CHAPTER 3: Basics. 11

About the work environment. Recording movies. Editing movies. E-learning options. Publishing movies.
APPENDIX: Keyboard shortcuts. 43 INDEX. 45

Contents

CHAPTER 1 Getting Started
Macromedia Captivate is a professional software tool for quickly creating interactive demonstrations and simulations in a variety of formats including Flash (SWF) and EXE. Anyone who needs to develop online product demonstrations, software simulations for e-learning, or online tutorials for user support will find Captivate an ideal solution. Captivate includes everything you need to record actions in any application and instantly create a simulation. Captivate enables you to add customized text captions, audio (voice-overs, background music, and sound effects), video, Flash animations, text animations, images, hyperlinks, and more to your movies. A small file size and high resolution make Captivate simulations and demonstrations easy to publish online or burn to CD for use in training, sales, marketing, or user support. If you use Captivate to create e-learning content, you can add realistic, fully interactive question slides, buttons, click boxes, and text entry boxes. Captivate is SCORM 1.2 and 2004 certified and AICC compliant, allowing effortless integration with any Learning Management System (LMS), Macromedia Authorware, or Questionmark Perception.
Whats new in Macromedia Captivate
Macromedia Captivate provides major new features and enhancements, including the following:
Control timing easily with a visual Timeline
Save production time and visually control the timing of each slide element by dragging and dropping in the Timeline. Display multiple objects or even two or more captions simultaneously. Drag and drop Timeline layers to change the order of objects on a slidethe slide automatically updates to reflect the change.
Preview slides instantly Make slide changes and see the results instantly by playing the slide without compiling or generating a preview. Use the playhead to preview a specific section of a slide, or to scrub and see the slide in slow motion. Capture effortlessly

Application

Records all selected action within a single running application.
Custom Records all selected action within a custom-defined area. If you select this option, set a custom size in the Width and Height boxes or select a commonly used size from the Preset Size pop-up menu.

Chapter 3: Basics

Full Screen Records all onscreen action. This option is especially useful if you need to capture action taking place in multiple applications. Blank Records a blank frame in a size you specify. This option is useful if you want to create an empty movie and then import Microsoft PowerPoint slides, slides from another movie, or images. Image movie Provides you with an easy way to create a Captivate movie made up of images. When the resulting movie is published and viewed, it looks like a slide show.
Recording a new application movie Use this recording option to record all action within a single running application. You can start any type of application such as a word processing program, a graphics program, a spreadsheet program, or any kind of software you have, and record the action that takes place within the application.
To record a new application movie:
1. Open the application you want to record. (You must do this before recording.) 2. Open Captivate. 3. On the Start Page, click Record or create a new movie.
The New movie options dialog box appears.
4. Select Application and click OK.
The Recording window appears.
5. In the Record specific window pop-up menu, select the application to record. 6. (Optional) Select Record narration to record audio as you record the movie. 7. (Optional) Click Options to set a wide variety of recording options, including the capability to
automatically record the movie and automatically generate text captions.
8. (Optional) If necessary, change the size and position of the window. You can resize the window
by selecting one of the sizing handles on the red frame and dragging it. To change the location of the window, move the mouse over the red frame until a four-point arrow appears, and then drag the entire window to a new position. You can also click Snap red recording area to fit select window to quickly change the size of the recording area to match the size of the application.

To add a text caption:

1. Open a Captivate movie. 2. Double-click on the slide to which you want to add a text caption.
3. From the Insert menu, select Text Caption.
The Text Caption Properties dialog box appears.
4. On the Text Caption tab, set the following properties:
Caption type Font Size Color
Click the pop-up menu to select a text caption type. Each text caption type is named and a small thumbnail image shows what the text caption looks like. Click the pop-up menu to select a font for the text caption. Click the pop-up menu to select a font size for the caption text. Click the color box to select a font color for the caption text.

Caption style

Click one of the five text caption types. Many of the text caption styles contain text captions with directional callouts so you can select a text caption that points in the most appropriate direction.
Display options If you want, set additional display options such as bold, italic, or underlined text, and text justification. Type caption text here
Enter the caption text exactly as you want it to appear.
Apply properties to all captions in the movie
Select this option to apply the changes you made on this tab to all text captions in the movie. Properties applied to all text captions are caption style, font type, font size, font color, and transition. Text and text properties (bold, center, and so on) and display time are not applied to all text captions, but remain as set for each individual text caption.
Note: If you change the settings on this dialog, they become the default settings and any new captions you create use the new settings.
5. Click the Options tab and set the following options:

Display time [#] seconds

Specify the total number of seconds the text caption should Specify the number of seconds that should pass before the text

appear.

Appear after [#] seconds
caption appears on the slide.
Display for rest of movie Select this option to display the text caption on this slide and keep displaying the text caption until the end of the movie. Effect
Click the pop-up menu and select a transition effect for the text caption. Select a fade in or fade out option, or select No transition.

Continue Depending upon the type of action you selected above, this box changes to let you enter destination information.
Set shortcut key: Click Select keys to choose a key combination for users to press when submitting responses. The current shortcut is displayed to the left of the button.
Note: If your Captivate movie will be displayed in a browser, set shortcut keys that will not conflict with common browser shortcuts. For example, F1 is frequently used as a keyboard shortcut to display help.
5. Click the Options tab. This tab lets you design how the click box looks. Select from the

following options:

Specify the total number of seconds the click box should Specify the number of seconds that should pass before the click
box appears on the slide.
Hint caption Select this option to include a hint caption. (The hint caption appears when users move the mouse over the click box.) Success caption
Select this option to include a success caption (for example, Select this option to include a failure caption (for example, Sorry, please

Congratulations!).

Failure caption

try again).

