For more information contact: For Immediate Release
Macromedia Macromedia
Andrea Coffey Kirsten Armstrong
andrea@macromedia.com kirsten@macromedia.com
(415) 252-2260 (415) 252-4088
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, Calif. November 16, 1998 – Macromedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: MACR)
today announced Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio, a major upgrade to
the companys 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 Fireworks, a highly acclaimed tool for
creating and producing Web graphics, as well as Sonic Foundrys 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 todays 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. Macromedias
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. Directors
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
Directors 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 Macromedias
Website at (http://www.macromedia.com/)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
(NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 500 employees worldwide and is available on
the Internet at (http://www.macromedia.com/)http://www.macromedia.com.
Macromedia also hosts one of the most engaging entertainment sites on the
Web at (http://www.shockrave.com/)http://www.shockrave.com.