Adobe Captivate – Page 10 – The Logical Blog

October 23, 2015

Adobe Captivate 9 Hot Fix: Update Fixes Several Known Issues

Adobe recently posted a fix for Captivate 9 that, according to Adobe, addresses the following issues in Adobe Captivate 9.

Conditional actions get converted to standard actions in upgraded project
Operands in advanced actions appear blank in upgraded project
Autoshape buttons fill and stroke is not retained during upgrade
Effects are not played fully in SWF, when the effect duration is less than the default effect duration
Result slide does not show up for a captivate project with more than 45 random question slides
TAB Order dialog throws Error #2046 on Mac OSX 10.10.5
Distortion issues (objects with in-built states appearing to jump) that occur when responsive projects containing objects with in-built states are opened

Click here for more information and to download the fix.

October 16, 2015

“Adobe Captivate 9: The Essentials Workbook” Now Shipping

We are proud to announce that our newest book, "Adobe Captivate 9: The Essentials Workbook" has begun shipping.

This book is a self-paced training manual that teaches the core Adobe Captivate skills needed to create interactive eLearning and mLearning content.

By following step-by-step instructions, you will learn how to create a soft-skills lesson from scratch. You'll also learn to record and produce software demonstrations and interactive training simulations.

By the time you finish working through this fast-paced book, you'll know how to control the mouse pointer and add such standard objects as text captions, images, characters, assets from the eLearning Brothers, and highlight boxes. You'll be able to record, import and edit audio, and further enhance the learner experience by adding interactivity via click boxes, buttons, and text entry boxes.

Have you already created content using Microsoft PowerPoint? Don't throw that presentation away. You'll learn how to import existing PowerPoint content into Captivate.

Last, but not least, you'll learn to publish your project in SWF and HTML5 formats so that your content can be uploaded to a web server for consumption on virtually any device, including the iPad, iPhone, and other mobile devices.

Order here.

October 8, 2015

Publishing Adobe Captivate Projects: SWF, HTML5, or Both?

by Kevin Siegel

If you attend our Adobe Captivate Beginner class, you will learn how to publish projects as SWF (for desktop users) and HTML5 (for mobile users).

Publishing in Captivate takes your source content and outputs it into a format that can be consumed (viewed) by the learner. Currently, the most common way to publish a Captivate project is as a Flash SWF, an excellent solution because SWF files provide the best multimedia experience for your learners. In addition, SWFs can be used by the vast majority of the world's desktop computers, laptops, and browsers. Your learners do not need Captivate installed on their computer to use an SWF, but they do need a modern web browser and the free Adobe Flash Player. According to Adobe, the Flash Player is installed on the majority of the world's computers.

Of course, SWFs have a problem. Learners using a mobile device that does not support Flash such as the iPad, iPod, and iPhone (that's millions upon millions of potential learners), cannot use SWF content. When trying to access SWF content, those learners will be met with a warning that SWFs are not supported. The only way around the warning is to use a supported device (meaning, those learners will have to access the eLearning content via a desktop or laptop computer… which might not be convenient or even possible).

As an alternative to SWFs, Captivate allows developers to publish content as HTML5. Lessons published as HTML5 play on any computer or mobile device that supports HTML5, including the Apple mobile devices.

A student in a recent Captivate class asked the following question: "If SWF's aren't supported on all devices, but HTML5 is, why not just publish HTML5 and do away with SWFs?"

That's an awesome question. While HTML5 may one day completely replace SWF, today is not that day. SWF is still a very popular multimedia format. And lots of cool Captivate effects that work great as an SWF simply do not work as HTML5. In addition, older web browsers don't support HTML5. A desktop learner using an old web browser would get a message saying that their browser doesn't support HTML5. (The reverse problem that a mobile user would have when attempting to access an SWF.)

One simple solution to the old browser issue would be to ask everyone to upgrade their web browser. Simple? Hah! Because many private users, companies, government agencies, and educational institutions aren't in any rush to upgrade their web browser technology, it's not a viable solution at all.

So which publish format should you choose, HTML5 or SWF? For some developers, the answer is both. However, if you publish both formats separately, you'll have to provide two published lessons for your learners… SWF and HTML5 versions. Then you'll need to tell your learners to choose the best format. Great… except many learners won't know which format they're supposed to choose, which is only going to lead to confusion.

Wouldn't it be great if could publish a Captivate project as both SWF and HTML5, at one time, and then let the learner's device (not the learner) determine the appropriate output to use based on its capabilities? That solution would be perfect… so let's do it!

Open Captivate's Publish dialog box (File > Publish). From the Output Format area, select both SWF and HTML5 (enable both options).

