Using digital video in Director: an Overview

This TechNote provides a basic introduction to digital video in Director, as well as links to video related TechNotes. This information is intended to supplement the help documentation. See Using Director>Sound, Video, and Synchronization. Please refer to the documentation as well as this TechNote for a full overview of using digital video in Director.

Note: Director is not a digital video editing application. The video related TechNotes on this site are intended to address information about digital video implementation within Director. We do not provide documentation on creation and editing of digital video itself. Please refer to Third Party resources for digital video (TechNote 12149) for more information.

Director can seamlessly incorporate digital video to create rich multimedia applications. There are many variables involved in the creation and incorporation of digital video into a presentation. Please read all documentation regarding your intended video format before implementing video integration within Director.

Importing and Playing video
Digital video can be imported via the import dialogue box, File>Import. Digital video members are always linked and must be included externally with any projector or Shockwave movie. Because digital video is always imported as linked, it is not necessary to select "Link to external file" in the Media drop down menu within the import dialogue box.

The frames of a digital video sprite do not correspond to the frames of a Director movie. Therefore, a digital video sprite does not have to be stretched out in the score in order to play in its entirety. The digital video will continue to play as long as the playback head is within the digital video sprite range.

The most common method for playing a digital video in Director is to place a script in a frame that loops until the digital video is done, then continues to play the rest of the Director movie. To see how this method works, refer to the digital video sample movies available for download. Refer to the "Examples" section below.

Linked media in Shockwave
For security reasons, Shockwave will only link to media on a local disk if it is in a folder named 'dswmedia'. To test movies in a browser locally before uploading them to your Web server, place the movie, linked casts, and linked media in folders within a folder named 'dswmedia'. For more information about the dswmedia folder, read Using dswmedia folders and the support folder.

Examples
For examples of how to control digital video using Lingo, see the digital video section in Director Sample Movies (TechNote 14350). For a list of Lingo terms specific to digital video, see Lingo by feature> Digital Video in the Lingo dictionary.

Supported Formats
Director supports Apple's QuickTime and QuickTime Virtual Reality (QTVR), AVI (Video for Windows), and limited MPEG video. For more details about these formats, see the related sections below. Additional digital video formats may be supported through 3rd Party Xtras. To view a list of 3rd party Xtras, see the Xtra Extension page, or Updatestage.com.

QuickTime and QTVR
Director uses the QuickTime Asset Xtra to import and play QuickTime and QTVR videos. The QuickTime Player must be installed in order to play QuickTime content inside of a Director movie. The QuickTime Asset Xtra must be available for a projector or Shockwave movie in order to use QuickTime content. For the latest information about QuickTime Player, see Apple's QuickTime site.

The QuickTime Asset Xtra allows Director to access properties of QuickTime movies and QTVR's, such as masks and hotspots. The version of the QuickTime player installed can be detected using the Lingo command 'QuickTimeVersion()'. For information about Xtras and how they work in Director see Using Xtras in Director: An overview (TechNote 14888).

For more information about implementing QuickTime video within Director, see Using QuickTime in Director (TechNote 13747). For more information about implementing QTVR in Director, see Using QuickTime VR video in Director (TechNote 13742).

AVI
Director can import AVI movies and play them back in projectors and Shockwave movies. AVI movies play using Video for Windows, unless they are imported as QuickTime.

In Director for Windows, AVI movies can be imported in either AVI or QuickTime format. Upon import, a dialogue box will appear allowing the choice of AVI or QuickTime format.

In Director for Macintosh, AVI movies are always imported as QuickTime.

AVI videos imported as QuickTime require the QuickTime Asset and the QuickTime Player for importing and playback. For more information about implementing AVI video within Director, see Using AVI video in Director (TechNote 13741).

MPEG
MPEG videos are not considered a native Director format. However, there are methods for playing MPEG movies in Director.

Director for Windows can import MPEG video as QuickTime using the QuickTime Player (version 5 and above). MPEG videos imported into Director as QuickTime require the QuickTime Asset Xtra for importing and playback as well as the QuickTime Player (version 5 or above) for playback.

Director for Macintosh can import MPEG video as QuickTime using QuickTime Player (version 3 and above). MPEG movies imported as QuickTime require the QuickTime Asset Xtra for importing and playback as well as the QuickTime Player (version 3 or above) for playback.

Another option for importing MPEG video into Director is to use a Third Party Xtra. For a list of third party Xtras, see the Xtra Extension page, or Updatestage.com.

For more information about implementing MPEG video within Director, see Using MPEG video in Director (TechNote 13743).

Note: There are several versions of MPEG video, but not all can be incorporated into Director. MPEG-4 formatted video can be imported into Director via QuickTime 6 and later. Other versions of MPEG may be supported via the use of a Third party Xtra. Refer to TechNote 13743 above for more information about supported MPEG formats.

DVD
For information regarding the use of DVD and Director, see Director and DVD (TechNote 13466).

The following is a list of additional digital video TechNotes:

Basic techniques for working with digital video in Director (TechNote 12114)
Troubleshooting digital video performance in Director (TechNote 12128)
Exporting Director movies as digital video (TechNote 12137)
Output of Director movies to videotape (TechNote 12138)
Frequently asked questions about digital video in Director (TechNote 12137)
Third Party Digital Video information (TechNote 12149)