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Adding skins

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Adding skins

You can enhance your project by adding a skin. Skins include playback controls, borders, and 
menu settings. Playback controls allow your users to set the pace of the Adobe Captivate project 
with buttons such as Play, Pause, Mute, Stop, Forward, and Rewind. For example, if a project 
contains step-by-step instructions, a Pause button lets users pause the project until they have 
finished reading the necessary information.

The Skin Editor dialog box also gives you the option to add a custom border that contains the 
playback control and menu items, and to enter project information.

You can also add menu items, which you can set to appear in the top left, middle, or right corner 
of your project. You can use menu items to allow users to jump to a specific slide in the project, 
open a different project, or access a URL or file outside of the project. You can also execute 
JavaScripts or launch e-mails from menu items.

Adding a playback control to your project

You can choose to add a BMP playbar or a SWF theme to your project. A BMP playbar is a basic 
playback control that consists of buttons that are bitmap (BMP) images. You can choose from a 
list of existing playbars and preview them in the Skin Editor preview window. 

A SWF theme is in Flash format and gives you more options for customizing the look of your 
project. You can choose colors and display elements for your playback control and then save the 
theme for use in other projects.

Note: 

When you create an Adobe Captivate project using the Full Screen option, you should select a 

playback control style that contains a Close button as a courtesy to users. This lets users close the 
project and access other applications quickly and easily.

To add a BMP playbar to your project:

1.

Open an Adobe Captivate project. 

2.

From the Project menu, select Skin.

The Skin Editor dialog box appears.

3.

From the Skin pop-up menu, select BMP Playbars.

4.

In the Playback Control tab, select Show playback control.

5.

From the Playbar pop-up menu, select a playbar to view it in the preview window.

6.

When you have selected the playbar you want, select the position of the playbar by clicking the 
top or bottom button.

7.

From the Layout pop-up menu, select left, right, or center alignment for the playbar.

8.

Click OK.

Note: 

You can hide the playback control but preserve the settings you selected by clearing the Show 

playback control option in the Playback Control tab.

Summary of Contents for CAPTIVATE 2

Page 1: ...Using Adobe Captivate Adobe Captivate 2 ...

Page 2: ...ws is either a registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and or other countries All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group Supply of this product does not convey a license nor imply any right to distribute content created with this product in revenue generating bro...

Page 3: ...xploring the Workspace 19 About Adobe Captivate views 19 About the Timeline 20 Customizing the work environment 21 Displaying and docking toolbars 22 Using the Filmstrip 23 Using the Library 24 Displaying confirmation messages 25 Using shortcut keys 26 Magnification Shortcuts 27 Undoing and redoing actions 28 Changing capture keys 28 About the Bandwidth Monitor 29 CHAPTER 3 Creating Projects 31 Op...

Page 4: ...dding Audio and Video 85 About adding audio 85 Adding existing audio 86 Equipment for recording audio 86 Tips for recording audio 87 Setting audio recording options 88 Calibrating microphones for recording 90 Recording audio 90 Recording audio while creating a project 91 Creating background audio 92 Using a custom keyboard tap sound 93 Adding silence to an audio file 93 Adjusting audio volume 94 A...

Page 5: ...isting audio to boxes and buttons 132 Deleting buttons and boxes 133 CHAPTER 8 Editing Mouse Movement 135 Changing mouse pointers 135 Changing mouse pointer size 136 Changing mouse click sounds 136 Setting mouse click effect 137 Changing mouse movements 137 Aligning mouse paths 138 Using straight and curved mouse paths 138 Hiding the mouse pointer 138 Enabling the mouse wheel 139 CHAPTER 9 Changin...

Page 6: ...anaging interactive objects 187 CHAPTER 12 Editing Projects 189 Determining the size of your project 189 Deleting projects or templates 189 Hiding projects 190 Previewing projects 190 Renaming projects 191 Resizing projects 191 Setting the background color 192 Setting project preferences 193 Adding a loading screen 196 Setting project properties 197 Using a custom keyboard tap sound 198 Checking s...

Page 7: ... 269 Adobe Captivate and Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional 274 Adobe Captivate and RoboHelp 278 Adobe Captivate and Microsoft PowerPoint 281 CHAPTER 17 Troubleshooting 285 Troubleshooting Adobe Captivate project startup 285 Troubleshooting animation timing 285 Troubleshooting application distortion when recording 286 Troubleshooting capturing while recording a web application 286 Troubleshooting ...

Page 8: ...8 Contents ...

Page 9: ...stion slides buttons click boxes and text entry boxes Adobe Captivate is SCORM 1 2 and 2004 certified and PENS and AICC compliant allowing effortless integration with any learning management system LMS or Questionmark Perception Key features of Adobe Captivate Adobe Captivate has the following key features Rapidly develop software simulations and demonstrations Get up and running in Adobe Captivat...

Page 10: ...import projects into Flash Take the manual work out of creating software simulations and demonstrations in Flash With Adobe Captivate you don t need to manually take screenshots and add mouse tweens in Flash Record applications in Adobe Captivate and export the project to Flash MX 2004 or Flash 8 for advanced editing and further development Enhance the Acrobat Connect Professional experience Incre...

Page 11: ...e a project in three easy steps Reuse and update content in the project Library Save production time and manage all project components using the Library panel Drag objects from the Library onto slides or into the Timeline Reuse content and import libraries from existing projects Launch third party tools from within the Library to edit or update Library objects such as audio or image files Focus th...

Page 12: ...zable workspace zoom in edit view an improved user interface and many more Benefit from increased product and playback performance Enhanced settings for object properties The Apply to all option in the Slide Properties and all object dialog boxes lets you choose to apply options selected in the Settings menu to all slides in the project The Settings menu in the Slide Properties lets you select how...

Page 13: ...lbars These features provide quick easy navigation for getting around in Help 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 Adobe Captivate Help This ty...

Page 14: ...ts of Adobe Captivate Help It provides you with information on using Adobe Captivate commands and features The PDF file is available on the Adobe website Getting Started with Adobe Captivate provides an introduction to Adobe Captivate and the basic process of creating Adobe Captivate projects A printed version of this manual is included with the boxed version of Adobe Captivate and a PDF version i...

Page 15: ...Captivate leaves the original RoboDemo files intact Note Adobe Captivate 2 does not support projects created with RoboDemo versions prior to version 5 When you open a project created in a previous version of Adobe Captivate Adobe Captivate prompts you to convert the project to an Adobe Captivate 2 project You can overwrite the existing project or create a new project you cannot open the new Adobe ...

Page 16: ...ms 2 Do one of the following If you have an Adobe Captivate CD insert the CD into the computer s CD ROM drive and then double click the Adobe Captivate installer icon If you are installing Adobe Captivate from the Internet double click the downloaded file The InstallShield Wizard appears 3 Follow the onscreen instructions 4 Click Install on the last screen of the wizard Adobe Captivate is installe...

Page 17: ...g 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 adobe com It is a good idea to register your copy of Adobe Captivate You can register electronically during the product activation process when you first start Adobe Captivate By registering you are added to the priority list to re...

Page 18: ...18 Chapter 1 Introduction and Installation ...

Page 19: ...e all of the slides within a project at a glance It also enables you to see the flow of the project 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 view This view appears when you double click a slide in Storyboard or Branching view After recording an Ad...

Page 20: ...PG file About the 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...

Page 21: ...any slide to open Edit view By default the Timeline appears along the top of the slide If it is not open already click the View menu select Show Timeline To close the Timeline click the View menu select Show Timeline again 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...

Page 22: ... menu select or clear Main Toolbar Advanced Toolbar Object Toolbar or Alignment Toolbar Note that these menu items are available in Edit view only 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 ...

Page 23: ...vate project 2 Double click any slide to open the slide in Edit view The Filmstrip appears The Filmstrip displays all of the slides in your project in viewing order You can change the slide order by dragging a slide to a new location within the project 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 sh...

Page 24: ... the same location New items appear in the Library whenever you add an item to the project An item remains in the Library and is available for reuse even if you delete the slide in which that item was originally located If you use an item in one slide and then drag it from the Library to another slide you can alter the item properties in the subsequent slide without affecting the first instance of...

Page 25: ...udio 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 ...

Page 26: ...slides F11 View Adobe Captivate in full screen F12 Preview project 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 F Find a particular ob...

Page 27: ...only Shift Control B Add new button Edit and Storyboard views only Shift Control C Add new caption Edit and Storyboard views only Shift Control D View slide properties Shift Control E Insert new zoom area Edit and Storyboard views only Shift Control F Insert Flash Video Edit and Storyboard views only Shift Control G Show the Go to Slide dialog box Shift Control H Hide Show slide Shift Control I De...

Page 28: ...ng capture keys Adobe 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 1 Do one of the following Open Adobe Captivate From the Op...

Page 29: ...at the first frame in a project always has a higher KB per second value because it is the first frame to load and additional project information must load with it Seconds The frame duration in seconds Video KB The size of any included video Audio KB The size of any included audio Graph This tab reveals how the project streams across time for different modem and broadband speeds You can view high b...

Page 30: ...30 Chapter 2 Exploring the Workspace ...

Page 31: ...orage location for projects is My Documents My Adobe Captivate Projects Caution When opening an Adobe Captivate project created with a previous version of Adobe Captivate or with RoboDemo Adobe Captivate prompts you to convert the project to an Adobe Captivate 2 project You can overwrite the existing project or create a new project you cannot open the new Adobe Captivate 2 project with an older ve...

Page 32: ... slides you want to import Note By default Adobe Captivate selects all of the slides in the PowerPoint file You can clear the check boxes on individual slides that you don t want to import or you can click Clear All and then select the check boxes of the slides you want to import 8 Click OK The new Adobe Captivate project is generated and opens in Adobe Captivate Storyboard view About planning pro...

Page 33: ...ickly and easily while also giving you professional high quality results Tip 1 Consider auto recording Adobe Captivate lets you create projects 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 key on the keyboard Then you make a change on your screen such as moving...

Page 34: ...aptures a screenshot 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 Adobe Captivate captures screenshots 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 s...

Page 35: ...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 projects To turn off color gradients on title bars click Start and select Control Panel Display Click the Ap...

Page 36: ...tions flow smoothly and look realistic This is called full motion recording If you are automatically recording a project or slides you can have Adobe Captivate automatically capture any mouse wheel action drag and drop motions or drawing in full motion Adobe 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 Wh...

