MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR Use Manual page 314

Lights and cameras
Lights are used to light the 3D world. Without lights, the objects within the world can't be seen.
Although lights control the appearance of the 3D world, cameras control how a sprite views the
3D world. A 3D sprite displays a particular camera's view into the world. For more information,
see "About lights and cameras" on page
Groups
A group is a node that has no geometry, used for grouping models, lights, and cameras together so
they can be treated as a single unit. Groups let you rotate or translate their contents as a unit. A
group has a name, a transform, and a parent, and it can have one or more children. It has no other
properties. The highest level group is the group called world, which is essentially synonymous
with the 3D cast member. For more information, see
Shaders and textures
A model's surface color is determined by its shader or shaders. You can draw images on the surface
of a model by applying one or more textures to each shader. For more information, see
on page 352 and
Modifiers
Modifiers let you control many aspects of how models are rendered and how they behave. When
you attach a modifier to a model, you can then set the properties for that modifier with script.
Depending on the type of modifier you use, setting its properties can give you fine control over
the model's appearance and behavior. Modifiers are described in
Model Resources" on page 335
Animation
Director supports complex model animations through the following means:
•
The collision modifier lets models detect and respond appropriately to collisions.
•
The Bones player modifier lets models that have a skeletal structure defined in them play back
animations of those skeletons. These animations are created in separate 3D modeling tools.
•
The Keyframe player modifier lets models play back time-based animation sequences. These
sequences can also be created in separate 3D modeling tools.
3D animations are called motions and can be initiated by 3D behaviors or script. For more
information, see
314 Chapter 14: 3D Basics
"Textures" on page 360.
and "About lights and cameras" on page
"Animation modifiers" on page 372
382.
"Groups" on page
and "Motions" on page
323.
"Working with Models and
382.
381.
"Shaders"