Using ADOBE® CAPTIVATE® 5.0 & 5.
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iii Contents Chapter 1: Getting Started Activation and registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Help and support ...................................................................................................... 2 Services, downloads, and extras ........................................................................................
iv USING CAPTIVATE Contents Slide transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Tips for introductory slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
v USING CAPTIVATE Contents Defining visibility mode for widgets Using XML in widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Using variables in widgets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
vi USING CAPTIVATE Contents Chapter 14: Publishing Projects Change the default location of published files Set publishing preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Publish projects as SWF files . . . . .
1 Chapter 1: Getting Started Before you begin working with your software, take a few moments to read an overview of activation and the many resources available to you. You have access to instructional videos, plug-ins, templates, user communities, seminars, tutorials, RSS feeds, and much more. Activation and registration To review complete system requirements and recommendations for your Adobe® Captivate® software, see the ReadMe file on the installation disc.
2 USING CAPTIVATE Getting Started • Activation and registration • Troubleshooting • Customer support Help and support Get started with Adobe Captivate using the free online tutorials at www.adobe.com/go/learn_tutorials_en. Access more advanced help content for Adobe Captivate using Adobe Community Help client (CHC), an AIR application. To launch the client, open Adobe Captivate and press F1. For more information on community help, see “Community Help” on page 2.
3 USING CAPTIVATE Getting Started • Conferences • Upgrade information • Tutorials The dialog box also contains links to Adobe technical support, Facebook, Twitter, Adobe Captivate forums, and blogs. You can post your queries on any of these websites and get answers from the Adobe Captivate community and Adobe technical team. Each time a new announcement is made from Adobe, the Access Adobe Resources dialog box automatically appears on your Adobe Captivate screen.
4 USING CAPTIVATE Getting Started Adobe Labs Adobe Labs at www.adobe.com/go/learn_cp_labs_en gives you the opportunity to experience and evaluate new and emerging technologies and products from Adobe.
5 USING CAPTIVATE Getting Started Rich animation effects Create rich object animations within Adobe Captivate 5, by combining predefined effects such as straight-line motion, rotation, and glow. For added impact, seamlessly import custom animation effects from Adobe Flash® Professional. Multi-video support and synchronization Include videos in your content without having to use another application.
6 USING CAPTIVATE Getting Started What’s new in Adobe Captivate 5.5 Gradients, shadows, and rotation Make your slides and objects more attractive with color gradients. Select a preset shadow, or define one to add depth to objects. Use the rotate handle to easily turn and flip objects. Attractive out-of-the-box quizzing Create eye-catching quizzes with new out-of the-box quiz templates and an attractive set of components. Work with an improved quiz review area that makes evaluation simpler and faster.
7 Chapter 2: Workspace You create movies and projects in Adobe Captivate using various elements, such as, panels, bars, and windows. A specific arrangement of these elements is called a Workspace. Adobe Captivate provides preset workspaces that help you get started quickly. You can also customize the workspace by arranging the elements in a way that suits your requirements. A B C D E H G I F J A. Tabbed Document windows B. Application bar C. Workspace switcher D. Panel title bar E.
8 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Toolbars Toolbars provide you an easier access to the most commonly used menus. You can quickly complete a task or a procedure by clicking the buttons on the toolbar instead of navigating to the menu. You can hide or show toolbars according to your requirements. To show or hide a toolbar, select Window and then select the name of the toolbar. Main Options Shortcuts to frequently performed actions, such as, save, record, and preview.
9 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Horizontal dotted lines Panels To show or hide panels, select Window and then select the name of the panel. Filmstrip Displays a thumbnail view of the slides in the project in the order of their appearance. For more information, see “Filmstrip” on page 10. Question Pool Displays a thumbnail view of the slides in question pools from where quiz questions are randomly picked at run-time. For more information, see “Random question slides” on page 186.
10 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Progress Indicator Indicates the progress of the conversion of non-flash video files into FLV/F4V format by Adobe Media Encoder (AME). For more information, see “Inserting non-Flash video file formats” on page 109. Filmstrip The Filmstrip displays all the slides in the project in the order in which they appear when published. You can change the order of a slide by dragging it to a new location within the Filmstrip.
11 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace The Timeline header shows time, in seconds (1s for 1 second, 2s for 2 seconds, and so on), so you see exactly when objects appear. The major components of the Timeline are objects, the header, and the playhead. The objects on a slide are displayed as stacked bars in the right pane of the Timeline. The header at the top of the Timeline indicates time in seconds (and parts of seconds). The playhead shows the point in time in which the slide is being viewed.
12 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Hide objects during editing ❖ In the Timeline, click the dot below the eye icon in the layer that you want to hide. The object disappears from the slide and an X icon appears in the column. To display the object on the slide, click the X icon. When you hide an object layer, it is hidden ‘only on the Stage’. You can still view the layer when it is previewed or published. Timeline for slidelets A slidelet is a slide within a slide. A slidelet has its own Timeline.
13 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Preview a slide using the playhead The playhead moves through the Timeline to indicate how the currently displayed slide appears in the project. It is a quick and efficient way to preview a single slide and check object timing. To see how the playhead functions, press F3. The red line that moves across the Timeline is the playhead. You can stop a playhead when it is playing by clicking it.
14 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Main pane This pane is at the center of the panel and is the main area where you interpret and edit the branches in your project. The arrows between the slides indicate how they are related to each other. Black Arrow Indicates that the slide from which the arrow originates does not have any interactive object. During runtime, after this slide's duration elapses, the next slide (to which the arrowhead points) appears.
15 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace To assign other actions such as send an email or open a URL or a file, use the Property Inspector of the slide. The Advanced Interaction panel (Project > Advanced Interaction) helps you view all the interactions in the project. Grouping slides using the Branching view 1 Click in the panel (not on any slide), hold down the mouse button, and move the mouse over the slides you want to group.
16 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Using the Library panel, you can do the following: • Edit the properties of the items. • Reuse the items within a project as well as across other Adobe Captivate projects by exporting or importing them. • Synchronize the items with their source files. You can also open and edit the source files directly in the supported programs. Import objects into the Library You can import objects from other Adobe Captivate projects or templates into the library of your current project.
17 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace • To resize a panel, move the mouse over the edges of the panel. When double-sided arrow appears, drag the panel to the required size. Add and remove panels from docks If you remove all panels from a dock, the dock disappears. You can create a dock by moving panels to the right edge of the workspace until a drop zone appears. • To remove a panel, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) its tab and then select Close, or deselect it from the Window menu.
18 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Save customized workspaces By saving the current size and position of panels as a named workspace, you can restore that workspace even if you move or close a panel. The names of saved workspaces appear in the workspace switcher in the Application bar. 1 Go to Window > Workspace > New Workspace. 2 Type a name for the new workspace, and click OK. Any changes that are made to the workspace are saved automatically.
19 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Shortcut keys Shortcut keys provide an easier and quicker way to navigate and use Adobe Captivate. They let you use keyboard key combinations instead of a mouse or program menu. The common shortcut keys are listed in the table. Shortcut key Action F1 (Win & Mac) Open Adobe Captivate Help (To access dialog-box-level help, click the Help button on individual dialog boxes.
20 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Shortcut key Action Control+S (Win), Command+S (Mac) Save Control+T (Win), Command+T(Mac) Open project template Control+U (Win), Command+U (Mac) Underline the selected text Control+V (Win), Command+V (Mac) Paste what is on the clipboard (for example, slide, image, object, and so on) Control+W (Win), Command+W (Mac) Close the project Control+X (Win), Command+X (Mac) Cut (selected object on stage) Control+Y (Win), Command+Y (Mac) Redo Control+Z (Win), Command+Z (
21 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Shortcut key Action Shift+F8 (Win), Command + , (Mac) Preferences dialog box Shift+F9 (Win), Shift+Command+F9 (Mac) Actions dialog box Shift+F10 (Win), Shift+Command+F10 (Mac) Table of contents Shift+F11 (Win), Shift+ Command+F11 (Mac) Skin Editor panel Shift+F12 (Win), Shift+Option+F12 (Mac) Publish the file Shift+A (Win & Mac) Insert Animation placeholder Shift+F (Win & Mac) Insert Flash video placeholder Shift+R (Win & Mac) Insert rollover caption placehold
22 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Shortcut key Action Shift+Control+O (Win), Shift+Command+O (Mac) Add a new rollover image Shift+Control+P (Win), Shift+Command+P (Mac) Import PPT Shift+Control+Q (Win), Shift+Q (Mac) Insert a question slide Shift+Control+R (Win), Shift+Command+R (Mac) Insert a rollover caption Shift+Control+S (Win), Shift+Command+S (Mac) Insert an image slide Shift+Control+T (Win), Shift+Command+T (Mac) Insert a text entry box Shift+Control+U (Win), Shift+Command+U (Mac) Insert
23 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace Shortcut key Action Control+R (Win), Command + R (Mac) Start/record new capture project Control+Alt+O (Win), Command+Option+O (Mac) Record additional slides End (Win), Command+Enter (Mac) Stop recording Delete (Win & Mac) Delete the current selection Pause (Win), Command+F2 (Mac) Pause or resume recording Print Screen (Win), Command +F6 (Mac) Capture a screenshot manually F4 (Win & Mac) Preview project F3 (Win & Mac) Preview single slide F2 (Win & Mac) Edit ca
24 USING CAPTIVATE Workspace To change the shortcut key, click the delete icon and specify the new key combination. Undoing and redoing actions You can reverse the previous action by using the Undo command. • From the Edit menu, select Undo [Name of the recent action] or press Control+Z. Each click reverses one more action. Continue clicking Undo (or pressing Control+Z) to remove as many of the previous changes as necessary.
25 Chapter 3: Creating Projects An Adobe Captivate project is a set of slides that are played in a desired sequence as a movie. Start creating an Adobe Captivate project using one of the following options on the Welcome screen: From Template Choose a predefined template for your project. Software Simulation Record events in an application or a screen area on your computer screen using Adobe Captivate. A series of screenshots is captured and placed sequentially in separate slides.
26 USING CAPTIVATE Creating Projects • Add narration to the project, either by recording audio or by converting text to speech. To get feedback on the edited file, send it out to one or more reviewers. Reviewers can comment on the SWFs while playing them in the Adobe Captivate Reviewer, an Adobe AIR application. The comments are automatically imported into the project and displayed on the timeline, and in the SWF Commenting panel.
27 USING CAPTIVATE Creating Projects Create a project from images Projects created from images can be viewed as a slideshow. Each image is imported into a separate slide. 1 Select File > New Project > Image Slideshow. 2 In the New Image Slideshow dialog box, set the dimensions of the project. 3 Click OK, and select the images that you want to add to your project.