Page 37: ...ions menu select Recording Options Open Adobe Captivate Open an Adobe Captivate project From the Options menu select Recording Options 2 In the Recording Options dialog box click the Recording mode drop down and choose Assessment Simulation or Custom 3 Click Edit settings 4 In the Text entry boxes section select Automatically add text entry boxes for text fields and select from the following optio...

Page 38: ...project From the Options menu select Recording Options 2 In the Recording Options dialog box click the Recording Options tab and choose from the following options Enable auto recording Select this option to automatically take screenshots 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 39: ...d keystrokes Select this option to record keyboard action Adobe Captivate records keyboard input but does not capture screenshots for every character The keystrokes appear in the finished project 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 project The following options are...

Page 40: ...er when you begin and end full motion recording This screen flicker does not harm your computer and does not appear in the final project Working folder Select this option to determine where the clip will be saved on your local hard disk Enter the correct path to an exact location or click Browse to navigate to a location The following option is in the SWF conversion area Video color mode Select th...

Page 41: ...te and begin recording a new project or slide 2 When you want to pause recording press the Pause Break key on the keyboard 3 When you want to restart recording press Pause Break again Note You can move the red recording window to a new location and resume recording in the new area This shift in area will not be seen in the project Setting auto recording You can set an auto recording option in Adob...

Page 42: ...option to choose the objects such as captions highlight boxes and click boxes that you want Adobe Captivate to automatically add to the project Click Edit settings to make selections 8 Click OK Now that you have turned on the auto recording option you can record a project Setting the capture area for recording When you are recording a project the screen capture area is the area on your screen that...

Page 43: ...ct window by typing new numbers in the Width and Height text boxes or use the arrows to specify new numbers You can also select an option from the Preset size pop up menu Alternatively if you start a project by following the Project wizard you ll be prompted to select the window size as you follow the steps Using full motion recording Adobe Captivate contains a useful feature called full motion re...

Page 44: ...ects automatically but also customizes what objects are added to the projects you automatically create based on the purpose of your project This feature is called recording modes For example by selecting a recording mode you can easily create projects that are appropriate to use as simulations or demonstrations This enables you to create projects quickly because Adobe Captivate does much of the wo...

Page 45: ... using the keyboard and navigating through menus As you work Adobe Captivate captures the onscreen action automatically or you can capture screenshots manually When you finish recording you can set options and add components such as text captions audio images and highlight boxes In addition to beginning a project by recording you can create new projects by following the Project wizard or using a t...

Page 46: ...oject it looks like a slide show Import from Microsoft PowerPoint Creates a new Adobe Captivate project by importing slides from a PowerPoint project When you choose this option you can select all slides in the PowerPoint file or pick and choose individual slides to include Recording software simulations Adobe Captivate lets you record operations performed in a running software application as scre...

Page 47: ...s 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 screenshot manually If you are manually recording 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 ...

Page 48: ...utomatically record the project and automatically generate text captions 9 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 s...

Page 49: ...ormation from a word processing program into a spreadsheet program use the full screen recording option to capture the action in both programs Adobe 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 project 1 Open Adobe Captivate 2 On the Start page click ...

Page 50: ...d any full motion slides you see the full motion slides displayed in Storyboard view with a movie camera icon in the lower right corner of the slide Recording scenario simulations You can use the Adobe Captivate built in templates to create projects that contain interactive training content for a given scenario Such a project can contain training content and questions Also you can build an assessm...

Page 51: ... are creating using the Project wizard Introduction Creates the first slide of the project as an Introduction slide This slide includes the title of your Adobe Captivate project displayed using animated text and a transparent introductory text caption Description Creates a single Scenario Description slide This slide includes information about the questions you have added to your Adobe Captivate p...

Page 52: ... frame until a four point arrow appears and then drag the entire window to a new position If you selected a window in step 7 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 becau...

Page 53: ...blank project You can create a blank project 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 images or slides from another project Set a custom size in the Width and Height text boxes or select a commonly used size from the Preset size pop up menu To create a new blank project 1 Open Adobe Captivate 2 On the Start pag...

Page 54: ...pears 7 Navigate to the first image you want to include as a slide in your Adobe Captivate project Tip You can create multiple image slides by choosing multiple images in the Browse dialog box 8 Select the image and click Open Note If the image you selected is larger than the project size you specified a dialog box appears and gives you the choice of cropping or resizing the image Cropping trims p...

Page 55: ... of recording options including the capability to automatically record the project and automatically generate text captions 8 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 recordi...

Page 56: ... project but just a few actions Adobe Captivate allows you to do this by recording new slides and inserting the slides in an existing project To record new slides 1 Open the Adobe Captivate project in which you want to record and insert new slides 2 From the Insert menu select Record Additional Slides 3 Decide where the new slides should be added You can add new slides to the end of the project or...

Page 57: ...ps in the next section and then create a new project with the template Creating project templates It is easy to save any project you have created as a template To save a project as a project template 1 Open Adobe Captivate 2 Create a project 3 Edit the project as necessary for example add captions change the playback control or add audio 4 From the File menu select Save as Template 5 Type a name f...

Page 58: ...g or End to stop recording completely When you finish recording Adobe Captivate generates the slides that comprise the project and displays them in Adobe 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 projects as...

Page 59: ...hed and press End or other defined stop recording key The screenshots captured at the beginning and end of the recording process are saved as normal slides and the full motion slide recorded in SWF format is saved as an animation slide Full motion recording manually An Adobe Captivate author needs to create a project about a software application used for drawing The automatic Full Motion Recording...

Page 60: ... or create a new project The New project options dialog box appears 2 Select Software Simulation and then select the type of project to record such as Application or Custom size 3 Click OK The recording window appears 4 Optional Select Record narration to record audio as you record the project 5 Optional Click Options On the Recording Options tab you can select Enable auto recording to automatical...

Page 61: ...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 If you have selected Automatically use full motion capture for mouse wheel actions full motion recording begins when you use the mouse wheel When full motion recording stops Adobe Captivate returns to standard capture mode so you can c...

Page 62: ...capture key when you want to begin full motion recording Adobe 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 Adobe Captivate returns to standard capture mode so you can continue recording slides if necessary If you are automati...

Page 63: ... section508 gov The Accessibility page on the Adobe website at www adobe com 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 Adobe Captivate projects must have Flash Player 6 or later and Internet Explorer on Window...

Page 64: ...ot 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 ...

Page 65: ...obe Captivate SWF files Create an Adobe Captivate project using the Section 508 option to view and test the output Generating the Adobe 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 1 Open the Adobe Captivat...

Page 66: ...e aware of audio in your Adobe 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 ...

Page 67: ...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 Adobe Captivate content might not receive keystrokes as you intended Make sure to test all keyboard shortcuts Adobe Captivate accessibility web page For latest information on creating and view...

Page 68: ...ming or resize the captions so that Adobe Captivate displays all of the translated text correctly Localizing text captions If you are localizing a project that contains text captions and closed captions you can export text captions to make the process more efficient To localize text captions 1 Create the initial source language version of the project including all necessary text captions 2 Open th...

Page 69: ...py of the project you created in step 8 10 From the File menu select Import Export Import project captions and closed captions Note The Import project captions and closed captions option is enabled only after you export the captions you can only import an edited caption file that you originally exported from the same project 11 Navigate to the localized text captions Word DOC file select the file ...

Page 70: ...70 Chapter 3 Creating Projects ...

Page 71: ... the mouse clicking the Edit menu Adobe 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 About 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 y...

Page 72: ...t No transition 6 If you want to add audio to the text caption click the Audio tab For more information on adding audio see Chapter 5 Adding Audio and Video 7 To specify the exact size and position of the caption click the Size and Position tab Using these options instead of dragging the text box helps you create consistent text boxes throughout your project 8 Use the Settings menu to select how t...

Page 73: ...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 6 To specify the exact size and position of the caption click the Size and Position tab Using these options instead of dragging the text box help you create consistent text boxes throughout your project 7 Use the Settings menu t...

Page 74: ...k Options The Recording Options dialog box appears 6 Select the Recording Options tab 7 Select Enable auto recording 8 In Language select the language in which you want the text captions to be written 9 In Recording mode select Demonstration or Custom In both these modes text captions are automatically added To further fine tune custom settings click the Edit settings button 10 Click OK 11 Click R...

Page 75: ...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 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 In Storyboard view select the slide to which you want to add a rollover cap...

Page 76: ...ome the default settings and any new rollover captions you create use the new settings 9 Click the Apply to all button to apply the settings specified from the Settings menu 10 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 con...

Page 77: ...tomize the styles of default captions 9 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 project and automatically converting tooltips to rollover captions To convert tooltips to rollover captions automatically when recording additional slides 1 Open...

Page 78: ...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 6 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 ...

Page 79: ...ake any changes you want For details about all of the available options click the Help button 5 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 Creating custom text caption styles You can create custom text caption styles for your Adobe Captivate projects with a graphi...

Page 80: ...Windows Explorer navigate to C Program Files Adobe Adobe Captivate 2 Gallery Captions All of the text caption BMP and corresponding FCM files are located in this folder 2 Right click the exact FCM file you need to edit and select Open with 3 Select Notepad or WordPad 4 Edit the following values as necessary Left Margin is the number of pixels from the left side of the bitmap to the text Right Marg...

Page 81: ...very small captions consider creating custom captions To manually resize a text caption 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Select a slide that contains a text caption 3 Click the text caption you want to resize 4 Move your mouse pointer over one of selection handles on the edge of the text caption until the pointer becomes a resize handle 5 Using the left mouse button drag to resize the text capt...

Page 82: ...om 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 Adobe Captivate project 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 project Importing and exporting text captions to and from a DOC file can...

Page 83: ... instructions you can export text captions and print the DOC file If a project must be localized you can export text captions into a DOC file and give it to a translator To export text captions 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Import Export Export project captions and closed captions 3 In the Save As dialog box enter a filename for the new DOC file 4 Note the default d...

Page 84: ...ns with 2s a 2 second delay or 4s a 4 second delay in the header 5 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...

Page 85: ...options in the same project Adobe 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 project 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 project Adobe Captivate automatically converts the WAV file to MP3 format when you publish th...

Page 86: ...ding 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 ...

Page 87: ...icrophone 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 mos...

Page 88: ...he Adobe Captivate SWF 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 Adobe Captivate lets you control the way sound is recorde...

