MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR, Use Manual, Page: 233 / 500

Controlling sound in the Score 233
5
Click the Member tab in the Property inspector.
The following noneditable settings appear:
■
The cast member size in kilobytes
■
The cast member creation and edit dates
■
The name of the last person who modified the cast member
6
To view or edit the cast member name, use the Name text box.
7
To change the external sound file to which the cast member is linked (if it has been imported
as a Linked to External File sound), enter a new path and file in the Filename text box. You can
also use the Browse button to select a new file.
8
To specify how Director removes the cast member from memory if memory is low, select an
option from the Unload pop-up menu. For more information, see
“Controlling cast member
unloading” on page 47 .
Controlling sound in the Score
You control sounds in the Score in much the same way that you control sprites. You place sounds
in one of the two sound channels at the top of the Score and extend the sounds through as many
frames as required.
Unless you use a behavior or other script to override the Score’s sound channels, sounds play only
as long as the playhead is in the frames that contain the sound. After a sound begins playing, it
plays at its own speed. Director can’t control the speed at which a sound plays. If a sound is not
set to loop, it stops playing at the end, even if the sprite specifies a longer duration. For more
information, see
“Looping a sound” on page 234 .
Note: You can speed up or slow down a sound by converting it to a sound-only QuickTime movie and
using the
movieRate
sprite property.
In addition to the two sound channels in the Score, Director can use as many as six additional
sound channels simultaneously. However, the additional channels are accessible only from Lingo
or JavaScript syntax or from behaviors. Available RAM and the computer’s speed are the
constraints on how many sounds Director can use effectively.
To place a sound in the Score:
1
If the sound channels are not visible, click the Hide/Show Effects Channels button at the upper
right side of the Score.
2
Do any of the following:
■
Drag a sound cast member from a Cast window to a frame in one of the sound channels.
■
Double-click a frame in the sound channel, and then select a sound from the Frame
Properties: Sound dialog box. You can also preview any sound cast member in the movie
from this dialog box.
■
Drag a sound to the Stage to place it into the first available sound channel in the current
frame of the Score.