February 16, 2006
Lists, Forums, Blogs: Where do you get your Director info?
As I'm muddling my way through 2006 and still becoming comfortable being an Adobe employee I've found myself doing a lot of mailing list and forum coverage. I'm trying to be in touch with the Director developer community as the demand for information is quite high at the moment. One of the things that struck me was how many different lists and forums are out there for topics like Director, Flash, Photoshop, etc. I guess I had lulled myself into feeling like "I've got it all covered" with respect to Director/Shockwave when in reality that's probably not the case. So I'm interested, how are you folks staying informed about all things Director? What mailing lists or forums you use to get help while doing development? What blogs do you monitor to stay informed about Director/Shockwave development as well as software development in general?
I'll start the conversation by citing the mailing lists I monitor regularly (daily basis):
Dir3D-L
Direct-L
Director_List (German)
DirGames-L
IGDA Casual Games SIG
Lingo-L
MM XDK-L
I'll admit that I'm also leaving off a few private/semi-private forums as well as beta programs I participate in. Beyond mailing lists I also try to monitor and periodically post to the Director Support Forums:
Director - 3D
Director - Basics
Director - Lingo
Director - Multiuser Server
As far as blogs go I've stayed focused on reading what comes across the Macromedia XML News Aggregator (MXNA) and in specific I obviously monitor the Director catagory. The MXNA has led me off to a number of personal and professional blogs as well as some interesting websites, but I haven't yet expanded much beyond that in terms of regular monitoring.
So I'm interested, how close to having it "all" covered does that leave me? I sense I've got the main areas reasonably well covered, at least as far as English speaking lists/forums/blogs I do. :) What am I missing? Where do you go?
Posted by thiggins at 02:21 PM
December 15, 2005
Coming up for air...
It's been a hectic few weeks around here, both the week leading up to and the week and a half after the acquistion closure have involved a lot of churn and made life very busy and interesting to say the least. Of course that doesn't even yet include the madness inducing pile driving that's going on across the street from our building (not 150 feet from my desk sits a massive pile driver that from 7am to 4pm goes GAGONG! GAGONG! GAGONG! all while nicely jiggling my desk and monitor), they've been going at it for 2 days now, only 26 more left to go! :(
Oh the troubles I have. :P I'm not posting anything substantive other than a brief post to let folks know that I'm still here and still active on the Director team. I've had a mild job shift from Technical Product Manager to Product Manager (meaning that I'll now also be focusing more on the "business" end of things in addition to helping our engineering staff), and I've had an email address change to an @adobe.com account (thiggins@adobe.com).
I'll return to posting regularly (or as regularly as I had been at least) starting tomorrow, especially now that some of the dust has settled a bit, there's a lot going on around here so I'm sure we'll have plenty to talk about.
Posted by thiggins at 04:20 PM
October 13, 2005
Thoughts on the game industry...
For those that haven't seen it yet, Katamari Damacy (from Namco) is a very interesting game to say the least. I'll admit that I'm not the biggest fan of it on all levels, but I do recognize that it breaks the mold a bit from the standard game genres being offered out there today. Well, apparently there's a sequel coming, called We Love Katamari, and the creator of the game, Keita Takahashi, discussed the original title, the sequel and the games industry in general at the recent Game Developer's Conference Europe (GDCE). He shared some interesting opinions on games and their development and I think this summary article and follow-up interview make for good reading if you're in the games development field using any tools, let alone Director or Flash. I hope folks out there find it as interesting as I did:
Focus On: Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi
Enjoy.
Posted by thiggins at 03:59 PM
August 02, 2005
QuickTime 7 for Windows
Now that Apple has posted a beta release of their QuickTime 7 player for Windows a lot of folks are installing the new player to see what it has to offer. Unfortunately in doing that those users are rendering themselves unable to view QuickTime movies as part of Director-authored content. The trouble here is that our current QuickTime Asset Xtra fails to properly detect this latest QuickTime player release and as such prevents the loading and use of QuickTime media assets. At this time we believe that we've identified the underlying cause of this issue as a bug in the QuickTime Player code itself but are working with Apple in order to confirm that fact and to see what type of fix will be required as we would obviously like folks to be able to view and enjoy QuickTime media within Macromedia Director, its projectors and the Shockwave Player.
Please keep an eye on the following Tech Note in the Director Support Center as it will be updated when more information is available:
QuickTime 7 Support in Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player
Note: please be careful and read the disclaimer provided by Apple with respect to installing the preview release of their player, it can be found in the lower-right corner of the QuickTime 7 player for Windows download page.
Posted by thiggins at 10:05 AM
November 29, 2004
The Director Advisory Council (DAC)
Today on dirGames-l, a Director game development mailing list, a thread came up discussing 3D and where Macromedia fits in. Part of that discussion brought up a question about how, if at all, our feature planning involved folks outside of Macromedia. The truth is that we are using developers to help us guide our release planning and I felt it woth posting that information here. Read on.
