does anyone else feel threatened sometimes ?

2003-04-18

I just came out of a meeting, I have some pretty good skills with lingo and the like , to make some pretty interesting Content / inteface for a project (web delivered)...

Now , All I get is "ooh, no one has the shockwave plug in, we should make that in flash"...

problem is , I have no Idea how to make the things I can make in Director, in flash...

why do I feel so useless sometimes ? should I ditch Director and start at the bottom and work up my actionscript skills ?!...

As far as i can see, mm killed the future of shockwave content from the start..the plug in - 2 megs, and a USELESS install program from them, flash plugin ?!...well , that ships with browsers these days , no worries...files size of it ? (buttons)...

I just feel pretty useless today, and wanted a rant...what should I (we) do ? drop director development for web pages ?.....

... if you are offended by my post , you are obviously stupid (ha ha) ...

1thirteen3 · 2003-04-18 #2

don't drop it, just expand your horizons.

webRat · 2003-04-18 #3

Don't drop it. Director for CD-ROMs is still a viable option. Just expand like 1thirteen3 said. Never hurts to have more than one thing on your resume.

Having known director and having worked with flash, I think the hardest thing for you in Flash is going to be understanding the timeline. For the longest time Flash pissed me off because I could not do what I wanted it to do and that's because I was still stuck on that Director timeline. My advice to you is for you to understand and realize that Flash has more than one timeline asap. Once you get that through your head, you'll be on your way.

cobra25 · 2003-04-22 #4

timeline != score

lepeep · 2003-04-23 #5

I don't realy mind the "differences" in the score / stage layouts, I know the basics of flash , but don't understand the syntax of actionscript...mind you , I have only been asking the guy who knows nothing about action scripting !

I was looking for enter / exit frame concepts (and later found there is an "exit frame" in flash ! huzah !)...

any way, Its just the worry of having to speak another language....

monolithdd · 2003-04-23 #6

Actionscript isnt that hard once you get used to it. If youre any good at javascript, then youll pick it up very easily. From thye diffs in director, the only things i tend to worry about (mind you im no lingo god)

forget what you know about scripts as library objects, if you want to attach scripts, Object.registerClass is going to be your best friend

let flash do some of the work for you, i know they have loops in director, but they suck and are useless in my opinion. Flash on the other hand with its independent timelines can take a little hassle off you for things like animation of a gui

and finally OOP the crap out of everything. From what I remember, lingo is pretty much An event based language, so it can be nothing but OOP, flash can be as sloppy or as neat as you want it, just keep code and design seperate and youll be fine though.

Just my two cents mind you

safetycopy · 2003-04-23 #7

I think the only thing that's dangerous these days is specialising (did I spell that right? I can never remember that one...) in one particular software package... Majoring in one is fine, but I think we need to know tons...

flotobe · 2003-04-23 #8

If you can do director, flash is like photopaint to photoshop.
Quit winning and get on board.

lepeep · 2003-04-24 #9

now , that last post...what the feck is that all about ?

"quit winning and get on board" .

Is that supposed to be "whining" ?

"get on board"....you mean , dump director and go all flash ?

(I still think macromedia have to make sound + flash more robust, seing as it can freeze a machine in a few minutes.
(christ, even Lord of the Rings.net get buggered after a few minutes of sound playing...)

Mounty · 2003-04-24 #10

the equivalent of imaging lingo for flash would be good.....

toxi · 2003-04-24 #11

the equivalent of the 3d engine, the 3rd part xtras, proper sound & bitmap support, inks, text processing, execution speed for flash would be good! the difference between director and flash is far more than lingo vs. actionscript...

Mounty · 2003-04-24 #12

I hate lingo, I'd love Director to have multiple timelines and a consistant programming language....

They should combine the two and publish to different formats depending on the processes used.....

lepeep · 2003-04-26 #13

you can have "different timelines"with a good use of MIAWS and FilmLoops (my only beef with film loops is that behaviours attached to sprites within a filmloop get fecked up (if you reference a me.spritenum in the original behaviour)....one good tip , if using filmloops, you can make interactive buttons within film loops , by using imaging lingo + CASTMEMBER scripts..."if image(x) = member("up").image then do something

I still have to explore the limits of imaging lingo inside film loops....

biomorphic · 2003-05-02 #14

Director may not have timelines, but it does have timeouts. timeout objects allow for custom scheduling based on absolute time, not frames events. So with OOP and timeouts, Director can have mutilple timelines. It's just doesn't have the visual feedback of timelines, but is quite a pwerful alternative.

kulefluid · 2003-06-03 #15

Don't drop Director, but Flash will definitely enhance your existing Director skills. Each release of Director has moved closer to tight integration with Flash. Each has its advantages in different areas. Flash is best for the web, Director is best for CD-Rom. Take digital video for example. Director paired with Tabuleiro's Media Advance Xtra (www.tabuleiro.com) has unbelievable quality that plays great on a wide range of systems. I have used an MPEG1 at 800x600 that played flawlessly on a PII 233, with 256mb ram. You just can't beat Director for stability at high quality. Just my .02$

lepeep · 2003-06-04 #16

I agree, I love Director, I think every director user does, my original point is that , everyone else in the world is told that flash is the be all and end all of multi media !