28 USING CAPTIVATE Creating Projects Create a storyboard and workflow No matter what project you want to create, it is helpful to do some planning before you start taking screenshots. Consider first what you want the user to do, learn, or achieve as a result of viewing your project. Defining this goal allows you to create a comprehensive plan for success. Once you have defined the action you want the audience to take, you can create the “core” of the project. Every movie tells a story.
29 USING CAPTIVATE Creating Projects In addition to placeholders, you can add all Adobe Captivate objects and supported media to templates. The template serves as a ‘stencil’ only. Users can change the objects and placeholders without any restriction when creating a project from the template. To make a project template more effective, add slide notes providing information or instructions.
30 USING CAPTIVATE Creating Projects 4 Click Save and then click OK. The saved custom size now appears in the Select list of the New Project dialog box. Enable backup file creation Adobe Captivate creates a backup file for your project when you save it. When you re-save the project, the changes are saved to the backup file too. The backup file is saved with a .bak extension. If your project file gets corrupt, use the backup file to recover your project. Rename the backup file using a .
31 Chapter 4: Recording Projects You can launch Adobe Captivate and use the option File > Record a New Project to start recording a project. You can also record and add additional slides to an existing project. Before recording a project, you can choose the type and mode of recording in the recording window. Types of recording Automatic recording When you record using automatic recording, Adobe Captivate captures screenshots automatically and places them on separate slides.
32 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects Highlight boxes Highlight boxes are transparent, colored rectangles that can be placed over areas on a slide to draw attention to the area. You can edit the formatting, color, transparency, and size of all highlight boxes. If you automatically record a project or slides, Adobe Captivate creates a highlight box for the area on which a mouse event occurs. If you have an existing project, you can also add highlight boxes manually.
33 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects For example, let us consider a movie meant for training the user on editing a file. In the first few slides for simpler tasks like opening the application and opening the file, you can retain the slides created in the demo mode. When you move to the slides describing the procedure for editing, you can add the various objects with which the user can interact. Finally, you can provide for assessment slides at the end of the project.
34 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects 2 Click Screen Area or Application. Application Select this option if you want to specify the application which you want to record as part of your project. In the Select Application menu, select the application your computer that you want to record. • Custom Size Select this option if you want to customize the dimensions of the recorded project. You can choose from a list of standard sizes, or define a custom size.
35 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects 3 In the Record Additional Slides dialog box, select the slide after which you want the recorded slides to be inserted and click OK. The recording window appears. 4 Set the recording options and click Record. The newly recorded slides are inserted into your project after the slide you selected. You can also add slides by importing them from other Adobe Captivate projects or PowerPoint presentations. For a demonstration of recording additional slides, see www.adobe.
36 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects Set global recording preferences Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS). In the Preferences dialog box, select Settings from the Recording menu. Option Description Narration Records audio as you record the project. You cannot enable camera sounds or keyboard tap sounds when you have chosen narration for a project. Actions in real time Record actions using their actual speed.
37 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects Option Description Working folder Location of the generated FMR SWF file on your computer. Video color mode Select this option to set your video color to 16 bit or 32 bit. Selecting 16 bit results in a smaller file size, but also a smaller range of colors. Selecting 32 bit creates a larger file with a wider range of colors. The video color of most computers is set to 32 bit.
38 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects Option Description Add Text Captions Automatically creates captions based on user and system actions performed during autorecording. The text captions use the labels in the application to describe a step. For example, if the user clicks File in the menu bar, a text caption with the text, “Select the File menu” is created automatically.
39 USING CAPTIVATE Recording Projects captured. To generate a screenshot at a place where you do not hear the sound, press Print Screen to manually take a screenshot. For example, if you are recording Microsoft Internet Explorer, there can be dynamic HTML or Flash menus that appear only when the mouse rolls over them. Adobe Captivate does not automatically capture the change that occurs on mouse rollover. Press Print Screen to manually capture the change.
40 Chapter 5: Slides Adobe Captivate projects are composed of slides that are played in succession as a movie. A slide is the smallest unit of a project. Much of the work you do in Adobe Captivate is done at the slide level. In fact, after you have set your preferences and completed your recording, you will probably work nearly exclusively at the slide level until you are ready to preview and publish your project. Adobe Captivate has different types of slides.
41 USING CAPTIVATE Slides Adding a master slide To add additional master slides, select Insert > Slide > Master Slides. Though a project can have multiple master slides, you can link a slide to only one master slide. Use the Property Inspector (Window > Properties) to: • Label the master slide: Specify a unique label in the text box. • Provide background color: Deselect Project Background and then select a color from Stage. • Insert background images: Click the Browse icon to select a background image.
42 USING CAPTIVATE Slides • Use master slide background: Select this option to use background color or background image from master slide. Editing Master slides Artifacts of a master slide can only be modified on the master slide. That is, you cannot edit the properties of master slide objects on the slide that inherits the master slide. Reusing Master slides • Duplicate master slide: Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) and then select duplicate.
43 USING CAPTIVATE Slides Note: Selecting the Optimized, JPEG, or High Quality format may increase the file size and the time needed to download your project. You should only use a format other than Low (8-bit) when appropriate. Display Time Use to change the duration for which the slide plays. The maximum value is 1 hour (3600 seconds). Transition Select a transition effect for the slide. Transition effects make the slide transition interesting and eye- catching.
44 USING CAPTIVATE Slides Loop Audio Plays the audio file continuously till the slide exits. Stop Background Audio Stops playing any background audio associated with the slide. Add Audio Displays the Slide Audio dialog box that you can use to record audio for the slide. Add slides Adobe Captivate offers a wide variety of options for adding slides to a project, including recording, importing, and copying. You can add different types of slides such as blank, image, quiz, or animation.
45 USING CAPTIVATE Slides • Select a slide and press Control+D. To select multiple slides, press Shift or Control on the keyboard while clicking the desired slides. To select all slides, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) on a slide and select Select All Slides. The slide or slides you selected are duplicated and placed in the project. You can edit and work with the new slides just like the original slides.
46 USING CAPTIVATE Slides 4 In the Convert PowerPoint Presentations dialog box, do the following: • Clear the Include check box of a slide to exclude from importing. • Clear the Linked check box to remove the linkage to the source PowerPoint file. • Specify how the slides must advance: Automatically or upon the click of mouse. Insert animation slides You can insert a SWF, AVI, or animated GIF file as a new slide. Note: Adding animation as a slide is most appropriate with larger animation files.
47 USING CAPTIVATE Slides 4 Do one of the following: • Select a color for the background. • Click to apply a gradient fill (available in 5.5). For more information on gradients, see “Apply gradient fills (5.5)” on page 99. Using images in the background By default, the slides use the background that is set in the corresponding master slides. 1 Select the slide (s) in the Filmstrip. To select multiple slides, hold down the Ctrl or the Shift key while selecting the slides.
48 USING CAPTIVATE Slides The text on the slide is replaced with the entered text. In the Timeline, the typing text object is replaced with the text animation object, and the overwritten text appears on the object in the Timeline. Label slides It is easier to identify and keep track of slides using their label instead of their slide number. The label of the slide appears under the slide. To label a slide, open the slide and enter a name for it in the Label text box of the Property Inspector.
49 USING CAPTIVATE Slides 5 Click Publish. Group slides When the number of slides becomes unmanageable, you can group them. By expanding and collapsing groups, you can view subsets of the slides instead of all slides at once. Groups also provide a useful overview for the project, and they provide a convenient way of deleting or hiding multiple slides at once (for example, slides that you don’t want to publish).
50 USING CAPTIVATE Slides Slide notes You can add slide notes and convert them into an audio file using the text-to-speech converter in Adobe Captivate. You can also convert slide notes to closed captioned text. Unlike slide notes, closed captioned text appears on the slide during runtime. You can also use slide notes to communicate with users who do not have any audio equipment or are hearing impaired.
51 USING CAPTIVATE Slides 2 To convert the slide notes to closed captions: a Select the check boxes in the closed captions column and corresponds to the notes you want to convert to closed captions. Note: The closed captioning check boxes are greyed out if you the slide does not contain an audio. If a slide contains video closed captions and then you add audio closed captions, the latter takes precedence. b Click Closed Captioning. c Click the + icon to add additional closed captions.
52 USING CAPTIVATE Slides NeoSpeech installers Loquendo installers Download location of text to speech converters If you have problems installing the text to speech software, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_ttsmac_en. With NeoSpeech, you can convert your text to English voices.
53 USING CAPTIVATE Slides Install the voices on your computers using the installers provided by the vendors. The new installed voices get listed in the Speech Agent list of the Audio > Speech Management dialog box. Resolving the, “unable to decode and import the selected wav - mp3 file” error This error might be displayed when you are using Adobe Captivate on Windows Vista. You must register the Adobe DLL to fix this error. 1 Close Adobe Captivate. 2 Run Command Prompt in the admin mode.
54 USING CAPTIVATE Slides 3 If you want to apply the transition to all slides, select multiple slides in the Filmstrip and specify the required transition effect. Tips for introductory slides • Add sound. Adobe Captivate makes it easy to add sound to projects, and sound is very powerful in an introduction. You can add existing sound files or record your own voice-over. You can include a welcome message or play some appropriate music.
55 Chapter 6: Adding and Managing Objects Objects are different elements that you can add to Adobe Captivate slides. These objects enhance the usability and interactivity of your Adobe Captivate project. Adobe Captivate objects can be broadly classified as follows: Interactive objects Objects that perform an action when the user interacts with them using a mouse or keyboard. You can assign a score for user interactions with such objects.
56 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects 5 In the Action area of the Property Inspector, select Show in the On Success list, and then select My_Image in the Show list. When you play the movie, the image appears only when you click the button. Object style Object style is a set of visual attributes, such as color and font, which you apply to an object. These styles let you provide a uniform appearance to objects that are used across slides and projects.
57 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects • The default styles for all other types of objects, click Global > Defaults in the Category list. Then specify the styles in the Object Defaults section. The default object styles will be applied to all new projects that you create after specifying these preferences. Editing object styles Edit object styles using the Properties panel The changes made to the object styles using the Properties panel are applied only to the selected instances of an object.
58 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects • To find all the objects in the project that use the specified style, click Find All. The search results are grouped slide-wise in the Find And Replace panel. Object effects Object effects help you quickly draw users' attention to the required objects on a slide. To see the effects that you can . apply to objects, select an object, go to Window > Effects, and click For a detailed description of these effects, see this post on Lieve Weymeis’s blog.
