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

To set recording options:

Do one of the following:

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

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

Options.

In the Recording Options dialog box, click the Recording Options tab and choose from the following options:

Enable auto recording

Enable auto recording: Select this option to automatically take screen shots during the recording process. This option is on by default. Actions that generate slides include clicking the mouse, changing the focus within an application or web page, clicking a capture key, opening a menu, opening a dialog box, clicking a toolbar button, dragging and dropping, and clicking buttons.

Note: You should not select this option when recording onscreen action that involves the keyboard calculator keys. If you select Enable auto recording, Captivate cannot accurately record the onscreen calculations.

Language: If you selected the Enable auto recording option (above) click on the Language popup menu to specify a language for the text that will automatically be generated for captions and tooltips.

Recording defaults: If you selected the Enable auto recording option (above) click on the Recording defaults pop-up menu to specify a default text caption style to be used for captions. To change the default settings for all types of captions and highlight boxes that can automatically be created when recording movies, click Edit settings.

Recording mode: If you selected the Enable auto recording option (above) use Recording mode to specify what should be included in auto recorded movies. Select an option from the pop-up menu:

■ Demonstration: Select this option to automatically include captions, highlight boxes, and

mouse movement in the auto recorded movie.

■ Assessment Simulation: Select this option to automatically include click boxes with a failure

caption in the auto recorded movie. Mouse movement is not included.

■ Training Simulation: Select this option to automatically include click boxes with hint and

failure captions to the movie. Captions and mouse movement are not included

■ Custom: Select this option to choose the objects, such as captions, highlight boxes, and click

boxes, you want automatically added to the movie.

To edit the list of objects you want automatically added to your movie when using any of the different auto recording modes, click Edit settings.

Sound

Record narration: Select this option to record audio as you record the movie.

Before recording a new movie 31

Hear camera sounds during recording: Select this option to play a “camera shutter” sound whenever a screen shot is captured during recording. It is helpful to turn this sound on so you know exactly when a screen shot is captured, especially when using the auto-recording feature. The camera sound is not included in the finished movie.

Record keystrokes: Select this option to record keyboard action. Captivate records keyboard input but does not capture screen shots for every character. The keystrokes appear in the finished movie.

Hear keyboard tap sounds: Select this option to determine whether keyboard tap sounds are audible during recording. The keyboard tap sounds are not included in the finished movie.

Options

Hide recording window: Select this option to hide the rectangle that is displayed during recording. It also removes the Captivate icon in the Taskbar, which may be useful when you demonstrate the Taskbar or record with the full-screen options.

Hide task icon: Select this option to hide the Task icon during recording. (When you record with the full-screen options, you typically see that Captivate is an open application. If this interferes with what you are recording, you can hide Captivate with this option.)

Hide system tray icon: Select this option to hide the System Tray icon during recording. (This icon is the small Captivate icon that displays in the system tray in the lower-right corner of the computer screen. If you need to record that area of the computer screen, but do not want the Captivate icon to display in your movie, this option lets you hide the icon.)

Move new windows inside recording area: Select this option to have Captivate automatically take any windows that open while you are recording and move them into the red capture window. This is particularly useful if you are recording an application in which many dialog boxes open as you use the application.

To set full motion recording preferences, click the Full Motion Recording tab and select from the following options:

Automatically use full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions: Select this option to have Captivate automatically record any drag-and-drop actions (for example, selecting a file or image and dragging it to another area of the application or screen).

Show mouse in full motion capture mode: Select this option to include mouse movements in your full motion recording.

Record at higher full motion capture rate for smoother movie: Select this option to create a smoother movie (in particular, better mouse movement) by disabling hardware acceleration. When hardware acceleration is turned on, it can use a great deal of system resources and result in “choppy” full motion recording. Turning hardware acceleration off results in better full motion recording quality. If you select this option, your computer screen will briefly flicker when you begin and end full motion recording.This screen flicker does not harm your computer and does not appear in the final movie.

Video Quality: This option lets you select a quality level for your video. A high quality, such as 80-100, results in a smooth, attractive video, but is large in size. Selecting a lower quality will result in a smaller file size, but the video may appear blocky. You may want to try several different sizes to achieve the right balance between size and quality.

32 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Working Folder: This option determines where the video will be saved on your local hard disk. Type the correct path to an exact location, or click Browse to navigate to a location.

Video Color Mode: This option sets 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.

Select the Change Recording Keys tab and set the following options:

To stop recording press: Specifies the key that should be used to end a recording session. The default key is the End key.

To manually capture a screen shot press: Specifies the key to be pressed to capture a screen shot. The default key is the Print Screen key.

To start full motion recording press: Specifies the key to be used to start full-motion recording. The default key is F9.

To stop full motion recording press: Specifies the key to be pressed to end a full-motion recording session. The default key is F10.

Click OK.

Using full motion recording

Captivate contains a useful feature called “full motion recording” that can automatically capture frames at a higher frame rate when you record any drag-and-drop actions while auto recording a new movie or additional slides for an existing movie. By capturing at a higher rate, drag-and-drop actions display much smoother in the final Captivate SWF file. This results in a more realistic experience for users.

If you enable the full motion feature, Captivate will start to capture frames at a higher rate any time you click on an object and drag the object while auto recording a new movie or slides. You will know that full motion recording has begun by looking at the Captivate icon in the system tray (lower right corner of your computer screen).When you are recording normally, the icon appears as a regular icon. When full motion recording automatically begins, the icon displays with red borders and flashes.To stop full motion recording, stop dragging or press an end recording key (defaults are F10 to stop full motion recording or END to stop recording completely).

Note: Note: Using the mouse wheel will not start full motion recording.

When you finish recording, Captivate generates the slides that comprise the movie and displays the slides in Captivate Storyboard view. Any drag-and-drop actions that were recorded as full motion slides are displayed in Storyboard view with a movie camera icon in the lower right corner of the slide. Full motion slides are saved and included in movie projects as animation slides.

Tip: Tip: For best capture results, especially with full motion recording, perform actions (dragging, clicks, typing) slowly.

The full motion recording feature is enabled by default. You can disable it, though, at any time.

Before recording a new movie 33

To disable full motion recording of drag-and-drop actions:

Open a Captivate project

From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

Click on the Full Motion Recording tab.

Deselect Automatically use full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions.

Click OK.

Using recording modes

Captivate can not only automatically record movies, it can actually customize what objects are added to automatically created movies based on the purpose of your movie. This feature is called recording modes. For example, by selecting a recording mode, you can easily create movies that are appropriate to use as simulations or demonstrations. This enables you to create movies quickly because Captivate does much of the work.

Note: Recording modes can only be used when you are using auto record. If you record movies manually, the modes are not available.

To select and use a recording mode:

Open Captivate.

From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

Click the Recording Options tab.

Select Enable auto recording.

In Recording mode, click on the pop-up menu and select an option:

Demonstration: Select this option to automatically include captions, highlight boxes, and mouse movement in the auto recorded movie.

Assessment Simulation: Select this option to automatically include click boxes with a failure caption in the auto recorded movie. Mouse movement is not included.

Training Simulations: Select this option to automatically include click boxes with hint and failure captions to the movie. Mouse movement is not included

Custom: Select this option to choose the objects, such as captions, highlight boxes, and click boxes, you want automatically added to the movie.

(Optional) No matter which option you select, you can click Edit settings, to edit exactly what you want automatically created when you record a movie. For example, you may select the Demonstration mode in step 5 above, but then decide you do not want to include highlight boxes. You can click Edit settings and deselect the highlight box option, but retain the other settings.

Recording a new movie

You can record a movie containing almost anything on your computer screen. Captivate makes it simple to record an application, a specific sized movie, a full screen movie, a blank movie, or an image movie. You can also use a template to ensure consistency.

34 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Setting the capture area

The screen capture area is the area on your screen that Captivate uses to create slides. For example, suppose your monitor is set to 1024 x 768 pixels and you select a screen capture area of 800 x 600 pixels. Captivate captures 800 x 600 pixels of the 1024 x 768 pixels on your screen.

Captivate uses a default screen capture area of 640 x 480 pixels for all recording options. Captivate uses this default because movies larger than 800 x 600 pixels may not stream well over dial-up Internet connections. If your users can view larger areas, you can resize the screen capture area in Captivate. (Once you resize the capture area, the new size becomes the default.)

As a general rule, use these capture settings to provide your users with the best performance:

• 28.8K modem: 640 x 480 or lower

• 33.6K modem: 800 x 600 or lower

• 56K modem: 800 x 600 or lower

• Cable/DSL/T1: 1024 x 768 or lower

To set the capture area:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

Select one of the recording options and click OK.

■ If you selected Application, resize the window by selecting one of the sizing handles on the

red frame and dragging it to a larger or smaller size. To change the location of the window, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, and then drag the entire window to a new position. You can also click Snap red recording area to fit selected window to quickly change the size of the recording area to match the size of the application.

■ If you selected Custom, change the size of the capture window by typing new numbers in

the Width and Height text boxes, or use the arrows to enter new numbers. You can also click Preset sizes and select a commonly used size from the pop-up menu.

■ If you selected Full screen, you do not need to change the size of the capture area, because

everything on the screen will be captured by Captivate.

■ If you selected Blank, change the size of the capture window by selecting User defined

(custom) and typing new numbers in the Width and Height text boxes, or use the arrows to specify new numbers. You can also select Preset size, and then select a commonly used size from the pop-up menu.

■ If you selected Image Movie, change the size of the capture window by selecting User

defined (custom) and typing new numbers in the Width and Height text boxes, or use the arrows to enter new numbers. You can also select Preset size, and then select a commonly used size from the pop-up menu.

Click Record to begin recording a new movie in the size you specified.

Recording a new movie 35

Recording movies

Captivate makes creating a new movie easy. When you record a Captivate movie, you use the application or website you want to demonstrate as you would normally, by moving the mouse, using the keyboard, and navigating through menus. As you work, Captivate captures the onscreen action automatically, or you can capture screen shots manually. When you finish recording, you can set options and add components such as text captions, audio, images, and highlight boxes.

Captivate contains a feature called “full motion recording” that automatically captures frames at a higher frame rate when you record any drag-and-drop actions.

You can create several kinds of Captivate movies. The recording process is similar for each type, but each has some unique options.

• Application: Records all selected action within a single running application.

• Custom: Records all selected action within a custom-defined area. If you select this option, set

a custom size in the Width and Height boxes or select a commonly used size from the Preset Size pop-up menu.

• Full Screen: Records all onscreen action. This option is especially useful if you need to capture

action taking place in multiple applications.

• Blank: Records a blank frame in a size you specify. This option is useful if you want to create an

empty movie and then import Microsoft PowerPoint slides, slides from another movie, or images.

• Image movie: Provides you with an easy way to create a Captivate movie made up of images.

When the resulting movie is published and viewed, it looks like a slide show.

Tip: If you need to pause recording, press the Pause/Break key. To restart recording, press Pause/ Break again.

Recording a new application movie

Use this recording option to record all action within a single running application. You can start any type of application such as a word processing program, a graphics program, a spreadsheet program, or any kind of software you have and record the action that takes place within the application.

Captivate contains a special feature called “full motion recording” that can automatically capture frames at a higher frame rate when you record any drag-and-drop actions.To record a new application movie:

Open the application you want to record. (You must do this before recording.)

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select Application and click OK.

The Recording window appears.

In the Record specific window pop-up menu, select the application to record.

36 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

(Optional) Select Record narration to record audio as you record the movie.

(Optional) Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options, including the capability to automatically record the movie and automatically generate text captions.

(Optional) If necessary, change the size and position of the window. You can resize the window by selecting one of the sizing handles on the red frame and dragging it.To change the location of the window, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, and then drag the entire window to a new position. You can also click Snap red recording area to fit select window to quickly change the size of the recording area to match the size of the application.

When you finish setting options, click Record.

10.

Captivate begins recording the onscreen action.

■ If you are automatically recording (that is, you selected the Enable auto recording option in

step 7), Captivate automatically captures a screen shot every time you perform an action, such as selecting a menu, clicking a button, or typing text.

Note: When you are auto recording, you can take a screen shot manually at any time by pressing the Print Screen key. This is particularly useful if you are capturing a website that contains many pop-ups, frames, and special effects that are sometimes not auto recorded. If you see a special effect or change take place on a web page you are recording, but do not hear the camera shutter sound, press Print Screen to take a screen shot manually.

■ If you are manually recording (that is, you did not select the Enable auto recording option

in step 7) press the Print Screen key (or other designated capture key) to capture screen shots.

Use the application as if you were demonstrating your actions to someone. If you have sound enabled on your computer and the option is activated, you will hear a camera shutter sound when screen shots are captured.

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

11.

When you finish recording, press the End key (or other designated key) to end recording.

The slides are generated and your new movie appears in the Captivate Storyboard view. If any drag-and-drop actions were recorded and full motion slides created, you will see the full motion slides displayed in Storyboard view with a movie camera icon in the lower right corner of the slide.

Recording a new custom-sized movie

You can record all selected action within a custom-defined area. This option is especially useful if you have a strict size requirement for your projects. For example, you may need to record a specific size so you can generate a Captivate SWF file that will be incorporated into a window on a website. If you choose this option, set a custom size in the Width and Height boxes or select a commonly used size from the Preset Size pop-up menu.

Captivate contains a special recording feature called “full motion recording” that automatically captures frames at a higher frame rate when you record any drag-and-drop actions.

Recording a new movie 37

To record a new custom-sized movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select Custom size and click OK.

The Recording window appears.

Captivate uses a default capture area of 640 x 480 pixels. To change the size, type new numbers into Width and Height or use the arrows to enter new numbers. You can also click Preset sizes and select a commonly used size from the pop-up menu.

Note: In general, movies larger than 800 x 600 pixels may not stream well over dial-up connections.

