Working With Models And Model Resources; About Models And Model Resources; Model Resources - MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX-USING DIRECTOR MX Use Manual

Working with Models and Model Resources

This chapter covers the Lingo commands and properties used to work with models and model
resources, as well as lights and cameras to enhance Macromedia Director MX three-dimensional
(3D) movies. You can also find the commands and properties given here in tabular form in
alphabetical form, with accompanying syntax, definitions, and examples, in the Lingo Dictionary
(Help > Lingo Dictionary).Because much of a model's behavior depends on modifiers (which are
attached to the model), this chapter also discusses modifiers. A model's surface appearance,
controlled by shaders and textures, is also discussed here.
Lights illuminate the 3D world and the models in it. Without lights, the world exists, and actions
can take place, but users see nothing. You can add lights to your 3D world in your 3D modeling
application or with the Macromedia Director MX Property inspector.
Cameras act as windows into a 3D world. Each camera that exists in a 3D cast member offers a
different view into it, and each sprite that uses a 3D cast member uses one of these cameras. A
camera's position can be moved with the Property inspector or the Shockwave 3D window. You
can also use the Director 3D behaviors or Lingo to manipulate camera positions.

About models and model resources

Models are the objects you see in the 3D world. You can create models within Macromedia
Director MX. Spheres, boxes, planes, cylinders, and particle systems can be created either with
Lingo or with Director MX behaviors. These simple shapes are called primitives. They are the
basic shapes from which more complicated models are built. (Particle systems are different from
the other primitives: instead of being shapes, they create cascades of moving particles.)
For the most part, however, you should create complex models outside of Director, using a 3D
modeling application, and then imported into Director in the W3D format.
Accessing properties and commands of a model or any other node type requires that the node be
on the Stage or explicitly loaded with the
The following sections describe models, model resources, and primitives in more detail, along
with the Lingo used to work with them.

Model resources

Model resources are 3D geometries defined in 3D modeling software or created in Director 8.5
Shockwave Studio with Lingo. A model is an object that makes use of a model resource's
geometry and occupies a particular position and orientation within the 3D world.
Model resources are viewable only when in use by a model. Several models may use the
same model resource.
CHAPTER 19
or
preLoad() loadFile()
command.
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