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Direct-L Report- Macromedia Users Conference 95

Date:    Tue, 31 Oct 1995 08:24:28 -0500
From:    "Glenn M. Picher" <gpicher@maine.com>
Subject: News flashes from the conference

Charles Wiltgen, Peter Lundholm, Carey Smith and I are here sitting around the dinner table on Monday nite at the Macromedia User's conference. Here's a few tidbits observed during the days' public events:

1. Director 5.0 is in beta; it's code-named "Spike".

2. Shockwave really works. It's very impressive. It was demo'd on a an Ethernet link from Moscone to Macromodia. Extremely cool. A purple-shirt Macromedia guy behind me said it's officially in beta. Macromedia committed to delivering Shockwave within 2 weeks of the officail Netscape 2.0 final release. It will be based on Director 4, with a version to support Director 5 (and Xtras) later on.

3. Director 5 and Soundedit 2 are seamlessly integrated-- click a cast member, and you're editing it in SoundEdit. Save it, and the cast is updated when you switch back to Director. This is a harbinger of all Macromedia's apps working together under the Macromedia Open Architecture.

4. The Xtras plug-in format appears to be extraordinarily powerful, and will probably blow our minds in the months to come. A Freehand outline, swapped to Extreme 3D, became a 3D model, which became a sprite in a Director movie that was rendered in real time by QuickDraw 3D (an Xtra lets you add new castmember types). You can use Lingo to create Xtras (by dropping a Director movie into the Xtras folder-- both Lingo and C-coded extras run through the same Macromedia Open Architecture). The Xtras API is be cross-platform (though optimized code must be processor-specific). Old xobjects still work, as do XCMDS and XFCNs. Xtras will be able to call Lingo code.

   Much more on this later (I'm reporting on the Xtras tech sesssion for the Macromedia "UConn" Web site (http://www.macromedia.com).

5. It seems you can have multiple casts in Director 5. One window said "Internal cast"; apparently many are possible.

6. Text really works in D5. Easy drag & drop importing. Very fast runtime antialiasing against whatever's behind it. You can manipulate text attributes with Lingo in a robust way. Sounds like hyperlinked words will become trivial.

7. Director 5 will support Java applets and multimedia data types. Wow! That came out of nowhere, and really extends the horizon.

8. Compuserve will incorporate Director into their connect sofware-- sort of like Shockwave inside of CIM.

9. No mention of any features to help debug movies or watch global variable values, but spotted in the menu structure: a) "Debug" b) "Watcher" c) "Breakpoints". Finally! A direct question to David Calaprice (D5 develpment team) about these menu items elicted the commment "I can't say anything about that."

10. Enhanced CD kit (for making music/data CDs) will consist of a number of XObjects (apparently for Director 4) for linking graphics and animation to audio tracks. Some methods will be nicely reusable in other Director projects-- i.e., installer functions, saving property lists on disk, etc. Apparently ECD tools will be available 1st quarter '96.

11. There's now a grid in Director 5, which (like many features of the new user interface) works the same in any other Macromedia Studio tools.

12. Sprite porperties are accessible from the sprite on the stage, with a right mouse button(control-mouse on the Mac).

13. New Lingo keyword: dontUpdateStage (or at least something functioning that way, if not using that exact syntax). Should be a boon to those fond of setting up stuff in the enterFrame script.

Charles says "Hi!". Peter says "Yeah." Charles suggested that we should kidnap John Dowdell, get him drunk, and threaten unspoken action with marshmallows until he agrees to violate every non- disclosure agreement in the book. Peter smiled politely a lot.

Charles: Intel's (Andy Grove's) presentation was all left-brain. Apple's (Michael Spindler) was all right-brain. Kai's was even more right brain.

All in all:
Speaking for myself, any doubt I have had about whether Director is the right tool to move forward with has been dispelled. (Charles substantially agrees, though he might not put it this way). Macromedia definitely has their head screwed on straight. It feels like they are really proceeding with a vision. Many, many kudos to the Director development team. They've made some remarkable technical achievements and usability improvements.

Date:    Wed, 1 Nov 1995 08:56:51 -0500
From:    "Glenn M. Picher" <gpicher@maine.com>
Subject: (LONG) Report on Director Xtras technical session

It's hard to conceive of a task you couldn't acheive through the Xtras SDK, except perhaps reducing the runtime size (and disk usage) of Director projectors. Macromedia appears committed to generating good docs and providing genuine assistance to third-party developers, offering Web space for Xtras technical information and product development announcements, and even co-marketing opportunities. Developers were urged to apply for the Director 5 Xtras SDK beta program, in order to begin development efforts for Xtras to be ready when Director 5 ships. As of yet, there's no firm date for the Xtras beta program (or Director 5's anticipated ship date), although other sessions indicated the 1st quarter of '96 was likely.

