Captivate Video Demo Editing

[Aleisha28871282mqj3]

I recently upgraded to the latest Captivate verison. When I go to edit a video demo and select Exit, my screen turns gray and I am unable to go back to my other modules without exiting out of the entire project and reopening Captivate. Is anyone else having this issue?

[kglad]

in the future, to find the best place to post your message, use the list here, https://community.adobe.com/

p.s. i don't think the adobe website, and forums in particular, are easy to navigate, so don't spend a lot of time searching that forum list. do your best and we'll move the post if it helps you get responses.

<moved from using the community>

[Lilybiri]

I had seen your question last night, but wanted to see if I can replicate the problem.  I have 11.8.1 installed on another system but didn't yet use the Video Demo on that one. I always use Video Demo and its competent, non-destructive editor to create videos to be used as independent videos, as base for interactive video or to be embedded as an asset in a more complete tutorial. Based on my experience I wrote out some blogs, this is one of them:

https://blog.lilybiri.com/video-demo-tips

If used for a long video, I prefer creating shorter demo clips in Video Demo and assemble them with Premiere Rush. That application, also available on iPad is more than sufficient for eLearning videos, PP is overkill. The core of the videos, including replacement of the audio I always do in the Video Demo editor. All the webinars I presented have a video which has been created with Video Demo. Since I strongly believe that interactive tutorials are much more powerful than passive video, my priority is not on YT videos.

I wait for you to try out the suggestion by Rod Ward about the escape key.  Do you use a multimonitor setup?

[headTrix Training]

So sorry to see you are having issues. Captivate is a bit buggy. But i would say stay clear away from the Video editing in Captivate. The edits just dont seem to come out so smoothly, and you are so limited in options. I recommend trying to export your video and edit it in Adobe Premiere --- these basic edits will be soooooo much easier, and you can easily edit the audio, add motion graphics, text, lower thirds, color correct and sooo much more. But at the basic level of even simple cuts its worth your while. Most of the time I tried editing in Captivate it would just mess up my movie or the audio and graphics would end up not being synched.

Hope this helps!
Mark

[Aleisha28871282mqj3]

Thank you for the response. We create SCORM files, less MP4 so is there another way to edit a video without importing?

[headTrix Training]

I would suggst using a different screen capture software, there are plenty of decent free ones....
and doing your editing in Premiere or some other video app. Then importing the final completed video into Captivate. 

Hope that makes sense. Not sure if I answered your question. Let me know if I can help.

Mark

[RodWard]

When the Captivate screen goes grey like this, try hitting the ESCAPE key.  If that seems to return control to you, then your problem might be due to having a modal dialog appearing somewhere off screen.  You may have been using dual monitors with a different (left-right) orientation to the main screen and Captivate is still displaying that dialog but you cannot see it to interact with it.

[Aleisha28871282mqj3]

I tried this and still did not send me back to the project. Once we click on edit video demo and select exit and save, the old version would bring us back to the main project. But it is stuck on edit video and I have to save and close Captivate and open the project back up to continue editing other slides. I am including a screen shot of the screen I am trying to get back to after we edit 1 video. 

[Lilybiri]

Screenshot makes me realize that you are using the editor from within a cptx-project. How did you get the Video Demo slide in the project, because there are two ways:

• Directly by using the big button Slides, Video Demo and than record the video.
• By creating the cpvc-project and insert it using the menu Insert, CPVC-slide.

Sorry, ignore this comment, because you want an answer from the two other people.

[Aleisha28871282mqj3]

I am trying all the suggestions to try to fix the issue. I am using the Video Demo in the project to record my videos and there are some areas I need to edit out. Once I enter edit video demo and fix the video, it will not allow me to go back to the other slides. It makes me save, close out of Captivate completely and reopen to finish my other edits. It did not do this in the last version. 

[headTrix Training]

I suggest looking for a new screen recorder... or just using the video demo, but export as is, and then edit your videos in another application. The video editor within Captivate is extremely limited, and even the simple things don't work 100%. Save yourself the hassle, do your editing elsewhere and import the video when its good and ready!

