Autorun MAX! 2.

0
User’s Guide

www.autorun.com
Proprietary Notice
The software described in this document is a proprietary product of Indigo Rose Software
Design Corporation and is furnished to the user under a license for use as specified in the
license agreement.
The software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Indigo Rose Software Design Corporation. No part of this
document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in any retrieval system, or
translated into any language without the express written permission of Indigo Rose Software
Design Corporation.

Trademarks
Autorun MAX! and associated logos are trademarks of Indigo Rose Software Design
Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks mentioned in this document are
the property of their respective owners.

Copyright
Copyright © 2006 Indigo Rose Software Design Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................. 6
What Can I Do With Autorun MAX!? ...............................................7
Objects and Actions .......................................................................7
Home and Business Editions..........................................................8
About This Guide ...........................................................................9
Getting Help ...................................................................................9

CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED .......................................... 12

Installing Autorun MAX! ................................................................13
The Welcome Screen...................................................................14
Creating a New Project.................................................................15
Opening an Existing Project .........................................................16

CHAPTER 3: EXPLORING THE WORKSPACE........................ 18

The Autorun MAX! Workspace .....................................................19
Menu............................................................................................20
Toolbar.........................................................................................20
Pages ..........................................................................................21
Customizing Your Workspace.......................................................24

CHAPTER 4: ALL ABOUT OBJECTS...................................... 28

What are Objects?........................................................................29
Objects in Autorun MAX! ..............................................................29
Button Objects..............................................................................33
Label Objects ...............................................................................35
Paragraph Objects .......................................................................36
Image Objects..............................................................................37
Video Objects...............................................................................38
Laying Out Objects On Your Page................................................39
Previewing Your Project ...............................................................41
Don’t Forget To Save Your Work! .................................................41

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 5: ALL ABOUT ACTIONS ...................................... 42
What Are Actions?........................................................................43
Types of Actions in Autorun MAX! ................................................44

CHAPTER 6: WORKING WITH PAGES ................................... 46

What Are Pages? .........................................................................47
What Can I Do With Pages? .........................................................47

CHAPTER 7: ADVANCED FEATURES .................................... 52

Project Settings............................................................................53
Background Music........................................................................54
Splash Screens ............................................................................55
Startup Video ...............................................................................56
Project Actions .............................................................................57
File Layout ...................................................................................58

CHAPTER 8: PUBLISHING YOUR PROJECT .......................... 60

Previewing Your Project ...............................................................61
Publishing Options In Autorun MAX! .............................................61
Burn CD-R/CD-RW ......................................................................62
Hard Drive Folder.........................................................................64
Web/Email Executable (Business Edition Only) ............................65
ISO CD-ROM Image (Business Edition Only) ...............................66

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Welcome!
Introduction
Autorun MAX! gives you the power to create professional looking CD-ROM and
DVD-ROM autorun menus and other interactive multimedia projects that are sure to
impress. And you don’t have to be a software programmer to do it. With its intuitive
workspace and drag-and-drop objects, it’s quick to learn and easy to use. Autorun
MAX! requires no programming knowledge whatsoever! You’ll be amazed with the
powerful functionality and stylish visual appeal that Autorun MAX! puts at your
mouse-clicking fingertip. Let’s get started—your unique project is only a few mouse
clicks away!

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Introduction
 1

What Can I Do With Autorun MAX!?

Autorun MAX! makes it easy for anyone to create professional looking interactive
multimedia software. With its easy-to-use visual design environment, you don’t have
to know a thing about computer programming. If you can use a mouse, you can create
dazzling projects with Autorun MAX! Some possibilities include:
• CD-ROM autorun / autoplay menus.
• Electronic CD-ROM Business Cards
• Travel Journals
• Invitations
• Brochures
• Demos and Walkthroughs
• Much more - the kinds of projects you can make are limited only by your
imagination!

Objects and Actions

The most important concepts in Autorun MAX! are Objects and Actions. Objects are
basically the things you see in your project (buttons, text labels, images, etc.). Actions
are the things that your objects can do when they are clicked on, such as opening
documents, sending email, playing music, or viewing websites. Simple, right?
It gets better. Autorun MAX! comes with hundreds of attractive objects and a host of
powerful actions ready made for your use. All you need to do is drag and drop your

7
Introduction
 favorite objects into your project and pair them with actions that you select from a list.
That’s all it takes to create an impressive multimedia project with Autorun MAX!

Home and Business Editions

Autorun MAX! is available in two editions: Home and Business.

Home Edition
The Home edition shares the same overall design environment as the Business edition.
It comes with 100 pages available for your project. With the Home edition, you have
two publishing options: build and publish your project to a hard drive folder, or burn it
onto CD-R/CD-RW.
Note: The Home Edition is licensed for personal use only. You cannot distribute any
of the projects you create for any purpose that is commercial, organizational or
business related. However, you’re free to distribute your CD’s to friends and family.
For business use, you’ll need to purchase the Business Edition.

Business Edition
The Business edition includes everything in the Home edition and expands on a few
key features. With the Business edition, you have 250 pages available for your
project. You have four publishing options: build and publish your project to a hard
drive folder, burn it onto a CD-R/CD-RW, create a Web/Email Executable, or create
an ISO CD-ROM Image.
Additionally, with the Business edition you can turn off the Autorun MAX! credit
screen (or replace it with your own logo/image) that is shown when your project
closes.
Note: The Autorun MAX! Business edition license agreement allows you to distribute
the projects you make with Autorun MAX! for both personal and business use, with
no additional royalties or fees.