(Optional) From the Optionally, select a window you would like to record pop-up menu, select an open window to record.

(Optional) Select Record narration to record audio as you record the movie.

(Optional) Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options, including the capability to automatically record the movie and automatically generate text captions.

(Optional) If necessary, change the position of the window. To do this, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, and then drag the entire window to a new position. You can also click Snap window to fit inside the red recording area to quickly change the size of the window you are recording to match the size of the red capture area.

When you finish setting options, click Record.

10.

Captivate begins recording the onscreen action.

■ If you are automatically recording (that is, you selected the Enable auto recording option in

step 7), Captivate automatically captures a screen shot every time you perform an action, such as selecting a menu, clicking a button, or typing text.

■ If you are manually recording (that is, you did not select the Enable auto recording option

in step 7), press the Print Screen button (or other designated capture key) to capture screen shots.

Use whatever is within the red recording area (for example, an application, a website, and so on) as if you were demonstrating your actions to someone. If you have sound enabled on your computer and the option is activated, you will hear a camera shutter sound when screen shots are captured.

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

38 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

11.

When you finish recording, press the End button (or other designated key) to end recording.

Recording a new full-screen movie

Use the full-screen recording option to record all actions that take place on your computer screen. This option is useful if you need to record actions in two or more applications within one Captivate movie. For example, if you need to record how a user would copy information from a word processing program into a spreadsheet program, use the full-screen recording option to capture the action in both programs.

Captivate contains a special feature called “full motion recording” that automatically captures frames at a higher frame rate when you record any drag-and-drop actions.

To record a new full-screen movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select Full screen and click OK.

The Recording dialog box appears.

(Optional) If you have two monitors associated with your computer, specify the monitor you want to record by selecting Monitor 1 or Monitor 2.

(Optional) Select Record narration to record audio as you record the movie.

(Optional) Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options, including the capability to automatically record the movie and automatically generate text captions.

When you finish setting options, click Record.

Captivate begins recording the onscreen action.

■ If you are automatically recording (that is, you selected the Enable auto recording option in

step 6), Captivate automatically captures a screen shot every time you perform an action, such as selecting a menu, clicking a button, or typing text.

■ If you are manually recording (that is, you did not select the Enable auto recording option

in step 6), press the Print Screen key (or other designated capture key) on the keyboard to capture screen shots.

Recording a new movie 39

Use whatever is on your screen (for example, applications, websites, and so on) as if you were demonstrating your actions to someone. If you have sound enabled on your computer and the option is activated, you will hear a camera shutter sound when screen shots are captured.

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

When you finish recording, press the End key (or other designated key) to end recording.

Recording a new blank movie

You can record a blank movie consisting of one blank frame in a size you specify. This option is useful if you want to create an empty project and then import Microsoft PowerPoint slides, slides from another project, or images. Set a custom size in the Width and Height boxes, or select a commonly used size from the Preset Size pop-up menu.

To record a new blank movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select Blank movie and click OK.

The Blank movie dialog box appears.

Captivate uses a default capture area of 640 x 480 pixels. To change the size, select User defined (custom) and type new numbers in the Width and Height text boxes, or use the arrows to specify new numbers. You can also select Preset size, and then choose a commonly used size from the pop-up menu.

Note: In general, movie sizes larger than 800 x 600 pixels may not stream well over dial-up connections.

Click OK.

The movie is generated and appears in Captivate Storyboard view.

Recording a new image movie

You can easily create a Captivate movie made up of images. This option is useful if you need to create a Captivate movie that looks like a slide show.

To record a new image movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

40 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Select Image movie and click OK.

The Image movie dialog box appears.

Captivate uses a default capture area of 640 x 480 pixels. To change the size, select User defined (custom) and type new numbers in the Width and Height text boxes, or use the arrows to enter new numbers. You can also select Preset size, and then select a commonly used size from the pop-up menu.

Note: In general, movies larger than 800 x 600 pixels may not stream well over dial-up connections.

Click OK.

Captivate is displayed in Storyboard view, and the Open dialog box appears.

Navigate to the first image you want to include as a slide in your Captivate movie.

Select the image and click Open.

Note: If the image you selected is larger than the movie size you specified, a dialog box appears and gives you the choice of cropping or resizing the image. Cropping will trim parts of the image (from the sides) so the image will fit into the movie.Resizing keeps the entire image, but scales it smaller to fit into the movie.

The image you selected opens as a slide in Edit view.

You can add more images as necessary by clicking the Insert menu and selecting Image Slide.

Recording movies with a template

You can use Captivate templates to create a new movie. Templates are simply other movies that you have created and saved as a template with the cptl file extension.Because templates can be used numerous times, they can save you time and help you maintain consistency.

When you open a template, the Captivate recording window appears so you can record new slides and add them to the end of the template or within the template. When you are finished you can save the new project as a new movie, as a new template, or both.

Note: Templates are particularly effective if you have specific movie preferences you want to use repeatedly. Simply create a blank movie, set preferences, save the blank movie as a template, and create a new movie with the template by following the steps below.

To use a template to create a new movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, under Other movie types, select Create movie from template.

The Open dialog box appears, showing the contents of the Captivate Templates folder (My Documents\My Captivate Projects\Templates).

Select the template you want to use and click Open. If the template you want to use is not listed, click Browse to navigate to the template. (Captivate templates have the file extension .cptl.)

The Template Options dialog box appears.

Select the option to add new slides to the end of the movie or after a selected slide, and click OK.

The Recording window appears.

Recording a new movie 41

(Optional) From the Optionally, select a window you would like to record pop-up menu, select an open window to record.

(Optional) Select Record narration to record audio as you record the movie.

(Optional) Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options, including the capability to automatically record the movie and automatically generate text captions.

(Optional) If necessary, change the position of the window. To do this, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, and then drag the entire window to a new position. If you selected a window in step 5, you can click Snap window to fit inside the red recording area to quickly change the size of the window you are recording to match the size of the red capture area.

Note: You can position the capture area anywhere on your screen. You cannot, however, resize the capture area because it is set to the same size as the template. If, after recording new slides to create a movie with the template, you need the completed movie to be a different size, you can resize the movie.

When you finish setting options, click Record.

10.

Captivate begins recording the onscreen action.

If you are automatically recording the movie (that is, you selected the Enable auto recording option in step 7), Captivate automatically captures a screen shot every time you perform an action, such as selecting a menu, clicking a button, or typing text.

If you are manually recording the movie (that is, you did not select the Enable auto recording option in step 7), press the Print Screen key (or other designated capture key) on the keyboard to capture screen shots.

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

11.

When you finish recording, press the End key (or other designated key) to end recording.

Recording new slides

There may be cases in which you record a Captivate movie and begin working at the slide level, only to realize that you need to record a few more slides. In this case, you probably don't want to re-record the entire movie just a few actions. Captivate allows you to do this by recording new slides and inserting the slides in an existing movie.

42 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

To record new slides:

Open the Captivate movie in which you want to record and insert new slides.

From the Insert menu, select Record Additional Slides.

Decide where the new slides should be added. You can add new slides to the end of the movie, or click on a slide in the list and add new slides after the selected slide.

When you finish, click OK.

The recording window appears.

Select options as necessary. For example, if you want to record an application that is open, click the pop-up menu next to Optionally, select a window you'd like to record and choose the application. You can also click Options and set numerous recording options.

Note: You can position the capture area anywhere on your screen. You cannot, however, resize the capture area because it is set to the same size as the movie to which you are adding the slides.

When you are finished selecting options, click Record.

Record the new slides.

When you are finished recording, press End (or other key combination you have designated) on the keyboard to stop recording.

The newly recorded slides are inserted into your movie in the specified location.

Note: You can also import slides from other Captivate movies or PowerPoint files.

Recording options

You have many options when recording Captivate movies and slides.

Creating camera sounds during recording

Captivate can play a “camera shutter” sound when you take a screen shot while recording. This feature, which tells you exactly when a screen shot is captured, can be especially helpful when you use the Auto Recording feature. The camera sound is not included in the finished movie.

To hear the camera shutter sound during recording:

Open Captivate.

From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

Click the Recording Options tab.

Select Hear camera sounds during recording.

Click OK.

Pausing while recording movies

You can pause while recording a Captivate movie. This may be necessary if you are recording a movie and need to answer the phone or are called away from your computer.

Recording options 43

To pause while recording a movie:

Open Captivate and begin recording a new movie.

When you want to pause recording, press the Pause/Break key on the keyboard.

When you want to restart recording, press Pause/Break again.

Setting auto recording

You can set an automatic recording option in Captivate. When this option is set, Captivate automatically captures screen shots during the recording process each time you take the following actions:

• Click or press a capture key

• Open a menu or submenu, or select a menu item

• Open a dialog box or a property page

• Click a toolbar button

• Begin dragging, during the drag process, and when you drop

• Click any mouse button while the cursor is in the capture area

Note: The auto recording feature should not be used when recording onscreen action that involves the keyboard calculator keys. If you select Enable auto recording, Captivate cannot accurately record the onscreen calculations.

To set auto recording:

Open Captivate.

From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

Click the Recording Options tab.

Select Enable auto recording.

In Language click on the pop-up menu to specify a language for the text that will automatically be generated for captions and tooltips.

In Recording defaults, click on the pop-up menu to specify a default text caption style to be used for captions. To change the default settings for all types of captions and highlight boxes that can automatically be created when recording movies, click Edit settings.

In Recording mode, select an option:

■ Demonstration: Select this option to automatically include captions and highlight boxes in

the auto-recorded movie.

■ Assessment Simulation: Select this option to automatically include click boxes with success

and failure caption in the auto-recorded movie.

■ Training Simulation: Select this option to automatically include rollover captions and click

boxes with a failure message to the movie.

■ Custom: Select this option to choose the objects, such as captions, highlight boxes, and click

boxes, you want automatically added to the movie. Click Edit settings to make selections.

Click OK.

Now that you have turned on the automatic recording option, you can record a movie.

44 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Using project templates

After you have created a movie in Captivate, you can save the movie as a project template. This can save you time and help you maintain consistency. You can reuse the template numerous times and ensure that all of your movies have the same framework.

For example, if you spend a great deal of time making a movie exactly the way you want it with custom playback controls, an introductory slide featuring your organization's logo, a closing slide that shows your website, and the precise size to show the movie in your application, you can save the movie as a template and use it as a base for all movies you create in the future. You'll be able to produce movies faster and they will all have the same appearance.

Note: Templates are particularly effective if you have specific movie preferences you want to use repeatedly. Simply create a blank movie, set preferences, save the blank movie as a template following the steps below, and then create a new movie with the template.

Creating project templates

It is easy to save any movie you have created as a template.

To save a movie as a project template:

Open Captivate.

Record a movie.

Edit the movie as necessary (for example, add captions, change the playback control, or add audio).

From the File menu, select Save as Template.

Type a name for the new project template.

When you finish, click Save.

Your movie is saved as a project template with the .cptl file extension. Captivate stores templates in a folder named Templates. The Templates folder is located in C:\My Documents\My Captivate Projects\Templates.

Editing project templates

After you have created a project template in Captivate, you can edit the template as needed. This enables you to leverage work you have already done and make changes as needed in order to create new movies faster.

To edit a project template:

Open Captivate.

From the File menu, select Edit Template.

Select the template you want to edit, and click Open. (Captivate template use the file extension CPTL.)

Edit the template as necessary.

Using project templates 45

From the File menu, select Save.

From the File menu, select Close.

The changes you made to the template are saved and stored.

Using full motion recording

If you enable the full motion feature, Captivate will start to capture frames at a higher rate any time you click on an object and drag the object while auto recording a new movie or slides. You will know that full motion recording has begun by looking at the Captivate icon in the system tray (lower right corner of your computer screen). When you are recording normally, the icon appears as a regular icon. When full motion recording automatically begins, the icon displays with red borders and flashes.To stop full motion recording, stop dragging or press an end recording key (defaults are F10 to stop full motion recording or END to stop recording completely).

Note: Using the mouse wheel will not start full motion recording.

Tip: For best capture results, especially with full motion recording, perform actions (dragging, clicks, typing) slowly.

The full motion recording feature is enabled by default. You can disable it, though, at any time.

To disable full motion recording of drag-and-drop actions:

Open a Captivate project

From the Options menu, select Recording Options.

Click on the Full Motion Recording tab.

Deselect Automatically use full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions.

Click OK.

About full motion movie slides

Using Captivate, you can record full motion movies (also known as “drag-and-drop recording”) in AVI format that show detailed motion such as drawing/painting features and drag/drop operations. The Full Motion Recording option is a powerful and flexible tool that can be used in numerous ways. You can include as many full motion slides in your movie as you need in order to accurately show a concept to users.

46 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

When you record using the Full Motion option, Captivate can automatically begin capturing slides at a higher frame rate so that motion is displayed very realistically. You can also control the process by recording full motion slides manually. Full motion slides are saved and included in movie projects as animation slides.

Note: It is important to set the correct frame rate before creating full motion slides. The default setting is 30 flash frames per second and is appropriate in most cases. You may need to change the rate if you are embedding your Captivate SWF in another SWF file that has a frame rate different than 30. Change the frame rate using the Movie preferences dialog box.

Captivate can capture full motion automatically or you can capture full motion manually. To give you an idea of how the process works, following are a full motion recording scenario done automatically and done manually.

Full motion recording automatically

A Captivate author needs to create a movie about a software application used for drawing. The automatic full motion recording option is on. The author begins recording the Captivate movie and then wants to show how the software application can actually be used to draw. Captivate recognizes when the author begins drawing with the application and begins recording in AVI format automatically. When the drawing process is complete, Captivate changes back to standard capture. The author can then continue capturing normal screen captures until finished and press End (or other defined stop recording key). The screen shots captured at the beginning and end of the recording process are saved as normal slides and the full motion slide recorded in AVI format is saved as an animation slide.

