Ready to ‘Captivate?’ Let’s begin...
Dec 24, 2015
Ready to ‘Captivate?’
Let’s begin...
2) OVERVIEW
What’s New in Captivate 6?
• High-definition Screencast (record video and publish immediately to YouTube, social media or as MP4s)
• HTML5 Publishing (output compatible with Apple products!)
• Pre-tests and Branch Aware Quizzes (based on results, learner is directed to certain screens)
• Remediation (based on quiz answer, student is looped back to an appropriate place in the tutorial)
What’s New… (cont.)
• Themes (for the visually-design-challenged, like me!)
• Smart shapes (that you can convert to buttons!)
• Smart learning interactions (widgets)• Character Images• Round trip w/ PowerPoint (& stay
synced)
Bells & Whistles (a.k.a. Assets)
• Images• Animations• Audio files• Characters• Quizzes• Widgets• Actions
Good to Know:
• There are many project assets installed with the program
• These are contained in the Gallery
Good to Know:
Free Downloads from Adobe
• eLearning Assets • NeoSpeechTM text-to-speech
voices
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=captivate
Also Good to Know:
• Start Captivate with a right click & select Run as Administrator
• Captivate uses lots of RAM – you will sometimes see the (Not Responding) message – wait it out!
• Best to add audio later, during production (rather than while recording)
• Use the smallest recording size possible – keeps the finished project smaller. Try for 800x600 if you can.
Exploring the Workspace
• Welcome Screen• Many familiar menus• Manipulating the workspace• Themes• Preview a project
Let’s take a closer look…
3) STARTING A PROJECT & IMPORTING/RECORDING
Starting a Project
Importing from PowerPoint
• All aspects of the PowerPoint file will be imported: images, animations, transitions, audio, etc.
• Settings– Set Resolution to 800x600– On Mouse Click – Select “Linked”
Image SlideShow
A great way to practice with some of the basic settings and tools • Inserting standard objects• Setting properties• Slide Transitions• Working With Images
Recording Screen Actions
Process:
1. Write your script (so you know what to do)
2. Rehearse
3. Reset (if necessary)
4. Record
5. Produce
Recording Screen Actions
• Can simply insert screen shots taken using SnagIt or any other software
• Captivate has 3 modes– Automatic – new screen capture each
time you click your mouse– Manual – you must press specific key
to get screen shot– Video – not individual screen capture
4) PRODUCTION BASICS
Let’s Jazz Up Our Projects!
• Highlight Box – to draw attention• Text Captions – to covey information• Smart Shapes & Animation• Rollover Areas, Captions & Slidelets• Buttons – to make something happen
– Text– Image– Transparent
Basic
More Advanced
• Text Entry Field• Click Boxes• Question Slides• Variables• Widgets• Interactions• Actions
5) WORKING WITH AUDIO
General
• WAV files – very big• MP3 (MPEG Audio Layer III) –
compressed• Captivate comes with many sound
files (In the Gallery)• Free sound clips at
http://www.grsites.com/sounds
Audio in Captivate
• Object Audio• Slide Audio• Background Audio
Options for Adding Audio
• Narrate as you record the screen• Import with PowerPoint file• Add audio later
– Record all at once– Record one slide at a time– Record to a specific object (then add rollover?)– Import
• Slide notes– Can be displayed when recording voiceovers (this
can be your script)– Text-to-Speech
Other Considerations
• Silence is golden• Try to reduce echo & background noise• Microphone tips
– 4-6 inches from mouth– Above, point down toward mouth– Just to side of mouth (softens s and p
sounds)• Calibrate your microphone! It does make
a difference!
6) PUBLISHING, TESTING & POSTING
Publishing Options
• Output as– SWF (Small Web Format)– HTML5– PDF
• Set a Pre-Loader (for slow connections)
• Export Captions for easy editing & collaboration
Publishing Options
• Create a Table of Contents• Publish to You Tube, LMS
– Each LMS is different– Cp6 works better with Blackboard– Your technical support will help with
this