The Logical Blog by IconLogic

TechSmith Camtasia: Timeline Zooming and Disabling Snapping

When I teach my TechSmith Camtasia vILT classes, we spend a lot of time working on the the Timeline. If you need to select a small amount of time between two media objects or position the playhead in a very specific area, things can get tedious because of Camtasia's snapping feature.

Here are two quick tips that will help with selecting tiny areas of the Timeline:

1. Zoom in.
   
   The closer you zoom in on the Timeline, the easier it will be to select tiny areas of video media.
   
   
   
   
2. Temporarily disable Timeline snapping.
   
   When trying to position the playhead, you'll notice that it snaps to areas along the Timeline. This snap behavior is great until it isn't. You can temporarily disable the snap feature by pressing [ctrl] on your keyboard as you drag the mouse. By disabling the snap feature, you will easily be able to position the playhead in a specific location along the Timeline.

Pressing the [ctrl] key to temporarily disable Timeline snapping works on the Canvas as well. If you resize a Canvas object, the resizing process snaps to a canvas grid. Press [ctrl] on your keyboard while resizing an object on the Canvas, and you'll bypass the canvas grid snapping.

I've created a quick demonstration of both zooming the Timeline and disabling the snap feature. Check out the video here.

TechSmith Camtasia: A favorite new feature

While there's plenty to love about Camtasia 2020, the feature I'm highlighting this time is Favorites.   Camtasia is loaded with tools. If you think I'm exaggerating, here's a list of the tools available in Camtasia 2020, Mac:

There are so many tools, you might need to click "More" to see all of them (the "More" option automatically appears if your window size is too small to display all of the tools or your screen resolution is low).   And clicking a tool, such as Annotations, often leads to multiple categories leading to even more tools. In the image below you can see what I'm talking about when it comes to the Annotations tool. There are 6 related tools (Callouts) grouped with the main Annotations tool.

I am not suggesting that TechSmith should remove tools from Camtasia. I say bring on more tools, TechSmith (I look forward to seeing a dozen more tools in Camtasia 2021). However, if you're like me and you use several eLearning development tools, remembering where your "go-to" Camtasia tools are located can be a challenge.   Which brings me to Favorites.   Find a tool you use frequently (any tool). Right-click the tool and choose Add to Favorites.

Once a tool has been added as a Favorite, the tool gets a gold star. And from now on, the tool will be shown in the Favorites area of the toolbar.

Right-clicking a Favorite is going to be the easiest and fastest way to work with the tool. And should you no longer want a tool as a Favorite, a quick right-click allows you to delete the tool as a Favorite (but does not remove the tool from Camtasia).

Looking for Camtasia training? Check out these live, online, instructor-led training classes (all Guaranteed to Run).

ELEARNING DEVELOPMENT: How Many Levels of eLearning Are There?

When it comes to determining the level of effort (LOE) needed to develop eLearning content, I'm seeing a lack of clarity.

 

Generally speaking, you should budget approximately 4 hours to develop each minute of finished eLearning if you use Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline as your development tool. If you use TechSmith Camtasia or a PowerPoint plug-in (such as Presenter or iSpring Suite), you should budget approximately 2-hours to develop a single minute of eLearning.

 

Why the large gap in development time between Captivate/Storyline and Camtasia/PowerPonit plug-ins? Captivate and Storyline can create more interactive eLearning than the other popular tools. That enhanced interaction is great for your eLearning students but comes at a cost at twice the development time (if not more).

 

In my experience, the eLearning development LOE is dependent upon several factors including, but not limited to:

 

1. The total amount of eLearning content needed (measured in minutes)
2. The amount of usable, original content there is (will you need to develop a voiceover script, the level of support (subject matter experts, writers, designers, developers)
3. As mentioned above, the tool to be used for the eLearning development
4. The level of eLearning

 

I'm going to focus this article on the last item in the list above: eLearning levels. It's widely accepted that there are three eLearning levels and they're named, appropriately enough: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3. And while you can google "eLearning levels" and find plenty of articles on the subject, finding two articles that agree on what the levels mean can be difficult, especially when it comes to level 3 eLearning.

 

Level 1: Video-based eLearning with little to no learner interaction

 

Level 1 eLearning would include the videos you'll see on streaming servers such as YouTube or Vimeo, and the eLearning content offered on Lynda.com. This type of eLearning allows learners to play the lesson, mute the audio, pause, and rewind, but that's about it for interactivity.

 

Level 1 eLearning can be created with PowerPoint or any of the eLearning development tools on the market today. This level of eLearning could include self-recorded voiceover audio and a quiz. It can also be enabled for tracking via SCORM and/or AICC LMSs.

