Creating projectors

You can include only Director MX 2004 movies in projectors. You can use the Update Movies command to convert older movies to the latest version of Director. For more information, see Converting movies created in previous versions of Director.

To create a projector:

Select File > Publish Settings.
The Publish Settings dialog appears.
From the Formats tab, select Projector in the Publish section of the dialog box.
From the Player type pop-up menu on the Projector tab, select Standard to create a standard Projector or select Shockwave to create a Shockwave projector.
Standard includes the uncompressed player code in the projector file. This option starts the movie faster than other options but creates the largest projector file.

Shockwave makes the projector use the Shockwave Player installed in a user's system instead of including the player code in the projector file. If the Shockwave Player is not available when the movie runs, the movie prompts the user to download it.
Select from the following options:
Animate in Background lets the movie continue playing if a user switches to another application. This is useful if you want the movie to continue running in the background when its window is not active. If this option is not selected, the movie pauses when the user switches to another application and resumes when the user switches back.

Full screen sets the movie to fill the entire screen when playing.

Center stage in monitor insures that the movie stays in the center of the screen when playing.

Escape key terminates lets the user press the ESC key to exit the movie.

Reset Monitor to Match Movie's Color Depth automatically changes the color depth of your monitor to the color depth of each movie in the projector play list. For example, if you are working on a color monitor set to 256 colors and a movie in the play list was created in thousands of colors, the monitor automatically switches to thousands of colors.

Extra main memory

System temporary memory (Macintosh only) makes Director use available system memory when its own partition is full.
Once all Projector options are set, click OK or click Default to return the settings to their defaults.

Note: To avoid problems with linked media, create the new projector in its final folder location and do not move it to a different folder. Director turns the movies, casts, and included Xtra extensions into a single projector.

You can also set options for the files that are associated with the Projector movie. By default, a projector consists of just the current movie. However, you can add external cast files and exclude Xtra extensions, among other options.

To set Files tab options:

Select File > Publish Settings.
On the Formats tab, click the Projector option.
Click the Files tab.
To set the Primary movie components, select from the following options:
Include linked cast files includes any linked cast files in the projector.

Exclude all xtras lets you exclude some or all Xtras from your projector. For more information, see Excluding Xtra extensions from projectors.

Compress files (Shockwave format)

Add Files opens a dialog box that lets you select additional Director Movie or Cast files to the current projector.

Remove All deletes all added files.

Play every movie in list ensures all movies in your movie list play.

Loop sets the movie to keep playing.
Click OK to save changes and return to the movie.
Click Cancel to reject changes and return to the movie.
Click Publish to publish the movie with these settings.

To create a fast-start projector:

Create a new folder on your computer desktop.
It does not matter what you name the folder.
In Director, select Modify > Movie > Xtras.
The Movies Xtras dialog box appears.
Select the name of each Xtra and deselect Include in Projector for each, then click OK.
Select File > Save and Compact.
If you are adding multiple movies to the package, repeat steps 2 through 4 for each of the movies.
Select File > Create Projector.
In the Create Projector dialog box, select the movies to include in the projector and click Add.
Click Options and select one of the following:
Shockwave (Windows) and click OK.

Standard (Macintosh) and click OK.
In the Create Projector dialog box, click Create.
In the dialog box that appears, type a name for the projector. If necessary, use the pop-up menu to browse to the desktop folder you created in step 1, and then click Save.
Exit Director and return to your computer desktop.
Open the folder you created in step 1. Create a subfolder within this folder and name it Xtras.
In your Director application folder, copy the Xtra extensions required to play your movie into the Xtras folder you just created.
You must also include external movies, external casts, and linked media with your projector. If the external files are in the folder that contains the projector, the projector can automatically link to the files.
(Windows only) In your Director application folder, copy the files dirapi.dll, iml32.dll, proj.dll, and msvcrt.dll into the Xtras folder.
Start your projector to see it open quickly and play your movies.