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Discussion: Captivate Help
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paulbetty |
Captivate Help
Apr 30 2008, 6:31 PM EDT
I'm following Richard's lead here, and starting a thread for all things Captivate. I'm currently using Captivate 3. I've got some experience incorporating video, captioning, and javascript into Captivate projects. I'm also interested in exploring the use of branching scenarios to create self guided tutorials, in the style of the Choose Your Own Adventure series (I loved those books!). Feel free to hit me up with any questions you have about Captivate!
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jh81507 |
1. RE: Captivate Help
Dec 9 2009, 5:36 PM EST
I have been using various headsets for recording audio and am thinking I should move to a USB microphone so I could use a pop screen. I am using Captivate3 and WindowsXP. I was considering Blue Snow Ball microphone. Any recommendation regarding this one or one that you like? Thanks.
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paulbetty |
2. RE: Captivate Help
Dec 10 2009, 5:45 PM EST
Amongst the ANTS group, I think the jury is still out on what mic set-up works best. I have always used headsets, and find that they do a good job of picking up my voice without picking up to much ambient noise. I'm currently using a Plantronics wireless USB headset. The only problems I have had so far are when the battery charge gets low, then the recording quality gets a bit scratchy. But fully charged, it does very well. I like the mobility of the headset, but if you have a closed office and can set-up the stand-alone USB mic at a comfortable position, then I see no real problems with that set-up either. As suggested above, a closed quiet office space ought to help with recording as well. In addition, I have noticed in Captivate 3 that when recording audio, if you wait a few seconds, the software will calibrate for any ambient noise. Set-up your mic, and calibrate the recording level using the Audio menu in Captivate (if its the first time recording, it should automatically prompt you). Once the mic has been calibrated, start your recording, but wait a few seconds before speaking. You should notice the audio level bounce up and down, but then drop down drastically as the software adjusts for the ambient noise. I've found this technique, regardless of what mic I'm using, results in very clear audio. BTW, worth mentioning that I tend to record audio slide by slide. It gives you greater control if you ever need to go back and re-edit slides or audio, without having to do everything over again. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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jh81507 |
3. RE: Captivate Help
Dec 10 2009, 7:09 PM EST
Thanks for the tip. I'll try it.Perhaps you could help me with another problem. I have tried adding data in the "description" field for the information tab (under skin), but cannot get it to display, no matter how short the description is. I have even copied their "example" and nothing shows. Data entered in other fields display. Any ideas on how to fix? Though not ready for distribution, see: http://www.clicweb.org/ASCC/AddBibZ39.htm Thanks. Do you find this valuable? |
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paulbetty |
4. RE: Captivate Help
Dec 11 2009, 1:45 PM EST
It seems the project description, accessed in Captivate 3 by either by Project menu -->Skin --> Info or the Edit menu --> Preferences - General is only intended to be rendered by adaptive software. Here is what the Captivate 3 user guide states:http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Captivate/3.0/captivate_3_help.pdf "if you select the 508 option and you have filled in the project name and project description text boxes in the Project Properties dialog box, a screen reader will read the name and description when the Adobe Captivate SWF file is played". Also from the user guide: "All playback control styles contain an information button. When your users click this button, they receive project information such as author, company name, and website address. You can add or change this information through the Skin Editor dialog box. It is important to set global preferences if you are creating a 508-compliant accessible project." You can re-appropriate some of the other fields (author, copyright, etc.) to add a brief description instead, but you are limited to a certain number of characters. You might consider adding the description to one of the first several slides in the project itself, if it is that important to you. Do you find this valuable? |
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aadoek |
5. RE: Captivate Help
Jan 18 2010, 11:02 AM EST
With Captivate 3, we added playback controls to a project. In Captivate, they show up correctly when hitting the Preview button.But after publishing this project in swf and opening it in a browser (Firefox or Chrome), they are invisible. Did we do something wrong? Do you find this valuable? |
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paulbetty |
6. RE: Captivate Help
Jan 19 2010, 1:59 PM EST
