Shockwaves

I just heard from Dean Utian who has launched a new website http://www.deansdirectortutorials.com/ The site leverages years of Dean's collected knowledge on Director and features a host of very valuable tutorials along with really useful links from around the web. Dean has collected an amazing array of information that Director/Shockwave developers from beginning to advanced will find terrifically useful.

It's a definite first stop when you're looking for anything from a how-to tutorial to that link you can't remember how to find. Extremely well organized and thorough, it is a great collection of all things Director and sure to be a hit. Thanks Dean as always, your contributions to the community are worthy of praise indeed.

Posted by Allen Partridge at 11:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well it's official, on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at GDC, Director 11 was announced. The announcement featured a demo of a really unbelievably cool game by Lucas Meijer and the Artplant team that features BMX Bike racing across a series of terrains. The new physics look good and the graphics in the game are especially nice.

The news was pretty extensively covered. I've included links to the various articles and blogs below.

Press
AFP, February 19, 2008
Adobe takes aim at video game market
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gLGopmrDYeTRhI3bz0HksZ66YdfQ
(Also printed at Physorg.com)

CNET February 18, 2008
Adobe goes after game developers with 3D engine in Director 11
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9871126-7.html?tag=newsmap
(Also printed at Webware.com)

Digital Arts Online, February 19, 2008
Adobe finally upgrades Director to version 11
http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=9561

Macworld, February 19, 2008
Adobe Introduces Director 11
http://www.macworld.com/article/132148/2008/02/director11.html

Macworld UK, February 19, 2008
Adobe Director 11 ships March '08
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=20484

PCMagazine, February 19, 2008
Adobe’s New Director Takes Game Physics to Web
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2261329,00.asp
(Also printed at ExtremeTech.com)

Personal Computer World, February 19, 2008
Adobe Launches Director 11
http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/news/2209954/adobe-launches-director
(Also printed at computeractive.co.uk)

RTT News, February 19, 2008 (Press Release)
Adobe Systems Launches Adobe Director 11 Software
http://www.rttnews.com/sp/breakingnews.asp?date=02/19/2008&item=11&vid=0

TechConnect Magazine, February 19, 2008
Adobe announces Director 11 authoring software
http://www.tcmagazine.com/comments.php?shownews=18220

InfoWorld, February 19, 2008
Adobe upgrades Director
http://weblog.infoworld.com/tcdaily/archives/2008/02/adobe_upgrades.html

Campus Technology, February 19, 2008
Director 11 Coming in March
http://campustechnology.com/articles/58705/
(Also picked up in T.H.E Journal)

ChannelWeb, February 19, 2008
Adobe Upgrades Multimedia Authoring Tool
http://www.crn.com/software/206800478

Gaming Today, February 19, 2008
GDC 2008: Adobe 'Director 11' Coming in March
http://news.filefront.com/gdc-2008-adobe-director-11-coming-in-march/

Computer Business Review UK, February 20, 2008
Adobe Offers Multimedia Authoring Tool
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=A63108E5-AAC1-4FF5-AF18-419F33C0C49F

TechNews Daily, February 19, 2008
Adobe Director 11
http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/9224

Reuters, February 19, 2008
Analysts flag unusual buying in Adobe upside calls
http://www.reuters.com/article/CMPSRV/idUSN1927222220080219
(Also picked up in MSNMoney.com, EarthTimes UK, and U.S. Daily)

Blogs

Director Podcast, February 18, 2008
The NEW Director is finally here
http://www.magicgate.com/podcast/director/index.html

Impact, February 19, 2008
Adobe Rolls Out Director 11
http://blog.inm.com/index.php/2008/02/18/adobe_rolls_out_director_11

Yourmaclifeshow.com, February 19, 2008
Adobe to Launch Director 11 by March 2008
http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/content/adobe-launch-director-11-march-2008

G4 TV blog, February 19, 2008
Adobe Hopes to Corner Gaming
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/682949/Adobe_Hopes_To_Corner_Gaming.html?utm_source=g4tv&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=TheFeed

MacUser, February 19, 2008
Adobe Launches Director 11
http://www.macuser.com/software/adobe_launches_director_11.php?lsrc=murss

arstechnica, February 19, 2008
Adobe releases first update to Director in four years
http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/02/19/adobe-releases-first-update-to-director-in-four-years

Digg, February 19, 2008
Adobe announces Director 11 authoring software
http://digg.com/software/Adobe_announces_Director_11_authoring_software
(Linked to TechConnect Magazine article)

Director @ Night, February 19, 2008
Adobe Launches Director 11
http://www.directoratnight.com/2008/02/19/adobe-launches-director-11/

Developer Dispatch, February 19, 2008
Director 11 to Ship in March
http://developerdispatch.com/director-11-to-ship-in-march.html

GeekGlue, February 18, 2008
Director 11: Coming Soon
http://geekglue.blogspot.com/2008/02/director-11-coming-soon.html

Infoworld, February 19, 2008
Adobe upgrades Director
http://weblog.infoworld.com/tcdaily/archives/2008/02/adobe_upgrades.html

MacMinute, February 19, 2008
Adobe to Launch Director 11 by March 2008
http://www.macminute.com/2008/02/19/adobe-director-11/

Teachable Moment, February 19, 2008
Adobe Introduces Director 11
http://teachable.org/blog/?p=187

Ubergizmo, February 19, 2008
Adobe Launches Director 11!
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/02/adobe-director-11.html

So what's in it? Well the biggest thing is runtime support for MacPPC, Mac Tiger and Mac Leopard. Also runtimes on Windows platforms including Vista. That means that it will be a huge relief for continuing users. The 3D engine has added 3D save both in authoring and runtime, and the physics has shifted to Ageia. With Ageia physics comes, built in raycasting (which is much, much, much faster) and terrain / height maps. Also new is DirectX 9 support.

Also new is unicode support. Users can now easily port to other languages taking advantage of the integrated support for the extended character set used by many languages. In addition, text rendering is now unhinged from the operating system - allowing users to customize the antialiasing. Filters have also been added, including the usual array of drop shadows and other filters.

Posted by Allen Partridge at 09:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I'm back in San Francisco, and thrilled to find that the Director Podcast is in fact back. Skip emailed me to tell me that there had been over 1400 downloads in the first 24 hours. Honestly, how many software packages have theme songs and podcasts?

http://www.magicgate.com/podcast/director/

Rumors are swimming about Director. I heard whispers all over the plane. One kid ran up to me pointing and shouting 'Look mommy its that Director Preacher!' Needless to say I was totally flattered. After I slipped the kid a 20 I sat down to watch Wired Science on my iPhone. That's right, I did it. I bought the iPhone. I hate to admit it, but I haven't been happier with a tech-purchase since my blue clamshell ibook. Man I loved that thing. That was the first Mac I ran D8.5 on. You may bow your head in reverence when I mention 8.5.

So needless to say, when I saw the ads for the new MacBook Air... I drooled. I played the videos. I read the tech sheets. My eyes glistened over and I made wild suggestions to my wife that I should definitely get one. I even contacted Apple via the online chat to see how low end the video card would actually be. (They told me to buy a macBook Pro. It may have something to do with me telling them I generally use my laptop for 3D modeling, animation and game development.)

But after hauling my 22 lb (okay maybe not 22) Dell XPS Gen 2 Laptop halfway across the planet, my back wants a 3 lb laptop with screaming fast graphics performance and the sleekest look since my beloved clamshell. Okay maybe its unreasonable to ask for a 512 mb graphics card in the worlds thinnest computer, but a boy can dream can't he? Can't he?

Posted by Allen Partridge at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)