Macromedia Captivate - 1.0 User Manual

Using Captivate

Trademarks

1 Step RoboPDF, ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Authorware, Blue Sky Software, Blue Sky, Breeze, Breezo, Captivate, Central, ColdFusion, Contribute, Database Explorer, Director, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, FlashCast, FlashHelp, Flash Lite, FlashPaper, Flex, Flex Builder, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JRun, MacRecorder, Macromedia, MXML, RoboEngine, RoboHelp, RoboInfo, RoboPDF, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, SoundEdit, Studio MX, UltraDev, and WebHelp are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words, or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally.

Third-Party Information

This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party website mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites.

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

LAME (MP3 encoder) Supply of this product does not convey a license nor imply any right to distribute content created with this product in revenue-generating broadcast systems (terrestrial, satellite, cable and/or other distribution channels), streaming applications (via Internet, intranets and/or other networks), other content distribution systems (pay-audio or audio-on-demand application sand the like) or on physical media (compact discs, digital versatile discs, semiconductor chips, hard drives, memory cards and the like. An independent license for such use is required. For details, please visit: http://mp3licensing.com.

Copyright © 2001-2005 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without written approval from Macromedia, Inc. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the owner or authorized user of a valid copy of the software with which this manual was provided may print out one copy of this manual from an electronic version of this manual for the sole purpose of such owner or authorized user learning to use such software, provided that no part of this manual may be printed out, reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted for any other purposes, including, without limitation, commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this documentation or providing paid-for support services. Part Number ZCA10M100

Acknowledgments

Writing: Suzanne Smith

Editing and Production Management: Patrice O’Neill

Editing: Anne Szabla, Lisa Stanziano, Mary Ferguson

Production: Adam Barnett

Special thanks to Arlyn Asch, Magnus Nirell, Terri Griffith, Paul Stoecklein, Erick Vera, Rosana Francescato, Adam Barnett, Silke Fleischer, Tracy Seibel, and the entire Captivate engineering and QA team.

Second Edition: April 2005 Macromedia, Inc.

601 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94103

CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Key features of Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

What’s new in Macromedia Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Using Captivate Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Guide to Captivate instructional media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Captivate and accessibility issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Using Captivate with other applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Upgrading RoboDemo and Captivate projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Authoring requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

End-user requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Installing Macromedia Captivate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Registering Captivate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Transferring your Captivate software license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

CHAPTER 2: Exploring the Workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Customizing the work environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Displaying and docking toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Using the Filmstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Displaying confirmation messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Using shortcut keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Undoing and redoing actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Changing capture keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

CHAPTER 3: Creating Movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Opening existing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Importing AVI software tutorials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Before recording a new movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Recording a new movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Recording options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Using project templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Using full motion recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Creating accessible movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Localizing Captive projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

CHAPTER 4: Adding Text Captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Adding text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Adding plain text to a slide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Adding text captions automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Adding rollover captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Changing the rollover area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Converting tooltips to rollover captions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Localizing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Editing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Creating custom text caption styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Moving and resizing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Copying and pasting text captions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Importing text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Exporting text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Changing text caption order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Deleting text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

CHAPTER 5: Adding Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Adding existing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Equipment for recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Recording audio tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Setting audio recording options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Calibrating microphones for recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Recording audio while creating a movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Creating background audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Using a custom keyboard tap sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Adding silence to an audio file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Adjusting audio volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Adding existing audio to boxes and buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Recording audio for boxes and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Setting keyboard tap sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Editing audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Editing audio timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Viewing audio details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Previewing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Deleting audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

CHAPTER 6: Adding Images and Animation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Adding images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Adding rollover images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Inserting images as slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Creating watermark images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Changing JPEG quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Deleting images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

About animation in Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Adding animations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Adding animated text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Adding animation slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

4 Contents

CHAPTER 7: Adding Boxes and Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Adding highlight boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Adding click boxes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Addng text entry boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Adding buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Adding Javascript to boxes and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Adding existing audio to boxes and buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Deleting buttons and boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

CHAPTER 8: Editing Mouse Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Changing mouse pointers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Changing mouse pointer size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Changing mouse click sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Setting mouse click effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Changing mouse movements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Aligning mouse paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Using straight and curved mouse paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Hiding the mouse pointer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

CHAPTER 9: Changing Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Customizing Timeline appearance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Changing the order of object layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Previewing a slide using the playhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Changing slide timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Setting caption speed automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Changing keystroke speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Changing mouse pointer speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Changing object timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Controlling Captivate movies with variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

CHAPTER 10: Slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Adding slides to a movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Editing slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Changing movie start and end. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

Adding playback controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Securing slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

CHAPTER 11: Adding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Importing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Duplicating objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Copying and pasting objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Copying and pasting objects from other projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Aligning objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Aligning objects on the Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Changing object display order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Changing the size of multiple objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

Aligning objects with the grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Merging objects into a slide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Contents 5

CHAPTER 12: Editing Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Determining the size of your movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Deleting movies or templates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Hiding movies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Previewing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Renaming movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Resizing movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Saving movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Setting the background color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Setting movie preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Adding a loading screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Setting movie properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Using a custom keyboard tap sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Checking spelling in Captivate projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

CHAPTER 13: Creating eLearning Content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Creating branching in Captivate movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Creating question slides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Setting eLearning output options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

Setting eLearning pass rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Creating feedback messages for quizzes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

Creating a manifest file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Creating a PIF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Organizing quizzes with the Quiz Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

CHAPTER 14: Creating a Menu of Captivate Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Creating projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Using text in MenuBuilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Using images in MenuBuilder Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Using clickboxes in MenuBuilder projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Changing MenuBuilder project options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Exporting MenuBuilder projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

