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Timing goes out and audio cuts off at end of published slide sequence

Oct 7, 2010 1:03 AM

Hi

 

I am experiencing a problem with timing and the sound cutting off at the end of a slide sequence.

 

Here is my work flow:

I record what I want my slide show to say, add my music and sound effects in Soundbooth. I then create a mp3 file for my slide show.

I adjust my slide show timing to match my voice over, ensuring that the total number of minutes and seconds the slide show equates to matches the length of my audio. I then import my audio into my project while maintaining the slide timing.

If I preview the individual slides to match the timing of the arrival of words or pointers in my presentation by pressing the play button in Captivate, everything is great.... until I publish to a .swf file.

 

On a 2m:50sec slide show of 22 slides it cuts off approximately 5 seconds before the end. My timing which I have bent my brain on getting right, is out and appears to worsen the longer the slide show is or if it is not on the latest and greatest Mac powered computer.

 

I have gone so far as to increase the length of time on the last slide 5 seconds beyond the length of time that the audio occupies as well as adding another 5 seccond blank slide and still have the same cut off problem. No ideas how to help the poor souls who might not have an amazing computer to watch the demonstration on?

 

Interestingly if I publish and look only at the last 3 slides or if I look at a short sequence of slides or at a slide in isolation, my audio is there as it should be along with the timing. It would appear that the time "lost" or a lag between the presentation and the audio is the culprit.

 

Kindly advise if there is a solution to this or whether the problem lies with something I am doing.

 

Thank you in advance

1325 Views   8 Replies   Latest reply: ASG_Captivater, Mar 8, 2011 4:15 AM
 
Replies
  • AshwinBharghavB
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    1. AshwinBharghavB,
    Oct 7, 2010 1:47 AM   in reply to beatduck
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    Hi there,

     

    Please follow the steps mentioned in this blog post : http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2010/08/audiovideosync_in_captivate_s wf.html

     

    Even after following the steps mentioned, if it does not solve the problem let us know.

     

    -Ashwin Bharghav B

     
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  • beatduck
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    2. beatduck,
    Oct 7, 2010 2:30 AM   in reply to AshwinBharghavB
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    Hi Ashwin

     

    Thanks for the info. I have implemented the suggested timing alterations as per the steps on the blog page. The increase of 0.3 secons is too much and results in the voice over having hiccups. It would appear that 0.1 did the trick - just enough for Captivate to register that there needs to be a separation between the slides.

     

    Unfortunately this has not resolved my problem with the audio cutting off at the end of the presentation, this problem still remains.

     

    I do have a query reagrding the solution presented in that it is very cumbersome to have to go through all your slides (especially if you are working on a large scale project) and need to add 0.1 seconds to each and every slide. Then if your boss elects to change the backing track of your audio for voice over one would be required to go through all slides removing the 0.1 seconds before re-importing the updated audio and then you would be required to go back and add 0.1 seconds to all of your slides. If this is the process required is there a faster way to add and subtract a set amount of time to all slides to speed up the process?

     

    Thanks again for your prompt reply.

     
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  • AshwinBharghavB
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    3. AshwinBharghavB,
    Oct 27, 2010 7:13 AM   in reply to beatduck
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    Hi all,

     

    We are investigating this issue and need your help. We need your projects for us to investigate and know the issue better. Please send them to ashwin at adobe dot com ASAP. Please do not zip the project as the spam filters may block them.

     

    Thanks

    Ashwin Bharghav B

    Captivate Team

     
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  • joebor1776
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    4. joebor1776,
    Oct 29, 2010 12:13 PM   in reply to AshwinBharghavB
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    We have the same issue with the Neospeech voices, and have had to insert the vtml pause time tag to correct it. However, with the trial versions of the IVONA Brian and Kendra voices we have been testing with, the issue does not occur--the speech does not get cut off at all.

     
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  • ASG_Captivater
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    5. ASG_Captivater,
    Mar 4, 2011 10:30 AM   in reply to beatduck
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    Has there been any new developments on this problem?

    I've been having to do some crazy work arounds to avoid audio cutting off at the end of slides when using CP5 for development.

    Then this week I had to review an old training which was published a long time ago only to discover that the same issue of audio cutting off is happening there.

    These materials were developed using CP4 and some even with CP3.  This means that the problem/change is not CP5 but probably something to do with the Flash player version because at the time of publshing the older files did not have this issue.

     

    This has me really worried.  There is no way I can go back and update all the old files and it means that previously perfect materials are now being viewed with audio cutting off.

     

    Have the Adobe Captivate developers considered the possiblity that this may be a flash player issue?  Have you discussed this with the Adobe Flash developers?  Will there be a fix for this anytime soon?

     

    Thanks,
    Aimee

     
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  • beatduck
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    6. beatduck,
    Mar 6, 2011 11:56 PM   in reply to ASG_Captivater
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    Hi Aimee

     

    Unfortunately not, at least not to my knowledge. They did request that I upload my project, however due to the size of my project (169Mb) and the poor bandwidth we have in South Africa, I was not able to assist. ( finding a place that will allow a 100mb or greater file was also problematic) I did send a follow up email to Ashwin, but have not heard anything back as yet.

     

    I am curious, you mention that you think it is a flash player issue. Does this mean that your old files (before any migration to CS5) are also cutting off when you play them on your flash player? My files behaved better before I upgraded to CS5 MAC, I was previously on CS4 PC. I still noticed a time lag, but no where near the realm of what I am experiencing on the new version. The time lag on the old version was only ever compounded by the machine it was run on. Meaning that if it was an old pc, the time lag in the file was far worse than if it was current hardware; the sound would play at the correct rate, but the slides would not keep up, despite the sound file being split up to segments for each individual slide. On the positive CS5 has been far more stable when it comes to compiling the project, but I am not sure if that is attributed to the version or my operating system, but then how useful is that if the timing is out?

    I wish we could publish to another video format just to see whether it would eliminate the gremlins.

     

    If there are any time savings to the new version, they are made redundant by the timing issue needing a work around.

    Best of luck friend, we can live in hope for a solution!

    Kind regards

    Taryn

     
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  • joebor1776
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    7. joebor1776,
    Mar 8, 2011 4:11 AM   in reply to beatduck
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    There is a Captivate patch and set of instructions (basically just set all your slides' "On Exit" actions to No Action) to overcome the issue. However, it has not worked for us on all of our projects. The larger projects (around 60-80 slides or more) still have the audio cut-off issue, although it isn't as bad as it was. I've also found that using the "Force re-publish of all the slides" option when you publish seems to help, although I haven't done any real testing of it.

     
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  • ASG_Captivater
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    8. ASG_Captivater,
    Mar 8, 2011 4:15 AM   in reply to joebor1776
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    Thanks to you both for your feedback. 

    I've installed the patch but I was not aware of the 'on exit > no action' bit.  I'll try that for new files but it is really not feasible to go back and republish training modules which were created two or three years ago in another version of Captivate.  Has anyone else found this issue also in old - previously okay files like I have?

    I'm convinced the issue has something  to do with the Flash player version since it is also happening to old files which previously did not cut off.

     

    Thanks,

    Aimee

     
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