The default settings in Captivate 3 are to publish the playback controls as a separate _skin.swf file. So when you publish your project, look to see if there are two .swf files: the main project.swf file with the content, and then the project_skin.swf file that holds the playback/navigation controls. Note that the project _skin.swf file will "call in" the content from the project.swf file. So if you are just using the .swf files, and not using the .html file, you want to link to the _skin.swf file. Open this file and it pulls together the rest of the content. You can change the settings in Captivate 3 so that the playback controls are included in the main project.swf file. Instructions are summarized here: http://iconlogic.blogs.com/weblog/2008/10/adobe-captivate-3-publishing-a-single-swf-with-a-skin-playbar.html Do you find this valuable? |
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aadoek |
7. RE: Captivate Help
Jan 22 2010, 9:36 AM EST
Paul, You were a great help! The explanation of "calling in" clarified things, and when I open the _skin.swf file now in the browser, the result is what I expect.Do you find this valuable? |
mjecclestone |
8. RE: Captivate Help
Feb 17 2010, 3:13 PM EST
"I'm following Richard's lead here, and starting a thread for all things Captivate. I'm currently using Captivate 3. I've got some experience incorporating video, captioning, and javascript into Captivate projects. I'm also interested in exploring the use of branching scenarios to create self guided tutorials, in the style of the Choose Your Own Adventure series (I loved those books!). Feel free to hit me up with any questions you have about Captivate! "Hi Paul (and everyone), I'm wondering if there is a function in Captivate 4 that allows you to zoom into a particular section of the screen you are capturing? I've seen this attribute in various screencasting videos, but am not sure if they're created in Captivate, or if this function exists in Captivate. Any insights are welcome! Do you find this valuable? |
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paulbetty |
9. RE: Captivate Help
Feb 17 2010, 4:10 PM EST
There is a zoom feature in Captivate, but it functions a bit different than the zoom in Camtasia. After you record your Captivate project and capture your screenshots, go to the edit menu/tab, and select the slide/screenshot with content you wish to zoom in on. With the slide/screenshot selected, go to Insert menu and select --> Zoom Area. The Zoom area tool has two boxes that you can move and adjust in size. One of the boxes used is to delineate the area to be enlarged. The second box is where the enlarged/zoom area will display, overlapping the background image/screenshot. This feature is useful if their is text/links/content that you want to bring to the users attention. Once you publish the project, you'll notice how the zoom feature will expand from the area you specified, and a box will "zoom" open with the highlighted content. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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mjecclestone |
10. RE: Captivate Help
Feb 19 2010, 12:02 PM EST
Thanks so much, Paul! This is hugely helpful. I'm going to go play around with it, but I really appreciate the guidance. I'll post back if I have any trouble. Much appreciated! Do you find this valuable? |
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mjecclestone |
11. RE: Captivate Help
Feb 22 2010, 3:24 PM EST
Hi again Paul, This time, I'm trying to attach quiz questions to a video. I'd like to somehow have access to the responses (i.e. how many were answered correctly vs. incorrectly) as a means to doing evaluation of the videos. I've got your Google Analytics article open in front of me, but I don't think you cover it in there (though it's very good!). I realize this is a far bigger question than my last one --- any tricks you've got up your sleeve are very much appreciated. Best, Meghan 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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paulbetty |
12. RE: Captivate Help
Feb 23 2010, 5:33 PM EST
Meghan,There are Quiz templates in Captivate that you can use to incorporate an evaluation piece into the project. I have not used them much. You can insert Quiz slides using the Quiz menu. Under the Quiz menu, select Preferences, and you can see the reporting options. I tried once to create a quiz in Captivate 3 that would report results via email, but the email that was sent did not include the pertinent info needed. I contacted Adobe to ask about the email report feature for Quizes, and they essentially said that the development of the email report feature was abandoned in favor of SCORM. SCORM is a standard that is supported by most commercial Learning Management Systems (Blackboard, etc.) Don't know much about it, other than it looks fairly technical to implement, and you would need to work with the LMS admins. One alternative is to place a link at the end of the Captivate project that directs the user to an online survey using Survey Monkey or Zoomerang. But that does leave the door open for some user error.... Do you find this valuable? |
