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1. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
Captiv8r Aug 15, 2010 1:16 PM (in response to Nicketlareriksen)Hi Nick
I'm guessing you may not know this, but Captivate actually offers its own thing along these lines. It's called a Table of Contents. There are many options for how these may be configured. (Overlay, separate, etc.)
There is also a Widget that ships with Captivate that does this.
Cheers... Rick
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2. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
Nicketlareriksen Aug 15, 2010 2:57 PM (in response to Nicketlareriksen)Hi Rick,
Thanks! No - I didn't know that this was more than just "a list". I will try that right away...but I think I still need to know the trick. I am quite ambitious about it and I want to make some very stylish graphics with subtle handmade effects, so I am just assuming, that this is only done in Flash Professional - or even Catalyst, to a certain extent.
But I just don't have experience with the "structure" of Actionscript and especially when combining two seperate tools. I have general understanding of HTML so that I can create relative links etc. When "packaged" in a Captivate export, I just have no clue what and how to make that work. I am guessing that actionsscripts created in a SWF aren't "added" an can be accessed on the same Slide outside the .SWF file and this (althought probably basic knowledge to an advanced Flash user) evades me. You wouldn't happen to have a "cut & paste" actionscript that does the job - or a reference to something that makes sense?
But otherwise - I will pursue the TOC right away and thank you for the answer!
Kind regards,
Nick
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3. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
Captiv8r Aug 15, 2010 3:47 PM (in response to Nicketlareriksen)Hi again Nick
I dunno, perhaps I'm too practical and that holds me back. But I see things this way. If you are just trying to come to terms with Captivate, why complicate matters further by tossing Flash into the mix. I mean, I'm assuming that Flash itself has its own nuances and ways of working. So you really have to first have a real tight handle on how it works. THEN you want to mix in Captivate. And Flash seems to have it's own way of dealing with the Captivate stuff. Inevitably Captivate seems to impose it's own "weirdness" on things. So my goal is to stay as simple as I can unless I really need to step beyond what the basics offer. Then I am keenly aware that the road I'm choosing to travel is fraught with pitfalls that won't be easy to discern or overcome.
I have to ask myself if the possible benefit warrants the extra effort involved.
Cheers... Rick
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Begin learning Captivate 5 moments from now! $29.95
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4. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
Nicketlareriksen Aug 15, 2010 4:25 PM (in response to Captiv8r)Hi Rick,
Yes, I know what you mean. I tend to push the limits. It brings a lot of extra effort, no doubt - you are absolutely right about that. Sometimes I need someone to hold me back :-) I have the trial version because I want to see how far I can get with it, before buying. I have most of Adobes other products...so I am kind of looking at the limits - but that is also because I want to make sure, that I can get where I want. I am producing video and actually promoting (not producing) elearning as part of my business today - but I want to be able to produce advanced elearning using captivate. Advanced meaning that if a certain feature benefits the student, then CP should not be able to hold me back :-) Quite the contrary since these are all packages from Adobe. Adobe did a good job with the relatively simple product Catalyst, that makes "scripting" easy for basic stuff.
Thanks for the advice, which I will keep in mind in my constant stuggle to stay in line. TOC does part of the job, actually - especially since it is possible to "Deselect" certain Slides, but not 100% what I would have wished for.
I still would like to be able to script at least a slide referral
Kind regards,
Nick
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5. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
johndaigle Aug 15, 2010 5:32 PM (in response to Nicketlareriksen)Hi, Nick. I am not a scripter and don't even play one on TV . I agree with Rick that you might be surprised how far you can get with CP5.
That said, if you really are looking to push the limits, you might want to look at the Trial of the entire Adobe eLearning Suite which includes not only Captivate, but Flash, Adobe Soundbooth and many other tools to round out the eLearning development.
There is an intro video that includes a tour of eLearning Suite.
http://www.adobe.com/products/elearningsuite/
Here is an online "Getting Started" that will give you an overview.
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/elearningsuite/els/gettingstarted/elearningsuite_2.0_gettingst arted.pdf
As Art Baker said many years ago on the old TV show, "You asked for it!"
Let us know how it turns out.
John
John Daigle
Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor
Evergreen, Colorado
www.showmethedemo.com -
6. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
Lilybiri Aug 16, 2010 12:08 AM (in response to Nicketlareriksen)Hello,
Because neither Rick, nor John had a reaction on your mentioning of Catalyst, I do want to add something I'm very sad about. Catalyst is really innovative, had wanted it to be part of the eLearning suite, but up till now it is not only there but it cannot collaborate with Captivate (can with Flash of course) and that is a pity.
As for scripting: CP5 only works with Actionscript 3. Advanced actions in Captivate 5 give you some control but they are not a scripting language and thus have quite a lot of limitations.
Hope you enjoy learning Captivate (and maybe the added functionalities in the eLS)
Lilybiri
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7. Re: Creating Flash content to work with Captivate
Nicketlareriksen Aug 16, 2010 12:48 AM (in response to Lilybiri)Hi Lilybiri and John,
Thanks for helping out and commenting - I much appreciate it.
I have already the design premium and the production premium package, which includes the rest of the indiviual products in the elearning suite. The production suite had to be "suite" for After effects and Premiere to be "round-trip" enabled and this is the reason that buying an elearning Suite would be silly...its the same products, but of course it is not optimal, if buying Captivate alone doesn't give me the same when I have them already.
I can work professionally with the rest of the products and for the most of them have been almost since the beginning of the Photoshop days. At that time I was a beta tester for an UK company that made a competitive product called "Photodesk". But that is another story :-))
It really bothers me not being able to call a simple "link to slide" from a custom animation in flash. Just a code snippet to be applied to a symbol, calling a slide that works. Then I could make menus with multiple symbols, fold-outs and all kinds of things. I can link to everything in flash, but I have no clue how to access the variables/actions in Captivate from Flash.
It would be nice to have a selection of code snippets in FL professional/Catalyst for us "non-programmers" which interacts with standard variables in Adobes other products. Actually should think this to be an obvious thing to do - to enhance efficiency and enable people like me to utilize our creativity and not be hard-core scripters. Imagine having a "Folder" named "Catalyst" which had "Jump to Frame", "Pause movie" etc. from Flash. That would do the trick and make everything easier.
However, I found the FLA files in the folder structure and thought that the action script was just a few lines that I could figure out and snatch a "Jump to Slide" or something, hardcode it to a slidenumber and voila. Naive as usual :-) Too many lines and too many things in those lines calling each other and too many things I didn't need.
Catalyst is ingenious - I agree and I have used it to set up videoplay etc. on websites. Why does it have to be complicated? It doesn't and that is also the point of Captivate. To enable designers and ambitious teachers to make content. The people who has the knowledge should be able to put that to use.
I am sure I am going to enjoy Captivate, but I am also sure that I will need a little help with some things...
Kind regards,
Nick




