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O
onefallinghope
Participant
November 17, 2006
Answered

"Snap To Recording Area" Problem

  • November 17, 2006
  • 1 reply
  • 272 views
Hello, maybe someone can help me here. I am new to Captivate, but i have gone through a few training programs to learn my way around the software.

Here is my dilemma:

My company produces custom software and it is my responsibility to produce training videos for our main product. I am actually experiencing two problems, the first problem happens when recording.

On my options screen i have selected the (cant remember the text off the top of my head) checkbox that says (approx) "when this app opens new windows constrain them to the recording area" this feature does not work.

Is it a compatibility problem with our development environment maybe? (our app is written using Delphi) Basically, when the user clicks a button in our program, a new text entry box opens. Using captivate, this box always appears outside of the recording area.

Secondly, i have an issue during playback (project preview)

I have tried many different options with this, both with and without narrations, etc...
I record our program, and the first steps of initial navigation are captured just fine, when i select a part of our program that causes it to redraw the contents of its main navigation pane the playback from captivate slows to a crawl and remains slow for the rest of the project.

I.E. if i record a 15 second clip with narration of navigating to a section of our program then double clicking its title to open it from within our app, when i play it back on project preview, the audio will after approx 15 seconds, but the file still plays for another 60-75 seconds, and all actions are out of sync.

Any hep would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Bill Bates
    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Captiv8r
    Hi Bill and welcome to our community

    I'm assuming here you are referring to the Options > Recording Options... > Recording Options tab option labeled "Move new windows inside recording area". I think this will largely be related to the way developers have implemented the windows. Captivate will likely only move windows it understands into this area. So it's possible that your application isn't fully understood by captivate.

    Possible workarounds:
    1. When the window appears, manually move it into the recording area, then force an additional screen capture by pressing the Print Screen key.
    2. Reposition the new window manually during a practice run before recording. Sometimes, these windows remember where they were last placed. If yours falls into this category, when you record the movie, the new window should pop into the last positon and things should be better.

    As for the second issue, are you recording narration at the same time as you are recording the movie? If so, although it's possible, it's not considered best practice. Try recording the movie, then record the audio during a separate process.

    Another thing you might check (if you are using version 2) is on the same dialog. Do you have the option at the bottom (labeled "Record actions in real time") enabled? If so, try DE-selecting this option and recording again to see if the result is more satisfactory.

    Hopefully this helps in some small way... Rick

    1 reply

    Captiv8r
    Captiv8rCorrect answer
    Legend
    November 18, 2006
    Hi Bill and welcome to our community

    I'm assuming here you are referring to the Options > Recording Options... > Recording Options tab option labeled "Move new windows inside recording area". I think this will largely be related to the way developers have implemented the windows. Captivate will likely only move windows it understands into this area. So it's possible that your application isn't fully understood by captivate.

    Possible workarounds:
    1. When the window appears, manually move it into the recording area, then force an additional screen capture by pressing the Print Screen key.
    2. Reposition the new window manually during a practice run before recording. Sometimes, these windows remember where they were last placed. If yours falls into this category, when you record the movie, the new window should pop into the last positon and things should be better.

    As for the second issue, are you recording narration at the same time as you are recording the movie? If so, although it's possible, it's not considered best practice. Try recording the movie, then record the audio during a separate process.

    Another thing you might check (if you are using version 2) is on the same dialog. Do you have the option at the bottom (labeled "Record actions in real time") enabled? If so, try DE-selecting this option and recording again to see if the result is more satisfactory.

    Hopefully this helps in some small way... Rick
    O
    onefallinghopeAuthor
    Participant
    November 18, 2006
    Hello again, thank you for your response. after a bunch of fiddling around, I ended up coming to the work arounds that you suggested. I figured that captivate just didnt even know that the new windows existed, so it wasn't snaping them into place. I did find that placing them before hand, the remembered their position when called again.

    As far as recording narration at the same time as the screen cap, I know that it is a very bad idea. (im not really familiar with the flash/captivate style recording/editing, but I spend about 80% of my non-workng day using Final Cut Pro for video editing... i ALWAYS add a sound track,... never use the cameras audio) Unfortunatley, the person that i am working for right now demands a low-quality project (i'm serious) he wants everything done as quickly as possible, wants the audio recorded at the same time, and wants idealy he wants me to complete each product with NO editing after recording...

    But, none of THOSE things are items this forum can help with. :) LOL

    DE selecting "Record Actions in Real Time" DID solve my sync problems :)

    Thank you again for your prompt response. I really like the promise the Captivate gives me, I'll have to try a few more projects to see if it lives up to my expectations, but Im pretty excited!! (except for its insane audio device support... i.e. I am also a musician, and i use Logic to record audio for my FCP projects.... Captivate wont recognize my FW audio devices.... [which cost several times more than Captivate] so instead I've got to use a cheapo USB headset...)

    Thanks So Much,
    /Bill
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