We are pleased to announce that Ad Kit 4.0 is now available for download! Previously, support for Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3) was only available through the beta version of Ad Kit 4.0. This recent release has now been moved out of beta and into production, giving you all the power and convenience of the DoubleClick Rich Media Ad Kit in Adobe's latest authoring environment.
You can download the Ad Kit by going to www.dartmotif.com/downloads. Make sure you choose the correct Flash version, OS, and language in order to download the appropriate version.
IMPORTANT: Please read the following instructions before downloading Ad Kit for Creative Suite 3.
1) Download and install the Adobe Extension Manager v1.8 or higher (from www.adobe.com/exchange/em_download, if you don't already have it (note: if you have an older version of the Extension Manager, please upgrade to the most recent version)
2) Once installation is complete, shutdown the Adobe Flash application
3) Go to www.dartmotif.com/downloads
4) Choose the proper Adobe Flash version (CS3), OS, and language. This ensures that you get the correct version of the Ad Kit
5) Download the new version of the DoubleClick Rich Media Ad Kit
6) Launch Adobe Extension Manager and make the appropriate selections to choose your version of the Flash Authoring tool
7) Choose the Ad Kit installer that you just downloaded (make sure you have the right version of the Ad Kit for your environment)
Note: Your creative must be published for AS1 / AS2. Support for Action Script 3.0 will be coming in the near future.
Posted by Ari Paparo on January 29, 2008
Back in September we released Ad Kit 3.5, a major upgrade that for the first time allowed Flash designers to easily integrate video directly within their Motif ads. The resulting packaged MTF files could then be uploaded into DART and easily maintained by traffickers.
We have produced a tutorial to help walk you through the process of creating a video ad using the Ad Kit and the video component. The tutorial zip file includes sample files, sample videos, and a step-by-step document.
Download .zip (7 Mb)
Posted by Ari Paparo on December 12, 2007
We are pleased to announce beta support for Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3). Utilize all the power and convenience of the DoubleClick Rich Media Ad Kit in Adobe's latest authoring environment.
You can download the beta version of the Ad Kit, by going to www.dartmotif.com/downloads. Make sure you choose the correct Flash version, OS, and language in order to download the appropriate version.
IMPORTANT: Please read the following instructions before downloading Ad Kit for Creative Suite 3.
1) Download and install the Adobe Extension Manager v1.8 or higher (from www.adobe.com/exchange/em_download, if you don't already have it (note: if you have an older version of the Extension Manager, please upgrade to the most recent version)
2) Once installation is complete, shutdown the Adobe Flash application
3) Go to www.dartmotif.com/downloads
4) Choose the proper Adobe Flash version (CS3), OS, and language. This ensures that you get the correct version of the Ad Kit
5) Download the new version of the DoubleClick Rich Media Ad Kit
6) Launch Adobe Extension Manager and make the appropriate selections to choose your version of the Flash Authoring tool
7) Choose the Ad Kit installer that you just downloaded (make sure you have the right version of the Ad Kit for your environment)
Be aware that during the beta period, .mtf's with a video component created in Ad Kit 4.0 beta must be trafficked through betadfa.doubleclick.com.
Note: Your creative must be published for AS1/AS2. Support for Action Script 3.0 will be coming in the near future.
Posted by Ari Paparo on November 29, 2007
We have released a maintenance update to the DoubleClick Rich Media Ad Kit. Ad Kit 3.50.07 includes important fixes to the new Motif Video Component.
Posted by Ari Paparo on November 29, 2007
We are happy to announce an exciting set of enhancements to the Motif Ad Kit. Ad Kit 3.5 will be in available in BETA starting Monday, September 10th. This version will roll into production in approximately six weeks (end of October, 2007). You can download a Beta ad Kit here.
The biggest change in the Ad Kit is the inclusion of a specialized video component that allows you to create powerful and complex video ads.
