DIRECTOR 8 AND LINGO BIBLE

Unlike other books on Director, this book serves as a practical guide for all aspects of using the program from start to finish. This book is the ideal start for beginners just learning how to use the program. Intermediate users can also benefit by learning shortcuts, advanced tips and Lingo basics. Advanced users who can take advantage of Director's improved power and speed by with this book's more in-depth guide to Lingo, techniques for better project management, shortcuts for title development, and more advanced techniques for developing titles to play over the Internet quickly and efficiently using Shockwave technology. A 16-page color insert features real projects created by professionals who use the product, with tips from the developer on how they used Director to create the project. Unlike competitive books, the Director 8 and Lingo Bible has balanced coverage of both Mac and Windows versions, as Mac is no longer the default platform for Director. The bonus CD contains real-life working examples and exercises from the book along with utilities and other shareware extras for use with Director 8.

About the Authors John R. Nyquist is the principal of Nyquist Art + Logic, a multimedia and game-development firm. An award-winning designer/illustrator, he became obsessed with programming when he started using a Macintosh in 1987. He went on to program in C, Pascal, HyperTalk, Prograph CPX, and Applescript before his introduction to Lingo in 1993. Since then, he's worked with C++, Java, Javascript, and Perl, but he spends most of his days (and nights) with Lingo. He has worked as senior software engineer/project lead for Ingenius, a Reuters/TCI company, on its award-winning, cable and Web-delivered educational software What On Earth. He now leads software engineering for CurrentWorks, Inc., developing entertaining, educational software - including Quiz Works, Bingo! With Mr. Vern, and Quiz 6 - to encourage teamwork, group interaction, and cooperation. He coauthored the previous edition of this book, Director 7 and Lingo Bible, as well as the forthcoming 1001 Director and Lingo Tips. John was technical editor for The Director 6 Book and Advanced Lingo for Games. You can reach John at nyquist@nyquist.net, or you can visit his Web site at http://nyquist.net/. When he isn't programming, writing, or doing artwork, John spends his time enjoying life in Colorado with his wife, Laura, and their children, Alice and Richard. Robert Martin is the chief imagineer at WorldAdventures.com, an Internet development company that is redefining the way consumers design and purchase travel products on the Internet. Rob has been using Macromedia Director for almost nine years to create almost every type of application imaginable, from Web-based interactive language tutorials to an award-winning daily multimedia news journal for kids. Rob began his career over 20 years ago, creating optical special effects for film and multi-image presentations. After 10 years in the dark and up to his elbows in photographic chemicals, he decided the time was right to jump into computer graphics. Not quite ready to leave film entirely, he spent a couple of years running a service bureau that specialized in high-resolution output of computer graphics to film. He went on to design one of the first Director-based interactive presentation systems for a large data-storage company. This experience introduced him to his next career path, interface design. He fine-tuned those skills as the creative director for a company that created educational multimedia applications for kids and teachers. When he's not off in some exotic country doing "field" research for WorldAdventures, Rob can be found wandering in the mountains near his home in Boulder, Colorado. You can contact Rob at robm@worldadventures.com.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

PART I: Working with Director.

Chapter 1: Introducing Director.

Chapter 2: Working with Graphics.

Chapter 3: Working with the Stage, Sprites, and Score.

Chapter 4: Using Text in Director.

Chapter 5: Using Sound.

Chapter 6: Using Digital Video.

PART II: Bringing It All Together.

Chapter 7: The Power of Behaviors.

Chapter 8: Fine-Tuning and Outputting Your Movies.

Chapter 9: Creating an Interactive Presentation.

Chapter 10: Designing a Production Process.

PART III: Learning to Program with Lingo.

Chapter 11: Programming Fundamentals.

Chapter 12: Lists and Other Structures.

Chapter 13: Object-Oriented Programming with Lingo.

PART IV: Controlling Media with Lingo.

Chapter 14: Building Buttons.

Chapter 15: Controlling Sprites with Lingo.

Chapter 16: Text Manipulation with Lingo.

Chapter 17: Vector Shape and Flash Lingo.

Chapter 18: Sound Lingo.

Chapter 19: Video Lingo.

PART V: Further into Lingo.

Chapter 20: Lingo Troubleshooting.

Chapter 21: Memory Management.

Chapter 22: Menus and Dialog Boxes.

Chapter 23: Movies in a Window.

Chapter 24: Shockwave and NetLingo.

Chapter 25: Xtras and File Manipulation.

Chapter 26: Imaging Lingo.

Appendix A: Installing and Configuring Director.

Appendix B: Director's Built-in Behaviors.

Appendix C: Shortcuts.

Appendix D: Resources.

Appendix E: What's on the CD-ROM?

Glossary.

Index.

End-User License Agreement.

CD-ROM Installation Instructions.