8
Introduction
About This Guide
This user's guide is intended to give you an overview of the features and functions in
Autorun MAX! and a bit of hands-on experience with the program. In no time, you’ll
be able to easily create your own sophisticated multimedia projects!
The guide is divided into eight chapters:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Getting Started
Chapter 3: Exploring the Workspace
Chapter 4: All About Objects
Chapter 5: All About Actions
Chapter 6: Working With Pages
Chapter 7: Advanced Features
Chapter 8: Publishing Your Project

Getting Help
Autorun MAX! was designed to be intuitive and easy to use, but that doesn’t mean
you won’t run into the occasional roadblock. The following tools are at your disposal
when you need help:
• The Autorun MAX! User’s Guide – written to give you an overview of the
most important features of Autorun MAX! and how to use them. Includes lots
of screen shots for “at-a-glance” explanations.
• The Help File – included right inside Autorun MAX!, contains detailed entries
explaining the program’s many features, including a ton of great tips! The help
file is context specific, meaning that when you open it, it will automatically
present the entry relevant to whatever you happen to be working on. Of course,
the help file is also fully searchable, so you can enter a topic or keyword to
locate the information you need! To access the help file, choose Help >
Autorun MAX! Help from the menu.

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Introduction
 The Autorun MAX! Help File

• Online Support Forums – Still stumped? Why don’t you check in with fellow
users of Autorun MAX! by visiting the online discussion and support forums?
Here, users of this program discuss problems they’ve had with their projects as
well as the solutions that worked for them. Chances are, you’ll find helpful
discussion for your own project challenges. Choosing Help > Online Support
Forums opens your web browser directly to the user forums at the Autorun
MAX! website.

10
Introduction
 11
Introduction
Chapter 2:
Getting Started
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to install Autorun MAX!, get acquainted with the
options on the Welcome screen, and learn how to create a new project.

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Chapter 2
 2

Installing Autorun MAX!

To install Autorun MAX:
• Download it using the instructions found in your purchase confirmation email.
• When the program has been downloaded, choose to run the program.
• Follow the instructions on the Installation Wizard. At each step, proceed by
clicking Next after filling in the appropriate fields.
• By default, Autorun MAX! will open the program when you click Finish. (If
you don’t want to work with Autorun MAX! right away, deselect this option
before clicking Finish.)
• To open Autorun MAX! in the future, either click on the Autorun MAX! icon
that appears on your desktop, or choose Programs > Autorun MAX! 2.0 from
your Start menu.

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Getting Started
 The Welcome Screen
Autorun MAX! begins with a simple Welcome screen that displays two options:
Create New Project, and Open a Project. These two options are fairly self-explanatory.
One opens a project you’ve previously saved, and the other creates a new project
starting from a blank canvas or project template. If you would like to exit Autorun
MAX!, you can click on the “x” close button on the title bar.

The Welcome screen

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Chapter 2
Creating a New Project
To start a new project, click “Create New Project” on the Welcome screen. This will
open the Create New Project screen, where you can select the project template you’d
like to start from.

The Create New Project screen

To create your new project:

• Enter a name for your project in the labeled space at the bottom of the screen.
• Choose a template by clicking on one of the template screen shots on the Create
New Project screen. (If you want to follow some of the hands-on practice tasks
in this user’s guide, choose the template labeled Blank Project).
• Click OK.
• You are now in the Autorun MAX! workspace and ready to work on your new
project!

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Getting Started
 Opening an Existing Project
If you’ve created a project file in the past that you would like to continue working on,
click “Open a Project” on the Welcome screen. This will show the Open Project
screen containing a list of miniature screen shots of your saved projects. To make it
even easier, the last project you worked on will be selected in the list.

The Open Project Screen

Once you’ve found the project you are looking for, click OK to open it in the
workspace. If you’re trying to locate a file that is not in your Autorun MAX! projects
folder, simply click Browse to locate the file on your computer.

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Chapter 2
 17
Getting Started
Chapter 3:
Exploring the Workspace
The Autorun MAX! workspace is designed to be intuitive and easy to use. This
chapter will acquaint you with its features and functions. You’ll see just how easy it is
to create an amazing multimedia project with Autorun MAX!.

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Chapter 3
 3

The Autorun MAX! Workspace

The Autorun MAX! workspace is easy to learn and use. Here’s what a typical project
workspace looks like:

The Autorun MAX! workspace

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Exploring the Workspace
 Menu
At the top of the workspace, you will find a list of menu commands (File, Edit, Align,
Page, etc.)—this is the menu. When you click on one of these menu commands, a
drop-down list of further options will appear. For example, if you click on the Page
command in the menu, a drop-down list containing options related to pages will
appear.

The Page menu

If, for example, you wanted to add another page to your project, you would simply
click on the word Page, and then click on Add in the drop-down list (i.e. choose Page
> Add). Go ahead—try it out!
Take a minute to click on the various menu commands and have a look at the options
that appear in their drop-down lists. Don’t worry if you don’t understand all of the
options yet—we will look at them in more detail in the next few chapters.

