MM Essentials for Windows
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Multimedia Essentials for Windows Welcome to the world of Windows multimedia! Macromedia is pleased to provide you with tips, techniques, and direction for using a Windows–based environment to author and deliver successful multimedia productions. This guide is based upon inquiries from our end users, resellers, and developers and includes answers to questions frequently asked of our technical support group. We hope that it will help you navigate through many of the important choices you will face in cross-platform multimedia development. If you have previously used the Macintosh as an authoring platform, you will find this a useful guide to understanding the differences between Macintosh and Windows– based computers in order to take advantage of cross–platform authoring and delivery opportunities. Useful topics include working with different file formats and converting applications from Macintosh to Windows. If you are new to developing interactive multimedia productions on Windows—even if you are already familiar with the Windows environment—you will find this a beneficial overview of multimedia authoring on the Windows platform. This document offers guidelines for configuring your Windows environment for multimedia, tips for optimizing performance, and suggestions for effectively testing and distributing your productions. A multimedia glossary provides definitions for some of the most commonly used Windows, DOS, and multimedia terms and acronyms to help you become familiar with the talk of the trade. Even veteran Windows multimedia developers interested in becoming acquainted with Macromedia products and cross-platform delivery issues will find this guide informative. It will provide you with insights on how Macromedia tools can empower your multimedia development efforts. We hope that this guide will enable you to take advantage of the exciting opportunities of Windows–based multimedia. Macromedia is committed to providing you with the tools, training, and resources necessary to make your multimedia projects successful. 1 U.S. Trademarks Macromedia Action!, Authorware Star, ClipMedia, and MacroModel are trademarks of Macromedia, and Authorware, Director, MacRecorder, and Macromedia are registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright © 1994, 1995 Macromedia, Inc. This manual may be freely copied, photocopied, or reproduced in whole or in part without prior written approval of Macromedia, Inc. provided that all such copies retain the Macromedia logo and copyright notice. All other rights are reserved. First Edition: July 1994 Second Edition: April 1995 Macromedia, Inc. 600 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94103 2 Contents Introduction.................................................................................................7 Windows basics...........................................................................................8 Starting Windows ..................................................................................8 Program Manager and File Manager.....................................................9 Starting a program........................................................................10 Exiting a program.........................................................................10 Changing a window’s size or location.................................................10 DOS commands every Windows user should know............................12 Minding your file names......................................................................13 Using wildcards............................................................................14 Configuring Windows for multimedia....................................................15 Determining what you already have....................................................15 Preparing for multimedia authoring.....................................................16 Getting to know AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS.....................17 Looking at a sample AUTOEXEC.BAT file................................18 Looking at a sample CONFIG.SYS file.......................................19 Troubleshooting............................................................................20 Getting to know .INI files....................................................................20 Editing an .INI file........................................................................21 Editing files..........................................................................................22 Using DOS EDIT .........................................................................22 Managing memory...............................................................................23 Types of memory..........................................................................24 Creating a permanent swap file....................................................24 Installing or changing a graphic display driver ...................................26 Changing your color depth setting ...............................................27 Troubleshooting............................................................................28 Installing multimedia device drivers ...................................................29 Troubleshooting............................................................................30 3 Installing a sound driver ......................................................................30 Troubleshooting............................................................................31 Installing CD-ROM drivers.................................................................32 Installing CD audio.......................................................................32 Troubleshooting............................................................................33 Installing digital video drivers.............................................................33 Video for Windows ......................................................................34 QuickTime for Windows..............................................................34 MPEG video compression format................................................35 Video overlay ...............................................................................35 Troubleshooting............................................................................36 Improving Windows performance.......................................................37 Checking system resources...........................................................37 Optimizing device drivers ............................................................37 Authoring guidelines.................................................................................38 Drive optimization tips........................................................................38 Memory optimization tips....................................................................39 Troubleshooting............................................................................39 Improving application performance ....................................................42 Sound performance tips................................................................42 Graphic performance tips.............................................................43 Digital video performance tips.....................................................44 Troubleshooting tips............................................................................44 Useful utilities......................................................................................45 Working with file formats ...................................................................46 Movie and animation formats.......................................................46 Graphic formats............................................................................47 Palette formats..............................................................................47 Sound formats...............................................................................48 Macromedia file formats......................................................................49 Cross-platform development ...............................................................50 Transferring files..........................................................................50 Converting fonts...........................................................................51 Converting graphics......................................................................53 Converting colors .........................................................................53 Converting sound files..................................................................54 Converting digital video movies ..................................................54 4 Distributing your productions.................................................................56 Testing on different PCs......................................................................56 Network playback.........................................................................57 Licensing considerations .....................................................................57 Deciding what files to distribute..........................................................58 Including .DLL or .UCD files ......................................................58 Installing your production....................................................................59 Determining disk space and memory requirements .....................59 Glossary .....................................................................................................61