Using Director > Navigation and User Interaction > About animated color cursors > Xtras that support animated cursors |  |

Xtras that support animated cursors

The Director installation program places two animated color cursor files in the Media Support folder within the Director application's Xtras folder. The specific files depend on the platform you are using.

Windows | PowerPC | Purpose
--- | --- | ---
Cursor Options.x32 | Cursor Options | This file supports the creation of cursors while you author movies in Director. Do not distribute this file with projectors; it is not licensed for redistribution.
Cursor Asset.x32 | Cursor Asset | Distribute this file with any movies or projectors that you create using the animated color cursors.

Requirements for animated color cursors

All cast members used for an animated color cursor must meet certain criteria:

| They must be bitmap cast members.
| They must have a color depth of 8 bits (256 colors).
| They must use only the first eight or the last eight colors that are in the standard System - Win palette. These provide the most predictable results when playing back across platforms. Other colors may not appear correctly.

The cast members need not be in sequence in the cast, and they need not be in the same cast.

A cursor's maximum size depends on the computer:

| In Windows 95 and 98, you can create cursors of either 16 x 16 pixels or 32 x 32 pixels (almost always 32 x 32 pixels, but some video cards may support only 16 x 16 pixels).
| In Windows NT, you can create cursors of 16 x 16 pixels or 32 x 32 pixels.
| On the Macintosh, you can create cursors of 16 x 16 pixels.

When you are creating cursors in the Cursor Properties Editor, Director dims any size option that is not available on your computer.

The 16 x16 pixel and 32 x 32 pixel sizes are the maximum sizes at which Director can display a cursor on the screen. The actual cast members you specify for the cursor can be larger than the maximum, and Director will scale the cast members to the appropriate size, maintaining the aspect ratio as it scales them. If you specify a cast member smaller than the maximum size, Director displays the cast member at its original size, without scaling. For example, if you select a maximum size of 16 x 16 pixels and then specify a cursor that is 12 x 14 pixels, Director displays the cursor at 12 x 14 pixels.