Zeus Tech Note
Creating and Using Stub Projectors
(This document last revised April 22, 1997)
Copyright © 1996-1997. Zeus
Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Q. What is a "Stub Projector"?
A Stub Projector is a Director Projector that
contains a simple movie that merely calls an external
DIR or DXR
file to do all the real work. Stub projectors are highly recommended for
simplified development and distribution of all Director projects.
Q. Why would I want to use a Stub Projector?
There are several advantages to a stub projector,
all of which are significant.
- Because it refers to an external movie which does all the real work,
you do not need to rebuild your projector every time the external
Director file changes. This saves a LOT of time during development. It also
ensures that your Projector is always up to date, and incorporates the latest
changes as long as the external DIR file is current.
- Because DIR files and DXR files are binary-compatible
on Macintosh and Windows, you can use the identical external files on all
platforms. This saves a LOT of space. If you have a 100MB presentation,
you can build projectors for Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Macintosh that
cumulatively use about 3 MB.
- Stub Projectors are small. They can be copied to the hard drive
with the data remaining on the CD, and they will start up quickly. There
is at least one known bug with Director 5.0 under Windows 95, where it wants
free disk space on the hard drive equal to the size of the projector. A
stub projector's small size minimizes this issue.
Q. What are the drawbacks to a Stub Projector?
In some cases you may want one self-contained
package that includes all the assets. In this case, you should use a Stub
Projector during development, and then build and retest your final projector
that includes the DIR files internally.
Because you can control the order of movies inside a Stub Projector, you
can optimize the ordering for performance reasons. You will need to do this
manually through your CD-burning software if you leave the files external
to the projector. Most CD-burning software, such as Toast, allow you to
do this easily.
Q. Will a Stub Projector perform as well as when all movies are contained
in the projector?
Stub Projector should perform very similarly
to a projector containing all the assets.
You will need to ensure that the files are placed on the CD in an optimal
fashion. If you have a large number of external files, such as several hundred,
it may slow down the Macintosh file system.. Try to reduce the number of
external files or put them into multiple subdirectories.. Be sure to specify
exact paths, rather than using "the searchpath", and palce the
files in an optimal order when burning your CD-ROM.
You can also use the preLoadMovie command to load assets ahead of time.
Q. How do I create a Director Projector?
Refer to the TechNote,
"Creating Director Projectors for Mac and Windows"
for tips on creating your actual projector. First, you will need to create
your Director file to be used in the Projector. Refer to the discussion
below.
Q. How do I create a Projector that restarts my movie where it last
left off?
Refer to the TechNote,
"Restoring the Projector's State" for
tips on restoring a user's place in a projector.
Q. How do I protect my external Director files when using a Stub Projector?
You can protect your DIR files by creating
protected "DXR" files that remain external to the projector. Select
"Update Movies" from Director's "Xtras" menu. Choose
the "Protect (Prevents Editing)" option to create protected DXR
files.
Creating a Stub Projector
To create a Stub projector, you will first create a small Director movie,
that will be used to build the projector. It is very easy to create a Stub
movie yourself, or you can download the example
STUB.DIR file.
1. Create a new Director movie (the Stub movie) using Director's
"New...Movie
" option under the File
menu.
2. In the first frame of your Director movie, create a frame script
that goes to your first "real" movie. Assuming that the first
movie in your project is named "INTRO.DIR", use:
on exitFrame
go movie "INTRO"
end
By omitting the file extension, Director will look for the right file whether
it is named "INTRO.DIR", or "INTRO.DXR". This allows
you to use the same Projector without modification when you create protected
external DXR files. If you specifically use "INTRO.DIR" or "INTRO.DXR"
in your Lingo script, it won't work with both DIR and DXR files.
3. Set the stub movie's properties with Director's "Modify..Movie...Properties
"
option. Set the Stage Size and the Stage Background color as desired, plus
any other options as you see fit. Consult Director's documentation for details
on these options, and refer to the TechNote, "Creating
Director Projectors for Mac and Windows" for additional tips.
4. Test the Director movie and Save it as "STUB.DIR"
5. Create your projector for each platform:
- Choose "
Create Projector...
"
from Director's File
menu.
- Set the projector type, using the "
Options
"
button in the Create Projector dialog box.
- Select "STUB.DIR" in the left hand side file browser
window and Add it to the list of files to be included on the right
hand side. Do NOT add any other files to the Projector.
- Name your Projector
If you are building a Windows 3.1 Projector, name it something like "MyProj16.exe"
If you are building a Windows 95/NT Projector, name it something like "MyProj32.exe"
If you are building one or more Macintosh Projectors, name them something
like "My Proj 68K", "My Proj PPC" or "My Proj Fat"
Refer to the TechNote, "Creating
Director Projectors for Mac and Windows" for tips on creating your
actual projector.
Congratulations! You have built a Stub Projector which should serve you
well!
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Copyright © 1996-1997. Zeus
Productions. All Rights Reserved.