PDF in director
by mark skinner
on
Feb 27, 2009 at 2:44:03 pm
Is it possible have a link with a director movie that opens a PDF placed in a local folder? I was going to have a link to an on line version but my client wants to make sure people without a webconnection can see the material.
Re: PDF in director by Moshe Caine on Mar 10, 2009 at 6:49:30 am
Have you tried Impressario by INM?
I have used it on several occasions and it is excellent.
Comes with a whole slew of ready made behaviors and a Flash interface.
Not cheap, but worth the price.
Re: PDF in director by Brodd Nesset on Mar 11, 2009 at 9:59:15 am
Well, INM have a product simple called "PDFxtra" as well. Much cheaper, I use it and have yet to come across a feature that I need that it doesn't have. Impressario IS more advanced, but perhaps 'over the top' for many.
You do need an Xtra to view PDFs on the Director Stage, but for simple loading of a PDF from disk you can use Lingo 'open' or almost as simple BuddyAPI Xtra Lingo (it's a free xtra when used with limited functionality, but it's just enough for this case).
There are many old Acrobat readers out there, so either ensure that the PDF you distribute is saved in an 'old' format, or indlude an up to date reader on the disk for the user to install. Adobe has made a special executable available for this purpose - it was a little hard to find last time I did it, sorry I have no direct link.
Her lips said "no!" but her eyes said "read my lips".
Re: PDF in director by Moshe Caine on Mar 11, 2009 at 10:48:14 am
Yes. PDF Xtra is fine too. Its older, slower, lacks some of Impressario's features (alpha channels, etc), but does the job.
Another, quite different approach is to use Directors built in support for SWF. In other words to convert the PDF to an SWF file.
Macromedia used to produce FlashPaper as a simple alternative to PDF. I'm not sure if Adobe still do that, though I'm sure you could find it online somewhere. Anyway, there are a few tools which convert PDF to SWF. The simplest option and the cheapest (free) is to use the online converter PDFMeNot. This service allows you to upload a pdf and it will be converted to an online SWF. I say "online", so how do we download it, you may ask. Well heres the nifty bit:
In Firefox, choose Tools - Page Info . Click on the Media tab and select the file with the SWF extension. Simply save it to your computer and import it into Director. The SWF file has a built in zoom slider, page turn buttons, a page counter and more.
I still prefer PDF, but heck, this is quick, free and it works.
