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Helmfire
Participant
December 2, 2022
Answered

How to enable video navigation without ruining it.

  • December 2, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 819 views

I need to embed a video in my current project, and I want users to be able to skip back and forward, but I don't want a skin over the whole project. I used Vyond to animate and that only exports .mp4 files. First, I tried to add "Interactive Video," and use buttons keyed to specific bookmarks to achieve this. For example, My forward skip buttons worked this way: Once a bookmark is passed, the button keyed to it is supposed to time out and the next one should appear to replace it. The problem is, once I click on the skip button it won't dissapear like it's supposed to, so it jumps to that bookmark when clicked, no matter how many bookmarks are passed.

 

As a solution I tried adding the video with "Insert video" up in the toolbar. That way, I could put a skin on just the one slide. that fixes the navigation problems, but when the video is paused it doesn't pause the slide. So the slide ends at the end of the duration time, regardless of whether the video is over or not. If the user had to pause at all, then the end of the video gets cut off. I tested these all after publishing so I know it's not just a glitch with Preview. I'm very new at this, so any help is appreciated.

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Correct answer RodWard

As you said, you are very new to Captivate.  So my first suggestion would be that you learn as much as possible about the different video options available so that you can make a reasoned decision about the best way to go.

 

Specifically, you need to learn the differences between Slide Video (where the video is inserted on the slide and the video timeline is synchronised to the Captivate main timeline) and Event Video where the video is inserted as an object on a slide but the video timeline plays independently of the slide timeline. 

 

The Insert Video menu calls up a dialog box that allows you to specify which of these two options you want. You appear to have selected Event Video as your second solution and that's why the video and slide were not synchronised.  Since you did not insert some way to pause the slide timeline, that's why the slide progressed and cut off your video.

 

Try doing some research on the video options and then experiment to find the one that is the best fit for your needs.  It may not be everything you want, but that's just the way life works.

2 replies

Lilybiri
Lilybiri
Legend
December 3, 2022

Rod already explained the difference between slide video and event video. Event video plays totally independent from Captivate's Timeline, whereas Slide video is synchronized with that timeline. That is the main reason why you need the video to be inserted as Slide Video to be able to use the provided features for Interactive Video.  You talk about interactive video, using the bookmarks. Why is that not providing what you are looking for, please? Your explanation is bit confusing to me, if you could clarify.

Here is a link to a published Interactive Video:

Custom Play/Pause button

One of my blog posts about Interactive video (you can find more):

https://blog.lilybiri.com/tips-for-interactive-video

 

    H
    HelmfireAuthor
    Participant
    December 7, 2022

    Thank you, I figured out the solution for my project. Event Video works best because I can have a playbar just for the video. I didn't realise the option to "pause slide until end of video" pauses at the end of the slide run time. I thought it was just going to keep going. I just didn't test it enough. but I'll explain about the slide video problem if you want to hear it. 

        I think the problem I was having was caused by having too much going on on the slide. I'd placed bookmarks throughout the video, cutting it into bite-sized pieces. I set up skip buttons for each bookmark. I had them all in the same spot, so it would look like the same button, but I only wanted them to appear when relevant. The first skip button would be present until the first bookmark, then it dissapears in the timeline, and the next one would appear until the next book mark, and so on. Basically Timeline looked like a floating staircase so I would have only one skip button on screen at a time. But once one was clicked on, it wouldn't dissapear. If I was in the 2nd scene and wanted to skip ahead to the bookmark at the beginning of the 3rd scene, I could hit the skip button to get there, but afterwards the skip button keyed to the 3rd scene stays onscreen. So clicking 2 minutes into the video will still take me back to the third scene, even though that skip button should have dissapeared once that bookmark had passed. Again, I found a solution for my current project, so I don't NEED an answer, but this method should have worked.

    Lilybiri
    Lilybiri
    Legend
    December 7, 2022

    Still looks like a real interactive video would have been better than the workflow you describe.

    Most important is that you found a functional way to achieve your goal.

    RodWard
    Community Expert
    RodWardCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    December 3, 2022

    As you said, you are very new to Captivate.  So my first suggestion would be that you learn as much as possible about the different video options available so that you can make a reasoned decision about the best way to go.

     

    Specifically, you need to learn the differences between Slide Video (where the video is inserted on the slide and the video timeline is synchronised to the Captivate main timeline) and Event Video where the video is inserted as an object on a slide but the video timeline plays independently of the slide timeline. 

     

    The Insert Video menu calls up a dialog box that allows you to specify which of these two options you want. You appear to have selected Event Video as your second solution and that's why the video and slide were not synchronised.  Since you did not insert some way to pause the slide timeline, that's why the slide progressed and cut off your video.

     

    Try doing some research on the video options and then experiment to find the one that is the best fit for your needs.  It may not be everything you want, but that's just the way life works.

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