 

Level 2: Interactive eLearning with higher-end visuals

 

Level 2 eLearning is significantly more interactive than level 1 eLearning. Content at this level often includes custom graphics (such as iconography to minimize screen clutter) and professional voiceover audio.

 

If created in Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline, this kind of eLearning likely includes interactive buttons, hotspots/click boxes, text entry areas, branching scenarios, multiple scenes, layers, rollover effects, learner interactions (such as dials, sliders, and drag and drop interactions), and random quizzes.

 

Level 3: Gamification or virtual reality, worlds, or fantasy games

 

Level 3 eLearning is beyond the scope of the vast majority of eLearning developers. This level of eLearning involves the creation of virtual settings where learners can interact with virtual characters, pick up items, and use those items throughout the course.

 

If not virtual worlds or scenarios, this level of eLearning often includes intense gaming scenarios that require complex advanced actions (Adobe Captivate) or triggers (Articulate Storyline).

 

While tools such as Storyline and Captivate cannot easily create the virtual worlds as I've described above, they could be used to create complex games, etc. Nevertheless, the time to create those games would make them cost-prohibitive.

 

Fellow eLearning developers, I need your help. What are your thoughts on the levels of eLearning as I've described them above? How would you describe the eLearning levels? Would you add more levels than the three I've mentioned here?

TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: These 2020 Features are Magnetic!

TechSmith recently announced an update for Camtasia from version 2019 to version 2020. Some of the top enhancements you'll find in the Camtasia 2020 update include templates, placeholders, replaceable media, reversible transitions, a detachable Timeline, the ability to control callout text resizing (the feature can be toggled on or off), and magnetic tracks.   In the next few newsletters, I'll delve into some of the new Camtasia 2020 features. To begin, let's focus on the detachable Timeline, magnetic Timeline tracks, and reversible Transitions.   In the image below notice that I've added some media to the Camtasia Timeline. Gaps between Timeline objects aren't ideal, and I have two gaps as indicated by the orange annotations in the image.

One awesome new feature in Camtasia 2020 is the ability to instantly remove Timeline gaps via magnetic tracks. To enable this feature, click the magnet icon to the left of the track as shown in the image below.

The gaps between Timeline objects are instantly removed. And now that the track is magnetic, there won't be any gaps in the track moving forward.

Speaking of enhancements, do you notice anything strange in the image of the Camtasia 2020 interface below?

By default, the Timeline is anchored to the bottom of the Camtasia interface. In the image above, the Timeline is detached. Detaching the Timeline is helpful if you want to position it someplace specific on your display or on a second monitor. To enable the feature, choose View > Timeline > Detach Timeline.   Should you lose track of the Timeline (it can easily go behind the Camtasia main window), choose View > Timeline > Attach Timeline.

Last, but not least, you can now reverse Transition effects. In the animated image below, I've added the Cube Rotate transition to some media on the Timeline. Check out how I can make the cube rotate the opposite direction simply by clicking Reverse on the Properties panel.

***   Looking for Camtasia training? Check out these live, online, instructor-led training classes (all Guaranteed to Run).

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

eLEARNING DEVELOPMENT: Dude, Watch Your Aspect... Ratio!

When creating eLearning in TechSmith Camtasia, Adobe Captivate, or Articulate Storyline, one critical consideration is the physical width and height of your project (also known as the canvas size).   The size of the project is measured in pixels and if you don't get this right from the start, changing your mind later could lead to some unintended consequences. (Objects being resized out of proportion is one of the biggest concerns.)   When I teach any of my eLearning courses, I encourage learners to consider their end-users when determining the size of the canvas. These days, most users access eLearning content on anything from a desktop computer to laptops to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.   In my experience, most devices used to view eLearning are shaped more like rectangles than squares. For that reason, I think the eLearning canvas should be set up to use a 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 4:3.   The aspect ratio of an eLearning canvas designed to be viewed on its side, or in landscape mode, is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side. If you go with a 4:3 aspect ratio (4 pixels across for every 3 pixels in height), you're working with a shape that is tending toward a square. If you go with 16:9 (16 pixels across for every 9 high), the shape is very much a rectangle.   Once you decide on the shape of your canvas (again, 16:9 is a strong rectangle shape), the exact size you use depends on your design and/or the needs of your users. Both 1024x576 and 1280x720 are 16:9 ratios. (Here's a handy list of 16:9 aspect ratios.)   So how do you ensure your aspect ratio is a 16:9 aspect ratio as opposed to 4:3. Read on!   Because eLearning often begins in Microsoft PowerPoint, let's start there. Go to the Design tab on the Ribbon and, from the Customize group, change the Slide Size to Widescreen (16:9).

