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Director Article

Tweening FX with the Chrome Library Set of 3D Behaviors for Shockwave 3D

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Karl Sigiscar

Karl Sigiscar

Sylis Business Solutions

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. The Scene Fade Behavior with the goldfish_hq.w3d File
  3. The Light Color Tweening Behavior with the suv_ford_hq.W3D File
  4. The Emissive Color Tweening Behavior with the tortoise_hq.w3d File
  5. The Fog Tweening Behavior with the tyrannosaurus_rex_hq.w3d File

Using the timeline in 3D Studio Max, Lightwave or any other 3D tool, graphic artists and animators can tween material properties to achieve visually compelling effects. Now you can do the same without code in Director MX. Using the Chrome Lib behaviors, you can tween the diffuse color, the emissive color, the blend level (transparency), and the shininess of materials (shaders). You can also tween the fog color and the fog distance as well as the light color, the camera's field of view, the model's transform position/rotation, and the pixel aspect ratio. The Chrome Library is available at the following address: www.chromelib.com

An overlay is a bitmap attached to the camera and displayed in the foreground. A backdrop is a bitmap attached to the camera and displayed in the background. When the camera moves in the world, the overlays and backdrops remain at the same position. You can tween overlays and backdrop properties such as their location, rotation, scale and blend as you would 2D sprites . Additionally, you can change their image overtime to create animations. In other words, the Chrome Lib allows you to do on top of a W3D scene everything you can usually do with two-dimensional (2D) sprites in the score.

In this article, I will show you a number of effects you can effortlessly achieve with the Chrome Library set of behaviors. The Tweening FX behaviors are easily identifiable in the Chrome Library set of behaviors, as their icon bears a triple dot on the upper left corner.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Macromedia Director MX



Sample Files



Download the free W3D files from TurboSquid.com

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About the author

Karl Sigiscar has been a multimedia and web developer since 1997. He developed edutainment CD-Roms with Director as well as dynamic websites. In late 2000, Karl joined the TRON Director 8.5 beta program. Since then, he has delved deeper into the many possibilities of Shockwave 3D (bipeds, havok physics, particles, LOD). In 2002, Karl developed the Shockwave 3D architecture of the game Mogi Mogi for NewtGames as well as the A8 3D interactive model visualization for audi.fr with Gedas France. He designed the Chrome Lib set of 3D behaviors to give power to designers, allowing them to create interactive Shockwave 3D scenes without code.

In 2003, Karl has successfully taken on the role of project manager for the complete overhaul of one of the brand sites of the General Motors group.

Now Karl works at Sylis Business Solutions, a software engineering company, as a consultant, leveraging the power of Flash, FLEX and U3D for Rich Internet Applications. He strongly endorses the U3D platform, especially in Adobe PDF, while still using Shockwave 3D for its many potentials.