A year on from its launch of Director 5 multimedia authoring tools firm Macromedia Inc has come out with Director 6 Multimedia Studio, which it describes as a major upgrade. The new version, says the company, makes authoring easier and more productive, with an improved user interface supporting object and drag-and- drop behavior. There are now 120 sprite channels, double those available in Director 5, and integrated support for Internet movies supporting Macromedia’s Streaming Shockwave technology. Hybrid applications via Shockwave CDs and browser scripting support are also included in the new version. Streaming Shockwave enables Director movies to be played over the Internet without Web users having to wait for the entire file to be downloaded first. The company says that a typical 200k Shockwave movie currently takes around sixty seconds to begin playing. With Director 6, the same movie should begin playing in one second. Director developers can now create ShockWave-enabled – or Shocked – CD applications, which can include live connections to the Web for updated content. The new browser supports JavaScript, LiveScript, AppleScript and Active Control. Director’s new object interface includes an object-behavior model, provides access to Director elements, or sprites directly on the main screen, or the Stage as Macromedia calls it. Sprites are now true objects and have drag-and-drop behavior. Macromedia’s Lingo scripting language provides further control over objects for expert users. Director 6 adds support for Active X controls, DirectSound, QuickDraw 3D and Intel Corp’s MMX extensions. The package includes the Extreme 3D2 modeling and animation tool, xRes 3 image editing, and SoundEdit or Sonic Foundry’s SoundForge for Windows users. Available this quarter for Windows 95, NT, Macintosh and PowerPC, Multimedia Studio costs $1,000, with upgrades from $400.
