Drawing tools?

[Noellet]

Are there really no tools for drawing simple objects like circles, lines, boxes, etc? Maybe I'm not looking in the right place but I sure hope I don't have to go to photoshop everytime I want to put in a line, border some text or draw a circle!

If there aren't any, are there tricks that anyone has found to draw lines or edit the existing boxes?

[Captiv8r]

Hi Noellet

For a rectangular area, it's a snap. Just use a Highlight Box object. Circles are a bit more difficult. But you should be able to create a single circle using Photoshop or equivalent, then just drop it in as an image and size appropriately. Lines are the same way. You would need just a short vertical and horizontal line.

I've recently submitted a Captivate 2 project that can be used as a repository for obtaining measurement and alignment aids to the Captivate Exchange. Perhaps that could help as well?

Click here to visit the exchange

Hmmm, doesn't look like it's been posted yet. If you are interested, pop a reply back or send me an offline E-Mail message and I'll be happy to provide it. My address is rstone75 (at) kc (dot) rr (dot) com.

Cheers... Rick

[Noellet]

Thanks so much Rick, and Larry.

I've been away from my computer unexpectedly for a few days, so I apologize for not thanking you sooner.

Rick, I'd love to see the project you are speaking of. I will email you about it.

One question--if I create a shape in photoshop, you're saying I can resize it in captivate without causing distortion? The main problem I have with having to create some simple things outside of captivate is that getting the size is difficult. It would be helpful if there were guides or rulers in captivate to help with that.

Larry, I'm just looking at making simple things within captivate--when it's easier to judge size. I can certainly do it outside, it's just easier sometimes to draw a quick line with an arrow at one end, or a quick custom colour border around some text when you are right there and can get the size perfect. I didn't know about the powerpoint tip though--so thank you for that. I'm still just finding my way around so it's great to have this support to help me find those tips sooner rather than later!

[CatBandit]

Noellete, I'm wondering if you are aware that you can pull the background from the library (Captivate 2 and later) directly into Photoshop using the right-click context menu? Perhaps you are, and just wanted a shape drawing tool that is already there so you don't have to wait for Photoshop to open?

Or perhaps you don't want to edit the background at all, but want to create "new" shapes - you didn't say how the shapes would be used exactly, but seemed to imply that you wanted to edit existing objects ...

The desire of users to have a built-in image editor in Captivate was, in my opinion, satisfied when the "Edit..." and "Edit with ..." options were added in version 2, but if that functionality isn't sufficient for your needs, perhaps you could be more specific about how you would use the tool you are describing - and make that request on the Feature Request form located at this link?

[CatBandit]

I should add a P.S. to the above to recognize Rick's response. I don't know what the CP2 project does (Rick's innovations are usually way cool), but the concept of creating a single "set" of colored circles or ellipses and simply sizing them to meet varying requirements is an old and trusted developers trick in RoboDemo and Captivate.

Nearly any graphic editor allows you to create preset shapes like that, and it's a simple matter of placing them in their own sub-folder in the Captivate folder set (part of the \Gallery\ would make sense). I am interested in looking at the above mentioned submission to the Exchange.
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[CatBandit]

Noellet, you said...

quote:

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The main problem I have with having to create some simple things outside of captivate is that getting the size is difficult. It would be helpful if there were guides or rulers in captivate to help with that.

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I don't know if this is exactly what you want (I suspect not - exactly) but you can use the grid in Captivate to get visual help with (1) relative sizes, (2) distances between two or more points, or (3) placement of objects on the stage (movie background).

To alter the spacing between grid points (dots) and/or to view the grid, go to "Options > Preferences". The resulting dialog will allow those options. If you are viewing a specific slide in EDIT mode, you can also view (or snap to ...) the grid from the "View" text menu at the top.

Hope this option is some help to you.
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[CatBandit]

More - same subject - sizing objects.

Note 1: Images created as BMPs and brought into Captivate as "Images" are resizeable at will by simply "dragging" the sides or corners with the mouse.

Note 2: Each image "Properties" dialog contains a tab labeled "Size and Position". If this is used together with the grid mentioned earlier, you can get extraordinary control of your image.

Should have mentioned these items earlier, but my mind wasn't yet wrapped completely around what you were talking about - I hope I've got it, now.

[Noellet]

Thanks again, Larry! Those tips are helpful. I also discovered the "paste as image" function so I've been successfully bringing in simple lines and borders from photoshop via copy and paste, rather than having to save each one as a graphic. One thing that was helpful to me in getting the exact size in pixels, was to draw a highlight box the exact size I need and then use the dimensions for that to draw the correct size in photoshop. It's an extra step, but it works.

One more quick question. Can we bring in our own custom buttons? Or is the only alternative to bring in a custom button graphic and then use a transparent click box over it?

[CatBandit]

Noellet, you said ...

quote:

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One more quick question. Can we bring in our own custom buttons? Or is the only alternative to bring in a custom button graphic and then use a transparent click box over it?

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I'm not positive what your intent is but if you mean "Can I create my own images for image-buttons?" the answer is "Sure, why not!".

Buttons have 3 "states" (up, down, over) but are really nothing more complicated than BMP images. You can take a look at available buttons at:
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate\Gallery\Buttons\
Look at the buttons in that folder to get an idea of button sizes, acceptable naming conventions, and the different "looks" between button-states.

If you create your own buttons, just place them in that same folder to have access to them as normal buttons you can select from while building your projects. Buttons are so easy to create with a good image editor (Photoshop, etc.) that the idea of using click-boxes over images should definitely be a "last choice" for you ... provided of course that you have at least "average" skills with the aforementioned image editor.

Hope I answered the question you were asking.

[Noellet]

Excellent! That's exactly my intent with the buttons. I'm actually a graphic artist trying to be an e-learning developer--so creating buttons will be a breeze. haha Thanks again for your help.