Full motion recording manually

A Captivate author needs to create a movie about a software application used for drawing. The automatic full motion recording option is off. The author begins recording the Captivate movie using the standard screen capture method, but then wants to show how the software application can actually be used to draw. At this point in the recording process, the author presses the full motion recording shortcut key (F9, but can be customized) and Captivate begins recording in AVI format. The author uses the software application to draw, Captivate captures the action, and when the drawing process is complete the author presses the end full motion recording key (F10, but can be customized). The author can then continue capturing normal screen captures until finished and press the End (or other defined) stop recording key. The screen shots captured at the beginning and end of the recording process are saved as normal slides and the full motion slide recorded in AVI format is saved as an animation slide.

Comparing full motion slides and standard movie slides

Captivate enables authors to capture screen shots in standard format and using full motion recording (also known as “drag-and-drop recording”). The Full Motion Recording option captures screen shots at a higher frame rate, resulting in a smoother, more realistic movie. Because the full motion option creates a higher quality movie, you need to evaluate when to use the standard recording method and when to use full motion recording.

Using full motion recording 47

To distinguish between the two options it is appropriate to think of full motion recording as an enhancement to, not a substitute for, a standard movie. The full motion recorded movie is placed into one slide of a movie and plays like a “mini-movie” within the larger movie. Full motion movies are useful when you need to show an action that involves precise motion such as using a drawing/painting program, detailed dragging and dropping operations, or a 3-D program.

Creating full motion movie slides

You create full motion (also known as “drag-and-drop recording”) movie slides within a standard movie. A full motion movie slide is useful when you want to show users an action that involves detailed motion like drawing, dragging and dropping operations, or 3-D.

You can record or add as many full motion movie slides to your Captivate project as you require.

To record a full motion movie slide while recording a new movie:

From the Captivate Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select the type of movie to record, such as Application or Custom size.

Click OK.

The recording window appears.

(Optional) Select Record narration to record audio as you record the movie.

(Optional) Click Options. On the Recording Options tab you can select Enable auto recording to automatically capture screen shots. On the Full Motion Recording tab you can select Automatically use full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions to have Captivate automatically start full motion recording whenever you begin drag-and-drop actions. (Recording automatically and recording full motion automatically are strictly optional both processes can be done manually, if you prefer.) When you are finished setting options, click OK.

(Optional) If necessary, change the size and position of the window. You can resize the window by selecting one of the sizing handles on the red frame and dragging it to a larger or smaller size. To change the location of the window, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, click and hold the mouse, and then drag the entire window to a new position.

When you are finished setting options, click Record. Captivate begins recording the onscreen action.

■ If you are manually recording the movie (that is, you did not select the Enable auto

recording option in step 5 above), click the Print Screen button (or other designated capture key) to capture screen shots.

■ If you are automatically recording the movie (that is, you selected the Enable auto recording

option in step 5 above), Captivate automatically captures a screen shot every time you perform an action, such as selecting a menu, clicking a button, or typing in text.

48 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Note: When recording onscreen action, it is best to perform the action more slowly than you would normally. So, if you are recording keyboard action, for example, enter the text slower than you would normally type.

Full motion recording can be done in one of two ways:

■ If you are manually recording full motion (that is, you did not select the Automatically use

full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions option in step 5 above) click the start full motion recording key, F9 (or other designated full motion capture key) when you want to begin full motion recording. Captivate begins capturing in full motion recording mode. Take the actions that you want to record in full motion mode and when you are finished, press F10 (or other designated full motion end capture key) to end recording. Captivate returns to standard capture mode so you can continue recording.

■ If you are automatically recording full motion (that is, you selected the Automatically use

full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions option in step 5 above) recording begins in full motion mode, for example, when you click on an object and drag the object or begin drawing in a graphics program. Full motion recording automatically stops when you drop the object or stop drawing. Captivate returns to standard capture mode so you can continue recording.

Note: While you are in full motion recording mode, the Captivate icon displays with a red border in the system tray in the lower right corner of your computer desktop. When you finish full motion recording, the standard Captivate icon displays again.

When you are finished recording, press End (or other designated key) to end recording.

The new movie, including the full motion portion, is generated and then displayed in Storyboard view. If any drag-and-drop actions were recorded and full motion slides created, you will see the full motion slides displayed in Storyboard view with a movie camera icon in the lower right corner of the slide. Full motion slides are saved and included in movie projects as animation slides.

To add a full motion movie slide to an existing movie:

Open the Captivate project to which you want to add a full motion movie slide.

From the Insert menu, select Record Additional Slides.

Decide where the new slide should be added. You can add a new slide to the end of the movie, or click on a slide in the list and add a new slide after the selected slide.

Click OK.

The recording window appears.

Click Options. On the Recording Options tab you can select Enable auto recording to automatically capture screen shots. On the Full Motion Recording tab you can select Automatically use full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions to have Captivate automatically start full motion recording whenever you begin drag-and-drop actions. (Recording automatically and recording full motion automatically are strictly optional both processes can be done manually, if you prefer.) When you are finished setting options, click OK.

Note: You can position the capture area anywhere on your screen. You cannot, however, resize the capture area because it is set to the same size as the movie to which you are adding the slide.

Using full motion recording 49

Set other recording options as required. For example, if you want to record an application that is open, click the pop-up menu next to Optionally, select a window you'd like to record and choose the application. Or, select Record narration to record an audio track while capturing the full motion slide. When you finish selecting options, click Record.

Full motion recording can be done in one of two ways:

■ If you are manually recording full motion (that is, you did not select the Automatically use

■ If you are automatically recording full motion (that is, you selected the Automatically use

full motion capture for drag-and-drop actions option in step 5 above) full motion recording begins, for example, when you click on an object and drag the object or begin drawing in a graphics program. Full motion recording automatically stops when you drop the object or stop drawing. Captivate returns to standard capture mode so you can continue recording slides, if necessary.

Note: While you are in full motion recording mode, the Captivate icon displays with a red border in the system tray in the lower right corner of your computer desktop.When you finish full motion recording, the standard Captivate icon displays again.

When you are finished, Press End (or other designated key) to end recording completely.

The new full motion slide is placed within your movie in the location you specified. The full motion slide is displayed in Storyboard view with a movie camera icon in the lower right corner of the slide. Full motion slides are saved and included in movie projects as animation slides.

Note: Using the mouse wheel will note start full motion recording.

Creating accessible movies

You can create Captivate projects that are in compliance with Section 508 of the United States Rehabilitation Act for users who have visual or hearing impairments, mobility impairments, or other types of disabilities.

Worldwide accessibility standards

Many countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, and countries in the European Union, have adopted accessibility standards based on those developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C publishes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, a document that prioritizes actions designers should take to make web content accessible. For information about the Web Accessibility Initiative, see the W3C website at www.w3.org/WAI.

50 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

In the United States, the law that governs accessibility is commonly known as Section 508, which is an amendment to the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 prohibits federal agencies from buying, developing, maintaining, or using electronic technology that is not accessible to those with disabilities. In addition to mandating standards, Section 508 allows government employees and the public to sue agencies in federal court for noncompliance.

For additional information about Section 508, see the following websites:

• The US government-sponsored website at www.section508.gov.

• The Accessibility page on the Macromedia website at www.macromedia.com/macromedia/

accessibility.

Understanding screen reader technology

Screen readers are software programs designed to navigate through a website and read the web content aloud. Visually impaired users often rely on this technology. Those viewing your Captivate movies must have Flash Player 6 or later, and Internet Explorer on Windows 2000 or later.

JAWS, from Freedom Scientific, is one example of a screen reader. You can access the JAWS page of the Freedom Scientific website at www.hj.com/fs_products/software_jaws.asp. Another commonly used screen reader is Window-Eyes, from GW Micro. To access the latest information on Window-Eyes, visit the GW Micro website at www.gwmicro.com. For Windows users, Microsoft provides a free, downloadable product called Microsoft Reader that contains a text-tospeech component. For more information, visit the Microsoft website at www.microsoft.com.

Because different screen readers use varying methods to translate information into speech, the way your content is presented to users will vary. As you design accessible projects, keep in mind that you have no control over how a screen reader will behave. You have control only over the content, not the screen readers. You cannot force screen readers to read specific text at specific times or control the manner in which that content is read. It is very important, therefore, to test your movies with a variety of screen readers to ensure that they perform as you expect.

Captivate and accessibility

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 Captivate projects.

These solutions support government agencies in meeting their users' needs through Section 508 compliance, as well as companies who are committed to improving accessibility.

What is Section 508 compliance?

Section 508 is part of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requiring that Federal agencies develop, maintain, acquire, or use electronic and information technology to make the systems accessible to people with disabilities. The most recent (1998) version of Section 508 establishes enforceable, government-wide standards.

Creating accessible movies 51

What does accessible mean?

In general, an information technology system is accessible for people with disabilities if it can be used in a variety of ways that do not depend on a single sense or ability. For example, users should be able to navigate with a keyboard, in addition to a mouse (not with a mouse only). Also, the visual and auditory elements of a user interface must accommodate both hearing impaired and visually impaired users.

What other types of assistive software do end users need?

Screen readers or text-to-speech utilities (which read the contents of the active window, menu options, or text you have typed) and screen review aids translate onscreen text to speech or to a dynamic, refreshable, Braille display. This assistive technology can provide keyboard assistance or shortcuts, captions for speech and sound, and visual warnings such as flashing toolbars. Tools available include Windows Eye and JAWS (Job Access With Speech).

What does Captivate do to be Section 508 compliant?

Selecting the 508 compliance option makes certain elements in Captivate projects accessible or open to accessibility technology. For example, if you select the 508 option and you have filled in the movie name and movie description fields in Movie Properties, a screen reader will read the name and description when the Captivate SWF file is played.

The following Captivate elements are accessible when the 508 compliance option is selected:

• Movie name (derived from Movie Properties)

• Movie description (derived from Movie Properties)

• Slide accessibility text

• Slide label (derived from Slide Properties)

• Buttons

• Playback controls (function of each button is read by screen readers)

• Password protection (if a Captivate SWF file is password protected, the prompt for a password

is read by screen readers)

• Question slides (title, question, answers, button text, and scoring report are read by screen

readers)

Note: Output generated with the Section 508 option will be displayed with all supported browsers. However, your output may not be Section 508 compliant unless it is viewed with Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is the only browser with support for MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility).

Note: To access Flash content using a screen reader, users need to have Flash Player 6 or later installed.

Note: The Access Board is an independent Federal agency committed to accessibility for people with disabilities. For more information about making your output compliant, see the Access Board's Web site (www.access-board.gov/508.htm).

52 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Publishing 508 compliant Captivate SWF files

Create a Captivate project using the Section 508 option to view and test the output. Generating the Captivate project updates source files containing information about your project and creates output files that you can publish for users. Read the tips for authoring and use the following procedure.

To publish Section 508 compliant projects:

Open the Captivate project you want to publish as 508 compliant.

From the Movie menu, select Preferences.

Click the Preferences tab.

Check that the 508 compliance option is selected.

Click OK.

Publish your movie.

Once publishing is complete, select the View Output option to preview and test the Captivate SWF file.

Adding slide accessibility text

Captivate contains an easy way to add text to a slide that is specifically designed to be read by a screen reader. You can create custom text for each slide. (The text will only be read if the 508 compliance option is selected.)

To add text that can be read by a screen reader:

Open a Captivate movie.

Right-click on the slide to which you want to add accessible text and select Properties.

Click Accessibility.

Type in the text you want read by the screen reader. If you have text on the slide, such as a text caption, click Insert slide text to automatically add the caption text. If you have any slide notes written for the slide, click Insert slide notes to add the text.

When you finish, click OK.

Tips for creating 508 compliant Captivate SWF files

While Captivate Section 508 output is compliant for navigation, you should also make sure other elements are compliant in your topics. Assistive software needs to be able to “read” elements on the screen to visually impaired users. Use these tips to help you design accessible projects.

• Write a meaningful name and description for your Captivate projects in the Movie Properties

dialog box.

• For users with hearing impairment, add text equivalents for audio elements. For example,

when delivering narrative audio, it is important to provide captions at the same time. One option is to place a transparent caption in a fixed location on slides, then synchronize the text with the audio using the Timeline.

Creating accessible movies 53

• 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, Captivate can send the information to the user through the screen reader. Be aware of audio in your Captivate projects that might interfere with a user being able to listen to the screen reader.

• Write specific text assigned to individual slides for screen readers to read.

• Ensure that color is not the only means of conveying information. For example, active links

that use a blue font color to indicate that they are active should also use another type of formatting (such as bold or italics). In addition, make sure that foreground and background contrast sufficiently to make text readable for people with low vision and color blindness.

• For users with either visual or mobility impairment, ensure that controls are device

independent or accessible by keyboard.

• Users with cognitive impairments often respond best to uncluttered design that is easily

navigable.

• If mouse movement is critical in your Captivate project, consider changing the mouse pointer

so it is double the normal size for easier viewing.

• Document methods of accessibility for users.

• Avoid looping objects. When a screen reader encounters Flash content on a page, the screen

reader notifies the user with audio, such as “Loading….load done”. As content in a movie changes, the Flash Player sends an event to the screen reader notifying it of a change, which causes the screen reader to return to the top of the page and begin reading again. Therefore, a looping text animation on a slide, for example, might cause the screen reader to continually return to the top of the page. This could be annoying for users relying on a screen reader.

• If you are creating click boxes you can make them more accessible by adding sound. The sound

can play when users tab to the click box or hover over the click box. To add this accessibility feature, attach a sound file to the hint caption. (If you do not want the hint caption to appear on the slide, you can make the caption transparent and add no text.)