Toolbar
Below the menu, you will find a row of icons—this is the toolbar (actually it’s a series
of toolbars; we will talk more about this under “Customizing Your Workspace”). The
icons that you see do many of the same things as the commands in the menu. For
instance, in the example above, we added a page to our project by choosing Page >
Add from the menu. Using the toolbar, you can do the same thing.

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Chapter 3
Find the Add a new page icon on the toolbar. It looks like this:

Toolbar Icons

When you click on it, notice that another page tab appears just like when you chose
Page > Add from the menu.
To find out what the other icons in the toolbar do, simply hover over the icon with
your mouse pointer. You’ll see a “tooltip” appear that describes its functions.
Additionally, at the very bottom left hand corner of the workspace, you will see a
more detailed description appear on the status bar.

The Status Bar

You can think of the toolbar as shortcuts to the most common commands found on the
menu. Many people find the toolbar to be a quicker and handier alternative to the
menu and its drop-down lists.
In the end, you can use the menu, the toolbar, or a combination of both and achieve
the same results. The way you choose to use the workspace is entirely up to you!

Pages
The large blank area that takes up most of the workspace is called a “page.” When you
create a project, you will customize this page by adding objects here, laying them out
anyway you want, and adding actions to those objects. The final version of this
customized “page” is what will eventually be displayed to your users.
Note: For the purposes of this overview, we’ve chosen the Blank Project template, so
our page looks like a blank canvas. Had we chosen another template from the Create
New Project screen, that template would appear here.

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Exploring the Workspace
 You can change the appearance of a page by double clicking on it to call up its
Properties screen (or choose Page > Properties from the menu).

Page Properties Dialog

Here you can choose virtually any color of the rainbow for your page’s background.
Or, instead of a solid color background, you can choose to use an image. Either
browse the image gallery that is included in Autorun MAX! (click on Image in the
Properties screen, and then click on the browse button), or choose an image file of
your own. Drag and drop your chosen image file onto your page, and you have an
eye-catching new backdrop! For an even “funkier” edge, choose the Tile image option
with a small image, and it will be repeated side by side like a mosaic.
You can also change the name of your page on the Page Properties screen and choose
“transition effects” for your pages, such as dissolving or sliding, when your user
jumps from one page to the next.
Note: For more information on pages, see Chapter 6 or go to the Help File.

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Chapter 3
Page Tabs
Above the project page and below the toolbar, you will find a tab labeled Page1.
If you’ve been following the “hands-on” practice steps in this guide, you may see
additional page tabs labeled Page2, Page3, etc. These represent the pages you’ve
added to your project.

Pages in the Workspace

In the screen shot above, you see a project with several page tabs. Notice that only one
page tab is white (Page2 in the above example). A white page tab indicates the “active
page” that you are currently working on. If you were to add objects and actions to the
project in the above scenario, you would be adding them to Page2.
To work on a different page, all you need to do is click on the appropriate page tab.
For instance, if you’ve been working on Page2 and now want to go back to working
on Page1, simply click on the Page1 tab. The Page1 tab will now be white—which
indicates that you are now working on Page1.
Note: A typical project made with Autorun MAX! will have several pages. Autorun
MAX! Home edition has 100 pages available to your project; the Business Edition has
250 available pages. You will learn how to let your user jump between your project
pages in Chapter 5.

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Exploring the Workspace
 Customizing Your Workspace
Above, we’ve described the workspace as it would appear by default. However,
because different people have different working styles and preferences, Autorun
MAX! lets you customize features of the workspace to best suit your needs!
For instance, above we mentioned that the toolbar is actually a series of toolbars (each
individual toolbar is separated by what looks like a perforated line). You can drag and
drop these toolbars to the place in your project you find most convenient for working
with.
Let’s say you would like to move the object toolbar (the toolbar with the button, label,
paragraph, image and video icons) to the left hand side of your project in a vertical
row. No problem—just click on one of the edges of the object toolbar, and drag it to
the left side of the screen.

Moving the Toolbars Around

You can even remove icons from a toolbar that you find you don’t use by clicking on
the Toolbar Options arrow key at the end of a toolbar. Select the name of the icon that
you want deleted, and click on the icon you want to delete.

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Chapter 3
 Customizing the Toolbars

You can actually shut off toolbars or select additional ones by going to the View
command in the menu. For example, you can shut off the object toolbar by choosing
View > Toolbars and clicking on Objects to deselect it. Or, you can add an alignment
toolbar by choosing View > Toolbars and clicking “Align”.

Turning on the Align Toolbar

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Exploring the Workspace
 By clicking on View, you’ll also find other options for customizing your workspace
(see screenshot above). For instance, you can add a grid, a ruler and guidelines to your
workspace to help you align your objects in just the right way, and you can choose
whether or not to display a status bar at the bottom of the screen that indicates project
information such as project size.

Workspace with Ruler and Grid

Go ahead and click on View to explore your options, and use your mouse to shift
things around. Your workspace is yours alone—make it as comfortable to work with
as possible!

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Chapter 3
 27
Exploring the Workspace
Chapter 4:
All About Objects
In a nutshell, objects are the items that your user will see and interact with on the
pages of your completed project. This chapter will introduce you to the different kinds
of objects available in Autorun MAX! and how to use them with panache!

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Chapter 4
 4

What are Objects?

