Introduction

AutoPlay Media Studio makes it easy to create your own interactive multimedia software. Even if you're not a "programmer", you'll be creating professional projects in no time. It's all done in a completely visual, drag-and-drop design environment. From images, text and music to video, drop-down lists and web content, you simply move things into place using your mouse. Then, you can add powerful interactivity with a built-in library of more than 865 easy to use actions.

Whether you're a complete novice or a seasoned programmer used to working with Microsoft Visual Basic, Adobe Director, Microsoft Visual C++ or Delphi, you'll find that AutoPlay Media Studio deserves a place in your toolbox. It's perfect for making autorun CD/DVD's, software installer menus, electronic business cards, training material and just about any other interactive multimedia project you can think of!

Highlights

Visual Development Environment

Drag-and-Drop Development

Creating professional multimedia software can be both easy and fun, thanks to AutoPlay Media Studio. In fact, with our award winning WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) visual design environment, anyone can do it! Simply drag and drop your media content (text, photos, videos, Adobe Flash, and much more) onto "pages"or "dialogs" and then add interactivity with over 865 built-in actions. It couldn't be easier!

Interactive Objects

There are 21 different object types to choose from. Objects types include buttons, text labels, paragraph text, rich text, images, videos, Adobe Flash, web browsers, slideshows, hotspots, input fields, list boxes, drop-down lists, radio buttons, checkboxes, progress bars tree controls, grid controls, xButtons, PDF controls, Quicktime videos. Each object includes a variety of events and is fully customizable.

Easy Publishing

AutoPlay Media Studio makes packaging up and distributing your finished project a snap. Whether you'd like to create a single-file executable for distribution by web download or email, or burn it to a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray data disc, it just takes a few clicks. You can even choose to publish to ISO CD/DVD/Blu-Ray images or to a hard drive folder for packing it up with an installer/setup builder.

Professional Templates

Choose from a variety of ready-to-use projects and then modify them to fit your needs. We include examples of software installer menus, electronic business cards, marketing brochures and many others. It's also easy to make your own project templates or to add-in templates made by others.

Easy to Learn

It couldn't be easier to create powerful multimedia applications. We've packed the software with wizards, tutorials, a user's guide, context sensitive help and much more. It's also backed up with world-class technical support options and online discussion groups.

Content Gallery

We've included a ton of great content to get you started including background images, photos, abstracts, panels, bars, bullets, buttons, sound effects and even music files. Simply mix and match to put together a great looking project in no time.

Project Explorer

Get an overview of your project in one place. You can see all of the pages, dialogs, events and objects in your project organized into a tree hierarchy. Double-click any item to edit its properties or right-click for common commands. It's a great way to see how everything is connected.

Properties Pane

The properties pane is a fast way to view and edit all of the attributes of a page, dialog or object. You can interactively edit the object text, font, size, color, tooltip and much more without missing a beat.

Page/Dialog Management

Pages and dialogs are the backbone of AutoPlay Media Studio. Consider that you can have up to 1000 of them in each project and you'll realize the importance of effective page and dialog management. Accessing pages and dialogs is easy in AutoPlay, thanks to the page/dialog tabs on the main window. You can also easily change the order, rename or remove them and more with the click of your mouse.

File Layout System

When you want to add or remove whole folders of files, or fine-tune the structure of a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray project, the File Layout dialog comes in very handy. It's split into two panes, with your computer's file system on the top and your project on the bottom. Select the files you want, click "add" and you're done!

Thumbnail File Browsers

The file browsers in the product support thumbnail view, making it much faster and easier to locate files.

Quick Preview

Click the preview button and try out your project whenever you want. There's no lengthy compiling process to wait for, so you can test changes as you make them.

Undo/Redo

Full support for undo and redo operations make it quick and easy to try out new ideas.