There will be three kinds of Xtras plug-ins: Lingo Xtras, which will extend the capabilities of Lingo, in much the same way as the current XObject specification (which will itself continue to work as expected); Sprite Xtras, which allow for the definition of new media types and cast members, such as 3D models or QuickTime VR scenes; and Transition Extras, which will expand the range of transition effects possible in Director (and Authorware, for that matter).

Xtras will use a common API for both Mac and Windows platforms, based on (and binary-compatible with) Microsoft COM. For optimum performance, though, Xtras will need to use platform-specific code appropriate for the target processor. Supported compilers at this time include CodeWarrior C++ for the Mac and Visual C++ on Windows (with support for other compilers expected later, as demand dicates). The Xtras SDK will be free with Director 5. The same Xtras code can be recompiled for both 16-bit 32-bit (Windows 95) targets; a mechanism is provided for 68K and PowerPC code for the Mac. Director will provide utility methods for debugging Xtras (apparently just a "put" to the message window, at least for now); CodeWarrior can also be used to step through running Xtras code.

Lingo Xtras will be useful in Director only (although an eventual cross-product cross-platform Common Lingo is envisioned in later MOA-aware releases of Macromedia tools). Transitions Xtras will be usable in both Director and Authorware (although certain Xtras coding practices could make them Director-dependent). Sprite Xtras will use a Shared Multimedia API, and will work for both Director and Authorware.

Hooks are provided for Xtras to call internal Director functions; Xtras in turn provide methods that Director calls. Memory access is platform independent and uses Director's internal memory manager. Director 5 on the Mac will automatically use Multifinder temporary memory, which should end problems associated with projectors launching in fixed partion sizes, sometimes not leaving enough room for System expansion such as QuickTime codec loading when a QuickTime cast member is displayed on the screen within a projector.

Full access is provided to the score, the cast and to .DIR file reading and writing, allowing developers not only to create runtime extensions, but to create authoring-time extensions-- perhaps an "animation wizard" Xtra that could literally create Director movies on the fly, or could dynamically dither the cast on the fly for the current display resolution.

Xtras become cast members; your Xtra's code is called when double-clicking on such cast members in the cast window to edit them. Progress-box services are provided (or you can roll your own). You can use Director's internal algorithm for finding linked files on disk.

Polymorphic parameters and return values are allowed (goodbye to 'X', 'S', 'I', etc. declarations in a method table). Parameters and return values are copies of data, so calls by reference are not supported; however, all Lingo data types are supported, including lists, which can provide a sort of a back-door call by reference.

Global Lingo variables can be queried and set. Access is provided to the property symbol dictionary of the host app (usually Director). All Lingo properties can be accessed; new properties (accessible through Lingo) can be created. Property type conversions (to OS-specific data types) is provided identically on both platforms (i.e., access a DIB in a Mac Xtra, access a PICT in a Windows Xtra). If you can program more effectively with platform-specific code, you can access the graphics context and write directly to the stage (or to Director's internal compositing buffers)-- but at the cost of making your Xtra platform-dependent.

Access to these features is provided though methods made available by the host app. Xtras don't have access to the internal data structures used within Director (which, apart from proprietary considerations, can change significantly between builds). Thus an Xtra developer is insulated by the API from Director's internal code, and new Xtras builds aren't required for new Director builds.

The Xtras architecture will work in Shockwave versions based on Director 5 (the initial Shockwave release will be based on Director 4). No mechanism is as of yet provided to prevent Xtras downloaded from the Internet (as part of Shockwave documents) from behaving antisocially, although it's under consideration.

Because Lingo itself will be routed through the Macromedia Open Architecture, Director movies themselves can become Xtras, when dropped into the Xtras folder-- so you can, in effect, write Xtras using Lingo.

In short, Macromedia seems to have done a hell of a good job with the Macromedia Open Architecture concept. Some of the most eye-popping, applause-inspiring Director 5 features demonstrated in other sessions were implemented as Xtras. The Xtras SDK looks robust enough, and Macromedia seems committed enough, to create a healthy subindustry of third party plug-in providers.

