B. Manipulating and Producing Aspects of Multimedia:

The main advantage of using Director MX is that Lingo scripting can be used to enable interactivity with QuickTime videos and graphical assets, by controlling the playhead on the timeline, so it (and therefore the users experience) is not restricted to a linear path.

I made 8 Director movies (.dir) representing each scene, then published them as Shockwave (.dcr) movies which were then imported into the .html product website via Dreamweaver.

To view the finished product go to:
Project Website

CREATING THE MENU:

As I am quite new to this software, I was initially assisted by Leslie, who created a demo to show how the interactive menu could work:
http://www.maimm.arts.ac.uk/~nlna/ddemo/bmurderdemo.dir

From this I realised I would need to create 4 images for each character in the menu, and I used the code:

go to the frame +1

&

go to the frame –1

On the up/down buttons to allow the user to control the menu.

Because +1 on last frame of the menu will take you to next frame in along the timeline, not back to the last character in menu, I added an individual 'up' button to the 1st frame in menu with 'go to frame 10’ (last menu frame in abm1.dcr). Accordingly I also added an individual 'down' button to first frame in menu with 'go to frame 7’ (1st menu frame in ab1.dcr).

INTEGRATING FLASH:

I needed a code to make the playhead jump automatically to the next frame after the Flash intro animation finished.
We used-

on exitFrame
if sprite(2).playing = 1 then
go to the frame
else go to frame 2
end if
end

This is an 'if, then, else' script.
This means if the sprite 2 (which is our flash animation as it is in channel 2 of the timeline) is playing (=1, means 'playing'), then playhead must 'go to the frame' (keep looping within it's frame/frames), else (otherwise, i.e, if the flash animation has finished playing, so it no longer =1), then it must go to frame 2 (or whatever number/marker you need to go to).

Tutor Rob found this code for me, as I tried to find a suitable code, but none worked effectively.

PLAYING QUICKTIME CLIPS + JUMPING TO NEW FRAME AT END:

The most problematic script was the one to make the playhead automatically jump to the ‘disconnecting’ screen after each QuickTime video had finished, we initially used this one, which was slightly adapted from the previous code used for the Flash intro:

on exitFrame
if the movieRate of sprite 2=1 then
go to the frame
else go to 'end'
end if
end

'end' was the marker on the timeline for the 'disconnecting' Flash animation.

This code was used to tell the playhead that if the QuickTime video (sprite 2) was playing (movieRate = 1) then 'go to the frame' (keep looping within frame), else (if it's stopped playing) go to 'end'.

This worked within Director, and on the .html preview of the .dcr movies on the Mac platform, but not on PC. However, when uploaded to the server, .dcr’s with this code didn’t play reliably on Mac’s either (sometimes they played, sometimes not, and on some Mac’s but not others).

We then tried a suggestion from Rob-

on exitFrame me
if the movieTime of sprite 2 < 2068 then
go to the frame
else if sprite(2).movieTime = 2068 then go "end"
end if
end

This Script tells the playhead to 'go to the frame', as long as the Video hasn't reached it's total number of 'ticks' (measurement of video length in Director), in this case 2068 ticks. When the video has reached this number, it's told to go to 'end'.

Again, this didn’t work once the .dcr movie was uploaded to the server.
We experimented with many other possibilities; I also searched the web, including many Director forums, but had no success finding a code that would work.

Eventually a colleague, Spiros, suggested we stretch the QuickTime clips, so they occupy more than one frame, and on the 1st frame add the Frame script:

on exitFrame me
go to the frame
sprite(2).movieRate = 1
if (sprite(2).movieRate = 1) then go to 16
end

16 is the frame number of a later frame in the QuickTime video, obviousl this nuber changes on scripts for different video clips.

And on the last frame, add the Frame script:

on exitFrame me
go to the frame
if (sprite(2).movieRate = 0) then go to frame "ani"
end if
end

This worked when published on the server, and also worked for both Mac and PC.

This script appears similar to our original script, using 'go to the frame' to get video to loop within it's frame and therefore play. However, it then additionally instructs the video to play (sprite(2). movieRate = 1) and then tells it if it playing, to go to frame 16 (which is after the 1st frame of our now stretched to 4 frames video). On the last frame of video the playhead is again instructed to 'go to the frame' , unless it has finished playing (movieRate = 0), in which case it must go to frame 'ani' .

Because this script is more detailed and specific, and because the video is stretched to accomodate 2 Scripts, it appears to be much more stable accross platforms and the web.

This problem arose in the final stages of the project, and in future I would time table more time to de-bug after uploading to the server. I would also test earlier on from the server, in case I found problems that I couldn’t find solutions to, at least I would have time to create the product differently, rather than having an entire product in a finished state that I can’t get to work.

LINKING MULTIPLE .DCR’S:

As I found the Lingo was often more problematic and complex when it was required to navigate through frames automatically (rather than as a response to a user clicking a button), I decided to link the .dcr’s with a ‘Continue’ button, with a cast script on the button with the code put up by Rob:

on mouseUp
gotoNetMovie "http://maimm.linst.ac.uk/~nlna/dswmedia/abm2.dcr"
end

This worked, however, on testing the entire site, only the first 3 .dcr’s linked, although all had this code. I re-made the links, copying and pasting the same code, re-published, and then they all worked. This is an example of a software bug, and I learnt from it that I need to test each part of the project as I make it, instead of assuming the same thing will always work. This will also save time and frustration.

PRE-WRITTEN BEHAVIOURS:

I used the typing script found in-
Behaviour Inspector - Library - Text – Typewriter

And the ‘Finger’ cursor-
Behaviour Inspector – Library – Animation – Interactive – Rollover Cursor Change

There is not much I could learn from using these, however, they are quick and simple ways to use the inbuilt features in Director to enhance the product.

LINGO HEIRACHY:

Scripts to stop playhead until instructed to move (named 'stop'), and to control Video and Flash are all Frame scripts on the Frame channel above the timeline, as this type is the most powerful.

Behaviour scripts were added to the buttons for foreword and back options (named 'foreword' and 'back') on left right & up down buttons.

Behaviour scripts were also used on left 'View Info' buttons to go to a Character profile, and then back to the Menu (labelled with markers).

Cast scripts were added to buttons that had an individual action (ie, instead of going back 1 frame, they needed to go back 4). This heirachy presented me with no conflicts.