Align and Arrange

A full suite of alignment tools helps make quick work of your layout tasks. Simply select a group of objects and click the desired alignment button to line up their edges on the top, left, right or bottom. You can also easily distribute objects over a given space, make them all the same size, adjust their "z" order, and more.

Group, Pin, Lock & Hide

Professional design tools like object grouping allow you to move and work with multiple objects at once. The lock and pin tools keep you from accidentally moving an object out of place, while the hide and show feature is great for trying out different designs.

Grid and Ruler

Toggle on the grid for easy object placement - the automatic snapping feature makes it quick to use. The ruler is a helpful precision tool assisting you in pixel level placement of your design elements.

Guidelines

Just like in your favorite image editing software, but now in your favorite multimedia development software! Using guidelines, you can set up margins and placement rules to make sure your design looks perfect.

Customizable Toolbars

All of the toolbars and keyboard shortcuts can be reconfigured and customized to your preference. You're not restricted by the default set up- you can lay out your favorite features the way you like to work with them.

Built-in Spelling Checker

Make sure that typos don't creep into your projects. Just about anywhere you can type, you can perform a spell check to ensure error-free text. Dictionaries are available for over a dozen languages including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Croatian, Czech, Polish and Slovenian.

Professional Features

Customizable Dialogs

Application development has been raised to a new level in AutoPlay Media Studio 8 with the addition of customizable dialogs. Dialogs support the same background settings, objects and events as pages do...but the options don't stop there. Dialogs have features above and beyond pages including custom sizes, multiple windows styles, and even a custom icon. Complemented by both its own "DialogEx" action category containing 21 new actions, as well as 6 additional "Application" actions, you'll surely find this powerful new feature a welcome addition to your design arsenal.

Video, Flash, Web, Images & More

We include a wide variety of interactive objects so that you can create truly impressive projects. Compare it to any other tool (including Adobe Director, Microsoft Visual Basic and Delphi), and you'll see that AutoPlay Media Studio is much easier to use, giving you better results faster.

Multi-Channel Audio Mixing

Your projects can take advantage of the fastest, most advanced sound effect and music handling engine available anywhere! You can play up to 8 channels of audio simultaneously with automatic selection of either hardware or software mixing. Most incredibly, it does not require any version of DirectSound or DirectX to be installed, using them only if available.

Transparency, Shadows and Blending

No competitive tool can match AutoPlay Media Studio when it comes to fast and efficient handling of complex graphics files. With our support for 32-bit PNG images, you gain access to incredible shadow effects, blending options, opacity levels and full alpha channel information. In simple terms, it means that your projects will look better than ever!

Startup Video or Flash Movie

Start your project up with an introductory video or flash animation. It can run full screen and makes an eye catching start to your project. Of course, there are a variety of options for customization including size and background color.

Custom Window Shapes

Forget about being restricted to rectangular windows. With the window mask feature, you can create projects of any size and shape you desire. Select from the included masks like "star", "bubble" and "oval", or make your own.

Background Music

Add a bunch of music files to the play list, and they'll play in the background while your project runs. All of the music is automatically mixed in real-time with mouse-over sound effects and up to 6 other channels, such as audio narration.

Window Styles

Run your project as a standard window, or go for something more extraordinary like bordered, flat or even kiosk mode. Paired with the window mask option, you don't even have to make it rectangular. Talk about eye-catching!

Application Styles / Skinning

AutoPlay Media Studio 8 gives you the freedom to create applications that look exactly the way you want. Perhaps you prefer that your programs to take on the same appearance as the operating system (e.g. Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 Aero...)? Or do you want them to be entirely customized with completely custom drawn background images, buttons and window shapes? Or perhaps you'd like to simply make use of the hundreds of ready-to-use MSSTYLES themes (like OS/X Tiger and Panther) that you can download on the Internet? In any case, AutoPlay Media Studio makes it possible – and easy!

Automatic Sizing and Positioning of Objects

The Auto-Resize options for each object allow you to control how each side of the object responds to the page or dialog being resized at runtime. This makes it very easy to have resizable applications look right at different sizes.