The complete feature list includes:
- New video component included with the Ad Kit
- Include .flv's with the rest of your creative assets as child files (in your .mtf package)
- Traffickers can now upload video files directly into DART and change those files without repackaging
- Traffickers can change videos settings from progressive to streaming and from auto-play to user-initiated, all within DART.
- The 300k file size restriction has been removed. .MTFs can now include up to 10Mb of files
- Dramatically improved performance during the .mtf package creation to save time.
- .MTF files are no longer encrypted so you can examine their contents from your desktop
Please contact us with any feedback on the beta.
Posted by Ari Paparo on September 6, 2007
We've pushed a new Ad Kit beta, version 3.02. The primary feature enhancement is that live preview uses Safari on the Mac, if that is your default browser.
The changes:
- Default wmode setting for expanding ads has been changed to 'Transparent'
- Preview functionality now supported in Safari
- Improved error messaging for Mac install issues.
Posted by Ari Paparo on July 16, 2007
We've been working hard here in Motif-land to improve the Flash authoring experience. The next big step in this effort is now in beta -- the Ad Kit 3.0 You can get it on the download page right now.
In addition to numerous usability improvements, bugfixes, and general advances, the biggest headline of this release is the ability to easily convert any FLA into an expanding ad. Our conversion process is incredibly easy and lets you define the stage size, expanding direction, and up to three expansion panels, all in one step.
The best way to get started using the Ad Kit 3.0 is to work through the step-by-step tutorial we've created. The tutorial includes sample files which will take you through the process of creating a Motif expanding ad.
Download Expanding Tutorial.zip.
And, of course, feedback is always helpful. Either use the contact link on this site, or email directly to apaparo - at - doubleclick.net.
Posted by Ari Paparo on February 28, 2007
I'm happy to announce the availability of our newest Motif Ad Kit, version 2.32 in beta.
This release includes some major advances for the Ad Kit technology, including:
Localization: The Ad Kit is available in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish-language versions. The English version can also be installed into any language Flash authoring tool. This is an exciting development that many designers in Europe have been waiting for.
Mac Preview: The Mac preview feature now works in Firefox (if present). This is a big improvement over the current production version which defaults to the old IE browser. This also means that preview on a Mac will appear exactly the same as the ad will appear in production, giving you confidence that your design will behave as expected.
Proxy Detection: Some users were experiencing problems using the Ad Kit preview function when accessing the Internet through a proxy. This should no longer be a problem.
The Ad Kit will move to production in mid-July. The beta is, however, fully functional and can be installed and utilized for developing Motif production ads.
As always, contact us with any comments, questions, or concerns.
Posted by Ari Paparo on June 12, 2006
I'm happy to announce that the a beta version of the Motif Ad Kit is now available for the Flash 8 (8-Ball) authoring environment. Get it now! (site login required)
While I've got your attention I want to alert you to an important consideration before using the new Ad Kit. Flash changed their security model slightly with this version, and as a result, the Ad Kit preview may not work properly when loading in child movies. It's very simple to change your security settings to fix this, so go do it now before you email me asking why your movies don't look right:
OK, now you can really download it. And, of course, let me know what you think.
Posted by Ari Paparo on November 5, 2005
 A new version of the Motif Ad Kit is now available. If you already have the Ad Kit installed the next time you open Flash or the Ad Kit panel you will be asked to upgrade (image shown).
The 2.18 version of the Ad Kit fixes some minor issues:
- Problems detecting IE on Mac
- Problems with floating ad preview on Mac
- In-Page ads acting strangely on some sites
- Installation problems on machines which do not have a "WindowSWF" directory in their Flash installation
The upgrade is recommended for all users.
Posted by Ari Paparo on September 1, 2005
This is the final of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 10: Child Assets
In previous articles I discussed creating a library of events, and then adding them to your creative using the events editor. But how can you utilize these features when you're working on complex creatives which include multiple child files?
