Adobe Director
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| Developer(s) | Adobe Systems, formerly Macromedia |
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| Stable release | 11.5 / 2009-03-23 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows |
| Type | Multimedia Content Creator |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Adobe Director Homepage |
Adobe Director (formerly Macromedia Director) is a multimedia application authoring platform created by Macromedia—now part of Adobe Systems. It allows users to build applications built on a movie metaphor, with the user as the "director" of the movie. Originally designed for creating animation sequences, the addition of a powerful scripting language called Lingo made it a popular choice for creating CD-ROMs and standalone kiosks and web content using Adobe Shockwave. Adobe Director supports both 2D and 3D multimedia projects.
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[edit] Features
Director has a powerful scripting language called Lingo which allows sufficient interaction with external files and certain Windows APIs that it has been used to mockup Graphical user interfaces and create prototypes of applications, as well as create self-running Kiosks on CDs and DVDs. It has also been used to author interactive games with rich graphics and embedded QuickTime movies. Director supports many different bitmap, audio, and video formats. Director 8.5 added the ability to import, manipulate, and display 3D objects. It also supports vector graphics and 3D interactivity (via Shockwave 3D). Since Version 8, Director also natively incorporates Flash animation files.
Director's functionality can be extended through plug-in applications named Xtras. These can be created by users or purchased from third party vendors. They are created using Adobe Director's XDK (Xtra Development Kit), a C++ SDK. Macromedia was notorious for changing the programming interface for Xtras from version to version of Director, requiring many third-party members to either completely rewrite their plug-ins or drop support of Director after a few revisions. Over time, many original third-party developers moved on to other opportunities rather than incur the cost of rewriting their code over and over.
Director can export projects for embedding in websites using the Shockwave plugin. Shockwave files have a .DCR file extension.
Director projects can be exported as a stand-alone executable application called a projector. Projectors can be built on Macintosh and Windows operating systems.
[edit] History
Director started out as MacroMind "VideoWorks", an application for the original Apple Macintosh. Animations were initially just displayed in the black and white of the early Macintosh screens. At the time, many people couldn't understand why you'd do animation on a personal computer and a big part of the battle for VideoWorks was simply getting credibility for why it wasn't just a toy.
The name was changed to "Director" in 1987, with the addition of new capabilities and the Lingo scripting language in 1988. A Windows version was available in the early 1990s.
[edit] Product Timeline
- 1985: VideoWorks
- 1988: Named Director 1.0
- 1993: Macromind Director became Macromedia Director (v 3.1.3)
- 1993: Macromedia Director 4 was released
- 1996: Macromedia Director 5 was released
- 1997: Macromedia Director 6 was released
- 1997: Macromedia Director 6.5 was also released later that year
- November 16, 1998: Macromedia Director 7 was released
- 2000: Macromedia Director 8 was released
- 2001: Macromedia Director 8.5 was released (Shockwave3D)
- 2002: Macromedia Director MX was released (Also known as Director 9)
- January 5, 2004: Macromedia Director MX 2004 was released (Also known as Director 10)
- March 25, 2008: Adobe Director 11 was released
- March 23, 2009: Adobe Director 11.5 was released
[edit] Adobe Director 11.x
The first Director release under the Adobe brand (v. 11) featured DirectX 9 and Unicode support and extended 3D capabilities based on the NVIDIA PhysX engine, as well as bitmap filters, enhanced video, audio and image file formats support, and Adobe Flash CS3 integration. Shockwave Player 11 was also released.
Version 11.5 added 5.1 channel surround sound audio capabilities, real-time mixing, audio effects and DSP filters. Also, there is added support for H.264-video integration for full-screen and high-definition playback. Other supported formats include: 3D importer for Google SketchUp, streaming support using RTMP and ByteArray datatypes.
[edit] External links
- Official site of Adobe Director
- Director Online
- Adobe Director User Group
- Dean's Director Tutorials
- Macromedia History
- IEEE History Center: John Thompson, inventor of Lingo Programming Language
- Director Next Roadmap Survey
[edit] References
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