The two most important concepts in Autorun MAX! are Objects and Actions. Objects
are the items you add to your project to give it visual appeal (buttons, graphics, text,
video, etc.). Not only do they look good, when you add actions to them, your objects
will be able to do amazing things when you interact with them, like automatically
open documents, play music, send email, and more.
In this chapter, we will focus mostly on the “visual appeal” side of objects by
describing the types of object available in Autorun MAX!, how to manipulate their
appearance and location on the page, and how to layout objects effectively in your
workspace. The next chapter will show you how to add actions to them.

Objects in Autorun MAX!

Autorun MAX! comes with a variety of objects and a ton of ready-made content for
use in your projects. The types of objects available are: Button, Label, Paragraph,
Image, and Video.

Adding Objects To Your Page

There are three ways to add objects to your project: Choose Object from the menu and
then click on the object type that you want; click on the appropriate object icon on the
toolbar; or drag and drop an object file from anywhere on your system onto the page.

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All About Objects
 The Object Menu

Let’s add a button to your project for practice: either choose Object > Button from the
menu, or click the New Button Object icon on the toolbar. A thumbnail dialog box
with several buttons on the side will appear. If you click the “Gallery” button, you will
see a list of the professionally designed button objects included with Autorun MAX!.

Adding a New Button Object

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Chapter 4
Go ahead and view the available buttons in the gallery. When you find a button that
you like, add it to your project page by double clicking on the button’s thumbnail, or
select it in the list and click OK at the bottom of the Select Button dialog. Your button
object will now appear on your project page and is ready for you to work with!

Object Properties
In Autorun MAX!, objects have “properties” that you can control and configure.
“Properties” basically refers to features such as an object’s size, color, sound it makes
when clicked on, position, alignment on the screen, text content, action it performs
when clicked on, etc. You configure and specify an object’s properties on its settings,
attributes, and action tabs.
Double-clicking an object is the easiest way to access the properties screen. However,
you can also get there by selecting an object, and choosing Properties from the Object
menu or toolbar, or by right-clicking it to bring up the context menu.

The Right-Click Context Menu

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All About Objects
 Choose Properties to get to the Settings, Attributes and Action tabs for your button
object (we will talk about the Action tab in Chapter 5).

Object Properties using the Toolbar

When you click on the Attributes tab for any object, the following screen will appear:

Button Properties - Attributes Tab

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Chapter 4
On the Attributes tab, you can control things like: the object’s position on the page
and its size by keying in specific dimensions; what sound will be heard when a mouse
passes over the object; and what kind of cursor will appear when that object is moused
over. You can also add a tooltip that will appear when that object is moused over.
Note: Not all of the changes you make to your object on the Attributes tab will be
visible in your project workspace. To view exactly how your objects will look and
function when you eventually publish your project, you will need to preview it. To do
this, choose Publish > Preview in the menu, or click on the Preview icon (the one that
looks like a little monitor).

IMPORTANT SHORTCUT!: Though you can change the size and position of an
object on its Attributes tab, you can also do this in your project with your mouse. To
change an object’s position, simply click on it, then drag and drop it to the desired
position. To adjust an object’s width or height, click on the object, and then drag the
corners of the blue “frame” that will surround it until your object is the correct size.
Each object also has a Settings tab. However, the options that appear on a Settings tab
vary depending on the kind of object that you are working with. Below, we will talk a
bit more about each of the object types and look at what you can do with their
particular Settings tabs.

Button Objects
You will love using buttons; they’re a great place to put an action, since they usually
look like something you would want to click on. To help the user know what the
buttons will do, each button can have custom text on it. For example, if you want your
button to send your user to a website, you can write something like “Go To Website”
on your button.
You add text to a button on its Settings tab. (If you’ve been following along and have
made a button, you can try this out!)

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All About Objects
 Button Object Properties – Settings Tab

Simply type the text that you want on your button in the Text field. To further
customize your button, you can choose the font and alignment of your text on the
button. You can even make your text turn different colors when it’s clicked or
highlighted when a mouse passes over it.

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Chapter 4
Label Objects
The label object allows you to add text headlines and messages to your page. The font,
size, color and orientation of the text can all be customized to suit your needs on the
label object’s settings tab.

Label Object Properties – Settings Tab

You’ll notice that the label object’s Settings tab looks a lot like the button object’s
Settings tab. You can control your label’s text, font, alignment, its color depending on
its “state” (normal, highlighted with a mouse, or when clicked on). You can also play
with a label’s orientation; whether it appears written horizontally, vertically, upside
down, etc. Create a label object and see for yourself!

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All About Objects
 Paragraph Objects
The paragraph object allows you to display scrollable text on the page where large
amounts of text are needed. You can type your text directly into the Text box on the
Settings tab, or copy text from somewhere else and paste it here.

Paragraph Object Properties – Settings Tab

Most of the options on the paragraph object’s Settings tab are self-explanatory and
similar to the options for buttons and labels. Note that you can choose the color of
your paragraph object’s background and border, as well as the appearance and
orientation of the scrollbar.

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Chapter 4
Image Objects
The image object allows you to display photos, logos, illustrations, etc. on your page.
Autorun MAX! comes with a variety of useful image files that are ready for use in
your project. You can view all of the ready-made images by choosing Object > Image,
and then exploring the image gallery. Of course, you can always drag and drop an
image file of your own onto your page.
Note: The image object is compatible with the following image formats: .bmp, .jpg,
.gif (not animated), .pcx, .png, .tga, .tif, .wmf, .apm, .emf, .psd, .pcd.
You can control aspects of your image object on its Settings tab.