Page 89: ...d bitrate Encoding Frequency Select the frequency at which audio encoding must be performed Encoding Speed Drag the slider bar to set the required audio encoding speed Increasing the encoding speed reduces the quality of the encoded files Calibrate input Click to display the Calibrate microphone dialog box You are prompted to read a sentence into the recording device Adobe Captivate uses the sampl...

Page 90: ...o the microphone until the red recording window becomes green I am setting my microphone recording level for use with Adobe Captivate 6 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 project you can reco...

Page 91: ...ulation in the left pane 6 Select Application in the right pane and click OK The Recording window appears 7 In the Record specific window pop up menu select the application to record 8 Select Record narration 9 Optional Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options including the capability to automatically capture screenshots and automatically generate text captions 10 Optional If neces...

Page 92: ... slides are generated and your new project 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 Library Note If you need to pause the recording process press the Pause Break key To restart project recording press the Pause Break key again Creating background audio You can create background audio fo...

Page 93: ... the file and note the location to which the file is saved 4 Using Windows Explorer browse to the Adobe Captivate sound effects folder The default location is C Program Files Adobe Adobe Captivate 2 Gallery SoundEffects 5 Locate the file named KeyClick mp3 This is the Adobe Captivate default keystroke sound file Note Before overwriting the file you may want to copy and place the original KeyClick ...

Page 94: ...selected in step 4 Start of audio or End of audio Note When you select a part of an audio file and then click Insert Silence the pop up menu lists the Current Selection option instead of the Playhead position option 8 Click OK The silent period is added to the audio file and you can see the silent period in the waveform The audio file with added silence is saved under a new file name 9 To test the...

Page 95: ...se levels 7 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 Library to add an audio file that is already in your current project To import an audio file 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click the slide that contains the button or box to which you want ...

Page 96: ...ead 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 eq...

Page 97: ... volume and change numerous other options To edit an audio file 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From Storyboard view or the Filmstrip in Edit view find a slide containing audio 3 Click the audio icon beneath the slide and select Edit from the pop up menu The Edit Audio dialog box appears 4 Make any necessary edits You can cut and paste sections of the audio file insert periods of silence to le...

Page 98: ...ng 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project containing one or more audio files 2 From the Audio menu select Edit timing The Edit Audio Timing dialog box appears Audio files in the Adobe 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 distr...

Page 99: ...ing audio details You can view all audio details in one convenient location in Adobe Captivate This is an easy way to see the playing time size and other attributes of all the audio files in a single project To view audio details 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Audio menu select Advanced Audio The Advanced Audio Management dialog box appears 3 View all audio details in the Audio Infor...

Page 100: ... is played for a slide the transcripts are displayed thus aiding hearing impaired users The option that enables Closed Captioning is available in the Skin Editor dialog box For more information see Chapter 10 Slides To add closed captions to an audio file 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Audio menu select Advanced Audio The Advanced Audio Management dialog box appears 3 Scroll down and...

Page 101: ...First you can preview the entire Adobe Captivate project 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 project 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 project you can open object slide or background a...

Page 102: ...ormats 6 Click Export The Browse For Folder dialog box appears 7 Navigate to the destination folder you want and click OK 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 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Do one of the following In Storyboard view select a slide and click audio sy...

Page 103: ...eaming each Flash client opens a persistent connection to the Flash Communication Server and there is a controlled relationship between the video being delivered and the client interaction Streaming Video is the only delivery option that allows you to include a live video feed in your Adobe Captivate project Flash Video Streaming Service This option provides the most effective way to deliver FLV f...

Page 104: ...eed 9 If you want the video to start playing automatically click the Auto play option 10 If you want the video to rewind after it finishes playing click the Auto rewind option 11 If you selected Streaming Video or Flash Video Streaming Service you must enter a number in the Buffer time text box Buffer time is the amount of video that must be loaded before the video plays in the Adobe Captivate pro...

Page 105: ...s 4 To import sound files click the Import button and select the file or files you want to import 5 To change audio settings such as input source quality level and calibration click the Settings button and make your selections 6 To apply the settings or setting changes to all FLV files in your project select Apply to all 7 When you finish click OK Setting position options for the video You can spe...

Page 106: ...106 Chapter 5 Adding Audio and Video ...

Page 107: ...d an image 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 In Storyboard view double click the slide to which you want to add an image 3 From the Insert menu select Image The Open dialog box appears 4 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...

Page 108: ...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 The Audio...

Page 109: ... set the transparency to 50 This works very well with many company logos 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 s...

Page 110: ...to completely disappear from view The Audio tab has 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 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 Record new Click to open...

Page 111: ... 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 project To insert an image as a slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 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 project click the slide currently labeled Slide 5 3...

Page 112: ...age is added to the slide 7 Position the image on the slide as required Changing JPEG quality Adobe Captivate automatically sets the quality of JPEG images in projects However you can adjust this setting depending upon the images used in your project Higher percentage values allow for high quality images but this also increases file size To change JPEG quality 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 F...

Page 113: ...reat opening slides for projects Note Device fonts are not displayed in Adobe Captivate If you import an animation file containing text created with device fonts the animation appears in Adobe Captivate but the text does not For animations that will be imported into Adobe Captivate try to use embedded fonts for text Adding animations If you already have animation files in SWF AVI GIF or FLA format...

Page 114: ...ore than a few seconds you can set it to appear for as long as the slide duration The animation plays once unless the Loop option is selected Rest of project The animation plays for the length of the project even on other slides The animation plays once unless the Loop option is selected Duration of animation The animation plays once Specific time The animation plays for the exact number of second...

Page 115: ...w to apply property changes in the project To apply all your changes select Apply only changed properties To apply all the new animation settings select Apply all properties You can apply the new animation settings to the current slide only or to all slides Note If you change the settings in this dialog box they become the default settings and any new animations you create use the new settings 7 C...

Page 116: ...he 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 8 Click the Options tab This tab enables you to set timing and transitions for the animated text Select from the following opti...

Page 117: ... image proportion 10 Use the Settings menu to select how to apply property changes in the project To apply all your changes select Apply only changed properties To apply all the text animation settings select Apply all properties You can apply the text animation settings to the current slide only or to all slides Note If you change the settings in this dialog box they become the default settings a...

Page 118: ...vate 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 project 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 a...

Page 119: ...For example the project 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 You can also use text entry boxes to ask simple quiz questions Buttons Buttons increase th...

Page 120: ... image 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 6 If you want to ad...

Page 121: ...tings and new highlight boxes that you create use the new settings 9 Click the Apply to all button to apply the settings specified from the Settings menu 10 Click OK The highlight box appears on the slide Adding click boxes Adobe 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 bo...

Page 122: ...hile the e mail 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 Adobe 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 one or...

Page 123: ... inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume Audio Displays the name of the audio file if any associated with the click 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 Select audio from library Click to open the Audio Library The Li...

Page 124: ...hanges in the project To apply all your changes select Apply only changed properties To apply all the click box settings select Apply all properties You can apply the click box settings to the current slide only or to all slides Note If you change the settings in this dialog box they become the default settings and new click boxes that you create use the new settings 10 Click the Apply to all butt...

Page 125: ...to previous slide Go to next slide Jump to slide Open URL or file Open other project Send e mail to Execute JavaScript or No Action Note If you select Open URL or file or Open other project click the pop up menu to select the window in which the URL file or project should appear select from Current New Parent and Top If you choose New Parent or Top you also have the option to Continue playing the ...

Page 126: ...over the text entry box Pause for success failure captions Select this option to have the project pause until all success and failure captions see explanations for captions above have displayed for the user to read Show button Select this option to display a button with text such as ENTER or COMPLETE To add or edit button text view the slide in Edit view and double click the button to open the But...

Page 127: ...ur learning management system you must use the interaction ID specified by your learning management system Points Enter a number or use the arrows to give the question a point value Maximum is 100 points minimum is 0 Add to total If you select this option the points of the click box are added to the quiz total 8 If you want to define the exact size or location of the text entry box in terms of pix...

Page 128: ...tton and what happens when the user clicks outside the button The following options are in the If the user clicks the button area 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 project Send e mail to Execute JavaScript or No Action The following options are in the If th...

Page 129: ...row to select a size for the border around the button Fill transparency Specify a transparency level for the button For a very dim button select a high number such as 90 For a darker button select a low number such as 10 Image button Select this option to use an image as a button You can browse to the required image available in the gallery Transparent buttons Select this option to set the button ...

Page 130: ... the button Show hand mouse cursor when over button Select this option to have the pointing hand appear when the mouse pointer rolls over the button 6 If you want to add audio to the button 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 button Edit Displays the Edit Aud...

Page 131: ...ight Specifies the vertical height of the object in pixels Constrain proportions This option when selected specifies that if either the height or width of the object is changed the other dimension is changed to maintain the relative proportion of the object 9 Use the Settings menu to select how to apply property changes in the project To apply all your changes select Apply only changed properties ...

Page 132: ...empt select the Execute JavaScript option 5 Click More The JavaScript dialog box appears 6 Enter your JavaScript code in the text box If you have the JavaScript in another location you can copy it and paste it into the text box 7 Click OK 8 Click OK again 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 ...

Page 133: ...on and make your selections 6 Optional To listen to the audio file click Play 7 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 thi...

Page 134: ...134 Chapter 7 Adding Boxes and Buttons ...

Page 135: ...To change the mouse pointer 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Open the slide you want in Edit view 3 From the Slide menu select Mouse Project Pointers or Current Theme Pointers 4 From the pop up menu select an alternative mouse pointer Note The choices on the Current Theme Pointers pop up menu reflect the Windows theme you are currently using If you change the Windows theme the choices on this m...

Page 136: ...nd clear Double mouse size Changing mouse click sounds You can change the default mouse click sound that plays whenever the mouse reaches the end of its movement path Changing the mouse click sound can be important for two reasons First if you are creating a project for an application that requires both single clicks and double clicks to perform actions you may want to set the proper mouse click s...

Page 137: ...ow mouse click 5 Do one of the following Select Default click Click on color box to open the Color dialog box Select the color you want and click OK Select Custom Click on the pop up menu and select an option Several options are provided BlueCircle GreenRing OrangleCircle OrangeRing VisualClick and VisualdblClick To preview these options select one and click Play The SWF file plays in the small Pr...

Page 138: ...ter is aligned between slides Note If you have mouse movement on the first slide of your project you can manually change the start point of the mouse movement because you cannot align to a previous slide Using straight and curved mouse paths By default Adobe Captivate creates curved mouse movements on slides for a more realistic natural feel However there may be times when a straight mouse path is...