 The Motif Ad Kit includes the concept of Child Assets, SWFs which are loaded into the parent asset but which can be manipulated and edited using the Ad Kit while still FLAs.
Here's how it works. - Create your parent FLA as you would normally. If it isn't a Motif ad, convert it.
- Create your child FLA and save it.
- With the child FLA on the stage, open the Motif Ad Kit panel. Since the FLA is not a Motif ad, you will be shown the familiar conversion screen. Instead of choosing an Ad Type as you normally would, choose to browse for the parent FLA created earlier.
- That's it, the child and parent are now associated
 The advantage to this process is that you can now use the events in your parent's library while editing the child FLA. The child will also show up in the Packaging tab of the parent FLA. This is where you can also manually add additional assets to the parent which are used by the ad, such as XML files, JPEGs, FLVs, etc.
There's one important "gotcha" to parent-child relationships in Motif. Just because you associated the assets using the Ad Kit doesn't mean that they are loaded into the ad! You still have to load assets into the ad using the loadMovie function.
Whew, the "10 of 10" experiment is over! Now to get back to my normal job.
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 26, 2005
This is the ninth of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 9: Contextuality
OK, you have reason to be disappointed in me. Its been almost a week since my last "daily" posting. Bad Product Manager! Bad! Too much time making the product better, not enough time posting to the blog.
Today's feature, contextuality is better described as an enabling technology within the Ad Kit panel, than a specific customer-facing feature. By contextuality, I mean the ability of the Ad Kit to become aware of what you are working on within Flash and dynamically change its mode based on your workflow. This is better explained with examples.
Suppose you open a new FLA and start designing your ad. What should the Ad Kit display? If you answered "Choose a format" there's a shiny copy of 8-ball with your name on it waiting at the DoubleClick offices (kidding!). The Ad Kit can actually tell whether the FLA on the stage is a Motif ad or not and display the "Choose a format" option only when you're getting started on a new ad.
Now suppose you've chosen a format, thereby converting your FLA to Motif. What's the next logical step? Why you're right, it is editing the ad, and that's exactly the screen displayed in the Ad Kit.
The Editor Tab in particular is a good place to see contextuality at work. While the tab is open, try selecting different objects on the stage. When you select nothing, or a vector graphic, you will see: Current selection cannot have actions applied to it. But as soon as you select a button or movie clip, the full editing screen will display, allowing you to easily add Motif actions to your stage.
The contextuality includes multiple files within the same creative. So, for example, if you have multiple child FLAs associated with a single Motif creative, whenever they are selected the events and format information from the parent will be displayed. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I am going to talk about child assets tomorrow, in my final post. Whew!
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 18, 2005
This is the eighth of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 8: Tracing Events
A reporting event in a rich media ad isn't going to be particularly useful if its never fired. While simple event calls on a button or movie clip are easy to code, how do you confirm that your ad is working properly when you have complex looping and conditional code surrounding your Motif event logic? By tracing events.
There's not a whole lot to explain about tracing. Just use Flash's test movie, interact with the ad, and voila events are traced. The Motif event names are shown in the trace, along with the specific times of the timer events.
Motif events are traced by default. If for some reason you would like to turn off tracing, just uncheck the box at the bottom of the "Package" tab.
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 12, 2005
This is the seventh of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 7: Companion Assets
The sad truth about rich media is that you often can't run the same creative on different publisher sites. This is especially true with floating ads since every publisher implements them differently on their backend ad server.
From a design and production point of view, this is a real hassle. For a single campaign you may have to produce a floating ad for MSN, a floating ad with an in-page element for Yahoo and a floating ad with a "reminder" for AOL. Meanwhile, the client's brand team wants all the creative to match the original concept drawings they were shown.
Motif has always supported ads with multiple components. In the new Motif Ad Kit, we have made it extremely easy to mix-and-match creatives to match publisher requirements. This is accomplished through the concept of companion assets.
