown at 800%)

■ Every frame (shown at 800%)

■ First frame

■ None

Many options are useful only when the Score is zoomed to 400% or 800%.

To change sprite label options:

• Select a display option from the Display pop-up menu in the Score or from the

View > Display menu.

Name displays the name of the sprite.
Cast Member displays the name and number of the sprite’s cast member.

62 Chapter 3: Sprites

Behavior displays the behavior that is assigned to the sprite.

Location displays the x and y coordinates of the sprite’s registration point.

Ink displays the ink effect that is applied to each sprite.

Blend displays the blend percentage.

Extended displays any combination of display options; select options by selecting Edit >

Preferences > Score. (If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director
menu, instead of the Edit menu, to access Preferences.)

Editing sprite properties with Lingo or JavaScript syntax

You can use Lingo or JavaScript syntax to check and edit sprite properties with scripts as the
movie plays.

Note: Sprite properties changed with Lingo are not saved in the score unless you’re using score
recording.

To check a property value:

• Use the put method or check in the Watcher window. For more information, see the Scripting

Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

To edit a property:

• Use the equals (=) operator or the set command to assign a new value to the property. For

more information, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

Locking and unlocking sprites

During authoring, you can lock sprites to avoid inadvertent changes to the sprite, either by you or
by someone else working on the same project. When you lock a sprite, you can no longer change
its settings, although you still see it represented on the Stage and in the Score. While preserving
the settings of your locked sprites, you can continue to create and edit unlocked sprites.

Locking sprites is not supported during playback.

Note: If you try to perform an operation on a group of locked and unlocked sprites, a message
appears that indicates the operation will affect only the unlocked sprites.

Locking and unlocking sprites 63

To lock a sprite:

In the Stage or the Score, select one or more sprites to lock, and do one of the following:

• Select Modify > Lock Sprite.

• On the Sprite tab of the Property inspector, click the padlock icon.

• Right-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh), and select Lock Sprite from the

context menu.

In the Score, a locked sprite appears with a padlock in front of its name. On the Stage, a locked
sprite appears with a padlock in its upper right corner.

To select a locked sprite on the Stage:

• Hold down the L key while selecting the sprite.

To unlock a sprite:

1 In the Score or on the Stage, select one or more sprites to unlock.
2 Do one of the following:

■ Select Modify > Unlock Sprite.

■ On the Sprite tab in the Property inspector, click the padlock icon.

■ Right-click (Windows) or Option-click (Macintosh), and select Unlock Sprite from the

context menu.

Positioning sprites

The easiest way to position a sprite is to simply drag the sprite into place on the Stage. To position
a sprite more precisely, you can do any of the following:

• Set a sprite’s position on the Stage by entering coordinates in the Property inspector.

• Use the Tweak window.

• Use guides or the grid.

• Use the Align window.

• Use the arrow keys to manually move a selected sprite.

• Set the sprite’s coordinates in Lingo or JavaScript syntax.

64 Chapter 3: Sprites

The following diagram shows all the sprite coordinates you can specify.

0,0 Upper left corner of the Stage

Registration

Bounding
rectangle

Top

Bottom

Width

point (X,Y)

RightLeft

Height

Director places the image of a cast member on the Stage by specifying the location of its
registration point. For many cast members, such as bitmap or vector shapes, the registration point
is in the center of the bounding rectangle by default. For other types of cast members, the
registration point is at the upper left corner. (For instructions on changing the location of the
registration point of bitmap cast members, see “Changing registration points” on page 112. For
instructions on changing a vector shape cast member’s registration point, see “Editing vector

shapes” on page 139.)

Visually positioning sprites on the Stage

You can position sprites on the Stage by dragging them or by using the arrow keys.

To visually position a sprite on the Stage:

1 Select Window > Stage to display the Stage.
2 Do one of the following on the Stage:

■ Drag a sprite to a new position. Hold down Shift to limit the movement to horizontal or

vertical straight lines.

■ Select a sprite and use the arrow keys to move the selected sprite 1 pixel at a time. Hold

down Shift as you press an arrow key to move the selection 10 pixels at a time.

To visually position a sprite on the Stage during playback:

1 Select a sprite that you want to position during playback.
2 On the Sprite tab in the Property inspector, click Moveable. See “Displaying and editing sprite

properties in the Property inspector” on page 59.

3 Begin playing back the movie.
4 On the Stage, drag the sprite to the new position.

Positioning sprites 65

Positioning sprites with the Property inspector

You can use the Property inspector to specify the exact coordinates of a sprite.

To set sprite coordinates in the Property inspector:

1 With the Property inspector open and in Graphical view, select a sprite to reposition.
2 On the Sprite tab in the Property inspector, specify the sprite coordinates in pixels, with 0,0 at

the upper left corner of the Stage, as follows:

■ Specify attributes in the X and Y text boxes to change the horizontal and vertical coordinates

of the registration point.

■ Specify coordinates in the W and H text boxes to change the width and height of the sprite.

■ Specify values in the L, T, R, and B text boxes to change the left, top, right, and bottom

edges of the sprite’s bounding rectangle.

To move the sprite without resizing it, adjust only the x and y coordinates.

Positioning sprites with the Tweak window

You can use the Tweak window when you want to move sprites by a certain number of pixels.

To position sprites with the Tweak window:

1 Select Modify > Tweak.
2 Select the sprite or sprites you want to move, as described in “Selecting sprites” on page 53.
3 In the Tweak window, drag the point on the left side of the window or enter the number of

pixels in the text boxes for horizontal and vertical change, and then click Tweak.

4 If you want to repeat the move, click Tweak again.

Positioning sprites using guides, the grid, or the Align window

On the Stage, you can align sprites by using guides, the grid, or the Align window.

The grid consists of cell rows and columns of a specified height and width that you use to assist
you in visually placing sprites on the Stage. The grid is always available.

Guides are horizontal or vertical lines you can either drag around the Stage or lock in place to
assist you with sprite placement. You must create guides before they become available.

Moving a sprite with the Snap to Grid or Snap to Guides feature selected lets you snap the sprite’s
edges and registration point to the nearest grid or guide line. When you are not using the guides
or the grid, you can hide them.

Guides and the grid are visible only during authoring.

You can create and modify the guides and the grid from the Property inspector or by using
menu commands.

To add and configure guides:

1 With the Property inspector open, click the Guides tab.

The top half of the tab contains settings for Guides.

2 To change the guide color, click the Guide Color box and select a different color.
3 Select the desired options to make the guides visible, to lock them, and to make the sprites snap

to the guides.

66 Chapter 3: Sprites

4 To add a guide, move the cursor over the new horizontal or vertical guide, and then drag the

guide to the Stage. Numbers in the guide tooltip indicate the distance, in pixels, the guide is
located from the top or left edge of the Stage.

5 To reposition a guide, move the pointer over the guide. When the sizing handle appears, drag

the guide to its new position.

6 To remove a guide, drag it off the Stage.
7 To remove all guides, click Remove All on the Guides tab in the Property inspector.

To display guides and align sprites:

1 If guides don’t appear on the Stage, select View > Guides and Grid > Show Guides.
2 If Snap to Guides is not selected, select View > Guides and Grid > Snap to Guides.
3 Move a sprite on the Stage near a guide line to make the sprite snap to that exact location.