Page 139: ...roject 2 From the Project menu select Preferences 3 Click the Preferences tab 4 Clear the option Include mouse when project is generated Enabling the mouse wheel You can choose to enable mouse wheel movement to initiate full motion recording To enable the mouse wheel for recording 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Options menu select Recording Options The Recording Options dialog box ap...

Page 140: ...140 Chapter 8 Editing Mouse Movement ...

Page 141: ...bjects the header and the playhead The objects on a slide are displayed as stacked bars in the right pane of the Timeline The header at the top of the Timeline indicates time in seconds and parts of seconds The playhead shows the point in time in which the slide is being viewed Tip Rest the mouse pointer over any bar in the Timeline to view details about the timing of that object Customizing Timel...

Page 142: ... and the Timeline If the Timeline does not appear click the View menu and select Show Timeline 3 Click the four vertical dots to the left of the Timeline display arrow until a four pointed arrow appears 4 Drag the Timeline slightly to the left 5 Release the mouse The Timeline should appear in a new window above the main Adobe Captivate application window To hide the Timeline 1 Open an Adobe Captiv...

Page 143: ...and the Timeline click the display arrow 4 Move the mouse over one of the objects on the Timeline until the hand appears and drag the object up or down to reposition it 5 If you have two objects that overlap on the slide you need to select the object you want to appear in front by setting the stacking order Changing the stacking order consists of moving objects to the back and front of the slide s...

Page 144: ...n If the object was hidden the object appears on the slide and the X disappears from the column Note When you hide an object layer it is hidden only on the stage You can still view the layer when it is previewed or published To lock or unlock an object layer 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click a slide 3 If it is not open already show the Timeline by clicking the splitter bar To expand...

Page 145: ...orter than the longest object For example if you have a slide with a caption that appears for 6 seconds you cannot set the slide time for 4 seconds To change slide timing 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click a slide whose timing you want to change 3 If it is not open already show the Timeline by clicking the splitter bar To expand the Timeline click the display arrow 4 The slide timing...

Page 146: ... the project plays However if mouse movements are complicated you may want to decrease the mouse speed so users can view all movements To change mouse pointer speed 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click a slide that contains mouse movement 3 If the Timeline is not already displayed expand it by clicking the display arrow to the left of the word Timeline 4 Mouse movement is contained in ...

Page 147: ...ppear over the image To adjust the display time of interactive objects such as text entry boxes click boxes and buttons rest the pointer over the line between Active and Inactive in the bar until the slider handle appears Drag the slider to adjust the display time Tip You can select multiple objects and move them at the same time Hold down the SHIFT key and click on objects to select consecutive s...

Page 148: ...t to 1 to exit rdcmndInfo display the information window The following variables provide information currently used by playback controls and preview rdinfoFrameCount total number of swf frames in the project this is not the number of frames in the main Timeline but the sum of all slide frames rdinfoSlidesInProject number of slides in the project including hidden slides rdinfoCurrentFrame current f...

Page 149: ... to add elements such as graphics credits or logos Question slides contain quizzing functionality They can be fully interactive with questions answers and actions PowerPoint slides are individual slides imported from a PowerPoint presentation Animation slides contain an animation in SWF GIF or AVI format Adding slides to a project Adobe Captivate offers a wide variety of options for adding slides ...

Page 150: ...designated on the keyboard to stop recording The newly recorded slides are inserted into your project in the specified location Note You can also import slides from other Adobe Captivate projects or PowerPoint files Importing slides Adobe Captivate allows you to import slides from one Adobe Captivate project into another This can save you valuable development time To import slides from one Adobe C...

Page 151: ...cts You can copy and paste slides from other projects This can save you a great deal of time For example if you have a detailed slide with captions containing important reusable text simply copy and paste this slide into any new projects you create Tip You can select multiple slides by pressing Shift or Ctrl on the keyboard while clicking on the desired slides To select all slides press Ctrl A or ...

Page 152: ...ide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 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 project click the slide currently labeled Slide 5 3 From the Insert menu select Image Slide The Open dialog box appears 4 Select an image from the list or browse to a new location for a different image Click Open 5 Op...

Page 153: ... already created Note Adding animation as a slide is most appropriate with larger animation files To add an animation slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Insert menu select Animation Slide The Open dialog box appears 3 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 project Note It is important...

Page 154: ... clipboard Adobe Captivate provides an easy way to copy a slide to the clipboard You can then paste the slide into a graphics editing program for example Fireworks or Photoshop edit the slide and then paste the slide back into Adobe Captivate This is a useful feature particularly if you don t have much time and need to make a small change to a slide For example suppose your project is nearly done ...

Page 155: ... the other objects You can make text a permanent part of a slide by creating a transparent text caption and then merging the caption To merge an object into a slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click the slide that contains the object you want to merge 3 Right click the object that you want to merge into the slide for example an image caption or click box 4 Select Merge into Backgrou...

Page 156: ...change slide navigation 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Select a slide whose navigation you want to change 3 On the Slide menu click Properties 4 From the Navigation pop up menu select the navigation choice you want 5 Click Apply Tip Through the Slide Properties dialog box you can apply one navigation choice to all slides After selecting the navigation choice for the selected slide select Appl...

Page 157: ... Color area click Project To change the project color go to the Project menu and click the Preferences tab Creating slide labels Slide labels are short titles that you assign to each slide It can be easier to move slides and keep track of them if you have assigned slide labels instead of just using the slide number When you add a label to a slide the label appears under the slide when you view sli...

Page 158: ...roject 2 From the View menu select Show Slide Notes The slide notes pane appears at the bottom of the Adobe Captivate window 3 Click to select the slide to which you want to add a note 4 Click in the slide notes window where it says Click to add notes for the selected slide 5 Type in any notes for the slide 6 Click to select the next slide to which you want to add a note notes are saved automatica...

Page 159: ...at can be read by a screen reader To add text that can be read by a screen reader to a slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click the slide to which you want to add accessible text 3 Click the Slide tab 4 Click Accessibility 5 Type in the text that you want the screen reader to read aloud If there is text on the slide such as captions or any slide notes or closed captions have been wri...

Page 160: ...a zoom area 3 From the Insert menu select Zoom area The New Zoom Area dialog box appears 4 On the Zoom Destination Area tab set the following options Use the Preview area to view the effects of the changes you make Frame color Choose a color for the frame surrounding the Zoom Destination Area box Fill color Choose a color for the area within the zoom destination area box Frame width Set the width ...

Page 161: ... a zoom destination you can change the frame and fill options and size and position of the box To edit a zoom area 1 On the slide double click the Zoom Area box The Zoom Area dialog box appears 2 On the Zoom Area tab set the following options Use the Preview area to view the effects of the changes you make Frame color Choose a color for the frame surrounding the Zoom Area box Fill color Choose a c...

Page 162: ...t the following options Position in pixels Enter a number or use the arrows to set the position of the image on the slide Size in pixels Enter a number or use the arrows to set the size of the image on the slide Constrain proportions Select this option to lock the image proportion 6 Click the Apply to all button to apply the settings specified from the Settings menu 7 Use the Settings menu to sele...

Page 163: ...quent slides that you create use the new settings 6 Click Apply to view your changes without closing the dialog box 7 Click OK to accept changes and close the dialog box Compressing slide data Adobe Captivate provides you with the option of compressing slide data that is shared between slides This option reduces overall file size and it is the default setting Note In certain circumstances compress...

Page 164: ...6 colors this format uses 16 million colors for the slides This option should only be used if the Standard and Optimized options do not offer the correct color depth The file size increases dramatically using this option Note Selecting the JPEG High Quality or Optimized format may increase the file size and the time it takes to download your project You should only use a format other than Standard...

Page 165: ... Project expiration date Select this option to set a date for the project to expire When a project expires it can no longer be viewed Message line 1 This option lets you write an expiration message The message appears if the project has reached its expiration date set earlier and a user tries to view the project Message line 2 This option lets you add a second line of text to the project expiratio...

Page 166: ...werful in an introduction You can add existing sound files or record your own voice over You can include a welcome message or play some appropriate music Tip Adobe Captivate contains a gallery that has buttons sounds and animations in SWF format for you to use in your projects By default the gallery is stored in the following location when you install Adobe Captivate C Program Files Adobe Adobe Ca...

Page 167: ...buttons that are bitmap BMP images You can choose from a list of existing playbars and preview them in the Skin Editor preview window A SWF theme is in Flash format and gives you more options for customizing the look of your project You can choose colors and display elements for your playback control and then save the theme for use in other projects Note When you create an Adobe Captivate project ...

Page 168: ...this button to allow your user to move to the next slide Closed Captioning Include this button if you have included closed captions in your project and want to give your user the option to turn them on or off Note To review or change the settings for closed captioning in your project click the Settings button Back Include this button to allow users to move back one slide Close Exit Include this bu...

Page 169: ...Show playback control option on the Playback Control tab Creating custom playback controls Users control Adobe Captivate projects with playback control buttons such as Play or Pause These buttons allow users to set the pace of the project as necessary For example if a project contains step by step instructions a Pause button lets users pause the project until they have finished reading and process...

Page 170: ... file extension bmp To create custom BMP playback controls 1 Create new buttons using a graphics software package such as Fireworks or Adobe Photoshop Save the buttons as separate bitmap BMP images Use the naming conventions outlined above when you name and save your bitmap images 2 Create a bitmap that contains a preview image for the whole control and name the file style preview bmp 3 Using Wind...

Page 171: ...vate 2 Templates PlaybackFLA The control names and symbols must not change The playbar must be present on the Stage with the instance name pbcBar_mc The playbar must have the cpPlaybar identifier in the library The Export for action script option must be selected for cpPlaybar in the Library The actions at the action layer must not be changed All buttons must be stored at the library root The regi...

Page 172: ...aybackFLA Adding a border to your project You can specify the style size texture and width of the border around your project To add a border to your project 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Project menu select Skin The Skin Editor dialog box appears 3 Click the Borders tab 4 Select Show Borders Note When you select the Show Borders options the borders will appear outside the boundary o...

Page 173: ...oject open a file outside of the project take users to a URL execute a JavaScript or launch an e mail To add a menu item to your project 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Project menu select Skin The Skin Editor dialog box appears 3 Click the Menu tab 4 Select Show menu 5 Click Add The Add Edit menu item dialog box appears 6 Enter the menu item text in the Caption text box 7 Select one ...