59 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects 4 Click Live Preview Mode to preview the effect on the object. Click Edit Mode to return to the editing mode. 5 To apply the effect to multiple objects, click and select either • Apply To All Items To apply the effect to all objects that belong to the object type. • Apply To All Items Of Same Style To apply to all objects that use the same object style. For more information on object effects, see www.adobe.com/go/learn_introtoeffects_en.
60 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects 6 Add the other attributes, such as type and default_value. For more information, see “XML elements for effects configuration parameters” on page 60. 7 Repeat steps 4, 5, and 6 to enable editing for as many properties as you want.
61 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects Element Attribute Value Type type number Description Use this type to indicate that the configuration item is a number. You can specify the following attributes with this type: This attribute is mandatory. • valid_range • increment • modifiers • decimal_places Use this type to indicate that the configuration item is a drop-down list.
62 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects Element Attribute Value value effect_sub_prope rty Type Description Number Specify the value that must be posted back to the Keyframes section when users select a list item. Use this attribute to specify the default hexadecimal RGB number. For example, specify rgb=”ff0000” for red. rgb (child of This attribute is valid for the type ‘color’ only. effect_property) Number alpha Use this attribute to specify the default transparency of the color.
63 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects Apply shadows to objects (5.5) You can apply shadow effects to all objects in Adobe Captivate, including the placeholder objects. You can also apply shadow effects to objects on Master Slides. 1 Select the object on the slide. You can also select multiple objects by holding down the Shift key (Windows) or the Control key (Mac). 2 In the Property Inspector, click Enable in the Shadow accordion. The shadow is applied to the object with default settings.
64 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects • Answers for question slide objects • Zoom destination and Zoom source 1 Click the object that you want to rotate. A rotation symbol appears at the top handle of the object. 2 Click the symbol and move the mouse in the direction. While you move the mouse, Adobe Captivate displays a dotted-line preview of the position of the object on the stage. 3 Release the mouse button when the object is positioned in the required angle.
65 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects 2 In the Library panel, expand the folder for the category of object you want to reuse. 3 Click the object that you want to reuse and preview the object in the preview pane. 4 Drag the object to the selected slide or slidelet. The object becomes a part of the slide or slidelet depending on where it is placed. Note: After you copy the object to the slide, editing the properties of the object will not affect other instances of that object in the project.
66 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects • Send selected objects backward in z-order • Snap to object • Show/hide grid • Snap to grid Copy, paste, and duplicate objects After you have created an object, you can copy that object and paste it onto the same slide, a different slide in your project, or several slides in your project at the same time. This can save you a great deal of time, especially if you create intricate objects with specific sizes, colors, and formatting.
67 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects 3 Open the Adobe Captivate project to which you want to add the object copied in the previous steps. 4 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the slide to which you want to add the object. 5 Select Paste. Duplicate objects Duplicating objects is an easy way to reuse content. For example, you can duplicate a detailed caption and change some of the text to quickly add more information to your project.
68 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects To change the height or width of an object by 1 pixel, hold Alt and press an arrow key. Similarly, hold Alt+Shift and an arrow key to change the size 15 pixels at a time. Aligning objects on the Timeline The Timeline lets you align objects easily. For example, you can align objects to the playhead, the start of a slide, the end of a slide, another object, or a point in time.
69 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects You can also select the Snap To Grid option if you want objects that are placed near grid lines to automatically “snap” to the nearest lines. Display the grid Select View > Show Grid in an open project. The grid, a light pattern of dots, appears on the slide. Align objects with grid lines Select View > Snap To Grid in an open project. To test the snap-to-grid behavior, add an object such as a highlight box to the slide, and then move the box.
70 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects 3 If you have two overlapping objects on the slide, specify the object you want to appear frontmost by setting the stacking order. To change the stacking order, move objects to the back or front of the slide Stage. The key point to remember is that objects at the back of the Stage appear behind other objects.
71 USING CAPTIVATE Adding and Managing Objects Attempts This column shows the maximum number of attempts you have set as a limit for an interactive object. On Failure If an object or slide has the possibility of failure (for example, if an incorrect answer is selected in a multiple- choice question), this column shows where the slide leads after failure. For more information, see “Project navigation using interactive objects” on page 126.
72 Chapter 7: Noninteractive Objects and Media This chapter describes the noninteractive objects available in Adobe Captivate. Noninteractive objects are used to display information to the user. You cannot assign scores to noninteractive objects. Text captions You can use text captions for the following: Draw attention to specific areas of the slide Use text captions to point out menu options or icons or to focus user attention on easily overlooked details.
73 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media • Narrating a caption actually adds an extra degree of accessibility to the demo. Text caption properties Use the Property Inspector (Window > Properties) of a text caption to customize it. Text Caption Item Name Enter a unique name for the object. You can use this name when defining the visibility conditions for the object. Visible Deselect this option if you want the object to be invisible on the slide.
74 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Timing Display For [Time] Duration for which the text caption is displayed in the slide. From the pop-up menu, select one of the following options: • Specific Time The duration for which the text caption appears on the slide. Set the time in seconds by typing the value in the field, or by using the scroll arrows. • Rest Of Slide The text caption is displayed for the entire duration of the slide.
75 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media After adding the transparent text caption, you may want to merge the caption with the slide background. 1 In an open project, select the slide to which you want to add a transparent text caption. 2 Select Insert > Standard Objects > Text Caption. 3 In the General area of the Property Inspector, select transparent as the Caption Type. 4 Change other options as required.
76 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media 3 Select the mode of recording for which you want to automatically generate the text captions. 4 Select Add Text Captions. After you finish recording and the project is generated (including the automatically created captions), view the individual slides in Edit mode to see the captions. Note: Adobe Captivate can automatically generate text captions for all standard Windows user interface elements.
77 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Automatically resize text captions Adobe Captivate can automatically resize a text caption according to the amount of text in the text caption. If you edit the text, the caption is resized to accommodate the altered text. This is an easy way to keep your text captions looking balanced and proportional. 1 In an open project, select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS).
78 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Record text captions in another language 1 Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to • (On Windows) \\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 5 directory • (On Mac OS) /Applications/Adobe Captivate 5 2 Copy a file with an RDL extension. 3 Paste the file in the same location, and rename it according to the new language. For example, if you want to record in Polish, rename the file CaptureTextTemplates_Polish.rdl. 4 Open the RDL file in any text editor.
79 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Localizing text captions If you are localizing a project that contains text captions, you can export text captions to make the process more efficient. 1 Create the initial (“source language”) version of the project, including all necessary text captions. 2 Open the completed project. 3 Select File > Export > Project Captions and Closed Captions.
80 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Naming custom text caption styles When creating custom text caption styles, be sure to follow the correct naming conventions. Each caption style has a unique name, and you must use this name at the beginning of each associated bitmap filename. For example, if you create a text caption style named “Brightblue,” the five bitmap images that constitute the new style should be named as follows: • Brightblue1.bmp, an image with no callouts • Brightblue2.
81 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media 3 Select a text editor. 4 Edit the following values as necessary: • Left Margin is the number of pixels from the left side of the bitmap to the text. • Right Margin is the number of pixels from the right side of the bitmap to the text. • Top Margin is the number of pixels from the top of the bitmap to the text. • Bottom Margin is the number of pixels from the bottom of the bitmap to the text.
82 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Export text captions You can export text captions from an existing Adobe Captivate project into a DOC file if you have Microsoft Word installed on your computer. All formatting done in Adobe Captivate is preserved when the text captions open as a DOC file. Make text and formatting changes to the text captions while they are in DOC format. Then import them back into the Adobe Captivate project.
83 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media 3 Set the various options for the caption in the Rollover Caption dialog box. See “Text caption properties” on page 73 for more information. 4 Click OK. The text caption and the rollover area appear on the slide. 5 Select the rollover area and set the properties using the Property Inspector (Window > Properties). 6 Click Accessibility to add accessible text to the object.
84 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media 2 In the Preferences dialog box, select Modes in the Recording menu. 3 Select Convert Tooltips to Rollover Captions. 4 Click OK. 5 Click Record to begin recording a new project and automatically converting tooltips to rollover captions.
85 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Color click to select a color for the shadow. Specify the alpha for the color, in percentage, in the adjacent field. Blur Specify a value, in pixels, for the blur of the shadow. Angle Specify the angle for the shadow. Distance specify the distance, in pixels, at which the shadow must be displayed. Timing Display For [Time] Specifies the duration for which the highlight box is displayed on the slide.
86 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Show Mouse Click Adds a visual click effect to the mouse movement. • Default Displays a quick, small burst of color when the user clicks the slide. You can select a color for the color burst. • Custom Select this option to use a SWF file as a visual click effect. Adobe Captivate includes two effects you can use. Test them by clicking the pop-up menu, selecting one, and then clicking Play. View the effect in the small preview window on the right.
87 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Change mouse movements You can change mouse movements for an individual slide. For example, you may want to emphasize mouse movement in a screenshot so that it is more obvious to the viewer. 1 Using the mouse, move the pointer over the end of the mouse line on the slide until the pointer turns into a hand. 2 Drag the pointer to a new location on the slide. If you change the pointer on a slide, the starting pointer location changes on the next slide.
88 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Change mouse click sounds on an individual slide You can change the default mouse click sound that plays whenever the mouse reaches the end of its movement path. For example, you can change from single clicks to double clicks to reflect the correct action in a workflow. You can also suppress all click sounds. 1 Select the mouse object and then in the Property Inspector (Window > Properties), select Show Mouse Click. 2 Select Show Mouse Click.
89 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media • When a slidelet or any of its objects is selected, the displayed Timeline and the corresponding menu options for the slide change to that for the slidelet. • Objects within a slidelet can be hidden or locked, but not the slidelet itself. To hide or lock a slidelet, hide or lock the corresponding rollover slidelet from the slide Timeline. • Slidelet objects cannot be dragged outside of the slidelet boundaries.
90 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Transition Effect The transition effect for the slidelet when it appears and exits the slide. In and Out The time (in seconds) for the fading effects.
91 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Color click to select a color for the shadow. Specify the alpha for the color, in percentage, in the adjacent field. Blur Specify a value, in pixels, for the blur of the shadow. Angle Specify the angle for the shadow. Distance specify the distance, in pixels, at which the shadow must be displayed. Timing Display For The duration for which the rollover slidelet is displayed.
92 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Properties of zoom destination areas You can set the properties for a zoom destination area using the Property Inspector (Window > Properties). Fill Color of the area within the Zoom Destination Area box. To decide the degree of transparency for the fill color, select a value for the option Alpha in the Color menu. The value of 90% is less transparent (more solid) than a value of 10%. Stroke Stroke color for the Zoom Destination Area box.