Cheers,
mark

[Lilybiri]

If you really want help, I proposed to try to reproduce your problem. However that is the reason I asked HOW you got the video demo slide in the cptx-project. It is possible that one of the ways I describe is leading to the problem.

The reason I always keep to Video Demo when having to use it in a Captivate project is that the collaboration between cpvc-slides and the other slides in such a project is better than with the result of any other software application. You can use Camtasia, but expect more issues to integrate it seamlessly in a cptx-project.

[headTrix Training]

Hi Lily,

I tried using the Captivate Video demo many times.... for screensharing it was okay, it works, but for editing it is extremely wonky and not worth the frustration. So I just made a demo... I just started using OBS a FREE screen recorder where you can set up scenes to record your webcam, your screen, or both, and you could also add another camera view if you wanted/needed. After creating the video, I would normally import into Premiere, and edit, color correct, adjjust the audio levels, and then import into Captivate. The video in this file has NOT been editing or color corrected, and therefore doesnt look or sound great... but I just created this in 5-10 min.

Its not letting me upload the cptx file or a zip file.... but here is the video. You can easily import into Captivate as an Event or Slide video

Cheers!
mark

[Lilybiri]

You seem not to understand what I meant, after I discovered that the Video Demo was used in a cptx-file.

The biggest advantage of using Video Demo in this case is that it remains 'editable', because it is the raw file (cpvc) which is inserted. Small editing remains possible with the Video Demo editor.

That is impossible with your workflow: you have to repeat the process in your editor, publish again, and insert again in the cptx project. That is resulting in a lot of extra work hours.

As I wrote before: for a standalone captured video I also use Premiere Rush to assemble the audio clips which I record using Video Demo. A lot of the features in the Video Demo editor are not available in Premiere Pro: how will you re-arrange the mouse movements and linked features, panning and zooming and all in a non-destructive way. There are features which could have been improved, but that is the case for all software applications. For standalone video, Camtasia is a great alternative (have used it a lot in the past), but for use in eLearning tutorials as the OP is doing here, it is not because you have the same limitations: you always have to republish and re-insert. Camera view? We are not talking about normal video here, but about screen capture.

Last point: as a Captivate expert personally I use Captivate whenever possible. I never have created a presentation for a webinar or live with PPT, but  always Captivate. I never created a video, interactive video, or inserted video in a Captivate tutorial with Camtasia, but always with Video Demo since version 6 when it was included with Captivate for the first time. Just like I use Photoshop, Audition, Illustrator, Animate, Capture, and Premiere Rush for the needed assets. Call me a freak, I don't mind.

Created this with Video Demo, Audition, Rush

[headTrix Training]

Well I guess we have to disagree. First off I shared OBS since its free, and I shared how you can show JUST a screen capture, or a just a webcam or BOTH. Some companies/people might want the added camera, and if not I showed an option without it.

About the video demo, first off I just tried it again, 4 times. 3 of the times it only recorded my desktop, even when I selected applilcation and Photoshop, and when I selected Screen Area. (and they have a webcam option there too - but WHO needs that right?). And one time the entire application quit. When watching the video the mouse movements are jumping around and missing in spots. So its not even recording well. Pretty much every screen recording will need edits, and if you are trying to edit in Captivate, you will waste a LOT of time, AND odds are, your video will change. I have made edits before then you see the mouse slowly crawling to its next location. Its a weak and tedious editing system and its not easy to fix, edit, or undo if you needed to go back. In Premiere I can edit fast, export fast, AND I can get exact edits, I can color correct, pan, zoom, add titles, lower thirds, highlights, Intro Titles, level audio and make a BETTER video in terms of learning for the user AND asthetics. I also have the capability of duplicating my sequence and trying different variations. Something else Captivate cant do. If you want to suck time and create poor videos... keep using Captivate. Even the audio settings to calibrate are not being set to a certain level. So how will you make EVERY single video with audio at the exact same level? You pretty much can't.

Not to mention in Premiere I can easily edit the audio too, amplify where it needs to, cut out background noise, and so much more. But hey - there are different ways to work. Like in Photoshop you can use the eraser to remove backgrounds.... but I always use a Mask. I like to work smarter, not harder. 

Nice chat! Happy edting!

cheers!
mark

Captivate is a bit slow, and I just tried 3 times