At the Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Calif., Adobe Systems took off the wraps from Director 11.5. It’s expected to ship by the end of March for $1,000. Upgrades cost $300.
Director is Adobe’s landmark multimedia authoring software. It’s used by game developers, multimedia authors, and e-learning professionals. Director has long been used as an authoring system for multimedia content delivered on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM, on the Web and through other media — it’s a cornerstone of Adobe’s Shockwave technology, used to create interactive games, demos, prototypes, e-learning courses and more.
The new 11.5 release features a new 5.1 channel surround sound audio engine that has real-time mixing capabilities. It now supports the H.264 (Advanced Video Codec) video encoding format and RTMP-based streaming, for delivering High Definition (HD) video content.
3D art assets are now able to be imported using Google SketchUp and SketchUp 3-D Importer. And physics can now be handled using Nvidia’s PhysX technology.
Other changes include support for Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard,” and enhanced scripting performance.
System requirements call for an Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X 10.5 or later. Shockwave Player continues to support PowerPC and Intel-based Macs running Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.