To display a grid and align sprites:

1 If grid lines don’t appear on the Stage, select View > Guides and Grid > Show Grid.

2 If Snap to Grid is not selected, select View > Guides and Grid > Snap to Grid.
3 Move a sprite on the Stage near a grid line to make the sprite snap to that exact location.

Note: Press the G key while moving or resizing a sprite to temporarily turn Snap to Grid off or on.

To configure the grid:

1 With the Property inspector open, click the Guides tab.

The bottom half of the Guides tab contains Grid settings.

2 To change the grid color, click the Grid Color box and select a different color.
3 Select the desired options to make the grid visible and to make the sprites snap to the grid.
4 To change the width and height of the grid, enter values in the W and H text boxes.
5 Select the desired options to display the grid as dots or lines.

To align sprites using the Align window:

1 On the Stage or in the Score, select the sprites to align.

Select entire sprites, keyframes, or frames within sprites in as many different frames or channels
as you need. All of the elements align to the last sprite or frame selected.

2 Select Window > Align to open the Align panel.

Positioning sprites 67

3 Select alignment buttons to modify the selected objects:

■ For Align, select Align Left Edge, Align Horizontal Center, Align Right Edge, Align

Horizontal Registration Point, Align Top Edge, Align Vertical Center, Align Bottom Edge,
or Align Vertical Registration Point.

■ For Distribute, select Distribute Left Edge, Distribute Horizontal Center, Distribute Right

Edge, Distribute Horizontal Registration Point, Distribute Width, Distribute Horizontally
Across Stage, Distribute Top Edge, Distribute Vertical Center, Distribute Bottom Edge,
Distribute Vertical Registration Point, Distribute Height, or Distribute Vertically
Across Stage.

Positioning sprites with Lingo or JavaScript syntax

Script lets you control a sprite’s position by setting the sprite’s coordinates on the Stage. You
can also test a sprite’s coordinates to determine a sprite’s current position and whether two
sprites overlap.

To check the location of a sprite’s registration point or bounding rectangle on the Stage:

• Tes t th e bottom, left, loc, locH, locV, right, or top sprite property.

The

bottom, left, right, and top sprite properties determine the location of the sprite’s

individual edges. For more information about these properties, see the Scripting Reference
topics in the Director Help Panel.

To place a sprite at a specific location:

• Set one of the following properties (for more information about these properties, see the

Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel):

The loc sprite property sets the horizontal and vertical distance from the upper left corner of

the Stage to the sprite’s registration point. The value is given as a point.

The locV sprite property sets the number of pixels from the top of the Stage to a sprite’s

registration point.

The locH sprite property sets the number of pixels from the left of the Stage to a sprite’s

registration point.

The rect sprite property sets the location of the sprite’s bounding rectangle on the Stage.
The quad sprite property sets the location of the sprite’s bounding rectangle on the Stage. You

can specify any four points; the points don’t have to form a rectangle. The
can set the sprite’s coordinates as precise floating-point numbers.

68 Chapter 3: Sprites

quad sprite property

To determine whether two sprites overlap:

• Use the sprite...intersects operator to determine whether a sprite’s bounding rectangle

touches the bounding rectangle of a second sprite. Use the
determine whether a sprite is entirely within a second sprite. For more information about these
operators, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

Changing when a sprite appears on the Stage

A sprite controls where and when media appear on the Stage. You change when a sprite appears
on the Stage by moving the sprite to different frames in the Score and by changing the number of
frames the sprite spans. You can either drag sprites to new frames or copy and paste them.
Copying and pasting is easier when moving sprites more than one screen width in the Score. You
can also copy and paste to move sprites from one movie to another.

Note: When you copy a sprite from one movie to another, save the source movie first.

Moving a sprite in the Score

To change when a sprite appears on the Stage:

1 Select Window > Score to display the Score.
2 Select a sprite or sprites, as described in “Selecting sprites” on page 53.
3 Drag the sprite to a different frame.

To move a sprite without spreading it over additional frames, hold down the Spacebar and
drag. This technique is also useful for moving any sprite that consists mostly (or entirely)
of keyframes.

sprite...within operator to

To copy or move sprites between frames:

1 Select a sprite or sprites, as described in “Selecting sprites” on page 53.
2 Select Edit > Cut Sprites or Edit > Copy Sprites.
3 Position the pointer where you want to paste the sprite, and select Edit > Paste Sprites.

If the pasting will overwrite existing sprites, select one of the following Paste options in the
Paste Options dialog box:

Overwrite Existing Sprites replaces the sprites with the content of the Clipboard.
Truncate Sprites Being Pasted pastes the Clipboard contents in the space available without

replacing existing sprites.

Insert Blank Frames to Make Room adds new frames for the contents of the Clipboard.

Positioning sprites 69

Changing the duration of a sprite on the Stage

By default, Director assigns each new sprite a duration of 30 frames. You can change the duration
of a sprite—that is, the amount of time the sprite appears in a movie—by adjusting its length,
changing the number of frames in which it appears, or by using the Extend command.

Director maintains the spacing proportions of keyframes when a sprite is lengthened. For a
description of keyframes, see Chapter 4, “Animation,” on page 83.

To extend or shorten a sprite:

1 Select Window > Score to display the Score.
2 Do one of the following:

■ Drag the start or end frames.To extend a one-frame sprite, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-

drag (Macintosh).

■ To extend a sprite and leave the last keyframe in place, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag

(Macintosh) a keyframe at the end of the sprite.

■ To extend a sprite and leave all keyframes in place, Control-drag (Windows) or Command-

drag (Macintosh) the end frame.

■ Enter new values in the Start and End text boxes on the Sprite tab in the Property inspector

to change the start and end frames.

To extend a sprite to the current location of the playhead:

1 Select the sprite or sprites to extend.
2 Click the frame channel to move the playhead:

■ To extend the sprite, move the playhead past the right edge of the sprite.

Frame channel

■ To shorten the sprite, move the playhead to the left of the sprite’s right edge, inside the

sprite.

■ To move the sprite’s start frame, place the playhead to the left of the sprite.

3 Select Modify > Extend Sprite.

Splitting and joining sprites

You might need to split an existing sprite into two separate sprites or join separate sprites. If, for
example, you created a complex animation as separate sprites and now want to move the entire
sequence in the Score, you would join the sprites. Splitting and joining also lets you update
movies created with older versions of Director that might have several fragmented sprites.

70 Chapter 3: Sprites

To split an existing sprite:

1 In the Score, click the frame within a sprite where you want the split to occur.

The playhead moves to the selected frame.

2 Select Modify > Split Sprite.

Director splits the sprite into two new ones.

To join separate sprites into a single sprite:

1 Select the sprites you want to join, as described in “Selecting sprites” on page 53.

Director fills the gaps between the selected sprites. You can also select sprites in several
channels. Director joins selected sprites in each individual channel.

2 Select Modify > Join Sprites.

Changing the appearance of sprites

You can change the appearance of sprites on the Stage without affecting the cast member assigned
to the sprite. You can resize, rotate, skew, flip, and apply new foreground and background colors
to sprites. Applying these changes allows you to reuse the same cast member to create several
different versions of an image. For example, you can create a flipped and rotated sprite with a new
color. Since each cast member adds to downloading time, reusing cast members in this way
reduces the number of cast members in your movie and makes it download faster. Reusing the
same cast member for multiple sprites also reduces the amount of memory required.

