MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR, Use Manual, Page: 12 / 500

12 Chapter 1: Introduction
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.