Imaging specialist Macromedia Inc has introduced a ramped up version of its popular web authoring tool Director, reaffirming its dominance in the market for multimedia software tools. The eagerly awaited new version, Director 6, includes streaming Shockwave technology which will enable multimedia developers to create animations that can be played over the internet without web surfers having to wait for the entire file to be downloaded. Company files can be delivered over small bandwidth connections while retaining their interactivity. According to officials at the company, the tool has been further enhanced with the introduction of time-based objects, drag and drop object behaviors and enhanced authoring features including a Behavior Inspector and scriptless authoring for novices. Brett Dicker senior vice president of National Promotions at Walt Disney Co says the product is already helping the marketing effort behind its movie, Conair. Our new web site for ‘ConAir’ features Director 6 and streaming Shockwave because its interactivity is sure to increase traffic (to the site), he said. In addition to Director 6, the company is introducing the Director 6 multimedia studio which includes: Extreme 3D 2, a modeling, animation, rendering and VRML world-building program, Macromedia xRES 3, a tool for creating images, and Soundedit 16 2, a tool for creating and editing sound for multimedia productions. Director 6 and the Multimedia Studio are available now worldwide for around $1,000. Owners of earlier versions of the Studio or Director may upgrade to the Director 6 multimedia studio for $500 or to Director 6 for $400. The product runs on Windows 95, NT 4.0, Macintosh and Power Macintosh.