93 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media More Help topics “Set audio for noninteractive objects” on page 113 “Fix size and position of noninteractive objects” on page 113 Add zoom areas 1 In an open project, select the slide to which you want to add a zoom area. 2 Select Insert > Standard Objects > Zoom Area. 3 Set the options for the zoom area as required. 4 Select the zoom destination area and set its properties using the Property Inspector (Window > Properties).
94 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Import Import an image stored on your computer or on a network location. Image Edit Brightness The brightness of the image. When you increase the value for brightness, the selected image appears brighter. Sharpness Sharpening enhances the definition of edges in an image. Whether your images come from a digital camera or a scanner, most images can benefit from sharpening.
95 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Transition Effect Transition effect for the image. You can have the image fade in and fade out of the slide during its entry and exit. In [#] Seconds Specifies the amount of time for the image to fully fade into view. Out [#] Seconds Specifies the amount of time for the image to completely disappear from view.
96 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Working with Adobe Photoshop files This release features Adobe Photoshop round-tripping with Adobe Captivate. The Photoshop (PSD) files that you import to Adobe Captivate are linked to the source. You can start Adobe Photoshop (to edit the files) from within Adobe Captivate. Also, if you update the source file, Adobe Captivate lets you update the files in the library and the changes reflect in the slide.
97 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Alternatively, in the target project, select File > Import > External Library, and open the project from which you want to import the PSD items. When the Library panel of the selected project appears, select the item and drag-anddrop it into the current project. If a PSD file by the same name exists in the target project, Adobe Captivate matches the modified date of the two files.
98 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media 3 Enter your preferred value in the JPEG Image Quality text box. Drawing tools You can use the drawing tools in Adobe Captivate to create artwork for your projects. Drawing tools help you create basic shapes within Adobe Captivate so that you don’t have to create and import them from other applications. Drawing objects are converted to Flash drawing objects when they are imported into Flash.
99 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Note: An object is not visible on a slide with a white background if both the stroke and fill of objects are set to white. To exit the drawing or multiple drawing mode, do one of the following: • Click the selection icon. • Press Escape. • Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) outside the Stage.
100 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Observe that the selected slide or the object changes dynamically on the stage to reflect the changes you do the gradient fill. 5 To edit the colors, click the color stops and choose the required color. Note: For drawing objects, set the transparency for the colors (in percentage) using the option adjacent to the Fill palette in the Property Inspector. To delete a color stop, click it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
101 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Edit free-form polygons When you edit the free-form polygon, the sides of the polygon are displayed along with the connecting nodes. You can alter the shape of the polygon by dragging the nodes. The clarity provided by this skeletal structure is especially useful when editing complex polygons. 1 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the free-form polygon and then select Edit Points. 2 The skeletal structure of the polygon is displayed.
102 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Adobe Captivate contains a gallery that has buttons, sounds, and animations (in SWF format) for you to use in your projects. By default, the gallery is stored in the following location when you install Adobe Captivate: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 5\Gallery (on Windows) or /Applications/Adobe Captivate 5/Gallery (on Mac OS). Note: If you want to add a Flash animation file (FLA), you must first convert it to a SWF file.
103 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media • Rest Of Project The animation plays for the length of the project, even on other slides. The animation plays once, unless the Loop option is selected. • Duration Of Animation The animation plays for its entire length once. • Specific Time The animation plays for the specified time. Appear After [#] Seconds Delay between the first appearance of the slide and the first appearance of the animation.
104 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Animated text Animated text is text that has applied special effects. Adobe Captivate offers a wide variety of text animation effects that you can experiment with. For example, on the opening slide of a project, you can have text fly-in or fade-in for an eye-catching start. The Property Inspector (Window > Properties) provide a preview of the animated text that you insert. Text Animation Item Name Enter a unique name for the object.
105 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media More Help topics “Set audio for noninteractive objects” on page 113 “Fix size and position of noninteractive objects” on page 113 Properties of animated text Use the Text Animation Properties dialog box of the animated text to set its properties. Set font, transparency, and delay options: Text The text to which the animation is applied. Font Specify the font name and then style, size, effects, and colors.
106 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Visible Deselect this option if you want the object to be invisible on the slide. The object can be made visible using the Show option. For more information, see “Controlling the visibility of objects” on page 55. Accessibility Click to add accessible text to the object.
107 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Shadow Enable Select the check box to apply shadow to the video. Direction Select the direction: inner or outer. The preview of the selected direction is displayed on stage. Presets click one of the images in Presets to apply a shadow with standard angle, distance, blur, and color settings. You can customize these settings using the appropriate options in the Shadow accordion. Color click to select a color for the shadow.
108 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media 2 In the Import Video dialog box, specify the location and then click OK. 3 For properties with the icon, select either • Apply To All Items To apply the effect to all objects that belong to the object type. • Apply To All Items Of Same Style To apply to all objects that use the same object style. Change video quality In general, color is rendered correctly in Adobe Captivate projects.
109 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Scenario: Talking Heads A presenter describes the contents on the slide. In such talking heads scenarios, Insert Slide Video is the effective option.
110 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Edit video timing The Edit Video dialog box (Video > Edit Video Timing) lets you edit the video timing: • Edit and preview: Use the edit tab to edit the timing and preview the slide video while editing. You can decide the part of video that must play in each slide. When you edit the timing, it applies only to that particular slide video group.
111 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media • Specify placement: If TOC or Stage. Depending on the placement, an icon appears at the lower-right corner of the slide on Filmstrip and on the Timeline: • if on TOC • if on stage You might place the video on TOC in talking heads scenarios where the focus is on objects in the slide (such as text or a Flash video). Placing video on TOC, helps you avoid the distraction that playing a slide video on stage can cause and viewers losing focus.
112 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media Best practices to use slide videos effectively • Use slide videos when you want the video to play in synchronisation with the slide contents. For other purposes, use the FLV file or F4V object, where user gets to control the video (for example, play or pause the video). • Ensure that the videos have sufficient keyframes. The recommended keyframe interval is at least one keyframe in every 2 secs.
113 USING CAPTIVATE Noninteractive Objects and Media If streaming, specify the rtmp path. If you are using FVSS, specify the path given by the FVSS provider. Set audio for noninteractive objects You can add an audio file to noninteractive objects. The audio file is played when the object appears on the slide. 1 To add audio, go to the Audio area in the Property Inspector (Window > Properties) and then click Add Audio. The Object Audio dialog box appears. Record Audio Click to record.
114 Chapter 8: Interactive Objects Interactive objects collect data from users, and provide feedback based on such data. Buttons You can increase the interactivity of your Adobe Captivate projects by adding buttons. To quickly add a button, use the default button style (a plain, white rectangle). You can also import custom button images. You can size and position buttons on a slide. You determine what happens after the user clicks the button.
115 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects General Text Button Button with text displayed on it. • Caption Type text that you want displayed on the button. • Make Button Transparent Makes the button transparent. When a text button is transparent, only its text appears on the slide. Transparent Button Adobe Captivate recognizes the color of the upper-left pixel in the image and makes that color transparent throughout the button. • Stroke Color for the border of the button. • Fill Color Color of the button.
116 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Shortcut You can specify a keyboard shortcut for the mouse-click. Users can use the keyboard shortcut instead of the mouse. For example, suppose you select Control+Shift+Enter as the keyboard shortcut for the mouse-click. The click is treated as correct (a click within the box) when users press this combination. If they press the wrong combination, it is treated as a click outside the box.
117 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Add To Total Includes the points for the correct click in the total score. Report Answers Sends the quiz score to the learning management system (LMS). Interaction ID Sends tracking information to your learning management system. Use the interaction ID specified by your learning management system. Audio tab Fade In [#] Specifies the time for the audio to fade in to full volume. Fade Out [#] Specifies the time for the audio to fade out to silence.
118 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Modify buttons on question slides You can modify some properties of buttons on question slides. The standard buttons are Clear, Back, Submit, and Skip. 1 Select the question button that you want to modify. 2 In the Quiz Properties panel, set the values for the various options. Note: Resize any buttons before resizing the project. Resizing a project does not resize the buttons automatically.
119 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Click Box section Item Name Enter a unique name for the object. You can use this name when defining the visibility conditions for the object. Visible Deselect this option if you want the object to be invisible on the slide. The object can be made visible using the Show option. For more information, see “Controlling the visibility of objects” on page 55. Action section On Success Specifies the event that occurs when a user clicks the box.
120 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Right Click Select this check box if you want the users to right-click on the click box. Timing section Display For [Time] Specifies the time for which the click box appears on the slide. Appear After [#] Seconds Specifies the time after which the click box appears on the slide after the slide starts playing. Audio section Fade In [#] Specifies the time for the audio to fade in to full volume. Fade Out [#] Specifies the time for the audio to fade out to silence.
121 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects More Help topics “Project navigation using interactive objects” on page 126 Add a click box 1 Open the slide to which you want to add a click box. 2 Select Insert > Standard Objects > Click Box. A click box appears on the slide. 3 Size and drag the click box as desired. 4 Double-click the Success, Failure, or Hint captions to edit the text. 5 To change the properties of the click box, click the box and change the properties in the Property inspector.
122 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects General Default Text Displays the default text that appears in the text entry box. The user can overwrite the displayed text to type the answer. For example, you can set a default text for the text entry box saying, “Enter the answer here.” Retain Text Allows users to view their previously entered answer if they return to this slide using the Back button. Show Text Box Frame Enables or disables the visibility of the text entry box frame.
123 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Shortcut You can specify a keyboard shortcut for the mouse-click. Users can use the keyboard shortcut instead of the mouse. For example, suppose you select Control+Shift+Enter as the keyboard shortcut for the mouse-click. The click is treated as correct (a click within the box) when users press this combination. If they press the wrong combination, it is treated as a click outside the box.
124 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Reporting tab If you want to keep score for the text entry box or coordinate the score with a learning management system, use the Reporting tab. Include In Quiz Considers the text entry box as a question in the current quiz. The points assigned to this box are added to the score results of the current quiz. Points The score that you want to assign to the question. The maximum is 100 points, the minimum is 0.
125 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects 4 Enter your JavaScript code in the text box and click OK. If you have the JavaScript in another location, copy it and paste it into the text box. Add audio to boxes and buttons You can import an audio file to use with buttons, highlight boxes, click boxes, or text entry boxes. You can use the audio files that are available in the Gallery or record your own audio to associate with these objects.
126 USING CAPTIVATE Interactive Objects Project navigation using interactive objects You can define the navigation options using interactive objects according to the following: • When the user performs the action as defined in the application • When the user performs an action other than that defined in the application The following list describes actions available in both the On Enter and On Exit menus in the Property inspector of a slide.
127 Chapter 9: Widgets In Adobe Captivate, widgets are configurable SWF objects created in Flash. Widgets can help provide enhanced interactivity and rich content rapidly.