Custom Icons

Now you can pick your own project icon and have it show up in the window title bar, task bar and as the executable's icon.

Menu Bars

It's now possible to add a standard Windows style menu bar to your project. It's easy to configure and edit, even letting you configure nested items. When a menu item is selected, it fires a project event telling you what was chosen, allowing you to take whatever action you desire.

Resource Stamping

Set your own version resource information and have it stored in the executable. You can now change the company name, product name, copyright notice, trademark information, version identifier and other useful fields.

Automatic Code Signing

Automatically have your applications code signed during publishing. This provides a more secure experience for users and helps make applications Windows Vista or later compliant.

Page Keyword Searching

Specify a list of keywords associated with each page. Then at runtime use the new actions to search for keywords on pages, create an indexed table of keywords, or even show a common dialog to allow the user to perform keyword searches.

Interactive Objects

xButton Object

If you're trying to create an application that blends in beautifully with the operating system, the new xButton object is just what the doctor ordered. However, that's just the beginning! The new xButton object supports far more customization than was previously possible. Now you can modernize your applications by adding "icon" images to your buttons, plus you can "markup" the text however you desire! This object lets you control the relative placement of button text and button images; choose between normal and toggle styles; adjust fonts and colors; and even markup you text using dozens of XAML tags – including hyperlinks right on your buttons! By default, the xButton styles itself according to whatever operating system it is being run on. If your application is running on Vista, the button looks like a standard Vista button. If you're running it on Windows 7, it looks like Windows 7. However, you can easily override this and choose from many included styles like Flat, Office 2000, Office XP or many different Office 2007 styles. Or hundreds of MSSTYLES themes… The options are endless.

PDF Object

The PDF object features integrated support for displaying PDF documents right in your application. This highly requested feature also gives you full control over the display and formatting. You can show/hide toolbars, scrollbars and borders. Layout options include "Single Page", "One Column", "Two Columns" and "User Preference". View options include "Fit Page", "Fit Page Width", "Fit Page Height" and "Actual Size".

QuickTime Object

Thanks to the new Apple QuickTime object, AutoPlay Media Studio applications are now compatible with over 80 video, audio and image formats. Video formats include .MOV, .DV, .M4V, .MP4 and dozens more – including the amazing h.264 format. Audio formats include .AAC, .AIF, .M4A, .MP3, etc.  Visual formatting options let you lock an aspect ratio, resize the media to fit the object dimensions or center it within the object area. Border styles include 3D, plain or none.

Button Object

A button responds automatically by changing its appearance when you move the mouse over it or click on it. With multiple image states, text options and a toggle state, buttons are used for many interactive tasks. We include a variety of pre-made button files for you to use, as well as a full featured button editor for making your own.

Text Label Object

Perfect for headlines and single line sentences, text label objects support interactive design-time resizing, custom fonts, sizes, colors, sound effects and more. An advanced anti-alias algorithm eliminates jagged edges and makes all of your text look great - even at large sizes.

Paragraph Object

Use any font, size, color or style of text you want. The software handles the required logic to automatically embed the TrueType fonts you use so your projects look great on any system. Add text effects like bold, italic and underline, set alignment options and pick from a variety of scroll bar skins.

Rich Text Object

The rich text object allows you to display rich text (.rtf) in an object. It supports background transparency as well as design-time and runtime character and paragraph formatting.

Image Object

Display pictures and other graphics in both 256 colors and 16.7 million colors. Supports all the major image file formats, including PNG, JPG, GIF and TIF. Supports interactive resizing, transparency, alpha channel, variable opacity, mouse over and click sounds, tooltip, cursor changes and more. Dynamically reduces and increases image color depth to work on all monitors and display cards.

Video Object

Embed digital video into your pages or dialogs, like AVI, MPEG and WMV. You can make use of the skinable control panel for controlling the video and an extensive action set if you require the video's playback to be controlled internally.