In TechSmith Camtasia, click the drop-down menu just above the Canvas and choose Project Settings. From the Canvas Dimensions drop-down menu, choose a size from the Widescreen group. All of the sizes in this group are set to an aspect ratio of 16:9.

In Articulate Storyline, the default aspect ratio for new projects is 4:3. Go to the Design tab on the Ribbon and, from the Setup group, click Story Size.   From the Story Size drop-down menu, choose 720:405 (16:9) and then change the Width and Height as needed. Select Lock aspect ratio to ensure you're maintaining a 16:9 aspect ratio as you change the size.

In Adobe Captivate, when creating new projects, select Blank Project and then, from the Canvas drop-down menu, choose an appropriate 16:9 aspect ratio. If you need to change the size of an existing project, choose Modify > Rescale Project and change the Width and Height as appropriate.

***

Looking for training, consulting, mentoring, or development on all things eLearning? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. You can learn more about our eLearning classes on the IconLogic website.

MICROSOFT POWERPOINT: Convert Text to Shapes Using the Fragment Tool

Let’s say you’re creating icons for some eLearning and you’d like some letter icons. You might approach this by drawing a circle and layering a text box over the top of it or by typing the letters directly onto the shapes. For some applications, this approach might be perfectly fine, but there are a few instances where you may find this approach has shortcomings.

Shortcoming 1: You want the letter to be cut out of the icon’s shape so that you can see the background through the icon. (For example, maybe you have a gradient background and you want to see that through the icon.)

Shortcoming 2: You want to resize the icon, without saving it as a picture, and have the letter resize proportionately. Here’s what it looks like if you resize this icon with standard text on it:

Shortcoming 3: You want to fine-tune edit how the letters look, perhaps down to the point level. Maybe you like your font but you wish the characters were a bit shorter and wider. Maybe, like in this example, you also want to edit one of the characters to have a long “tail” to match the diagonal design element elsewhere on the slide.

The best way to accomplish any of the above is to convert your text to shapes using PowerPoint's Fragment tool. Here’s how.   First, insert your shape.

Insert your text box with text. For this task, you’ll want to use a text box vs typing directly onto the shape.

Select your first icon’s shape, hold down the control key, and then also select the text box. From the Format Shape tab of the ribbon, find the Insert Shapes area and choose Merge Shapes > Fragment.

Each item will become its own separate shape. In the case of this example, you’ll have three pieces.

Now you can resize the icon as one shape and even edit the points of your letter to customize to your heart’s content.   Have any PowerPoint PainPoints (see what I did there?) for which you’ve been dying to find a solution? Shoot them over to me and I’ll see if I can help and share them in a future newsletter article!

*** AJ Walther, COTP, is IconLogic's Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a seasoned online trainer, eLearning graphic designer, and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." AJ made her own interdisciplinary studies major, focusing on writing and art.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: Recolor and Crop Content Library Images

During our beginner Articulate Storyline classes, we emphasize the importance of using images in a project instead of relying on dense, text-heavy slides. Of course, finding good images can be a challenge unless you are a subscriber to Articulate 360. Subscribers have access to an millions of assets in the Content Library loaded with downloadable Characters, Illustrations, Icons, Videos, and Photos.   While recently working in Storyline, I was in need of a photo of a horse. The project I was creating was about horse health and I was specifically looking for a horse showing as many teeth as possible. (The wider the grin, the better.)

I visited Storyline's Insert tab on the Ribbon and, from the Content Library, I clicked Photos.   From within the Search Photos dialog box, I typed horse teeth and I was pleasantly surprised when several candidates appeared. (Given that I was needing horse grins, I wasn't expecting even a single decent photo to appear and was fully prepared for a trip to a photo-supply website.)

I selected the photo shown above at the right and then clicked the Insert button. By default, the photo was inserted in the middle of my slide.

The other images I'd used throughout the project were black and white and I wanted to keep that theme. Unfortunately, the computer I was using did not have an image editing program. No worries, you can recolor an image without leaving Storyline.   I selected the Picture Tools tab on the Ribbon, clicked Recolor, and selected Accent color 3 Dark.

I also needed to crop the image. That wasn't a problem either. At the right of the Picture Tools tab, I clicked the Crop tool.

I dragged the cropping handles from both corners to crop everything out of the image except those awesome teeth.

And here's how the finished image looked on the slide.

***   Looking for Articulate Storyline 360 training? Check out these live, online, instructor-led training classes (all Guaranteed to Run).

ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2019: Copy/Paste Appearance

I've long trumpeted the benefits of using Object Styles in Adobe Captivate. However, there may be times when you don't want to work with styles but still want to quickly apply an object's formatting to other objects. In that case, you'll love Captivate's copy and paste appearance feature.   Before I show you how to use the copy/paste appearance feature, let me review Object Styles (using styles is truly the most efficient way to work in Captivate). If you'd like to follow along with the steps below, create a blank project in Captivate 2019 (update 11.5) and draw a few shapes similar to the image below.