128 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets 4 Choose a template and fill out the appropriate details, such as, course name, course duration, and the signature. When users take the quiz, a slide with a text entry box for the user name appears after the result slide. The users type their name in the box and click Submit to view the certificate. The certificate is then populated with the user name and other parameters that you chose while inserting the widget.
129 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Add new widgets to the Widget panel 1 Click the browse icon on the Widget panel. 2 In the Browse For Folder dialog box, navigate to the widget that you want to add to the panel. 3 Select the widget, and click Open. Change the default location of the Widget panel The widgets in the Widget panel are picked up from the \\Program files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 5\Gallery\Widgets folder (on Windows) and /Applications/Adobe Captivate 5/Gallery/Widgets folder (on Mac OS).
130 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Create interactive widgets 1 In an open project, select File > New > Widget In Flash. 2 In the Create New Widget dialog box, do the following: a In the Widget menu, select Interactive. b In the ActionScript Version menu, select the ActionScript version that you plan to use when writing the widget code in Flash. c Click OK. 3 In Flash, select Window > Actions. 4 The Actions panel appears with the template code for the interactive widget.
131 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Twitter widget The Twitter widget facilitates in-context collaboration between you (the author) and your users (elearners). It helps you simulate a classroom environment in which elearners can ask questions to you and co-elearners in 'real-time'. When you publish a project containing the Twitter widget, your users can ask questions from within the project without having to log on to Twitter.
132 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Configuring PHP On Windows, enable the CURL library. To do so, click the WAMPSERVER icon in the system tray, select PHP > PHP extensions, and then click php_curl. To verify whether or not CURL is enabled, type http://localhost or http://localhost:8080 in a web browser, and click phpinfo() in the Tools section. Search for CURL on the page. Check if the row cURL support contains the value enabled. Configuring the web server On Windows, enable the rewrite module.
133 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets On Windows, if you are accessing the web server home page using the port number 8080, then specify the port number for PHP location too. For example, http://:8080/Twitter/twitteroauth On Mac, specify the port number 8888. For example, http://:8888/Twitter/twitteroauth 6 Click OK. The Twitter widget now appears on your slide.
134 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets When a new question or a reply is tweeted, a second Twitter icon appears on the slide. This icon disappears as soon as all the tweets are viewed. Note: The second Twitter icon differs from the first one in the color of its wing. In the first icon, the wing of the bird is blue while in the second the color is yellow. All the viewed tweets are added to the conversation lists on the slide.
135 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Replying to questions You (the author) and the elearners can reply to any question in the project using the Twitter icon. 1 Click the Twitter icon to view the questions. 2 Click Reply to reply to a question or a conversation thread. To address your reply to a specific person, click the arrow mark adjacent to the name of the person. 3 Type the reply and click Send.
136 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Transition Effect Transition effect for the widget. You can apply a fade in or fade out effect, and set the time for the fading effects. Action On Success The options available if the user successfully fulfills the criteria specified in the widget. For more information, see “Project navigation using interactive objects” on page 126. Attempts Define the number of attempts. Infinite The user can attempt infinite number of times.
137 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Reporting If you want to keep score for the widget or coordinate the score with a learning management system (LMS), use the Reporting tab. Include in Quiz The points assigned to the widget are added to the score results for the current quiz. Points Points assigned to a correct answer. The maximum is 100 points; minimum is 0. Add to Total The score of the button is added to the quiz total. Report Answers Sends the score to the learning management system (LMS).
138 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets The visibility state is undefined for widgets. Use the movieHandle.widgetParams property to set the visibility state. Use the following tips when making visibility decisions: • Decide whether the widget is visible in the following cases: • Edit area • Property Inspector • During run time • Optimize the code for drawing. Excessive use of this code can slow down the player. The widget dialog box might not disappear even after the OK button is clicked.
139 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Sample code for defining visibility for different modes function cpSetValue( variable:String , val ) { if(variable == 'movieHandle' ) { movieHandle = val; mainmov = movieHandle.getMovieProps().variablesHandle; } if (variable == 'widgetMode') { widgetMode = val; } } this.
140 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets Example 2: Playing a movie containing a widget if(movieHandle.widgetParams != undefined && movieHandle.widgetParams != '')//at runtime inside Captivate movie { trace("widgetParams = "+movieHandle.widgetParams); var x:XML = new XML(movieHandle.widgetParams); var countryName = x.firstChild.firstChild.firstChild.firstChild.nodeValue; ShowRandomizedCountryName(countryName); initDone = true; } The visibility state is undefined for widgets. You set this state using the movieHandle.
141 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets function cpSetValue(variable:String, val):void { if (variable == 'widgetMode') { widgetMode = val; } } ExternalInterface.addCallback("cpSetValue", cpSetValue); • The way to get widgetParam has changed in ActionScript 3.0 because of changes in the structure of Captivate demos: var slide:Object = parent.parent.parent; var slideXMl:XMLList = XMLList(slide.slideXMl); var parname:String = parent.parent.name; var ItemXML:XMLList = XMLList(slideXMl.ItemList.Item.
142 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets getSlideProps() Returns the properties of the slide containing the widget. The returned object has the following members. • slideType Returns one of the following: Normal Slide, Question Slide, or Random Question Slide. • slideHandle Handle to the slide functions. slideHandle supports the following functions: AddNoSkipFrame, startFrame, and endFrame. AddNoSkipFrame(frameNum:Number): No frame is skipped at runtime.
143 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets var slideProps:Object; var movieHandle:Object; function cpSetValue( variable:String , val ) { if ( variable == 'movieHandle' ) { movieHandle = val; } } function onWidgetEnabled(){ slideProps = movieHandle.GetSlideProps(); } function myWidgetFunction (){ if(slideProps.slideType == "Question Slide" ) { myLabel.Text = "" ; } } Ensure that operations are carried out during Adobe Captivate runtime only when the widget is enabled.
144 USING CAPTIVATE Widgets function answers():Array { var answers:Array = new Array(); var ans : Object = new Object(); var ans2 :Object = new Object(); ans.answerID = "10"; ans.chosenAnswer = "Hi..Hi..."; ans.correctAnswer = "Hello...Hello..."; answers["firstanswer"]= ans; ans2.answerID = "12"; ans2.chosenAnswer = "Hi2..Hi2..."; ans2.correctAnswer = "Hello2...Hello2...
145 Chapter 10: Audio You can add audio to your project by doing one of the following: • Narrating the movie into a microphone as you record the project. • Importing audio files into the movie after you complete recording it. • Converting slide notes to speech using the Convert to Speech option. You can add audio to any of the following in Adobe Captivate: • Slides • Project • Objects The audio file plays when the slide, project, or object appears in the movie. See www.adobe.
146 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Recording software A wide range of recording software is available. Important software features include editing functionality (to fix mistakes), music and sound effect options, and the capability to create the file format you require (such as mp3 or WAV). Recording area After you have acquired the necessary audio equipment, the most important action you can take before recording is an obvious one: find a quiet place to record.
147 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Creating audio in Adobe Captivate is essentially a two-part process. You record audio in WAV format, and then Adobe Captivate converts the WAV file into an mp3 file. When files are in WAV format, they have a degree of flexibility. You can edit and adjust them “downward,” compressing them into mp3 files uniquely tailored to their playback scenario. When working with audio, keep your users in mind.
148 USING CAPTIVATE Audio The Settings dialog box contains the following options: Audio Input Devices Specifies the type of device you are using to create audio. The options available in your computer are listed in the menu. Bitrate Select the bitrate at which audio encoding must be performed.
149 USING CAPTIVATE Audio “I am setting my microphone recording level for use with Adobe Captivate.” 5 When you finish, click OK. Record audio to slides If you have a microphone connected to your computer, you can record audio to be included on a slide. You can use audio for many types of narration or instruction. 1 In an open project, select Audio > Record to from the main menu, and select one of the available options: Slide, Slides, or Background.
150 USING CAPTIVATE Audio If this is the first time you are recording audio, a dialog box appears asking if you would like to test audio levels. Click Auto Calibrate or set the pre-amplifier value to calibrate the recording device for optimal recording. Follow the instructions and when you finish, click OK. 8 As you record the project, speak into your microphone or recording device to create an audio sound track. For example, you can explain the actions you are taking or read the text on captions.
151 USING CAPTIVATE Audio or /Applications/Adobe Captivate 5/Gallery/Captions (for Mac OS). You can attach an audio file to a button or click box and have the audio play when the user clicks the button or click box instead of when the button or click box is displayed. To do this, create the button or click box and select the Success Caption option. Make the Success Caption transparent and do not add any text. Add an audio file to the Success Caption.
152 USING CAPTIVATE Audio You can use background audio together with individual slide audio for a truly professional effect. Adobe Captivate provides an option to lower the volume of background audio when a slide with audio assigned plays. For example, you can import a music file and set it to loop continuously as background audio. In that same project, you can record voiceover narration for individual slides, and when the voice-over audio plays, the music volume is lowered.
153 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Second, if you need to preview only the audio without hearing it in the context of the project, you can open an object, slide, or background audio and play the audio file. Test object audio 1 On stage, select the object with associated audio. 2 In the Property Inspector (Window > Properties), click Edit Audio in the Audio area. 3 In the Object Audio dialog box, click the Play icon to listen to the audio file. Test slide audio 1 Select the slide that contains audio.
154 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Insert Silence Select the portion of the audio file where you want to insert silence, and click Insert Silence. Choose from one of the following options: • Start Of Audio Adds silence to the beginning of the audio file. • End Of Audio Adds silence to the end of the audio file. • Playhead Position This option is available only when you have not selected a portion of the audio file. The silence is inserted at the playhead position.
155 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Edit audio timing Adobe Captivate lets you edit the timing of audio files after you record or import them. Having control over the timing of audio files gives you the ability to use audio files of different lengths and incorporate them smoothly into projects. After you record or import an audio file, the file appears as a waveform in the Slide Audio dialog box. If your project contains multiple audio files, you can see which audio files are assigned to specific slides.
156 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Note: The Playhead and Selected information boxes near the bottom of the dialog box can help you choose a precise location in the audio file. For example, if you want to add a silent period four seconds into the audio file, click the waveform until the Playhead information box displays a number close to four seconds (that is, 00:04.00). 3 Click Insert Silence. 4 Select the portion of the audio file where you want to insert silence, and click Insert Silence.
157 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Note: If you have edited slide markers in Adobe Audition (5.5), the prompt displays a check box to let you import the marker changes as well. When you edit the slide audio file in Adobe Soundbooth: • If the audio file applies to multiple slides, ensure that you do not modify the audio duration. • If the audio file applies only to a slide, you can increase the audio duration.