CHAPTER 15: Publishing Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Publishing movies as stand-alone (EXE) files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Publishing movies as Flash files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Publishing movies as handouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217

Publishing movies to the web using FTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Sending movies using e-mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Exporting text captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

CHAPTER 16: Captivate and Other Software Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Captivate and Flash. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

Captivate and Breeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Captivate and RoboHelp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Captivate and PowerPoint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

6 Contents

CHAPTER 17: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

How do I analyze bandwidth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Troubleshooting animation timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Troubleshooting application distortion when recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Troubleshooting AVI errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Troubleshooting choppy full motion recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Correcting colors in slides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Troubleshooting fonts on transparent captions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Troubleshooting movie size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Troubleshooting text viewed in a browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Troubleshooting the number of slides in a movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Uninstalling Macromedia Captivate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

Contents 7

8 Contents

CHAPTER 1

Introduction and Installation

Macromedia Captivate is a professional software tool for quickly creating interactive demonstrations and simulations in a variety of formats including Flash (SWF) and EXE. Anyone who needs to develop online product demonstrations, software simulations for e-learning, or online tutorials for user support will find Captivate an ideal solution. Captivate includes everything you need to record actions in any application and instantly create a simulation.

Captivate enables you to add customized text captions, audio (voice-overs, background music, and sound effects), video, Flash animations, text animations, images, hyperlinks, and more to your movies. A small file size and high resolution make Captivate simulations and demonstrations easy to publish online or burn to CD for use in training, sales, marketing, or user support.

If you use Captivate to create e-learning content, you can add realistic, fully interactive question slides, buttons, click boxes, and text entry boxes. Captivate is SCORM 1.2 and 2004 certified and AICC compliant, allowing effortless integration with any Learning Management System (LMS), Macromedia Authorware, or Questionmark Perception.

Key features of Captivate

Following is a list of key Captivate features.

• Rapidly develop software simulations and demonstrations Get up and running in

Macromedia Captivate immediately with a friendly user interface and a new start page. Simply start recording any application and Captivate automatically captures every action on the screen. Increase productivity using timesaving features like AutoText Captions (automatically inserts a text description of each recorded task), automatic addition of highlight boxes, scored user interactions, and instructional feedback.

• Create simulations and demonstrations in Flash format, without knowing Flash When the

recording is done, Captivate instantly creates a Flash simulation of on-screen actions, complete with smooth mouse animations and text descriptions or scored interactions with instructional feedback. No Flash knowledge or programming skills are required.

• Edit slides and mouse movement Every screen is a completely editable slide that can be

removed, replaced, or revised. Audio mistakes can easily be fixed using the new audio editor. This makes changing or updating projects easy.

• Include interactivity without programming Increase the effectiveness of simulations by

easily adding interactivity including quizzing with scoring and branching, text entry fields with multiple correct answer options, and click boxes. Multiple interactions and objects can be inserted into a single slide, enabling numerous choices or complex realistic simulations. When recording in simulation mode, Captivate automatically adds scored interactions and instructional feedback.

• Integrate with other eLearning applications Leverage existing resources by integrating

simulations with other eLearning tools. Captivate supports SCORM 2004, SCORM 1.2 and AICC, making it easy to deploy simulations through any learning management system (LMS). Captivate integrates especially well with Macromedia Breeze, even generating special files in the background that enable tracking and searching in Breeze.

• Let Captivate do the work, then import projects into Flash Take the manual work out of

creating software simulations and demonstrations in Flash. With Captivate, there is no need to manually take screen shots and add mouse tweens in Flash. Record applications in Captivate and export the project to Flash MX 2004 for advanced editing and further development.

• Enhance the Macromedia Breeze experience Increase training effectiveness by adding

interactive simulations to Breeze Meetings and Breeze Training. Viewers can be active participants who can fully interact with the simulation.

• Maximize creativity with custom controls, templates, and menus Customize templates,

captions, and playback controls to match corporate identity or the graphical interface of applications. Create eye-catching menu pages to display any set of Captivate projects, enabling end users to access multiple simulations from one central location.

• Publish to a variety of formats Author a simulation once and generate multiple file formats

including SWF and EXE for easy distribution in the format of choice. Easily create handouts or job aids using the Microsoft Word publish feature.

• Deliver rich media projects to over 98% of web users In Captivate, create high quality

content while maintaining a small file size. Immediately email projects, or post them on a web site, Intranet, or an online help system. Take advantage of the ubiquitous Flash Player to stream interactive projects. No plug-in downloads are necessary; over 98% of Internet users can already view Flash files.

What’s new in Macromedia Captivate

Macromedia Captivate provides major new features and enhancements, including the following:

• Control timing easily with a visual Timeline Save production time and visually control the

timing of each slide element by dragging and dropping in the Timeline. Display multiple objects or even two or more captions simultaneously. Drag and drop Timeline layers to change the order of objects on a slide—the slide automatically updates to reflect the change.

• Preview slides instantly Make slide changes and see the results instantly by playing the slide

without compiling or generating a preview. Use the playhead to preview a specific section of a slide, or to scrub and see the slide in slow motion.

10 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation

• Capture effortlessly Create more realistic demonstrations with the improved capture

mechanism that automatically switches on and off full motion recording for drag-and-drop actions. Web capture is now optimized and enhanced to capture screen shots after the web page has finished loading.

• Speed up production with easy audio editing Record audio during the screen capture

process to save development time. Mistakes can be edited out in the easy-to-use audio editor. Easily control volume, insert silent periods, and synchronize slide events precisely to the narration.