On the Properties Inspector, notice that the shapes are all using the Default Smart Shape Style.

Using the Properties Inspector, change the appearance of one of your shapes (for instance, change the fill color).

On the Properties Inspector, notice the plus sign to the left of the style name. The plus sign indicates a formatting override. The change you made to the object is not part of the object style and the formatting was not applied to any other objects using the same style.   To update the style, go to the menu across from Style Name on the inspector and choose Save changes to Existing style.

Every object on every slide using the style gets updated instantly. That's cool stuff. However, if you want to format multiple objects and you don't want to use Object Styles, this next technique is for you.   Select and format a shape (use the Properties inspector to change the fill, color, stroke, etc).

Select the shape you just formatted and choose Edit > Copy Appearance (or right-click and choose Copy Appearance).

Select another shape and choose Edit > Paste Appearance (or right-click and choose Paste Appearance).   The selected shape is instantly formatted to match the previous object. You can use this technique to format multiple slide objects, even across project slides. If you'd like to see a video demo of this process, you'll find it on my YouTube channel.

***   Looking for Captivate training? Check out these live, instructor-led classes.

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: The Awesomeness of the Media Library

Have you ever had this happen to you? You insert an image into your Storyline project and then sometime later you decide to use the image on another slide. However, your project is large (multiple scenes and slides) and you're having a hard time finding that pesky image. How about this one? You're making your project accessible for learners with disabilities. You're pretty sure you added alternative text to a specific image but now you're doubting yourself. Is there a quick way to check? Or perhaps you've used an image in a project and someone on the team wants to use it too. Is there a quick way to share the image?   If you add images, characters, audio, or video to your projects (I think that covers all eLearning developers, everywhere), you'll love Articulate Storyline 360's Media Library (View tab > Views group).     The Media Library displays a list of all of the project's assets grouped on tabs for Images, Characters, Audio, and Video.     I love the ability to select an image and, from the right of the Media Library, add Alt text (for accessibility) and notes. You can also see where the image has been used throughout the project and add the same accessibility text to all instances of the image.     You can also import assets directly into the Media Library and export any asset (so it can be shared with team members).     ***   Looking for Storyline training? Check out these live, instructor-led classes. *** Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE: Logical Scene Numbering

When I work with scenes in Articulate Storyline, I like it when the number that accompanies each scene is logical. Take the three scenes below for instance. I'm creating an eLearning project for a zoo, so naturally I have scenes for Big Cats, Elephants, and Exotic Birds.

Because I created the Big Cats scene first, it was automatically tagged as my Starting Scene (as indicated by the red flag in the image above).   Next, I created the Elephants scene, followed by the Exotic Birds scene. Notice in the image above that in addition to having appropriate names, the scenes are logically numbered (1, 2, and 3).   The scene numbers are based on their creation order. While logical, the numbers do not indicate the order in which any scene might be seen by my learners. In fact, I can make any scene the Starting Scene and, using Triggers, I can make the third scene appear before the second scene.   I created a fourth scene and named it Home. On the Home scene, I added three buttons to a slide. Each of the buttons were given Triggers that jumped to a different scene in the Story.

I then made the Home scene the Starting Scene (this is easy to do with a simple right-click on the scene via the Story View).   After making the fourth scene (the Home scene) the Starting Scene, the drama started. In the image below, notice that the pesky Home scene is positioned correctly (above the other scenes). And you can clearly see the arrows indicating the button jumps between the Home scene and the other scenes.

But do you also see the horror in the image above? Look at that number 4 to the left of the Home scene's name. Noooooo! The Home scene is my first scene, and as far as I'm concerned, it should be numbered with a 1, not a 4. Of course, Storyline doesn't agree with me... a numbering sequence of 4, 1, 2, 3 is perfectly fine!   At the end of the day, the scene numbers don't truly matter. Learners will be able to move freely around the zoo, they'll never see the numbers, and won't ever know that the scene numbers are out of order.   But I'll know the numbers are out of whack... and so will you!   Fortunately, while not obvious, the fix is easy.   While in Story View, select the scene that's out of order and cut it to the clipboard. Without selecting anything, immediately paste the scene back into Story View.   And that's that. If you're like me, you'll be delighted to see that the scenes are numbered logically in the Story View (which is truly the only way to go, right?).

Looking for Storyline training or support? Check out these awesome live, online, instructor-led classes. Also, if you need help with Storyline development or if you'd like one-on-one Storyline mentoring, we've got you covered.