158 USING CAPTIVATE Audio The following options are available in the Closed Captioning tab of the Slide Audio dialog box: Add Closed Caption Click the ‘+’ icon to add a caption. A new row appears in the caption window below. Type the closed caption text in the row. Delete Close Caption Click the ‘-’ icon to delete a selected caption row. Zoom In and Zoom Out Use the slider to increase or decrease magnification of the waveform. Playbar Use these controls to test the audio file.
159 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Sound The presence (Yes or No) of a sound file. Duration The length of the sound file, in seconds. Fade In The presence (Yes or No) of a fade-in effect. Fade Out The presence (Yes or No) of a fade-out effect. Size The size of the sound file. Original Filename The original name of the sound file. Display Name The name of the file after you have renamed it in Adobe Captivate. If you have not renamed the file, the original name is displayed.
160 USING CAPTIVATE Audio Export audio from project You can export audio files that have been inserted or recorded. The exported audio files can be used for podcasting. 1 Select Audio > Edit and then select Project. 2 In the Slides Audio dialog box, click Podcast. 3 Save the file in WAV or MP3 format.
161 Chapter 11: Variables and Advanced Actions Variables in Adobe Captivate act as placeholders for data. The relevant data is associated with the variable during user input or when the output SWF is played. The data can be used for the following: • Provide feedback to the user • Create advanced actions • Configure widgets For information on using variables in captions, advanced actions, and widgets, see the respective Help sections.
162 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions For example, you can use user-defined variables to specify version numbers of products. At all places where you want to add the version number in a project, add the variable instead. When you set the value for the version number in the corresponding variable, the value is displayed at all places where you inserted the variable. Similarly, when you want to modify the version number, you just have to change the value of the variable.
163 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions alpha buttonMode filters mouseX switch currentframe byte final mouseY synchronized droptarget cacheAsBitmap finally name tabChildren focusrect case float namespace tabEnabled ramesloaded cast focusEnabled native tabIndex height catch focusRect new textSnapshot highquality char for null this lockroot class forceSmoothing numChildren throw name const framesLoaded opaqueBackground throws parent constructor funct
164 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions • To delete the variable from the list, click Remove. Note: You cannot delete system variables or variables that are being used by text captions. Removing a variable referenced by an action resets the action to Continue. Controlling Adobe Captivate projects with variables Controlling a project with variables is useful if you want to create custom SWF playback controls or if you are putting a project into an FLA file.
165 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions Advanced actions You can use scripting in Adobe Captivate to do the following: • Enhance the interactivity of Adobe Captivate projects by handling complex, and condition-based interaction scenarios. • Control the movie. Advanced Actions model The scripting for the advanced actions model in Adobe Captivate is based on the Object-Event-Action model. Events on an interactive object, such as mouse-clicks, trigger actions that are defined for that event.
166 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions 2 In the Existing Actions, select the action that you want to modify or delete. 3 Do one of the following: • Use the appropriate icon at the top-right corner to delete or duplicate the action • To update the advanced action, use the appropriate menu icons to update the statements and then click Update. Finding slides in which the script is used (5.5) 1 Select Project > Advanced Actions. 2 In the Existing Actions, select the action. 3 Click Usage.
167 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions Create variables for the project 1 Select Project > Variables. 2 Create a variable named varUserName, with the value user. For more information, see “Create a user-defined variable” on page 162. 3 Create a variable named varPassword with the value password. Create objects for the slides 1 In an open project, insert two text entry boxes for the user name and password. The text entry boxes must be set to act as form fields.
168 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions • Stay at the login slide if the information is incorrect and display a text caption requesting the user to reenter the login information. 1 Select Project > Advanced Actions. 2 In the script window, do the following: a Click Conditional Actions as the Action Type. b Specify the name of the script as ‘validate’. c In the IF section, double-click the rows and select the appropriate options in the drop-down lists.
169 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions ELSE condition in the ‘validate’ advanced action Now look at individual lines of the code to understand what they do. Lines of code in the IF condition The code checks whether the user has used the user and password login credentials in the respective fields. Action performed when IF conditions are true This project moves to the next slide if the user name and password are entered correctly.
170 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions Lines of code in the ELSE condition If the user information is incorrect, the project stays at the login slide. The text caption with the name FailureCaption is displayed. Create an advanced action for the e-mail and welcome slide In the script window, do the following: create a script named sequential action with the following code: 1 Click Standard Actions as the Action Type. 2 Specify the name of the script as ‘sequentialaction’.
171 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions Lines of code in ‘sequential action’ Now look at individual lines of the code to understand what they do. First line of code in ‘sequential action’ On successful login, the code opens up the default e-mail editor with the e-mail ID xyz@company.com displayed in the To field. Second line of code in ‘sequential action’ Displays the text caption containing the text, "Welcome ".
172 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions Apply the advanced action to the login slide ❖ Double-click the login slide, and set the following actions in the Property Inspector: • On Enter: Select Continue. • On Exit: Select Execute Advanced Actions, and in the Action menu, select Validate.
173 USING CAPTIVATE Variables and Advanced Actions 3 In the Advanced Actions dialog box, specify the details. 4 Click Close.
174 Chapter 12: Creating a Quiz You can include assessments or quizzes in your elearning course for assessing users’ understanding of the subject. Your users can answer the quizzes in their web browsers. Adobe Captivate can report the quiz results to an LMS, Acrobat.com, Adobe Connect, or over email. Adobe Captivate lets you add a variety of questions, such as, Multiple Choice, Fill-In-The-Blank, and True/False. You can also create question pools containing a combination of different types questions.
175 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Allow Backward Movement The user can visit the slides that were attempted previously. Show Score At End Of Quiz Lets users view their score at the end of the quiz. You can customize the message that appears when the user passes or fails the quiz. Click Quiz Result Messages to customize the messages. You can also customize the options that you want displayed on the score slide. • Pass Message Customize the text that must be displayed when the user passes the quiz.
176 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Image/Message Meaning Displayed in Question Type... Skipped answers Matching question, Sequence question, Multiple choice questions, Fill in the blank questions with multiple answers For example, when a user does not select an option in the combo box of a matching question.
177 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Open Other Project Opens the specified Adobe Captivate project. Send E-mail To A draft of the default e-mail editor opens with the e-mail address specified in the To field. Execute JavaScript Adobe Captivate runs the specified JavaScript. Execute Advanced Action Adobe Captivate runs the script written using the application.
178 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz To set preferences for progress indicator, 1 Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS). 2 In the Preferences dialog box, select Quiz > Settings. 3 In the Settings section, select Show Progress. 4 Specify a progress type. This decides how the progress bar displays the user’s progress through the questions. Relative Progress lists the current question and the total number of questions (for example, “Question 3 out of 10”).
179 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz 5 Specify whether the question is a graded or survey question, and click OK. Graded Question To evaluate the user using the score you assign for the question. Survey Question To get user feedback. Note: Graded option is not applicable for Rating Scale (Likert) questions. New slide(s) with placeholder questions and answers appear in the Filmstrip. For a description of a typical default question slide, see “Default question slides” on page 179.
180 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz A D E B F G C A typical default question slide A. Question type B. Quiz captions C. Quiz buttons D. Question placeholder E. Answer choices F. Review area G. Progress indicator Question type Indicates the type of question, such as, multiple choice and true/false that you chose while inserting the slides. Question placeholder Lets you type your question by editing the default text.
181 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Progress indicator Indicates the question numbers to users in a relative or absolute way. You can disable the progress indicator or change the type in project prefernces. For information, see “Set progress indicator preferences” on page 177. Quiz results slide The quiz results slide summarizes the performance of the user at the end of the quiz. You can hide or show the default parameters using the Quiz Properties panel.
182 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Fill-in-the-blank question slides 1 Insert the fill-in-the-blank question slide (Quiz > Question Slide > Fill-In-The-Blank). 2 To specify the word or a phrase that users need to fill out, do one or all of the following: • Select a word or phrase, and click Mark Blank in the Quiz Properties panel. • Type your question in such a way that the answer (a word or a phrase) replaces the word ‘blank’.
183 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz 2 Double-click the placeholder question and replace it with your question. 3 Specify the number of hotspot areas you require in the Quiz Properties panel (the Answers field in the General accordion). You can add a maximum of 10 hotspot areas to a slide. 4 Add objects to the slide, for example, images, that you want to use as hotspots, and position the hotspot areas on these objects.
184 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Rating scale (Likert) question slides A rating scale slide displays a statement to which users specify their level of agreement. For example, you can add the statement, “I learned valuable information from this presentation” and give the user a range of responses to choose from: disagree, somewhat disagree, am neutral, somewhat agree, or agree. Rating scale questions are not graded and have no right or wrong answers.
185 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz 2 In the Options area, specify the time limit and the captions to be included: Clear Resets the slide to the initial view. It allows the user to start answering the questions on a slide by clearing the entered answers. Back Takes the user to the previously attempted question slide. Skip Allows the user to skip the question slide and move to the next slide. Correct Displays a caption that lets users know that their answer is correct or incorrect.
186 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Multiple Actions When the user performs the required action on the object, multiple actions are performed in the order specified by the user. Show Correct Message On stage, select the Correct Caption and then replace the dummy text with a caption to display when the user supplies a correct answer. In the Options area of the Quiz Properties, uncheck Correct (in the Captions section) to provide no feedback for a correct answer.
187 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Create a question pool before creating a random question slide. Create question pools 1 Select Quiz > Questions Pools Manager. 2 Click the add button (+) above the left panel to add a question pool. 3 In the text box that appears, type a name for the question pool. 4 Click the add button (+) above the right panel to add questions to the question pool. The Insert Questions dialog box appears.
188 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Move a question from one question pool to another or to the main project 1 In the Question Pool panel, select the question slide that has to be moved to the question pool or main project. If required, you can select multiple slides. 2 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the slide, select Move Question To, and select either Main Project or Pool #. Import questions from question pools in other projects 1 Select File > Import > Question Pools.
189 USING CAPTIVATE Creating a Quiz Assign When the user performs the required action on the object, the value of the specified variable set inside the text caption. Increment When the user performs the required action on the object, the value of the specified variable is incremented accordingly. Decrement When the user performs the required action on the object, the value of the specified variable is decremented accordingly.
190 Chapter 13: Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Projects and project preferences Overview of project editing When you record or create a project, you provide it with the required framework. To provide your project with a professional touch and to meet any standards set by the client or company, you can edit it.
191 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Description Short description of the contents of the project. For example, “This project is a brief overview of Product ZYX.” Change project size and quality Select Edit > Preferences > Project > SWF Size And Quality (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences > Project > SWF Size And Quality (Mac OS) and specify the following properties: Compress Full Motion Recording SWF File Compresses the full motion recording SWF file to a smaller size.
