For Immediate Release
For more information contact:
Macromedia
Benita Kenn
benita@macromedia.com
(415) 553-2700
Macromedia Announces and Ships Director 6.5 Upgrade
The most powerful tool for multimedia and the web offers increased power,
productivity and platform support.
San Francisco, Calif. - May 11, 1998 - Macromedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR)
today announced the availability of Director 6.5, a major upgrade to the
company's multimedia authoring tool, Director - the industry leader for
multimedia and web development. The upgrade will significantly extend the
functionality of the product, adding many new features including QuickTime
3 support, PowerPoint integration, and Java applet creation.
"Director remains the world's leading multimedia authoring tool because of
its power, ease of use and our ability to quickly respond to consumer
needs," said David Mendels, vice president and general manager of
Macromedia's IMAT Division. "This upgrade is a major step forward for
Director at a very reasonable price for developers".
New features of Director 6.5
QuickTime 3 support and QTVR2 support - Developers can now incorporate
Apple's new standard for high quality digital video. Director 6.5 can
import, rotate and mask QuickTime movies and, for the first time on
Windows, composite QuickTime movies and sounds with native Director
sprites. With QuickTime 3, direct-to-stage compositing is now supported on
Windows 95, Windows NT and the Macintosh platforms. Director 6.5 allows for
simple insertion of QTVR files while automatically providing basic
navigation. In addition, it provides Lingo control of QTVR files for
significant properties including pan, tilt, node, field-of-view and hotspot
detection.
Save as Java - The Director 6.5 upgrade also provides greater platform
support by allowing developers to deliver web content with or without
plug-ins. This new "Save as Java" feature allows developers to output web
banners and web based games as Java applets, even if they are unfamiliar
with Java programming. It assists in preparing movies for Java playback by
automatically converting Director cast elements and Lingo scripts to native
Java types. The "Save as Java" feature uses Macromedia Perfect-Fit
technology to minimize the applet size by delivering only the playback code
needed. In addition, the "Save as Java" feature supports inline Java code
so custom Java code can be seamlessly integrated.
"This is a great option for developers who want to create ad banners and
custom Web games in Java," said Gary Rosensweig of CleverMedia. "With Java
and Shockwave output, Director is the best solution for delivering rich
multimedia on the web."
PowerPoint Import - Developers who create corporate presentations can
easily convert PowerPoint files to Director movies. Once imported,
developers can employ all of the power of Director to enhance their
presentations by adding sophisticated interactivity, transitions and
animations.
"This new Director feature will save us enormous amount of time and money
considering what it previously took to convert PowerPoint presentations by
hand," according to Steve Mann, vice president of Media Services at
Citibank.
Macromedia Flash support - The leading tool for vector-based graphics and
animation, Flash is now supported in Director. Compact,
resolution-independent Flash files can now be imported to minimize the size
of Director assets for CD-ROM and the web. Flash vectors can be rotated,
scaled, and composited real time, adding a new level of animation and
effects to Director.
Aftershock 2 and improved Shockwave - A great benefit to developers who
deploy web content, Aftershock 2 makes it easy to prepare Director files
for playback on most standard web browser environments by generating HTML
that auto-detects browser playback capability then delivers Shockwave
movies, Java applets, or .GIF files to the client's machine. With the
Director 6.5 upgrade, Shockwave Director is faster at start-up time and 40%
smaller than in the original 6.0 release. In addition, Shockwave Director
now includes support for integrated vector animations created in Macromedia
Flash.
ActiveX Control support - Director 6.5 can easily be extended by adding any
of the hundreds of Active X/OCX controls available on the market. These
controls allow users to embed elements like browsers, spreadsheets and UI
widgets in Director, saving developers time and increasing the breadth of
applications that can be created on Windows with Director.
Custom, Animated, Color Cursors - Director 6.5 helps developers save hours
of Lingo programming time by enabling easy creation of color-animated
cursors that are real system cursors. Developers can use any bitmap source
in their Director cast as an image in the cursor animation.
Sound Cue Points Support for Windows - Previously only offered on the
Macintosh platform, enhanced support for cue points is now available to
developers who create, edit or work with sound files. Director 6.5
recognizes and can control events from cue points in .WAV files.
Pricing and Availability
In North America, the upgrade to Director 6.5 for Director 6 users is
available for an estimated street price of US $199. Registered users of
Director 4 or 5 can upgrade to Director 6.5 Multimedia Studio for US $499
or Director 6.5 for US $399. New users can purchase Director 6.5 Multimedia
Studio for an estimated street price of US $999.
In the U.S. and Canada, the Director 6.5 upgrade can be purchased by
calling (800) 457-1774 or online at http://www.macromedia.com
Interested parties outside North America should contact their local
Macromedia distributor for pricing and availability.
About Director
Director 6.5, the leading tool for multimedia and web development, allows
developers to create interactive multimedia applications for delivery on
the web (via the Shockwave plug-in or Java), CD/DVD-ROM, or hybrid CD.
Director can import most standard formats, including PowerPoint, QuickTime,
AVI, graphics and sounds to create richly interactive content. The power of
Director can easily be extended though drag-and-drop behaviors, Lingo (the
built-in Director scripting language), C, C++, and JavaScript.
The Director Multimedia Studio includes tools for creating and editing
interactivity, animations, sounds, and 2D and 3D graphics, so developers
can create product demonstrations, informational kiosks, tutorials,
entertainment applications, and promotional web games and more.
About Macromedia
Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) is a leading
provider of software products, each designed to help make creativity and
interactivity more possible in the new technology ecosystem. Macromedia's
award-winning products for Windows, Macintosh and the Internet are
available to business, education, and government customers worldwide.
Additional information on Macromedia is available on the Internet at
www.macromedia.com.
