PhotoCaster 3.0.6 review

There are two ways to get Photoshop graphics into Director - the PhotoCaster way and the hard way.

License: Demo OS: Mac OS X File size: 3882K Developer: MediaLab Buy Now Price: $199.00 Updated: 25 May 2006

0

There are two ways to get Photoshop graphics into Director - the PhotoCaster way and the hard way. Before PhotoCaster, multimedia developers and artists had to spend untold hours tediously exporting, indexing, importing, repositioning, renaming, and cursing. Now that PhotoCaster has arrived those hours have just become free time.

PhotoCaster is an Xtra for Macromedia Director that lets you bring your Photoshop files, layer by layer, into your Director cast with one click. Each layer appears as an individual cast member, indexed, anti-aliased, properly registered, transparency preserved and good to go!

Here are some key features of "PhotoCaster":
Create individual cast members from Photoshop layers Import Photoshop files directly into your Director cast
Import directly to the score
Preview layers before importing
Supports Director 5, 6, 7, 8, MX, MX 2004(and later)
Works with all versions of Photoshop files from version 3 and later, including Photoshop CS2
Supports Most Photoshop Layer FX (see FAQ for details)
Supports alpha channels in those versions of Director that support them (7+)
Control color mapping: 24-bit, current palette, or custom palette
Generate a custom palette derived from the layers in your Photoshop file
Text layers can be imported as text castmembers.
Keeps layer registration Preserves anti-aliasing between layers
Flatten linked layers into single cast members
Optionally ignore hidden layers
Improved color reduction and dithering
Dithering to a specified number of colors
Arbitrary selection of which layers to import
Works seamlessly with Media Lab's AlphaMania Xtra for creation of AlphaMania cast members directly from Photoshop layers (supports multiple layer import)
No lingo required.

What's New:
Photoshop Layer F/X are supported.
Text layers can be imported as text castmembers.
8 bit castmembers can be mapped to any palette without having to make that palette active.
16 bit castmembers are now dithered.
Dithering (8 bit or 16 bit) is now optional.

Requirements:
Director version 5 or higher, including Director MX 2004
Photoshop version 3 or higher, including Photoshop CS2.