Adobe Flash Object

Play Flash movies right on your page or dialog! It’s even possible for your project to interact directly with the flash SWF file, through the use of FSCommands and variables or Flash's external API. An extremely popular format for animations, videos, demos and many other tasks.

Web Browser Object

The web browser object lets you display a web site right on your page or dialog, just like it would appear in Internet Explorer. Easily create custom web browsers by responding to a comprehensive set of events. It’s an extremely powerful feature!

Slideshow Object

The slideshow object allows you to show a series of images in a set area. It supports automatic resizing and scaling as well as transitions between images.

Hotspot Object

Make any part of your background image “live”. The hotspot objects add flexibility to your projects by making background design elements interactive.

Input Object

Create forms and other information collection systems. Supports single and multi-line input boxes, as well as password masking, custom input masks and a variety of customization options.

List Box Object

Show a scrollable list of information, allowing single or multi-selections including optional checkboxes. For example, you could display a list of song titles (so the user could choose a song to play), or a list of topics (so the user could decide what topic to view next). Includes options for text style, colors, auto-sorting and more.

Combo Box Object

When you want to present a list of options, but need to do it in a compact and efficient manner, this object shows a dropdown list box. You can control the look and feel of the object with properties such as font face, text color, size and background color.

Checkbox Object

The checkbox object wraps the standard Windows checkbox control but takes it to a new level by allowing transparent background and mouse state text color changes.

Radio Button Object

The radio button object is great for quiz and test applications. Radio buttons support transparent backgrounds and changing text color as the mouse passes over them. Radio button selection and grouping is also handled automatically.

Progress Bar Object

Whether you need to show a percentage of a completed task, or a simple indicator gauge to keep your users informed, the progress bar is ideal. You can control the background and bar colors, text, fonts, vertical or horizontal orientation, step size, min and max values, and a variety of styles such as standard or XP look.

Tree Object

The tree object allows you to display a hierarchal list of items on the page in the well known tree format. Items can have checkboxes associated with them, or simply be selectable. The tree object has an extensive action set so you can load and manipulate tree items at run time for full flexibility.

Grid Object

The grid object allows you to add spreadsheets, grids and list controls to your applications containing an extremely flexible action set.

Publishing Options

Publishing Wizard

Once you've got your project ready to go, the Publishing Wizard will package it up and make it ready to distribute. There are a variety of powerful options to choose from, including direct CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning, single-file executable, ISO image or hard drive folder.

Integrated CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Burning

You can now publish directly to CD-R/CD-RW, DVD±R/DVD±RW or BD-R/BD-RE media. Simply insert a blank disc and the wizard will burn your finished project right to it.

Web/Email Executable

Turn you finished project into a compressed, single-file executable. It's perfect for distribution by web and email.

Hard Drive Folder

Rather do the CD/DVD/Blu-Ray burning yourself? No problem. You can easily output your project to a folder on your hard drive that's ready to package up however you want. It’s a great choice if you are creating a traditional application and want to distribute your application with a professional software installer tool, like Setup Factory.

ISO Image

An advanced option, for people wanting to produce an ISO image for use by a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray replication company or service bureau.

Powerful Interactivity

No Programming Required

You don't need to be a programmer to use AutoPlay Media Studio. It's easy enough for anyone to use. While a full wizard-assisted scripting engine is available for power users, the new Quick Action tab lets new users get up to speed right away. Just fill in the blanks to handle the most popular actions like opening documents, running programs, switching pages and more. It’s really that easy!

Open Any File, Program or Document

Using the built-in actions your project will be able to open any file with an associated viewer application. Whether it is Microsoft PowerPoint (PPT), Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Microsoft Word (DOC) or any other document or program (EXE), it's a snap.

Print Pages/Dialogs at Runtime

The addition of the Page.Print and DialogEx.Print actions allow you to print pages or dialogs at runtime including options for whether or not to show a print dialog and whether to scale the page/dialog to fit the paper.

