Director
8.5 Shockwave Studio
at a Glance
Maker:
Macromedia
Price: $1,199 for the full version (Studio includes
Director 8.5, Fireworks 4, Shockwave Multiuser Server
3 and some freebie software); upgrades are also available
Platforms: Macintosh and Windows
URL: http://www.macromedia.com
Overall
Impression: It's difficult to generalize about a
suite as feature-rich as Director 8.5. This multimedia
authoring suite offers incredible flexibility and robust
scripting without being overly complicated. It allows
you to build Web content or standalone applications
with ease and with a great degree of sophistication.
Whether you're developing the latest D&D adventure
game or simply building a presentation to take on the
road with you, it would be difficult to find something
this powerful and easy to use.
Key
Benefits: Director 8.5 is the first viable platform
for total 3D and interactive authoring. The power is
incredible, as is the simplicity for some of the more
common functions. The ability to drag library behaviors
over objects makes this an incredibly valuable tool
for rapid multimedia development, while the Lingo scripting
offers essentially unlimited expandability for more
complex projects.
Disappointments:
In terms of library support, the 3D offerings are plentiful,
but you can't do as much with it. There are some playback
problems with QuickTime elements, and there's also artifacting
when you apply vector motions to 3D objects. (This last
one could be a graphics card issue with the ATI Rage
128 AGP.)
Recommendation:
Strong Buy as both an upgrade and a straight purchase.
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review
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AUGUST 2, 2001
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Macromedia
Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio
[Page 5 of 5]
I have, however,
been able to test QuickTime in both version 8 and version 8.5. In
both cases, there are some issues with QuickTime that have yet to
be resolved, whether the client's using QuickTime 4 or 5. Specifically,
in Director 8, there were problems with artifacts appearing when
an object moved over the QuickTime image. In Director 8.5, the problem
seems a little more severe.
 Now,
in an earlier review, I said that I was having problems arranging
QuickTime movies in the stage area (send to back, bring to front,
etc.). However, thanks to one of our readers, Gary Ingle of the
AllMedia Design Group (http://www.allmediadg.com),
I have learned that there's a quick fix to this. Simply uncheck
"Direct to Stage" in the QuickTime Property Inspector,
as seen in the image to the right. All of a sudden, the QuickTime
movie can be arranged as I see fit.
It's impossible
for me to say whether Real content experiences the same problems,
but I hope to bring you more on the topic when I'm able to
test it and also to bring you a workaround for the QuickTime
problem when I'm able to figure one out.
The
bottom line
The Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio is an incredible value,
and "value" isn't a word that comes up too often
in the $1,200 product category. The new features in 8.5 make
it worthy of a full number upgrade, and I'm a bit surprised
Macromedia didn't take this route. I'm also not sure what
they could add, excepting some new library behaviors and a
QuickTime bug fix, to release a version 9.0. Seriously. I
can't think of anything major they could add. I could see
incremental upgrades, such as additional shaders and maybe
some additional physics, but that's about it. Whether you're
doing game development, building presentations to take on
the road, creating chat rooms or simply building interactive
content for a Web site, Director 8.5 is great. The bonus of
a full version of Fireworks 4, which itself received a "strong
buy" recommendation from us, makes it irresistible.
Any of
you out there who have used Director in the past must realize
that I've barely covered the program at all. There's just
so much to do with it that I probably couldn't do it justice
with a review five times as long as this one.
There
were the negatives of the QuickTime playback problem and the
inability to import OBJ files as advertised. I will modify
these comments if I can figure out a way to get around them.
At any rate, these problems can't overshadow Director 8.5's
overall appeal. I give the Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio a
strong buy recommendation.
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