Need tips to keep cast list organized

Question

This is my first time working on a big project in Director,
and I find I am having incredible trouble keeping my cast list
organized. I am used to using After Effects, where you can create
folders in your project window, and organize all your assets into
them. While overall, I prefer Director's interface to Flash, the
inability to organize the cast properly (not to mention the lack of
multiple undos!) really get to me. With the director cast, not only
can I not create folders, I am afraid to even move cast members
around for fear of breaking something because so many director
functions refer to a cast member by number. I have always found it
difficult to organize at the same time that I am trying to be
creative. Because of this, I tend to be initially messy with my
cast and code while I try to get things looking right on stage.
Then, when I have things looking and working how I like them, I go
back and clean up before moving on to the next scene or segment of
the project. I am getting the impression, that this doesn't work so
well in Director. As a result, my cast list keeps getting messier
and messier. Any tips on A: staying organized in the first place,
and B: organizing an already messy cast would be helpful.

Answer 1

1. Create multiple casts. These would be the equivalent of
folders, in
terms of a metaphor. You can name the casts anything that you
like. I
prefer to segregate my members by type. So I may have casts
titled
"code", "graphics", "text", etc. The names change based on
the needs of
the project.
2. Name your members. If you import graphics from PS layers,
for
instance, each new graphic will come in with the layer name.
Name your
behaviors, this makes them easier to find when you need to
apply them.
Any imported cast member will be named with the file name of
the
original minus the file extension. You may want to develop a
naming
convention to make organization of the members more simple.
If you reference your members by name in your code, and you
don't have
any duplicate names, Director will manage the members for
you, you don't
need to remember what cast they are located in.
3. If you move a member from one location to another by
dragging the
member, Director will remember and update all of the
relationships for
that member. If you cut and paste, you will lose the
relationships.
Rob
Rob Dillon
Adobe Community Expert
http://www.ddg-designs.com
412-243-9119
http://www.macromedia.com/software/trial/