Page 174: ...can hide menu items but preserve the settings you selected by clearing the Show menu option on the Menu tab Adding project information All playback control styles contain an information button When your users click this button they receive project information such as author company name and website address You can add or change this information through the Skin Editor dialog box It is important to...

Page 175: ...des When you lock a slide all objects on the slide can be viewed but not edited This feature is useful if you want to send your project to others for review but do not want them to make changes to objects You can tell that a slide is locked by looking for the small lock icon This icon displays below a locked slide in Storyboard view and in the Filmstrip To lock a slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate pr...

Page 176: ...d in Storyboard view To include or exclude hidden slides when publishing handouts 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Publish 3 Select Handouts 4 In Layout options select Include hidden slides If a green check mark appears next to Include hidden slides the hidden slides are included in the Word document remove the check mark to exclude the hidden slides from the handouts ...

Page 177: ...t area Zoom areas Zoom areas draw the learner s attention to spots on the screen that you want to emphasize The zoom area indicates the important information or image The zoom destination is the enlarged view of the content contained in the zoom area Mouse appearance Specify exactly how mouse actions appear in your recorded slides Flash Videos Incorporate Flash Video files in your project play ins...

Page 178: ...o keep the existing objects to save time Note If you want to reuse individual media objects from another Adobe Captivate 2 project you can open that project s Library from within your current project Library and drag objects directly onto a slide or into the current project Library for easy reuse To import objects from one Adobe Captivate project into another 1 Open the Adobe Captivate project to ...

Page 179: ...r of times the object is used in the project Click the title of any of these columns to sort the list of objects within each object category folder Note The Library only appears when you re in Edit view If you move to a different view you cannot see the Library When you move back to Edit view the Library reappears in the same location New resources images audio animations etc appear in the Library...

Page 180: ...ly onto a slide and you can reuse them as many times as you want Note After you open another Adobe Captivate 2 project s Library that project will stay in the Open Library menu so you can quickly access that project s Library at any time Library toolbar The Library toolbar appears at the top of the main Library pane below the Library preview pane The toolbar contains the following options Open Lib...

Page 181: ...ct Note To reuse media objects that appear in the Library simply drag the object from the Library onto the slide To duplicate an object 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Double click on the slide that contains the object you want to duplicate 3 Right click the object and select Duplicate The object you selected is duplicated and the new object is placed on the slide You can edit and work with th...

Page 182: ...Storyboard view or the Filmstrip panel in Edit view 6 Right click again and select Paste Object from the context menu Copying and pasting objects from other projects You can copy and paste objects from other projects This can save you a great deal of time For example if you have created a particularly detailed object in another project simply copy and paste the object into any new projects you cre...

Page 183: ...rdinates of the mouse are automatically displayed in the lower right corner of the Adobe Captivate project window as you move the mouse Knowing exact coordinates can help you place objects in a precise location on a slide When aligning objects it can be helpful to display the grid Tip You can move objects using only the keyboard Select an object and press an arrow key on your keyboard to move 1 pi...

Page 184: ...the zoom level Click on the ruler and then press Ctrl to decrease zoom level Ctrl to increase zoom level or Ctrl W to set the zoom level so all objects will fit within the current Timeline width Changing object display order Adobe Captivate lets you to add multiple objects such as captions highlight boxes animations or images to slides You specify the order in which objects appear The Timeline let...

Page 185: ...tiple objects 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Open a slide that contains more than one object such as two captions You can also open a slide and add more than one object to the slide 3 Select the objects by holding down the Shift key and clicking the individual objects 4 From the Edit menu select Size or right click one of the selected objects and select Size 5 Select the width and height you ...

Page 186: ...slide to open Edit view 3 From the View menu select Snap to Grid 4 To test the snap to grid behavior add an object such as a highlight box to the slide and then move the box As you move the box it automatically lines up with the grid lines To change the grid scale 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Options menu select Preferences 3 In Grid size enter a new number Larger numbers display f...

Page 187: ...the object making it an image of the object The merging feature can be useful in several different situations For example if you import a large image into a slide that contains other objects you can merge the image into the slide so that it can serve as a static background for the other objects You can make text a permanent part of a slide by creating a transparent text caption and then merging th...

Page 188: ...the slide if the user successfully completes an object s action Attempts This column shows the maximum number of attempts you have set as a limit for an interactive object On failure If an object or slide has the possibility of failure for example if an incorrect answer is selected in a multiple choice question this column shows where the slide leads after failure Shortcut View and edit keyboard s...

Page 189: ...electing Resize Project from the Project menu Deleting projects or templates You can delete Adobe Captivate projects CP files or templates CPTL at any time When you create Adobe Captivate projects and templates they are saved by default to the following locations Projects are saved in My Documents My Adobe Captivate Projects Templates are saved in My Documents My Adobe Captivate Projects Templates...

Page 190: ...obe Captivate project you want to preview 3 Double click any slide to open Edit view 4 In the toolbar click Preview and select one of the following options Play this slide Select to preview only the current slide Project Select to preview the entire project from start to finish From this slide Select to preview the project from the currently displayed slide to the end Next 5 slides Select to previ...

Page 191: ...roject numerous times can result in quality deterioration If possible try to resize a project only once To resize a project 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Project menu select Resize Project 3 Under Size enter an exact custom size in pixels in Width and Height minimum size 100 x 100 or enter a percentage for Width and Height with the current size being 100 For example to make the proj...

Page 192: ... the new size If any background space appears after cropping you can select a specific color for the background by clicking Crop fill color If you select the crop option click Next to open the Crop Area dialog box where you can define a crop area Rescale captions highlight boxes and other objects Select this option to have Adobe Captivate automatically rescale all objects in your project such as c...

Page 193: ...e image into the following folder C Program files Adobe Adobe Captivate 2 Gallery Preloaders Supported formats are JPG JPEG GIF PNG BMP ICO EMF WMF and SWF Password protect project This option establishes a password that users must enter before being allowed to view the project Click to set a password and write password messages for users Project expiration date This option sets a date for the pro...

Page 194: ...elect the advanced project compression option When the compression option is not selected file size increases Compress compiled SWF file This option compresses the SWF file so it is smaller in size A smaller SWF file is easier to play open and send through e mail especially on older computers Compressed SWF files can be used only with Flash Player 6 or later earlier versions of Flash cannot play c...

Page 195: ... quality setting increases file size Note Selecting a higher quality setting for an audio file does increase the file size However at times selecting a higher quality will not increase the file size dramatically but will improve the quality of the audio significantly Experiment with different audio quality levels to find the optimal setting Include mouse when project is generated This option inclu...

Page 196: ...he default duration of newly created blank image and question slides Preview next Specifies the default number of slides for the Preview Next x slides option Preview button main toolbar 4 Click OK Adding a loading screen You can add a loading screen to the beginning of your project A loading screen is useful if the first slide of the project is large or contains audio and takes a few moments to ap...

Page 197: ...back controls It is important to set project properties if you are creating Section 508 compliant projects that are accessible to users with disabilities To set project properties 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Properties 3 Enter information for the following text boxes as needed Project name A distinctive and descriptive name for the project Author The name of the p...

Page 198: ...r 7 Check that the keyboard tap sounds option is selected Checking spelling in Adobe Captivate projects You can check spelling in most places where text occurs in your projects including captions slide notes slide names text animations and quizzes Tip Before checking spelling set spell checking options To check spelling 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Project menu select Check Spellin...

Page 199: ...n digits such as Q2 Consider this option if your text contains many symbols or code with numbers Ignore mixed case words Omits any words from the spell check comprised of uppercase and lowercase letters such as ActionScript Ignore domain names Omits any words from the spell check that appear to be Internet domain names such as www adobe com Report doubled words Notifies you during the spell check ...

Page 200: ...pell check dictionary By default the spell checker uses the English United States dictionary You can change to any dictionary installed on your computer at any time To change spell checker dictionary 1 Open Adobe Captivate 2 From the Options menu select Preferences 3 Under Spelling Preferences click Change 4 From the Main dictionary language pop up menu select the dictionary you want to use All di...

Page 201: ...cluding multiple choice true and false matching rating scale fill in the blank and short answer Use the Branching view to customize content in response to viewer answers Branching provides different paths for correct and incorrect answers Review and manage all branching in the Branching view Provide instant feedback to users through messages for correct incorrect and incomplete answers To access t...

Page 202: ...ed and adding hint success and failure captions You can add text entry boxes and create different branches if users enter the text correctly or incorrectly Text entry boxes are very flexible and can be used in many creative ways For example they are an excellent way to simulate data entry in an application Because they are placed on existing slides and do not require their own slide they do not in...

Page 203: ...cts The powerful quizzing features make it easy to design many different types of questions such as multiple choice short answer matching true false rating scale and fill in the blank You have complete control over what happens when users answer questions correctly or incorrectly For example you can set one action such as go to the next slide when a user supplies a correct answer and you can set a...

Page 204: ... go to the Project menu and select Advanced Interaction Creating a new multiple choice question slide Select this option to create a question that users must answer by selecting one or more correct answers from a list To create a multiple choice question slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Select the slide before where you want to insert a question slide For example if you want the new quest...

Page 205: ... or New Choose Current if you want the URL you indicate to open in the same browser window replacing your presentation Choose New if you want the URL to open in a new browser window Open other project Select this option to have the project begin playing a different project Click the down arrow to select the window in which the project should appear Choose Current or New Choose Current if you want ...

Page 206: ... Select this option to open the default mail browser Execute JavaScript Select this option to run a specific piece of JavaScript code In Execute JavaScript enter the JavaScript you would like to execute Show correct message Select this option to provide a text message for users when they supply a correct answer Clear this option if you do not want to give any feedback for an correct answer The fol...

Page 207: ...do not supply an answer for example Please select an answer before continuing Note You can edit the text in the correct error retry and incomplete messages in the Quiz Manager Click the Project menu select Quiz Manager and click the Default Labels tab 17 Select the Reporting tab and modify the following fields Report answers This option keeps a quiz score Objective ID This is an optional parameter...

Page 208: ...s options The following options are in the If correct answer area Action Select the following desired actions or destinations after a user selects the correct answer Continue Select this option to have the project continue playing Go to previous slide Select this option to have the project return to the previous slide Go to next slide Select this option to have the project proceed to the next slid...

Page 209: ...o a specific URL on the Internet or to a local file Click the browse button to choose any local file Click the down arrow to select the window in which the URL should appear select Current or New Choose Current if you want the URL you indicate to open in the same browser window replacing your presentation Choose New if you want the URL to open in a new browser window Open other project Select this...