Resizing and scaling sprites

You can resize sprites directly on the Stage by dragging their handles. To resize the sprite precisely,
you can enter coordinates or scale sprites by a specified percentage on the Sprite tab in the
Property inspector. You can also set the sprite’s size with Lingo or JavaScript syntax.

Changing a sprite’s size on the Stage does not change the size of the cast member that is assigned
to the sprite, nor is the size of the sprite affected if you resize its cast member.

In some cases, resizing bitmap sprites can cause noticeable delays. If a bitmap sprite must be a
particular size, make the cast members that appear in the sprite the proper size. You can do this
with Modify > Transform Bitmap or in any image-editing program. Scaling and resizing sprites
works best with vector shapes.

Note: The procedure for resizing a rotated or skewed sprite is different from the following
procedures. For more information, see “Rotating and skewing sprites” on page 72.

Changing the appearance of sprites 71

To resize a sprite by dragging its handles:

1 Select the sprite.
2 On the Stage, drag any of the sprite’s resize handles. Hold down Shift while dragging to

maintain the sprite’s proportions.

To scale a sprite by pixels or by an exact percentage:

1 Select the sprite you want to scale and click the Sprite tab of the Property inspector

(Graphical view).

2 Click the Scale button.

The Scale Sprite dialog box appears.

3 Enter new values to scale the sprite by doing one of the following:

■ Specify a pixel size in the Width or Height text boxes. If Maintain Proportions is selected, all

the updatable text boxes adjust to reflect the new scaled size. If Maintain Proportions is not
selected, you can specify new proportions in the Width and Height text boxes.

■ Enter a percentage in the Scale text box.

4 Click OK.

The sprite is scaled relative to its current size not to the size of its parent cast member.

To restore a sprite to its original dimensions, do one of the following:

• On the Sprite tab in the Property inspector (Graphical view), click Restore All.

• Select Modify > Transform > Reset Width and Height or Reset All.

To resize a sprite’s bounding rectangle with script:

• Set the sprite’s quad or rect sprite property. For more information about these properties, see

the Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.
The

rect sprite property determines the coordinates of a sprite’s bounding rectangle.

The coordinates are given as a

rect value, which is a list of the left, top, right, and

bottom coordinates.

To change a sprite’s height or width with script:

• Set the height or width sprite property. For more information about these properties, see the

Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

Rotating and skewing sprites

You can rotate and skew sprites to turn and distort images and to create dramatic animated
effects. You rotate and skew sprites on the Stage by dragging. To rotate and skew sprites more
precisely, use Lingo or JavaScript syntax or the Property inspector to enter degrees of rotation or
skew. The Property inspector is also useful for rotating and skewing several sprites at once by the
same angle.

72 Chapter 3: Sprites

Director can rotate and skew bitmaps, text, vector shapes, Macromedia Flash content,
QuickTime videos, and animated GIFs.

Director rotates a sprite around its registration point, which is a marker that appears on a sprite
when you select it with your mouse. By default, Director assigns a registration point in the center
of all bitmaps. You can change the location of the registration point by using the Paint window.
For more information, see “Changing registration points” on page 112.

Rotation changes the angle of the sprite. Skewing changes the corner angles of the sprite’s
rectangle.

Rotated sprite

Skewed sprite

After a sprite is rotated or skewed, you can still resize it.

Director can automatically change rotation and skew from frame to frame to create animation.
See “Tweening other sprite properties” on page 86.

To rotate or skew a sprite on the Stage:

1 Select a sprite on the Stage.
2 Select Window > Tool Palette to display the Tool palette.
3 Click the Rotate and Skew tool in the Tool palette.

You can also press Tab while the Stage window is active to select the Rotate tool.
The handles around the sprite change to indicate the new mode.

4 Do either of the following:

■ To rotate the sprite, move the pointer inside the sprite and drag in the direction you

want to rotate.

Pointer

■ To skew the sprite, move the pointer to the edge of the sprite until it changes to the skew

pointer and then drag in the direction you want to skew.

Pointer

Changing the appearance of sprites 73

To rotate or skew a sprite with the Property inspector:

1 Select the sprite you want to rotate or skew and click the Sprite tab in the Property inspector

(List view).

2 To rotate the selected sprite, display the Rotation pop-up menu and enter the number of degrees

in the Rotation text box.

3 To skew the selected sprite, display the Skew pop-up menu and enter the number of degrees in

the Skew text box.

Rotate
Skew

To resize a rotated or skewed sprite, do one of the following:

• Click the Rotate and Skew tool and drag any of the sprite’s handles. Use Alt-drag (Windows)

or Option-drag (Macintosh) to maintain the sprite’s proportions as you resize.

• Enter new values on the Sprite tab in the Property inspector.

Director resizes the sprite at the current skew or rotation angle.

To restore a skewed or rotated sprite to its original orientation:

• Select Modify > Transform > Reset Rotation and Skew or Reset All.

To skew a sprite with script:

• Set the skew sprite property. For more information about this property, see the Scripting

Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

74 Chapter 3: Sprites

Flipping sprites

Flipping a sprite creates a horizontally or vertically inverted image of the original sprite.

To flip a sprite:

1 Select a sprite.
2 Do any of the following:

■ Click the Flip Vertical or Flip Horizontal button on the Sprite tab in the Property inspector

to flip the sprite without moving the registration point or changing the current skew or
rotation angles.

■ Select Modify > Transform > Flip Horizontal in Place or Flip Vertical in Place to flip the

sprite so that its bounding rectangle stays in place and the registration point is moved,
if necessary.

■ Select Modify > Transform > Mirror Horizontal or Mirror Vertical to flip the sprite without

moving the registration point but inverting the skew and rotation angles.

Changing the color of a sprite

You can tint or color sprites by selecting new foreground and background colors from the
Property inspector or with Lingo or JavaScript syntax. Selecting a new foreground color changes
black pixels within the sprite to the selected color and blends dark colors with the new color.
Selecting a new background color changes white pixels within the sprite to the selected color and
blends light colors with the new color.

Director can animate foreground and background color changes in sprites, shifting gradually
between the colors you specify in the start and end frames of a sprite. See “Tweening other sprite

properties” on page 86.

To reverse the colors of an image, change the foreground color to white and the background
color to black.

To change the color of a sprite:

1 Select a sprite.
2 Do one of the following:

■ Select colors from the Forecolor and Backcolor boxes on the Sprite tab in the Property

inspector.

■ Enter RGB values (hexadecimal) or palette index values (0-255) for the foreground and

background colors on the Sprite tab in the Property inspector.

Changing the appearance of sprites 75

To change the color of a sprite with Lingo or JavaScript syntax, set the appropriate
sprite property:

• The color sprite property sets the sprite’s foreground color. The value is an RGB value.

For more information about this property, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director
Help Panel.

• The bgColor sprite property sets the sprite’s background color. The value is an RGB value.

For more information about this property, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director
Help Panel.

Setting blends

You can use blending to make sprites transparent. To change a sprite’s blend setting, use the Sprite
tab in the Property inspector.

Blend setting of 30%

Blend setting of 100%

Director can gradually change blend settings to make sprites fade in or out. See “Tweening other

sprite properties” on page 86.

The Blend percentage value affects only Copy, Background Transparent, Matte, Mask,
and Blend inks.

To set blending for a sprite:

1 Select the sprite.
2 Select a percentage from the Blend pop-up menu in the Property inspector, or enter a blend

percentage between 0 and 100.