Image Object Properties – Settings Tab

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All About Objects
 Here, you can alter an image object’s transparent color and opacity. Play around to
customize your image the way you like it best!

Video Objects
The video object allows you to display a video file (such as an AVI, MPEG, or
WMV) on the page—simply drag and drop your video file into your project! The
video object even contains a built-in skinable control panel for controlling the video,
giving it a professional edge.
Note: The video object is compatible with a variety of video formats including .AVI,
.MPG and .WMV. Refer to the help file for system requirements and additional
information on specific file formats.
You can control aspects of your video object on its Settings tab.

Video Object Properties – Settings Tab

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Chapter 4
Laying Out Objects On Your Page
Now you know about the types of objects in Autorun MAX! and how to manipulate
their individual appearance on the page. Let’s talk about how to lay out multiple
objects in your workspace so that your page is as stylish and functional as possible.
Tip: Many of the following features can be used to manipulate multiple objects at the
same time. Whenever you want to select multiple objects in your project, hold the
shift or control (Ctrl) key down and click on all the objects you want to select. Now
all of your selected objects will act as a single object.

Aligning
Ever thought you’d hung a picture perfectly straight only to step back and see just
how crooked it really was? Autorun MAX! includes an alignment feature to make sure
this doesn’t happen to the objects in your project!
The alignment tools in Autorun MAX! allow you to align your selected object (or
objects) either to the page itself or to the “dominant object” on your page.
Note: The dominant object is the last object you select when selecting multiple
objects. It will be surrounded with a solid bounding box while the other objects will
be surrounded by a broken-lined bounding box.
To use the object alignment feature, either right click on your object and choose Align
from the drop-down list or select the object and choose Align from the menu. Most of
the options on the drop-down list refer to how you can align your selected objects to
the dominant object—only the To Page option refers to aligning your objects to the
page itself.

Arranging
In Autorun MAX!, objects can be “stacked” one on top of the other. Arranging objects
refers to “stacking” objects in the proper order. For instance, let’s suppose you want to
stack a label object on top of an image object. In this example, the stacking order is
crucial—you will only be able to see your label object if it is “on top of” or “in front
of” the image object; if the image object is “in front”, it will hide the label object. By
either right-clicking an object and choosing Arrange or by choosing Edit > Arrange,
you can determine the relative position of the selected object in your stack.
Note: You cannot stack another object on top of a video object. Video objects will
always appear in front of other object types.

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All About Objects
 Grouping and Ungrouping
A group is simply a bunch of objects that are always selected together, and that
maintain their positions relative to one another when you move them around on the
page or use the alignment tools. Essentially, the group acts like a single object.
To group a set of objects, simply select your chosen objects by holding shift or ctrl
and clicking on them. Then, choose Edit > Group from the menu. Now, when you
manipulate one of the objects in that group on the page (e.g. drag and drop, resize,
etc.), the others will come along!
To ungroup your objects and restore their independence, simply click on your group,
and choose Edit > Ungroup from the menu.

Locking and Pinning

Both locking and pinning objects restrict what you can do with an object so that you
don’t unintentionally change it.
“Locking” an object makes you completely unable to select it or work with it; in other
words, you can’t change anything about an object (appearance, position, function,
etc.) when it is locked. To lock an object, either right click it and choose Lock, or
select it and choose Edit > Lock from the menu. To unlock the object, choose Lock
again on the right click context menu. (Note that you can also choose Edit > Unlock
All from the menu; however, this will unlock all locked objects on your page, not only
the one that you have selected)
“Pinning” an object means that you cannot move or resize it, but you can still select it
to edit its properties (i.e. make changes on its Settings, Attributes, or Action tabs). To
pin an object, either choose Pin from the right click context menu, or choose Edit >
Pin from the menu. To unpin an object, either click Pin again in the right click context
menu, or choose Edit > Unpin from the menu.

Deleting Objects
Part of creating a great project is getting rid of what doesn’t look right! To delete an
object, either right click on it and choose Delete, or select it and choose Edit > Delete
from the menu.
To delete multiple objects, hold the shift or control (Ctrl) key down, click on all the
objects you want to delete to select them, and then delete as described above.

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Chapter 4
Copying and Pasting Objects
Often, you may want to use an object that you’ve configured to suit your needs
several times and in multiple places throughout a project. Instead of configuring an
object again and again, you can simply copy and paste it.
To copy an object, either click on it and choose Edit > Copy from the menu, or choose
Copy from the right-click context menu. To paste the object, click on wherever you
want to paste it (on the same page or on a different page of your project), and either
choose Edit > Paste from the menu, or choose Paste from the right-click context
menu.

Previewing Your Project

To see the objects you’ve added to your page as your end user would, including how
your objects will look when they are interacted with by mouse clicks and mouse
overs, you will need to preview your project. You can either choose Publish >
Preview from the menu, or click on the Preview icon on the toolbar.

Preview Your Project

Don’t Forget To Save Your Work!

As with any computer project, be sure to save your work! Choose File > Save or Save
As, or click on the Save icon in the toolbar.

Save Your Project

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All About Objects
Chapter 5:
All About Actions
Actions are what bring your project to life! By adding actions to your objects, your
project will become completely interactive—opening documents, sending emails,
playing videos and music and much more. Actions are what will separate your project
from a traditional pamphlet, photo album or business card by adding movement,
sound and style. Just like objects, powerful actions are added with simple mouse
clicks in Autorun MAX!—so, let’s get going!