Testing accessible content

If you are designing your Captivate project to work with screen readers, download several screen readers and test your project by playing it in a browser with the screen reader enabled. Make sure that the screen reader is not attempting to “talk over” places in your movie where you have inserted separate audio. Several screen reader applications provide a demonstration version of the software as a free download you should try as many as you can to ensure compatibility across screen readers.

If you are creating interactive content, test it and verify that users can navigate your content effectively using only the keyboard. This can be an especially challenging requirement, because different screen readers work in different ways when processing input from the keyboard— meaning that your Captivate content might not receive keystrokes as you intended. Make sure to test all keyboard shortcuts.

54 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

Macromedia accessibility web page

For the latest information on creating and viewing accessible Captivate content, visit the Accessibility page on the Macromedia website at www.macromedia.com/macromedia/

accessibility.

Localizing Captive 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, but localization usually includes editing information for a particular cultural context in addition to translating information into a different language.

Following are two options for localizing Captivate movies.

Using Captivate with a localized user interface

If you are creating Captivate movies that show a web site or application that has been created in several languages you can create localized movies for each language.

To create localized Captivate movies:

Create a Captivate movie in your source language using a source language version of the web site or application. For example, if your application was created in English, create an English language Captivate movie that shows the English application.

Export any captions in the movie and have the caption text translated into the languages you require. Continuing the example from Step 1, take the English language captions in the English movie, export them, and give the text to localizers so they could translate it into other language such as German and Japanese.

Open the web site or application in the localized forms and record the same steps that were recorded in the source language version of the movie. When you record the movies, do not automatically include objects. In our example this would mean recording Captivate movies (using the same steps taken in the English movie) of the application after the application user interface was translated into German and Japanese.

Import all objects from the source language version of the movie. In our example, you would import all objects from the English version of the movie into the German and Japanese movies.

Import the localized captions created by translators in Step 2. In our example, you would open the German and Japanese movies and import the Word file of the captions that had been translated.

Test the localized versions of the movie. In our example, open the German and Japanese movies and ensure that the correct user interface is shown, that captions are properly translated and appear on the correct slide, and that timing is accurate. Captions, in particular, may need their timing adjusted and may need to be resized so that all of the translated text displays.

Localizing Captive projects 55

Localizing text captions

If you are localizing a movie that contains text captions, you can export text captions to make the process more efficient.

To localize text captions:

Create the initial (“source language”) version of the movie, including all necessary text captions.

Open the completed movie.

From the File menu, select Import/Export > Export movie captions.

By default, the Word (DOC) file is saved to your My Documents\MyCaptivateProjects folder. Change the location if you want. Also, the Word file is named [ProjectName] Captions.doc. You can change the name of the file, if necessary, by clicking directly in the File name text box and entering a new name (retain the .doc file extension). Click Save.

The Word file is generated with the name you specified and saved to the location you selected. A dialog box appears, asking if you want to view the document. Click Yes to view the document in Word.

The Word document contains the slide ID, item ID, original caption text, and the slide number. There is also a column named “Updated Text Caption Data” where changes to the caption text can be made. Provide a copy of the Word document to the localizer/translator.

The localizer/translator should open the Word document and edit the caption text directly in “Updated Text Caption Data” column in the document, replacing the source language text with the new text.

While the localizer/translator is translating the text, make a copy of the original Captivate movie for the new language.

Note: When you create a copy of the original movie, be sure to keep the original text captions (in the source language) in the new movie. The original text captions act as placeholders and are overwritten when you import the new (localized) text captions.

When the text captions are localized, open the copy of the project you created in step 8.

10.

From the File menu, select Import/Export > Import Movie Captions.

11.

Navigate to the localized text captions Word (DOC) file, select the file, and click Open.

12.

The new, localized text captions are imported into the movie and all formatting is retained. A dialog box appears showing a successful import message. Click OK.

13.

Test the new text captions by opening different slides in Edit view and reading the new caption text.

56 Chapter 3: Creating Movies

CHAPTER 4

Adding Text Captions

Text captions are useful tools that draw attention to specific areas in a slide. For example, you can use text captions to point out menu items or icons. You can also use text captions to focus user attention on easily overlooked details. If you do not use voice-over narration in a movie, you can use text captions to provide a similar function text captions can “speak” to the user.

You decide how text captions appear (font, size, color, and so on). Captivate provides a wide variety of predefined text caption styles, but you can also create custom text caption styles that match your company or organization appearance.

It is easy to add text captions to movie slides manually, but to create text captions very quickly you can have Captivate automatically generate text captions based upon what is recorded. For example, if you record the mouse clicking on the Edit menu, Captivate can automatically create a text caption that says “Select the Edit menu” and place the text caption on the exact slide showing the action.

Adding text captions

You can use text captions to “talk” to users or to point out specific items on a slide. It is easy to add a text caption to a slide and to edit the text caption so it looks exactly the way you want.

To add a text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click on the slide to which you want to add a text caption.

From the Insert menu, select Text Caption.

The Text Caption dialog box appears.

On the Text Caption tab, set the following properties:

Caption type: Click the pop-up menu to select a text caption type. Each text caption type is named and a small thumbnail image shows what the text caption looks like.

Font: Click the pop-up menu to select a font for the text caption.

Size: Click the pop-up menu to select a font size for the caption text.

Color: Click the color box to select a font color for the caption text.

Caption style: Click one of the five text caption types. Many of the text caption styles contain text captions with directional callouts so you can select a text caption that points in the most appropriate direction.

Display options: If you want, set additional display options such as bold, italic, or underlined text, and text justification.

Type caption text here: Enter the caption text exactly as you want it to appear.

Apply properties to all captions in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all text captions in the movie. Properties applied to all text captions are caption style, font type, font size, font color, and transition.Text and text properties (bold, center, and so on) and display time are not applied to all text captions, but remain as set for each individual text caption.

Note: If you change the settings on this dialog, they become the default settings and any new captions you create use the new settings.

Click the Options tab and set the following options:

Display for [time]: Specifies the timing of the text caption. Click on the pop-up menu and select an option. If you select the specific time option, you can enter the exact number of seconds for the text caption to appear.

Appear after [#] seconds: Displays the text caption after the slide has been displayed for the selected number of seconds.

Effect: Click the pop-up menu and select a transition effect for the text caption. Select a fade in or fade out option, or select No transition.

Apply effect to all captions in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all the text captions in the movie.

If you want to add audio to the text caption, click the Audio tab.

When you finish, click OK.

The text caption appears on the slide.

Size and drag the text caption as you like.

Note: If you create a transparent caption, avoid underlining text. In order to display underlining in transparent captions properly, we must use a font display method that may decrease text quality.

Tip: If you add a transparent text caption, avoid using bold text. Regular text appears clearer than bold text on most monitors.

Adding plain text to a slide

As you edit a movie, you may want to add some text to the slide, but not have the text appear as a text caption over the slide. There is an easy trick you can use to add plain text to a slide: simply add the text as a transparent text caption.

To create a transparent text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide to which you want to add a transparent text caption.

58 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

From the Insert menu, select Text Caption.

The Caption Properties dialog box appears.

In Caption type, click the pop-up menu and select [transparent].

Change other text caption options as necessary.

Font: Click the pop-up menu to select a font for the text caption.

Size: Click the pop-up menu to select a font size for the caption text.

Color: Click the color box to select a font color for the caption text.

Caption style: (There is only one text caption style for a transparent caption because only text is displayed.)

Display options: If you want, set the additional display options such as bold, italic, underline, and justification.

Type caption text here: Enter the caption text exactly as you want it to appear.

Apply properties to all captions in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made in this dialog box to all text captions in the movie. Properties applied to all text captions are caption style, font type, font size, font color, and transition.text and text properties (bold, center, and so on), and display time are not applied to all text captions, but remain as set for each individual text caption.

Click OK.

Note: If you create a transparent caption, avoid underlining text. In order to display underlining in transparent captions properly, we must use a font display method that may decrease text quality.

Tip: After adding the transparent text caption, you may want to merge the caption with the slide background.

Adding text captions automatically

When you record movies, or additional slides for movies, Captivate can automatically create text captions based upon the action recorded. For example, if you record the action of selecting the File menu, Captivate can automatically add a text caption that reads “Select File menu” on the same slide.

Actions that generate text captions include the following: selecting menus and menu items, pressing buttons, changing values in locations such as lists, combo boxes, or check boxes, and opening child windows.

To add text captions automatically when recording a new movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select the Application, Custom Size, or Full screen option and click OK.

Click Options.

The Recording Options dialog box appears.

Adding text captions automatically 59

Select the Recording Options tab.

Select Enable auto recording.

In Language, select the language in which you want the text captions to be written.

In Recording mode, select Demonstration or Custom. In both of these modes, text captions are automatically added. (To further fine-tune custom settings, click the Edit settings button.)

Click OK.

10.

Click Record to begin recording a new movie and automatically creating text captions.

11.

After you have finished recording and the movie has been generated (including the automatically created text captions), view the individual slides in the movie to see the text captions. To edit caption text, double-click a text caption.

To add text captions automatically when recording additional slides:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the Insert menu, select Record Additional Slides.

Decide where the new slides should be added. You can add new slides to the end of the movie, or click on a slide in the list and add new slides after the selected slide.

When you finish, click OK.

The recording window appears.

Click Options.

The Recording Options dialog box appears.

Select the Recording Options tab.

Select Enable auto recording.

In Language, select the language in which you want the text captions to be written.

From the Recording mode pop-up menu, select Demonstration or Custom. In both of these modes, Captivate automatically adds text captions.

10.

Click OK.

11.

Click Record to begin recording additional slides.

12.

When you finish, press End (on your keyboard) to stop recording.

The new slides are generated and are displayed in Storyboard view.

13.

Double-click on a new slide to view the slide and read the text captions that Captivate automatically added. To edit caption text, double-click a caption.

Note: Captivate can automatically generate text captions for all standard Windows user interface elements. It might not, however, support nonstandard user interface elements, including menu text in applications created with Delphi.

60 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

Adding rollover captions

Rollover captions are unique. They consist of a caption and a rectangle (the “hot” area). Rollover captions appear when the user moves the mouse over the hot area at runtime. You can customize everything about a rollover caption: the location, outline, and size of the hot area, as well as the usual caption options.

To add a rollover caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide to which you want to add a rollover caption.

From the Insert menu, select Rollover Caption.

The Rollover Caption Properties dialog box appears.

On the Rollover Caption tab, set the following properties:

Caption type: Click the pop-up menu to select a caption type. Each caption type is named, and a small thumbnail image shows what the caption looks like.

Font: Click the pop-up menu to select a font for the caption.

Size: Click the pop-up menu to select a font size for the caption text.

Color: Click the color box to select a font color for the caption text.

Caption style: Click one of the five caption types. Many of the caption styles contain captions with directional callouts so you can select a caption that points in the most appropriate direction.

Display options: If you want, set the additional display options such as bold, italic, underline, and justification.

Type caption text here: Enter the rollover caption text exactly as you want it to appear.

Apply properties to all rollover captions in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all rollover captions in the movie.

Click the Options tab and set the following options:

Effect: Click the pop-up menu and choose a transition effect for the rollover caption. Select Fade in and out, Fade in only, Fade out only, or No transition. If you do select a fade in or fade out effect, specify the exact amount of time (in seconds) for the effect.

Apply effect to all rollover captions in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all rollover captions in the movie.

If you want to add audio to the caption, click the Audio tab.

Click OK.

The rollover caption and the rollover area are added to the slide. The rollover area defines where the mouse needs to be for the caption to appear.

Changing the rollover area

Rollover captions and rollover images consist of a caption or image and a rollover area (the “hot” area). The rollover area defines where the mouse needs to be for the caption or image to appear.

Changing the rollover area 61

To edit the rollover area:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide containing the rollover caption or image.

■ To change the size of the rollover area, click one of the handles and drag.

■ To move the rollover area to another location, move the mouse over the rollover area until

the hand cursor appears. Drag the box to the desired location.

■ To modify the rollover area attributes, double-click inside the rollover area box and use the

Rollover Area dialog box to make changes.

Converting tooltips to rollover captions

When you record a new movie or record additional slides for an existing movie, you can set a recording option that requires Captivate to convert tooltips to rollover captions. When this option is selected, Captivate creates a rollover caption for every tooltip that is selected during the recording process.

Converting tooltips to rollover captions is an easy way to automatically create an appropriate and descriptive caption for action taking place in a movie.

To convert tooltips to rollover captions automatically when recording a new movie:

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select the Application, Custom Size, or Full screen option and click OK.

Click Options.

The Recording Options dialog box appears.

Click the Recording Options tab.

Select Enable auto recording.

In Language, select the language in which you want the rollover captions to be written.

In Recording defaults, select a caption style from the pop-up menu, or click Edit settings to customize the styles of default captions.

In Recording mode, click the pop-up menu and elect Custom.

10.

Click Edit settings.

11.

Select Convert tooltips to rollover captions.

12.

Click OK.

13.

Click OK again.

14.

Click Record to begin recording a new movie and automatically converting tooltips to rollover captions.

62 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

To convert tooltips to rollover captions automatically when recording additional slides:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the Insert menu, select Record Additional Slides.

Select the option to add the additional slides to the end of the movie or to a location within the movie.

Click OK.

The Record Movie dialog box appears.

Click Options.

The Recording Options dialog box appears.

Select the Recording Options tab.

Select Enable auto recording.

In Language, select the language in which you want the rollover captions to be written.

In Recording defaults, select a caption style from the pop-up menu, or click Edit settings to customize the styles of default captions.

10.

In Recording mode, click the pop-up menu and select Custom.

11.

Click Edit settings.

12.

Select Convert tooltips to rollover captions.

13.

Click OK.

14.

Click OK again.

15.

Click Record to begin recording additional slides and automatically converting tooltips to rollover captions.