Page 210: ...uestion Types dialog box appears 4 Select Fill in the blank and then click either Create Graded Question or Create Survey Question You can change your choice on the Options tab if necessary 5 Accept the default Name and Description of the question or type new text directly into the text boxes The name and description appear on the slide in the project Tip If you are creating many of the same types...

Page 211: ...rrow to select the window in which the URL should appear select Current or New Choose Current if you want the URL you indicate to open in the same browser window replacing your presentation Choose New if you want the URL to open in a new browser window Note When using the URL option the URL is visible when you edit the slide in Adobe Captivate However it is not visible to the user If you want to s...

Page 212: ...if you want the new project to replace the current project Choose New if you want the new project to open in a new window Send e mail to Select this option to open the default mail browser Execute JavaScript Select this option to run a specific piece of JavaScript code In Execute JavaScript enter the JavaScript you would like to execute Show retry message Select this option to provide a text messa...

Page 213: ...imum is 100 points minimum is 0 8 In Acceptable Answers click Add and enter phrases or sentences that constitute correct answers Click Add and Delete as necessary to write an appropriate list If you want these answers to be treated as a survey rather than grading them you must choose Create Survey Question when first adding the question or on the Options tab choose Survey from the pop up Type menu...

Page 214: ...er of attempts Failure levels Select this option to insert messages that appear in response to multiple incorrect answers You can have up to three failure levels For example after the first wrong answer Incorrect try again appears After the second wrong answer Incorrect you have one more try left and after the third Sorry incorrect Move on to the next question Action Click the desired action or de...

Page 215: ... question slide appears in the designated location in the project If you need to make any changes click Edit Question in the upper left corner of the slide Creating a new matching question slide Select this option to create a question that provides users with two lists of items that must be correctly matched To create a matching question slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 Select the slide b...

Page 216: ...t this option to have the project continue playing Go to previous slide Select this option to have the project return to the previous slide Go to next slide Select this option to have the project proceed to the next slide Jump to slide When you select this option another box appears where you specify an exact destination Open URL or file Select this option to have the project jump to a specific UR...

Page 217: ...o open in the same browser window replacing your presentation Choose New if you want the URL to open in a new browser window Open other project Select this option to have the project begin playing a different project Click the down arrow to select the window in which the project should appear Choose Current or New Choose Current if you want the new project to replace the current project Choose New...

Page 218: ...e slide before where you want to insert a question slide For example if you want the new question slide to be slide 7 in the project click slide 6 3 From the Insert menu select Question Slide The Question Types dialog box appears 4 Select Rating Scale Likert and then click Create Survey Question 5 Accept the default Name and Description of the question or type new text directly into the text boxes...

Page 219: ...ipt enter the JavaScript you would like to execute 11 Select the Reporting tab and modify the following fields Report answers This option keeps a quiz score Objective ID This is an optional parameter If the quiz question is related to an objective set in your LMS enter the objective in this field Interaction ID If you want the Adobe Captivate project SWF file to send tracking information to your L...

Page 220: ... Captivate scoring data can be tracked in Authorware Separator Enter the desired field separator for Authorware E mail This option automatically sends scoring results to a specified e mail address Type a complete e mail address directly into the text box for example name mycompany com The results are sent in comma delimited format and can easily be copied and pasted into a spreadsheet program such...

Page 221: ...re required to pass the user must answer 3 or more questions correctly to get 60 or more points Note The total points always appear in the Quiz Manager and the Advanced Interaction dialog box 5 The following options are in the If passing grade area Action Specify what should happen if after a user receives a passing grade Go to previous slide Select this option to have the project return to the pr...

Page 222: ...e Select this option to have the project jump to a specific URL on the Internet or to a local file Click the browse button to choose any local file Click the down arrow to select the window in which the URL should appear select Current or New Choose Current if you want the URL you indicate to open in the same browser window replacing your presentation Choose New if you want the URL to open in a ne...

Page 223: ... your review messages just double click on a message and change the format as you prefer Adobe Captivate provides default text for question review messages but you can edit the text at any time To add question review messages to a question slide 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the Project menu select Quiz Manager The Quiz Manager dialog box appears 3 Select the Quiz Settings tab 4 In the ...

Page 224: ...to all button to apply the settings specified from the Settings menu 8 Click OK Creating a manifest file Adobe Captivate contains an important eLearning feature that creates a manifest file This is useful if you want to package an Adobe Captivate project to be an e learning course that can be administered and launched from a SCORM 1 2 or 2004 conformed LMS The manifest file that Adobe Captivate cr...

Page 225: ... A default title based on the name of your Adobe Captivate project is automatically added to this field You can change the title at any time by selecting the text and typing in new text Mastery score Optional field Select this option to specify a passing score for the Adobe Captivate project The score should be a number between 0 and 100 Only Adobe Captivate projects containing score reporting obj...

Page 226: ...ble options include SCORM or AICC compliance feedback messages for users navigation buttons scoring and PENS notification Note PENS allows for streamlined coordination between Adobe Captivate and eLearning publishing and management systems PENS allows you to automate the notification transfer and delivery of content packages between Adobe Captivate and LMS systems To use the Quiz Manager 1 Open an...

Page 227: ...ted and so on The following options are on the Quiz Settings tab Name Specifies a unique name for the quiz Required Specifies whether the quiz must be completed by the user Click the pop up menu and select one of the following options Optional the user can skip this quiz Select this option to let the user skip the quiz and continue with the training session Required the user must take the quiz to ...

Page 228: ... this option another box appears where you specify an exact destination Open URL or file Select this option to have the project jump to a specific URL on the Internet or to a local file Click the browse button to choose any local file Click the down arrow to select the window in which the URL should appear select Current or New Choose Current if you want the URL you indicate to open in the same br...

Page 229: ...rea Submit button text Specifies the text on the button that can be clicked to submit quiz answers Clear Specifies the text on the button that can be clicked to clear any answers provided and start over Skip button text Specifies the text on the button that can be clicked to move to the next slide Back button text Specifies the text on the button that can be clicked to move back one slide Note Cha...

Page 230: ...es and or distributes the quiz results Target URL Enter the location of the publishing management server Send using Select the method GET or POST you want the LMS server to use for transmitting the learning content package Command Select the Collect action you want the LMS server to perform Authentication optional Enter a required user name and password Receipt URL Enter the e mail address to whic...

Page 231: ...XE Word and Macintosh files About creating MenuBuilder projects You can create several different types of MenuBuilder projects using different creation options Creating new MenuBuilder projects with the wizard MenuBuilder lets you easily create projects by using the MenuBuilder wizard To create a new project with the MenuBuilder Wizard 1 Open Adobe Captivate 2 From the Adobe Captivate Start page c...

Page 232: ...ins information that is necessary for the SWF file to play correctly You can select Save file with project to save the linked HTM file with the SWF file When you export the SWF file the linked HTM file is also exported 9 If you create a link to a URL or HTM file the Advanced Settings button is active Click this button to set display options for the browser window that contains the link 10 Optional...

Page 233: ...d project If the project you want to open is not listed click Browse to locate the project 4 Click OK Selecting MenuBuilder templates Templates in MenuBuilder serve the same purpose as in other software programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint They frequently contain background images and text styles MenuBuilder stores all user defined templates in a default directory You can access change this direc...

Page 234: ...e MenuBuilder project 2 Resize the application window so you have enough space to view other items 3 Drag the item to insert file web address and so on into MenuBuilder MenuBuilder inserts the appropriate text or image item with the correct link 4 If you want to edit the item properties double click the item Undoing and redoing actions in MenuBuilder You can reverse the last action taken by using ...

Page 235: ... From the Tools menu select Spelling and Grammar Alternatively press F7 Printing projects in MenuBuilder You can print a MenuBuilder project at any time Printing a MenuBuilder project can be useful if you need others to review the contents or if you need to create handouts To print a project 1 Open the MenuBuilder project to print 2 From the File menu select Print 3 Make any adjustments you want a...

Page 236: ...uBuilder project 2 From the Insert menu select Text 3 In the Style pop up menu select a text style Adobe Captivate imports the listed styles om to create a new style 4 From the Font pop up menu select the font you want Choose size and style options as well 5 In the Text box enter the text as it should appear in the project 6 From the Link pop up menu select the type of link to activate Click Brows...

Page 237: ... in the project Use the Link pop up menu to select the type of link to activate Click Browse to search for other choices you can create links to almost any type of file Then enter the appropriate text in the Link box For example if you select Web Address enter the appropriate URL When you link to an Adobe SWF file MenuBuilder automatically creates a link to the related HTM file Every SWF file requ...

Page 238: ...to one another To align text items 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Press the Shift key and select the text items to align 3 From the Edit menu select Align The Alignment dialog box appears 4 Select from the alignment options The following options are in the Horizontal area No change Select this option to make no change Left sides Select this option to align items along their left sides Centers Se...

Page 239: ...set the stacking order to control which objects appear in front of others Changing stacking order consists of moving objects to the back and front of the stage the key point to remember is that objects at the back of the stage appear behind other objects To order text items 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Right click on the text whose stacking order you want to change and select Bring to Front or...

Page 240: ...the Insert menu select Image 3 Select the image you want to add and click Open The New Image dialog box appears 4 In the Link pop up menu select the type of link to activate Click Browse to search for other choices 5 Enter the appropriate text in the Link text box For example if you select Web Address enter the appropriate URL in this text box 6 When you link to an Adobe SWF file MenuBuilder autom...

Page 241: ...s enter the appropriate URL in this box When you link to an Adobe SWF file MenuBuilder automatically creates a link to the related HTM file Every Adobe SWF file requires an associated HTM file This file contains information that is necessary for the SWF file to play correctly You can click Save file with project to save the linked HTM file with the SWF file When you export the SWF file the linked ...

Page 242: ...nother To align images 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Press the Shift key and select the images to align 3 From the Edit menu select Align The Alignment dialog box appears 4 Select from the alignment options The following options are in the Horizontal area No change Select this option to make no change Left sides Select this option to align items along their left sides Centers Select this option...

Page 243: ...d front of the stage The key point to remember is that objects at the back of the stage appear behind other objects To order images 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Right click the image whose stacking order you want to change and select Bring to Front or Send to Back Viewing pixel location in MenuBuilder You can view the precise location in pixels of click boxes images and text items in MenuBuild...

