Director 7 Upgrade by Macromedia

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Price: $389.17

While most businesses use interactive multimedia primarily for presentations and product demonstrations, a small subset may need more robust tools for high-level interactive multimedia development and for producing rich and detailed interactive Web applications. There are several programs that address many of these needs, but this new version of Director is the only tool that can accommodate all of them, and more. Tools like Asymetrix Toolbook just don't have the flexibility and range of features found in Director, although they are simpler to use.

Speedy delivery
Director 7.0's top new feature is a smaller, faster and more capable version of Shockwave (Macromedia's interactive media player for the Internet). It installs as a system-level component, so Shockwave movies can run outside a browser. And since Director's own engine for running multimedia applications is smaller and faster, movies can theoretically run at impressive frame rates as high as 999 frames per second. Director scales its CPU usage as needed to keep up.

Internet-specific improvements include easier streaming-that is, you can stream movies without programming in Lingo (Director's own programming language). Director can also map your palettes to Web-safe palettes, and you can post your text or form data to HTTP servers to work better with CGI scripts. Director now supports XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and the HTTPS secure protocol. The Save As Java feature from Director 6.5 has been improved, but still lacks the functionality of Shockwave or native Director movie formats (see What's Hot, September 1998). Finally, the program's multi-user server lets you build multi-user interactive applications, such as discussion rooms on the Internet.

Richer content
Macromedia has also introduced several multimedia authoring features. These include support for transparency, RGB color, sprite rotation and skewing; up to 1,000 separate sprite channels; anti-aliased text that you can edit during playback; the ability to embed fonts; and new anti-aliased vector shapes. You'll also appreciate the new browser pREVIEW: and the library palette.

Since presentations are probably the most common business application of interactive multimedia, Director 7.0 introduces the ability to import HTML in addition to PowerPoint presentations. This facilitates loading in and updating disk or Web-based presentations.

Macromedia has also extended Lingo to let professional developers get complete access to all of Director's power. Lingo has new features to aid in writing and debugging code.

Putting you in the director's chair
A slew of improvements once again has made Director the tool of choice in interactive multimedia. The price hasn't changed-at $999, it isn't cheap. However, if your business needs to build powerful interactive multimedia, Director is worth the price. This new version distances itself even further from Asymetrix Toolbook and easily replaces the old version of Director on the WinList.

Director 7 Upgrade
Available from Amazon
Price: $389.17
Updated on 3-9-2010.

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