Date:    Wed, 1 Nov 1995 08:57:00 -0500
From:    "Glenn M. Picher" <gpicher@maine.com>
Subject: 2nd day's news flashes from the conference

1. "Sneak previews" session:
   • Microsoft Blackbird playing pages with Director (Shockwave) movies.
   • SoundEdit 2 batch sound file conversions, better stereo pan/volume control (implemented as an Xtra); all PPC-native.
   • Photoshop Filters can plug into Director 5 and operate directly on castmembers! Director can create a series of new cast members with in-betweening of filter settings, to create animation sequences. It's extrememly fast and should greatly enhance productivity for artwork creators. Can do many Photoshop operations without launching Photoshop, editing, and saving.
   • Freehand data easily imports into the Cast; displays outlines as crisp-edged vectors, not blocky bitmaps, when zoomed up ("ShockHand"); Freehand can export PDF files.
   • xRes image editor is unbeleivably fast on large images; way, way faster than Photoshop. Could be a good productivity investment.

2. The Shockwave authoring process was demonstrated. You use Director 4 to make a .DIR movie (which, unfortunately, you can't actually test in Director 4 because the new Shockwave Lingo keywords don't exist there yet); then you pass these movie files through Afterburner, which Shockifies them and compresses them. A dummy shared.dir containing dummy handlers with the same name as the Shockwave keywords was suggested as an authoring-time aid (the shared.dir itself would never be afterburned or distributed). The initial Shockwave release will not support linked cast members; this means no QuickTime in Shockwave. A projector for Shockwave movies will be made available "later this year" (?), so you can make CDs with more content, or floppy-based presentations with more of the disk for movies. I heard (but can't verify) that Shockwave beta versions should be available when Netscape 2 moves to its next beta release.

3. Lingo itself in Director 5 will permit access to the score; it's also accessible through the Xtras API.

4. Navisoft Navipress (an impressive WYSIWYG Web content creator) was demonstrated, integrated with Shockwave. Nearly everything is visually created and edited. HTML is the end result, but it seems like it'll be more or less unnecessary to learn any HTML at all. It was pretty impressive. Drag & drop HTML creation... cool.

5. "Author Once, Play Anywhere" plans include:
   • SGI Player for use on CD-ROMs (1st half of '96)
   • SGI Shockwave-aware Web browser (1st half of '96)
   • SGI Xtras plug-ins
   • OS/2 player based on Director 4; eventually updated for Director 5
   • 3DO player
   • Pippin-native player (though Mac projectors will work too).

   Stated strategy for "Author Once, Play Anywhere": taking advantage of a platform's strenths, not reducing the possible to the least common denominator.

Overheard thoughts:
This year's conference has a different flavor. In previous years, it was called the Developer's Conference; now it's called the User Conference, which accurately reflects a shift in emphasis (sighs of lament).

I continue to be impressed by Macromedia's efforts, and the degree to which they are making their tools work together

Date:    Thu, 2 Nov 1995 07:40:31 -0500
From:    "Glenn M. Picher" <gpicher@maine.com>
Subject: 3rd day's news flashes from the convention

1. Good discussion of an as-yet unnnamed digital video editing package to join the Macromedia Studio (seamlessly integrated with Director, so that QuickTime movie production of all types can be accomplished using only those two tools). Results should be forthcoming in the first half of 1996. It will allow you to exactly specify QuickTime key frames, and generally have exacting control over compression. A solution is anticipated for Mac/Windows gamma differences.

   One notable tip I gleaned was that a single QuickTime movie is allowed to contain more than one type of compression-- thus, different portions of a large movie could use the codec that's appropriate for their imagery. Simple cut & paste in MoviePlayer can be used in assembling such a multi-codec movie.

2. Seems like half the conference attendees were gone by the end of the day. Conferees were very disproportionately male and Caucasian.

3. My gestalt impression of the whole conference experience: I was really blown away by the number of concurrent excellent features and products that Macromedia is working on. I am content to let them focus on building good tools, and I'll focus on building good content (and, well, maybe some good Xtra tools of my own).

I was really impressed by the number of really smart people I met. There is an incredible pool of talent both at Macromedia and among their user base. My hope is that we can all use that talent, not just to amaze each other, but to really produce stuff that matters in people's lives. Good multimedia can really enhance people's understanding of their worlds, and can encourage a creativity of thinking and living that is really sorely needed these days. As amazing as all this new technology is, I hope to keep in mind our ultimate purpose: connecting to other human beings through our work. Macromedia can really help with this by providing tools that free our brain space for the graceful expression of ideas that matter.

I imagine I'll get flack for going mushy at the end this way, but I don't apologize. The exhilaration of technophilia needs to be grounded outside the flashy confines of Moscone.