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Chapter 5
 5

What Are Actions?

Basically, actions are what make your objects do things. It’s a snap to add actions—
simply double-click on an object to get to its Properties, and then click on the Action
tab. Click on the drop-down list labeled “Action to run” to view the kinds of actions
that are available in Autorun MAX!

Object Properties – Action Tab

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All About Actions
 Adding Actions
To add an action to you project, first double-click on the object you want to add an
action to. On the Action tab, click on the drop-down list to view your choice of
actions, and click on the one you want. Specify your options in the fields that are
presented to you in order to customize the action.
When you’re done, choose OK. Once you build your project, clicking on that object
will perform the action you’ve added to it!
Tip: To make sure your action works the way you want, choose Publish > Preview to
try it out.
Let’s explore the different types of actions in Autorun MAX! and some of their
configuration options.

Types of Actions in Autorun MAX!

Show Page
The Show Page action will jump to the page you specify (First, Previous, Next, Last,
Back, Forward, Specific Page).
Note: We will talk more about how to use the Show Page command in Chapter 6.

Run Program
The Run Program command runs an executable program that you specify. You don’t
need to type in file names or folder locations—the browse buttons on the Run
Program action will allow you to navigate to the appropriate program.

Open Document
Opens a document of your choice. Use the browse button on this action to navigate to
the appropriate document. The user must have the appropriate “viewer” application
installed on their system. For example, if you try to open a .PDF file, Autorun MAX!
will try and open it using whatever application is set to handle .PDF documents on the
user’s system (usually Acrobat Reader). If there is no application installed to handle
that document type, the action will not work.

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Print Document
Use this command to automatically print a document. You can navigate to the
document with the browse button. As with the Open Document action, the ability to
print a document depends on the application installed on the user’s system.

Send Email
Simply specify an email address and your object will automatically open the user’s
default email client application with the address filled in.

View Website
Type in a website address and Autorun MAX! will open up the user’s web browser to
the address you specified.

Explore Folder
Explores a folder on the CD-ROM. This is the same as right-clicking on a folder in
Windows and choosing Explore. It’s often used when you want to give the user a look
at the other files that are on your CD-ROM.

Play Multimedia
Play a multimedia file such as an AVI, MPG, audio format or other multimedia type
using the system’s default media player application.

Play/Pause Background Music

Toggles the play state of the background audio track between playing and paused.
Note: We will discuss how to configure background music in Chapter 7.

Exit/Close
This action will exit the application.
Tip: For more details about an action and its configuration options, click on “Tell me
more about this action” to navigate to the appropriate entry in the Help File.

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All About Actions
Chapter 6:
Working With Pages
With Autorun MAX! Home edition you can add up to 100 pages to your project—
with the Business edition, you have 250 pages to work with. In this chapter, we’ll look
at how to work effectively with multiple pages in a project.

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Chapter 6
 6

What Are Pages?

Pages are the "surfaces" that objects can be placed on. When you build your project,
your user will see the page in its final form and will actually be able to interact with it
by clicking on its objects.
You are not limited to a single page—in fact, in the Home edition, you can include up
to 100 pages in your project and up to 250 pages with the Business edition.

What Can I Do With Pages?

This section will take you through the fundamentals of working with pages in your
Autorun MAX! project.

Add
There are two ways to add a page to your project: choose Page > Add from the menu,
or click on the Add Page icon on the toolbar.

Remove
To remove a page, make sure you have selected the page you want to remove by
clicking on its page tab. Then, you can either choose Page > Remove from the menu,
or click on the Delete Page icon on the toolbar.
Note: Remember that the page you are working on is the one whose corresponding
page tab is white. When you are removing a page, make sure that you have selected
the right one by verifying that its page tab is white!

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Working With Pages
 Duplicate
By selecting Page > Duplicate, you are able to copy the page that you are currently
working on. This is very useful if you want to create two or more pages with similar
layouts. Instead of selecting and positioning all your objects again for every page,
simply duplicate the page and then make any required changes to the copy.

Organize
By choosing Page > Organize, you are presented with a dialog where you can manage
the order in which your pages appear.
Note: In order to show your project’s various pages to your user, you will need to add
a Show Page action to an object so that your user can jump from one page to another.
We discuss how to do this in greater detail below.

Organizing Your Pages

The pages are ordered top to bottom; in other words, in the above example, the first
page shown will be Page1, the second page will be Page2, and so forth.
You can change the order in which your pages are shown by changing their position
using the Move Up and Move Down buttons. For instance, if you wanted to show

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Chapter 6
Page5 right after Page2, you would click on Page5 in the list, and then press the Move
Up button until Page5 is listed right under Page2.
Notice that when you change the order of your pages on the Organize Pages dialog,
Autorun MAX! automatically reorganizes the page tabs in the workspace according to
those changes.

Your New Page Order

Show Page Action

The Show Page action is used in conjunction with the Organize Pages dialog. The
Organize Pages dialog is where you set the relative order in which you want pages
displayed in your project. The Show Page action is used to get your user from one
page to the next.
The Show Page action is added to any object you want. (A button with text that says
something like “Next” or “Jump To Next Page” might be handy.) To add the Show
Page action to an object, select your object, then go the Action tab on its Properties
and choose the Show Page action from the drop-down list (for a refresher on adding
actions to objects, see Chapter 5).