To set blending with Lingo or JavaScript syntax:

• Set the blend sprite property. For more information about this property, see the Scripting

Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

76 Chapter 3: Sprites

Using sprite inks

You can change a sprite’s appearance on the Stage by applying inks. Sprite inks change the display
of a sprite’s colors. Inks are most useful to hide white bounding rectangles around images, but
they can also create many compelling and useful color effects. Inks can reverse and alter colors,
make sprites change colors depending on the background, and create masks that obscure or reveal
portions of a background.

You change the ink for a sprite in the Property inspector or with Lingo or JavaScript syntax.

Sprite with Copy ink

Sprite with Matte ink

To achieve the fastest animation rendering on the screen, use Copy ink; other ink types might
have a slight effect on performance.

To change a sprite’s ink with the Property inspector:

1 Select the sprite.
2 Select the desired type of ink from the Ink pop-up menu on the Sprite tab in the

Property inspector.

To change a sprite’s ink with script:

• Set the sprite’s ink sprite property. For more information about this property, see the Scripting

Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

Note: If Background Transparent and Matte inks don’t seem to work, the background of the
image might not be true white. Also, if the edges of the image have been blended or are fuzzy,
applying these inks might create a halo effect. Use the Paint window or an image-editing program
to change the background to true white and harden the edges. You can also re-create the image
with an alpha channel (transparency) and reimport the image.

Using Mask ink to create transparency effects

To reveal or tint certain parts of a sprite, you use Mask ink. Mask ink lets you define a mask cast
member, which controls the degree of transparency for parts of a sprite.

The original cast member, its mask, and the sprite with Mask ink applied.

Using sprite inks 77

Black areas of a mask cast member make the sprite completely opaque in those areas, and white
areas make it completely transparent (invisible). Colors between black and white are more or less
transparent; darker colors are more opaque.

When creating a bitmap mask for a sprite, use a grayscale palette if the mask cast member is an
8-bit (or less) image. An 8-bit mask affects only the transparency of the sprite and does not affect
the color. Director ignores the palette of mask cast members that are less than 32-bit images;
using a grayscale palette lets you view the mask in a meaningful way. If your mask cast member is
a 32-bit image, the colors of the mask tint the sprite’s colors.

If you don’t need variable levels of opacity, use a 1-bit mask cast member to conserve memory and
disk space.

There are many ways to use Mask ink, but the following procedure explains the most basic
method.

To use Mask ink:

1 Decide which cast member you want to mask.

The cast member can be a bitmap of any depth.

2 In the next position in the same cast, create a duplicate of the cast member to serve as the mask.

The mask cast member can actually be any image, but a duplicate of the original is usually the
most useful.

3 Edit the mask cast member in the Paint window or any image editor.

Black areas of the mask make the sprite completely opaque in those areas, and white areas
make it completely transparent (invisible).

4 Drag the original cast member to the Stage or Score to create a sprite.
5 Make sure the new sprite is selected, and select Mask ink from the Ink pop-up menu on the

Sprite tab in the Property inspector.
Only the parts of the sprite that are revealed by the mask are visible on the Stage.

About Darken and Lighten inks

Darken and Lighten inks provide a great control over a sprite’s RGB properties. You use them to
create color effects in sprites varying from subtle to surreal.

Darken and Lighten each change how Director applies the foreground and background color
properties of a sprite. Darken makes the background color equivalent to a color filter through
which the sprite is viewed on the Stage. Lighten tints the colors in a sprite lighter as the
background color gets darker. For both inks, the foreground color is added to the image to the
degree allowed by the other color control. Neither ink has any effect on a sprite until you change
the foreground or background color from the default settings of black and white.

Darken and Lighten are especially useful for animating unusual color effects. Because the
Foreground and Background color properties of the sprite control the effects, you can animate
color shifts to create dazzling effects without having to manually edit colors in a cast member. See

“Tweening other sprite properties” on page 86.

78 Chapter 3: Sprites

Ink definitions

The following definitions describe all available ink types.

Copy displays all the original colors in a sprite. All colors, including white, are opaque unless the

image contains alpha channel effects (transparency). Copy is the default ink and is useful for
backgrounds or for sprites that don’t appear in front of other artwork. If the cast member is not
rectangular, a white box appears around the sprite when it passes in front of another sprite or
appears on a nonwhite background. Sprites with the Copy ink animate faster than sprites
with any other ink.

Matte removes the white bounding rectangle around a sprite. Artwork within the boundaries is

opaque. Matte functions much like the Lasso tool in the Paint window in that the artwork is
outlined rather than enclosed in a rectangle. Matte, like Mask, uses more RAM than the other
inks, and sprites with this ink animate more slowly than other sprites.

Background Transparent makes all the pixels in the background color of the selected sprite

appear transparent and permits the background to be seen.

Transparent makes all light colors transparent so you can see lighter objects beneath the sprite.

Reverse reverses overlapping colors. When applied to the foreground sprite, where colors

overlap, the upper color changes to the chromatic opposite (based on the color palette currently in
use) of the color beneath it. Pixels that were originally white become transparent and let the
background show through unchanged. Reverse is good for creating custom masks.

Ghost, like Reverse, reverses overlapping colors, except nonoverlapping colors are transparent.

The sprite is not visible unless it is overlapping another sprite.

Not Copy reverses all the colors in an image to create a chromatic negative of the original.

Not Transparent, Not Reverse, and Not Ghost are all variations of other effects. The foreground

image is first reversed, then the Copy, Transparent, Reverse, or Ghost ink is applied. These inks
are good for creating odd effects.

Mask determines the exact transparent or opaque parts of a sprite. For Mask ink to work, you

must place a mask cast member in the Cast window position immediately following the cast
member to be masked. The black areas of the mask make the sprite opaque, and white areas are
transparent. Colors between black and white are more or less transparent; darker colors are more
opaque. See “Using Mask ink to create transparency effects” on page 77.

Blend ensures that the sprite uses the color blend percentage that is specified on the Sprite tab in

the Property inspector. See “Setting blends” on page 76.

Darkest compares RGB pixel colors in the foreground and background and uses the darkest

pixel color.

Lightest compares RGB pixel colors in the foreground and background and uses the lightest

pixel color.

Add creates a new color that is the result of adding the RGB color value of the foreground sprite

to the color value of the background sprite. If the value of the two colors exceeds the maximum
RGB color value (255), Director subtracts 256 from the remaining value so the result is between
0 and 255.

Add Pin is similar to Add. The foreground sprite's RGB color value is added to the background

sprite's RGB color value, but the color value is not allowed to exceed 255. If the value of the new
color exceeds 255, the value is reduced to 255.

Using sprite inks 79

Subtract subtracts the RGB color value of the foreground sprite’s color from the RGB value of

the background sprite’s color to determine the new color. If the color value of the new color is less
than 0, Director adds 256 so the remaining value is between 0 and 255.

Subtract Pin subtracts the RGB color value of pixels in the foreground sprite from the value of

the background sprite. The value of the new color is not allowed to be less than 0. If the value of
the new color is negative, the value is set to 0.

Darken changes the effect of the Foreground and Background color properties of a sprite to create

dramatic color effects that generally darken and tint a sprite. Darken ink makes the background
color equivalent to a color filter through which the sprite is viewed on the Stage. White provides
no filtering; black darkens all color to pure black. The foreground color is then added to the
filtered image, which creates an effect that is similar to shining light of that color onto the image.
Selecting Darken ink has no effect on a sprite until you select nondefault foreground and
background colors. See “About Darken and Lighten inks” on page 78.