From dirGames-l:
> Maybe Tom should use "us" a bit more for business model
> planning, and we be a bit more constructive in terms of viable
> ideas. Problem is of course that Tom cannot reveal MMs plans
> fully. Maybe if he set up a small "group" of developers and
> others, to work out ideas with on a more detailed level, I
> believe that some good ideas that MM might be able to
> take advantage of, will arise. I must admit that I do think
> about these things quite often :)
Ahhhh, but we are doing this! In previous releases of Director we would gather a small group of developers from our previous beta program and have them take a look at pre-beta builds of the coming major release in order to solicit feedback from them on how things looked. The problem with that was the fact that the feedback came after we were supposedly feature complete thus leaving only wiggle room on features and not wholesale changes or shifts in the release plan. That stunk...
So as part of becoming product manager one of my desires was to get that feedback early, well before we ever reached alpha with our next release. We invited about 40 people from the DMX'04 beta program to participate (and I've since pulled on an additional 6-10 people by direct invite later) and they've been under NDA, testing the dot-releases and offering feedback on our thoughts and ideas for the next major release, including some of our thoughts and ideas surrounding 3D functionality. This is being done in conjunction with a new way of planning each release in which we do multiple waves of customer visits (on site) through which we solicit additional feedback directly from those using the product and some not using the product, all before we decide on a final and finished feature set. This second part about visiting customers is true across _all_ Macromedia products now, not just Director and it wasn't my idea but the work of others that I'm very happy to be working with.
To make a short story long, we are doing just what you said we should be doing, _right_now_. :) The existence of the Director Advisory Council is not confidential, but what we discuss there is as it pertains to future plans and whatnot which can be sensitive information. Obviously I think there will be a lot of you asking "well how do I get to be a part of the advisory council?" and my answer is this: get into the beta program! My plans going forward are to seed each new DAC with folks from the previous beta program, then to fill that out with additional developers as needed (based on their skills or development specialties). To apply for the beta program go here:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/programs/beta.html
And follow the instructions. No, we don't yet have a survey for our beta users like a few other products, but that's something I'm working on. Other than by invite following beta participation in a major release, it's by direct invite only so just being an active member of the community is all you can do. We understand that many folks want to participate in this program, but we must keep the size limited in order to keep things manageable, so not everyone can be involved.
Posted by thiggins at 09:57 AM
October 22, 2004
Changing Job Roles
Some of you might be quick enough to have noticed that I recently updated my email signature and am listing myself in a slightly new job role. I wanted to take a moment and explain the change so folks outside of Macromedia understand how Emmy and I will be working together as Product Managers for both Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player.
Until recently I was the Product Manager for Director whereas Emmy was the Product Manager for the Shockwave Player. In this arrangement I personally felt that my talents and experience weren't being used as I would have liked and so I asked to speak with folks about a change. My key strengths lie in being close to the product, in using Director and Shockwave every day, I am not robust when it comes to handling the business side of things and as such I wasn't performing at the level I prefer.
The fallout of our discussion was that Emmy would take over as Product Manager for both Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player while I would transition into a role of Technical Product Manager for both Director and Shockwave. This allows us to work together a bit more efficiently and play to each other's strengths.
So all in all there's nothing drastic in this change except that folks can be assured that I will find myself "in the saddle" a bit more in Director than I have been the past few months. I feel like my favorite toy was taken away from me as I was off working on other more management/business related items, but no more! That's all, we're both still here to help out and answer questions so drop us a line anytime.
Peace and have a good weekend all.
Cheers,
Tom Higgins
Technical Product Manager
Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player
Posted by thiggins at 04:20 PM
September 22, 2004
It's been a busy week around here
It's been a busy week here for the Director/Shockwave team at Macromedia and I thought I'd take a minute and point out some of the highlights that folks might enjoy.
Director/Shockwave 10.1 Update Release
Since the initial release of Director MX 2004 English product we've seen more than a few subsequent releases offering a smattering of changes across a number of builds, this includes both Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player. But now we've released a comprehensive 10.1 update for both in all languages that offers a good number of bug fixes and improvements as well as build parity across all languages.
I won't cite all the changes that went into this release here, rather I'd like to point everyone to some great starting points on macromedia.com:
Director MX 2004 Update - information/faq page
Director MX 2004 Release Notes
Bug Fix List
Documentation Corrections in 10.1
This release contains a ton of bug fixes and some nice changes to the Shockwave installer. For all users we're now using a "slim" installer which is nearly 2MB smaller than before. This was done along with some core player changes, all surrounding the Xtras downloading feature so that existing content continues to function without modifications. There are additional tech notes pending about these changes, how they affect developers and how folks will be able to point users to a full installer (one with all Xtras). On top of this we continue to pursue more agressive Shockwave licensing opportunities and now the free-license installer for fixed-media (CD/DVD) or intranet distribution is silent, meaning it has no Yahoo! Toolbar offer nor registration and the redirect. These are moves to make the installation an easier sell to your clients.
