Adobe Director Basics

ADOBE DIRECTOR BASICS
3D basics
The Physics.dir movie simulates rolling a gaming dice
The Physics.dir movie demonstrates many of the features discussed earlier in this section, including:
Defining a 3D shape
Placing nodes in virtual space
Using a shader to change the appearance of a model
Using a texture to place an image on the surface of a model
Lights
Camera
Overlays and backdrops
Using raycasting to detect which model is at a particular location
Using a modifier (MeshDeform)
If you can understand the principles that are used in this movie, you are ready to start exploring 3D scripting. You are
ready to create interactive virtual worlds of your own.
Review
Inside a 3D sprite, you see colored pixels. The color of these pixels is calculated to give you the illusion that a 3D world
of solid objects exists. The solid objects, or models, are defined as a collection of triangular faces. The geometry for these
faces is stored in a model resource. Multiple models can be created from one model resource.
Models can be positioned, rotated and scaled in 3D space. A set of complex lighting algorithms determines the color
and shading for each individual face of each model. These algorithms take into account:
The geometry of the model resource
The position and orientation of the model in space
The shaders, textures and appearance modifiers that have been applied to the model
The orientation, position and distance of each light source
The placement of the camera
Models can be grouped together in parent-child relations. They can be animated by both keyframe and bones motions.
To make models appear to be solid objects in a world that obeys the laws of physics, you can apply a variety of physical
characteristics to the models.
Last updated 8/26/2011
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