 So let's say you've got a floating ad created using the Motif Ad Kit. You also have an in-page element which you need for some publishers. Using the Ad Kit you can rapidly create multiple companion combinations and publish them for trafficking in DART.
If you open your floating ad and bring up the "Package" tab of the Ad Kit you'll see that the companion area is blank. You can package at this point to create a plain floating ad without a companion.
 Next, you can browse for an existing Motif In-Page creative. When selected, the companion will be displayed and the creative type displayed at the top of the Ad Kit panel will show the combination "In-Page with Floating".
 Finally, to remove the In-Page element and choose a reminder asset, just browse again to find the new file. The creative type will be updated to "Floating with Reminder".
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 11, 2005
This is the sixth of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 6: Portability
This is going to be a short posting because the feature is pretty easy to understand. Motif ads are portable between designers without needing any extra project files(*). This means that all the Motif-specific settings you work with in Flash are transferred over with your FLAs when you move them between computers or share them with other users.
This is better understood with an example. Suppose you are working on a complex floating ad, which includes a parent FLA and two child FLAs, with 10 defined metrics and exit links, along with a specified pixel positioning for display. You are done with most of the design, but want to hand over the files to a junior designer for some QA before sending off to traffic. All you have to do is zip up the FLAs you've been working with and send to your colleague -- if they have the Motif Ad Kit installed they will be able to pick up exactly where you left off, with all the relationships and settings retained.
Some caveats:
- Relationships between parent and child assets are only maintained if they are in the same folder location (no subfolders)
- The package name (MTF File) is not relative, it must be defined in a specific spot on your machine
- The Motif-specific data is only usable by your colleague if they are using the Motif Ad Kit as well
* - For those of you who used Ad Kit 1.0 the "MTA" file was a pseudo-project file for your Motif creative. This file is no longer used in the 2.0 Ad Kit.
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 9, 2005
This is the fifth of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 5: Advanced Editing
In my last entry (Which, for those of you keeping track, wasn't exactly yesterday. Hey, I'm a busy guy, ten features in ten days might have been a bit ambitious. I'm shooting for ten features in fifteen days, OK. Got a problem with that?) I gave a basic overview of UI-based editing of Motif events. I reviewed the basic steps for using the Ad Kit's "Editor" tab to add Motif-specific ActionScript to your creative in order to accomplish the most common basic task, tracking events.
There are many creatives, however, which require additional calls to the Motif API. The most common need is to add control functions to your creative so it can expand, collapse, close, or open when a user interacts. The "Editor" tab of the Ad Kit gives you the power to define these controls without using ActionScript to rapidly develop functional Motif ads.
The process for adding controls is very similar to adding events.  Here's how it works:
- Select a movie clip or button on the stage which will trigger the control (e.g. the "Close" button)
- The Editor tab in the Motif Ad Kit panel will display possible controls which can be used on the object. These are listed below the event options described earlier.
- Note: The controls are specific to different format types -- you can only expand an expanding ad, and you can only close a floating or pop ad.
- Click on the "+" button next to the appropriate control. For example, if you want to create a close button on mouse release, choose "MouseRelease".
- Choose the desired control action. To close an ad, choose "CloseSelf." The names of the actions should be self-explanatory.
That's all there is to it. You have added Motif-specific ActionScript to your button or movie clip and the ad should respond to the user's interaction as desired. You can test this using Live Preview.
But suppose you also want to report on how often the user takes the specified action. You don't want to just close the ad when the user clicks the "Close" button, but you also want to track this using a counter event. To do this, follow these steps:
- Select the same movie clip or button you worked with earlier
- Click on the "+" button next to the same control you used earlier (e.g. "MouseRelease").
- Choose to create a "New Counter" and complete the fields on the dialog page which opens. This counter will track the event.
 There's one important note to working with controls and events on the same object. You must make sure that the counter is fired before the control. If your control closes the ad and it occurs first, the event will not be tracked since the ad will be closed! The Ad Kit panel allows you to re-order your events by using the up/down arrows. Just select the event or counter you wish to re-order, then select the up or down arrow as appropriate.