Localizing text captions

If you are localizing a movie that contains text captions, you can export text captions to make the process more efficient.

To localize text captions:

Create the initial (“source language”) version of the movie, including all necessary text captions.

Open the completed movie.

From the File menu, select Import/Export > Export movie captions.

The Word file is generated with the name you specified and saved to the location you selected. A dialog box appears, asking if you want to view the document. Click Yes to view the document in Word.

Localizing text captions 63

While the localizer/translator is translating the text, make a copy of the original Captivate movie for the new language.

When the text captions are localized, open the copy of the project you created in step 8.

10.

From the File menu, select Import/Export > Import Movie Captions.

11.

Navigate to the localized text captions Word (DOC) file, select the file, and click Open.

12.

The new, localized text captions are imported into the movie and all formatting is retained. A dialog box appears showing a successful import message. Click OK.

13.

Test the new text captions by opening different slides in Edit view and reading the new caption text.

Editing text captions

After you have created text captions, it is easy to make changes to the caption style or text.

Note: If you are resizing a text caption, you cannot make the text caption smaller than the bitmap used to create the text caption. For example, the text caption style “Pill” uses bitmaps sized approximately 18 pixels (wide) x 16 pixels (high), so these bitmaps could not be resized down to 15 x 12 pixels. However, any of the text caption bitmaps can be made larger. If you need very small text captions, consider creating custom captions.

To edit a text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click the slide that contains the text caption you want to edit.

Double-click the text caption to edit.

The Text Caption dialog box appears.

Click the various tabs and make any changes you want. (For details about all of the available options, click the Help button.)

When you finish, click OK.

Tip: If you have a detailed slide that contains text captions and other objects, you might want to make the text caption a permanent part of the background.

64 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

Creating custom text caption styles

You can create custom text caption styles for your Captivate movies with a graphics program, such as Macromedia Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop.

Custom text captions must be in BMP (bitmap) format. In general, each Captivate text caption has five associated bitmap images.

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 new 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.bmp an image with a callout to the right or upper right

• Brightblue3.bmp an image with a callout to the left or upper left

• Brightblue4.bmp an image with a callout to the lower right

• Brightblue5.bmp an image with a callout to the lower left

Storing custom text caption styles

You must store all of the bitmap images for a custom text caption style in the Captivate Captions folder (located in: C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery\Captions). After you add the five new bitmaps to the captions folder, Captivate recognizes the bitmap files as a new text caption style. The next time you add a new text caption, your new custom style appears in the text caption style list, so you can easily select and use the new style.

Text alignment on custom text captions

Sometimes text on custom text captions can appear out of alignment. To solve this problem, you must set the left, right, top, and bottom margins.

Each of the five text caption styles requires different margin settings because text appears at slightly different places on each text caption.

The margin settings are stored in a text file with the extension .fcm. You can use Notepad or WordPad to create or edit FCM files.

To change text alignment on a custom text caption:

Using Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate \Gallery\Captions. All of the text caption BMP and corresponding FCM files are located in this folder.

Right-click the exact FCM file you need to edit, and select Open with.

Select Notepad or WordPad.

Creating custom text caption styles 65

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.

(Optional) If necessary, you can edit the MarginX and MarginY settings. This can be important if you are adding captions automatically.

■ MarginX is the number of pixels horizontally from the nearest corner to the tip of the

caption callout.

■ Margin Y is the number of pixels vertically from the nearest corner to the tip of the caption

callout.

Note: The nearest corner is identified in the file open in NotePad or Wordpad under “Corner.” For example, Corner=right, top.

From the File menu, select Save.

A dialog box may appear, asking if you want to replace the original file. Click Yes.

Close the program (Notepad or WordPad).

Design tips for custom text captions

• Colors: The colors in the text caption should not be the same color as the transparent color.

The transparent color is determined by the upper left pixel. For example, if the color in the upper left pixel is yellow, everything that is the same color yellow will be transparent in the text caption. Also, the text caption itself can have a gradient background, but the area around (“behind”) the text caption, must be a solid color.

• Anti-alias: Do not anti-alias the edges of your text captions. Your text captions will appear on

different screen shots and the anti-alias might cause a jagged halo effect on some screen shots.

Moving and resizing text captions

You can resize text captions manually or automatically, and move text captions to new locations on a slide.

Note: If you are resizing a text caption, you cannot make the caption smaller than the bitmap used to create the caption. For example, the caption style “Pill” uses bitmaps sized approximately 18 pixels (wide) x 16 pixels (high), so these bitmaps could not be resized down to 15 x 12 pixels. However, any of the caption bitmaps can be made larger. If you need very small captions, consider creating custom captions.

To manually resize a text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click on a slide that contains a text caption.

Click the text caption you want to resize.

66 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

Move your mouse pointer over one of selection handles on the edge of the text caption until the pointer becomes a resize handle.

Using the left mouse button, drag to resize the text caption.

To automatically resize text captions:

Captivate can automatically resize a text caption according to the amount of text in the text caption. If you edit the text, the text caption changes size to match the new amount of text. This is an easy way to keep your text captions looking balanced and proportional.

Open a Captivate movie that contains text captions.

From the Options menu, select Autosize Captions. (If a check mark appears next to the option, Autosize Captions is enabled; if no check mark is visible, Autosize Captions is not enabled.)

To move a text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click on a slide that contains a text caption.

Move the mouse over the caption you want to move.

When the hand cursor appears, use the left mouse button to drag the text caption to a new location on the slide.

Copying and pasting text captions

You can copy and paste text captions between slides. This is a great time-saver, especially if you need to have the same text caption on multiple slides.

To copy and paste a text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

Double-click on the slide containing the text caption you want to copy.

Right-click the text caption and select Copy.

Navigate to the slide where you want to paste the caption.

Right-click on the slide and select Paste Object.

Tip: You can copy and paste more than one text caption at a time. To select multiple text captions, press SHIFT and click on the text captions. Then, right-click on one of the selected text captions and choose Copy.

Importing text captions

You can import text captions from a DOC file. First, you export the text captions from your Captivate movie. Captivate creates a DOC file that preserves all of the formatting from the text captions. While the text captions are in DOC format, you can make text and formatting changes in a word processing program. Then import the text captions back into the Captivate movie using the steps below.

Note: If you export text captions to a DOC file, that DOC file can only be imported back into the original movie.

Importing text captions 67

Importing and exporting text captions to and from a DOC file can be useful in several situations. For example, if you have many text captions and need to edit the text on all of them, it might be easier and faster to work with the text in DOC format instead of navigating from slide to slide.

To import text captions:

Open the Captivate movie containing text captions.

Export the text captions.

Make the necessary changes while the text captions are in DOC format (in the Updated Text Caption Data column), and save the DOC file.

From the Captivate File menu, select Import/Export > Import movie captions.

Select the DOC file that contains the exported text captions.

Click Open.

An Information dialog box appears, confirming that the import was successful. Click OK.

Exporting text captions

You can export text captions from an existing Captivate movie into a DOC file if you have Microsoft Word installed on your computer. All formatting done in Captivate is preserved when the text captions open as a DOC file. You can make text and formatting changes to the text captions while they are in DOC format and then import them back into the Captivate movie.

Note: If you export text captions to a DOC file, that DOC file can only be imported back into the original movie.

Exporting text captions can be useful in several situations:

• If voice-over narration will be recorded and you need to create a script, exported text captions

can provide the foundation for the script.

• If you want to provide printed step-by-step instructions, you can export text captions and print

the DOC file.

• If a movie must be localized, you can export text captions into a DOC file and give it to a

translator.

To export text captions:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the File menu, select Import/Export > Export movie captions.

In the Save As dialog box, enter a filename for the new DOC file.

Note the default directory where the file will be saved. If you want, navigate to a different location in which to save the file.

Click Save.

The text captions from the movie are converted into DOC format. A dialog box appears, confirming that the text captions were exported to Word and asking if you would like to view the document.

68 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

Click Yes.

A new DOC file that contains the caption text opens in Word. Make any necessary text changes in the Updated Text Caption Data column. The slide number is also included as a reference.

Save the document.

Import the text captions back into the Captivate movie.

Changing text caption order

Captivate lets you add multiple captions to each slide. You specify the order in which these captions appear using the Timeline. The Timeline enables you to precisely adjust the timing of all objects, including captions, on a slide.

To change caption order using the Timeline:

Open a Captivate project.

Navigate to the slide containing the captions whose order you want to change.

If it is not open already, show the Timeline by clicking on the splitter bar. To expand the Timeline, click the display arrow.

Change the order and timing of captions as required.

■ For example, move the mouse over the left or right edge of a caption on the Timeline until

the resize cursor appears, and then drag the edge left or right. This changes the time at which the caption appears or ends and the length of time the caption appears.

■ Alternatively, if you have a caption that is currently displayed at the same time the slide is

displayed, but you want a slight delay, move the mouse over the center of the caption on the Timeline until the hand cursor appears, and then drag the entire caption so the left edge aligns with 2s (a 2-second delay) or 4s (a 4-second delay) in the header.

If you have two captions that overlap on the slide, you need to select the caption you want to appear in front by setting the stacking order. Changing the stacking order consists of moving captions to the back and front of the slide “stage.” The key point to remember is that captions at the back of the stage appear behind other captions. Use one of the following methods to set the stacking order.

■ In Edit view, right-click a caption on the slide and select one of the caption order options. If

necessary, right-click other captions on the slide and adjust their order.

■ In Edit view, on the Timeline, move the mouse over a caption until the hand appears and

drag the caption up or down to change its position in the stacking order. Moving a caption higher in the stacking order moves it to the front of the stage, while moving a caption lower moves it to the back of the stage.

Changing text caption order 69

Deleting text captions

Deleting a text caption removes it from the slide and the movie.

To delete a text caption:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click a slide that contains text captions.

Right-click on a text caption and select Delete.

70 Chapter 4: Adding Text Captions

CHAPTER 5

Adding Audio

Captivate lets you add narration, music, step-by-step instructions, or almost any sound to your projects. You can use audio as critical direction, emphasis, or background effect. In general, sound can be as individual and flexible as any other movie component.

Audio can be used in Captivate projects in a variety of ways. For example, you can do the following:

• Add a background track that plays for the duration of the movie.

• Add sound to an individual slide.

• Add sound to a specific object, such as a caption, click box, highlight box, or button.

Use all three of the above options in the same project.

Captivate lets you record your own audio files (using some simple equipment) or import existing files. You can record audio files at the same time the movie is recorded, or you can add an audio file later. Imported files can be in WAV or MP3 format. (If you add a WAV file to a movie, Captivate automatically converts the WAV file to MP3 format.)

After audio has been added to a movie, you can adjust the timing of objects to fit the sound file precisely. Captivate also contains features that enable you to add silent periods to audio files and to normalize audio for all slides so the sound level is consistent.

Tip: 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 Captivate: C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery.

Adding existing audio

You can quickly add audio to a movie if you already have audio files in WAV or MP3 format. Simply import the files and use them as opening music, background narration, instructions, or any other purposes.

Note: When WAV files are imported into Captivate movies, they are automatically converted to MP3 files.

To add audio to a slide:

Open a Captivate project.

Do one of the following:

■ In Storyboard view, select a slide. From the Audio menu, select Import.

■ In Edit view, from the Audio menu, select Import.

The Import Audio dialog box appears.

Navigate to the audio file (WAV or MP3) you want to add to the slide, select the audio file, and click Open.

(Optional) If the playing time of the audio file is longer than the playing time of the slide, a dialog box appears asking if you would like to edit slide timing. Click Yes to open the Edit Audio Timing dialog box.

Equipment for recording audio

Having the right audio equipment makes a big difference in the quality of recorded audio. Surprisingly, basic audio equipment can be relatively inexpensive.

• Computer with sound card The sound card installed with your computer acts as a digital

recorder for audio.

• Microphone If possible, avoid using the inexpensive microphone packaged with your

computer. Also, use a proper microphone cable and a stand to hold the microphone while you are recording.

• Microphone preamplifier A preamplifier boosts the signal of the microphone. The

microphone input of your computer's sound card probably includes a preamplifier, but it is most likely a poor quality one. When purchasing a preamplifier, you can choose a small mixer or a stand-alone version. Mixers let you connect several microphones and devices to one location and adjust their volumes independently. Stand-alone preamplifiers are considered better than mixers at filtering out unwanted noises.

• Speakers The speakers that came with your computer are probably good enough for

recording purposes, although you may want to change some of your speaker settings. However, if you are working on a laptop, you must use standard desktop computer speakers instead of the built-in laptop speakers.

Note: In Microsoft Windows operating systems, you can usually find speaker (sound) settings by clicking Start in the lower left corner and selecting Settings > Control Panel > Sounds.

• Headphones Headphones are important because when the microphone is on, speakers can

cause distracting feedback. Additionally, it is best to use closed-ear headphones that prevent leaking sound (which can be picked up by the microphone).

72 Chapter 5: Adding 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). An excellent, easy-touse, and free option is software named Audacity (available from audacity.sourceforge.net).

• 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. Try closing doors, turning off any unnecessary computer equipment, turning off or lowering lights that might be making noise, turning off phone ringers, beepers, and pagers. Of course, try to tell coworkers that recording is in progress.

Recording audio tips

Follow these tips to ensure that you are recording the highest quality audio possible.

Setup: Once you have acquired the necessary audio recording equipment, ensure that it is set up properly. First, plug your microphone into your mixer or preamplifier, and then plug the output of that device into your computer sound card's “line in.” Plug your headphones into your computer. Then, set the volume on your mixer or preamplifier. Begin speaking to test the volume levels, and carefully raise the volume until it shows just under zero.

Sound card settings: Open the software application that controls the sound card. (In most Windows operating systems, you can find sound settings by clicking Start in the lower left corner and selecting Settings > Control Panel > Sounds.) Select the recording source (line in) and adjust the volume to 100%.