Lighten changes the effect of the Foreground and Background color properties of a sprite so that

it is easy to create dramatic color effects that generally lighten an image. Lighten ink makes the
colors in a sprite lighter as the background color gets darker. The foreground color tints the image
to the degree allowed by the lightening. See “About Darken and Lighten inks” on page 78.

Note: Mask and Matte use more memory than other inks because Director must duplicate the mask
of the artwork.

Assigning a cast member to a sprite with Lingo or JavaScript syntax

Several script properties specify the cast member that is assigned to a sprite. You can use
these properties to determine a sprite’s cast member and switch the sprite’s cast members as
the movie plays.

To specify the cast member, including its cast:

• Set the member sprite property. For more information about this property, see the Scripting

Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.
Setting this property is the most reliable way to specify a sprite’s cast member. You can also set

the

memberNum sprite property, but this is reliable only when the new cast member is in the

same cast as the current cast member.

To determine which cast contains the cast member assigned to a sprite:

• Tes t th e castLibNum sprite property. For more information about this property, see the

Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.
This procedure is useful for updating movies that serve as templates.

80 Chapter 3: Sprites

Exchanging cast members

The Exchange Cast Members command changes the cast member associated with a particular
sprite to the currently selected cast member; that is, it replaces the member reference for the
selected sprite with the member reference of the selected cast member.

This command modifies the selected sprites in the score; it doesn’t modify cast members. The
command is enabled only when both a sprite and a cast member are selected.

If multiple cast members are selected, the command associates only the first selected cast member
with the sprite.

You can execute this command while the movie is playing.

To exchange cast members:

1 Select a sprite in the Score.
2 Select a cast member in the Cast window, a different cast member than the one already

associated with the sprite.

3 Select Edit > Exchange Cast Members.

The selected cast member is associated with the sprite.

Exchanging cast members 81

82 Chapter 3: Sprites

CHAPTER 4

Animation

Animation is the appearance of an image changing over time. The most common types of
animation in Macromedia Director MX 2004 involve moving a sprite on the Stage (tweening
animation) and using a series of cast members in the same sprite (frame-by-frame animation).

• Tweening is a traditional animation term that describes the process in which a lead animator

draws the animation frames where major changes take place, called keyframes. Assistants draw
the frames in between. Tweening in Director lets you define properties for a sprite in frames
called keyframes, and Director changes the properties in the frames in between. Tweening is
very efficient for adding animation to movies for websites, since no additional data needs to
download when a single cast member changes.

• Frame-by-frame animation involves manually creating every frame in an animation, whether

that involves switching cast members for a sprite or manually changing settings for sprites
on the Stage.

Other forms of animation include making a sprite change size, rotate, change colors, or fade
in and out.

About tweening in Director

To use tweening in Director, you define properties for a sprite in frames called keyframes and let
Director change the properties in the frames in between. Tweening is very efficient for adding
animation to movies for websites, since no additional data needs to download when a single cast
member changes.

To specify tweening properties for a sprite, you use the Sprite Tweening dialog box.

83

To open the Sprite Tweening dialog box:

• Select a sprite, then select Modify > Sprite > Tweening.

A keyframe usually indicates a change in sprite properties. Properties that can be tweened are
position, size, rotation, skew, blend, and foreground and background color. Each keyframe
defines a value for all of these properties, even if you only explicitly define one.

Keyframes

Start frame

End frame

Tweening the path of a sprite

Sprite paths are the lines Director displays on the Stage to show the movement of a sprite. Sprite
paths are controlled by the Sprite Overlay Settings dialog box. You can change settings to make
the paths appear for all sprites, for selected sprites, or only when the pointer rolls over a sprite.
For more information, see “Using the Sprite Overlay” on page 61.

You can tween a sprite directly on the Stage by editing the sprite’s path. Director displays the
path of the selected sprite directly on the Stage. You can adjust the path by dragging keyframe
indicators.

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.

84 Chapter 4: Animation

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.

This creates a new keyframe and records the new location. Repeat this step to create additional
keyframes.

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. For more information, see “Changing tweening settings” on page 88.

Accelerating and decelerating sprites

To create more natural motion in tweened sprites, use the following settings in the Sprite
Tweening dialog box:

• Ease-In and Ease-Out control how a sprite moves from its start frame to its end frame, no

matter how many keyframes are in between. Ease-In makes a sprite move more slowly in the
beginning frames; Ease-Out makes the sprite slow down in the ending frames. This setting
makes the sprite move more like an object in the real world.

Accelerating and decelerating sprites 85

• The Speed settings control how Director moves a sprite between each keyframe. The Sharp

Changes option is the default setting. Using this option, Director calculates how to move the
sprite between each pair of keyframes separately. If a sprite’s keyframes are separated by unequal
numbers of frames in the Score, or by different amounts of space on the Stage, abrupt changes
in speed may occur as the sprite moves between keyframe locations. Smooth out these speed
changes by selecting the Smooth Changes option.

Sprite with modified ease-in and ease-out settings

To change the acceleration or deceleration of a sprite:

1 Use one of the tweening methods to create a moving sprite.
2 Select View > Sprite Overlay > Show Paths to see how far the sprite moves between each frame.
3 Select the sprite and select Modify > Sprite > Tweening.
4 Use the Ease-In and Ease-Out sliders to specify the percentage of the sprite’s path through

which the sprite should accelerate or decelerate.

5 Select one of the following speed settings:

Sharp Changes moves the sprite between keyframe locations without adjusting the speed.
Smooth Changes adjusts the sprite’s speed gradually as it moves between keyframes.

Tweening other sprite properties

In addition to tweening a sprite’s path, Director can tween the size, rotation, skew, blend, and
foreground and background color of a sprite. Tweening size works best for vector-based cast
members created in the Vector Shape window or in Macromedia Flash MX 2004 (bitmaps can
become distorted when resized). Director can tween all of these properties at once.

To make a sprite fade in or out, you can tween blend settings. To make sprites spin or tilt, use
rotation. To create gradual shifts in color, you can tween color settings.

Note: To prevent Director from tweening a certain sprite property, select Modify > Sprite > Tweening
and turn off any of the tweening options.

To tween sprite properties:

1 If the Score isn’t open, select Window > Score.
2 Position a sprite on the Stage and make sure it spans all the frames in which you want the

sprite to change.

3 Select the start frame of the sprite in the Score.
4 To tween size, scale the sprite or resize the sprite on the Stage. For more information, see

“Resizing and scaling sprites” on page 71.

86 Chapter 4: Animation

5 To define the beginning property settings, click the Sprite tab of the Property inspector and do

any of the following:

■ To make the sprite fade in or out, enter a blend setting in the Property inspector (in List

view). Enter 0 to make the sprite fade in or 100 to make it fade out. For more information,
see “Setting blends” on page 76.

■ To tween rotation or skew, manually rotate or skew the sprite to the beginning position on

the Stage or enter an angle in the Property inspector. For more information, see “Rotating

and skewing sprites” on page 72.

■ To tween color, use the color boxes in the Property inspector to open the color palette for

foreground and background color, or enter the RGB values for a new color in the boxes at
the right (List view) or left (Graphical view).

6 In the Score, select the end frame of the sprite and select Insert > Keyframe.

The end frame is not a keyframe unless you insert one there.

