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Macromedia Unveils Director
7 Shockwave Internet Studio and New Shockwave 7
Major Upgrade to the Premier Tool
for Creating and Delivering Powerful Multimedia Enables Richer,
More Compelling Web Experiences
SAN FRANCISCO, - Macromedia, Inc.
(Nasdaq: MACR) today announced DirectorR 7
ShockwaveTM Internet StudioTM,
a major upgrade to the company's flagship authoring software.
The established standard for creating and delivering powerful
multimedia, Macromedia Director is re-architected for the Internet,
enabling developers to build the most engaging, entertaining
Websites possible. The company also debuted Shockwave 7, a major
new release of the popular Web interactive multimedia player.
Optimized for speed and ease of use, Shockwave 7 provides the
fastest, most reliable interactive multimedia playback available.
"The Internet is changing
everything, and Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio will change
the Internet," said Norm Meyrowitz, President
of Macromedia Products. "Extensive research into customer
needs for multimedia development helped us define core capabilities
for the Studio: narrowband and broadband-quality animation,
rich audio integration, streamlined playback, and support for
emerging Web standards such as XML. With these innovative new
features, our customers can build Websites that engage, entertain,
and educate through the compelling use of sound, animation,
and interactivity. Anyone who is developing Web content needs
to look at the Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio."
Director 7 features an optimized,
completely redesigned playback engine and a comprehensive set
of new Internet features. Support for a wide range of media
types as well as sophisticated effects -- such as alpha channels
and dynamic scaling and rotation -- allow developers to create
compelling experiences that marry the production values and
visceral appeal of television with the immediacy of the Internet.
The compact Shockwave player gives multimedia developers reach,
providing them access to a mass audience. Ease of use features
like pre-built behaviors make authoring multimedia simpler and
faster.
The Studio includes Macromedia
FireworksTM, a highly acclaimed tool for creating
and producing Web graphics, as well as Sonic Foundry's Sound
Forge XP4 or BIAS Peak LE for professional quality sound editing.
Customers also receive a multi-user server for creating distributed
Shockwave experiences such as multi-player games and online
chat rooms.
All-New Shockwave
Shockwave 7 has been revamped to deliver incredible multimedia
experiences on the Internet. Playback is faster and more stable,
thanks to optimized event processing, smart media streaming,
and faster startup. Shockwave 7 downloads quickly and updates
automatically, providing easy access to rich multimedia Web
experiences regardless of connection speed. With over thirty
million successful downloads to date, Shockwave is the de facto
standard for interactive Web multimedia. Inclusion of the player
in Microsoft Windows 98, MacOS 8.5, and AOL 4 gives Shockwave
the greatest reach of any interactive multimedia playback technology,
creating the infrastructure for an unprecedented diversity of
entertainment and educational programming. Shockwave 7 delivers
high performance, new effects and, with auto-updating, the guarantee
that Web audiences will always be able to view the latest multimedia.
Internet-Native Design and Delivery
To address the growing sophistication of Web applications, Director
7 now supports Internet standard protocols such as HTML, with
links to all Director-supported media types (text, graphics,
sound, video, and animation); HTTP for media distribution; HTTPS
for secure e-commerce transactions; XML for data exchange; CGI
POST for two-way communication; and updated support for Java.
Super-compressed "Shocked" fonts beautifully solve
the problem of cross-browser and cross-platform typeface display,
and the anti-aliased text can be edited even at run time. The
multi-user server dramatically reduces the cost of creating
multi-player games and shared experiences such as media-rich
chat rooms by eliminating the need for complex, custom-engineered
server solutions. New vector drawing tools and native support
for Flash animations allow developers to easily integrate high-quality,
compact vector imagery, further reducing download times.
Compelling, Immersive Web Experiences
A central issue facing Web developers is how to create sites
rich with sound, animation, and interactivity in a bandwidth-constrained
environment. Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio addresses
this problem, adding support for sophisticated features such
as alpha channels to control object blending and transparency,
plus real-time effects such as flipping and skewing. Processing
is performed dynamically on the client machine, taking advantage
of today's processor speeds while reducing demand for bandwidth
-- resulting in a faster, more enjoyable experience for Web
audiences. In addition to its native effects capabilities, Director
7 uniquely allows developers to integrate and control other
key Web technologies such as Flash, QuickTime 3, QTVR, animated
GIF, HTML, and XML, enabling Internet retailers, entertainment
sites, and others to communicate with maximum effectiveness.
"Reebok is a brand about
technology and creating possibilities," said Marvin
Chow, Director of Interactive Marketing, Reebok International
Ltd. "In Reebok's continuous effort to improve communications
with its consumers and retailers, innovative technology often
comes into play. Macromedia's Director 7 Shockwave Internet
Studio is a pivotal technology, allowing us to create a rich
interactive experience both on the Web and CD-ROM."
Immediate Creation and Playback
Director 7 speeds multimedia authoring with new behavior libraries
so that experienced designers and novices alike can quickly
add animation and interactivity to Websites -- encouraging surfers
to spend more time on the site and return more often. New drag-and-drop
behaviors in Director 7 include multi-state buttons, progress
bars, rotation, quad animation, scale effects, and many more
useful operations. Behaviors are fully editable, and can be
shared across projects via the new Library Palette. Director's
powerful Lingo scripting language has been greatly enhanced
to control Internet connectivity, vector shapes, alpha channels,
scaling, and rotation. In addition, Lingo now supports an efficient
dot syntax -- familiar to users of JavaScript or Visual Basic
-- along with script coloring for faster coding and debugging.
The new playback engine enables
Director 7 to support up to 1000 media channels per frame. Animation
performance has been dramatically increased as well: Director
can now process and play back up to 999 frames per second. Importantly,
all this power has been added without sacrificing Director's
simple visual development metaphor, which has become the industry
standard.
Pricing and Availability
 Director
7 Shockwave Internet Studio for Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0
or later, and MacOS 7.6.1 or later, will be available in December
1998 for an estimated street price of US $999 in North America.
Registered users of previous versions of Director can upgrade
to the Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio for US $499 or the
standalone version of Director 7 for US $449 (U.S. and Canada).
The Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio can be purchased by
calling 800-457-1774, or bought directly from Macromedia's Website
at http://www.macromedia.com.
Interested parties outside North America should contact their
local Macromedia distributor for pricing and availability.
About Macromedia
Macromedia's mission is to add life to the Web. By providing
its award-winning Web Publishing, Web Traffic, and Web Learning
solutions to Web designers, consumers, and the enterprise, Macromedia
is delivering a completely new generation of Internet tools
and technologies designed to transform the Web experience. Headquartered
in San Francisco, Macromedia has more than 500 employees worldwide
and is available on the Internet at http://www.macromedia.com.
Macromedia also hosts one of the most engaging entertainment
sites on the Web at http://www.shockrave.com.
SOURCE Macromedia, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.macromedia.com
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