• Enhance the Macromedia Breeze experience Increase presentation effectiveness by adding

interactive simulations to Breeze meetings and Breeze training sessions. Presenters can use the Sync button so their actions are viewed by all participants or, by turning off the sync option, participants can fully interact with the Captivate demonstration or simulation on their individual computers. Captivate also includes an option that embeds specific data into the project SWF file. The data includes search and manifest information, and makes it easier for Breeze to track interactions (e.g., quizzes and click boxes) that take place in Captivate projects. Presenters can use the Sync button so their actions are viewed by all participants or, by turning off the sync option, participants can fully interact with the Captivate demonstration or simulation on their individual computers.

• Enhance projects in Macromedia Flash Take projects from Captivate to Flash for further

development using the improved, powerful Flash export feature. Captivate also exports the playback controls and other objects such as full-motion slides and text animations.

• Improve quizzing Control the look and feel of quizzes to fit branding or match color

schemes. Increase training effectiveness with time limited questions and new quiz types such as matching, likert, and fill-in-the-blank.

• Leverage industry standards Leverage SCORM 2004 packaging and runtime

communication. Captivate supports SCORM 2004, SCORM 1.2 and AICC, to easily deploy simulations through any learning management system (LMS). Generate demonstrations and simulations that are 508 compliant to reach audiences with disabilities.

• Output high quality printed content Supply reviewers or end users with printed storyboards

or documentation. The improved Microsoft Word output format now exports larger images.

• Work faster, edit more easily Save time and increase productivity with a multitude of

usability enhancements such as the new Start Page, the option to snap the recording size to the application window or vice versa, the simplified recording dialog, and many more. Save development time by recording in simulation mode, which automatically adds scored user interactions with instructional feedback.

• Unicode support Use any font and encoding supported by the Windows operating system,

including double-byte character sets.

• Localization In addition to English, German, French, and Japanese versions, Korean, and

Traditional Chinese versions of Captivate are now available.

Caution: When opening a Captivate project created with RoboDemo, note the following. Projects created with RoboDemo versions prior to version 4 use a .ncp or .fcz file extension. RoboDemo 4 and 5 projects use the .rd or .fcz file extension. Captivate upgrades older projects as they are opened in Captivate and gives them the new Captivate file extension of .cp.

What’s new in Macromedia Captivate 11

Using Captivate Help

Captivate Help uses WebHelp Pro as its output and is designed to open in your default web browser. Because Captivate Help is located on a server, the speed at which the system appears depends on your Internet connection speed. If necessary, you can select an option to view Captivate Help offline, instead of from the server.

To access offline help:

• From the Help menu, select Use Offline Help.

Using the Help window

Navigation buttons

Captivate Help includes the following left panes. To access each pane, click the Contents, Index, Search, or Glossary button on the toolbar.

• Contents: The Contents pane displays the table of contents, books and pages that represent the

categories of information in Captivate Help. When you click a closed book, it opens to display its content (sub-books and pages). When you click an open book, it closes. When you click pages, you select topics to view in the right pane.

• Index: The Index pane displays a multilevel list of keywords and keyword phrases. These terms

are associated with topics in Captivate Help and are intended to direct you to specific topics according to your way of working. To open a topic in the right pane associated with a keyword, click the keyword. If the keyword is used with more than one topic, a dialog box appears so you can select the topic to view, and then click Display.

• Search: When you type a question in the Search pane, related topics appear on the right. (This

feature is called natural language search.) You can enter questions or keywords.

• Glossary: The Glossary pane displays a glossary similar to one you'd find in a printed

publication. The glossary is a list of words, short phrases, and their definitions related to Captivate. When you select a term from the top pane ("Term"), its corresponding definition is displayed in the lower pane ("Definition").

Toolbars

Browse sequences: The browse buttons (Next and Previous) are located at the top of the browser. Browse sequence buttons are different from the Back and Forward buttons, as they present topics in a predetermined order.

• Full-text search: The Search text box enables you to perform a full-text search of Captivate

Help. This type of search locates topics containing the text you enter in the Search field. Fulltext searches look through every word in Captivate Help to find matches. When the search is completed, a list of topics is displayed so you can select a specific topic to view.

• Browser toolbar: The toolbar at the top of the window is the standard toolbar for your default

browser. Use it to move forward and backward through the history of visited topics.

12 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation

Adjusting the window and pane size

• You can adjust the width and height of the browser window by dragging the edges of the

window in or out.

• You can adjust the width of the left pane by dragging the edges of the left pane until the mouse

pointer turns into a line with arrows on each end.

Navigating topics

You can use links and Related Topics buttons to navigate through topics.

• Links: Blue underlined text denotes a hyperlink that jumps to another topic or web page, a

pop-up link that displays a window over the main window, or a text-only pop-up menu that displays a brief text description. Some links "drop down" additional text or "expand" text to the right.

• Related Topics buttons: When you click a Related Topics button, a pop-up menu displays a list

of related topics. Click a topic in the pop-up menu and it opens in the right pane.

Note: To see Captivate version information, select Help > About Captivate. A dialog box appears identifying the version of Captivate installed on your system.

Guide to Captivate instructional media

Captivate includes a variety of resources to help you learn the program quickly and become proficient in creating your own Captivate projects.

Captivate Help includes comprehensive information about using all aspects of Captivate. To view Captivate Help, open Captivate, and from the Help menu, select Captivate Help.

Getting started movies are actual Captivate movies that show how to use Captivate. Watch these movies to see Captivate in action, especially new features. (The movies are listed on the Captivate Start Page, or from within Captivate, click on the Help menu, select Getting started movies, and pick a movie.)

Using Captivate is a PDF version of the contents of Captivate Help, providing information on using Captivate commands and features. The PDF file is available on the Macromedia website.

Getting Started with Captivate provides an introduction to Captivate and the basic process of creating Captivate projects. A printed version of this manual is included with the boxed version of Captivate and a PDF version is available on the Macromedia website.

