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High_Tower
Participant
February 22, 2008
Question

PowerPoint Presentation Memory Usage

  • February 22, 2008
  • 1 reply
  • 485 views
I have created a number of swf files to demonstrate the use of a program, using Captiveate 2. There are about 5 or 6 of them, and each is no more than a min in length. They was created using full motion recording and the resultant flash files are no larger than 2 MB in size.

I import these into PowerPoint 2003 as a shockwave flash object and they appear fine when the slides are presented. However, the computer quickly grinds to a halt, and looking at task manager on another monitor whilst the flash files are playing, I can see PowerPoint's memory usage ramp up at the rate of about 10 MB/sec. Moving onto the next slide does not clear the previous slides memory usage, hence windows quickly runs out of virtual memory.

I do not see this behaviour when I import alternative flash files into PowerPoint. I have tried this with/without the _skin.swf file but the resutls are the same. Has anyone seen this behaviour before? I have also tried this on a number of computers, and the same issues are seen.
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1 reply

Captiv8r
Captiv8r
Legend
February 22, 2008
Hi High Tower

I'm surprised you aren't also seeing what we call the RSOD (Red Screen Of Death). This happens when you have used Captivate to record longer full motion recordings. What happens is that each full motion clip is loaded into memory until all memory (virtual and otherwise) becomes totally depleted. The screens begin showing red spots and quickly move from that to the full screen being red.

This really isn't an issue with Captivate. Moreover, it's an issue with the way the Flash player handles the full motion clips.

Sorry, but the only way I'm aware of to work around it is to structure your projects differently. Avoid using full motion if you can and use slide based recording whenever possible.

Hopefully this was helpful... Rick
H
High_TowerAuthor
Participant
February 25, 2008
Hi Rick,

Thanks for the speedy reply! In response to your RSOD comment, I had seen that, but hadn't realised it's hidden meaning

I will certainly give the project structure a re-work to see if I stay away from the full-motion, but certain parts will be impossible to work around as the tool performs simulations where it is needed. Prior to posting my original message, I loaded all the movies into Firefox and didn't see this memory usage behaviour. I guess it is a little bit more proactive about clearing up it's allocated memory.

Thanks for your help!

Ben
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