Show hand cursor over hit area
Select this option to have the hand appear when a user moves the mouse over the click box.
Stop audio when clicked Select this option if you want the audio to stop playing when the user clicks the click box. This option stops only slide audio, not background audio. Also, only a mouse click on the click box stops the audio; using a shortcut key combination does not stop the audio. Pause movie until user clicks Select this option if you want the project to stop playing until the user clicks the click box.

Double mouse click

Select this option to allow users to double-click the click box.
Pause for success/failure captions
Select this option to have the movie pause until all success and failure captions (see explanations for captions above) have displayed for the user to read.
6. If you want to add audio to the click box, click the Audio tab. Select from the following options:
Click the Play button to play the audio file. Click the Stop button to stop playing the audio file. Click the Delete button to remove the audio file from the click box.
Edit Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume. Audio
Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the click box.
Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.)

Import

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

Objective ID This is an optional parameter. If the text entry box question is related to an objective set in your LMS, enter the objective here.

Interaction ID Weighting

If you want the Captivate movie to send tracking information to your LMS, you must use the interaction ID specified by your LMS. Weighting signifies the relative importance of a text entry box question. You can enter any numeric value (without decimals). If all questions have the same value ("1", for example), they are scored equally. If you want to set different values for different questions, keep in mind that weights are relative to each other. So, a question assigned a weight of "2" has a value twice as high as a question with a weight of "1." You can use this feature to give introductory questions a lower value and advanced questions a higher value.
A text entry box appears on the slide.
9. Size and drag the text entry box as desired. 10. If you selected the Success, Failure, or Hint caption options, double-click the text boxes to edit
the text. About audio Captivate lets you add narration, music, step-by-step instructions, or almost any sound to your projects. You can use audio as critical direction, emphasis, or background effect. In general, sound can be as individual and flexible as any other movie component. Audio can be used in Captivate projects in a variety of ways. For example, you can do the following:
Add a background track that plays for the duration of the movie. Add sound to an individual slide. Add sound to a specific object, such as a caption, click box, highlight box, or button. Use all three of the above options in the same project.
Captivate lets you record your own audio files (using some simple equipment) or import existing files. You can record audio files at the same time the movie is recorded, or you can add an audio file later. Imported files can be in WAV or MP3 format. (If you add a WAV file to a movie, Captivate automatically converts the WAV file to MP3 format.) After audio has been added to a movie, you can adjust the timing of objects to fit the sound file precisely. Captivate also contains features that enable you to add silent periods to audio files and to normalize audio for all slides so the sound level is consistent.
Tip: Captivate contains a gallery that has buttons, sounds, and animations (in SWF format) for you to use in your projects. By default, the gallery is stored in the following location when you install Captivate: C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery.

Note: When recording an onscreen action, it is best to perform the action more slowly than you would normally. For example, if you are recording keyboard action, type text in slowly.
12. When you finish recording, press the End key (or other designated key) to stop recording.
The slides are generated and your new movie appears in Storyboard view. The audio files you recorded are assigned to the correct slide and saved as individual MP3 files. You can view the files in the Audio Library.
Tip: If you need to pause the movie recording process, press the Pause/Break key. To restart movie recording, press the Pause/Break key again.
Using the Captivate Timeline The Timeline lets you organize objects and precisely control the timing of objects on slides. When you view the Timeline, you see a snapshot of a single slide and all of the objects on the slide. You have full control over when objects appear and can even specify that objects appear at the same time. For example, on a slide that contains a caption, a highlight box, and an animation, you can have the caption appear, then the highlight box 4 seconds later, and then the animation 2 seconds after that. The Timeline also shows any audio associated with the slide or with objects on the slide, letting you easily coordinate the timing of audio with objects.
The Timeline provides an easy way to view, at a high level, all objects on a slide and their relationship to each other. The major components of the Timeline are objects, the header, and the playhead. The objects on a movie slide are displayed as stacked bars on the left side 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.
The header at the top of the Timeline indicates time in seconds (and parts of seconds).
Objects, such as captions, highlight boxes, click boxes, and audio files appear as stacked bars. They can be moved left and right on the Timeline. The playhead shows the point in time in which the slide is being viewed.
Changing slide timing The amount of time an individual slide appears is as important as the overall length of the movie. It is critical that your users have enough time to read and comprehend what is on the screen. You can make many changes to slide timing using the Timeline, but it is also useful to set an amount of time for the slide to appear.
Note: Slide timing cannot be shorter 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 a Captivate movie. 2. Double-click on 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 is contained in a Timeline object named "Slide." To shorten or lengthen the
amount of time it takes for the slide to play, click the right edge of the Slide object until the resize pointer appears, and drag the edge to the left or right. Captivate shows the amount of time the slide will appear, in parentheses, next to the word Slide. The maximum amount of time a slide can appear is 1 hour (3600 seconds). Changing object display order Captivate allows 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 lets you precisely adjust the timing of all objects on a slide.
To change object order using the Timeline:
1. Open a Captivate project. 2. Navigate to the slide that contains the objects whose order you want to change. 3. If it is not open already, show the Timeline by clicking on the splitter bar. To expand the
Timeline, click the display arrow.
4. Change the order and timing of objects as required.
For example, move the mouse over the left or right edge of an object on the Timeline until the resize cursor appears, then drag the edge left or right. This will change when and for how long the object appears. If you have an object that currently appears at the same time the slide appears, but you want a slight delay, move the mouse over the center of the object on the Timeline until the hand appears; then drag the entire object so the left edge aligns with 2s (a 2-second delay) or 4s (a 4-second delay) in the header. In the example below, the arrow points to the left edge of the caption object bar aligned with the 2-second mark on the Timeline.
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 "stage." The key point to remember is that objects at the back of the stage appear behind other objects. Use one of the following methods to set the stacking order.

