director for osx?
- Thread starter thedirge
- Start date
HyperLiteG4
Registered
I've been dying for this as well. I'd love to know when it might be coming....This is the last of the programs that I use all the time that NEEDS to be updated for OSX
serpicolugnut
OS X Supreme Being
There's been speculation that Director might be on the chopping block, since FlashMX has eclipsed it in sales, and has most of the Director's functionality. I doubt it will get axed, but it's clearly not the priority it once was at Macromedia...
If they do release a new version of it, I really hope the OS X version has the ability to take old projects and re export them as OS X native projectors...
If they do release a new version of it, I really hope the OS X version has the ability to take old projects and re export them as OS X native projectors...
at a macworld when cocoa was announced (not sure exactly when), the lead designer for director was there and started complaining about the need to learn how to program into coca and carbon. He wasnt too pleased on the fact his knowledge wasnt what would be needed.
So, back then I had a feeling director would be one of the last major releases if its ever released.
So, back then I had a feeling director would be one of the last major releases if its ever released.
Director is not going to get axed. This is one of those stupid rumours that eminate out yahoo groups and people start taking them seriously. And the reason cited (Flash MX) is just plain silly.
Consider these two questions:
1. You need to make a dynamic content driven, media rich, immersive website. Are you going to try to produce this in Director? Of course not.
2. You need to produce a cd-rom with OS level interacting applications built into a single UI. Are you going to try to do this in Flash. Again, of course not.
Director and Flash are completely different tools for completely different jobs. I've never heard anyone worrying about the future of the band saw now that the screwdriver has been invented.
Oh, btw. Director for OSX is coming in a few months.
Consider these two questions:
1. You need to make a dynamic content driven, media rich, immersive website. Are you going to try to produce this in Director? Of course not.
2. You need to produce a cd-rom with OS level interacting applications built into a single UI. Are you going to try to do this in Flash. Again, of course not.
Director and Flash are completely different tools for completely different jobs. I've never heard anyone worrying about the future of the band saw now that the screwdriver has been invented.
Oh, btw. Director for OSX is coming in a few months.
For the last 2 years I worked at a company that built simulation e-learning software in Director. This stuff was really high-end, amazing stuff. It was object oriented programming in Director at its finest. The company won a contract with microsoft to do it's online training software, but there was one problem. Microsoft doesn't bundle the Shockwave player in internet explorer. They do have the Flash player though. So our company had to try to design the same kind of thing in Flash. And it is impossible.
Flash, while getting better. Cannot handle bitmaps reliably at all, Regpoints are non existant in Flash, Action script pales in comparison to Lingo, and designing a real, working program is WAY better, faster, easier in Director.
I love flash, but saying that it can do all the things director can is ridiculous. People who say that, have only been making webpages or simple games in both programs and not using either (certainly Director's) abilities to their fullest. With director you can automate to your hearts content. We built automation tools using director that would function as extras within the project we were working on which would auto-populate the stage, remove cast members from internal and external casts which were not being used. Tools which told us if any cast members were above 8 bit colour, and if they were mapped across pallets, There is no PhotoCaster (at least to my knowledge) for Flash. You can have external scripts in your casts, and apply those scripts to any cast member/sprite.
We even built a huge tool called the "Autopop" which would take a file created in a database and build our entire movie for us automatically. Which was great when were were making dozens of huge projects which all used the same template. Flash just doesn't allow you to do that.
Director will not get scrapped. Flash is eclipsing Director in Sales because learning flash is relatively simple, and most people who use flash use it for it's animation abilities, not its programming abilities. And most peple building webpages with flash want the animation. It is all about accessibility.
Flash, while getting better. Cannot handle bitmaps reliably at all, Regpoints are non existant in Flash, Action script pales in comparison to Lingo, and designing a real, working program is WAY better, faster, easier in Director.
I love flash, but saying that it can do all the things director can is ridiculous. People who say that, have only been making webpages or simple games in both programs and not using either (certainly Director's) abilities to their fullest. With director you can automate to your hearts content. We built automation tools using director that would function as extras within the project we were working on which would auto-populate the stage, remove cast members from internal and external casts which were not being used. Tools which told us if any cast members were above 8 bit colour, and if they were mapped across pallets, There is no PhotoCaster (at least to my knowledge) for Flash. You can have external scripts in your casts, and apply those scripts to any cast member/sprite.
We even built a huge tool called the "Autopop" which would take a file created in a database and build our entire movie for us automatically. Which was great when were were making dozens of huge projects which all used the same template. Flash just doesn't allow you to do that.
Director will not get scrapped. Flash is eclipsing Director in Sales because learning flash is relatively simple, and most people who use flash use it for it's animation abilities, not its programming abilities. And most peple building webpages with flash want the animation. It is all about accessibility.
I agree completely with you. However, it seems Macromedia is dragging its feet porting and upgrading (even for MS Windows) Director MX.
****, I've built a compiler/interpreter-maker in Director myself. The thing is fed a custom language grammar definition and runs programs written in that language. For you Computer Science types out there, that program uses a customized Recursive Descent Parsing algorithm, not much different from what modern compiler-makers do today.
That way, I can write our game levels and enemy AI in a custom simple scripting language adapted to the particular game. This is a modern trend in commercial game AI development.
To write that beast in ActionScript would be next to *impossible*, seesh. Macromedia, move yer ass!
dani++
****, I've built a compiler/interpreter-maker in Director myself. The thing is fed a custom language grammar definition and runs programs written in that language. For you Computer Science types out there, that program uses a customized Recursive Descent Parsing algorithm, not much different from what modern compiler-makers do today.
That way, I can write our game levels and enemy AI in a custom simple scripting language adapted to the particular game. This is a modern trend in commercial game AI development.
To write that beast in ActionScript would be next to *impossible*, seesh. Macromedia, move yer ass!
dani++
I think that icon is the icon that came with 8.5.1 (or at least for the PC)
The new MX icons seem to be using only letters to identify it,
not symbols like this director icon still does.
I hope though director comes with an upgrade soon and that it 's working files will be completely crossplatform. since I have a powerBook I do all my work oon that now and will be developing CD Rom's in the near future. Would hate to have to use my PC for that. (even though I wouldn't mind using the PC to export it to a pc executable). Also it needs flash 6 compatibility, not so much for the video cabablities but more for the components flash 6 introduced.
My 2 cents
The new MX icons seem to be using only letters to identify it,
not symbols like this director icon still does.
I hope though director comes with an upgrade soon and that it 's working files will be completely crossplatform. since I have a powerBook I do all my work oon that now and will be developing CD Rom's in the near future. Would hate to have to use my PC for that. (even though I wouldn't mind using the PC to export it to a pc executable). Also it needs flash 6 compatibility, not so much for the video cabablities but more for the components flash 6 introduced.
My 2 cents
Lazzo
Registered
The next version had BETTER be cross-platform... £800 and it was only after purchasing it I found out that I had to send the ruddy files out for conversion to PC - more dosh.
Silly me, I didn't think about checking on that before buying.
Apart from that, I agree with charmkat and eviltwin.
Silly me, I didn't think about checking on that before buying.
Apart from that, I agree with charmkat and eviltwin.