7 Make sure only the keyframe is selected (not the entire sprite), and then enter the ending values

of the sprite properties you are tweening.
For example, if you entered a blend setting of 0 in the first frame, you could enter a blend

setting of 100 in this frame.

8 If necessary, create additional keyframes in the sprite and enter new values for the tweened

properties.

9 To make the property changes defined by a keyframe occur at a different time, drag a keyframe

in the Score to a new frame within the sprite.

10 To view the tweening, rewind and play the movie.

Director gradually changes the value of the tweened property in the frames between
the keyframes.

Suggestions and shortcuts for tweening

Follow the suggestions listed here to improve results and productivity while tweening sprites.

• For smoother movements, tween across more frames, increasing the tempo if necessary.

• To achieve some types of motion, you may need to split the sprite and tween the sprites

separately. For more information, see “Accelerating and decelerating sprites” on page 85.

• To quickly make duplicates, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Macintosh) keyframes. This

technique is useful when you want the start and end frames to have the same settings. This
shortcut also provides a quick way to create a complex path. Insert a single keyframe, drag
several duplicates to the proper frames, and then select the various keyframes and set positions
on the Stage.

• To extend the sprite and leave the last keyframe in place, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag

(Macintosh) a keyframe at the end of a sprite.

• To move many keyframe positions at once, Control-click (Windows) or Command-click

(Macintosh) multiple keyframes to select them, and then move the sprite on the Stage.

• To make the animation look smoother, use an image editor to blur the edges of bitmaps.

• When tweening sprites that have a series of cast members, consider using a film loop instead.

For more information, see “Using film loops” on page 94.

• To make a sprite jump instantly between settings in different keyframes, turn off all

tweening options.

Suggestions and shortcuts for tweening 87

Changing tweening settings

To change tweening properties for sprites, you use the Sprite Tweening dialog box. You can turn
tweening on and off for certain properties and control the curve of a tweening path and the way
the speed changes as a sprite moves. For information about creating tweened animation, see

“Tweening the path of a sprite” on page 84.

To change tweening settings:

1 Select a tweened sprite on the Stage or in the Score.
2 Select Modify > Sprite > Tweening to open the Sprite Tweening dialog box:

The diagram in the upper left corner of the Sprite Tweening dialog box shows the sprite’s path
as specified by the Curvature, Speed, Ease-In, and Ease-Out settings. This doesn’t show the
actual path of the sprite, just the type of curve it follows.

If the start and end points of the sprite are the same, the diagram is circular, indicating that
the sprite travels in a circle when tweened. If the start and end points are not the same, the
diagram describes a curved path, indicating that the sprite ends at a point different from
the starting point.

3 To change which properties of the sprite are tweened, change the values for Tween.

A check mark indicates that the property will be tweened. The available properties are Path,
Size, Rotation, Skew, Foreground Color, Background Color, and Blend.

4 To change how the sprite curves between positions defined by keyframes, adjust the

Curvature slider.

Linear makes the sprite move in a straight line between the keyframe positions.
Normal makes the sprite follow a curved path inside the keyframe positions.
Extreme makes the sprite follow a curved path outside the keyframe positions.

5 To make the sprite move smoothly through start and end frames when it moves in a closed path,

select Continuous at Endpoints.

6 To define how the tweened sprite positions change between keyframes, select an option for

Speed. For more information, see “Accelerating and decelerating sprites” on page 85.

Sharp Changes makes the changes in position occur abruptly.
Smooth Changes makes the changes in position occur gradually.

7 To define how tweened sprite positions change over the whole length of the sprite, use the

sliders to change the values for Ease-In and Ease-Out.

Ease-In defines the percentage of the sprite span through which the sprite accelerates.
Ease-Out defines the percentage of the sprite span through which the sprite decelerates.

88 Chapter 4: Animation

Switching a sprite’s cast members

To show different content while maintaining all other sprite properties, you exchange the cast
member assigned to a sprite. This technique is useful when you have tweened a sprite and you
decide to use a different cast member. When you exchange the cast member, the tweening path
stays the same.

To exchange cast members in the Score:

1 To change a cast member in every frame, select an entire sprite. To change a cast member only

in certain frames, select part of a sprite.
To select part of a sprite, press Alt and click the first frame that you want to select. Then press

Control+Alt (Windows) or Option+Alt (Macintosh) and click each additional frame that you
want to select.

2 Open the Cast window and select the cast member you want to use next in the animation.
3 Do one of the following:

■ Select Edit > Exchange Cast Members.

■ Click the Exchange Cast Members button on the Director toolbar (Window > Toolbar).

If you selected an entire sprite, Director replaces the cast member for the entire sprite.

Before cast members are exchanged, the sprite moves like this.

After cast members are exchanged, the sprite still moves in the same way, but it displays a different
cast member.

You can also use Lingo or JavaScript syntax to switch the cast member assigned to a sprite. For
more information, see “Assigning a cast member to a sprite with Lingo or JavaScript syntax”

on page 80.

Editing sprite frames

To change how a sprite is selected and how keyframes are created, you use the Edit Sprite Frames
option. Use this option with sprites that have animation that you need to adjust frequently; it is
especially useful for cell animation in which each frame contains a different cast member in a
different position.

Ordinarily, clicking a sprite on the Stage or in the Score selects the entire sprite.

Editing sprite frames 89

When Edit Sprite Frames is turned on for a certain sprite, clicking the sprite selects a single frame.
Any change you make to a tweenable property, such as moving a sprite on the Stage, defines a
new keyframe.

To use Edit Sprite Frames, do one of the following:

• Select a sprite or sprites and select Edit > Edit Sprite Frame.

• Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Macintosh) a frame within the sprite.

To return sprites to their normal state, do one of the following:

• Select sprites and select Edit > Edit Entire Sprite.

• Alt-double-click (Windows) or Option-double-click (Macintosh) a frame within the sprite.

Frame-by-frame animation

To create animation that is more complex than is possible with simple tweening, you can use
a series of cast members in frame-by-frame animation. Sprites usually refer to only one cast
member, but they can refer to different cast members at different times during the life of
the sprite.

For example, an animation of a man walking may display several cast members showing the man
in different positions. By placing all the images in a sequence within a single sprite, you can work
with the animation as if it were a single object.

Single sprite in the Score

A single sprite can display several cast members.

Sprite animating

Use this approach sparingly for movies that are downloaded from the Internet, because all cast
members must be downloaded before the animation can run. As an alternative to this type of
animation, consider using vector shapes, rotation and skewing on bitmap cast members, or Flash
content. For more information, see Chapter 9, “Using Flash, Flash Components, and Other

Interactive Media Types,” on page 181).

You can create multiple-cast-member animations in a variety of ways in Director. The following
procedure explains a basic approach. The Cast to Time command provides an effective shortcut.
For more information, see “Shortcuts for animating with multiple cast members” on page 92.

Note: The best way to prepare cast members for use in multiple-cast-member animation is with onion
skinning in the Paint window. For more information, see “Using onion skinning” on page 125.

90 Chapter 4: Animation

To animate a sprite with multiple cast members:

1 Create a sprite by placing the first cast member in the animation on the Stage in the appropriate

frame.

2 Change the length of the sprite as needed.

Drag the start or end frame in the Score, or enter a new start or end frame number in the
Sprite Inspector.

3 Select View > Display > Cast Member.

This setting displays the name of the cast member on each sprite. For more information, see

“Displaying sprite labels in the Score” on page 62.