The Captivate Support Center at www.macromedia.com/support is updated regularly with the latest information on Captivate, plus advice from expert users, examples, topics, updates, and information on advanced topics.

Macromedia Devnet at www.macromedia.com/go/devnet provides tools, tutorials, and more for all Macromedia Products.

Guide to Captivate instructional media 13

Captivate and accessibility issues

You can create Captivate content that is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, using the accessibility features provided with Captivate. As you design accessible Captivate movies, consider how your users will interact with the content. Visually impaired users, for example, might rely on assistive technology, such as screen readers that provide an audio version of screen content, while hearing-impaired users might read text and captions in the document. Other considerations arise for users with mobility or cognitive impairments.

Using Captivate with other applications

Captivate is a flexible tool that can be used together with several other software products. Captivate works especially well with other Macromedia software.

Captivate and Breeze

Captivate and Flash

Captivate and RoboHelp

Captivate and PowerPoint

For more information, see Chapter 16, “Captivate and Other Software Applications,” on

page 221.

Upgrading RoboDemo and Captivate projects

When opening a Captivate project created with RoboDemo, it is important to note the file extension. Projects created with RoboDemo versions prior to version 4 use the .ncp or .fcz file extension. RoboDemo 4 and 5 projects use the .rd or .fcz file extension.Captivate upgrades older projects as they are opened in Captivate and gives themthe new Captivate file extension .cp. (Captivate leaves the previous files intact.)

Authoring requirements

To create movies with Captivate, your computer system should include the hardware, software, and accessories listed below.

System requirements:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 or Windows XP

• A 600-MHz Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent

• 128 MB of RAM (256 MB recommended)

• 100 MB of available disk space

• 800 x 600 resolution color display or better (1024 x 768, millions of colors recommended)

Software and accessories for publishing and recording:

• Internet Explorer 5.0 or later

• Flash Player 6 or later

• Microphone to record audio

• Speakers and sound card

14 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation

End-user requirements

End users viewing Captivate movies should have the following installed on their computers:

• A Flash-enabled browser (for example, Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, Netscape Navigator 4.06,

or Netscape 6.0 or later)

• Macromedia Flash player (version 6.0 or later)

• One of the following operating systems:

■ Microsoft Windows 95 or later

■ Macintosh

■ Linux

Installing Macromedia Captivate

Installing Captivate is a simple and automated process. Check to make sure there is enough free disk space on your hard disk to meet the system requirements.

The installation program prompts you for the serial number for your copy of Captivate. After the Captivate product files are copied to your computer, you have the option to activate and register Captivate online. It is important to activate Captivate as soon as possible to enable all of the capabilities of Captivate.

Registering is optional; it provides you with many benefits such as priority upgrades, new product bulletins, and timely e-mail messages about product updates and new content at www.macromedia.com.

To install Macromedia Captivate:

Close all programs.

Do one of the following:

■ If you have a Captivate CD, insert the CD into the computer's CD-ROM drive and then

double-click the Captivate installer icon.

■ If you are installing Captivate from the Internet, double-click on the downloaded file.

The InstallShield Wizard appears.

Follow the onscreen instructions.

Click Install on the last screen of the wizard.

Macromedia Captivate is installed on the computer.

Click Finish.

When you install Captivate, the product is a 30 day trial version until you activate the software. It is very important to activate the software within 30 days of installing. The activation process verifies your product serial number and license. (For details, visit the Macromedia Product

Activation Center.)

Installing Macromedia Captivate 15

To activate Macromedia Captivate:

Double-click on the Macromedia Captivate icon on the desktop.

The Macromedia Product Activation Wizard appears.

Follow the onscreen instructions and enter your serial number.

The activation process begins. When the process is complete, a message appears stating that the software was successfully activated.

Click Continue.

(Optional) Register with Macromedia. Type in your name and e-mail address and click Register. A web page appears and confirms your registration. (You can register at any time.)

Registering Captivate

It is a good idea to register your copy of Macromedia Captivate, electronically or by mail. You can register electronically during the product activation process when you first launch Captivate. By registering, you are added to the priority list to receive notices about upgrades and new Macromedia products. You can register using a simple online process or by mail.

To register your copy of Captivate online:

Click on the Help menu, and select Online Registration.

Follow the online instructions and fill out the electronic form.

To register your copy of Captivate by mail:

Click on the Help menu, and select Print Registration.

Print the form and complete it.

Mail or fax the form. (Fax number and mailing address are listed on the bottom of the form.)

Transferring your Captivate software license

You can transfer your Captivate software license if you are upgrading your computer or need to move Captivate to a new computer.

To transfer your Captivate software license:

Open Captivate.

From the Help menu, select Transfer License

Follow the online instructions.

(Optional) Register with Macromedia. Type in your name and e-mail address and click Register. A web page appears and confirms your registration. (You can register at any time.)

16 Chapter 1: Introduction and Installation

CHAPTER 2

Exploring the Workspace

Captivate is designed so you can create a movie easily. Following is an overview of the Captivate work environment.

Views

Captivate has two main views: Storyboard view and Edit view (with the Filmstrip).

• Storyboard: This view appears when you open a movie from the Start Page. The movie opens

with small images representing the slides that constitute the movie. Storyboard view provides an easy way to see all of the slides within a movie at a glance. It also enables you to see the flow of the movie. You can change the properties of multiple slides at the same time: to select multiple slides, hold down the Shift or Control key while clicking on slides; to select all slides, press Control+A.

• Edit: This view appears when you double-click on a slide in Storyboard view. After recording a

Captivate movie, you will probably spend most of your time in Edit view, because this is the view in which you add movie objects (such as captions, images, click boxes, and audio). Using this view, you can make many changes to a slide, such as altering the mouse movement and changing the mouse pointer. Finally, Edit view contains the optional Filmstrip. The Filmstrip lets you see all of the slides in a movie, even while editing an individual slide in Edit view.