Publish the project (when the Publish process is complete, there's no need to view the Output). Minimize (Hide) Captivate and then open the folder containing the published assets.

The assets folder will contain a combination of the SWF and HTML5 output files. If you've published SWF or HTML5, you're likely familiar with the output files. However, now that you've published both outputs at the same time, there's a new start file in the folder: multiscreen.html.

If you make multiscreen.html the link for learners to click when accessing the lesson, desktop users who have Flash will automatically be served the SWF version of the lesson. Learners who are using devices that do not support Flash will automatically be served the HTML5 version of the lesson. How awesome is that?

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? Check out these awesome live, online Captivate classes.

September 23, 2015

Adobe Captivate 9: Effects Made Easy

by Kevin Siegel

You can also apply special effects to Captivate slide objects without ever leaving Captivate. All you have to do is right-click an object and choose Apply Effect. From there, you can use the Effects area on the Timing Inspector to add, remove, and control the timing of several effects that come with Captivate.

I needed to add an effect to a text cation. I selected the caption and, on the Timing Inspector, Effects area, I chose Entrance from the third drop-down menu. From the bottom of the Entrance Effects, I clicked the move right icon (>) and chose Fly in From Right.

On the Timing Inspector, the Effect was been added to the Applied Effects List. If I needed to delete the Effect, I could easily do so by clicking the Trash icon to the right of the Applied Effects List drop-down menu.

On the slide, I noticed that an FX had been added in the upper right of the selected Text Caption. In addition, there was a red line starting on the Pasteboard and ending up on the caption.

I went on to add a second effect to the object. Upon previewing the effect (via Preview > Play Slide), I noticed that both effects occurred at the same time (I wanted one to occur and then, after a brief delay, the other). That was easy to fix via the Timeline.

I clicked the arrow to the left of the caption containing both effects…

… then I dragged one of the effects right on the Timeline, and then changed its timing.

Changing the timing of an effect

What I love about this is that if you know how to use Captivate's Timeline, adjusting the timing of an Effect is no different than changing the timing for any slide object.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? Check out these awesome live, online Captivate classes.

September 1, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Recording Narration to Multiple Slides

by Jennie Ruby

The best practice when recording a voiceover script to narrate a series of slides is to create a separate audio recording for each slide. But when you are recording directly into your Captivate project, it can be quite tedious to open the Audio menu, choose Record to > Slide, record the slide, save the recording, close the Slide Audio dialog box, and start the process over for the next slide.

Instead of closing the Slide Audio dialog box between every recording, you can record to multiple slides in one session.

Before you start, make sure you have typed or pasted the voiceover script for each slide into the Slide Notes pane.

To start the multiple slide recording process, choose Audio > Record to > Slides (notice the plural word slides).

The Record from Slide dialog box opens. Choose the range of slides you want to record and click the OK button.

The Slides Audio dialog box opens. Notice that on the waveform area, a marker for each slide has already been set.

To display your slides as you record, select the Preview check-box below the audio waveform. Use the blue arrows to navigate to the first slide you want to record to. (When you are on the first slide, the Previous slide arrow is grayed out.)

To display your slide notes, which contain your voiceover script, click the Captions & Slide Notes button at the bottom left of the Slides Audio dialog box.

Your slide notes for the active slide are displayed. Use the A tool at the upper right to adjust the font size for ease of reading.

After calibrating your microphone (refer to my Calibration article to learn how), ensure that the Continuous Play check-box is NOT selected.

The Continuous Play option advances the slides automatically as you record–whether you have completed the specific narration for a particular slide or not. By deselecting it, you retain control over when you move on to the next slide.

Click the Record button to start recording. After the countdown, record your narration by reading it from the Captions & Slide Notes window. When you finish the narration for your first slide, click the Stop Recording button.

To advance to the next slide, click the Advance Slide blue arrow below the waveform area.

The slide advances. The Captions & Slide Notes display window disappears, presumably to allow you to see the Preview of the next slide. Once you click the Record button, the Captions & Slide Notes window reopens automatically, displaying the notes for the next slide.

Click the Record button and record the next slide, then click Stop recording.

Continue in this way through all of your slides. The timing for each slide is automatically extended to accommodate the amount of time your narration requires.

After you have recorded the narration for the final slide, click the Save button at the lower right of the Slides Audio dialog box.

On the Filmstrip, each slide you recorded to now shows a speaker icon, indicating that your slide audio has been saved.

Once the narration has been recorded, you can preview the audio for each slide by clicking that speaker icon and choosing Play.

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Want to learn more about Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online Captivate classes.

