Adobe Animate or Captivate for e-Learning

[fe2013]

I need to create a technical e-Learning course with animation and interactivity. The output is intended to be used across all devices. If Adobe Animate is used, what other program(s) is needed to package the content for various browsers? I have been told that Captivate would be easier to use during development and packaging, but it will not allow me to have enhanced animation and interactivity. I greatly appreciate your help!

[Colin Holgate]

I really should learn Captivate some time! Their web page implies that it can do the whole production:

Adobe Captivate - Welcome to the world of smart eLearning authoring

It's hard to say whether Adobe Animate is the right choice, without knowing if you have someone already that knows Animate and can create the animations for you. If you were going to have to learn either tool, I don't know what's involved in getting going in Captivate, but I would say you will have quite a few things to learn in Animate.

As far as publishing goes, Animate publishes just the amount of HTML needed to make that one animation work. Normally I think that people would use Dreamweaver or Muse to create the site, and then import the published files from Animate. One option is to publish as OAM files, which can plug in as a self-contained module into the page you're creating.

If you haven't done so already it's worth asking a similar question in the Captivate forum:

Adobe Captivate

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Captivate is considered to be a 'rapid' authoring tool, same is not the case for Animate. It is perfectly possible to integrate more complex animations created in Animate and exported as OAM in Captivate. With Javascript you can even exchange between Captivate and the OAM. I wouldn't agree with the sentence that Captivate allows less interactivity than Animate, but that is my personal opinion of course. Captivate allows to create responsive projects, using either Fluid Boxes (similar to Muse) or Breakpoint View work flow. It has roundtripping with Photoshop (for bitmap assets), Illustrator (for SVG's) and Audition. You can use PhoneGap directly from Captivate to publish an app. Captivate allows to create SCORM output (can you with Animate?) to be used in combination with a LMS or an internal server to track users and report scores for assessments. Captivate is moreover the tool to create interactive software training and assessment. As a bonus, you'll get a video capture tool (similar to Camtasia) with an easy way to integrate software video into a interactive course. You should have a look at Captivate and learn some JavaScript to extend its functionality to unknown limits. It is a much underestimated application.

[hawleyj]

Captivate is a piece of crap.  We call it "Craptivate" internally.  We went from it to ZebraZapps, which we have now ditched due to being flash dependent.  We do some custom HTML5 coding now, combined with LearnDash, and are looking for a new solution, and will explore Animate.  But I beg of you, don't waste your time on Captivate. 

[Lilybiri]

Will not waste my time, but I am creating eLearing courses since almost 10 years fro my students and for clients, and most were very satisfied.  Maybe the expertise of the Captivate user plays a role?