192 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Note: The preloaders available in Adobe Captivate are located in the \\ProgramFiles\Adobe\Adobe Captivate \Gallery\Preloaders folder on Windows.They are available at /Applications/Adobe Captivate 5/Gallery/Preloaders directory on Mac OS.
193 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Edit default preferences for slides and objects The changes that you make in the Preferences dialog box are applied to all the slides in the project. 1 Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS). 2 In the Preferences dialog box, select Defaults from the Global menu. 3 In the Slide Duration field, change the default time for which slides are displayed in the movie.
194 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews 4 Click OK. Edit FMR files You can edit the FMR SWF files inserted in Adobe Captivate slides to: • Trim a portion of the file • Merge multiple FMR files • Split the file Note: Editing FMR SWFs created using other applications or other versions of Adobe Captivate can lead to unpredicable results. Trim FMR SWF files 1 Select the slide that contains the FMR SWF file.
195 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Merge FMR slides 1 In the Filmstrip, select the FMR slides that you want to merge. To select multiple slides, hold down the Shift key and then click the slides. 2 In the FMR Edit Options area of the Property Inspector, click Merge FMR Slides. The resultant file is the one that appears first amongst the selected slides in the Filmstrip. However, other FMR slides that were selected for merging are retained and are not deleted.
196 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Play/Pause Allows your users to pause and resume the project. Rewind Replays the movie starting from the first slide. Forward Moves the playhead to the next slide. Closed Captioning Displays closed captions in your project. Use the Closed Captioning Settings dialog box to can change the appearance of text in the closed captions. Back Enables users to go back to the previous slide. Close Allows users to exit the project.
197 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews • Store All Buttons must be stored at the Library root. • Do not change the registration points.
198 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews More Help topics “Table of contents (TOC)” on page 198 Table of contents (TOC) You can generate a table of contents (TOC) automatically for your Adobe Captivate project. The hierarchy of slides in the project is preserved in the TOC. Grouped slides are displayed as subentries under the group name. The name of the slides and the group are automatically added as in the project.
199 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews • To hide the TOC entry for a slide when the project is played, deselect the option for that slide under the eye icon. The slide is not removed from the project. • To discard your changes to the TOC, and display the default entries, click Reset TOC. When you reorganize a project after creating the TOC, the changes are not automatically reflected. Reset the TOC to view the changes.
200 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Width The width of the TOC pane in pixels. Font Settings The TOC entry level for which you want to specify the font style. Font The font family and style for the level selected in the Font Settings list. Display project information in the TOC panel 1 Select Project > Table of Contents. 2 Click Info. The TOC Information dialog box appears. 3 Enter the details of the author or company in the respective fields.
201 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews 2 Click Settings in the TOC panel. 3 Use the Enable Navigation toggle. Enable or disable preview The Preview panel shows how the TOC looks every time you make edits in the TOC Settings or the TOC Information dialog boxes. Previewing helps you explore various options before you arrive at one that best suits your requirements. If you have already decided on the settings for the TOC, you can disable this option in the corresponding dialog box.
202 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews In Web Browser Opens and plays the project in your default web browser. Device Central Opens the project within the display of a mobile phone of a mobile phone simulation software. Combining multiple SWF files with aggregator You can combine multiple projects published as SWF files using the Aggregator. You can publish the combined files in the Aggregator as SWF output, executable files (Windows and Mac), PDF, HTML, or Zip files.
203 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews b In the Title field, specify a unique name for the published file. c In the Folder field, enter the path to which the files are published. Alternatively, click Browse to specify the path. Select Publish Files To Folder if you want Adobe Captivate to create a default folder into which the files are published. 4 In the Publish Options section, select one or more options based on the publishing format you have chosen.
204 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Rescale Project To Fit New Size This option resizes and resamples the project to provide a good quality project. To also rescale any objects in the project, select the Rescale Captions, Highlight Boxes, And Other Objects option.
205 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews You can add words or remove them from the personal dictionary by opening the added.txt file in Notepad, making the changes, and saving the file. Words added in this file are not marked incorrect during a spell check by Adobe Captivate. Delete Removes the unrecognized word. Change Replaces this instance of the unrecognized word with text that you type in the Not In Dictionary text box or with the text that is selected in the Suggestions list.
206 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Change dictionary By default, the spelling checker uses the English (United States) dictionary. You can change to any dictionary installed on your computer at any time. 1 Open the project and select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS). 2 In the Category Panel, select Global. 3 Click Spelling Preferences.
207 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Link Adobe Captivate projects You can interlink Adobe Captivate projects or link them to other files when using the following features: • Interactive objects: text entry boxes, click boxes, and buttons • Question slides • Slide navigation • Project action Make sure all the linked projects or files are in the same folder before you use the procedure to link them.
208 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Creating accessible projects Accessibility and Adobe Captivate You can create output that is compliant with Section 508 for users who have visual or hearing impairments, mobility impairments, or other types of disabilities. You can also take steps at the design level to remove obstacles for people with disabilities viewing your Adobe Captivate projects.
209 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews The following Adobe Captivate elements are accessible when the 508 Compliance option is selected: • Project name (derived from Project Properties) • Project description (derived from Project Properties) • Slide accessibility text • Slide label (derived from Slide Properties) • Buttons • Playback controls (The function of each button is read by screen readers) • Password protection (If an Adobe Captivate SWF file is password protected, the prompt fo
210 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews • If your project contains visual multimedia, provide information about the multimedia for users with visual impairment. If a name and description are given for visual elements, Adobe Captivate can send the information to the user through the screen reader. Make sure that audio in your Adobe Captivate projects does not prevent users from hearing the screen reader. • Supply text for individual slides that screen readers can read.
211 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Customize accessibility text for objects You can add accessible text to individual objects on a slide. When the object appears in the movie, the screen reader reads that text aloud. If you do not specify accessible text for an object, the screen reader reads the default text. For example, if the object is an image, it reads Graphics Image. This default text is generally not sufficiently descriptive to help a visually impaired user.
212 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Localizing Adobe Captivate projects Localization is the process of adapting information for use in a specific country. The term localization is often used as a synonym for translation. However, localization also entails editing information for a particular cultural context.
213 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews 6 The Word document contains the slide ID, item ID, original caption text, and slide number. There is also a column named “Updated Text Caption Data” where you can change the caption text. Provide a copy of the Word document to the localizer/translator. 7 The localizer/translator opens the Word document and edits the caption text directly in the “Updated Text Caption Data” column, replacing the source language text.
214 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews 6 Open the XML file, and translate all terms specified in the tags inside the tags. For RTF data (such as text captions), the actual translatable text is present within tags. To change the text to a different language, change the font-family field in css-style attribute, and add the corresponding character set.
215 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Delete projects or templates You can delete Adobe Captivate projects (CPTX files) or templates (CPTL) at any time. When you create Adobe Captivate projects and templates, they are saved, by default, to the following locations: • Projects are saved in \My Documents\My Adobe Captivate Projects. If you are using Windows® Vista®, the path is \Users\\Documents\My Adobe Captivate Projects.
216 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Sending projects for reviews Sharing projects for review on an internal server 1 Select File > Collaborate > Send for Shared Review. 2 In the Send for Shared Review dialog box, type a name for the review file (CREV file) and then select Automatically Collect Comments From My Own Internal Server. 3 Click Next. 4 Use the following options to create the CREV file: Publish Folder The location where the CREV file is published.
217 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Set default project comments folder You can set your preference for the Project Comments Folder in the Preferences dialog box. When you create new projects, this location is used when you publish a project for review on an internal server. 1 Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac OS). 2 Select General Settings from the Global menu. 3 Specify a location for the project comments folder in the Comments At field.
218 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews 4 Click Add to add the comment. A marker, indicated by a white dot, is added at this location in the commenting bar and the movie continues to play. 5 Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 to add more comments. 6 Click Save Comments . • If the CREV file is hosted on Acrobat.com, the comments are automatically published to Acrobat.com. your comments.
219 USING CAPTIVATE Advanced Editing and Project Reviews Do one of the following: • To view all comments added to the file, click Show All Comments. • To sort comments by reviewer name, click Filter Comments. In the Reviewers pop-up menu, select names of the reviewers to view comments posted by those reviewers. View or sort comments in the Adobe Captivate project Authors can view and sort comments in the Adobe Captivate project as well as the AIR application.
220 Chapter 14: Publishing Projects After you create a project, you publish your project so others can view it. Adobe Captivate contains many publishing options, and you can publish the project in many formats.
221 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects Play Tap Audio For Recorded Typing This option plays tapping sounds in the final project to represent recorded keystrokes. (For example, if you recorded an e-mail message being sent, you most likely typed an address to which the e-mail should be sent. The sound of the keys being pressed to enter the address was recorded, and using this option, a tapping sound can be played for each of the keystrokes.
222 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects Generate Autorun For CD Runs the output file automatically when the CD is inserted into the computer. Export HTML Creates a standard JavaScript file that helps embed the SWF file into the generated HTML file. Export PDF The generated SWF file is inserted into a PDF file and published. This option is useful to share content over email or any other means where the learner doesn't have access to the content through the Flash Player in a browser.
223 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects Folder Enter the full path to the folder in which to save the file, or click Browse to locate the folder. The Project Information area displays useful statistics about the project including the size (resolution), number of slides, audio information, e-learning details, accessibility compliance, and playback control assigned to the project. To change any of the options listed in this area, click the blue text. To change preferences, click Preferences.
224 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects The Project Information area displays useful statistics about the project including the size (resolution), number of slides, audio information, e-learning details, accessibility compliance, and playback control assigned to the project. To change any of the options listed in this area, click the blue text. To change preferences, click Preferences. Publish projects to the web using FTP You can publish your Adobe Captivate projects directly to a website through FTP.
225 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects Note: After the files are uploaded, you can view the project from your web browser by entering the web address http://www.yourwebaddress.com/filename.htm where www.yourwebaddress.com is the URL and filename.htm is the filename you entered in step 2. More Help topics “Learning management system (LMS)” on page 240 “Set publishing preferences” on page 220 Publish projects as MP4 files (5.
226 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects • Main For standard-definition digital TV broadcasts • High For applications and devices dealing with high definition The higher the profile, the higher is the complexity involved to encode or decode. Level The degree of the required decoder for the selected profile. The higher the level, higher is the degree of complexity associated with the decoder. Bitrate Encoding The type of bit rate you want to use. • CBR Constant Bit Rate.
227 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects 8 Click Tell a Friend to send an email to the required people. The default email application configured on your machine is loaded, and the URL of the project appears in the default text of the email. Send projects using e-mail You can send Adobe Captivate projects in a variety of formats through e-mail.
