Welcome to the first installment of Simply Shocking. In this column we will discuss topics that range from keeping the file sizes of your Shockwave movies down to creating movies that interact with other Internet standards (such as CGIs). The Shockwave movies that we demonstrate in this column will get progressively more interactive, but for the next few installments we will concentrate on non-interactive animation.

This week we will start with some basic tricks for creating eye-catching movies that flash multiple colors but are made up of only one PICT or BMP file that is solid black. The main objective of this example will be to import a single file into Macromedia Director, and then modify it using the Tools palette so that it appears that the object turns several colors. In order to save space in this column, assume that each week's example begins with a new Macromedia Director file. You should also read the instructions for using Afterburner, the application that will create a Shockwave file from your Director movie (included with the documentation for Macromedia Director).

Example Number One
In this example we will create a file using the Simply Shocking logo. The object will be to make the logo flash several colors without creating a new cast member for each color. For those of you who have used Director before, this will be elementary. For new users of Director this should be a very useful trick.

Step Number One
The first step will be to import the graphic we will use as our single color Cast Member. This graphic can be any size that you wish. The graphic should only have two colors (black and white), and it should be saved as a PICT for Macintosh or as a BMP for Windows. You should also reduce the size of your stage in Director to the dimensions (canvas size) of the graphic you import by changing Director's preferences for Stage Size (found under the File Menu).

Step Number Two
Now that we have imported the graphic (and resized our stage), we can place our Cast Member onto the center of our stage. The best way to do this is to drag it from the Cast Member Window into the Score. We will want the Cast Member to be placed in the first frame of the Score Window as seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Step Number Three
With our Cast Member in position it's time to duplicate it into Frame 5 of our Score. To do this select Frame 1 of the Score and then choose Copy from the Edit Menu. Once this is done select Frame 5 of the Score and choose Paste from the Edit Menu. This will place our Cast Member into the same position at both Frame 1 and Frame 5. Your Score Window will now look like Figure 2.

Figure 2

Step Number Four
Select Frame 1 through Frame 5. With these frames selected choose In Between-Linear from the Score Menu. This will duplicate our Cast Member into Frames 2 through 4.

Step Number Five
This will be our final step. With the Cast Member placed onto our Stage in Frames 1-5 we are now ready to add color to our project. To do this we will use the Tools Window in Director. First select Frame 1 in the Score Window. With Frame 1 selected click on the Foreground color block in the Tools Window. This will present you with a color palette from which to choose the color for the Cast Member at Frame 1 (see figure 3).

Figure 3

Select a color from the palette and then repeat these steps for Frames 2 through 5. When you have colored the Cast Member in each of the frames, place the following Lingo script in the Score Script at Frame 5:

     on exitFrame
       go to frame 1
     end

This script will loop the playback head so that it will return to Frame 1 upon leaving Frame 5. This loop will repeat until you hit the stop button on the Control Panel in Director. When you use this movie as a Shockwave it will repeat until the user leaves the page. In future columns we will cover adding interactivity that will allow the user to stop the playback of the Shockwave movie.

You now have one Cast Member that will flash five colors. When you finish viewing the movie in Director, save it to your hard drive, and then covert it by using the Afterburner application. The effect you see when you're done should look like the example below.