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 8, 2005
This is the fourth of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 4: Events Editor
 If there's a theme to these initial posts about the Ad Kit, it's that we attempted to make it as easy as possible for designers to create Motif ads. Among other features, we let you convert FLAs to Motif and define and maintain your events using a UI. The next big step in the design process is to assign your events to different objects in your creative. For this, we developed a UI-based editor which allows you to insert Motif-specific events without ActionScript.
Here's how it works:
- Select a movie clip or button on the stage
- The Editor tab in the Motif Ad Kit panel will display possible events which can be used on the object
- Click on the "+" button next to the appropriate event. For example, if you want to create a click-thru link, choose "MouseRelease" as the event.
- Choose to create a new event or to select an existing event. Remember, a single event can be used multiple times in a creative.
- Complete the required information for your new event, or select an existing event from the dialog..
 That's it! But wait, what exactly happened?
When you add an event using the Editor tab, all that happens is that some ActionScript corresponding to the event is automatically inserted on the active object. If you open the Actions panel [F9] you will see the Motif code. You can modify this code as needed, but be aware that once modified, it can no longer be manipulated from the panel.
In the next posting I'll show how you can control your ad, and achieve more complex effects using the Editor.
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 3, 2005
This is the third of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 3: Library of Events
 One of the biggest disconnects in developing rich media creative is reporting. The strategists and account directors want it, while the designers generally don't know anything about it. Without proper communication during the design phase of the project, metrics can be overlooked, expectations can be misunderstood, and creatives can be deployed which don't record the important data people need. This is a recipe for disaster.
When we designed the Motif Ad Kit, we wanted to create a single place where a designer or producer could review all the metrics being tracked for a creative (including its child assets) so mistakes could be caught early. Thus, the Library Tab.
The library tab displays all the tracked events in your Motif creative. You can highlight any event and press the "Edit" icon to edit or the "Delete" icon to delete (duh). It is important to realize that an event may be used multiple times in the creative so editing it here will effect all of the instances. If you have an exit link to "www.yahoo.com" and change the URL to "www.aol.com" it will change every clickable url in the file which references that exit.
 For those of you who have used the version 1.0 Ad Kit, you may be wondering where the "Links & Descriptions" went. It's still there, you just need to know where to look. On the bottom of the Library screen is a blue linked marked "Manually edit Events data...(expert)". Clicking this link brings up the conduitdata_mc movie clip, which is the repository of all the event data. The data format roughly follows Macromedia's original MTK specification, but with some extensions, including the timer data type and the ability to include names with spaces.
And it should be obvious to those paying attention that you can cut-and-paste the event data between creatives, or can swap the entire conduitdata_mc movie clip in order to use the same events across multiple creatives.
Posted by Ari Paparo on August 1, 2005
This is the second of a series of articles covering the top 10 features in the new Motif Ad Kit.
Feature Number 2: Live Preview
Flash is inherently a visual medium. The ability to preview creative is absolutely critical. I've personally watched many designers work within the Flash environment and its a matter of milliseconds between each [enter], [apple]+[enter], and [apple]+[shift]+[enter] as they iterate their designs.
With rich media advertising, though, there's an extra piece to the puzzle. When you're designing an ad for a rich media platform like DARTMotif, the visual behavior is dependent on a runtime API which is not present in Flash. When you put the _root.conduit.expand() command in the ActionScript of your Motif expanding ad, how are you supposed to see the ad actually expanding on a webpage?
The easy way for us to build this functionality would have been to have a webpage where you could upload your SWFs, and then see the ad as it would appear when served live. The problem with this approach is that it would require you to leave the Flash environment and upload the file before seeing a preview. Doing this over and over takes a lot of time.
