Director Tutorials

 

Dean's Director FAQ - PERFORMANCE

Another FAQ exists at MediaMacros, which is new and extensive.

Performance

Question: How can I maximise the performance of my Director movies on the widest range of computers?
Answer:
Sometimes Director movie play OK on one machine but then on another the sound goes out of synch and the animation becomes jerky and slow. This is a challenge professionals in the industry continue to face. Slow playback can be due to a number of reasons, usually concerned with memory management. If you run your movie on a slow computer with low RAM, it won't play as well as a fast computer with lots of RAM.

So how do we fix the problem?

Well, first keep your file size as low as possible - this doesn't mean you must use only black and white images or simple shapes, but it does mean you should be careful when using lots of high resolution images. Keep them to a low colour depth - as low as practical. Use PhotoShop to change colour depth, not Director. Don't use redundant images - this means that if you have an animation with only part of an image changing, have separate cast members for the changing area ONLY. Avoid having multiple cast members that are identical. Delete any unused cast members, then choose 'Save and Compact'.

Summary for keeping images small in size.
Don't have images at excessive colour depths.
Don't repeat information in multiple images. If you have an animating image, only the changing area should be separate into a new image.
Crop images appropriately - don't use an image that is larger than the Stage size if you never see the hidden parts of the image.
Replace images with vector shapes where appropriate.
The main thing to keep your movies playing smoothly is to avoid making Director having to overwork. Break up your presentation into manageable chunks for Director to handle. Having lots of small movies will make Director load one section at a time rather than trying to load everything and then causing the whole project to slow down. You can even use the Unload command to unload cast members, movies or sections of your presentation, to free up space for things to come.

Other things that use a lot of Director memory as well as CPU power:
Using lots of transparency ink effects, such as fades.
Stretching large bitmap images for a zoom type effect.
(Both of the above make Director think harder. It has to work out the in between steps, so it may be faster to have separate images of different sizes or different transparency.)
Sound takes up a lot of space, try experimenting with Shockwave Audio / use MP3 audio. Remember compressed sound is better memory wise but more demanding on the CPU (to decompress)
Lengthy 'on idle' handlers.
Unnecessary 'updatestage' commands.
Sprites larger than the stage.
Anti-aliased vectors or flash members.
Using sampling rates other than the standard (11.025, 22.050, 44.100).
Playing multiple sounds simultaneously.
Shockwave audio uses less space but is more processor intensive.
Not setting digital video to 'direct to stage'.
Stretching digital video in increments other than 100%.
Using more sprite channels than necessary.
Looping on the first of the Score. (The first frame is usually where Director does it's housekeeping stuff, so best to leave it free).

Synchronising sound to animation can be very difficult because it depends on how fast the computer can load the sound and animation. To have tight synchronisation, you should use short sounds and use the tempo setting to wait for cue points. Using SoundForge allows you to add cue points to a sound, which you can synchronise to events in your Director movie.

Performance from CD
Check out:
DOUG - Putting your Director project on a CD-ROM: Part 1

DOUG - Putting your Director project on a CD-ROM: Part 2

Minimum Specifications

Question: What are the real minimum system requirements for a basic Director presentation to play on a ‘standard’ computers of today?
Answer:
For MX 2004 (current version)
Windows 98, Pentium II, 64MB
Windows 2000, Pentium III, 128MB
Windows XP, Pentium III, 128MB

Power Macintosh G3 running OS 10.1.5, 10.2.6, 10.3 for DVD playback, 128 MB RAM

Power Macintosh G3 , OS 9.2, 64 MB RAM

Here's a link to Macromedia's official playback requirements for Director 7, 8, 8.5, MX, MX 2004