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Adobe Captivate 3.
I have three beginner questions for Adobe Captivate 3.
1. I notice that CP3 only creates SWF files. Why does it not offer the option to create an FLV file as the final product? What is the difference between a SWF and a FLV?
2. I want my finished product to be a single slide with a background photo and some rollover areas. It seems that no matter what I do, the slide does not stay fixed, but fades out and disappears after the default time of 3.3 seconds. How can I accomplish making the slide stay put, not disappear, and behave as I want?
3. I want to make a slide that has an autoplay flash video on it (that part I know how to do), but I want the slide to transition to another specified slide when the video finishes, without user action. How can I do that?
Thanks to anyone who can help me on these issues.
Hi there
Chaplain Doug wrote:
Adobe Captivate 3.
I have three beginner questions for Adobe Captivate 3.
1. I notice that CP3 only creates SWF files. Why does it not offer the option to create an FLV file as the final product? What is the difference between a SWF and a FLV?
CP3 doesn't create FLV because it wasn't part of the spec for CP3. I'm not sure of the reasons why it's that way. Perhaps only the Captivate development team knows for sure. At any rate, Captivate 5 has recently been released. S
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Hi there
Chaplain Doug wrote:
Adobe Captivate 3.
I have three beginner questions for Adobe Captivate 3.
1. I notice that CP3 only creates SWF files. Why does it not offer the option to create an FLV file as the final product? What is the difference between a SWF and a FLV?
CP3 doesn't create FLV because it wasn't part of the spec for CP3. I'm not sure of the reasons why it's that way. Perhaps only the Captivate development team knows for sure. At any rate, Captivate 5 has recently been released. So the point is kind of moot, no?
As for the second part of this question, SWF may have interactivity such as rollovers or clickable areas or buttons that perform different actions. FLV is typically just a video much the same as a DVD movie you passively observe and you don't participate in.
2. I want my finished product to be a single slide with a background photo and some rollover areas. It seems that no matter what I do, the slide does not stay fixed, but fades out and disappears after the default time of 3.3 seconds. How can I accomplish making the slide stay put, not disappear, and behave as I want.
You can make this happen. Just insert a Click Box and time it so it pauses the slide at the right moment.
3. I want to make a slide that has an autoplay flash video on it (that part I know how to do), but I want the slide to transition to another specified slide when the video finishes, without user action. How can I do that?
So now you are changing course on us? You just said in question 2 that you want the finished product to be a single slide! Perhaps this is another project you are talking about.
If you examine the properties of the slide you will discover an area labeled Navigation. Using this area you may choose to navigate to any other slide when this one completes playing.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form |
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Unfortunately, when the flash video completes playing, the slide does not advance to the designated slide. Apparrently the finish of the video does not trigger an "end of slide." Any other suggestions?
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Never mind. I had a click area that was set to pause slide until clicked. Once removed
it works as I desired. Thanks.
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it's *not* the video that will trigger the jump, it is the slide itself. make sure the timeline matches the length of the video. Meaning that if your video is 3min long dont make your slide timeline 4mins, cause the jump will not happen till 4mins.
another thought.
and how are you playing it back? as single slide or project? if you only preview the single side it will only play that slide, so make sure you preview the project.
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I understand that I can set the slide time equal to the video time. But that is iffy. The video might take longer to load for some viewers, may pause in playing, etc. Hence, if the video is 2 minutes and I set the slide to 2 minutes, it risks transitionaing the slide before the video is done.
I could work around this by putting everything on one slide (the main background picture, some rollover images, and the video) if I could make the video (except for its skin controls) transparent until the play button is pressed. That way my background would display unobstructed by the video frame until the play button is pressed. Is there a way to do that?
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you are correct.
it will also depend on the server you publish to. FLV files as an Adobe Media file meant for streaming (youtube use to before changing over to H264), so if your publishing server is Adobe Flash Media server or equivalent it will work like youtube, otherwise it does a progressive download or it must download the entire project before playing.
if your server supports progressive download, then you can tell Captivate (not sure about CP3, but 4 and 5 supports this) to download a percentage before playing, so it will download many slides in the background before it starts to play.
also, my 2 cents: if you put everything on one slide it has to download that slide before it can do anything. I find it much easier to chew smaller cuts of steak or veggies than trying to stuff your mouth with a whole steak or large serving of veggies at one time.
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I spoke too fast. Now the slide times out and navigates away b
efore the video is complete. Back to the same problem.
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make sure the slide timeline matches your video timeline. again if you video is 3min make the slide 3' 2"
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Hi again
Really there should be no need to ensure that the timing of the slide matches the video timing. This is because there is an option in the video properties that is labeled Pause slide till end of video.
This option allows you to insert perhaps a 30 second video clip on a slide that is timed for perhaps half a second. When the slide is reached, it pauses until the video loads and fully completes. At that time the slide proceeds. Well, in theory that is how it is intended to work. I've seen occasions where it fails for some reason.
Another issue with timing the slide to match the video is that you have no way of knowing how long it will take the video itself to load from the server. So if the video is 30 seconds long and it takes five or ten seconds to load up, timing the slide for 30 seconds will be an exercise in futility. I might imagine this is why the option I mentioned exists.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form |
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Hi Noel
Happy to share this. Give me a few minutes and I'll toss together a video showing how I do it.
Cheers... Rick
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Rick, a little off the subject, but would you mind telling me (and anyone else reading this), how you get that nice red "zoom out" effect you use.
I am guessing you use Snagit...and would love to be able to copy it.
Noel
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Hokey Dokey...
Here is the video!
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form |
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Slight problem...my company's proxy police wont allow me to access it.
Any thoughts about how to get around the "poxy" police? Failing that I will forward your link to home and view later.
Many thanks in advance.
Noel
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Hi Noel
Just checking in to see if the video helped?
Cheers... Rick
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Hi Rick....I cannt view it at work...the company's proxy "police" wont let me access it. I have
to view it at home on own PC, unless you can send it to me direct via email?
noel.griffiths@kuehne-nagel.com
You might need to zip it in case it gets blocked.
Noel
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Hi Noel
The file is actually stored on TechSmith's web site. I saw your note yesterday about not being able to view at work so I figured that you may have watched from home yesterday. I'm guessing you haven't.
Cheers... Rick
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Where is it on Techsmith's website, please.
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Hi Noel
ScreenCast.com belongs to TechSmith.
Cheers... Rick
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Watched the video last evening...very good. Like so many things, easy when you know how.
Many thanks.
Noel
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Let me try again...I can access Techsmith OK as I use Snagit and their Forum.
Not sure why I was "blocked" yesterday when I tried via the link you sent me.
Hang on.....
Noel