Note: You control the actual recording level with your mixer or preamplifier.

Audio recording software settings: Start your audio recording software. Change the settings as necessary. Note that mixers and preamplifiers do not have sound level controls, so you rely on the meters when recording. While recording, ensure that you do not exceed zero on the meters, or the sound will be distorted.

Microphone placement: Positioning your microphone correctly can made a big difference in the finished audio file. First, get close to the microphone (within 4 to 6 inches), so any other nearby sounds have less chance of being recorded. Don't speak down to the microphone; instead, position it above your nose and pointed down at your mouth. Finally, position the microphone slightly to the side of your mouth, because this can help soften the sound of the letters S and P.

Microphone technique: Have a glass of water nearby so you can avoid “dry mouth.” Before recording, turn away from the microphone, take a deep breath, exhale, take another deep breath, open your mouth, turn back toward the microphone, and start speaking. This trick can eliminate breathing and lip-smacking sounds frequently recorded at the beginning of audio tracks. Speak slowly and carefully. You may feel that you are speaking artificially slowly, but you should be able to adjust the speed later by using your audio recording software. Finally, bear in mind that you don't have to get everything right the first time. You can listen and evaluate each recording and rerecord if required.

Recording audio tips 73

Audio editing: Editing sound is similar to editing text. Listen carefully to your recording. Delete any extraneous sounds and then use the options available in your software to polish the track. Add any music or sound effects you require. Make sure you save your audio track in the correct format (MP3 or WAV files).

Adding audio files to Captivate: When you think the audio file is done, add it to the Captivate project.

Additional feedback: When the audio is added to the Captivate project, listen to the audio again. Play the movie as users normally would. Finally, ask others to preview the movie/audio file. If necessary, edit the audio file again.

Setting audio recording options

Audio files present the common challenge of balancing quality against size. The higher the sound quality, the larger the file size. The more you compress a sound and the lower the sampling rate, the smaller the size and the lower the quality. Captivate lets you control the way sound is recorded and compressed based upon your input and output requirements.

Creating audio in Captivate is essentially a two-part process. You record audio in WAV format, and then 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.

Of course, when working with audio, keep your users in mind. If a user is likely to access the Captivate movie by using a dial-up modem, use a higher compression/lower sampling rate, such as 56 Kbps. However, if you are distributing the movie on a CD-ROM, you can use a lower compression/higher sampling rate, such as 144 Kbps. In the best development case, experiment to find the optimal balance between sound quality and file size for your users.

To set audio recording options:

Open a Captivate project.

To open the Record Audio dialog box, do one of the following:

■ In Storyboard view, click Audio on the toolbar.

■ In Edit view, click Audio on the toolbar.

Click Options.

■ The Audio options dialog box appears.

Set the following options:

■ Input source: Specifies the type of recording device you are using to create audio. Select

Microphone if you are using a microphone, or select Line in if you are using a different type of recording device.

■ Audio quality: Specifies a quality level for the audio. Click the pop-up menu and select an

option. Remember that a higher quality level results in a larger audio file size.

■ Calibrate input: Click to display the Calibrate microphone dialog box. It is important to

calibrate your recording device for optimal sound quality.

When you finish, click OK.

74 Chapter 5: Adding Audio

Calibrating microphones for recording

If you are recording audio for a project, you must set the microphone or recording device to the correct recording level. This process is called calibrating the recording device. Captivate can detect optimal microphone and recording sensitivity levels automatically.

Note: Captivate must be able to detect a recording device before trying to calibrate. Check that a microphone or recording device using “line in” is connected to your computer properly and is turned on before calibrating.

To calibrate a microphone or recording device:

Open the Captivate project for which you want to record a new audio file.

From the Audio menu, select Record.

The Record Audio dialog box appears.

Click Options.

The Audio options dialog box appears.

Click Calibrate input.

The Calibrate microphone dialog box appears.

To set the correct recording device level, read the following sentence into the microphone until the red recording window becomes green:

“I am setting my microphone recording level for use with Captivate.”

When you finish, click OK.

Recording audio

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. For example, if you have text captions in a movie, you can record a voice-over narration track of someone reading the text on the captions.

To record audio:

Open a Captivate project.

To open the Record Audio dialog box, do one of the following:

■ In Storyboard view, click Audio on the toolbar.

■ In Edit view, click Audio on the toolbar.

If you want to set recording options, click Options and make the necessary changes. Depending on the type of recording (voice-over, music, etc.) and the desired playback (within an EXE file, over the Internet, and so on), you may need to adjust audio settings.

(Optional) If you have created text captions or slide notes that can be used as a script, select the View Script option. (The text will appear on the right.)

Click Record to begin recording.

Speak into the microphone or recording device.

Recording audio 75

When you finish, click Stop.

The audio is converted to MP3 format.

Click Play to listen to the recording.

When you finish, click OK.

Recording audio while creating a movie

Captivate lets you record an audio track at the same time you record a new Captivate movie. This can be a very efficient way to create a full-featured movie quickly.

In the process below, the steps explain how to record audio while creating a Captivate movie about an application. The process is similar if you create a custom size or full screen Captivate movie.

To record audio and a new Captivate movie at the same time:

Open the application you want to record. (You must do this before recording.)

Prepare your recording equipment.

Open Captivate.

On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.

The New movie options dialog box appears.

Select Application and click OK.

The Recording window appears.

In the Record specific window pop-up menu, select the application to record.

Select Record narration.

(Optional) Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options, including the capability to automatically capture screen shots and automatically generate text captions.

(Optional) If necessary, change the size and position of the window. You can resize the window by selecting one of the sizing handles on the red frame and dragging it. To change the location of the window, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, and then drag the entire window to a new position. You can also click Snap red recording area to fit select window to quickly change the size of the recording area to match the size of the application.

10.

When you finish setting options, click Record.

If this is the first time you are recording audio, a dialog box appears asking if you would like to test audio levels. Click Yes to calibrate the recording device for optimal recording. Follow the instructions and when you finish, click OK.

76 Chapter 5: Adding Audio

11.

Captivate begins recording the onscreen action.

■ As you record the movie, speak into your microphone or recording device to create an audio

soundtrack. For example, you can explain the actions you are taking or read the text on captions.

■ If you are automatically recording the movie (that is, you selected the Enable auto recording

option in step 8), Captivate automatically captures a screen shot every time you perform an action, such as selecting a menu, clicking a button, or typing text.

■ If you are manually recording the movie (that is, you did not select the Enable auto

recording option in step 8) press the Print Screen key (or other designated capture key) to capture screen shots.

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

12.

When you finish recording, press the End key (or other designated key) to stop recording.

The slides are generated and your new movie appears in Storyboard view. The audio files you recorded are assigned to the correct slide and saved as individual MP3 files. You can view the files in the Audio Library.

Tip: If you need to pause the movie recording process, press the Pause/Break key. To restart movie recording, press the Pause/Break key again.

Creating background audio

You can create background audio for your projects. The audio plays while the slides of your movie are shown. Background audio can be music, sound effects, or almost any kind of sound you can import or record.

You can use background audio together with individual slide audio for a truly professional effect. 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 movie, you can record voice-over narration for individual slides, and when the voice-over audio plays, the music volume is lowered.

To create background audio:

Open a Captivate project.

From the Movie menu, select Preferences.

Click the Background Audio tab.

Import an existing audio file by clicking Import, navigating to the file, selecting the file, and clicking Open. (If you want to use an audio file that is already in your movie, click Audio library.)

(Optional) Click Play to listen to the audio file.

Creating background audio 77

Select from the following options:

Fade in and Fade out lets you set a time, in seconds, for the audio file to fade in and fade out at the beginning and end of the movie.

Lower background audio volume on slides with additional audio lets you automatically reduce the background audio volume on slides that have individual audio files assigned, such as voiceover narration.

Loop audio lets you have the background audio file replay continuously.

Stop at end of movie lets you have the background audio stop when the movie ends. When you finish, click OK to add the background audio to your movie.

Using a custom keyboard tap sound

Captivate includes a feature that records a keyboard tap sound whenever you press keys on the keyboard while recording a movie. You can include or exclude the tap sounds. You can also create a custom keyboard tap sound to use.

To use a custom keyboard tap sound:

Create a new sound for keystrokes, or use an existing MP3 file (for example, one of the Windows sound files).

Name the new sound file KeyClick.mp3.

Save the file and note the location to which the file is saved.

Using Windows Explorer, browse to the Captivate sound effects folder. (The default location is C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery\SoundEffects.)

Locate the file named KeyClick.mp3. This is the Captivate default keystroke sound file.

Note: Before overwriting the file, you may want to copy and place the original KeyClick.mp3 file in a backup folder so it can be used again if necessary.

Copy the new keyboard tap sound from the location in step 3 above, and paste it into the Captivate sound effects folder.

Check that the keyboard tap sounds option is selected.

Adding silence to an audio file

You can add a period of silence to any audio file that is part of a Captivate project. This feature is particularly useful if you have imported an audio file and need to synchronize the audio with objects and slides. By adding silent periods, you can make the existing audio file work in a Captivate project without having to edit the audio extensively.

To add a silent period to an audio file:

Open a Captivate project that contains audio files.

Select a slide that contains an audio file. (In Storyboard view, slides containing an audio file display the audio icon beneath the slide.)

78 Chapter 5: Adding Audio

From the Audio menu, select Edit audio.

The Edit Audio dialog box appears.

You can add silence to the beginning of the audio file, to the end, or to a specific location within the audio file. If you want to add silence within the file, click the exact location directly on the waveform.

Tip: 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).

Click Insert Silence.

The Insert Silence dialog box appears.

The silent periods you add to the audio file are measured in seconds. In the Insert box, type in a number to specify the length of the silent period.

In the text box to the right, click the pop-up menu and select the position in the audio file to which you want to add the silence. The choices are Current selection (chosen in step 4 above), Start of audio, or End of audio.

Click OK.

The silent period is added to the audio file and you can see the silent period in the waveform.

To test the audio file with the silent period added, click Play in the bottom left corner.

Adjusting audio volume

You can adjust the volume of audio files included in your Captivate projects.

To adjust the volume of audio files:

Open a Captivate project that contains audio files.

Select a slide that contains an audio file. (In Storyboard view, slides containing an audio file display the audio icon beneath the slide.)

From the Audio menu, select Edit audio.

The Edit Audio dialog box appears.

Click Adjust volume.

The Adjust Volume dialog box appears.

To change the volume, click the volume slider on the left side and drag it up to increase volume or down to decrease volume.

Adjusting audio volume 79

If you want, change audio processing options:

Normalize: Select this option to have Captivate adjust the sound volume automatically. Normalizing audio helps keep the sound level consistent between slides.

Dynamics: Select this option to amplify quiet sections of the audio to help compensate for variations in audio volume.

■ Ratio: Specifies the maximum amplification that will be used. The default setting of 2.0 sets

the quietest sections of the audio to be amplified by a factor of 2. A higher setting can improve projects with large differences between quiet and loud sections, but can also amplify background noise.

■ Noise Threshold: Controls the amplification of background noise. Anything quieter than

the noise threshold is not amplified. If background noise is amplified too much, setting a higher noise threshold may help solve the problem. (Note that the Dynamics option does not work well with high noise levels.)

When you finish, click OK.

Adding existing 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 also use the Audio Library to add an audio file that is already in your current project.

To import an audio file:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click the slide that contains the button or box to which you want to add audio. Then double-click the button or box.

Click the Audio tab.

Click Import.

Browse to the audio file you want to add, select the file, and click Open.

(Optional) To listen to and test the audio file, click Play.

Set other options as necessary.

■ To edit the audio file (for example, change volume, add silence, change length, and so on),

click Edit.

■ If you want the audio to fade in or fade out, set the number of seconds using the arrows in

Fade in and Fade out.

When you finish, click OK.

80 Chapter 5: Adding Audio

To select an audio file from the Audio library:

Note: In order to use the Audio library option, the Captivate project must contain one or more audio files. If there are no audio files in the project, the Audio library option is unavailable.

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click the slide that contains the button or box to which you want to add audio. Then double-click the button or box.

Click the Audio tab.

Click Audio library.

In the Audio Clips list, select an audio file.

(Optional) To listen to the audio file, click Play.

To add the selected audio file to the button or box, click OK.

Tip: You can also record a new audio file to use with boxes and buttons.

Tip: You can attach an audio file to a button or click box and have the audio play when the user clicks

on the button or click box instead of when the button or click box displays. 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.

Recording audio for boxes and buttons

You can record an audio file to use with buttons, highlight boxes, click boxes, or text entry boxes. Recording audio requires some basic equipment.

Note: You can also add existing audio to boxes and buttons.

To record an audio file:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click the slide that contains the button or box to which you want to add audio. Then double-click the button or box.

Double-click a slide to which you want to add a button. Then, from the Insert menu, select Highlight Box, Click Box, Text Entry Box, or Button.

Click the Audio tab.

Click Record new.

On the Record Audio dialog box, click Record.

When you are finished recording, click Stop.

To listen to and test the audio file, click Play.

When you are finished, click OK.

Click OK again.

Recording audio for boxes and buttons 81

Setting keyboard tap sounds

You can include or exclude keyboard tap sounds in your movies. The tapping sounds are included in Captivate movies whenever you press keys on the keyboard while recording. If you do not like the tapping sounds in your finished movie, use the procedure below to remove them. The tapping sound is a movie-level setting, so the sound either plays on all slides or is removed from all slides.

To set keyboard tap sounds:

Open a Captivate project.

From the Movie menu, select Preferences.

Click the Preferences tab.

If a check mark appears next to the Play tap audio for recorded typing when movie is generated option, keyboard tap sounds are played in the movie. If a check mark does not appear, keyboard tap sounds are not played in the movie.

