Dirigo Multimedia, Inc.

Dirigo Multimedia offers:

• Multimedia programming services, specializing in Macromedia Director for Macintosh and Windows, including Lingo scripting and Xtra plug-in programming in C and C++ . Director 8.5 from Macromedia is one of the leading cross-platform tools for multimedia content authoring for CD-ROMs and the Internet.
  
  
• A line of Xtra plug-in products for Macromedia Director and Authorware, and other multimedia utility software products-- most of which are sold and supported by updateStage in Arlington, Massachusetts, some of which were developed for and are owned by other companies, and some of which are sold directly by Dirigo. A few plug-ins are freeware.
  
  
• Other digital arts, including digital video (DV) and audio field production and editing, stop-motion and 3D animation, digital device control for interactive installations, and digitally conceived or executed sculptures in fused glass and other media.

Products developed by Dirigo Multimedia

• MasterApp Xtra for Windows and Mac gives you comprehensive control over the way other applications work with Director. (Note: MasterApp, as an XObject originally, was formerly called ZapApp, but the name had to be changed for trademark reasons.)
  
  
• ProgressCopy Xtra for Mac and Windows allows fast file copying, optionally with a configurable progress bar and cancel button.
  
  
• DisplayRes Xtra for Windows 95, 98 and NT allows you to change the display monitor size and color depth 'on the fly' (or after a restart, if necessary).
  
  
• AutoRun for Windows and AutoStart for the Mac-- small, fast utility applications that can be automatically run when a CD is inserted to decide whether to install the CD-ROM's software or to run an already-installed copy of the software from the hard drive.
  
  
• DropStart, a Macintosh drag-and-drop application to make using QuickTime's AutoStart feature a no-brainer. This is included with the AutoStart download at updateStage.
  
  
• BinaryIO Xtra for Mac and Windows allow you to read and write binary data to disk files (even with the resource fork on the Mac files).
  
  
• Relaunch for Mac and Windows allow you to switch-launch from Director to other programs, restarting Director when the launched program finsihes.
  
  
• Install Xtra and XObject for Mac and Windows provides system information useful when installing software. (This is no longer an active product since it was designed for 16-bit and 68K installer applications.)
  
  
• ConvertData Xtra for Mac and Windows, which allows you to convert between integer, hexadecimal and signature notation, perform all the usual bitwise logic and bitshift operations in Lingo, and (on the Mac) check Gestalt configuration values such as virtual memory, physical memory, 68k vs. PPC processor, QuickTime version, etc.
  
  
• Versions XObject, a Windows plug-in for Director 4, 5 and 6 that lets you check DOS, Windows, QuickTime and file version numbers.The QuickTime version checking methods are freeware.
  

Products sold directly by Dirigo (e-mail for a demo version):

• Image capture Xtra for ATI, Inc.'s PCI bus All-In-Wonder video capture card for Windows 95, 98 and ME. You can grab video, s-video or tuner frames, with cropping, and can even preview video mirrored left to right or through an irregularly shaped cutout mask.
  
  
• DV (digital video) image capture Xtra for the Mac, to display and capture images from Firewire cameras and camcorders (or any other video or imaging devices with QuickTime capture drivers).
  
  
• DV (digital video) output Xtra for the Mac, allowing images and QuickTime DV streams to be displayed on external FireWire devices such as camcorders.
  
  
• Image capture Xtra for Kodak's DC50 digital camera, available for both Mac and Windows.
  
  
• Image capture Xtra for Play, Inc.'s parallel port Snappy video capture device, for Windows only.
  
  
• EPSRender Xtra to support Encapsulated PostScript images in Director; currently for Windows only, a Mac version is under development..
  
  
• A copy protection and registration XObject, to prevent your Director product from being pirated and installed on multiple machines.
  
  
• Preferences Plug-In for Stuffit InstallerMaker for the Mac, from Aladdin Systems. Writes a preferences file with the user's choice of installation folder. Useful in combination with AutoStart for the Mac, or when your software runs from the CD-ROM but needs to access items the user has installed on the hard drive.
  
  
• Components XObject for Macintosh, which allows you to detect the presence of software components such as particular Quicktime codecs, the Internet Config extension, and the like. (XObjects only work with Director 6.5 and earlier.)

Products developed for other companies:

• The Creativity Xtras for shockwave.com, a matched set of three Xtras for Shockwave (Import, Export and Transport) allowing local files to be imported into Director, bitmaps and text to be exported to local files, and local files to be uploaded to HTTP servers.
  
  
• PickFolder Xtra and XObject allows users to choose a folder. Now in the public domain due to g/matter's bankruptcy.
  
  
• ScriptOMatic Xtra provides automatic, fast Lingo script syntax coloring and formatting, which helps streamline code and identify logic problems. Developed for g/matter.
  
  
• Significant contributions to the Lingo Timesaver CD-ROM, a cut-and-paste collection of Lingo scripts for Director.
  
  
• Significant contributions to the Lingo scripting library of Lee Allis' Inside Director 6 with Lingo, from Macmillan Computer Publishing's New Riders imprint.
  
  
• FieldStyles Xtra for Mac and Windows speeds up text style and text color changes to field castmembers by a factor of a hundred. Now in the public domain due to g/matter's bankruptcy.
  
  
• ReserveLaunch for the Mac, a small stub application which dynamically changes the memory size allocated to an application installed on the hard drive, for optimum performance. Developed for g/matter.

Freeware products:

(Note that these are all XObjects, only supported by Director 6.5 and earlier.)

• PrefsFolder XObject for the Mac, which allows you to detect the standard location for Mac preferences files.
  
  
• WinDirs XObject for Windows, which allows you to detect the standard location for Windows initialization and system files.
  
  
• GetDate XObject for the Mac. This allows you to check the date in a consistent way on any Mac, regardless of a user's date and time settings, which can vary from country to country.
  
  
• The Versions XObject's QuickTime version number methods are freeware, as noted above.

• A sample Director movie that shows how to achieve smooth, fast dissolves between images that look great on any speed machine, Mac or Windows. The technique uses palette crossfades on a single composited bitmap. New: the Director source movie with which I constructed these crossfade images is now available for download.
  
  
• QuickTime Virtual Reality scene of San Miniato overlooking Florence, Italy.
  

Dirigo Multimedia, Inc.

Glenn Picher, President (pictures) (resume) (animations)

Downtown office:
142 High Street, Suite 532
Portland, ME 04101
Phone (207)761-6535
Fax (207)775-4372

Shipping address for packages:
PMB 338, 50 Market Street, Suite 1A
South Portland, ME 04106

Home office:
Phone (207)767-8015
Fax (207)767-1018

Email: gpicher@dmulti.com

Alternative email: gpicher@attglobal.net (infrequently checked; for backup purposes only!)