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Working With Pages
 The Show Page Action

Under the Page to show heading, you’ll see a list of options (First, Previous, Next,
etc.). The first four choices, First, Previous, Next and Last, refer to the relative order
of the pages in your list on the Organize Pages dialog. For example, if you selected
“First” for an object’s Show Page action, your user would be taken to the first page in
your list when they click on that object. If you selected “Next,” your user would be
presented with the next page (the page that follows the currently viewed one) in your
list, and so forth.
The terms Back and Forward refer to the order in which your user has viewed your
pages, not to the order of pages in your list. In other words, choosing Back on the
Show Page action will navigate to the page the user was on before the current page,
and Forward will navigate one page forward in the navigation history. It works very
much like the Back and Forward buttons on a web browser.

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Chapter 6
Renaming Your Pages
By default, pages are named Page1, Page2, Page3, etc., but you are by no means stuck
with these designations! You can change the name of your pages to something that
makes them easy for you to identify and work with—perhaps something like
Introduction, Main Page, and Credits.
To rename a page, simply select the page you want to rename, and then choose Page >
Properties from the menu.

Page Properties

In the Name field, you can call the page whatever you want. You can also adjust other
aspects of that page’s appearance, including its color, the background image and how
it looks when you jump to it (e.g. make it “dissolve” or “slide in” instead of just
“appear”).
Tip: For more information about how to use any of the features related to pages,
please refer to the Help File.

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Working With Pages
Chapter 7:
Advanced Features
Autorun MAX! includes several advanced features for your project: Project Settings,
Background Music, Splash Screens, Startup Video and Project Actions. These can all
be found on the Project menu.

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Chapter 7
 7

Project Settings
The project settings area is where you can configure settings such as your project’s
window size and style, and the default sound for clicking on objects. To access the
project settings, choose Project > Settings from the menu.

The Project Settings Dialog

You can choose to add a border to your window here by selecting Bordered, or have
your project appear without either a title bar or border by choosing the Flat option.

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Advanced Features
 Or, rather than using the standard sounds for highlighting or clicking on an object, you
can browse through the gallery of neat sounds included in Autorun MAX!, and drag
and drop one into your project—you now have a cool new default sound for your
project’s mousing actions!
The Custom Mask feature is really neat, as it lets you change the shape of your project
window from a plain old rectangle into something much more interesting. Try it out!

Background Music
The Background Music area is where you can add any background audio tracks you
wish to play in your project; this command can work together with the Play/Pause
Background Music action that you add to objects. To access the background music
screen, choose Project > Background Music from the menu.

The Background Music Dialog

You can choose multiple audio files, choose to play them in sequential or random
order, and more.

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Chapter 7
The background music you add here will play automatically in your project. To allow
your user to “toggle” between playing and pausing the music, you must add a
Play/Pause Background Music action to an object.
Note: Autorun MAX! can play back a variety of audio formats. Refer to the help file
for Supported File Types and System Requirements.

Splash Screens
A splash screen is an image that is shown at the startup and/or shutdown of your
project. You can think of it as a sort of graphical introduction or signoff. Often, it’s
used to display a logo or copyright notice. To configure your project’s splash screens,
choose Project > Splash Screens from the menu.
You’ll find tabs for the two places where you can show a splash screen: Startup and
Shutdown.

The Splash Screens Dialog

On the Startup tab in both the Home and Business editions of Autorun MAX!, you can
choose to either display no splash screen by choosing None, or choose to display a
custom screen by choosing Custom, and navigating to your splash screen’s image file.

55
Advanced Features
 If you choose to show a custom screen, you can also specify the duration in seconds
for which that screen is displayed.
The splash screen options on the Shutdown tab are different in the Home and Business
Editions.
In the Home Edition, the Autorun MAX! logo is always displayed on Shutdown.
In the Business Edition, you can turn it off or use your own custom image.

Startup Video
You can play a video at the startup of your project by choosing Project > Startup
Video. Simply select Play startup video, and navigate to the appropriate video file
with the browse button.

The Startup Video Dialog

Here, you can also determine the display size of your video, the background color
matte that the video is displayed on, and offer an option for your user to skip the video
with a mouse click.

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Chapter 7
Note: If you are also using a startup splash screen, the splash screen will be shown
first, followed by the startup video.

Project Actions
Project Actions refer to actions that you tell your project to perform automatically (i.e.
without requiring your user to click an object) on Startup or on Shutdown of your
application. You can configure the Project Actions by choosing Project > Actions.

Project Actions Dialog

To automatically perform an action on Startup, click on the Startup tab. Choose an

action, and configure it to your needs. This action will now be performed
automatically at the Startup of your project.
Note: If you are including a startup splash screen, or startup video, the project action
you choose on Startup will be performed after these are shown.

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Advanced Features
 To automatically perform an action on Shutdown, choose Project > Actions and then
click on the Shutdown tab. Choose an action, and configure it to your needs. This
action will now be performed on the Shutdown of the application.
Note: If you are including a shutdown splash screen (optional in the Business edition),
actions set for Shutdown will be run before the splash screen is displayed.

File Layout
While Autorun MAX! automatically manages all of the files in your project, there
may be situations where you need to add additional files to certain locations on the
CD-ROM such as installers containing additional dependency files, or files that are
not referenced in your project. The File Layout dialog is designed to let you see the
directory structure that will be created on the CD-ROM, and let you add and remove
files and folders as you need.

