The Premier Authoring Tool for Interactive Learning
Authorware Professional is the premier multimedia authoring tool for interactive learning. Its object-oriented interface gives non-programmers the power to create, deliver and maintain applications on either Macintosh or Windows platforms. Authorware╒s built-in interactivity, data measurement functions and media integration controls bring powerful functionality to its easy-to-use interface.
Five unique advantages make Authorware Professional the standard choice for interactive learning applications:
Object Authoring¬
Allows the user to easily experiment with interactive design rather than focusing solely on media content. An elegant and intuitive iconic interface controls the logic, making complex applications easy to author.
Multiplatform architecture
Makes Authorware Professional the only authoring tool that supports nearly identical authoring environments on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms.
Superior Design
Provides authors of interactive learning applications with the broadest range of interactivity. Extensive variables and functions provide the basis for collecting, storing and analyzing data; and built-in Computer Managed Instruction variables help measure users╒ performance.
Multimedia Tools
Give authors the power to incorporate text, graphics, sounds, animation, and digital video into highly effective interactive learning applications.
Media Manager
Assists authors in efficiently managing media by storing the media in libraries that are separate from the host application. This increases the productivity of the author and reduces the size of the application file.
Key Features in Authorware Professional 2.0 for Macintosh
Media Manager
Unique to Authorware, Media Manager stores graphics, sounds, animations, and other digital media in libraries separate from applications. Application file sizes are greatly reduced and changes in stored media are immediately reflected in the applications╨speeding the authoring process significantly.
Support for Macromedia Director
Lets users create or repurpose productions created with Macromedia Director╨the premier authoring tool for multimedia productions╨without any modifications to the source file.
ClipMedia and Examples
Includes clip media for animations, gadgets, graphics, movies and sound . Contains content-independent logic structures for file operations, puldown menus, notes, questions, performance records, sequencing, techniques, tests, transactions and utilities. Enables you to save and share clip media and custom icon models. Models are logic structures that can be pasted into an application, enabling you to re-use previous work.
Variables and Functions
Over 200 system variables and functions provide extensive capabilities for capturing, manipulating and displaying data, and for controlling how your application operates.
Automatic Documentation
Annotated application index with or without icons. Print design and presentation windows.
Cross-reference table of variables.
Text
Mix fonts, styles, sizes, modes, and colors. Supports scrolling text windows, Macintosh screen fonts and TrueType fonts. Standard international characters.
Graphics
Standard drawing tools, including polygon, oval, rectangle, rounded rectangle, and line are provided within a familiar interface. Supports Macintosh PICT, Paint, and Scrapbook files.
Sound
Variable speed playback, control repetition, start, and stop. Supports sound compression at 3:1 and 6:1 ratios. Imports AIFF, Macromedia╒s SoundEdit and SoundEdit Pro, and .snd resources. Sound Options facilitates direct recording. Stereo sound is also supported.
Animation
Control path, time, and speed, as well as start and end frames, playback speed, and repetition of movies. Multiple layering option controls which animated object overlaps another. Imports PICS files. Supports playback of native Macromedia Director files with interactivity.
Digital Video
Still or motion video from one icon. Resizable, movable video windows. Playback QuickTime movies and Indeo (DVI) files. On-screen end-user control for QuickTime movies. Control start, end and freeze frames, playback speed, and repetition of movies.
Analog Video
Built-in video overlay support. Control start, end and freeze frames, playback speed, and repetition of movies. Supports two audio channels separate from video channel.
Extensible environment
Extensible through calls to XCMDs and XFCNs. Jump to and return from other applications or files to share data. Deliver applications from floppy disk, hard disks, CD-ROMs and network file servers.
File Formats
Text: Supports Macintosh Screen fonts and TrueType fonts.
Graphics: Supports Macintosh PICT, Paint, and Scrapbook files.
Sound: Imports AIFF, Macromedia's SoundEdit and SoundEdit Pro, and .snd resources.
Animation: Imports PICS and Macromedia Director files including interactivity.
Digital Video: QuickTime movies and DVI files.
System requirements
Macintosh Plus, Classic/Classic II, SE, SE/30, Powerbook family, and all Color Macintosh computers.
Monochrome authoring and delivery minimum: Mac Plus with 2Mb RAM (w/System 6.0.7); 2Mb (w/System 7.x).
Recommended: SE with 4Mb RAM.
Color authoring and delivery minimum: Mac II with 2Mb RAM (w/System 6.0.7); 4Mb RAM (w/System 7.x).