In Edit view, right-click an object on the slide and select one of the object order options. If necessary, right-click other objects on the slide and adjust their order.
Bring to Front This option brings the selected object to the top. When the movie plays, the object appears on top of all others. Send to Back This option sends the selected object to the background. When the movie plays, the object appears behind all others. Bring Forward Send Backward
This option moves the object one layer forward. This option moves the object one layer back.
In Edit view, on the Timeline, move the mouse over an object until the hand appears and drag the object up or down to change its position in the stacking order. Moving an object higher in the stacking order moves it to the front of the stage, while moving an object lower moves it to the back of the stage.
In the example below, a text caption ("Click the File menu") is set on the Timeline to appear at the same time as an image (marquee.gif ). Because the text caption is higher in the stacking order, it will appear in front of the image if the two objects overlap on the slide. You decide how much of the text caption appears in front of the image by positioning the two objects on the slide.
Setting movie preferences You can set a variety of movie preferences. Any preferences you select are for the currently opened movie only, enabling you to set different preferences for different movies.
Tip: If you want to set movie preferences and use those same preferences to create more movies in the future, you can do it easily. Simply create a blank movie, set preferences using the steps below, and then save the blank movie as a template. You can use the new template to create as many movies as you need. To set movie preferences:
1. Open a Captivate movie. 2. From the Movie menu, select Preferences. 3. The Movie Preferences dialog box appears. 4. Click the Start and End tab.

Loading Screen

This option displays a loading screen at the start of the movie. A loading screen might be useful if the first slide of the movie is large or contains audio and takes a few moments to appear. Click the More button to select an image.

Note: Captivate includes several loading screen images you can use, or you can create a custom image. To make a custom image available as a loading screen option, use Windows Explorer to copy and paste the image into the following folder: C:\Program files\Macromedia\ Captivate\Gallery\Preloaders. Supported formats are JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, ICO, EMF, WMF, and SWF.
Password protect movie This option establishes a password that users must enter before being allowed to view the movie. Click the More button to set a password and write password messages for users. Movie expiration date This option sets a date for the movie to expire. When a movie expires, it can no longer be viewed. Message line 1
This option lets you write an expiration message. The message appears if the movie has reached its expiration date (set above) and a user tries to view the movie.
Message line 2 This option lets you add a second line of text to the movie expiration message, if necessary. Fade in on the first frame
This option slowly fades the first slide of the movie in for
users. Movie end options:

Action

Click the pop-up menu and select an action to take place at the end of the movie. This option stops the movie after it plays once.

Stop movie

Loop movie This option continuously replays the movie. (When the end is reached, the movie restarts.) Close movie
This option closes the browser window at the end of the movie. This option specifies a URL or file to load at the end of the movie.

Open URL or file

To load a URL, type the full path to a website (for example, http://.website.com). Click the pop-up menu to select the window in which the URL should appear; choose from Current, New, Parent, and Top. To load a file, click the More button, browse to the file, select the file, and click Open. Click the pop-up menu to select the window in which the file should appear; choose from Current, New, Parent, and Top.

Movie background color This option specifies the background color of the movie. Depending upon the type of slide and how screen shots were captured, the background color may not appear on all slides. Double-click the color box to open the Color dialog box and select a new color. JPEG image quality
Specifies the quality level for JPEG images. You can adjust this setting depending upon the images used in your movie. (Often, JPEG images are detailed and contain many colors, so greatly lowering their quality is noticeable.) Higher percentage values allow for high-quality images. Of course, this also increases file size. Change the quality by clicking the arrows to select a higher or lower number.
Audio quality Specifies the quality level for audio included in the movie. A higher 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 movie is generated
This option includes any recorded mouse This option includes any audio files that have

movement in the movie.

Include audio when movie is generated

been added to the movie.

Play tap audio for recorded typing when movie is generated
This option plays tapping sounds in the final movie to represent recorded keystrokes. (For example, if you recorded an e-mail message being sent, you most likely typed an address to which the e-mail should be sent. The sound of the keys being pressed to enter the address was recorded and, using this option, a tapping sound can be played for each of the keystrokes.)
6. Click the Playback Control tab.
Position Select the screen location for the playback control buttons. Click the pop-up menu and choose an option. Style Select the style for the playback control buttons. Style not only refers to the visual elements of the playback control buttons, but also the actual buttons that appear. Some styles include more buttons than others. When you click a style, the preview window shows the selected playback control. Show progress bar (This option appears only if a playback control style that includes a progress bar is selected from the Style pop-up menu above.) Select this option to display a progress bar that shows users where there are (graphically) in a movie.
7. Click the Background Audio tab.
Displays the name of the audio file.
Import Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it. Audio library Click to open the Audio Library. The Audio Library lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate movie. Fade in [#] seconds Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume. Type a number or use the arrows to set a number. Fade out [#] seconds

Add click boxes and choose different paths if users click inside the click box or outside the click
box. Click boxes have the same answer options as question slides, but can be incorporated into existing slides instead of requiring their own slide. This enables you to add branching and interactivity to your movies at the same time. Click boxes have other optional functionality including stopping slide audio when clicked, pausing the movie until clicked, and adding hint, success, and failure captions.
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 interrupt the flow of the movie as much as a question slide. Text entry boxes have additional options such as requiring a password, adding case-sensitivity, and including hint, success, and failure captions.
Add buttons and create different paths for when the user clicks the button or when they click
outside the button. Buttons are a quick way to add branching and interactivity to your movies in a way that is comfortable for many users. You have complete control over what happens when users click the button such as advancing the movie, jumping to a certain slide, or opening an e-mail program. You can also design the button so it looks good in your movie by selecting the fill color, text options, transparency level, and border color.
Creating question slides Captivate lets you create state-of-the-art e-learning movies. The powerful quizzing features make it easy to design many different types of questions such as multiple choice, short answer, matching, true/false, likert, 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 different action (such as "Open URL or file") when a user supplies an incorrect answer. (This is commonly called branching.) Measure student performance by using the reporting feature with any type of quiz. Track number of attempts, track correct and incorrect responses, and send pass/fail data to your LMS. You can also choose to provide students with feedback based upon correct or incorrect responses. You can create six different types of question slides in Captivate:
Fill in the blank Likert Matching Multiple choice Short answer True/False