Editing audio files

You can edit the audio files in your Captivate project at any time. Using the Edit Audio dialog box, you can listen to an audio file, insert silence, adjust volume, and change numerous other options.

To edit an audio file:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click on a slide containing audio. (In Storyboard view, slides containing an audio file display the audio icon beneath the slide.)

From the Audio menu, select Edit audio.

Make any necessary edits. You can cut and paste sections of the audio file, insert periods of silence to lengthen the audio file, adjust volume, import a different audio file, and more options.

Cut: Click to cut the selected portion of the audio file.

Copy: Click to copy the selection portion of the audio file.

Paste: Click to paste information from the Clipboard. (For example, if you select a section of the audio file, and then click the Cut or Copy button, the selected audio is placed on the Clipboard. You can then use the Paste feature to place the audio located on the Clipboard back into any location within the audio file.)

Delete: Click to remove the selection portion of the audio file.

Undo: Click to undo the last action taken.

Redo: Click to redo the last action taken.

Insert silence: Click to add a period of silence to the beginning or end of the audio file, or to a specific location within the audio file.

Adjust volume: Click to increase or decrease the sound level of the audio file. There is also an option to fine-tune quieter portions of the audio file.

Zoom in: Click to enlarge the waveform.

82 Chapter 5: Adding Audio

Zoom out: Click to shrink the waveform.

Options: Click to set various options such as recording device, audio quality level, and recording device calibration.

Record/Insert new audio: Click to begin recording audio. (To record, you need a microphone.)

Play: Click to play the audio file.

Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file.

Import: Click to add a different audio file to the slide.

When you finish editing the audio file, click OK.

Editing audio timing

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 movies.

After you record or import an audio file, the file appears as a waveform in the Edit Audio Timing dialog box. If your project contains multiple audio files, you can see which audio files are assigned to specific slides.

To edit audio timing:

Open a Captivate project containing one or more audio files.

From the Audio menu, select Edit timing.

The Edit Audio Timing dialog box appears.

Any audio files incorporated into the Captivate project are displayed as waveforms. Slide numbers are shown along the top of the waveform so you can see exactly how the audio files are currently distributed across the slides.

■ To change how audio files are distributed across slides, click on a slide divider at the top of a

red slide marker line and slide the divider to the left or right. The waveform remains static, but you change where the audio file begins to play within the Captivate movie. This option is particularly useful if you have a long audio file and need to experiment with assigning the file to one slide or having it play over multiple slides.

■ To listen to audio, click on a location within the waveform and then click Play. The audio

plays from the location you selected to the end of all audio in the movie. (You can stop the playback at any time by clicking Stop.)

■ To zoom in on a particular area of the waveform, click on the waveform and then click

zoom in or zoom out. (Alternatively, click in the waveform and roll your mouse wheel to zoom in and out). The scale at which you are viewing the waveform is shown in the Scale information box near the lower-right corner of the dialog box.

■ To cut or copy and paste audio, select a section of an audio file directly on the waveform,

click Cut or Copy, click on a different location on the waveform, and click Paste.

■ To delete audio, select a section of an audio file directly on the waveform and click Delete.

Editing audio timing 83

■ You can insert a silent period within an audio file. If you want the silent period to begin in a

specific location within an audio file, click the location directly on the waveform. Click Insert silence. Type in the length of the silent period you want to add and then click on the pop-up menu to select a location for the silent period: the location you clicked on the waveform, the beginning of audio, or the end of audio.

■ To adjust the sound level of audio files, click Adjust volume. Use the slider bar to increase or

decrease volume and select audio processing options.

■ To set recording device and audio quality options, click Options.

■ To add a new audio file, click on a location within the waveform, select Import (lower-left

corner), navigate to a file, and click Open. The audio file is imported directly into the Captivate movie in the location you specified.

Viewing audio details

You can view all audio details in one convenient location in Captivate. This is an easy way to see the playing time, size, and other attributes of all the audio files in a single movie.

To view audio details:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the Audio menu, select Advanced audio.

The Advanced Audio Management dialog box appears.

View all audio details in the Audio Information window:

Object: The slide number.

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.

Audio sample rate (Hz): This rate is the number of times per second the original waveform is translated into digital form. A higher sample rate results in a more accurate digital representation of the sound. The sample rate for CD-quality audio is 44,100 samples per second.

Bit rate (kbps): This rate is the number of bits a digital file uses in a specific time period, usually expressed as kilobits per second. The higher the bit rate at which an audio file is encoded, the higher the sound quality. 128 kbps is a commonly used rate.

If necessary, click a slide and select from the following:

Play: Plays the audio for the selected slide.

Stop: Stops the audio from playing.

Delete: Deletes the audio for the selected slide.

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Export: Opens a Browse for Folder dialog box and lets you export the selected audio file to a folder.

Show object level audio: Displays any audio files associated with objects (click boxes, captions, buttons, highlight boxes, and so on) in the movie.

When you finish, click OK.

Previewing audio

After you add an audio file, you can preview the audio to test it.

There are two methods for previewing audio. First, you can preview the entire Captivate movie and listen to the audio associated with an object, a slide, or the background. This lets you see exactly where the audio begins and ends in the movie and enables you to experience the audio as your users will.

Second, if you need to preview only the audio without hearing it in the context of the movie, you can open object, slide, or background audio properties and play the audio file.

To preview object audio:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click on a slide containing an object with associated audio.

Double-click on the object with associated audio.

Click the Audio tab.

Click Play to listen to the audio file.

When you finish, click OK.

To preview slide audio:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click on a slide containing audio.

Click Audio on the toolbar.

Click the Play button to listen to the audio file.

When you finish, click OK.

To preview background audio:

Open a Captivate project.

From the Movie menu, select Preferences.

Click the Background Audio tab.

Click Play to listen to the audio file.

When you finish, click OK.

Previewing audio 85

Deleting audio

Removing an audio file from a slide is an easy task. You can also remove any sound files that are used as background audio.

To remove audio from a slide:

Open a Captivate project.

Do one of the following:

■ In Storyboard view, select a slide and click Audio on the toolbar.

■ In Edit view, click Audio on the toolbar.

Click Remove Audio.

A confirmation message appears.

Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Click OK.

To remove background audio:

Open a Captivate project.

From the Movie menu, select Preferences.

Click the Background Audio tab.

Click Remove Audio.

A confirmation message appears.

Click Yes to confirm the deletion.

Click OK.

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CHAPTER 6

Adding Images and Animation

You can add a wide variety of images and animations to your Captivate projects.

Adding images

Images can add a new dimension to Captivate movies. There are a variety of ways to incorporate images into projects, including using them as logos, splash screens, pointers, backgrounds, buttons, and more.

You can images in the following formats: JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, ICO, EMF, or WMF.

To add an image:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide to which you want to add an image.

From the Insert menu, select Image.

The Open dialog box appears.

Select an image from the list or browse to a new location for a different image. Click Open.

The New image dialog box appears.

Set properties and options as required:

Image tab

Transparency: This option defines the transparent quality of the image file. Select a value between 0-100% with a low number resulting in a brighter version of the image and a higher number displaying a dimmer image.

Transparent background: This option lets you define non-rectangular images by making their background color transparent. For example, you can add round buttons to a Captivate movie using this option.

Preview: Displays the image. If you make changes, such as edited the transparency number, the preview will reflect the changes.

Reset to original size: Select this option to revert back to the original size of the image.

Change image: Select this option to display the Open dialog box and navigate to a different image. Select a new image, click OK, and the new image is added to your slide. This feature can be useful if you are testing different formats of the same image (for example, GIF, JPEG, or BMP) to see which one looks best on the slide.

Apply properties to all image boxes in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all the images in the movie.

Options tab

Display for [time]: Specifies the timing of the image. Click on the pop-up menu and select an option. If you select the specific time option, you can enter the exact number of seconds for the image to appear.

Appear after [#] seconds: Displays the image after the slide has been displayed for the selected number of seconds.

Effect: Use the drop-down box to select a transition effect for the image (e.g., Fade in only or No Transition).

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.

Apply effect to all image boxes in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all images in the movie.

Audio tab

Play: Click to play the audio file.

Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file.

Delete: Click to remove the audio file from the image.

Edit: Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume.

Audio: Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the image.

Record new: Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.)

Import: Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it.

Audio library: Click to open the Audio Library. The Audio Library lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate movie.

Fade in [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume.

Fade out [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for audio to fade out to silence.

Click OK.

Tip: You can create a watermark image using a transparency trick. Just insert an image and set the transparency to 50%. This works very well with many company logos.

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Adding rollover images

Rollover images are unique. They consist of an image and a rollover area (the “hot” area). Rollover images appear when the end user moves the mouse over the hot area at runtime. They are useful for heavily detailed slides or for slides that contain buttons or toolbars that require explanation.

You can use the same type of graphics for rollover images that you use for traditional images. You can also customize the location, outline, and size of the rollover area for rollover images.

To add a rollover image:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide to which you want to add a rollover image.

From the Insert menu, select Rollover Image.

The Open dialog box appears.

Select an image from the list or browse to a new location for a different image. Click Open.

The New rollover image dialog box appears.

Set properties and options as required:

Rollover Image tab

Transparency: This option defines the transparent quality of the rollover image. Select a value between 0-100% with a low number resulting in a bright version of the rollover image and a higher number displaying a dimmer rollover image.

Transparent background: This option lets you define non-rectangular rollover images by making their background color transparent.

Preview: Displays the rollover image. If you make changes, such as editing the transparency number, the preview will reflect the changes.

Reset to original size: Select this option to revert back to the original size of the rollover image.

Apply properties to all rollover images in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all rollover images in the movie.

Options tab

Effect: Use the drop-down box to select a transition effect for the rollover image (for example, Fade in only or No transition).

In [#] seconds: Specifies the amount of time for the rollover image to fully fade into view.

Out [#] seconds: Specifies the amount of time for the rollover image to completely disappear from view.

Apply effect to all rollover images in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all rollover images in the movie.

Adding rollover images 89

Audio tab

Play: Click to play the audio file.

Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file.

Delete: Click to remove the audio file from the rollover image.

Edit: Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume.

Audio: Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the rollover image.

Record new: Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.)

Import: Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it.

Audio library: Click to open the Audio Library. The Audio Library lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate movie.

Fade in [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume.

Fade out [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for audio to fade out to silence.

Click OK.

The image is added to the slide. The rollover area is also added to the slide.

Drag the image to the desired location.

Adjust the rollover area as necessary:

Inserting images as slides

You can insert existing images (JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, ICO, EMF, or WMF) as slides in Captivate movies. Image slides can be useful in many types of movies, especially in overviews of a product or website. Image slides can also come in handy when you want to use an image, such as a company logo, as an introductory slide for a movie.

To insert an image as a slide:

Open a Captivate movie.

Select the slide directly before the location where the new slide should appear. (For example, if you want to insert the image as Slide 6 of your movie, click the slide currently labeled Slide 5.)

From the Insert menu, select Image Slide.

The Open dialog box appears.

Select an image from the list or browse to a new location for a different image. Click Open.

(Optional) You might be asked if you want to crop or rescale the image.

■ Crop: This option centers the image and crops the edges of the image that do not fit into

the capture size area.

■ Rescale: This option resizes the image to provide a good-quality resized image that fits the

capture size area.

The image slide is added to the movie.

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Tip: You can also create multiple image slides at one time by holding Shift or Control while selecting images in the Open dialog box.

Creating watermark images

You can create a watermark image by setting the transparency of an image.

To create a watermark image:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide to which you want to add a watermark.

From the Insert menu, select Image.

The Open dialog box appears.

Select an image or browse to a new location for a different image. Click Open.

The New Image dialog box appears.

Set the image transparency to 50% or higher in the Transparency text box. (A high number results in a dim version of the image and a lower number displays a brighter image.)

When you are finished, click OK.

The image is added to the slide.

Position the image on the slide as required.

Changing JPEG quality

Captivate automatically sets the quality of JPEG images in movies. However, you can adjust this setting depending upon the images used in your movie. Higher percentage values allow for highquality images. Of course, this also increases file size.

To change JPEG quality:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the Movie menu, select Preferences.

Click the Preferences tab.

Enter a new number in the JPEG image quality text box.

Click OK.

Deleting images

You can delete an image from a slide at any time.

To delete an image:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click on the slide containing the image to delete.

Right-click the image and select Delete.

When the confirmation dialog box appears, click Yes.

Deleting images 91

About animation in Captivate

Captivate lets you add animation to Captivate SWF files. This introduces an element of motion that is effective and eye-catching for users. Add existing animation files to a slide or use the animated text feature in Captivate.

• If you have an animation file in SWF, AVI, or GIF format, you can add it directly to a slide.

Slides containing an animation file can be edited just like other slides containing an object.

• To add animated text, select from a number of interesting effects included with Captivate.

Experiment with different fonts, colors, and effects to achieve the right look. Slides containing animated text, with their combination of text, movement, and sound (if you choose to add audio) make great opening slides for movies.

• If you have an existing AVI software tutorial, you can import the file into Captivate to create a

new movie. Each slide in the AVI tutorial is converted to a Captivate slide. After the new movie opens, you can perform all the usual Captivate tasks such as adding objects, changing timing, and publishing the movie.

Note: Device fonts are not displayed in Captivate. If you import an animation file containing text created with device fonts, the animation will display in Captivate, but the text will not. For animations that will be imported into Captivate, try to use embedded fonts for text.

Adding animations

If you already have animation files in SWF, AVI, or GIF format, you can add them to Captivate slides. You can add animation files to slides the same way that you add other content. You can edit slides containing an animation file as you would any others.

To add animations to slides:

Open a Captivate movie.

In Storyboard view, double-click the slide to which you want to add an animation file.

From the Insert menu, select Animation.

