MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR, Use Manual, Page: 245 / 500

Playing digital video direct-to-Stage 245
Using the video windows
Whether a digital video is a cast member or a sprite on the Stage, you can preview it in its
corresponding video window. There are different versions of the window for QuickTime,
Windows Media, DVD, RealMedia, and AVI digital content.
To open a video window, do one of the following:
1
Click a digital video cast member or sprite and select one of the following menu options:
■
Window > QuickTime
■
Window > DVD
■
Window > RealMedia
■
Window > Windows Media
■
Window > AVI Video
2
Double-click a digital video cast member or sprite and the Video panel appears. The Default
panel set contains a tab for each video window.
If you are working with a QuickTime digital video, a video controller bar appears and lets you
start, stop, rewind, or forward the movie. Windows Media has play, stop, pause, rewind, and fast
forward buttons to perform each task. It also has a time slider that lets you select a time from
which the movie should be played. With RealMedia, you can use control buttons to start, stop,
and rewind the movie. The DVD viewer window has Root Menu, Title Menu, Pause, Stop, Play,
Fast Reverse, and Fast Forward control buttons for previewing and interacting with DVD
content.
Playing digital video direct-to-Stage
Director can play digital video using a feature called direct-to-Stage. Direct-to-stage lets video
drivers installed on the computer completely control the video playback.
Note: The direct-to-Stage feature cannot be used with DVD or RealMedia digital video because
DVD is always direct-to-stage and RealMedia is always non-direct-to-stage.
Direct-to-stage often provides the best performance from a digital video, but it has two
disadvantages:
•
The digital video always appears in front of all other sprites on the Stage, no matter which
channel contains the sprite.
•
Ink effects do not work, so it is difficult to conceal the video’s bounding rectangle with
Background Transparent ink.
When direct-to-Stage is off, Director layers a digital video on the Stage exactly the same as
other sprites, and Background Transparent ink works normally. (Matte ink does not work for
digital video sprites.)
To set direct-to-Stage options:
1
Select a digital video cast member or sprite.
2
Click the QuickTime or Windows Media tab in the Property inspector.
3
Select or deselect direct-to-Stage (DTS).