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.

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.