Timeline

The Timeline is a visual representation of all objects on slides. The Timeline provides an easy way to view, at a high level, all objects on a slide and their relationship to each other. With the Timeline, you can organize objects and precisely control the timing of objects. For example, on a slide that contains a caption, an image, and a highlight box, you can display the caption, then the image four seconds later, and then the highlight box two seconds after that. The Timeline also shows any audio associated with the slide or with objects on the slide, letting you easily coordinate the timing of audio with objects.

Toolbars and menus

In both views, the program contains menus and toolbars at the top of the program window. Context (right-click) menus are also available throughout the program.

• Menu bar: Click a menu at the top of the program window (for example, File, Insert, or

Options) to see the related menu commands.

• Context menus: Place the mouse pointer in the pane in which you want to work. Press the

right mouse button, and select command from the menu.

• Toolbars: Click an icon on any of the program toolbars as a shortcut to dialog boxes and

actions. All of the toolbar options (for example, showing/hiding toolbars, toolbar location, and so on) for a given view are located in the View menu.

Tip: For maximum editing space, open a movie and click F11 to display Captivate in full-screen edit mode.

Customizing the work environment

You can change and customize certain elements of the Captivate work environment to suit your work style.

To change the size and location of the Filmstrip:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click on any slide to open Edit view.

By default, the Filmstrip appears on the left side with medium icons that represent the slides in the movie.

■ To move the Filmstrip to another location, click the View menu, select Filmstrip

Orientation, and then select an option from the submenu such as Right, Top, or Bottom.

■ To change the size of the slide thumbnail images, drag the splitter bar toward the outside of

the program window to make the thumbnails smaller or toward the inside to make the thumbnails larger.

■ To hide the Filmstrip completely, click the splitter bar arrow.

To show or hide the Timeline:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click on any slide to open Edit view.

By default, the Timeline appears along the top of the slide.

■ If it is not open already, show the Timeline by clicking the splitter bar arrow.

■ To expand the Timeline, click the small, black display arrow. To close the Timeline, click

the display arrow again.

18 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace

To show or hide the left pane in Storyboard view:

• Open a Captivate movie.

By default, the pane appears along the left side of the program window in Storyboard view.

■ To change the size of the left pane, drag the splitter bar toward the outside of the program

window to make it smaller or toward the inside to make it larger.

■ To hide the left pane completely, click the splitter bar arrow.

Displaying and docking toolbars

Captivate contains many toolbars that provide easy access to commonly used features. You have a great deal of flexibility in selecting which toolbars are displayed and where they are located in the Captivate program window.

Enabling and disabling docking of toolbars

This option lets you select toolbars, drag them within the program window, and place (“dock”) them in new locations. The option is enabled by default, but you can disable it at any time.

To enable and disable docking of toolbars:

From the Options menu, select Preferences.

Select or deselect the Enable docking option.

Showing and hiding toolbars

By default, the main, object, and alignment toolbars appear.

To show or hide a toolbar:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the View menu, select or deselect Main Toolbar, Advanced Toolbar, Object Toolbar, Alignment Toolbar, or Captions Toolbar.

Showing or hiding captions on the Main toolbar

Captions are text that appear next to the icons on the main toolbar. The main toolbar is displayed, by default, along the top of the program window, just below the menu bar.

To show or hide captions on the Main toolbar:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the View menu, select or deselect Captions on Toolbar.

Moving toolbars to a different location

You can set toolbars to display on the left, right, top, or bottom of the program window.

To move a toolbar to a different location:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the View menu, select Main Toolbar Orientation, Object Toolbar Orientation, or Alignment Toolbar Orientation and select either Left, Top, Right, or Bottom.

Displaying and docking toolbars 19

Floating a toolbar

You can disconnect a toolbar from the Captivate program window and have the toolbar float in its own separate window.

To “float” a toolbar:

Open a Captivate movie.

Click on the left or top edge of a toolbar until a four-point arrow appears; then drag the toolbar to an edge of the program window where it can dock, or to the middle of the program window where it can float. (If you want, you can always drag toolbars back to their original locations.)

Using the Filmstrip

Edit view contains the optional Filmstrip. The Filmstrip lets you see all of the slides in a movie and work with them while editing an individual slide in Edit view. Using Edit view and the Filmstrip together is a fast and productive way to work in Captivate.

To view the Filmstrip:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click any slide to open the slide in Edit view.

The Filmstrip appears.

■ The Filmstrip displays all of the slides in your movie in viewing order. You can change the

slide order by dragging a slide to a new location within the movie. (To select multiple slides, hold down the Shift or Control key when clicking on slides; to select all slides, press Control+A.)

■ If a slide has a label (short title) assigned, the label appears under the slide. It can be easier to

move slides and jump to a specific slide if you have assigned labels instead of just using the slide number.

■ If a slide has an audio file associated with it, the audio icon appears in the lower right corner

of the slide. You can click the sound icon to show a menu with sound options such a Play, Import, and Edit.

■ If a slide is locked, the lock icon appears in the lower right corner of the slide. You can click

the lock icon to unlock the slide.

■ If a slide contains mouse movement, the mouse icon appears in the lower right corner of the

slide. (If the mouse movement contains an associated click event, the mouse icon appears with a red dot.)

■ By default, the Filmstrip appears on the left side of the program window. You can change

the location to fit the way you work. From the View menu, select Filmstrip Orientation and then select Left, Top, Right, or Bottom.

■ By default, the Filmstrip shows slides in a medium thumbnail view. You can change the size

of the slides, if necessary, by clicking the View menu, selecting Thumbnail Size, and then selecting Small, Medium, or Large.

