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simonc85740410
Participant
January 19, 2021
Question

Captivate shapes in a responsive project

  • January 19, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 1222 views

Hi

First time posting for help or advise so please be gentle 😉

 

I am new to Adobe captivate and am having to learn Captivate on the job under a pretty demanding  schedule, figuring everything out is quite challenging. One such challlenge has been adding shapes to responsive projects to create custom assets that i can work with for my company. They appear ok on Monitor view as seen on the attached then when I change to Tablet view (different aspect ratio etc) everything goes out of whack, not just width of an object but height aswel. This would obviously take a long while to manipulate every shape and is not practical building modules at speed. I have tried locking size and position, grouping, locking whilst grouping etc but am coming up short.

 

Question is,  am I going about this in the wrong way buy making more complex shapes from what is available within captivate or am I missing something? 

 

Examples attached

 

Hope this makes sense. 

 

Kind regards

Simon

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1 reply

Lilybiri
Lilybiri
Legend
January 19, 2021

Welcome to the forum. May I offer a first tip about the forum? Do not attach screenshots, please but insert them using the image button in the toolbar. You can also insert URL to a video with that same button. Why? With attachments someone wanting to help needs:

  1. To download the attachments to their PC or Mac
  2. To open them with a graphics application (JPEG and PNG are linked to Photoshop on my system)
  3. Watch the images
  4. Then delete them again.

 

It is not a good idea to start in CP by creating responsive projects. I suppose you use Fluid Boxes, since those are very much pushed by Adobe, not the Breakpoint views workflow, where your attachments would make sense. In fluid boxes you give full control over the layout to Captivate, based on the setup of the Fluid Boxes. I even wonder if you did set up Fluid Boxes. Since you talk about Grouping, which is prohibited inside of a normal Fluid Box. Correct me if you did use the Breakpoint Views workflow and set up 3, 4 or 5 Breakpoint using the Position Properties panel. That is doable, but lot of work.

Personally I would never try to create a complicated form by assembling shapes in Captivate if they are needed in a fluid box, much too complicated to set up so that the shapes keep their width/heigh ratio and relative position to the other shapes.  I would create the assembled shapes in Illustrator and export as an SVG.

 

In Captivate you can convert a shape to a freeform shape and edit the existing points, including the tangent handles. But you don't have the full power of the Pen tool in Illustrator nor Photoshop.

 

If you are using Fluid Boxes, maybe you want me to have a look at your Timeline of such a slide, because that would clarufy if you have set up Fluid Boxes.

 

 

    S
    simonc85740410Author
    Participant
    January 20, 2021

    Hi

     

    Thanks for the fast response and advise above. I can confirm that I do not use fluid boxes yet. it is on my future agends. Currently I have been copying a guy who left the company and and just creating responsive projects buy just adding picture and photo elements to a blank slide and animating etc.  I think in the short term I will then have to create assets outside of Captivate then import. 

     

    Is it difficult to convert and move over to fluid boxes?, I have had to learn (learning) how to take over from the previous guy in just two months who has now left. I have to produce eight unique modules per month. I have attached again a couple of screenshots of the modules and types of backgrounds etc

     

    Thanks again Lilybiri

     

    Simon

    Lilybiri
    Lilybiri
    Legend
    January 20, 2021

    Thanks for inserting the screenshots. You are using the older Breakpoint Views workflow, clear from the screenshots. No, it is impossible to convert to a Fluid Boxes project. The workflow and limitations are completely different. You may have a look at my comparison in this blog:

     

    http://blog.lilybiri.com/fluid-boxes-or-breakpoint-views

    It takes more work hours than Fluid Boxes but you have complete control.

     

    Good practice is to set up a custom Theme which includes:

    • Theme Colors palette and Theme fonts
    • Object styles: you will need to define a font size for each of the breakpoint views you use. Not clear yet if you use 3 or 5. The last one allows you to have a Portrait and Landscape layout for both tablets and phones.
    • Master slides
    • Skin if you use it
    • Recording defaults which you probably do not need.

    You start by setting up the Desktop view, using the Position Properties panel for sizing and location. All your screenshots show the Desktop view.That setup will be inherited by the lower Breakpoint views, but you can override them on those views: hiding objects, replacing them etc.. Work from top to down. Expect a lot of testing in all views and on devices.

    From what you write it looks like you do not even have a theme because you write 'to a blank slide' which may mean that all slides are based on the Blank master slide which has no background nor objects on it. 

    Try to avoid to use too much objects, because that complicates the layout considerably. If you are on the most recent version which is 11.5.5.553 you can use an image or a SVG (better because vector image) directly as a button. Avoid having an image with a click box or other button on top of it. 

    Switch to the Expert UI so that you can set up a custom workspace, because both Position Properties and Properties are very important in your workflow. Expert UI is enabled by checking the Fourth option under Preferences, General settings: 'Enable custom....'.

    Use the View menu to turn on the Rulers, they will be in %. You can drag guides out of those rulers, which can be a great help when designing the global layout of master slides.

    http://blog.lilybiri.com/guides-rule

     

    BTW: the requirement for 8 modules in your situation is .... ridiculous and shows lack of sense of reality. You probably didn't even get any basic training.

    I have a lot of Captivate experience. To create a Breakpoint views project, I estimate to need at least double of the time for a non-responsive project. 

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