Hello folks,
I am trying to find the best way to embed an icon into a Smart Shape. I use icons to indicate the class of message displayed on the screen (see example).
It appears that Captivate only provides a partial solution.
I am using a background custom image, that way, I can still edit the message. The problem with using this method is that I cannot change the size of the text caption, otherwise the icon will change positions. Adobe could have made this option work, had they added a custom image placement setting that worked without needing to turn on the tile mode. e.g. place custom image in top left corner of caption. Will I need to send in another feature request? Or is there a better way to do this (without using the OLD text caption format)?
1 Correct answer
My thought was that if you used the tile option along with an image that is large enough that tiling would really never happen, the image should stay put in the upper left corner, no? I'd try making the image slightly larger than the canvas of your project.
Cheers... Rick 
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Replies
Hi Shawn
What about a trick I use with PowerPoint? Just create a really large image with the icon properly placed. I'm thinking that whatever would fall outside the visible area just wouldn't be seen? I've not tested this and am just sort of shooting from the hip here.
Cheers... Rick 
My thought was that if you used the tile option along with an image that is large enough that tiling would really never happen, the image should stay put in the upper left corner, no? I'd try making the image slightly larger than the canvas of your project.
Cheers... Rick
Captiv8r wrote:
My thought was that if you used the tile option along with an image that is large enough that tiling would really never happen, the image should stay put in the upper left corner, no? I'd try making the image slightly larger than the canvas of your project.
Cheers... Rick
Indeed, I did misunderstand you. Excellent! That worked!
It works, if I set the background image to 800x450 (maximum stage size before automatic reduction) and set tiled type to top-left. With those settings there is only minimal movement when I resize the Smart Shape.
Thank you.
RodWard wrote:
So ungroup, resize the shape and then regroup again. Should take all of a few seconds.
Isn't that better than mucking around with specially-created background shapes every time you want to place an icon on the shape?
Not at all, the background tile option needs to be done once (already done). With Rick's fine tuning of my approach, I have now created a library of reusable message w/icon boxes. I store all the common reusable objects on several non-published slides that a developer is able to grab and reuse as needed. There are no steps involved in resizing the Smart Shape now.
Doing it using your several step approach will introduce potential positioning errors (during the ungroup/resize shape steps).
This is part of a corporate template that must adhere to a standards framework and inconsistencies would be frowned upon.
Thank you to EVERYONE... the participation in this thread (ON A SUNDAY NIGHT) is awesome! You folks are awesome!
Sreekanth_S wrote:
You can insert it as an image. Go to Insert menu > Image and select the icon.
If I understood you correctly, the image (icon) is not going to be part of the Smart Shape?
The problem with that idea is that I must manage two components (the Smart Shape and the icon), I also cannot control the exact positioning and timing. I believe the tile idea (mine combined with Rick's fine tuning works best). Though, ultimately, it would be nice to implement Rod's suggestion (if only the icon didn't resize). I'll add this to my wishlist for v6.5.
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