The File Layout dialog

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Chapter 7
The dialog is organized into two areas: My Computer and My Project.
The My Computer area contains a Windows folder view of your system. It is split into
a folder view on the left hand side and a file view on the right hand side containing the
contents of each folder. This allows you to browse your local system to select the files
you want to add to your project.
The My Project area contains a Windows folder view of your project as it will be
created on the CD-ROM. It is split into a folder view on the left hand side and a file
view on the right hand side containing the contents of each folder. This allows you to
select a file in the My Computer area and add it to a specific folder in your project.
Tip: You can drag and drop files from the My Computer panel to the My Project
panel.

Tip: For help with or for more details about the advanced features on the Project
menu command, please refer to the Help File.

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Advanced Features
Chapter 8:
Publishing Your Project
Autorun MAX! comes with several publishing options that are fast and easy to use.
Let’s learn how to get your great looking multimedia project out there and show it off
to the world!

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Chapter 8
 8

Previewing Your Project

Before publishing (or “building”) the final version of your project, you should always
preview it to make sure that it looks and acts the way you want. This gives you an
opportunity to fix any mistakes and smooth out any rough edges. In fact, you’ll
probably end up previewing your project several times as you work to see how your
project is coming along.
To preview your project, either choose Publish > Preview from the menu, or click on
the Preview icon in the toolbar (the one that looks like a little monitor). You can then
view and use your project just as your end user will when it is built.

The Preview icon

Publishing Options In Autorun MAX!

You’ve finished your project, you’ve previewed it too—and it looks great! Now it’s
time to publish your creation and make it available for others to enjoy.
There are several publishing options included in Autorun MAX! With both the Home
and Business editions, you can burn your project onto CD-R/CD-RW or publish your
project to a hard drive folder on your system. With the Business edition, you can also
choose to publish your project as a compressed, single-file executable perfect for
email distribution or web downloads, or create an ISO CD-ROM image.

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Publishing Your Project
 To select a publishing option, either choose Publish > Build from the menu, or click
on the Publish icon in the toolbar (the one that looks like a little CD-ROM).

Publishing your project

Burn CD-R/CD-RW
You can burn your Autorun MAX! project directly to CD-R or CD-RW. It's the fastest
and easiest option for most projects. Simply choose the Burn CD-R/CD-RW option,
insert a blank disc and click on Next. You will then be asked to specify the “burn
options” for your project.

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Chapter 8
 Publish to CD-R/CD-RW

Here you can select your CD writer drive from the drop-down list (in case you have
more than one in our system). The Volume Identifier is where you type in the name of
your CD as you’d like it to appear in your user’s My Computer folder in Windows.
Click Burn and wait for the burn process to end.
Note: If your CD-RW isn’t empty, a dialog will appear asking if you want to erase the
disc. If you’re sure that there isn’t anything on this disc that you wanted to keep, then
click OK and Autorun MAX! will erase the disc for you before burning the project. If
you put the wrong disc in by mistake, just eject it and replace it with a blank one.
Once the burn is completed, the drive should automatically eject the CD. Click Close.
To make sure that your CD burn was successful, close the CD tray to reinsert the disc
back in the drive; you should hear it spin up as the drive begins to read the contents.

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Publishing Your Project
 Your Autorun MAX! application should start up automatically. (If it doesn’t, then the
autorun feature is disabled on your computer. You will need to either re-enable it, or
open the CD in My Computer and then double-click on the Autorun.exe file yourself.)
That’s it! You’ve just published your Autorun MAX! project to a CD!

Hard Drive Folder

You can publish your Autorun MAX! project to a folder on your computer. This
option gives you the most flexibility. Choose it if you'd like to burn your project using
your regular CD/DVD burning software (such as Nero, Roxio etc.) or package it up
with an installation program for distribution.
Simply choose the Hard Drive Folder option, and click Next.

Publish to Hard Drive Folder

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Chapter 8
Click the Browse button to select the folder where you’d like to publish your project.
Click Build—and you’re done. Autorun MAX! will publish your project to the
designated folder on your computer.

Web/Email Executable (Business Edition Only)

This option will take your project and create a compressed, single executable file. This
is perfect for small projects distributed through email or as web downloads. The only
potential downside is that your project must decompress when run, which will
increase the startup time on large projects.
Simply choose the Web/Email Executable option and click Next. The following
screen will ask you to specify your options.

Publish to Web/Email Executable

The Filename is where you type the name of the executable you want to compress
your project into—click the Browse button to show the Save As dialog. You can

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Publishing Your Project
 choose whether or not to display a progress screen to your user while your Autorun
MAX! application loads.
The password protect feature allows you prompt the user for a specific password to
run your Autorun MAX! application.
Click Build, and you’re done! Your project has been compressed into a single-file
executable which you can easily distribute through email or as a web download.

ISO CD-ROM Image (Business Edition Only)

This advanced option produces what is known as an ISO CD-ROM image. It is usable
by many third-party CD burning applications and service bureaus that specialize in
mass CD production.
Choose the ISO Image option and click Next. The screen that follows will allow you
to specify your options.

Publish to ISO Image

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Chapter 8
When you’ve filled in your options, click Build to create the ISO image.
Tip: For more information on the Autorun MAX! publishing options and how to use
them, please refer to the Help File.

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Publishing Your Project