20 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace

Displaying confirmation messages

Confirmation messages appear when you perform important, and often permanent, actions in Captivate. The confirmation messages give you one more opportunity to change your mind when deleting information or changing key attributes. If you find that certain messages are not necessary for the way you work or are slowing down your development time, you might want to disable confirmation messages for actions that you perform frequently.

To display or not display confirmation messages:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the Options menu, select Preferences.

Select the actions you want to confirm, and/or remove the check mark from actions you do not want to confirm.

■ Delete object: Displays a message before an object is removed.

■ Delete slide: Displays a message before a slide is removed.

■ Movie resize: Displays a message before a movie is resized. (Resizing a movie is an action

that cannot be “undone,” so it is a good idea to display a confirmation message for this action.)

■ Video quality change: Displays a message before the quality of a slide is changed.

■ Remove audio: Displays a message before audio is deleted.

■ Cancel audio changes: Displays a message before canceling any audio changes (for example,

adjusting volume, cutting and pasting sections, and so on).

■ Check audio input levels: Displays a message before changing audio input levels (for

microphones or recording devices).

■ Frame rate change: Select this option to have a confirmation message appear before

changing the frame rate.

■ FLA export instructions: Select this option to have a confirmation message appear when

exporting a Captivate project into Macromedia Flash.

■ Publish overwrite files: Select this option to have a confirmation message appear when

publishing files to the same location more than once. (For example, you publish to Flash and create a SWF file stored in a particular location. If you publish to Flash again, creating a SWF file and saving it to the same location, a confirmation message will display asking if you want to overwrite the existing file.)

■ Text Caption settings: - Restore to default: Select this option to restore all text caption

settings to their defaults. (For example, you change the font for text captions to Times New Roman and the font color to green. Click Restore to default to change the font back to the default font Arial and the color to the default blue.)

Displaying confirmation messages 21

Using shortcut keys

Shortcut keys can provide an easier and quicker method of navigating and using Captivate by enabling you to use keyboard key combinations instead of a mouse or program menu. Shortcut keys are commonly accessed by using a keyboard “F” key, Alt, Ctrl, and/or Shift in conjunction with a single letter or number.

Shortcut key Action

F1 Open Captivate Help (To access dialog-level help, click the Help button on

individual dialog boxes.)

F3 Test view current slide (Edit view only)

F4 Preview movie

F5 Record audio

F6 Import audio

F7 Check spelling

F8 Preview movie from current slide

F10 Preview current slide and following four slides

F11 View Captivate in full screen

F12 Preview movie in web browser

Control+A Select all

Control+C Copy (slide in Storyboard view or Filmstrip, and selected object in Edit view)

Control+D Duplicate (slide in Storyboard view or Filmstrip, and selected object in Edit view)

Control+E Extend length of object display time to end of slide on Timeline (Edit view only)

Control+H Change slide to high quality

Control+I Increase indent (selected object in Edit view)

Control+J Change slide to JPEG quality

Control+O Open project

Control+P Align selected object with playhead on Timeline (Edit view only)

Control+S Save

Control+V Paste what is on the clipboard (e.g., slide, image, object, etc.)

Control+X Cut (selected object in Edit view)

Control+Y Redo

Control+Z Undo

Shift+Control+A Add animation object (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+B Add new button (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+C Add new caption (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+H Hide/Show slide

22 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace

Shortcut key Action

Shift+Control+I Decrease indent (selected object in Edit view)

Shift+Control+K Add new click box (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+L Add new highlight box (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+M Add new image (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+O Add new rollover image (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+P Publish

Shift+Control+R Add new rollover caption (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+T Add new text entry box (Edit view only)

Shift+Control+X Add text animation (Edit view only)

Spacebar Test view current slide (Edit view only)

Undoing and redoing actions

You can reverse the previous action by using the Undo command. You can also reverse the action of the Undo command by using the Redo command.

To undo an action:

• From the Edit menu, select Undo 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.

Tip: When the Undo command is unavailable (dimmed), you cannot undo the previous action.

Tip: Captivate tracks actions from the time you open a project until the time you close the project.

Therefore, you can undo as many times as you need to, as long as the project remains open.

To redo an action:

• After you have used the Undo command, from the Edit menu, select Redo or press Control+Y.

Undoing and redoing actions 23

Changing capture keys

Captivate has default keys for starting and ending the recording process (both standard Flash recording and full motion recording). You can change these keys as you like.

Note: You cannot use the Escape, Enter, Tab, Spacebar, Shift (without Control or Alt), F1, or Backspace key in a key combination.

To change recording capture keys:

Do one of the following:

■ Open Captivate. From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

■ Open a Captivate movie. From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

Click the Change Recording Keys tab.

To change keys, click once in one of text boxes and, on the keyboard, press the key or key combination you want to use. For example, click inside the stop recording text box and then press Shift+Alt+4. The key combination you entered now appears in the stop recording text box. You can use almost any key, including the Control, Alt, Shift+Control, and Shift+Alt keys. For example, you could change the stop recording key to Alt+R.

When you finish, click OK.

24 Chapter 2: Exploring the Workspace

CHAPTER 3

Creating Movies

Opening existing movies

Captivate stores movies in a folder named My Captivate Projects, which is placed in your My Documents folder when Captivate is installed. When you start Captivate, movies stored in the My Captivate Projects folder are automatically listed on the Start Page under Open a recent movie. All Captivate projects use the .cp file extension.

To open a movie:

Open Captivate.

Under Open a recent movie, click on the movie you wish to open. If the movie is not listed, click Open and navigate to the movie (default storage location for movies is My Documents\My Captivate Projects.