4 Select View > Sprite Labels > Changes Only.

This setting changes the view of the Score to show the name of each sprite’s cast member when
it changes. This makes it easy to identify frames where the cast member changes. For more
information, see “Displaying sprite labels in the Score” on page 62. You may also want to zoom
the score to 800% so the frames are wide enough to display the cast member information.

5 Select Edit > Edit Sprite Frames.

Edit Sprite Frames makes it easier to select frames within a sprite. For more information, see

“Editing sprite frames” on page 89.

6 Select the frames in the sprite where you want a different cast member to appear.
7 Open the Cast window and select the cast member you want to use next in the animation.
8 Select Edit > Exchange Cast Members.

Director replaces the cast member in the selected frame with the cast member selected in the
Cast window.

9 Repeat steps 6-8 to complete the animation. Select Edit > Edit Entire Sprite when you are done.

Sometimes a series of cast members placed in the Score jumps unexpectedly when you play the
movie. This occurs because the cast members’ registration points are not aligned properly. When
you exchange cast members, Director places the new cast member’s registration point precisely
where the previous cast member’s registration point was. By default, Director places registration
points in the center of a bitmap cast member’s bounding rectangle.

For information about aligning registration points, see “Changing registration points”

on page 112. You can also align sprites relative to their bounding rectangles. For more

information, see “Positioning sprites using guides, the grid, or the Align window” on page 66.

Frame-by-frame animation 91

Shortcuts for animating with multiple cast members

The Cast to Time and Space to Time commands are both useful shortcuts for animating with
multiple cast members.

Using the Cast to Time command

To move a series of cast members to the Score as a single sprite, you use the Cast to Time
command (Modify > Cast to Time), which is one of the most useful methods for creating
animation with multiple cast members. Typically, you create a series of images and then use Cast
to Time to quickly place them in the Score as a single sprite. The Director onion skinning feature
is also useful for creating and aligning a series of images for use in animation. For more
information, see “Using onion skinning” on page 125.

Cast to Time places selected cast members in the Score as a single sprite.

To create a sprite from a sequence of cast members:

1 Select the frame in the Score where you want to place the new sprite.
2 Make the Cast window active.
3 Select the series of cast members to be placed in the new sprite.
4 Select Modify > Cast to Time, or hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Macintosh) and drag

the cast members to the Stage.
The selected series of cast members becomes a single sprite.

92 Chapter 4: Animation

Using the Space to Time command

To move sprites from adjacent channels to a single sprite, you use the Space to Time command
(Modify > Space to Time). This method is convenient when you want to arrange several images
on the Stage in one frame and then convert them to a single sprite.

Arrange sprites on the Stage in a single frame.

Space to Time converts sprites from adjacent channels to a single sprite.

Onion skinning provides a benefit in the Paint window similar to that provided by Space to Time
on the Stage. For more information, see “Using onion skinning” on page 125.

To use the Space to Time command:

1 Select Edit > Preferences > Sprite and set Span Duration to 1 frame.

Set the span duration to any setting you like, but Space to Time works best with shorter sprites.

Note: If you are using a Macintosh OS X operating system, select the Director menu, instead of
the Edit menu, to access Preferences.

2 Select an empty frame in the Score.

This is usually at the end of the Score.

3 Drag cast members onto the Stage to create sprites where you want them to appear in the

animation.
As you position the sprites on the Stage, Director places each sprite in a separate channel. Make

sure all the sprites are in consecutive channels.

4 Select all the sprites that are part of the sequence in the Score or on the Stage.
5 Select Modify > Space to Time.

The Space to Time dialog box appears.

6 Enter the number of frames you want between each cast member in the Separation text box

Director rearranges the sprites so that instead of being arranged from top to bottom in a single
frame, they are arranged in sequence from left to right in a single sprite.

Note: Space to Time is a fast way to set up keyframes for a sprite to move along a curve. Arrange the
cast members in one frame, select Modify > Space to Time, and add 10 to 20 cells between each cast
member to produce a smooth curve.

Shortcuts for animating with multiple cast members 93

Using film loops

A film loop is an animated sequence that you can use like a single cast member. For example, to
create an animation of a bird flying across the Stage, you can create a film loop of the sequence of
cast members that shows the bird flapping its wings. Instead of using the frame-by-frame
technique, you create a sprite containing only the film loop and then animate it across as many
frames as you need. When you run the animation, the bird flaps its wings and at the same time
moves across the Stage.

You can also use film loops to consolidate Score data. Film loops are especially helpful when you
want to reduce the number of sprite channels you are using. You can combine several Score
channels into a film loop in a single channel.

To determine if a film loop is cropped or scaled within a sprite’s bounding rectangle and to make
the film loop repeat or mute its sounds, you use the Film Loop Cast Member properties. For
more information, see “Setting film loop properties” on page 95.

Film loops are useful for animating repetitive motions and combining sprites to use fewer channels.

To create a film loop:

1 In the Score, select the sprites you want to turn into a film loop.

Use sprites in as many channels as you need in film loops—even in the sound channel. Select
sequences in all the channels you want to be part of the film loop. You can select sprite
fragments if you first select a sprite and select Edit > Edit Sprite Frames. Control-click
(Windows) or Command-click (Macintosh) to select sequences that are not in adjacent
channels.

2 Select Insert > Film Loop.

A dialog box appears asking you to name the film loop.

3 Enter a name for the film loop.

Director stores all the Score data and cast member references as a new film loop cast member.

Note: You can drag a selection from the Score to the Cast window to quickly create a film loop cast
member in that position.

A film loop behaves just like any other cast member, with a few exceptions:

• When you step through an animation that contains a film loop (either by using Step Forward

or Step Backward or by dragging the playhead in the Score), the film loop doesn’t animate.
Animation occurs only when the movie is running.

• You can’t apply ink effects to a film loop. If you want to use ink effects with a film loop, you

need to apply them to the sprites that make up the animation before you turn the animation
into a film loop.

• Lengthening or shortening a sprite that contains a film loop doesn’t affect how fast the film

loop plays. It changes the number of times the film loop cycles.

94 Chapter 4: Animation

Director provides three other ways of incorporating a completed animation into a movie as a
discrete element: you can export it as a digital video (QuickTime or AVI) or a DIB file (BMP),
save and import it as a linked Director movie, or play it in a window in another Director movie.

Note: If you need to edit a film loop and you have deleted the original Score data that it was based on,
it is possible to restore the Score data for editing. Copy the film loop cast member to the Clipboard,
select a cell in the Score, and then paste. Director pastes the original Score data instead of the film
loop.

Setting film loop properties

To determine if a film loop is cropped or scaled within a sprite’s bounding rectangle and to make
the film loop repeat or mute its sounds, you set properties for the film loop cast member.

To set film loop properties:

1 Select a film loop cast member.
2 To display the Property inspector, select Modify > Cast Member > Properties, or Window >

Property Inspector.

3 If necessary, click the Member tab and display the Graphical view.

The following noneditable settings are displayed:

■ The cast member size in kilobytes

■ The cast member creation and edit dates

■ The name of the last person who modified the cast member

4 To view or edit the cast member name, use the Name text box.
5 To add comments about the cast member, use the Comments text box.
6 To specify how Director removes the cast member from memory if memory is low, select one

of the following options from the Unload pop-up menu:

3—Normal sets the selected cast members to be removed from memory after all priority 2 cast

members have been removed.

