Foundation Director 8.5

By Sam Humphries, Charles Parcell, José Rodriguez, Dean Utian, Charles Wainman, Luke Wigley

Please note that this title is now out-of-print, and so availability is likely to be limited.

The latest release of Macromedia's Director 8.5 incorporates the tools for digital multimedia authoring, for CD or for Shockwave on the web, that have featured in previous versions of the software as well as strong control over 3D environments, a capability that was never available before with this sophisticated multimedia technology.
Along with a far-reaching scripting ability with its language of choice, Lingo, Director attracts its extensive following because of its powerful manipulation of a range of digital media from graphics, text and animation to sound and video. The incorporation of 3D capabilities is now securing Director 8.5's position as the industry standard in multimedia authoring.

Who is this Book for?

Web designers who want to learn Director for the first time.
Designers familiar with older versions of Director who want to update.
3D professionals, digital artists, animators and architects who want to know how they can utilise the Director environment.What does this book cover?
This book is designed to give those of you moving into the Director world, a thorough grounding in all aspects of the software, starting with getting to know the basic environment, and the tools within it, creating animation, working with sound and video, learning how to use Lingo to control your animations with script, as well as much more along the way. The book will finish by dipping your toes in the 3D underworld to see what delights it has in store, and the sheer potential that Director 8.5 can offer.
The book will develop your general multi-media skills by maintaining an awareness of best practice as well as fully immerse you in the world of Director, taking you from being a rookie to fully competent and well-versed user of the software.

This book provides:

A thorough introduction to the Director Environment and its essential tools
Step by step practical tutorials to develop your animation skills
Introduction to Lingo for designers, not programmers
Best practices for developing Director web presentations for Shockwave, CD, and DVD
An introduction to the world of Director3D Summary of Contents
Summary of Chapters

1. Introducing Director
2. Introducing Animation
3. Creating Animation
4. Starting Scripting
5. Movie Matters
6. Sound
7. More Scripting
8. Controlling media with Lingo
9. Planning
10. Distributing your movies
11. Testing and Debugging
12. Beginning 3D
13. Further Lingo
14. Exploring 3D Worlds

Reviews

Cre@te Online September 2001

"Designers are drifiting back to Director. It's a definite trend, boosted by the publicity about 8.5's new 3D functionality. It's not that designers are abandoning Flash; more that they want to see if 8.5 can succeed where VRML failed - making 3D online environments a realistic possibility. Many of these designers are Director veterans, but there's also plenty of newbies. This book aims squarely at the latter group. It provides an introduction to the application itself, before focusing more specifically on its 3D capabilities. It's a really useful book - written accessibly, with plenty of examples to guide you. The Planning chapter is a welcome section, focusing on the project work that goes on before you even boot up. It's too basic for Director experts, but then friends of ED has a book specifically for them. If you're just getting started, this is great."

Computer Arts Winter 2001

"This manual is for designers starting out with Director. It offers a solid first course in techniques. Starting with a close look at the software's environment, you quickly move onto coding. A dozen chapters escort you through creating a Director movie, from the theory of animation to debugging and 3D. Each chapter is well laid out. An introduction is followed by numbered steps to illustrate the technique under discussion."