August 30, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Knowledge Check Slides

by Kevin Siegel

Last week Adobe announced a major update to Adobe Captivate: Adobe Captivate 9. While similar in appearance to Adobe Captivate 8, version 9 offers several enhancements that I'll cover over the next few weeks. This week: Knowledge Check questions.

When adding question slides to a project, you can insert graded questions, survey questions (questions that do not have a right or wrong answer), Pretest questions (questions with right and wrong answers that can be worth points, but are not graded along with regular question slides), and now, Knowledge Check Slides.

Similar to Pretest questions, Knowledge Check slides do not count against the overall quiz score. While knowledge Check questions aren't worth any points, they can provide a higher-level of feedback to the learner than Pretest questions.

To insert a knowledge check question, choose Quiz > Knowledge Check Slide.

As with all question slides, Knowledge Check slides appear on the Filmstrip. However, you'll notice that these slides include a graduation cap icon not seen with the other question types.

Once added to a project, Knowledge Check slides behave like any other question slide with a few notable exceptions. As mentioned above, Pretest questions can be worth points, Knowledge Check questions are not. And in the image below, notice the Actions tab (on the Properties Inspector) for a Pretest question. You'll notice that there's very little in the way of Actions.

Compare the Actions you see above with those available for a Knowledge Check slide. Simply put, there's more opportunity for you as a developer to ensure your learner is grasping a concept with a Knowledge Check slide than with a Pretest slide.

If you'd like to see the Knowledge Check feature in action, watch this YouTube video created by Adobe's Dr. Allen Partridge.

Important Note to Windows Users: Adobe is no longer supporting 32-bit operating systems. Captivate 9 will only work if you have Windows 64-bit . If you are using an older computer or OS, you won't be able to use Captivate 9 at all. It's a good idea to check out Captivate's new system requirements prior to upgrading to Captivate 9.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? We've got you covered with an awesome collection of full-day courses, 3-hour mini courses, and mentoring/consulting services.

August 24, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Adding Video to the TOC

by Kevin Siegel

I've been getting more and more requests from both students attending our online Captivate classes and eLearning development customers to add videos to the Captivate TOC.

Most people think it's impossible to add a video to the TOC. I'm happy to report that it's not only possible, it's simple (although the option is a bit buried).

To begin, choose Insert > Video to open the Insert Video dialog box. Select Multi-Slide Synchronized Video and then Browse for the video you'd like to include on the TOC.

From the Show Video On drop-down menu, choose TOC and then click the OK button.

The video appears as an overlay on your slides. While this be a bit distracting, the video won't actually overlay the slides when the lesson is previewed or published.

Choose Project > Table of Contents and choose Show TOC. Format the TOC entries as needed.

Preview the project (or publish and view it) and the video will appear near the top of the TOC.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? We've got you covered with an awesome collection of full-day courses, 3-hour mini courses, and mentoring/consulting services.

August 13, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Microphone Calibration

by Jennie Ruby

Before recording voiceover narration directly in Captivate, you'll want to calibrate the microphone you intend to use from inside Captivate.

After selecting the slide to record the narration to, choose Audio > Record to > Slide.

In the Slide Audio dialog box, click the blue text link for your microphone.

On my computer, the Built-in Input is always listed here, even if I have another microphone connected to my computer. But you can change that on the next step.

In the Audio Input Devices drop-down menu, select the microphone you want to use.

Select the Bitrate at which you want to record. FM should be high enough quality for ordinary voiceovers for eLearning. The higher the bitrate, the better the sound quality–but the larger the file and the slower it is to download.

Click the Calibrate Input button to open the Calibrate audio input dialog box. Ensure that your microphone is on, and not muted. Then click the Auto calibrate button.

Speak into the microphone. If you can't think of anything to say, read the text of the dialog box. The level indicator at the right may display various colors. When the text below the indicator turns green, you have calibrated your microphone.

After clicking OK, your chosen microphone is listed under the Device heading… and you are ready to record voiceover narration.

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Want to learn more about Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online Captivate classes.

July 28, 2015

Adobe Captivate or Adobe Presenter: Which One Is Right For You?

by Jennie Ruby

Adobe Presenter and Adobe Captivate have some overlapping functions. Both can create eLearning lessons that can be uploaded to and report results to a learning management system (LMS). Both can work with PowerPoint. Both can create interactive quizzes. And the list goes on. But what are the key differences that tell me which of these programs to buy? Or, if I already have both, which to use for any given project? Let's take a look.