Importing AVI software tutorials

You can import existing AVI software tutorials directly into Captivate to create a new movie. When you import an AVI software tutorial, Captivate creates a new movie and converts each slide in the AVI file to a Captivate slide. After the new movie opens, you can perform all usual Captivate tasks such as adding objects, changing timing, and publishing the movie.

To import an AVI software tutorial:

Open Captivate.

From the File menu, select Import.

The Import Project dialog box appears.

Enter the name of the AVI software tutorial to import. You can also click Browse, navigate to an AVI file, and click Open.

Click Next.

Select the slides to convert to Captivate slides. Select individual slides by clicking the check box in the upper right corner of slides (so a green check mark appears in the check box). You can also click the Select All button to select all slides.

Click Finish.

The movie is generated and opens in Captivate.

Before recording a new movie

You can start recording Captivate movies right away using the default settings, but it may be helpful to do a little planning and customize some recording settings.

Planning movies

One of the best features of Captivate is its flexibility. Using Captivate, you can create a simple movie quickly or you can create a more sophisticated movie with images, background music, animation, voice-over narration, and detailed captions.

No matter what kind of movie you want to create, it is helpful to do some planning before you start taking screen shots. Consider first what you want your audience (the user) to do, learn, or achieve as a result of viewing your movie. Defining this goal first 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 movie.

When you are ready to begin drafting movie content, you can do so using storyboards or scripts.

Storyboards use rough sketches to show the contents of each slide in your movie. If you will rely heavily on pure screen shots in your movie (without many captions or explanatory text), a storyboard may be the best foundation for your movie.

Tip: You can use Captivate to create storyboards. Record a “rough” version of your movie, add some blank slides where appropriate, and then publish the movie as handouts. You can include 1-9 slides per page and add blank lines for notes.

Scripts use text-based pages. They are similar to pages in a book: logical, sequential, and with as much detail as you care to provide. If your movie will contain a great deal of text (captions), a script may be the best place to begin.

When planning movies, don't forget to consider adding the following elements:

• Title page

• Credits page

• Copyright page

• Opening/closing graphic or splash screen

• Sound, including narration, music, or sound effects

• Images

• Animated text

• Interactive boxes

• If appropriate, quizzing functionality

26 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Recording tricks and tips

Listed below are several tips and tricks for creating Captivate movies. These ideas should help you create movies quickly and easily, while also giving you professional, high-quality results.

Tip 1 - Consider auto-recording

Captivate lets you create movies in two ways.

You can record onscreen action manually. This means that each time you want to capture what is displayed on your screen, you press the Print Screen key (or another designated selected key) on the keyboard. Then you make a change on your screen (such as moving your mouse, clicking an icon, or selecting a menu) and press Print Screen again.

You can also let Captivate automatically record screen action (auto-recording). This option automatically captures screen shots during the recording process each time you click the mouse, change the focus of your application or web page, or press a key.

Another efficient way to create movies is to use auto-recording and manual recording together. Set the auto record option, but press Print Screen whenever you need to take an extra screen shot. This method is particularly effective if you are recording a website that contains many pop-ups, frames, and special effects. If you have the feature turned on, Captivate will play a camera shutter sound each time a screen shot is automatically captured. If you see a special effect take place on the website you are recording, but do not hear the camera shutter sound, press Print Screen to manually take a screen shot.

Tip 2 - Go slowly when recording, particularly when recording websites in Internet Explorer

When you record onscreen action, it is best to perform action more slowly than you would normally. For example, if you are recording keyboard action, type text slowly.

It is especially important to go slowly when capturing a website in Internet Explorer. If you are manually recording, make sure each web page is completely loaded before capturing a screen shot. If you are auto-recording, you will hear the camera shutter sound and see the system tray icon (in the lower right corner of your computer) flash when a web page is fully loaded and Captivate takes a screen shot. Wait for the shutter sound before moving the mouse and taking another action. (If necessary, while you are auto recording, you can take a screen shot manually at any time by pressing Print Screen. This is effective if you see that the web page changed, but you did not hear the camera shutter sound so you know that a screen shot was not automatically captured.)

Tip 3 - Capturing screen shots efficiently

It is important to know exactly when Captivate is capturing screen shots. Captivate contains a feature that plays a “camera shutter” sound each time a screen shot is taken. This feature is enabled by default, but if you do not hear the sound, open the Options menu, select Recording Options, and make sure the Hear camera sounds during recording option is selected.

Before recording a new movie 27

If you are automatically recording, Captivate captures a screen shot each time you perform an action such as moving the mouse, selecting a menu, or typing information into a text box. The camera shutter sound plays each time an action takes place.

If you are manually recording, Captivate captures screen shots each time you press a designated key or key combination. The default capture key is the Print Screen key. Each time you want to capture a screen shot, press the Print Screen key; you'll hear the camera shutter sound.

You can also use both recording methods together. Simply turn on the auto-recording option; while Captivate captures screen shots, you can use the Print Screen key to manually capture a screen when necessary. For example, if you are recording Microsoft Internet Explorer, there may be dynamic HTML or Flash menus that appear only when the mouse rolls over them. Captivate does not automatically capture the change that occurs on mouse rollover (you will know this because the camera shutter sound does not play), but you can press the Print Screen key and manually capture the change.

Tip 4 - Set an appropriate screen resolution

Select an appropriate screen resolution before capturing screen shots. When making a decision about resolution, consider your audience.

If your demonstration will be viewed by general web users, remember that their monitors may be set as low as 640 x 480, with some of that screen space occupied by the web browser user interface. For these users, a good low-resolution setting for capturing movies is 512 x 384.

Another option is Full Screen mode using a 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 setting. This slightly higher resolution may be a good choice if you are displaying movies on an intranet or to broadband users.

If you are producing movies for a CD or other high-bandwidth media, set the movie size to 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600.