Sites of the Day
Today marks the second time in the past week that a Shockwave-based site has been chosen as the Site of the Day (SOD) on macromedia.com. Today's selection is the It's my style site developed by B-Reel for Esselte, a school supply company. Last week on the 16th the Site of the Day was BMW1derland, a Shockwave-based site advertising the new 1-series cars from BMW, the content was developed by the folks at Meme Digital, including a known Director-list participant, Toxi. I think both sites are worth a visit to see what types of content are being developed, even if those involve looking at content made by that "other" product of Macromedia's. :)
For reference, here is today's (Wednesday, September 22, 2004) Site of the Day URL:
And you can always check the archives pages to look up earlier Site of the Day entries:
A Director/Shockwave Case Study
In addition to getting some attention via the Site of the Day selections folks might also have noticed that a great new Showcase Feature has been posted about Director and interactive 3D being used to create educational content for Pearson Prentice Hall by Forge FX. The case study describes the challenges faced by the developers and how Director and Shockwave were used to meet those challenges. Hopefully folks will find it a good read that provides some insight into how they might use Director and Shockwave as well.
Like I said, there's been a lot going on around here and there's more on the go. Stay tuned as we're doing our best to kick up a little dust and get some attention, focus and action around our favorite tool and player, Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player.
Cheers all!
Posted by thiggins at 02:39 PM
August 19, 2004
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Many of us are already well aware that Service Pack 2 is slowly working its way on to the desktops of computers around the world, but for those not yet aware, or those wanting to read more detailed information here's a handy link:
Changes to Functionality in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
The document above is some good documentation about the changes made to the Windows XP operating system, but of course it doesn't discuss how the multimedia developer is going to be impacted. Macromedia has definitely taken steps to informing our developers as to what steps, if any, they will need to take and how their content will be affected. I highly recommend that everyone read the following DevNet article written by Waleed Anbar, the Flash Player Product Manager:
Upcoming Changes in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2
In the above article Waleed walks folks through the changes in the operating system and describes how that will impact your content and development processes. In the above article Waleed provides links to a range of information that will prove useful in understanding things a bit more. Please also stay tuned to the affected product/player Support Centers on macromedia.com as over time they will also be updated with a number of tech notes containing information pertinent to each individual player.
Authorware Support Center
Flash Player Support Center
Director Support Center
I hope that helps, enjoy!
Posted by thiggins at 07:17 PM
August 02, 2004
Long time no post...
Hey everyone, sorry that I've been remiss in my duties by not posting more here in my blog. Ok, maybe I should have said I'm sorry for not really posting at all so far outside of my initial meet-and-greet post.
So in an effort to get myself accustomed to posting blog entries I'd like to start by mentioning two recent additions to the Director Developer Center that are worth checking out. The first is a number of Lynda.com training videos for Director MX 2004. Many of these, if not all, are the same as those found on the Director MX 2004 install CD, but now they're easily accessible via the Developer Center and for me that's a good thing. These training videos can be found here:
Director Video Tutorials by lynda.com
The second new item to the Director Developer Center is a great article by Karl Sigiscar about how you can use his Chrome Library to create interactive 3D content. The Chrome Library is a collection of scripts that are ready for use inside Director and are available as a free download from the Director Exchange or from within the article itself. Karl's article, the Chrome Library and some sample files can all be found here:
Creating Advanced Interactive 3D Content with the Chrome Library Set of Behaviors
I hope that either if not both of the above prove instructional and useful to anyone using Director.
Posted by thiggins at 06:18 PM
June 09, 2004
beginBlog(#introduction)
So this blog thing has finally been around long enough to drag me into the mix. It took some time but I now see that a blog can be a very good thing, an easy and effective way for me (and others) to share what's on their mind. Hopefully the comments and thoughts I post will prove useful to those using or interested in using Macromedia Director and the Shockwave Player. I figured I'd start off by giving a bit of history about myself so that those who don't know me get a bit of understanding about where I come from and how I came to be here today.
Once upon a time... No, bad start...
I've been at Macromedia for almost six years now and I've spent that entire time working on Director. I started on the technical support team during the Director 6.5 days and then during the Director 8 beta cycle I transferred to the QA team. I then stayed on as a QA engineer until just earlier this year when I was promoted to Product Manager for Director. During my time here I've been on the front lines taking phone calls and answering emails, I've presented at a number of events and conferences and I've been involved in testing a number of key features. In addition I've been involved in numerous other aspects of building and supporting Director, from helping out with our documentation to writing articles for our website, you name it and I'll give it a go.
Folks, I love Director. I work on Director here at Macromedia as my job and yet I still go home and occassionally do projects in Director for fun. It's a good spot for me to be in and so for now, I'm enjoying the ride. I'll be back soon with something actually usefull, but for now all you get is the meet & greet intro post.
Cheers,
Tom
Posted by thiggins at 12:20 PM