Posts filed under 'Real-world Examples'
Ever since Firefox 3 came out there has been a problem on Macs where chunks/regions of the the displayed dcr file would would just “vanish” and show the background color of the html page you were viewing. [Note: With FF 3.0.1 I would rarely see this on a PC as well.] On Direct-L Valentin posted a possible solution that could be used to deal with this problem by adding some javascript to the html page.
You can see the code that was used below, read the entire thread (it is a long thread), and see it in action here.
HTML code that helps to properly display Shockwave-content on Macs that are using Firefox 3.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<head>
<title>FF3 mac sw bug fix</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
function init(){
var isFFMac=(navigator.platform.indexOf('Mac')>-1&&navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Firefox')>-1);
if(isFFMac){
var sw=document.getElementById('sw');
sw.onmousedown=function(){return false};
sw.data=sw.data;
}
}
//-->
</script>
</head>
<body onload="init()">
<div>
<!--[if IE]>
<object classid="clsid:233C1507-6A77-46A4-9443-F871F945D258" width="320" height="240">
<param name="src" value="myFileName.dcr" />
<![endif]-->
<!--[if !IE]>-->
<object id="sw" type="application/x-director" data="myFileName.dcr" width="320" height="240">
<!--<![endif]-->
<param name="PlayerVersion" value="11" />
</object>
</div>
<script type="text/javascript">document.write('<'+'div style="color:green">JAVASCRIPT IS ACTIVATED!<'+'/div>');</script>
<noscript><div style="color:red">YOU DON'T HAVE JAVASCRIPT ACTIVATED!</div></noscript>
</body>
</html>
Update (July 20, 2009). Note: Using the method has proven to have problems with editable text members that are displayed in the content. So as of now, nothing seems to work reliably. Firefox 3.5.1 is now the current release, and it continues to have the same problem. Adobe has stated that FF is not included on the list of approved Mac browsers.
April 12th, 2009
I rarely need to deal with video feeds in Director but with my new iMac I have one of those little built-in iSight cameras. While out web browsing the other day I noticed a discussion about being able to put a live video of yourself within a web page that only you can see (the video feed is from your own camera).
This is done via a Quicktime movie that uses live input from your iSight camera on a Quartz Composer compositions track (a new track type for QuickTime). There is an article on O’Reilly that shows you exactly how to create one of these QuickTime movies. The movie that you create will automatically turn on your iSight camera and place that video stream within the movie.
I created one of those movies (I used the full 640×480 for export size – the current resolution of the camera), dragged it in to my Director cast, and put the member on the stage. I hit play and there I was waving to the camera within Director. Live video inside Director via a QuickTime movie with no Xtras (ok..you do need the QuickTime Xtra, but that come with Director)!
Quartz Composer also allows for various filter effects to be used on the QuickTime movie (see last link in O’Reilly article).
Very slick! I’m sure this could be really useful for kiosks and science museum displays, and just lounging around the house 🙂
Download the Quartz Composer file (zip).
Download the sample QuickTime movie (zip).
Update (Aug 23, 2010): I have not been able to use this under OSX 10.6, so not sure if it is still possible.
November 20th, 2006
Apple has a “Pro” section on their site where they give tips and techniques for using software, as well as profiles of people that have used Macs to create art, science, and literature. The most current profile features Brian Eno.
Macromedia Director was listed as one of the key items in the toolbox of software used for the project, along with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Logic Pro.
I’m sure I could create 77 million images, but I don’t think any of them would get classified as art. I’ll stick with the science side of things.
November 13th, 2006
Is this a picture of me at the latest club dancing the night away? I can’t say it is, but it is a picture from a project that was recently completed using Director located at Cadbury World across the lake in Birmingham, UK.
The development team at HMC Media Lab used 3 computers networked together with a shock sensitive floor and motion tracking to make interactive chocolatey graphics at Cadburys World theme park in the UK. Director was used to create “custom software from the ground up and installed it across three computer processors at the nerve centre of the installation.”
As you enter the infinity room a giant chocolate bar melts into gloopy puddles beneath you and, when you jump in them, chocolate splashes all over the floor. Then a sprinkling of individual Roses chocolates appear beneath your feet. You won’t believe your eyes when they unwrap as you tread on them but as you step off they wrap back up.
I’m always amazed by what one can do with Director. Now, if I make it over to to the UK I’ll be sure to stop by. Mmmm…..chocolate — Homer Simpson.
May 23rd, 2006