My boss and others, always play down the use of direcotr content (on websites), because of the issues with the plugin...now flash , no worries, its shipped with most OS's now !

these were my concerns, not "can Director cut the mustard performance / untility wise", I know it can, but the public need to be told !

blah blah (again !)

bobbo_sint · 2003-06-04 #17

In my opinion it is still difficult to sell Shockwave websites. Maybe the only way is to show 3d contents because Flash is no match in that subject. The best choice is to do a special section of the website using Shockwave 3d and choosing HTML / Flash for the main site.
I used to sell only Shockwave websites for one year (2000) then I had to swtich to Flash: this is what the market ask for.

kulefluid · 2003-06-04 #18

I hear you lepeep, I just get into the Flash vs. Director comparison and usually go off into a rant. I have to say, even though I personally love working in Director and creating rich multimedia applications, Flash is best for the web, imo. In most situations the download time for a Director based web application is painful at best, and if people are as impatient as I am they won't wait. Of course I use both, leaning more towards Director, so my opinion could be biased in a way.

barnobi · 2003-07-03 #19

I rekon that flash is it for internet delivery due to file sizes and compression, the plugin situation and the intended use of both programs.

Flash would certainly beef up your resume. And I would keep using Director for CD/offline delivery.

Action script is just like Javascript essentially and shouldn't take too long to pick up..

I am just in the opposite situation. I need to add Director to my arsenal to beef up my CD presentation abilities. so Tutorial city here we come aih?

bobbo_sint · 2003-07-08 #20

Director can be as fast as Flash regarding streaming and web applications. The difference is that it is more difficult to handle streaming on Director so many developers simply choose to wait for the whole download. Even with 3d members you can use streaming, but just a few people do it.

grm · 2003-07-08 #21

I work in a production house that does web sites, multimedia, eLearning, video production. We have expertise in every one of the packages. Flash, Director, Authorware, etc...
IMO: and we talked about this in a meeting the other day...
Flash is extremely great for online. Director is Extremely great for CD-ROM I've seen projects go out of here done in Director and Authorware that could not have been replicated in Flash- the quality of video/audio, linking up to an LCMS and other stuff Flash is primarily built as an online delivery package. Although 'I think' that Macromedia is really pushing to combine all these into Flash's future product. I always hear about Director and Authorware dropping off, but they haven't yet and it's been years of that rumor. My suggestion is to broaden your knowledge to Flash in which case you will always be a hot prospect in our field. I am already crossing out of Flash into those other two. And also, all the online programming languages.
$.02

PantherPPC · 2003-08-05 #22

A Lingo-like language for Flash could really help beginners.

I just wish Apple would make a runtime version of QuickTime so I can start using MPEG4 on my disks.

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	1thirteen3	2003-04-18 #2
	don't drop it, just expand your horizons.

	webRat	2003-04-18 #3
	Don't drop it. Director for CD-ROMs is still a viable option. Just expand like 1thirteen3 said. Never hurts to have more than one thing on your resume. Having known director and having worked with flash, I think the hardest thing for you in Flash is going to be understanding the timeline. For the longest time Flash pissed me off because I could not do what I wanted it to do and that's because I was still stuck on that Director timeline. My advice to you is for you to understand and realize that Flash has more than one timeline asap. Once you get that through your head, you'll be on your way.

	lepeep	2003-04-23 #5
	I don't realy mind the "differences" in the score / stage layouts, I know the basics of flash , but don't understand the syntax of actionscript...mind you , I have only been asking the guy who knows nothing about action scripting ! I was looking for enter / exit frame concepts (and later found there is an "exit frame" in flash ! huzah !)... any way, Its just the worry of having to speak another language....

	monolithdd	2003-04-23 #6
	Actionscript isnt that hard once you get used to it. If youre any good at javascript, then youll pick it up very easily. From thye diffs in director, the only things i tend to worry about (mind you im no lingo god) forget what you know about scripts as library objects, if you want to attach scripts, Object.registerClass is going to be your best friend let flash do some of the work for you, i know they have loops in director, but they suck and are useless in my opinion. Flash on the other hand with its independent timelines can take a little hassle off you for things like animation of a gui and finally OOP the crap out of everything. From what I remember, lingo is pretty much An event based language, so it can be nothing but OOP, flash can be as sloppy or as neat as you want it, just keep code and design seperate and youll be fine though. Just my two cents mind you

	safetycopy	2003-04-23 #7
	I think the only thing that's dangerous these days is specialising (did I spell that right? I can never remember that one...) in one particular software package... Majoring in one is fine, but I think we need to know tons...

	flotobe	2003-04-23 #8
	If you can do director, flash is like photopaint to photoshop. Quit winning and get on board.

	lepeep	2003-04-24 #9
	now , that last post...what the feck is that all about ? "quit winning and get on board" . Is that supposed to be "whining" ? "get on board"....you mean , dump director and go all flash ? (I still think macromedia have to make sound + flash more robust, seing as it can freeze a machine in a few minutes. (christ, even Lord of the Rings.net get buggered after a few minutes of sound playing...)