Tip 5 - Turn off wallpaper

Desktop wallpaper is a distraction in a finished movie the user may view the wallpaper instead of your movie. Also, colorful wallpaper increases the size of your movie (especially photographic backgrounds) and reduces the color accuracy of your movie, because many colors are required to display the wallpaper.

The best choice for a background is a plain color. For a professional end result, set the background to the same color as the web page on which the movie will be displayed.

Tip 6 - Turn off icons

Icons, like wallpaper, are a distraction. Reduce the number of icons by moving them to a toolbar. You can also reduce the number of icons on the quick launch section of your Taskbar. You can completely hide the Taskbar by clicking Start and selecting Control Panel > Taskbar and Start Menu. Then select Auto-hide the Taskbar. (The steps you should take may vary, depending on your operating system

28 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Tip 7 - Remove themes and nonstandard colors

Themes and color schemes are based on personal taste and may not look good in a finished project. For best results, set your theme to a standard Windows theme and your color scheme to the default.

Tip 8 - Remove color gradients

Color gradients on the title bars of windows increase the file size of your movies. To turn off color gradients on title bars, click Start, and select Control Panel > Display. Click the Appearance tab, click Advanced, and locate the Item pop-up menu. Select Active Title Bar and set Color and Color 2 to the same color. (The steps you should take may vary, depending on your operating system.)

Recording techniques

Captivate gives you a wide variety of options when you create a new movie. You can have many processes take place automatically, use a combination of automatic and manual options, or retain greater control by recording manually.

Often, the decision to have a task take place automatically or do the task manually is based on the purpose of the movie and how much time you have. If you need to create a short movie quickly, have Captivate do recording tasks automatically. If you are creating a longer, more detailed movie, try a combination of automatic and manual recording options. Experiment with the different recording options to find the combinations that work best for you.

Capturing screen shots

When you are recording a movie, you can have Captivate automatically capture screen shots or you can capture them manually. If you decide to record automatically, Captivate will snap a screen shot every time you take an action such as clicking on a button or menu. (Captivate contains a feature that plays a camera shutter sound each time a screen shot is taken to help you determine exactly when shots are captured.) If you choose to record manually, press the designated capture key (the default key is the Print Screen button on the keyboard) each time you want to take a screen shot.

You can also use both techniques together; simply select the auto-record option and let Captivate take screen shots, but if you need a screen shot during the process, press Print Screen as necessary.

Additional slides

If you are capturing additional slides to add within or to the end of a movie, the same options are available as the ones you use for recording a movie. You can have Captivate capture the slides automatically, you can capture manually, or you can use a combination of both.

Capturing screen shots in full motion

If you are recording a movie or additional slides that contain drag-and-drop movement or drawing (e.g., in a graphics program), Captivate can record those special actions at a higher frame rate so the actions flow smoothly and look realistic. This is called full motion recording.

Before recording a new movie 29

If you are automatically recording a movie or slides, you can have Captivate automatically capture any drag-and-drop motions or drawing in full motion. Captivate will automatically start to capture frames at a higher rate any time you click on an object and drag the object or start drawing. When you stop dragging or finish drawing, full motion recording ends and regular recording begins again.

If you are recording manually, you can control when full motion recording begins and ends. To start recording in full motion at any time, press F9 and to end full motion recording, press F10.

Text captions

Text captions are text that appear on a slide within a movie. Text captions are a way of “talking” to movie viewers and are frequently used to point out certain areas on a slide, explain concepts, or give viewers more information (e.g., a phone number or website address). As with recording, text captions can be created automatically or manually.

If you are auto recording a movie or additional slides, you can have Captivate automatically create text captions at the same time. Text captions are generated for various actions such as selecting a menu or pressing a button. For example, if you record the action of selecting the File menu, Captivate automatically adds a text caption that reads “Select File menu” on the same slide. After the text captions are created and placed on slides, you can edit the text or change formatting at any time.

If you create a movie manually, you can add text captions as necessary.

Click boxes

Click boxes are interactive boxes that appear on slides and give movie viewers a chance to actually “use” an application or website. After viewers click on a click box, you can have the movie perform different actions such as continue to play, open a new movie, or go to a specific website.

If you automatically record a movie or slides, Captivate can add click boxes automatically. If you have an existing movie, you can add click boxes at any time.

Highlight boxes

Highlight boxes are transparent, colored squares that can be placed over areas on a slide to draw attention to the area, just like a highlighter pen spotlights an area on a printed page. You have complete control over the formatting, color, transparency, and size of all highlight boxes.

If you automatically record a movie or slides, Captivate can automatically create a highlight box for any area on which a mouse click is performed. If you have an existing movie, you can add highlight boxes manually.

Setting recording options

In general, you should set recording options before recording a new movie, so the most appropriate options are in place. This can save you valuable time by reducing the amount of editing you must do to make your Captivate projects look perfect.

Even though it is best to set options before you record, you can change recording options from within an open Captivate movie at any time. This is useful if you have a movie open and want to record additional slides.

30 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

+ 218 hidden pages

Macromedia Captivate - 1.0 User Manual

CONTENTS

Introduction and Installation

Key features of Captivate

What’s new in Macromedia Captivate

Using Captivate Help

Guide to Captivate instructional media

Captivate and accessibility issues

Using Captivate with other applications

Upgrading RoboDemo and Captivate projects

Authoring requirements

End-user requirements

Installing Macromedia Captivate

Registering Captivate

Transferring your Captivate software license

Exploring the Workspace

Customizing the work environment

Displaying and docking toolbars

Using the Filmstrip

Displaying confirmation messages

Using shortcut keys

Undoing and redoing actions

Changing capture keys

Creating Movies

Opening existing movies

Importing AVI software tutorials

Before recording a new movie

Planning movies

Recording tricks and tips

Recording techniques

Setting recording options