MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR Mounting instructions

DIRECTOR
®
MX
2004
Using Director

Trademarks
ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Add Life to the Web, Afterburner, Aftershock, Andromedia, Allaire, Animation PowerPack, Aria, Attain,
Authorware, Authorware Star, Backstage, Blue Sky Software, Blue Sky, Breeze, Bright Tiger, Clustercats, ColdFusion, Contents
Tab Composer, Contribute, Design In Motion, Director, Dream Templates, Dreamweaver, Drumbeat 2000, EDJE, EJIPT,
Extreme 3D, Fireworks, Flash, FlashHelp, Flash Lite, FlashPaper, Flex, Flex Builder, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, Help
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Knowledge Stream, Knowledge Track, LikeMinds, Lingo, Live Effects, MacRecorder Logo and Design, Macromedia,
Macromedia Action!, Macromedia Central, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia M Logo and Design, Macromedia Spectra,
Macromedia xRes Logo and Design, MacroModel, Made with Macromedia, Made with Macromedia Logo and Design, MAGIC
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Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, Sitespring, Smart Publishing Wizard, Software Video Camera, SoundEdit, Titlemaker,
UltraDev, Web Design 101, what the web can be, WinHelp, WinHelp 2000, WinHelp BugHunter, WinHelp Find+, WinHelp
Graphics Locator, WinHelp Hyperviewer, WinHelp Inspector, and Xtra are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
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Third-Party Information
This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not
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endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites.
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
LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO
STATE.
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

3
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

4 Contents
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

Contents 5
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

6 Contents
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

Contents 7
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

8 Contents
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

Contents 9
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

10 Contents
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

11
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.

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.

Guide to instructional media 13
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:
1Select Help > Director Help.
2Browse for a topic on the Contents tab, or type a keyword on the Search tab.

14 Chapter 1: Introduction
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.

Guide to instructional media 15
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, whichCastMember is commonly used to indicate where you should insert the name
of a cast member in Lingo or JavaScript syntax.
•Text that you should type in a window or dialog box is shown in a bold font.

16 Chapter 1: Introduction

17
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.

18 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast
To change Tool palette views:
1If the Tool palette is not already available, select Window > Tool Palette.
The default Tool palette appears.
2Click 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.

Using multiple Score windows 19
To create and set guide properties:
1With the Property inspector open, click the Guides tab.
The top half of the tab contains settings for Guides.
2Click the Guide Color box to select a different color.
3Select the options you want to make the guides visible, lock them, or to make the sprites snap
to the guides.
4To 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.
5To reposition a guide, move the pointer over the guide. When the sizing handle appears, drag
the guide to its new position.
6To remove a guide, drag it off the Stage.
7To remove all guides, click Remove All on the Guides tab in the Property inspector.
To set grid properties:
1With the Property inspector open, click the Guides tab.
The bottom half of the Guides tab contains grid settings.
2To change the grid color, click the Grid Color box and select a different color.
3Select the desired options to make the grid visible and to make the sprites snap to the grid.
4To change the width and height of the grid, enter values in the W and H text boxes.
5Select 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:
1Activate the current Score window.
2Select Window > New Score Window.
You can scroll in this window to a different location in the Score.

20 Chapter 2: Score, Stage, and Cast
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:
1Select 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.
2The 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 xand yscreen coordinates.
Change in Location shows the change in xand ycoordinates relative to the previous cast
member in that channel.
3To display the first few lines of the selected script in a box at the top of the Score, select
Script Preview.
4To 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.