New PhotoCaster 3.0 for MacOS X

March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- PhotoCaster 3, the acclaimed Xtra for Macromedia Director, is finally available to users of the MacOS X platform.

Today, Media Lab announced the release of version 3.0 of its PhotoCaster software, an essential tool for Macromedia Director users at graphic design firms and corporate multimedia departments, for use with the MacOS X version of Director MX.

"After five months of development, including adding thousands of lines of new code and modernizing much of the existing code, PhotoCaster 3 for OS X is the best PhotoCaster ever," said Tom Summerall, President of Media Lab. "Our users have been clamoring for OS X versions of all of our products, and over the next few weeks we will be unveiling them starting with today's release of PhotoCaster," he added.

"PhotoCaster gives OS X developers the easiest way to eliminate the exacting and tedious aspects of adapting Photoshop graphics for lively animations, online games and compelling business presentations with Director," said Summerall.

The OS X version of PhotoCaster 3 now supports Photoshop layer sets and improves layer fx and text support, all with a redesigned more elegant interface based on MacOS X's "Aqua" user interface paradigm.

PhotoCaster 3 for OS X has all the features users on other platforms have come to rely on.

• Layer effects (Photoshop 5) and layer styles (Photoshop 6) are supported. PhotoCaster 3 handles the newest Photoshop effects like drop shadows, and the support for these effects has been improved for PhotoCaster OS X.
  "Although implementing this feature was a significant development challenge, we added it because users asked for it more frequently than any other product improvement," explained Summerall.
• Improved text handling. Earlier versions of PhotoCaster import all text as a graphic, which makes edits impossible after it has been imported to Director. PhotoCaster 3 gives the user a choice between importing "live" text with limited text styling (fonts, font size, bold, italic, underlining) or importing text as a graphic which preserves all Photoshop styling. Many developers prefer live or editable text for Internet applications because it takes up less memory and downloads faster.
• All color options now selectable regardless of monitor color depth. PhotoCaster 3 can import graphics in 8-, 16- or 24-bit mode with any custom palette regardless of the display settings on the developer's monitor.
• Additional improvements to color depth conversion system. Changes include improved 16-bit import quality and dithering options for 8- and 16-bit import.

What is PhotoCaster?
Macromedia's Director has become a standard tool that multimedia developers use to add interactive visual elements to websites and CDs.

Director's strength lies in its ability to make graphics interactive, but it has limited capabilities to create those graphics. Most multimedia developers choose Adobe Photoshop to create images, sounds, shapes, characters and backgrounds, then import them into Director. Each layer of the Photoshop file becomes a separate Director cast member, which is then set in motion relative to the other cast members according to a script or score. Today's browsers can play a Director movie with Shockwave extensions, making Director a popular choice for developing online animation.

Once the developer hits "save" on his Photoshop file, the creative work is done, but getting the overall design to look the same in Director can be difficult. Graphics may appear in the wrong position, in the wrong color, or loose their transparency. Edges might look jagged when they were smooth in Photoshop. Drop shadows might be the wrong color; holes can appear in the background. Solving such problems one-by-one becomes a tedious and sometimes difficult process.

PhotoCaster solves all of these problems by automating the import process. PhotoCaster "intuits" the desired outcome and transfers all the graphics layer-by-layer into a Director cast with one mouse click. Optionally, linked layers can be imported as a single cast member. All the relative positions of the Photoshop graphics are preserved, as well as the registration, transparency, and anti-aliasing of the original design. PhotoCaster can save any Director developer hours of wasted development time, improve the quality of her multimedia output, and deliver rock-solid performance at every turn.

PhotoCaster supports alpha channels, a feature in Director 7 and 8 that allows cast members to appear transparent. Additionally, it automatically generates a custom palette based on the layers in the Photoshop file, improves color reduction and dithering, supports dithering to a specified number of colors, and can ignore hidden layers.

System Requirements
For MacOS Classic: Power PC, OS 7.61 or higher, Director 5 or higher, Photoshop version 3 or higher, 32 megabytes RAM, and 30 megabytes free hard-drive space.

For MacOS X: Any version of MacOS X, Director MX, Photoshop version 3 or higher, 128 megabytes RAM.

For Windows: Pentium or higher; Windows 95, 98, NT, or 2000; Director 5 or higher; Photoshop version 3 or higher; 64 megabytes RAM; and 30 megabytes free hard-drive space.

PhotoCaster works with files from Adobe Photoshop 3-6 and LE or any application that can save in layered Photoshop .PSD format.

Pricing and Availability
PhotoCaster 3.0 for OS X is now available for download or on CD. Price is $US 199.

Crossgrade pricing is as follows. PhotoCaster 2 Mac Classic users can purchase PhotoCaster for OS X for $US 129. PhotoCaster 3 MacOS Classic users purchasing before December 1, 2002 can purchase PhotoCaster for $US 49. Customers who purchased PhotoCaster for MacOS Classic between December 1, 2002 and March 17, 2003 can upgrade for free.

Cross-platform PhotoCaster includes both Mac and Windows versions and costs $US 329.

Discounts for volume purchasers and site license pricing are available. For more details, or to download a trial version of the software, visit the Media Lab website at www.medialab.com .

PhotoCaster 3.0 can be ordered from Media Lab's online store at www.medialab.com/store or by phone at 800-282-5361. Visa, MasterCard and American Express are accepted. Two online catalogs offer PhotoWebber at both standard and student pricing for single-copy purchases: The PowerXChange ( www.thepowerxchange.com ), and Publishing Perfection ( www.publishingperfection.com ).

Media Lab can be reached via the web site at www.medialab.com , by email at sales@medialab.com , by phone at 800-282-5361 or 303-546-7929.

Source: Media Lab