Adobe Presenter is a PowerPoint add-in, and is marketed by Adobe specifically to educators. It is the easiest path from PowerPoint to eLearning. You can use it to take existing PowerPoint slides, add voiceover narration, optionally record a self-video while presenting the lesson, add eLearning scenes and characters, add interactive elements, add a quiz, and publish the lesson to an LMS. Presenter lessons can be used to "flip" the classroom–the homework is to watch the lecture, and then practice assignments, worked problems, and the like are done in the classroom with the teacher's help.

Presenter is designed so that eLearning features are easy to add. But, as is typical with any kind of software, the easier the software is to use, the fewer choices you have about certain things. In Adobe Presenter, this is a good thing. This software allows you to focus more on the content than on eLearning functionality. With this software, the feeling is that you are designing your content, and the software handles the work of deciding things like how the learner advances to the next slide. Your energy goes into your content.

For example, if you want to create a scenario, where the learner chooses options and receives feedback by traveling down various "branches" after decision points, you can click a few buttons, choose between pre-designed options, type your content on designated slides, and let Presenter take care of which button takes the learner to which slide. Your choices are somewhat limited, but getting a functioning scenario lesson up and running is fast and easy.

Adobe Captivate is powerful, stand-alone eLearning development software. It can import PowerPoint slides as the background and basic content of a project, but from that point on, the file is a Captivate project file. You are no longer in PowerPoint. In fact, using PowerPoint is just one of many options for how to create a Captivate project.

Arguably Captivate's greatest strength is the ability to create software demonstrations and simulations by simply recording screen actions as you do them. You can create still shots of each screen or record a live video of a procedure. Captivate can add text descriptions of the actions automatically. But after recording, you can edit the recorded steps to add highlights, additional captions, voiceover instructions, hints, feedback messages, and much more.

Rather than having a lot of automatic presets (although there are plenty of predesigned themes for colors, backgrounds, and fonts), Captivate puts you in control of the details of your lesson's appearance and functionality. What will the learner click to advance the lesson? You can create a button or make any part of the background a clickable object. Want a button that does multiple actions? You can create that. Want to add a screen character or multiple characters? Captivate lets you do that, too.

Want a branching scenario? You map it out, you add scenes or characters, you create the buttons that take your learner down the various branches. You have complete flexibility as to how the lesson proceeds. But you are on your own. You have to remember to add that "back" button that keeps your learner from reaching a dead end. You have to create all of the links and make sure they go in the correct sequence. You have all the power, but you also have all the work of making the eLearning project function.

So which should you use for what?

If you need software simulations: Captivate
If you need flexible, responsive lesson sizes for various learner devices: Captivate
If you have existing PowerPoint slides and want to record your lecture with them: Presenter
If you just want to focus on content, and want the rest to be mostly automatic: Presenter
If you want detailed control over sophisticated branching, interactions, timings, and functions: Captivate

Budget

Captivate is a highly advanced, fully functional eLearning software development tool, and its cost reflects that:

$999 to purchase
$29.99/month to subscribe, with a year's subscription minimum
Student/teacher edition: $299

Presenter is a PowerPoint add-in that gives you a lot of eLearning pizazz for a lot less development work and costs significantly less than Captivate:

$499 to purchase
$14.99/month to subscribe for a year
$24.99 month-to-month subscription available
Student/teacher editions upgrade: $149

Are you using one of or both of these programs? Give me your opinion. Which do you use for what?

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If you'd like to learn more about Captivate, come hang out in my just announced Adobe Captivate Quick Start mini course. And if you'd like to learn more Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, TechSmith Camtasia, Articulate Studio, or Articulate Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.

July 22, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Close Caption a Video

by Lori Smith

I received an email from a Captivate developer who was lamenting the fact that her Captivate videos didn't have closed captions. "Sure it's easy to add closed captions to a Captivate slide," she said, "but you cannot add them to a video." This was a real problem since she was required to create accessible eLearning.

Believe it or not, it's just about as easy to add closed captions to a video as it is a slide. (Easy, but not obvious.) Here's how:

Insert a video onto a slide via the Media menu. (When inserting the video, insert it as Multi-Slide Synchronized Video. Also, select Modify slide duration to accommodate video.)

On the Properties inspector, select Edit Video Timing.

On the Closed Captioning tab and click on a Timeline location to mark where you want to insert closed captioning text.

Click the + sign to add a closed caption and then type the closed caption text.

Lather, rinse, repeat! Once you have finished adding all of the closed captioning text, click the OK button to exit the editor. And that's it! One note: don't forget to enable the display of closed captioning via your skin editor.

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If you'd like to learn more about Captivate, check out these Adobe Captivate Mini Courses mini course. And if you'd like to learn more Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, TechSmith Camtasia, Articulate Studio, or Articulate Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.