Drop shadow effect fading at pause in slide

[UM FPI]

Hi everyone,

I'm having an issue with a drop shadow effect. I have a slide that is 14 seconds long. In the slide, I have a screen shot image that I've placed a drop shadow on for the entirety of the slide. However, the end of the slide has a text entry box with a pause at the very end of the slide. When the project pauses, the drop shadow goes away. Does anyone know if there's a way to ensure the drop shadow remains on the slide until it's exited/until the next slide appears?

I'm using CP 5.0--maybe this is something fixed in 5.5? I really like this feature and don't want to have to go back to my old drop-shadow method (placing a same-sixed box below images and adjusting it's placement so that it sits just slightly to the right and slightly lower than the image...)

Thanks,

Kate

[Lilybiri]

Hello Kate,

In CP5.5 you can apply a shadow (inner, outer) fully customisable without having to apply an effect.

I just tried it out, but cannot reproduce your issue: a slide with an image and applied drop shadow effect for the rest of the slide. I put a TEB with pausing point just 0,1sec before the end of the slide and the shadow remains OK.

Can you check the transition of the image: is it set to No Transition?

Do you have the latest version of CP5: 5.0.2.630  ?

Lilybiri

[UM FPI]

Hi Lilybiri,

Thanks for getting back to me so fast!

I have CP Version 5.0.0.596, so not the latest, sadly. In my image edit properties, I don't seem to be able to apply a drop shadow--it looks like the only way I can do it is through an effect.

Also, the images (on both slides 1 and 2) are set to "No transition". The image remains on the screen but for the first slide, the drop shadow disappears. See my other notes for more info...this is mind-boggling!

[Lilybiri]

Hi Kate,

Upgrade is free and some bugs are solved, not sure this is linked with your issue but try to upgrade (Help, Updates).

Try to recreate the slide in a blank project to see if you  can reproduce the issue. I  cannot, too bad.

Lilybiri

[UM FPI]

Lilybiri,

Thanks for that suggestion. A little more sleuthing during a recreate and I think I've solved my problem, though it doesn't make too much sense. The first slide is 13 seconds. The second slide is 6 seconds. Each TEB starts and ends at the last second; so for the first slide the TEB starts at 12, and for the second it starts at 5. I adjusted the first slide a few times, making it shorter and shorter. Suddenly, at 7 seconds long, so that the TEB starts at the 6th second, it works fine with no additional adjustments other than the length of the slide. Very strange. I will definitely consider updating/upgrading for the bug-free-r version! Thanks for your help!!

Kate

[Captiv8r]

Hi Kate

I stand to be corrected here, but I believe there is some sort of a maximum duration for effects. Memory seems to tell me it was something like ten seconds or so.

Cheers... Rick

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[Lilybiri]

HI Kate, Rick,

Indeed, I had a slide of 12secs, and it worked fine. Should have replicated the 14secs, I should have seen that Effect disappeared.

Rick, you have a great memory, think it is 12secs from my latest experience. I very seldom use slides that long....

Lilybiri

[UM FPI]

It's strange that it isn't working past 7 secs, even after the update. I can shorten the slide to solve my own problem, at least, though! Good to know for the future, however.

Thanks again for the help Rick and Lilybiri!

Kate

[UM FPI]

Same topic, slightly different issue...

Is there any way to make the drop shadow effect *not* transition/blink from slide to slide? For instance, I'm doing a software simulation that walks students through a process. So, each slide has an image on it of the same size, located at the same spot but is a different screen shot. The images are all set to no transition, and all have the drop shadow effect applied. But the drop shadow appears to be blink during slide transitions... I can see why it does that, but it doesn't look like there's a way to stop it...is there?

Thanks,

Kate

[RodWard]

I've not found any way to do this using Captivate Effects.  If I know a particular element is going to need a drop shadow across multiple slides, I create the graphic to have a drop shadow of its own and set it either to display for rest of project, or add it to a Master Slide that I use on all those slides, or just add the graphic to each slide and set to display for Rest of Slide.

[UM FPI]

Hi Rod,

Previously, I had tried doing that twice—once in the native project and once in a new project just to check and make sure I’m having the same problem. And the problem, sadly, occured in both projects; I get these strange halo/borders around the image. I was using a .png file with a drop shadow, because .jpgs don’t allow or transparency and I have a background image.

But as I was writing this, I had the idea to embed my drop shadow image into my background image and save the whole thing as a .jpg and this works excellently. Lesson learned: don’t use .png with transparency.

Thanks!

[RodWard]

OK.  If you're using a background image and you need the image on top with the drop shadow to look as if it's floating over the background, then there's another trick you can try, but it means you need to have access to either Flash or a graphics application that can add a drop shadow and save it out as a SWF file.

I have an old version of Adobe Fireworks (CS3) that I have never gotten rid of for two reasons.  One: it's much easier to use for quick edits than Photoshop. Two: It allows me to create an image, add a drop shadow to it, make the image background transparent rather than a solid colour, and save the image as an SWF file.  When I insert this image into Captivate as an animation, I can set it on any number of slides and use it as if it was a graphic that floats over anything on the background.  You can create the same thing in Flash, if you have access to it.  All it has to be is an SWF containing the image with dropshadow as a symbol.  The background will be transparent.

In Captivate versions up to and including version 4 you would see a slight flicker at slide transitions when using an image done as an SWF, even when it went from the first to last frame on both slides.  But I drew this issue to Adobe's attention and it was fixed in Cp5.  (Note to self:  Must test this again in Cp 5.5 to make sure they haven't broken it again.)

I've used this trick many many times to get the effect I think you're after.

[UM FPI]

I just realized the next slide also has the same image with the same drop shadow (extending the entirety of the slide) with a text entry box and pause as well. But the second slide's drop shadow doesn't disappear at the pause. There are only two differences between these text entry boxes:

1. The first slide's text entry box validates when the user hits the Tab key.
2. The second slide's text entry box is a password field and validates when the user hits a button.

More notes: the images and captions and text entry boxes are both set to "display for the rest of the slide" even though both slides exit when the user enters the correct information in the text entry boxes (and the answers are validated). I've also tried setting the first slide's text entry box so that it extends past the pause for .2 seconds (setting it to display for both specific time as well as for the rest of the slide), and the image and other items extend to the end of the slide as well, since they're set on "display for the rest of the slide"...And still the first slide's drop shadow disappears.

[Lilybiri]

Tried this as well: validating TEB, deleting the Submit button and allow only the shortcut TAB and still cannot have the drop shadow disappearing.

Could you try the recreate the slide?

Lilybiri