Page 244: ...es all images to the smallest image Grow to largest If you select more than one image to size this option sizes all images to the largest image Height This text box contains the image height in pixels You can edit this value 5 Click OK Note You can also size a selected image by dragging its sizing handles This sizing technique is less precise than using the Sizing dialog box but it is often more c...

Page 245: ...ox or click OK to accept the changes and close the dialog box Deleting images in MenuBuilder You can delete unwanted images in MenuBuilder quickly and easily Tip You can delete multiple images at the same time by pressing Shift while clicking the images To delete an image 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Select the image to delete 3 From the Edit menu select Delete Alternatively right click and se...

Page 246: ...ilder click box options You can edit a click box in MenuBuilder at any time To set click box options 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 In the preview window double click the click box to edit The Click Box Properties dialog box appears 3 Adjust click box options In the Link pop up menu select the type of link to activate Click Browse to search for other choices Then enter the appropriate text in th...

Page 247: ...d in relation to one another To align click boxes 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Press the Shift key and select the click boxes to align 3 From the Edit menu select Align The Alignment dialog box appears 4 Select from the alignment options The following options are in the Horizontal area No change Select this option to make no change Left sides Select this option to align items along their left ...

Page 248: ... is important to set the stacking order to control which objects appear in front of others Changing stacking order consists of moving objects to the back and front of the stage The key point to remember is that objects at the back of the stage appear behind other objects To order click boxes 1 Open the MenuBuilder project 2 Right click on the click box whose stacking order you want to change and s...

Page 249: ...ject Options 3 In the Project section adjust the options Title This text box contains the title text that appears at the top of the finished project dialog box You can edit this text CD Icon This text box contains the icon to use if you are planning to export the project as an EXE file If you want to create or edit an icon file click More to select an ICO file 4 In the Background section adjust th...

Page 250: ...se ICO files for MenuBuilder project icons There are two ways in which you can associate icons with projects You can attach an icon to a project during initial project creation by using the MenuBuilder wizard or you can attach an icon to a project by adjusting the project options To associate an icon with a project during initial project creation Create a project using the MenuBuilder wizard In th...

Page 251: ...the mouse Click More to browse to an audio file Click Play to listen to the file Select Mouse Hover to choose an audio file to play when the user rolls over a linked item Click More to browse to an audio file Click Play to listen to the file Select On Start to choose an audio file to play when the project starts Click More to browse to an audio file Click Play to listen to the file Select Backgrou...

Page 252: ...options The following options are in the Grid options area Show Grid Select this option to display a grid in MenuBuilder This grid does not appear in the final project it is used during development to position and align text and images Snap to Grid Select this option to snap text and images to the grid Grid size Use the arrows to select a numeric value for the grid Values range from 2 to 100 The f...

Page 253: ...onfirmation dialog box for all link redirection actions External SWF warning Select this option to ensure MenuBuilder provides a confirmation dialog box for all external SWF linking actions The following option is in the Docking area Auto drag docking Select this option if you want to drag the MenuBuilder toolbar to a new location To drag the toolbar click on a section of the toolbar that does not...

Page 254: ...es These templates are MenuBuilder templates not PowerPoint templates By default this folder is My Documents My Adobe Captivate Projects Templates To select a different folder click More Image directory This option refers to the folder that contains MenuBuilder images By default this folder is My Documents My Pictures To select a different folder click More Export directory This option refers to t...

Page 255: ...ame or enter a new name 5 In the Directory text box accept the default path or enter a new path and folder in which to save the exported project You can also click Browse to navigate to a different folder 6 If you want to ensure that the EXE file runs automatically select Generate Autorun file for CD distributions 7 If you want to open the EXE file immediately following the export process select V...

Page 256: ...box accept the default name or enter a new name 5 In the Directory text box accept the default path or enter a new path and folder in which to save the exported project You can also click Browse to navigate to a different folder 6 If you want to open the Word file immediately following the export process select View project after export 7 Click Finish Exporting MenuBuilder projects for Macintosh W...

Page 257: ...pported in output filenames for example avoid using Asian characters in a SWF filename Publishing projects as stand alone EXE files You can create stand alone executable files of your Adobe Captivate projects This publishing option enables you to create a Windows executable file EXE a Linux Projector file and a Macintosh Projector file HQX To publish a project as an EXE file 1 Open an Adobe Captiv...

Page 258: ...ctive simulations or scenario based training within Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional formerly Breeze Meeting or Adobe Presenter formerly Breeze Presenter You can easily share online meetings presentations and training courses over the Internet By publishing Adobe Captivate projects to Adobe Connect Enterprise you can present training to multiple learners at once To publish a project to Adobe Con...

Page 259: ...sh using Flash 8 you must have Flash Player 8 To publish a project as a Flash file SWF 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Publish 3 In the Publish dialog box select Flash SWF 4 In Project Title enter the desired name without the file extension SWF 5 In Folder enter the full path for the folder in which to save the file or click Browse to locate the folder 6 Select from t...

Page 260: ...all the slides as they would appear with the options you choose Note Microsoft Word must be installed on the same computer as Adobe Captivate in order to publish projects as handouts To publish an Adobe Captivate project as a handout 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Publish 3 In the Publish dialog box select Print 4 In Project Title enter the desired name without the f...

Page 261: ...s and save the file as desired Note The DOC file is created using a Microsoft Word template named AdobeCaptivate dot This template contains a header with the date and a footer with page numbers If you want to change or remove the information in the header or footer you can edit the DOT file by opening it in Word When you install Adobe Captivate the AdobeCaptivate dot template is automatically plac...

Page 262: ... guide in Microsoft Word format An Adobe Captivate project is published into a Word document that lists a summary of the steps taken in the project For example if the project teaches a user how to navigate to a website the step by step guide lists the steps taken to get there The step by step guide does not include images of the project slides but does include images of objects e g buttons links a...

Page 263: ...project has a quiz and you choose Storyboard output the answers are shown next to the question There is no Answer Key Note Microsoft Word must be installed on the same computer as Adobe Captivate in order to publish projects as storyboards To publish an Adobe Captivate project as a storyboard 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Publish 3 In the Publish dialog box select P...

Page 264: ...blish files to the server listed above 8 In Password enter a valid password for the user name above 9 In Port enter the correct port number to which you should upload your files Port number 21 is commonly used 10 Optional Click Test Settings to test the settings you entered for the server You will receive either a confirmation message stating that the connection succeeded or an error message expla...

Page 265: ... www yourwebaddress com filename htm where www yourwebaddress com is the URL and filename htm is the filename you entered in step 3 Sending projects using e mail You can send Adobe Captivate projects in a variety of formats through e mail You can choose to send an Adobe Captivate file CP an EXE file a SWF file to bypass many firewall protection systems an HQX file for Macintosh or an executable fi...

Page 266: ...ick the Preferences button 8 When you are done click Publish Adobe Captivate builds the project and opens your default e mail program 9 Enter the desired e mail address in the appropriate field and send the e mail message Publishing an AICC content or a SCORM package Adobe Captivate 2 lets you create an AICC content or a SCORM package publish the content package to an LMS and have the LMS download...

Page 267: ... published package d In the URL Expiry area specify the date and time of the URL expiry This is mandatory 5 In the LMS tab specify the following details a In the Target URL field specify the URL where PENS must publish the e learning content b From the Send using field select HTTP GET or HTTP POST c Click the Command drop down and select Collect d Optional In the User ID field specify a User ID th...

Page 268: ...xt captions into a DOC file and give it to a translator To export text captions 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Import Export Export project captions and closed captions 3 In the Save As dialog box enter a filename for the new DOC file 4 Note the default directory where the file will be saved If you want navigate to a different location in which to save the file 5 Cli...

Page 269: ...Flash project is open To import an Adobe Captivate project into Flash 1 Open Flash by double clicking the Flash icon on the desktop 2 On the Flash Start page under Create New click Flash Document 3 From the File menu select Import Import to Stage 4 From the Files of type pop up menu select Adobe Captivate Project cp 5 Navigate to a file select the file and click Open The Adobe Captivate Options di...

Page 270: ...rs 3 In the Options dialog box select the Adobe Captivate elements to import The following options are in the Basic elements area Slide backgrounds Select this option to import slide backgrounds such as the screenshots that comprise the project into Flash Background changes Select this option to import background changes such as keystrokes and button states into Flash Mouse movements Select this o...

Page 271: ...elect a filename and location for the project 3 When prompted to open Flash click Open Flash The Save As dialog box appears Accept the default filename and location for the new FLA file or change the name and location as necessary Note You should save the FLA file in the same directory as the CP file because if you have animations in your project the animations are exported to the same directory a...

Page 272: ...sh Rollover Captions and Images Select this option to import rollover captions and rollover images into Flash Zoom Select this option to import zoom into Flash The following options are in the Project elements area Audio Select this option to import any audio files in the Adobe Captivate project into Flash End options Select this option to import end options such as looping project into Flash Hint...

Page 273: ...vate project The Playback Controller layer is hidden by default Background Transition This layer contains any slide or transitions included in the project such as fade in or out The Background Transition layer is locked by default Mouse Path This layer contains any mouse paths that appear in the project Mouse Sound and Effects Contains any sounds or effects associated with the mouse such as click ...

Page 274: ...wn Clicking on the Timeline or dragging the playhead lets you see how the project will look when it is played The Library panel organizes your project and all of the elements it contains such as slides captions and sounds into a hierarchy of folders Adobe Captivate and Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional lets others quickly and easily participate in online meeting...

Page 275: ... Adobe Connect Enterprise To publish a project to a Connect Enterprise server 1 Open an Adobe Captivate project 2 From the File menu select Publish 3 In the Publish dialog box select Adobe Connect 4 Click Change Server The Adobe Connect servers dialog box appears 5 Click Add 6 In Name and URL type the name and URL of the Adobe Connect server you want to use 7 Click OK The Adobe Connect server is n...

Page 276: ...fully interact with the Adobe Captivate demonstration or simulation on their individual computers Presenters can turn the Sync feature off and on as many times as necessary You can bring an Adobe Captivate project into an Acrobat Connect Professional meeting using two different methods Publish the Adobe Captivate project directly to Adobe Connect Enterprise and then add the project from the Adobe ...

Page 277: ...e new project to Flash to create a SWF file Note the location of the SWF file 3 Log in to Acrobat Connect Professional 4 Open an existing meeting or create a new meeting 5 Send the meeting URL to the people you want to invite 6 Enter the meeting room 7 Select Pods menu Share Select from My Computer 8 Navigate to the Adobe Captivate SWF file select the file and click Open The upload message appears...

