Comparison of Multimedia Prowess - Director and Revolution

[Trevor DeVore]

On Oct 10, 2006, at 6:25 AM, Greg Smith wrote:

> -- I'm still looking for the friendliest programming or non- 
> programming environment for 
> multimedia development.  There does not exist a non-programmer's  
> solution, so here I am.
>
> ...
>
> But my application goals are entirely in the realm of multimedia  
> production.  I don't see many
> multimedia or game oriented programs being written in Transcript,  
> but that could just be
> due to lack of interest among the Revolution community. I've  
> casually investigated Malte's
> arcade engine, but that is not exactly everything I would need to  
> emulate some of Director's
> "built-in" functionality.  I know that Revolution doesn't supply  
> these kinds of templates, but,
> as regards overall functionality and prowess in multimedia, can  
> someone with experience of
> both environments comment on similarities, differences and  
> strengths of both development
> platforms?  Also, Director supports, probably the largest set of  
> graphic and video formats;
> how does Revolution compare in this area?

Hi Greg,

To begin with I haven't developed any products with Director since 7  
so I am a little out of the loop on it's current features.  I'll let  
someone else do a feature comparison.  In any case, even comparing  
Director's features from version 7 to Rev's current features, Rev  
can't touch Director when you compare raw multimedia power.  Director  
was built for that sort of stuff.

That being said, I do develop multimedia based applications in  
Revolution as there are certain areas where Rev can really shine.  My  
company creates e-learning and interactive history software.  We  
generate graphics on the fly from databases and use lots of  
QuickTime.  One benefit Revolution offers is that you can create true  
software applications.  When I used Director and Authorware, it  
wasn't possible to create something like looked like software.  For  
the software we develop, that was a key feature.

Revolution has been making important improvements in multimedia  
support lately.  In 2.7 they reworked the underlying graphics  
architecture (anti-aliased graphics were added at this time) which  
appears to have provided the ground work for enhancements in the future.

In the end, multimedia is such a broad term that Rev can be said to  
well suited for some multimedia projects but not so well for others.   
What types of features in Director were you using that you need to  
use going forward?  That is probably the best way to determine if Rev  
will work for you.


-- 
Trevor DeVore
Blue Mango Learning Systems - www.bluemangolearning.com
trevor at bluemangolearning.com