 We decided that a better way to handle this need was to integrate a real ad serving preview directly into the Ad Kit. This way, designers could iterate just as quickly when developing a Motif as any other Flash design. Thus, Motif live preview.
 Motif live preview is pretty easy to use when you want to see your ad on a blank webpage. There are some tricks, however, to preview your ad on a specific destination page. If you're working on an ad which is not fixed in a single spot on the page (i.e. floating or floating with reminder ads) you can preview on any destination page. Just choose the destination on the settings screen, then click 'preview'. Try changing the 'X' and 'Y' coordinates to see how the ad displays in different spots on the page. Its actually kind of fun (I don't get out much).
 For ads which have a fixed pixel spot on a page (most ads, including In-Page and Expanding), you can preview on any page which is either served by DART For Publishers, or on any webpage with the proper Motif tags. Since finding a webpage with specific tags isn't really simple, we created sample pages for all standard IAB-sized ads which allow you to see how your ad will appear on a generic-looking webpage. Just choose the "Sample Page" option on the Settings screen. This option will only be selectable when you are working on a non-Floating ad and your size is an IAB standard.
An added benefit of the Motif live preview functionality is that the previews are saved locally on your machine so you can share them with others. If you preview a file named "floating ad.fla" a new folder will be created in the active folder named "floating_ad_preview." You can move this folder to a web server to give your clients a preview URL, or can zip up the folder's contents and send by email. The preview requires a web connection, but does not need any installation or Flash
Posted by Ari Paparo on July 29, 2005
To properly introduce the new Motif Ad Kit and get ramped up as author of the Motif Blog I'm going to put myself on a schedule. For the next ten days I will post my take on the top 10 new Ad Kit features along with any tips and tricks for getting the most from the product. As always, comments and questions are welcome.
OK, let's get started.
Feature Number 1: Conversion
Before we started developing the new Ad Kit we spoke to a large number of designers and creative directors. We asked them about their experiences with Motif, with rich media in general, and with the competitive vendors. What came out really clearly was that the motivation for designers was primarily from the ability to make great creative; the vendor and the vendor's technology was a secondary point. This might seem obvious from the outside, but when you actually work at a vendor you might have a natural inclination to think you're important. We learned otherwise.
So applying our new humility to the task of creating an authoring environment, we immediately saw some flaws in our Ad Kit 1.0 approach. In the original version, we asked designers to start all of their ads using one of our templates. But if the choice of vendor is a secondary concern, then clearly this wasn't how users wanted to interact with our product. Users wanted to create the ads from scratch, then later convert them to Motif. We dubbed this workflow "Motifilizing" and set out to make it a reality.
The first thing we did was move the conduit code and all the other necessary Motif code off of the stage. We knew that if we started automatically adding layers and frames to the designer's creatives it would mean nothing but trouble.
Next, we figured out a way to add all the Motif code into a scene automatically using the Ad Kit Panel. The resulting new workflow was pretty simple:
1. Create your ad
2. Open the Ad Kit Panel
3. Select the Motif ad type from the panel
And the dream of Motifilizing was fulfilled.
There are only two compromises in the new Motif architecture, and I hope you'll agree that they are worth the benefit.
First, since we're adding a scene to the creative, it is important that the ad doesn't use Flash's automatic looping feature. If the ad loops all the way through the creative it will result in a flicker as the playhead replays the first scene. Avoiding this is easy, and is also a Flash best practice. If you want your ad to loop, instead of relying on automatic looping, add a gotoAndPlay() command to the final frame of your creative. If you do not want your ad to loop, add a stop().
Second, when using gotoAndPlay, since there's a new scene, you need to be careful about using frame numbers. If you call _root.gotoAndPlay(X), where X is a frame number, the frame called will not be the one desired since it will count the extra frame in the Motif scene. Instead use gotoAndPlay with a keyframe name, or indicate the scene number explicitly in the call.
That's it. Up tomorrow: Live Preview.
Posted by Ari Paparo on July 28, 2005
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