Page 278: ...obe Connect metadata 5 Click OK Note The Include Adobe Connect metadata option is on by default This option increases the size of the project If you are not going to use the project with Adobe Connect you can clear the option and decrease the size of the finished project file SWF However if there is the possibility that the output file SWF may be used in Adobe Connect it is a good idea to select t...

Page 279: ...he topic appears the project automatically appears and begins playing To display the project within an existing topic 1 In RoboHelp open the topic you want to use to start the project 2 Click on a location in the topic From the Insert menu select Multimedia The Multimedia dialog box appears 3 Browse to the location of your Adobe Captivate file for example myproject swf select it and click OK 4 Pre...

Page 280: ... Open the topic you want to use to launch the project 6 Select the text or image you want to use as a hyperlink From the Insert menu select Hyperlink 7 In the Select Destination File or URL list select the topic containing the Adobe Captivate project 8 In Hyperlink Properties select Display in custom sized popup 9 Select a Width and Height for your project by using the arrows or typing in a number...

Page 281: ...of your Adobe Captivate file for example myproject swf select it and click OK 4 Save the topic 5 Open the topic that you want to use to start the project 6 Select the text or image that you want to use as a hyperlink From the Insert menu select Hyperlink 7 In the Select Destination File or URL list select the topic containing the Adobe Captivate project 8 In Hyperlink Properties select Display in ...

Page 282: ...can click a slide in the list and add the PowerPoint slides after the designated slide 6 Click OK The PowerPoint slides are extracted and the Insert Slides dialog box appears 7 Select the PowerPoint slides to convert to Adobe Captivate project 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 cl...

Page 283: ...ft PowerPoint presentations with a few simple steps First you create an Adobe Captivate project and save it as a Flash SWF file Then you open a PowerPoint presentation and insert the Adobe Captivate project into a slide To insert an Adobe Captivate project in a PowerPoint presentation 1 Create the project in Adobe Captivate 2 Publish the project as a Flash SWF file Note the location of the saved S...

Page 284: ... False If you don t want the animation to play repeatedly set the Loop property to False click the cell to display a down arrow then click the arrow and select False Set Embed Movie to True to ensure that the Adobe Captivate project is always included with the PowerPoint presentation 14 When you finish setting options click the Close button the small red X in the top right corner of the Properties...

Page 285: ...d after you restart Adobe Captivate If the key does not exist you must create the ConnectToInternetOnStartUp registry key of type REG_DWORD and set its value to 0 Troubleshooting animation timing If you notice when previewing a project that an animation file you added as an object is displaying for a longer or shorter period of time than the duration of the animation file you can synchronize the a...

Page 286: ...turing a website or a web based application Following these simple guidelines will enable you to achieve the best results Troubleshooting choppy full motion recording You can create a smoother full motion project particularly better mouse movement by disabling hardware acceleration When hardware acceleration is enabled it can use a great deal of system resources and result in choppy full motion re...

Page 287: ...he file size increases dramatically using this option Note Selecting the JPEG or High Quality format may increase the file size and the time it takes to download your project You should only use a format other than Standard when necessary and appropriate Troubleshooting fonts on transparent captions This problem occurs if transparent captions are created and the system setting for font smoothing a...

Page 288: ...lobytes per second ratio because it is the first slide to load and additional project information must load with it Consider your color settings and the images included in your project Two quick tips for reducing file size are to avoid color gradients and to avoid photo images If you are not going to upload your SWF files to an Adobe Connect Enterprise you can turn off the Include Adobe Connect me...

Page 289: ...browser causes a security settings warning to be displayed This is because of the security settings configured in Flash Player 8 or later Troubleshooting font size in text entry boxes After upgrading a Captivate 1 project to Adobe Captivate 2 font in text entry boxes appears large in Adobe Captivate 2 This is because of a bug in Captivate 1 and Flash Player The font used while editing and publishi...

Page 290: ... and then check Time again Troubleshooting publishing projects Adobe Captivate appears to stop responding for a few moments while publishing a project containing a large size full motion recording When a large full motion recording is captured in an Adobe Captivate project the preview and publish operations take a long time If you frequently want to preview the project that contains a large full m...

Page 291: ...SWFs To preview JavaScript set the value of the Show Borders option to Off disable it in the Borders tab of the Skin Editor dialog box Troubleshooting the Skin Editor The Skin Editor dialog box shows the skin preview of the first slide of the project The preview contains the background color of the slide if any or the background image You may experience performance issues when the skin preview sho...

Page 292: ...Add Remove 6 Click Yes to confirm that you want to remove the program The uninstall program removes program files folders and registry entries When the files are removed the uninstall program indicates that the process is complete 7 Click OK ...

Page 293: ...0 201 options 219 Quiz Manager 226 AICC content publishing 266 aligning click boxes in MenuBuilder 247 custom text captions 80 images in MenuBuilder 242 mouse paths 138 objects by pixels 187 objects on slides 183 objects on Timeline 183 objects to grid 186 text in MenuBuilder 238 animated text 113 115 animation troubleshooting 285 animations See also objects about 113 adding 113 defined 177 slides...

Page 294: ...dding to 132 automatically creating 37 click adding 121 deleting 133 highlight adding 119 JavaScript adding to 131 object layer order 143 text entry adding 124 timing 146 types of 119 177 178 branching 201 202 Branching view 20 branching view exporting 203 browsers supported 15 troubleshooting text 289 buttons about 119 178 adding to projects 128 audio adding to 95 132 deleting 133 JavaScript 131 ...

Page 295: ...tadata 194 contingency branching 201 202 Custom recording mode 45 custom sized projects 47 customer support 14 customizing caption styles 79 keyboard taps 93 198 playback controls 169 Timeline 141 workspace 21 D deleting audio 102 boxes 133 buttons 133 captions 84 click boxes in MenuBuilder 249 images 112 images in MenuBuilder 245 projects 189 slides 164 templates 189 text in MenuBuilder 240 Demon...

Page 296: ...ion slides 210 Filmstrip Edit view 19 slide order changing 155 viewing 23 FLA files about 113 adding 113 converting to SWF 113 slides 117 variables 147 Flash Adobe Captivate conversion 272 Adobe Captivate movies in 274 converting projects 272 editing Adobe Captivate movies in 273 exporting Adobe Captivate movies to 270 exporting to 270 importing Adobe Captivate movies from 269 270 importing projec...

Page 297: ...12 hiding icons 35 object layers 144 pointers 138 projects 190 slides 175 Timeline 21 142 toolbars 22 highlight boxes See also objects about 119 adding to projects 119 audio adding to 95 132 automatically creating 38 defined 177 deleting 133 object layer order 143 timing 146 highlighting zoom areas 160 HQX files 256 257 HTML exporting MenuBuilder projects 255 RoboHelp 278 I ICO files 107 icons ass...

Page 298: ... 19 show or hide 21 viewing objects 178 179 Library tool bar 24 Library toolbar 180 likert question slides 218 Linux Projector files 257 load screens 165 166 loading screen 196 localization Asian characters 257 projects 67 recording options 38 text captions 68 78 locking object layers 144 slides 175 looping projects 165 M Macintosh MenuBuilder projects exporting 256 Macintosh Projector files 257 M...

Page 299: ...g 173 project information 174 197 skins 167 169 merging objects into slides 187 messages confirmation 25 metadata Connect Enterprise Server 194 Flash video FLV files 103 microphone audio equipment 86 calibrating 90 placement 87 Microsoft PowerPoint about 281 importing slides 31 282 inserting projects in 283 Microsoft Reader 63 Microsoft Word files exporting MenuBuilder projects 256 exporting text ...

Page 300: ...passwords projects 193 Pause button 167 169 pausing recording 40 41 PENS compliance 9 10 201 226 PENS notification handling exceptions 266 PENS notification support 266 PENS related configuration enabling reporting 267 PENS related settings configuring 267 PIF package interchange file 226 PIF files 226 planning projects 32 Play button 167 169 playback controls adding 167 custom 169 naming conventi...

Page 301: ... 46 versions 15 properties project 197 publishing AICC content or SCORM package 266 to Adobe Connect server 275 publishing projects about 257 as EXE files 257 as Flash SWF files 259 as lessons 261 as step by step guides 262 as storyboards 263 as Word handouts 260 by e mail 265 system requirements 15 to Adobe Connect 275 to web using FTP 264 Q quality audio 88 99 195 JPEG 112 195 project preference...

Page 302: ...ing Adobe Captivate 17 renaming movies 191 renaming projects 191 reporting enabling for project 267 resizing movies 191 resizing projects 191 resolution capture area 42 projects 189 screen 34 RoboDemo 15 RoboHelp 278 rollover captions See also objects adding 75 converting tooltips to 76 defined 177 editing area 76 rollover images See also objects adding 109 defined 177 rollovers recording 34 S sav...

Page 303: ...50 importing PowerPoint 31 introductory 166 labeling 157 locking 175 maximum 290 merging objects into 155 187 mouse path aligning 138 navigation changing 156 notes 157 order changing 155 PowerPoint 282 previewing 144 question 203 recording additional 56 recording new 149 security 175 spell checking 198 starting 165 Storyboard view 19 text adding 158 text plain 73 timing 145 titles 157 transitions ...

Page 304: ...ocalizing 68 78 moving 81 object layer order 143 ordering 84 resizing 81 speed 145 spell checking 198 timing 146 transparent 73 158 troubleshooting fonts 287 text entry box font appears large after upgrading Captivate 1 projects 289 text entry boxes about 178 adding 124 audio adding to 95 132 bout 119 deleting 133 font problem after upgrading to Adobe Captivate 2 289 JavaScript 131 managing all in...

Page 305: ...nimation timing 285 colors 286 distortion while recording 286 font in text entry boxes 289 fonts on transparent captions 287 full motion recording 286 movie size 288 number of slides in a movie 290 recording 286 slide colors 286 slides 290 text display 289 text viewed in a browser 289 uninstalling Adobe Captivate 2 291 video cards 286 true false question slides creating 207 pass rate setting 221 r...

Page 306: ...ging 191 determining 189 Windows Eyes 63 64 WMF files 107 Word files exporting MenuBuilder projects 256 exporting text captions 268 handouts 260 lessons 261 step by step guides 262 storyboards 263 workspace customizing 21 toolbars 20 22 views 19 Z zoom areas adding 160 defined 177 editing 161 ...

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