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jh81507 |
13. RE: Captivate Help
Jun 28 2010, 9:16 PM EDT
I am currently using Captivate 3. When I have a click box that opens a url in a new window, I have unchecked the continue playing project, but when user clicks to open window, the audio for that slide keeps going. Any thoughts on how to fix?Also, do you know if Captivate 3 files convert well to the soon to be released Captivate 5? Thanks in advance, Jo Do you find this valuable? |
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paulbetty |
14. RE: Captivate Help
Jun 29 2010, 12:37 PM EDT
Jo,Captivate files are not backwards compatible. So you can use Captivate 5 to open older Captivate files, but once you do so, you will be prompted to save the project as a Captivate 5 file. Using Captivate 3, you will not be able to open any Captivate 4 or 5 files. This is obviously Adobe's way to keep you on the hook. As for audio playback while the project is paused, you can either edit the audio track associated with the slide/screenshot, or you can edit the timing of the appearance of the click box so that it appears after the audio narration has been completed. With regards to the later, one idea is to create a copy of the slide. Use the first slide to present the audio narration, and use the second slide which follows to bring up the click box. During playback, it will looks as if the two slides are one. But that advantage is you can easily manipulate and edit the content, narration, and timing/appearance of objects. You could do all of this on the same slide too, if you wanted, by moving objects around on the timeline, but I find it creates a more manageable project if you split up objects and content on different slides. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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jh81507 |
15. RE: Captivate Help
Jun 29 2010, 11:12 PM EDT
Thanks for the info.Can you give a quick review on Captivate 5? I looked at the promotional videos at Adobe and it looks like they have some new design features. I heard rather than build on previous versions of Captivate it was a start from scratch version. If the ability to add different video formats easily is true that would be one big plus. Right now I am having to use converters and add code to get flv files that work in Captivate. Thanks for your help. Jo Do you find this valuable? |
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paulbetty |
16. RE: Captivate Help
Jun 30 2010, 12:31 PM EDT
Sorry Jo but I do not have Captivate 5 installed myself just yet, and just like many other libraries, our budget for this type of stuff has been reduced dramatically as of late. If I do get the upgrade I'll post a message with details about any new features. I agree the ability to use different video formats besides Flash would be a great step forward. If anyone else out there has version 5, please share your thoughts and opinions.
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tumblesonb |
17. RE: Captivate Help
Jul 8 2010, 1:58 PM EDT
Thanks for your generous offer of Help! I am in need of such and use Captivate 3 as well. I created a Captivate screencast which I embedded in LibGuide and was surprised to see the screencast begins to play automatically. Yikes! The usual code to stop the autoplay did not work. So I made a new #1 slide without audio and a very long display time to avoid the autoplay for most users visiting the guide. Do you have a long term solution? I could not find an easy answer in Captivate's help index. Thanks so much for carrying these technical burdens for the rest of us, Paul.
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paulbetty |
18. RE: Captivate Help
Jul 12 2010, 6:28 PM EDT
Default settings in Captivate 3 are set so that all of the playback controls for your Captivate project are typically published in a separate .swf file with the suffix _skin.swf. The _skin.swf file "frames" the project .swf file. take a look at the folder to which you published the project. If you see a _skin.swf file, then you are publishing under the default settings. However, you can adjust the settings so that the playback controls are included in the project .swf file (i.e. no _skin.swf file is published). Go to Project menu --> Skin. The Skin Editor will open in a new window. On the Playback Control tab, make sure the check box is selected for "show playback control". On the Borders tab, deselect the Show Borders check box. The latter step is the one that deactivates the _skin.swf publishing, and instead the playback toolbar will be included in the project .swf file. If you do this, take a look at the newly published project to make sure the newly appended playback toolbar does not obscure any callouts or relevant images. I suggest this option if you want to embed the file in Libguides or anywhere else, as it means having to work with a single file for uploading or embedding. Hope this helps! Do you find this valuable? |
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tumblesonb |
19. RE: Captivate Help
Jul 13 2010, 9:39 AM EDT
Thanks so much, Paul. I will give it a try.
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