The Open dialog box appears.

Navigate to the animation file (with the SWF file extension) you want to add to the slide, select it, and click Open.

The New animation dialog box appears.

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Set properties and options as required.

Animation tab

Statistics: Lists key information about the animation file you selected including version, width, height, and the number of slides that comprise the file. The total duration of the animation file is also shown.

Transparency: This option defines the transparent quality of the animation file. Select a value between 0-100% with a low number resulting in a bright version of the animation file and a higher number displaying a dimmer animation.

Change Animation: Select this option to display the Open dialog box and navigate to a different animation file. Select a new animation file, click OK, and the new animation is added to your slide. This feature can be useful if you are testing different formats of the same animation image (for example, SWF, GIF, or AVI) to see which one looks best on the slide.

Options tab

Display for [time]: Specify the timing of the animation. Click on the pop-up menu and select an option. If you select the specific time option, you can enter the exact number of seconds for the animation to appear.

Appear after [#] seconds: Type a number or use the arrows to set the number of seconds that should pass before the animation file plays.

Synchronize with movie: Select this option to synchronize the speed at which the animation file plays with the Timeline speed. (If you find that the animation file is not playing smoothly, test with this option selected and deselected to see which way gives you better results.)

Loop: Select this option to have the animation file loop (replay continuously) as the movie plays.

Effect: Use the pop-up menu to select a transition effect for the animation (for example, Fade In only or No Transition).

In [#] seconds: Specifies the amount of time for the animation to fully fade into view.

Out [#] seconds: Specifies the amount of time for the animation to completely disappear from view.

Apply effect to all animations in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all animations in the movie.

Audio tab

Play: Click to play the audio file.

Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file.

Delete: Click to remove the audio file from the animation.

Edit: Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume.

Audio: Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the animation.

Record new: Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.)

Adding animations 93

Import: Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it.

Audio library: Click to open the Audio Library. The Audio Library lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate movie.

Fade in [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume.

Fade out [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for audio to fade out to silence.

When you are finished, click OK.

The animation is added to the slide.

Note: You can also import an AVI software tutorial to create a new Captivate movie.

Note: Device fonts are not displayed in Captivate. If you import an animation file containing text

created with device fonts, the animation will display in Captivate, but the text will not. For animations that will be imported into Captivate, try to use embedded fonts for text.

Adding animated text

Animated text is text that has applied special effects. Captivate offers a wide variety of text animation effects that you can experiment with. For example, on the opening slide of a movie you can have text fly in or fade in for an eye-catching start.

Slides containing animated text are displayed in Captivate's two views, Storyboard view and Edit view, and the Filmstrip (an option in Edit view) just like other slides.

To add animated text:

Open a Captivate movie.

Open the slide to which you want to add animated text.

From the Insert menu, select Text Animation.

The New text animation dialog box appears.

Click the Text Animation tab.

In the Text box, enter the text to animate.

The text appears in the preview window.

Select the Effect pop-up menu and select from countless animation effects. Select different effects to preview them in the preview window on the left.

Set font, transparency, and delay options:

Change font: Click to specify font options such as font name, style, size, effects, and colors.

Transparency: Specifies a transparency level for the animated text. For a very dim animated text effect, select a high number such as 90. For darker text, select a low number such as 10.

Delay (frames): This is the amount of time, in Flash frames, between when letters in the animated text you specified appear. If you set a low number (e.g., 0 or 1), all of the letters appear quickly, one after the other. If you set a higher number (e.g., 30 or 40), each letter appears more distinctly. Try different numbers and watch the text in the Preview window to select an appropriate number.

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Note: The number you specify in Delay, does not change the absolute amount of the time the animated text feature appears. For example, if you specify (on the Options tab) that the text animation effect should show for 8 seconds, the number in the Delay option, whether it is one or thirty, does not change the absolute time of 8seconds.

Click the Options tab. This tab enables you to set timing and transitions for the animated text. Select from the following options:

Display for [time]: Specifies the timing of the animated text. Click on the pop-up menu and select an option. If you select the specific time option, you can enter the exact number of seconds for the animated text to appear.

Appear after [#] seconds: Displays the animated text after the slide has been displayed for the selected number of seconds.

Loop: Select this option to have the animation file continuously loop (play over and over again) as the movie plays.

Effect: Use the drop-down box to select a transition effect for the animation (for example, fade in and out).

In [#] seconds: Specifies the amount of time for the animation to fully fade into view.

Out [#] seconds: Specifies the amount of time for the animation to completely disappear from view.

Apply effect to all text animations in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all text animations in the movie.

(Optional) Click the Audio tab to set animated text audio options:

Play: Click to play the audio file.

Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file.

Delete: Click to remove the audio file from the animated text.

Edit: Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume.

Audio: Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the animated text.

Record new: Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.)

Import: Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it.

Audio library: Click to open the Audio Library. The Audio Library lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate movie.

Fade in [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume.

Fade out [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for audio to fade out to silence.

10.

Click OK.

Adding animated text 95

Adding animation slides

If you have a SWF, AVI, or animated GIF file, you can add the file to your Captivate movie as a new slide. This is a fast and easy way to make your movie more informative using content you have already created.

Note: Adding animation as a slide is most appropriate with larger animation files.

To add an animation slide:

Open a Captivate movie.

From the Insert menu, select Animation Slide.

The Open dialog box appears.

Navigate to the animation file you want to insert (SWF, AVI, or animated GIF) and click Open. The animation slide is generated is added to the movie.

Note: It is important to set the correct frame rate. All imported animation files will play at the rate selected in the Movie preferences dialog box, regardless of the rate prior to when the file is imported. The default setting is 30 flash frames per second and is appropriate in most cases. You may need to change the rate if you are embedding your Captivate SWF in another SWF file that has a frame rate different than 30.

Note: When you create an animation slide, the amount of time the slide is displayed in the movie automatically defaults to the length of the animation file itself. For example, if the animation file that you use to create a new animation slide is only 1.2 seconds in length, the animation slide appears for

1.2 seconds. To change the amount of time the slide is displayed, open the slide in Edit view, select the Slide menu, select Properties, and enter a new number of seconds in Display Time. Or, use the Timeline to change slide display time.

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CHAPTER 7

Adding Boxes and Buttons

Captivate lets you add a variety of buttons and boxes to slides. Some types are interactive, enabling users to participate actively in the learning process. You can add the following types of buttons and boxes:

Highlight boxes

These boxes highlight areas in a slide. You can use these boxes to show users where to focus attention or enter data, or simply as emphasis. You set the size, color, transparency, and display options for highlight boxes.

Click boxes

These clickable boxes are interactive. You can use click boxes to demonstrate an application's functionality (for example, by requiring users to click a menu or button). You determine what happens after the user performs a successful click. For example, the movie can advance to the next slide, display a URL, or send an e-mail message. You can also size and position click boxes.

Text entry boxes

These boxes require users to enter text. You can demonstrate an application's or website functionality by having users enter text into appropriate locations. Also, you can use text entry boxes to ask simple quiz questions.

Buttons

Buttons increase the interactivity of your Captivate projects. You have a great deal of control over how buttons look and function. You can also size and position buttons on a slide.

Adding highlight boxes

Captivate lets you add highlight boxes to spotlight areas within a slide. You can think of a highlight box as the online equivalent of a highlighter pen used on paper. Add highlight boxes to show users where to focus attention or enter data, or simply as emphasis. You can control the size, color, transparency, and timing for highlight boxes.

To add a highlight box:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click on the slide to which you want to add a highlight box.

From the Insert menu, select Highlight Box.

The New Highlight Box dialog box appears.

On the Highlight Box tab, set the following options:

Frame color: This is the border color for the highlight box. Click the color box to change the color.

Fill color: This is the fill color for the highlight box. Click the color box to change the color.

Frame width: This is the width for the border of the highlight box.

Fill transparency: This is the degree of transparency for the fill color. Select a value from 0% to 100%. A value of 10% is less transparent (more solid) than a value of 90%.

Preview: This area displays the settings you selected above in Appearance.

Apply properties to all highlight boxes in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made in this tab to all the highlight boxes in the movie.

Click the Options tab and set the following options:

Display for [time]: Specifies the timing of the highlight box. Click on the pop-up menu and select an option. If you select the specific time option, you can enter the exact number of seconds for the highlight box to appear.

Appear after [#] seconds: Displays the highlight box after the slide has been displayed for the selected number of seconds.

Effect: Use the pop-up menu to select a transition effect for the highlight box. Select a fade in or fade out option, or select No transition. If you select fade in or fade out, use the arrows to set the exact amount of time (in seconds) for the effect.

Apply effect to all highlight boxes in the movie: Select this option to apply the changes you made in this tab to all the highlight boxes in the movie.

If you want to add audio to the highlight box, click the Audio tab. Select from the following options:

Play: Click to play the audio file.

Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file.

Delete: Click to remove the audio file from the highlight box.

Edit: Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume.

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Audio: Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the highlight box.

Record new: Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.)

Import: Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it.

Audio library: Click to open the Audio Library, which lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate project.

Fade in [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume.

Fade out [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for audio to fade out to silence.

Click OK.

The highlight box appears on the slide.

Size and drag the highlight box as desired.

Adding click boxes

Captivate lets you add another level of interactivity to projects by using click boxes. Click boxes are clickable boxes that you can size and position. You can use click boxes to demonstrate an application's functionality, for example, by requiring users to click a menu or button. Of course, you determine what happens after the user performs a successful click. For example, the movie can advance to the next slide, open a URL, or send an e-mail message.

To add a click box:

Open a Captivate project.

Double-click on the slide to which you want to add a click box.

From the Insert menu, select Click Box.

The Click Box dialog box appears.

Select the Click Box tab.

This tab lets you determine how the movie responds to user interaction. The options are divided into two basic categories: what happens when the user clicks inside the click box and what happens when the user clicks outside the click box.

If the user clicks inside the click box

On success: Specify what should happen after a user clicks inside the box. You can select Continue, Go to previous slide, Go to next slide, Jump to slide, Open URL or file, Open other movie, Send e-mail to, Execute JavaScript, or No Action.

Continue: Depending upon the type of action you selected above, this box changes to let you to enter destination information.

If the user clicks outside the click box

Allow user [#] attempts: Click the arrows to select the number of attempts a user can make before another action takes place. (The Infinite attempts option is selected by default. To enter a specific number of attempts, first deselect the Infinite attempts option.)

Infinite attempts: Select this option to give users an unlimited number of attempts.

Adding click boxes 99

After last attempt: Specify what should happen after the last attempt. You can select Continue, Go to previous slide, Go to next slide, Jump to slide, Open URL or file, Open other movie, Send e-mail to, Execute JavaScript, or No Action.

Continue: Depending upon the type of action you selected above, this box changes to let you enter destination information.

Note: If you select Open URL or file or Open other movie, click the pop-up menu to select the window in which the URL, file, or movie should appear; choose from Current, New, Parent, and Top. (If you choose New, Parent, or Top, you also have the option to Continue playing the original movie when the URL, file, or movie opens.)

Note: If you select Send e-mail to, you have the option to Continue playing the movie while the email message is prepared and sent.

Note: If you select the Open URL or file option and specify a URL, the URL is visible when you edit the slide in Captivate. However, it will not be visible to the user. To show the URL, create a simple image with the URL text on the image, add the image to your slide, and place a click box over the image.

Set shortcut key

Click Select keys to choose a key combination for users to press when submitting responses. The current shortcut is displayed to the left of the button.

Note: If your Captivate movie will be displayed in a browser, set shortcut keys that will not conflict with common browser shortcuts. For example, F1 is frequently used as a keyboard shortcut to display help.

Click the Options tab. This tab lets you design how the click box looks. Select from the following options:

Display for [time]: Specifies the timing of the click box. Click on the pop-up menu and select an option. If you select the specific time option, you can enter the exact number of seconds for the click box to appear.

Appear after [#] seconds: Displays the click box after the slide has been displayed for the selected number of seconds.

Success caption: Select this option to include a success caption (for example, Congratulations!).

Failure caption: Select this option to include a failure caption (for example, Sorry, please try again).

Hint caption: Select this option to include a hint caption. (The hint caption appears when users move the mouse over the click box.)

Show hand cursor over hit area: Select this option to have the pointing hand appear when a user moves the mouse over the click box.

Stop audio when clicked: Select this option if you want the audio to stop playing when the user clicks the click box. This option stops only slide audio, not background audio. Also, only a mouse click on the click box stops the audio; using a shortcut key combination does not stop the audio.

Pause movie until user clicks: Select this option if you want the project to stop playing until the user clicks the click box.

100 Chapter 7: Adding Boxes and Buttons

Macromedia Captivate - 1.0 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

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

Using full motion recording

Using recording modes

Recording a new movie

Setting the capture area

Recording movies

Recording a new application movie

Recording a new custom-sized movie

Recording a new full-screen movie

Recording a new blank movie

Recording a new image movie

Recording movies with a template

Recording new slides

Recording options

Creating camera sounds during recording

Pausing while recording movies

Setting auto recording

Using project templates

Creating project templates

Editing project templates

Using full motion recording

About full motion movie slides

Comparing full motion slides and standard movie slides

Creating full motion movie slides

Creating accessible movies

Worldwide accessibility standards

Understanding screen reader technology

Captivate and accessibility

Publishing 508 compliant Captivate SWF files

Adding slide accessibility text

Tips for creating 508 compliant Captivate SWF files

Testing accessible content

Macromedia accessibility web page

Localizing Captive projects

Using Captivate with a localized user interface

Localizing text captions

Adding Text Captions

Adding text captions

Adding plain text to a slide

Adding text captions automatically

Adding rollover captions

Changing the rollover area

Converting tooltips to rollover captions

Localizing text captions

Editing text captions

Creating custom text caption styles

Moving and resizing text captions