Slide notes Select this option to include slide notes in your Word document. These notes are usually not seen by users (those who view your movie), but are an organizational tool for Captivate authors. (For more information about slide notes, see the online help.) Include objects (text captions, images, etc.)
Select this option to include objects on slides such as captions, images, click boxes, or highlight boxes.
Include hidden slides Select this option to include any slides you have marked as hidden in your movie. (Hidden slides do not appear when the movie is viewed.) Include Mouse Path
Select this option to include any mouse paths that appear on slides.
7. When you are done, click Publish.
Microsoft Word opens with the new movie document. You can make modifications and save the file as desired.
Note: The DOC file is created using a Microsoft Word template named Captivate.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 Captivate, the Captivate.dot template is automatically placed in the program folder, located by default at C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate.
Exporting from Captivate to Flash From within Captivate, you can select the Flash export option to export a Captivate movie into Macromedia Flash MX 2004 for additional enhancement, scripting, or integration into a larger project.
Note: You must save your Captivate movie before exporting. (The easiest method is to click the Save button on the toolbar.) To export a Captivate movie into Flash:
1. Open the Captivate movie you want to export. 2. From the File menu, select Import/Export > Export the movie to Flash MX 2004.
If you have not saved your project yet, a prompt appears. Click Yes and select a file name and location for the project.
3. A message appears, asking if you would like to open Flash. Click Open Flash MX 2004. 4. The Save As dialog box appears. Accept the default file name and location for the new FLA file,
or change the name and location as necessary.
Note: It can be important to save the FLA file in the same directory as the CP file. If you have any animations in your movie, the animations are exported to the same directory as your CP file. The animation SWF files must be in the same folder as the main SWF file in order for the animations to display properly in the published SWF file.
5. Click Save. 6. A dialog box appears and provides instructions for importing into Flash. Click OK.
Flash starts with a blank FLA open.
7. From the File menu, select Import > Import to Stage or Import > Import to Library. (The

Using Captivate

Trademarks 1 Step RoboPDF, ActiveEdit, ActiveTest, Authorware, Blue Sky Software, Blue Sky, Breeze, Breezo, Captivate, Central, ColdFusion, Contribute, Database Explorer, Director, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, FlashCast, FlashHelp, Flash Lite, FlashPaper, Flex, Flex Builder, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite, JRun, MacRecorder, Macromedia, MXML, RoboEngine, RoboHelp, RoboInfo, RoboPDF, Roundtrip, Roundtrip HTML, Shockwave, SoundEdit, Studio MX, UltraDev, and WebHelp are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words, or phrases mentioned within this publication may be trademarks, service marks, or trade names of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions including internationally. Third-Party Information This guide contains links to third-party websites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party website mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites. This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. LAME (MP3 encoder) Supply of this product does not convey a license nor imply any right to distribute content created with this product in revenue-generating broadcast systems (terrestrial, satellite, cable and/or other distribution channels), streaming applications (via Internet, intranets and/or other networks), other content distribution systems (pay-audio or audio-on-demand application sand the like) or on physical media (compact discs, digital versatile discs, semiconductor chips, hard drives, memory cards and the like. An independent license for such use is required. For details, please visit: http://mp3licensing.com. Copyright 2001-2005 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. This manual may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without written approval from Macromedia, Inc. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the owner or authorized user of a valid copy of the software with which this manual was provided may print out one copy of this manual from an electronic version of this manual for the sole purpose of such owner or authorized user learning to use such software, provided that no part of this manual may be printed out, reproduced, distributed, resold, or transmitted for any other purposes, including, without limitation, commercial purposes, such as selling copies of this documentation or providing paid-for support services. Part Number ZCA10M100 Acknowledgments Writing: Suzanne Smith Editing and Production Management: Patrice ONeill Editing: Anne Szabla, Lisa Stanziano, Mary Ferguson Production: Adam Barnett Special thanks to Arlyn Asch, Magnus Nirell, Terri Griffith, Paul Stoecklein, Erick Vera, Rosana Francescato, Adam Barnett, Silke Fleischer, Tracy Seibel, and the entire Captivate engineering and QA team. Second Edition: April 2005 Macromedia, Inc. 601 Townsend St. San Francisco, CA 94103

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Installation. 9
Key features of Captivate. 9 Whats new in Macromedia Captivate. 10 Using Captivate Help. 12 Guide to Captivate instructional media. 13 Captivate and accessibility issues. 14 Using Captivate with other applications. 14 Upgrading RoboDemo and Captivate projects. 14 Authoring requirements. 14 End-user requirements. 15 Installing Macromedia Captivate. 15 Registering Captivate. 16 Transferring your Captivate software license. 16
CHAPTER 2: Exploring the Workspace. 17
Customizing the work environment. Displaying and docking toolbars. Using the Filmstrip. Displaying confirmation messages. Using shortcut keys. Undoing and redoing actions. Changing capture keys.