228 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects Get reports by e-mail Get reports You can receive the results of the assessment taken by the user through e-mail. The result is sent as a comma-separated value (CSV) file to the specified e-mail address. You can open the CSV file in Microsoft Excel to view the report. Specify e-mail as the reporting option in the Preferences dialog box to enable reports to be sent by e-mail.
229 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects 2 Select either of the options: • Upload files • Upload and share files Upload Files to Acrobat.com 1 If you have signed up for Acrobat.com, specify the username and password in the Publish to Acrobat.com dialog box. If you are new to Acrobat.com or you lost your password, click the respective links to Acrobat.com website. Follow the instructions to register or retrieve your password. 2 After you submit the Acrobat.com credentials, click Sign In.
230 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects Setting the reporting preferences 1 Select Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac). 2 Select Reporting from the Quiz menu in the Preferences dialog box. 3 Check Enable reporting for this project. 4 Select Acrobat.com or Internal Server and then click Configure. 5 In the Alternate Reporting dialog box, provide the server settings: • For Acrobat.com: If you have signed up, specify the username and password. If you are new to Acrobat.
231 USING CAPTIVATE Publishing Projects • Generate dynamic charts that visually present the results as line charts and bar charts making results easy to compare. You can also export the reports as CSV. Note: To use Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer, you do not require Adobe Captivate installed on your machine. Installing Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer Download the Quiz Results Analyzer.air from Adobe website (www.adobe.
232 Chapter 15: Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications You can integrate Adobe Captivate with other applications such as the following: • Adobe Flash • RoboHelp • Microsoft Power Point • Learning Management Systems (LMSs), such as Questionmark Perception. Microsoft PowerPoint You can import and edit Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in Adobe Captivate. Imported slides can be edited in a Microsoft PowerPoint environment from within Adobe Captivate.
233 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications Scenario PowerPoint version required Import PPT file Need not install Microsoft PowerPoint if you are importing slides from a PPT file. Import PPTX file (For Windows) Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 or Microsoft PowerPoint 2003 with Office Service Pack 3 (or later) and Office compatibility pack. (For Mac) Microsoft PowerPoint 2008 or Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 with Office 2004 update (11.
234 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 5 Click OK. 6 In the Convert PowerPoint Presentations dialog box, do the following: a Select the PowerPoint slides to convert to Adobe Captivate project slides. b Set navigation preferences for the selected slides. c If you want to link to the PowerPoint presentation, select Linked. If you want to embed the PowerPoint presentation, deselect Linked. 7 Click OK.
235 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 5 In the Developer menu, select More Controls from the Control Toolbox. 6 Select More Controls. 7 From the list of objects, select Shockwave Flash Object. 8 Drag diagonally to create a box for the project. You can resize the box in which the project appears. Return to the slide that contains the project in PowerPoint, and drag the resizing handles. 9 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the box and select Properties.
236 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications Export Animation Convert the selected slide to a SWF file. After conversion, Adobe Captivate prompts you to save the SWF file. 4 When you select Edit Slide or Edit Presentation, the PowerPoint editing environment opens within the Adobe Captivate window (if you are using Adobe Captivate on Windows. You can edit the slides in Microsoft PowerPoint.
237 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 2 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the slide generated from Microsoft PowerPoint, and then select Edit with Microsoft PowerPoint > Find Presentation in the Library. When you select this option, the PowerPoint presentation containing the slide is highlighted in the library. 3 Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) the presentation. 4 In the Property Inspector, click Update, select the new path, and then click OK.
238 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 2 Select File > Publish. 3 In the Publish dialog box, select Print. 4 In Project Title, enter the desired name without the filename extension (.doc). 5 In Folder, enter the full path for the folder in which to save the file or click Browse to locate the folder. 6 Select an Export range. The export range is made up of the slides that you want to export to Word. You can select all slides, the current slide, a selection, or a range of slides.
239 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 5 Select an export range. The export range is made up of the slides that you want to export to Word. You can select all slides, only the current slide, only the current selection, or a range of slides. 6 In Type, select Lesson. 7 Select from the following Template options: Header text Enter text that you want to appear in the header of the project. Footer text Enter text that you want to appear in the footer of the project.
240 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications Note: The Lesson, Storyboard, and Step By Step templates are stored in the Gallery (C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 4\Gallery\PrintOutPut on Windows or /Applications/Adobe Captivate 5/Gallery/PrintOutput on Mac OS). When Adobe Captivate is first launched, these templates are copied to the user profile (for example, C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\My Adobe Captivate Projects\Templates\PrintOutput).
241 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications The following workflow is usually used for creating an LMS-ready package using Adobe Captivate and uploading it to an LMS: 1 Create an Adobe Captivate project with at least one slide containing an interactive object, and for which reporting has been enabled. 2 Set the SCORM/AICC options using the Preferences dialog box. 3 Publish the project as a SWF file after enabling the Export HTML option.
242 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 6 Click Manifest. 7 Set the SCORM version by clicking the pop-up menu and selecting 1.2 or 2004. 8 In the Course area, set the following manifest options: SCORM Version The runtime files (HTML, SWF files) that are generated after publishing are the same irrespective of the version that you select. However, the packaging files generated during publishing depend on the specified version number.
243 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications • Continue Without Message The project continues to play without informing the user of the extended time. Launch Data (Optional field) The initialization data that the SCO expects from the LMS. Because a SWF file cannot be modified based on the initialization data, this option can be left blank for Adobe Captivate projects. 10 Select a template from the Template list.
244 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications The manifest file is generated. To see the manifest file, publish your Adobe Captivate project and create a SWF file. If you used the default save location, you see the SWF file and imsmanifest.xml file in your My Documents\My Adobe Captivate 5 Projects folder (on Windows) /Users//Documents/My Adobe Captivate Projects folder (on Mac OS). Note: If necessary, you can create a package interchange file (PIF).
245 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications search the Adobe Captivate project and its contents from Acrobat Connect Pro. You can also select Acrobat Connect Pro as your quiz reporting output option. Use this option in Acrobat Connect Pro to track how users work with quizzes and interactive objects in Adobe Captivate projects. You can also place the project into a ZIP file for easier uploading. With Acrobat Connect Pro integration, you can also update video files easily.
246 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications b If you want to customize the URL for the project, enter a name in the Custom URL field. The URL prefix http:/// is added. c Enter a description for your project. d Select the language in which your project has been created. e Click Finish. After you have uploaded the content to Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro, you can make it a part of an existing course or a new course.
247 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 8 (Optional) Click the Sync button as necessary so participants either see actions taken by the presenter or they have control on their individual computers. 9 Click Stop Sharing to return to the Acrobat Connect Pro meeting room. Add an Adobe Captivate project from your desktop to a meeting 1 In Adobe Captivate, create a project. 2 Publish the project to Flash to create a SWF file. 3 Note the location of the SWF file.
248 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications Note: The Include Adobe Connect Metadata option is selected by default. This option increases the size of the project. If you are not going to use the project with Acrobat Connect Pro, deselect this option. Questionmark Perception You can import Adobe Captivate projects into Questionmark Perception. Questionmark Perception is third-party LMS software that is used for scheduling and managing tests.
249 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications Export from Adobe Captivate to Flash You can export a project from Adobe Captivate to Flash. You can enhance it or integrate it into a larger project. Note: You need not have Adobe Flash installed to perform this task. When you export an Adobe Captivate project into Adobe Flash, the project is imported directly to the Stage. The imported project contains layers for each type of object.
250 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications Navigating through projects in Flash Remember these points when you navigate: • In the Library panel, a folder named Adobe Captivate Objects contains all slides and objects in the project. (You can ignore the objects listed with the prefix “xrd”; these objects are images and sounds that are used in other objects.) To edit your project, double-click a library item and edit it. The “xrd” files are shown in a folder in the library.
251 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications • Click Swap. In the Select Animation From the Library dialog box, select the replacement SWF file in the project’s library. Using this dialog box, you can also import SWF files saved in other locations and then select the file to replace the current one. RoboHelp To add an Adobe Captivate project to a RoboHelp project, create the Adobe Captivate project, add it to the RoboHelp project, and select among several display options.
252 USING CAPTIVATE Using Adobe Captivate with Other Applications 4 Save the topic. 5 Open the topic you want to use to start the project. 6 Select the text or image to use as a hypertext link. From the Insert menu, select Hyperlink/Popup. 7 In the Select Destination (File or URL) list, select the topic containing the Adobe Captivate project.
253 Chapter 16: Troubleshooting Consider these troubleshooting tips for some common questions and scenarios. Animation timing If you notice when previewing a project that an animation file you added as an object is displayed for a longer or shorter period of time than the duration of the animation file, you can synchronize the animation with the Adobe Captivate Timeline to give you greater control over the timing. 1 Select the animation.
254 USING CAPTIVATE Troubleshooting Capture of elevated applications in Windows Vista/Windows 7 You will have to set administrator permissions for the AdobeCaptivate.exe file to record or capture applications running in elevated or administrator mode. To set administrator permissions for AdobeCaptivate.exe: 1 Locate AdobeCaptivate.exe in your installation directory. If you have not changed any settings during installation, you can locate this in the \\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 5 folder.
255 USING CAPTIVATE Troubleshooting High Quality Compared to the Standard format of 256 colors, this format uses 16 million colors for the slides. This option should be used only if the Standard and Optimized options do not offer the correct color depth. The file size increases dramatically using this option. Note: Selecting the JPEG or High Quality format may increase the file size and the time it takes to download your project.
256 USING CAPTIVATE Troubleshooting The FLV file must contain metadata for the video player to function correctly. FLV files created with Flash Communication Server 1.5.2, FLV Exporter version 1.2, and Sorenson Squeeze 4.0 automatically contain metadata. Sorenson Squeeze 4.0 is included with the Flash Video Kit. FLV files will not play when an Adobe Captivate project is hosted on a Windows 2003 web server.
257 USING CAPTIVATE Troubleshooting JavaScript that does not appear JavaScript does not appear while you preview Adobe Captivate output. If the Execute JavaScript option is selected as action in the Project End options of the Project Preferences dialog box (Edit > Preferences > Project > Start and End (Windows) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences > Project > Start and End (Mac OS)), Adobe Captivate may not display an error message when the JavaScript is previewed.
258 USING CAPTIVATE Troubleshooting The uninstall program removes program files, folders, and registry entries. When the files are removed, the uninstall program indicates that the process is complete. 4 Click Done. Security warning with Flash Player 9 or later A security warning appears when you launch an external file from a SWF file created in Adobe Captivate. The same security warning appears when you launch Flash Help created in either RoboHelp HTML or RoboHelp for Word.
