Created on: July 8, 1997

Date: April 08, 1998 06:31 AM
Author: Erich Forler - Product Manager (clickcreate@imsican.com)
Subject: Details on Multimedia Fusion

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your patience. Following is a list of things that are new in Multimedia Fusion that will be particularly meaningful to Click & Create users. All the features in Multimedia Fusion were chosen as result of feedback from users (many of whom are here in this forum), so there should be something for everyone in this list. I'm sure there are more things that are new but this should keep you going for a while.

As far as release information goes, we don't have a final ship date yet but we are working to get it released as soon as possible. We are still on track to release this month. Once we have a date when it will begin shipping, I assure you, this will be the first place we'll post the information.

Erich Forler Product Manager IMSI Multimedia Fusion

New Features:

1. 400+ page manual - Yes, there's actually a real Multimedia Fusion manual with lots of useful information in it. Click & Create users will be happy to see this.
2. New customizable User interface - You can create your own keyboard shortcuts, float and dock toolbars, and customize the buttons on the toolbars.
3. Project explorer for navigating through your application - Managing and navigating large and small projects is much easier with the new Project Explorer. No more returning to the storyboard editor just to switch frames, you can jump between frames from the Frame editor or the event editor as easily as clicking on a tab or a button.
4. Floating point numbers so you can use and display decimals - 9.0/2 now gives you 4.5 not 4. You also get sin/cos/tan functions.
5. Variable speed transition effects for objects as well as frames - Includes a pixel type dissolve and fade to black.
6. Attach events to specific objects - Behaviors help to connect your events to objects.
7. Moving text and choose from 256 colors - Give text a path or bouncing ball movement for example.
8. Drag and drop events from one object to another - Behaviors can be transferred from one object to another by a simple drag and drop.
9. Improved sound quality and sounds can now span multiple frames without using MCI - The Sound object uses Direct sound and sounds just as good as MCI. And that annoying limitation of stopping sounds at the end of frames is gone.
10. New picture editor for creating and modifying your graphics - The Picture editor is a seriously useful tool now. Tools like text, spraycan, irregular polygon and zoom.
11. Built-in filter support for over 30 graphic file formats - The filter manager means that almost any graphic imports directly into Multimedia Fusion. No extra conversion utility required.
12. Drag and drop media importing - Drag and drop a file from Windows Explorer directly into your application's Frame. Even do a bulk import by dragging and dropping several files at once.
13. Customizable install program for created applications - By popular demand the install now supports full, minimal and standard installs and allows much more customization.
14. Open multiple applications at the same time - No more need to open two copies of the editor to work on two applications. Makes sharing events and objects much easier. Don't do the same work twice. Just drag and drop.
15. Event list editor allows you to print your program events - Yes! Finally! You can make hard copy of your events. (Not that you should need to in the paperless office).
16. Real-time ink effects allow you to change transparency, AND, XOR and OR ink settings during run-time.

New objects:

1. Active-X object which allows you to use Active-X controls into your application - This is one of the most powerful and coolest new objects. It opens up the programming world to Multimedia Fusion. Active X controls are as easy to use as any Multimedia Fusion object.
2. Array for storing large amounts of data - No need to store tonnes of data in INI files. This object takes care of your bulk data needs.
3. FTP for downloading files from an FTP site - If you want your software to be able to update itself from an FTP site, then this object can make that possible.
4. 3-D for displaying 3-D characters in your application - 3-D objects can add some cool effects to your apps.
5. Sub-application object allows you to embed one Fusion application in the window of another - Just wait until you try it and you'll think of a bunch of ways to use it.
6. Shared data object allows two applications to pass data back and forth - Synchronize data between two applications on the same machine. The second app can function as a dialog box for the first.
7. Network object allows data to be passed across a local area network from an application running on one machine to an application running on another machine.
8. Draw allows your application to draw shapes during run-time - Graphics can be dynamic and never the same during run-time.
9. Formatted text object provides more functionality than the old RTF text object.

---