Think I can do it (use Director)?
in [Macromedia Director]
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From: Dan_in_Texas on 12 Jun 2008 17:19 I regularly use Frontpage/Expression to maintain web sites, but want to also edit and create .swf files for some CD-based training. I'm sure y'all look down on us lowly types who use FP and such, but my question is: What's the skill level required for using Director? Can it be easily learned, or is the bar pretty high? Any WYSIWYG type panels, or do you have to code it all in by hand? Thanks for you thoughts and feedback. Dan
From: Dave C on 12 Jun 2008 17:44 I doubt you can do it. That is because Director does not produce .swf files, not because of any doubts about your abilities. Adobe's Flash can make .swf files. As far as Director goes, there is somewhat of a learning curve but it largely depends on how complex the application your are trying to build is. It comes with a fair amount of pre-built widgits and you can do some things without coding. You will likely need to understand rudimentary programming structures like repeat loops, if-then-else statements, etc. My personal belief is that just about everybody is capable, it is simply a matter of having enough time and determination. Others will surely chime in with some good advice, but my suggestion would be to download the trial version and give it a shot. Read through the tutorial and the introduction stuff that explains the basics. Then try to make something simple. Good luck! Dan_in_Texas wrote: > I regularly use Frontpage/Expression to maintain web sites, but want to also > edit and create .swf files for some CD-based training. I'm sure y'all look > down on us lowly types who use FP and such, but my question is: > > What's the skill level required for using Director? Can it be easily learned, > or is the bar pretty high? Any WYSIWYG type panels, or do you have to code it > all in by hand? > > Thanks for you thoughts and feedback. > > Dan >
From: Mike Blaustein on 12 Jun 2008 18:41 I don't think that any skill you have in using FrontPage will translate into anything good or bad while attempting to use Director. The two things are somewhat unrelated. I found Director to be very easy to learn. To do basic things, like putting text and graphics on the screen and dealing with user interactions, like rollovers, mouse click events, etc, it is all a matter of drag and dropping the prebuilt scripts onto your graphic elements. No programming required. If you are interested in programming, and want to learn what it is all about, Director uses the language 'Lingo' which is very east to learn. It is more conversational than most other languages. The verbose syntax of Lingo can be read and understood quite readily once you know how the basic structures work. And there is this great community here that is willing to help out if you have problems.
From: alchemist on 12 Jun 2008 20:22 > I'm sure y'all look down on us lowly types who use FP and such He.. It's not us. Probably you have web scripters is mind, or Flash developers, that have the bad -according to my taste that is- habbit of building entire sites with it. Director is oriented more towards workstation application development or standalone web movies (shockwave 3D games etc.). > What's the skill level required for using Director? Can it be easily > learned, > or is the bar pretty high? If you have some kind of previous programming experience, then you'll find director very easy to use. If you don't, and are interested in learning, it's probably one of the best tools to get you started - and keep you going... If on the other hand you are not really interested in coding, and all you want to do is 'clickable animations', then you'd better invest your time in flash. I'm not comparing the programs, and what advanced developers can do with them. Just that I found director very easy to use from the very beggining, several years ago. A feeling that I never got from flash, asp, c, or any other low or higher level language I've used. "Dan_in_Texas" <webforumsuser(a)macromedia.com> wrote in message news:g2s3sv$6gl$1(a)forums.macromedia.com... >I regularly use Frontpage/Expression to maintain web sites, but want to >also > edit and create .swf files for some CD-based training. I'm sure y'all > look > down on us lowly types who use FP and such, but my question is: > > What's the skill level required for using Director? Can it be easily > learned, > or is the bar pretty high? Any WYSIWYG type panels, or do you have to > code it > all in by hand? > > Thanks for you thoughts and feedback. > > Dan >
From: pvansch on 14 Jun 2008 02:42 [q][i]Originally posted by: [b][b]Dan_in_Texas[/b][/b][/i] >I regularly use Frontpage/Expression to maintain web sites, but want to also edit and create .swf files for some CD-based training. By "swf" do you mean shockwave files or flash which actually have the 'swf' extension? >but my question is: >What's the skill level required for using Director? Director luckily caters for a mixed skill levels. From designers who prefer to work with Directors GUI panels, drag & drop etc, to programmers who do almost everything in code or "Lingo" which is Directors language. Director now also supports programming in javascript. Once you have used Director you usually end up choosing the style of development that suits you. >Can it be easily learned, or is the bar pretty high? Yes it can be easily learned. Like all development environments you can make quick and simple presentations, add a quicktime, some basic controls, or some graphics or audio. as your expectations increase so too does the level of difficulty, especially in a mixed platform environment. >Any WYSIWYG type panels, or do you have to code it all in by hand? As I mentioned before you can choose to do both. Director uses a "Stage", "Cast Library" & "Score" as its metaphor for creating your content. The "Cast Library" is where you import all you elements. The "Stage" is where you can drag & drop elements from your library, and allows you to arrange the elemnts, scale, rotate, apply ink effects etc. And lastly the "Score" allows you to manage you elemnts on the "Stage" so that you can create animation etc. My description above is very simplified but if you download the Time Trial (which has temporarily been suspended) you can play around with the tutorials. >Thanks for you thoughts and feedback. >Dan[/q] Don't forget to search the web for some great resources. These are just a few http://www.deansdirectortutorials.com/ http://director-online.com/articles.php http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/director/tips-script.html http://www.jmckell.com/ http://www.director3d.de/ http://www.dreamlight.com/insights/07/ Good luck and welcome to Director!
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