Explains how to use Director software to create multimedia, including the creation of animations and games, getting sound and video data from the Web, and using third-party plug-ins

Macromedia Director 6 is the premiere authoring tool for delivering interactive content on both the Internet and the desktop. It is the dominant multimedia package for Windows 95/NT, Windows 3.1, and the Macintosh. A quarter million developers use Director® to incorporate animation and audio into dynamic Web pages, and to create engaging interactive corporate presentations, multimedia advertising, entertainment CD-ROMs, Enhanced music CDs, and even DVDs.Lingo is Director's powerful scripting language. This companion book to Director in a Nutshell is an essential tool for both new and experienced Lingo programmers seeking a deeper knowledge of the language. Bruce Epstein is the author of both these books and brings years of hands-on experience with Director and Lingo. The book includes numerous useful Lingo examples. Exhaustively tested, this book corrects many errors found in Macromedia's Lingo documentation and repeated verbatim in most third-party books. Extremely comprehensive, this book details dozens of misdocumented and undocumented Lingo keywords that are omitted from Macromedia's manuals and third-party books.Lingo in a Nutshell caters to the huge pool of Director users attempting to bridge the Lingo gap, yet provides the details for the experienced Linguist that are lacking in other Lingo books. In typical nutshell style (clear, concise, deep and narrow) this book explores the syntax, structure and commands of the Lingo language. The detailed chapters describe messages, events, scripts, handlers, variables, lists, file I/O, Behaviors, child objects, Xtras, and more. This book teaches you to troubleshoot and debug common Lingo errors. Lingo in a Nutshell is the book for which both Director users and power Lingo programmers have been yearning.The book extensively covers topics not found in other Lingo books:Cross-platform Lingo differences Lingo internals for experienced programmers Events, messages, and scripts Timers, tempos, cue points, and synchronization Data types and expressions Math, numerical expressions, geometry, and trigonometry Coordinates, alignment, and registration point Lingo in a Nutshell is the most concise and compete guide available. It is a high-end handbook at a low-end price. An essential desktop reference for every Director user.

A guide to ActionScript covers such topics as runtime, color, drawing, masking, arrays, movie clips, strings, and sound. (view table of contents)