Event Driven

Events include things like clicking on an object or moving the mouse across a page or dialog. Simply add actions to the appropriate object’s event handler and they'll be performed automatically. This simple system, while easy to work with, is also incredibly powerful!

Page/Dialog Timers

If you want to make things happen on a repeatable schedule, then timers are for you. For example, you can configure a timer to fire every 5 seconds. When it does, you can run an action of your choice like querying a web server, moving an object or playing a sound effect. It’s very powerful and very easy to do.

Integrated Database Access

It's never been easier to write database applications using AutoPlay Media Studio! Easily connect to a variety of popular local and remote/Internet database systems including MySQL, SQLite3, ODBC, Oracle and PostgreSQL. Execute any SQL statements you desire like CREATE, INSERT and more – even easily retrieve data results using a row-by-row cursor system. Features full integration with our fill-in-the-blanks style Action Wizard, plus intelligent code completion.

Flexible Scripting Engine

AutoPlay Media Studio includes the same scripting engine as other Indigo Rose products. Based on the popular "Lua" language, this all-new and incredibly powerful free-form scripting engine gives you unprecedented control over your project. This easy to use language features everything from "for, repeat and while" loops, to "if/else" conditions, functions, variables and associative arrays. Paired with the built-in action library, full mathematical evaluation and Boolean expressions, there is simply nothing you can’t achieve. We've also built in an Action Wizard so even complete novices can create powerful projects that handle the most demanding tasks.

Support for Lua 5.1 Code Modules

With the new scripting engine upgrade comes compatibility with Lua 5.1 modules. You now have access to a wealth of free Lua code you can download and use in your AutoPlay Media Studio 8 projects. In most cases you simply copy the module files into your project and "require" them in your script. Just some of the useful modules out there include Bit Operation, Date, Canvas Draw, Imaging Tool, GD, Crypto, Colors, Speech, Alien, Social (Twitter), CURL, Regular Expression Parsing and so much more. It’s a whole treasure chest of addons and tools just waiting for you!

Comprehensive Action Library

We've included a library of more than 865 powerful yet easy to use actions. There are high-level actions to handle everything from text file editing to system registry changes. You can execute programs, open documents, query drive information, manipulate strings, copy files, enumerate processes, interact with web scripts, display dialog boxes and much more.

Easy to Use Action Wizard

You don't have to be a wizard to create incredible multimedia applications. We've built the wizard into the software! Simply choose the action you want from a categorized list (complete with on-screen interactive help), fill in the requested information fields and the wizard does the rest. You don't have to know anything about scripting or programming — just fill in the blanks, and you're done! Making changes is just as easy. Click on the line you want to change and press the "edit" button to go back to the original form. It's that easy!

Expandable with Action Plugins

Add on modules can extend your projects in infinitely powerful ways, such as adding support for databases, FTP file transfers and CD audio playback. Tight integration with the design environment makes plugins just as easy to use as built-in actions. Plugins are available through Indigo Rose as well as third-party developers thanks to Indigo Rose's freely available plug-in development kit.

Centralized Repository for Plugins, Templates and Addons

With all the new possibilities available to AutoPlay Media Studio 8 developers, we've put together a centralized archive to help organize everything. At http://www.autoplaymediastudio.com you'll find an easy-to-navigate repository for everything related to AutoPlay Media Studio. You'll find action plugins, object plugins, application themes, Lua modules, video transport skins, scrollbar skins, MSSTYLES skins, custom .BTN format button files, background images, project templates, example projects, scripts, audio files, tutorials, tools and lots more.

Trusted by Professionals

Thousands of companies trust Indigo Rose software tools. In fact our products, such as AutoPlay Media Studio, Setup Factory, MSI Factory, TrueUpdate and Visual Patch are used to create, distribute and manage software on millions of customer and client systems around the world. You can trust the people who invented the visual autorun CD development environment to stand by our products with world-class support!