Chapter 3: Creating Movies
Recording tricks and tips Listed below are several tips and tricks for creating Captivate movies. These ideas should help you create movies quickly and easily, while also giving you professional, high-quality results.
Tip 1 - Consider auto-recording
Captivate lets you create movies in two ways. You can record onscreen action manually. This means that each time you want to capture what is displayed on your screen, you press the Print Screen key (or another designated selected key) on the keyboard. Then you make a change on your screen (such as moving your mouse, clicking an icon, or selecting a menu) and press Print Screen again. You can also let Captivate automatically record screen action (auto-recording). This option automatically captures screen shots during the recording process each time you click the mouse, change the focus of your application or web page, or press a key. Another efficient way to create movies is to use auto-recording and manual recording together. Set the auto record option, but press Print Screen whenever you need to take an extra screen shot. This method is particularly effective if you are recording a website that contains many pop-ups, frames, and special effects. If you have the feature turned on, Captivate will play a camera shutter sound each time a screen shot is automatically captured. If you see a special effect take place on the website you are recording, but do not hear the camera shutter sound, press Print Screen to manually take a screen shot.
Tip 2 - Go slowly when recording, particularly when recording websites in Internet Explorer
When you record onscreen action, it is best to perform action more slowly than you would normally. For example, if you are recording keyboard action, type text slowly. It is especially important to go slowly when capturing a website in Internet Explorer. If you are manually recording, make sure each web page is completely loaded before capturing a screen shot. If you are auto-recording, you will hear the camera shutter sound and see the system tray icon (in the lower right corner of your computer) flash when a web page is fully loaded and Captivate takes a screen shot. Wait for the shutter sound before moving the mouse and taking another action. (If necessary, while you are auto recording, you can take a screen shot manually at any time by pressing Print Screen. This is effective if you see that the web page changed, but you did not hear the camera shutter sound so you know that a screen shot was not automatically captured.)
Tip 3 - Capturing screen shots efficiently
It is important to know exactly when Captivate is capturing screen shots. Captivate contains a feature that plays a camera shutter sound each time a screen shot is taken. This feature is enabled by default, but if you do not hear the sound, open the Options menu, select Recording Options, and make sure the Hear camera sounds during recording option is selected.

If you are automatically recording a movie or slides, you can have Captivate automatically capture any drag-and-drop motions or drawing in full motion. Captivate will automatically start to capture frames at a higher rate any time you click on an object and drag the object or start drawing. When you stop dragging or finish drawing, full motion recording ends and regular recording begins again. If you are recording manually, you can control when full motion recording begins and ends. To start recording in full motion at any time, press F9 and to end full motion recording, press F10. Text captions Text captions are text that appear on a slide within a movie. Text captions are a way of talking to movie viewers and are frequently used to point out certain areas on a slide, explain concepts, or give viewers more information (e.g., a phone number or website address). As with recording, text captions can be created automatically or manually. If you are auto recording a movie or additional slides, you can have Captivate automatically create text captions at the same time. Text captions are generated for various actions such as selecting a menu or pressing a button. For example, if you record the action of selecting the File menu, Captivate automatically adds a text caption that reads Select File menu on the same slide. After the text captions are created and placed on slides, you can edit the text or change formatting at any time. If you create a movie manually, you can add text captions as necessary. Click boxes Click boxes are interactive boxes that appear on slides and give movie viewers a chance to actually use an application or website. After viewers click on a click box, you can have the movie perform different actions such as continue to play, open a new movie, or go to a specific website. If you automatically record a movie or slides, Captivate can add click boxes automatically. If you have an existing movie, you can add click boxes at any time. Highlight boxes Highlight boxes are transparent, colored squares that can be placed over areas on a slide to draw attention to the area, just like a highlighter pen spotlights an area on a printed page. You have complete control over the formatting, color, transparency, and size of all highlight boxes. If you automatically record a movie or slides, Captivate can automatically create a highlight box for any area on which a mouse click is performed. If you have an existing movie, you can add highlight boxes manually. Setting recording options In general, you should set recording options before recording a new movie, so the most appropriate options are in place. This can save you valuable time by reducing the amount of editing you must do to make your Captivate projects look perfect. Even though it is best to set options before you record, you can change recording options from within an open Captivate movie at any time. This is useful if you have a movie open and want to record additional slides.

If you are creating click boxes you can make them more accessible by adding sound. The sound
can play when users tab to the click box or hover over the click box. To add this accessibility feature, attach a sound file to the hint caption. (If you do not want the hint caption to appear on the slide, you can make the caption transparent and add no text.) Testing accessible content If you are designing your Captivate project to work with screen readers, download several screen readers and test your project by playing it in a browser with the screen reader enabled. Make sure that the screen reader is not attempting to talk over places in your movie where you have inserted separate audio. Several screen reader applications provide a demonstration version of the software as a free download you should try as many as you can to ensure compatibility across screen readers. If you are creating interactive content, test it and verify that users can navigate your content effectively using only the keyboard. This can be an especially challenging requirement, because different screen readers work in different ways when processing input from the keyboard meaning that your Captivate content might not receive keystrokes as you intended. Make sure to test all keyboard shortcuts.
Macromedia accessibility web page For the latest information on creating and viewing accessible Captivate content, visit the Accessibility page on the Macromedia website at www.macromedia.com/macromedia/ accessibility.
Localizing Captive projects
Localization is the process of adapting information for use in a specific country. The term localization is often used as a synonym for translation, but localization usually includes editing information for a particular cultural context in addition to translating information into a different language. Following are two options for localizing Captivate movies. Using Captivate with a localized user interface If you are creating Captivate movies that show a web site or application that has been created in several languages you can create localized movies for each language.
To create localized Captivate movies:
1. Create a Captivate movie in your source language using a source language version of the web
site or application. For example, if your application was created in English, create an English language Captivate movie that shows the English application.
2. Export any captions in the movie and have the caption text translated into the languages you
require. Continuing the example from Step 1, take the English language captions in the English movie, export them, and give the text to localizers so they could translate it into other language such as German and Japanese.
3. Open the web site or application in the localized forms and record the same steps that were