2—Next sets the selected cast members to be among the first removed from memory.
1—Last sets the selected cast members to be the last removed from memory.
0—Never sets the selected cast members to be retained in memory; these cast members are

never unloaded.

7 Click the Film Loop tab and display the Graphical view.
8 To determine how the film loop appears within the sprite bounding rectangle, select

Framing options:

Crop makes the movie image appear at its default size. Any portions that extend beyond the

sprite’s rectangle are not visible.

Center is available only if Crop is selected. It determines whether transformations occur with

the cast member centered within the sprite or with the cast member’s upper left corner aligned
with the sprite’s upper left corner.

Scale fits the movie inside the bounding rectangle.

9 To determine how the film loop plays back, use the following settings:

Audio plays the sound portion of the film loop. Turn this option off to mute sounds.
Loop replays the film loop continuously from the beginning to the end and back to the

beginning.

Setting film loop properties 95

Step-recording animation

Step recording is a process of animating one frame at time. You record the position of a sprite in a
frame, step forward to the next frame, move the sprite to its new position, step forward to the
next frame, and so on until you have completed the animation. This method is useful for creating
sprites that follow irregular paths.

To step-record animation:

1 Place sprites on the Stage where you want the animation 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.

Note: You can display the Control panel at the bottom of the Stage or in a floating 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.

Note: As soon as you move the animation in any way other than stepping—such as using Rewind,
Play, or Back—recording stops.

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.
8 Select Control > Step Recording again to stop recording.

You can also rewind the movie to stop recording.

Real-time recording animation

You can create animation by recording the movement of a sprite as you drag it across the Stage.
The real-time recording technique is especially useful for simulating the movement of a pointer or
for quickly creating a complex motion for later refinement.

For better control when you are recording in real time, use the Tempo control in the Control
panel to record at a speed that is slower than normal.

Note: The Control panel attached to the bottom of the Stage doesn’t include tempo settings. Tempo
settings are available only from the floating panel version of the Control panel.

96 Chapter 4: Animation

To use real-time recording:

1 Select one or more sprites on the Stage or in the Score.

Recording begins at the playhead. It is best to select a sprite in a channel that contains no other
sprites later in the movie.

To record in a specific range of frames, select the frames, and then click the Selected Frames
Only button in the Control panel.

2 Select Control > Real-Time Recording.

The real-time recording indicator appears next to the channel numbers for the sprite being
recorded, and a red and white selection frame appears around the sprite. Recording begins as
soon as you drag the sprite on the Stage, so be prepared to move the mouse.

3 Drag the sprite on the Stage to record a path for the sprite.

Director records the path.

4 Release the mouse button to stop recording.

The movie continues to play until you stop it.

Note: If you select Trails for the sprite, you can also use real-time recording to simulate handwriting.

Linking a sequence with Paste Relative

Paste Relative automatically aligns the start frame of one sprite with the end frame of the
preceding sprite. It is useful for extending animations across the Stage.

The first sprite ends here, and the pasted sprite begins.

To paste one sequence relative to another:

1 Select a sprite in the Score.
2 Select Edit > Copy Sprites.
3 Select the cell immediately after the last cell in the sprite.
4 Select Edit > Paste Special > Relative.

Director positions the beginning of the pasted sprite where the previous sprite ends.

Repeat the process as many times as you need to create one continuous animation across
the Stage.

Animating sprites with Lingo or JavaScript syntax

Lingo or JavaScript syntax can create animation regardless of the settings in the Score. This allows
you to create or modify animation depending on movie conditions.

To move a sprite on the Stage, you use script that controls the sprite’s location. For more
information, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director Help Panel.

To animate a sprite by switching the sprite’s cast members, change the sprite’s
For more information about this property, see the Scripting Reference topics in the Director
Help Panel.

Animating sprites with Lingo or JavaScript syntax 97

member property.

98 Chapter 4: Animation

CHAPTER 5

Bitmaps

Bitmaps and vector shapes are the two main types of graphics used with Macromedia Director
MX 2004. A bitmap defines an image as a grid of colored pixels, and it stores the color for each
pixel in the image. A vector shape is a mathematical description of a geometric form that includes
the thickness of the line, the fill color, and additional features of the line that can be expressed
mathematically.

Bitmaps are suited for continuous tone images such as photographs. You can easily make minute
changes to a bitmap by editing single pixels, but resizing the image can cause distortion as pixels
are redistributed. Anti-aliasing is a Director feature that blends the bitmap’s colors with
background colors around the edges to make the edge appear smooth instead of jagged. A vector
shape is most appropriate for a simple, smooth, clean-looking image. It typically includes less
detail than a bitmap, but you can resize it without distortion.

Vector image (top) and bitmap image (bottom)

99

A bitmap typically requires more RAM and disk space than a comparable vector shape. If not
compressed, bitmaps take longer than vector shapes to download from the Internet. Fortunately,
Director offers compression control to reduce the size of bitmaps in movies that you package to
play on the web. For more information about bitmap compression, see “Compressing bitmaps”

on page 129. For more information about vector shapes, see Chapter 6, “Vector Shapes,”
on page 135.

You can create bitmaps in the Paint window or import them from any of the popular image
editors in most of the popular formats, including GIF and JPEG. Director can also import
bitmaps with alpha channel (transparency) data and animated GIFs. The Paint window includes a
variety of tools for editing and applying effects to bitmaps.

About importing bitmaps

Importing bitmaps is similar to importing other types of media. If you import a bitmap with a
color palette or depth different from that of the current movie, the Image Options dialog box
appears. You must choose to import the bitmap at its original color depth or at the current system
color depth. If you are importing an 8-bit image, you have the choice of importing the image’s
color palette or remapping the image to a palette that is already in Director. For more
information, see“Choosing import image options” on page 45.

Director can import images with alpha channel (transparency) effects, which are 32 bits. If you
reduce the image to a lower color depth, Director removes all the alpha channel data.

When importing bitmaps, you should always consider that they display on the screen at your
monitor’s resolution (generally 72 to 96 dots per inch). Higher-resolution images that you place
on the Stage in Director might appear much larger than you expect. Other applications,
particularly those focused on creating images for print, let you work on the screen with high­resolution images at reduced sizes. Within Director, you can scale high-resolution images to the
right size, but this might reduce the quality of the image. Also, high-resolution images use extra
memory and storage space, even after they’ve been scaled.

If you are working with a high-resolution image, convert it to between 72 and 96 dots per inch
with your image-editing program before you import it into Director.

Director supports JPEG compression at runtime for internal cast members that are imported
through the Standard or Include Original Data for Editing import options. A JPEG file that’s
imported with either of these options contains both the original compressed bits and
decompressed bits. After it’s imported, the JPEG file decompresses in the authoring environment.
The cast member size displays the member’s size in RAM after it’s decompressed. The amount of
RAM required to display a JPEG file is larger than its size on disk, so you can expect that the
JPEG cast member size is larger in the Cast Properties window.

Director takes advantage of compressed JPEG data at runtime. The original compressed data bits
are saved in Macromedia Shockwave content or a projector (if the Shockwave compression option
is on). If you edit the member within Director in the Paint window, the compressed data is lost.
An alert appears before the data is overwritten.

If the Shockwave compression option is on, Director also compresses bitmaps into the JPEG
format. For more information about bitmap compression, see “Compressing bitmaps”

on page 129.

100 Chapter 5: Bitmaps