DirectAnimation Programming
Zoom, Rotate, And Interactively Change Page Objects
By Rick Dobson
DirectAnimation (DA) is a Microsoft product that enables authors to create animations and multimedia presentations on the Web. Animations download much faster than with other Web animation packages because the runtime engine ships with Internet Explorer 4 and you can drive it with small Dynamic HTML (DHTML) scripts. Its potential for fast-downloading animations based on short DHTML files represents a compelling reason to evaluate DirectAnimation (visit Microsoft's Web site at www.microsoft.com/directx/dxm/help/da/contents.htm to check it out).
I demonstrated last month how to make DA work without programming. This concluding installment describes the rich resources for those who want to tap DA programmatically. Programmatic control enables more precise direction over the behavior of animations than nonprogrammatic solutions do. But you must invest time and money on program development and maintenance to gain these advantages. Reading this article will help you weigh the benefits and costs of programmatic control so you can realistically appraise the possibilities for your organization.
This month's story commences with an examination of the DA Software Development Kit (SDK) that targets application developer needs. Following the SDK overview, a sample illustrates scripting techniques for DA controls. Scripting DA controls enables runtime customization while it insulates developers from a need to know about media behaviors and graphic primitives.