Text alignment on custom text captions
Sometimes text on custom text captions can appear out of alignment. To solve this problem, you must set the left, right, top, and bottom margins. Each of the five text caption styles requires different margin settings because text appears at slightly different places on each text caption. The margin settings are stored in a text file with the extension.fcm. You can use Notepad or WordPad to create or edit FCM files.
To change text alignment on a custom text caption:
1. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate
\Gallery\Captions. All of the text caption BMP and corresponding FCM files are located in this folder.
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 Margin is the number of pixels from the right side of the bitmap to the text. Top Margin is the number of pixels from the top of the bitmap to the text. Bottom Margin is the number of pixels from the bottom of the bitmap to the text.
5. (Optional) If necessary, you can edit the MarginX and MarginY settings. This can be important
if you are adding captions automatically.
MarginX is the number of pixels horizontally from the nearest corner to the tip of the caption callout. Margin Y is the number of pixels vertically from the nearest corner to the tip of the caption callout.
Note: The nearest corner is identified in the file open in NotePad or Wordpad under Corner. For example, Corner=right, top.
6. From the File menu, select Save. 7. A dialog box may appear, asking if you want to replace the original file. Click Yes. 8. Close the program (Notepad or WordPad). Design tips for custom text captions
Colors: The colors in the text caption should not be the same color as the transparent color.
The transparent color is determined by the upper left pixel. For example, if the color in the upper left pixel is yellow, everything that is the same color yellow will be transparent in the text caption. Also, the text caption itself can have a gradient background, but the area around (behind) the text caption, must be a solid color.

1. Open a Captivate movie. 2. Double-click on the slide containing the text caption you want to copy. 3. Right-click the text caption and select Copy. 4. Navigate to the slide where you want to paste the caption. 5. Right-click on the slide and select Paste Object.
Tip: You can copy and paste more than one text caption at a time. To select multiple text captions, press SHIFT and click on the text captions. Then, right-click on one of the selected text captions and choose Copy.

Importing text captions

You can import text captions from a DOC file. First, you export the text captions from your Captivate movie. Captivate creates a DOC file that preserves all of the formatting from the text captions. While the text captions are in DOC format, you can make text and formatting changes in a word processing program. Then import the text captions back into the Captivate movie using the steps below.
Note: If you export text captions to a DOC file, that DOC file can only be imported back into the original movie.
Importing and exporting text captions to and from a DOC file can be useful in several situations. For example, if you have many text captions and need to edit the text on all of them, it might be easier and faster to work with the text in DOC format instead of navigating from slide to slide.

To import text captions:

1. Open the Captivate movie containing text captions. 2. Export the text captions. 3. Make the necessary changes while the text captions are in DOC format (in the Updated Text
Caption Data column), and save the DOC file.
4. From the Captivate File menu, select Import/Export > Import movie captions. 5. Select the DOC file that contains the exported text captions. 6. Click Open. 7. An Information dialog box appears, confirming that the import was successful. Click OK.

Exporting text captions

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

Creating background audio
You can create background audio for your projects. The audio plays while the slides of your movie are shown. Background audio can be music, sound effects, or almost any kind of sound you can import or record. You can use background audio together with individual slide audio for a truly professional effect. Captivate provides an option to lower the volume of background audio when a slide with audio assigned plays. For example, you can import a music file and set it to loop continuously as background audio. In that same movie, you can record voice-over narration for individual slides, and when the voice-over audio plays, the music volume is lowered.
To create background audio:
1. Open a Captivate project. 2. From the Movie menu, select Preferences. 3. Click the Background Audio tab. 4. Import an existing audio file by clicking Import, navigating to the file, selecting the file, and
clicking Open. (If you want to use an audio file that is already in your movie, click Audio library.)
5. (Optional) Click Play to listen to the audio file.
6. Select from the following options:
Fade in and Fade out lets you set a time, in seconds, for the audio file to fade in and fade out at the beginning and end of the movie. Lower background audio volume on slides with additional audio lets you automatically reduce the background audio volume on slides that have individual audio files assigned, such as voiceover narration. Loop audio lets you have the background audio file replay continuously. Stop at end of movie lets you have the background audio stop when the movie ends. When you finish, click OK to add the background audio to your movie.
Using a custom keyboard tap sound
Captivate includes a feature that records a keyboard tap sound whenever you press keys on the keyboard while recording a movie. You can include or exclude the tap sounds. You can also create a custom keyboard tap sound to use.
To use a custom keyboard tap sound:
1. Create a new sound for keystrokes, or use an existing MP3 file (for example, one of the

Windows sound files).

2. Name the new sound file KeyClick.mp3. 3. Save the file and note the location to which the file is saved. 4. Using Windows Explorer, browse to the Captivate sound effects folder. (The default location is
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery\SoundEffects.)
5. Locate the file named KeyClick.mp3. This is the Captivate default keystroke sound file.
Note: Before overwriting the file, you may want to copy and place the original KeyClick.mp3 file in a backup folder so it can be used again if necessary.

Password: Select this option if you want to mimic a password field. Case-sensitive: Select this option to make the text entry box case-sensitive. This means that users must provide answers with the correct combination of lowercase and uppercase letters.
6. If you want to add audio to the text entry box, click the Audio tab. Select from the following
options: Play: Click to play the audio file. Stop: Click to stop playing the audio file. Delete: Click to remove the audio file from the text entry box. Edit: Displays the Edit Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you edit the audio file in a variety of ways, such as inserting silent periods and adjusting the volume. Audio: Displays the name of the audio file, if any, associated with the text entry box. Record new: Click to open the Record Audio dialog box. (Recording audio requires some basic equipment.) Import: Displays the Import Audio dialog box. This dialog box lets you browse to an audio file and import it. Audio library: Click to open the Audio Library, which lists all audio files that are already part of the currently open Captivate project. Fade in [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for the audio to fade in to full volume. Fade out [#] seconds: Specifies the number of seconds for audio to fade out to silence.
7. If you want to keep score for the text entry box or coordinate the score with a learning
management system, click the Reporting tab. Select from the following options: Include in Quiz: If you select this option, a quiz results page will appear at the end of the quiz. Selecting this option also enables the other options on the Reporting tab. Report answers: This option keeps a quiz score. Objective ID: This is an optional parameter. If the text entry box question is related to an objective set in your learning management system, enter the objective here. Interaction ID: If you want the Captivate movie to send tracking information to your learning management system, you must use the interaction ID specified by your learning management system. Weighting: Weighting signifies the relative importance of a text entry box question. You can enter any numeric value (without decimals). If all questions have the same value (1, for example), they are scored equally. If you want to set different values for different questions, keep in mind that weights are relative to each other. So, a question assigned a weight of 2 has a value twice as high as a question with a weight of 1. You can use this feature to give introductory questions a lower value and advanced questions a higher value.