	Mounty Creative Assets	2003-04-24 #10
	the equivalent of imaging lingo for flash would be good.....

	cobra25	2003-04-22 #4
	timeline != score

	toxi	2003-04-24 #11
	the equivalent of the 3d engine, the 3rd part xtras, proper sound & bitmap support, inks, text processing, execution speed for flash would be good! the difference between director and flash is far more than lingo vs. actionscript...

	Mounty Creative Assets	2003-04-24 #12
	I hate lingo, I'd love Director to have multiple timelines and a consistant programming language.... They should combine the two and publish to different formats depending on the processes used.....

	lepeep	2003-04-26 #13
	you can have "different timelines"with a good use of MIAWS and FilmLoops (my only beef with film loops is that behaviours attached to sprites within a filmloop get fecked up (if you reference a me.spritenum in the original behaviour)....one good tip , if using filmloops, you can make interactive buttons within film loops , by using imaging lingo + CASTMEMBER scripts..."if image(x) = member("up").image then do something I still have to explore the limits of imaging lingo inside film loops....

	biomorphic	2003-05-02 #14
	Director may not have timelines, but it does have timeouts. timeout objects allow for custom scheduling based on absolute time, not frames events. So with OOP and timeouts, Director can have mutilple timelines. It's just doesn't have the visual feedback of timelines, but is quite a pwerful alternative.

	kulefluid	2003-06-03 #15
	Don't drop Director, but Flash will definitely enhance your existing Director skills. Each release of Director has moved closer to tight integration with Flash. Each has its advantages in different areas. Flash is best for the web, Director is best for CD-Rom. Take digital video for example. Director paired with Tabuleiro's Media Advance Xtra (www.tabuleiro.com) has unbelievable quality that plays great on a wide range of systems. I have used an MPEG1 at 800x600 that played flawlessly on a PII 233, with 256mb ram. You just can't beat Director for stability at high quality. Just my .02$

	lepeep	2003-06-04 #16
	I agree, I love Director, I think every director user does, my original point is that , everyone else in the world is told that flash is the be all and end all of multi media ! My boss and others, always play down the use of direcotr content (on websites), because of the issues with the plugin...now flash , no worries, its shipped with most OS's now ! these were my concerns, not "can Director cut the mustard performance / untility wise", I know it can, but the public need to be told ! blah blah (again !)

	bobbo_sint	2003-06-04 #17
	In my opinion it is still difficult to sell Shockwave websites. Maybe the only way is to show 3d contents because Flash is no match in that subject. The best choice is to do a special section of the website using Shockwave 3d and choosing HTML / Flash for the main site. I used to sell only Shockwave websites for one year (2000) then I had to swtich to Flash: this is what the market ask for.

	kulefluid	2003-06-04 #18
	I hear you lepeep, I just get into the Flash vs. Director comparison and usually go off into a rant. I have to say, even though I personally love working in Director and creating rich multimedia applications, Flash is best for the web, imo. In most situations the download time for a Director based web application is painful at best, and if people are as impatient as I am they won't wait. Of course I use both, leaning more towards Director, so my opinion could be biased in a way.

	barnobi	2003-07-03 #19
	I rekon that flash is it for internet delivery due to file sizes and compression, the plugin situation and the intended use of both programs. Flash would certainly beef up your resume. And I would keep using Director for CD/offline delivery. Action script is just like Javascript essentially and shouldn't take too long to pick up.. I am just in the opposite situation. I need to add Director to my arsenal to beef up my CD presentation abilities. so Tutorial city here we come aih?

	bobbo_sint	2003-07-08 #20
	Director can be as fast as Flash regarding streaming and web applications. The difference is that it is more difficult to handle streaming on Director so many developers simply choose to wait for the whole download. Even with 3d members you can use streaming, but just a few people do it.

	grm	2003-07-08 #21
	I work in a production house that does web sites, multimedia, eLearning, video production. We have expertise in every one of the packages. Flash, Director, Authorware, etc... IMO: and we talked about this in a meeting the other day... Flash is extremely great for online. Director is Extremely great for CD-ROM I've seen projects go out of here done in Director and Authorware that could not have been replicated in Flash- the quality of video/audio, linking up to an LCMS and other stuff Flash is primarily built as an online delivery package. Although 'I think' that Macromedia is really pushing to combine all these into Flash's future product. I always hear about Director and Authorware dropping off, but they haven't yet and it's been years of that rumor. My suggestion is to broaden your knowledge to Flash in which case you will always be a hot prospect in our field. I am already crossing out of Flash into those other two. And also, all the online programming languages. $.02

	PantherPPC	2003-08-05 #22
	A Lingo-like language for Flash could really help beginners. I just wish Apple would make a runtime version of QuickTime so I can start using MPEG4 on my disks.