You can also create a SWF file to use as a loading screen. In the Captivate Preloaders folder, there is a sample SWF file and FLA file named "DefaultPreloader." You can use these files as templates to create your own SWF file. If you add a custom loading screen, Captivate will call the following functions if they exist on the main timeline of the SWF file: function initialize(movieWidth:Number, movieHeight:Number) function onProgress(loadedBytes:Number,totalBytes:Number) function isDone():Boolean

To add a loading screen:

1. Open a Captivate movie 2. From the Movie menu, select Preferences. 3. Click on the Start and End tab. 4. Select Loading Screen. Click More to select a file from the Preloaders folder. (If you select the
loading screen option, but do not specify a file, the file "DefaultPreloader" will be used.)

Setting movie properties

When you set movie properties, you specify the general movie information that is visible to your users from the information button that is included with all playback controls. It is important to set movie properties if you are creating Section 508 compliant movies that are accessible to users with disabilities.

To set movie properties:

1. Open a Captivate movie. 2. From the File menu, select Properties. 3. Enter information for the following text boxes as needed:
Movie name: A distinctive and descriptive name for the movie. Author: The name of the movie's author. Company: The company or organization name. E-mail: An e-mail address. In most cases, this should be a general e-mail address of your organization or, if appropriate, the e-mail address of your technical support department. Website: The web address (URL) for your company or organization. Copyright: Any important copyright information for your movie. Description: A short description of the movie contents. For example, "This movie is a brief overview of Product ZYX."
Checking spelling in Captivate projects
Captivate contains new features that let you 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 a Captivate project. 2. From the Movie menu, select Check Spelling. Alternatively, you can press F7. 3. When Captivate encounters an unrecognized word, the word appears in the Not in dictionary
text box. Select the appropriate options based on how you want the discrepancy handled: Ignore once ignores this instance of the unrecognized word. Ignore all ignores all instances of the unrecognized word. Add to Dictionary adds the unrecognized word to your personal dictionary. Delete removes the unrecognized word. Change replaces this instance of the unrecognized word with text that you type in the Not in dictionary text box or with the text that is selected in the Suggestions list. Change all replaces all instances of the unrecognized word in the same manner.

9. In Numbering, click on the pop-up menu and select uppercase letters, lower case letters, or

numbers.

10. Select the Options tab. 11. In Type, click on the pop-up menu and select if the question will be graded or is a survey.
12. In If correct answer and If wrong answer, use the pop-up menus to select what happens when
Go to next slide: Depending on the option you selected for Jump to, this box changes to let you specify an exact destination. Show correct message: Select this option to provide a text message for users when they supply a correct answer. Clear this check box if you do not want to give any feedback for an correct answer. If wrong answer Allow user [#] attempts: Use the arrows to select the number of attempts a user can try before another action takes place. Infinite attempts: Select this option to give users an unlimited number of attempts. Jump to: Click on the desired action/destination after the last attempt. You can choose from the options listed below.
Continue: Select this option to have the movie continue playing. Go to previous slide: Select this option to have the movie return to the previous slide. Go to next slide: Select this option to have the movie proceed to the next slide. Jump to slide: Select this option to have the movie jump to a specific slide.
Open URL or file: Select this option to have the movie jump to a specific URL on the Internet or to a local file. Click the pop-up menu to select the window in which the URL should appear; choose from Current, New, Parent, and Top. Open other movie: Select this option to have the movie begin playing a different movie. Click the pop-up menu to select the window in which the movie should appear; choose from Current, New, Parent, and Top. 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. Click More to enter the JavaScript you would like to execute. No action: Select this option to have messages (e.g. error or retry) appear, but no other action take place.
13. If you would like Clear, Back, and Next buttons to appear on the question slide so it is easier
14. Select the Reporting tab and modify the following fields:

To add audio to a project:
1. Create or open the MenuBuilder project. 2. From the Options menu, select Audio Options. 3. Select the actions for which you want audio to play:
Select Mouse Click to choose an audio file to play when the user clicks 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 Background to choose an audio file to play in the background while the user views the project. Click More to browse to an audio file. Click Play to listen to the file.
4. Click OK to accept changes and close the dialog box.
Resizing MenuBuilder projects as you work Ordinarily you determine the size of your MenuBuilder project in the Preferences dialog box (this determines the default project size) or in the MenuBuilder Project Options dialog box (this determines an individual project's size). However, you can also resize projects as you work on them.

To resize a project:

1. Open the MenuBuilder project. 2. Expand the MenuBuilder application so it is in full-screen mode. 3. Position the mouse at the lower right corner of the project. The mouse pointer changes to a

double-sided arrow.

4. Using the left mouse button, drag the corner of the project to the new size. The changing width
and height is displayed in the lower right corner of the program window as you drag. MenuBuilder scales everything in the project to the new size. Using MenuBuilder shortcut keys Below are several keys to save time in MenuBuilder.
Shortcut key Control+I Control+N Control+P Control+S Control+T Control+W F1 F4 F5 F7 F11 Action New image New project Print project Save project/template New text New instance of MenuBuilder Access help Preview project Preview audio Check spelling Full-screen mode

Uninstalling Macromedia Captivate
It is a simple process to uninstall Captivate. When you uninstall Captivate, all of the files you have saved in your My Documents\My Captivate Projects are retained.

To uninstall Captivate:

1. From the Windows Start menu, select Settings > Control Panel. 2. Double-click Add or Remove Programs. 3. Click the Install\Uninstall tab (if your version of Windows contains this tab). 4. From the list of programs you can remove, select Captivate. 5. Click Add\Remove. 6. At the prompt, 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.
A Accessibility 508 compliant Captivate projects 53 adding slide text 53 and Captivate 51 Macromedia accessibility website 55 screen readers 51 standards 50 testing Captivate projects 54 tips 53 Aligning objects 144 Animation adding 92 in Captivate 92 slides 96, 127 text 94 Application movie (recording) 36 Assessment simulation recording mode 34 Audio adding existing 71 adding silent period 78 adding to boxes 80 boxes 109 creating background 77 deleting 86 description 71 editing 82 editing timing 83 equipment for recording 72 previewing 85 recording 75 recording options 74 recording tips 73 recording while creating a movie 76 viewing details 84 volume 79
Authoring requirements 14 Automatic recording 44 AVI importing software tutorials 25 B Background audio 77 Blank movie (recording) 40 Blank slides 125 Boxes adding Javascript 108 Click boxes 99 Highlight boxes 98 Text boxes 102 Buttons adding 105 audio 80, 109 deleting 110 description 97, 141 Javascript 108 playback controls 136 timing 120 C Camera shutter sound 43 Captions adding 57 adding rollover 61 copying and pasting 67 creating custom styles 65 deleting 70 description 141 editing 64 exporting 68, 220 importing 67, 142 localizing 63
merging into slides 129 moving 66 ordering 69 resizing 66 speed 119 timing 120 Capture area (recording) 35 Capture keys changing 24 Click boxes adding 99 audio 80, 109 deleting 110 description 97, 141 importing 142 merging into slides 129 timing 120 Colors gradients 29 nonstandard 29 slides 130, 133 Confirmation messages 21 Custom recording mode 34 Custom-sized movie (recording) 37 Customizing caption styles 65 keyboard tap sound 78 D Deleting audio 86 captions 70 Demonstration recording mode 34 E E-mail 219 Edit view description 17 Empty slides 125 End (movies) 134 End-user requirements 15 Environment customizing 18 description 17 EXE file 215 Exporting captions 68, 220
F Features (Captivate) 9 Filmstrip placement 18 using 20 Flash file (SWF) 216 FTP 218 Full motion recording 33 comparing to standard 47 creating slides 48 scenarios 46 using 46 Full-screen movie recording 39 G Gradient colors 29 Grid (aligning objects with) 147 H Headphones 72 Help system (Captivate) 12 Hiding slides 139 Highlight boxes adding 98 audio 80, 109 deleting 110 description 97, 141 importing 142 merging into slides 129 timing 120 I Icons 28 Image movie (recording) 40 Images adding 87 deleting 91 importing 142 inserting as slides 90 merging into slides 129 slides 126 watermarks 91 Importing captions 67 text captions 67 Installing Captivate 15 Instructional media 13 Interactive objects 141 Internet Explorer 27

J JPEG changing quality 91 K Keystroke speed 119 L Labels (slides) 130 License (Captivate) transferring 16 Loading screen 134 Localizing Captivate user interface 55 text captions 56 Locking slides 138 M Macromedia Devnet 13 Manuals (Captivate) 13 MenuBuilder adding images 198 adding items 192 adding text 194 aligning click boxes 205 aligning images 200 aligning text 196 associating icons 208 audio 209 click box options 204 clickboxes 203 copying click boxes 206 copying images 201 copying text 197 creating blank projects 191 creating project with wizard 189 creating transparent images 203 default directories 211 deleting click boxes 207 deleting images 203 deleting text 197 description 189 exporting as EXE 213 exporting as Flash SWF 213 exporting as HTML 213 exporting as Word file 214 exporting for Macintosh 214 image options 199 moving click boxes 205
moving images 200 moving text 196 opening projects 191 options 207 ordering click boxes 206 ordering images 201 ordering text 197 preferences 210 preview projects 193 printing projects 193 projects with transparent backgrounds 208 resizing 209 saving projects 193 saving projects as templates 194 scaling images 202 shortcut keys 210 sizing images 201 spell check 193 templates 191 undoing and redoing actions 192 viewing pixel location 197 Menus description 18 Messages displaying confirmation 21 Microphone calibrating 75 description 72 Microsoft Word 217 Mouse aligning paths 113 click effects 113 click sounds 112 hiding pointer 114 movement 113 pointer size 112 pointer speed 119 pointers 111 straight and curved paths 114 Movies e-mail 219 opening existing 25 planning 26 publishing as EXE 215 publishing as Flash file 216 publishing as handouts 217 publishing with FTP 218 start and end 134 MP3 71
N Names (slides) 130 Notes (slides) 131 O Objects aligning 144 aligning with grid 147 changing display order 145 changing size 146 copying and pasting 143 description 141 duplicating 142 importing 142 merging into slides 148 P Pausing (while recording) 43 Planning movies 26 Playback controls adding 136 custom 137 Playhead 118 Preloaders 134 Previewing audio 85 Publishing Captivate projects 215 Q Question slides description 126 R Recording application movie 36 automatically 44 blank movie 40 camera shutter sound 43 capture area 35 custom-sized movie 37 drag-and-drop 33 full-motion 33 full-screen movie 39 image movie 40 modes 34 movie types 36 new slides 42 options 30, 43 pausing 43