Missing audio for a few slides, Captivate 8

[Guest]

I am doing a software simulation training.  I have a couple of slides that have audio, but when I do a preview, the audio isn't working.  In looking at the Timeline, the audio is there and sounds fine, yet it does not work on preview.  I've looked here and other places, yet do not see anything that talks about what might be happening.  Any ideas?

[Lilybiri]

Which output do you want and which Preview method did you use?

Sent from my iPad

[Guest]

I used the preview method of F4.  I've figured that is a Captivate format.  As for what type of audio, I have been happy taking what comes with Captivate.  This is the only slide that does not have audio.

Just to further things, I have one slide that has the audio in preview play as if two channels were playing at the same time.  Yet it is not that way when listening to the timeline version

[Lilybiri]

You mean slide audio? You see it as a wave form under the slide timeline? Make sure to leave a small gap at the beginning and the end, to avoid that CP sees it as one project audio clip. Try Preview in Browser (F12) or HTML in Browser (F11).

Sent from my iPad

[Guest]

This is one of 60+ slides.  It is only this slide that does not play.  I tried all the ways to play it and no dice.  Below is a screen shot of the Timeline.

Therte is nothing fancy here, but the audio is critical for the training, and it works just fine from the timeline.

[Lilybiri]

Timeline Replay is just for editing, is nowhere near the real behavior after publishing. Although it is an option under Preview button it is NOT a preview method at all. Confusing, I know.

Try it out: move the audio timeline a way from the start (0.3secs, and make the slide duration bit longer so that you have a gap at the end as well. Check with F12 or F11 (closest Preview to final output).

[Guest]

I understand the timeline is for editing purposes.  The funny thing is that the audio is fine during the editing, but it does not play during any kind of preview.  It is one of 67 slides and it is the only one that does not play during preview.  As much as I've looked, I do not see any difference with that slide and the others.  It is just plain weird!

[Lilybiri]

Please, can at least try the work flow with the gaps????

[BDuckWorks]

One thing I see that has been discussed elsewhere, you have the audio starting and ending at the same time as the slide. When Captivate sees this, my understanding is that Cp will attempt to combine all project and slide audio into a single file on output. (converting wav to an MP3)

Try adding space before and after the audio, just slide the audio track in the timeline 4 seconds to the right, then back 2 seconds. This will add a 2 second gap before and after the slide audio.

Try a preview after this step and see if it makes a difference before working through the other slides.

[Lilybiri]

@BDuckWorks That is what I explained him already at least three times, and now begged to create such gaps. Sometimes I seem to preach in the desert. It is not necessary to have a 2 seconds gap at all, which is pretty long, 0.3secs as I showed in the screenshot is sufficient.

[Guest]

Actually, I did listen and did try what you suggested.  It fixed the problem with that slide.  I appreciate that.  I'm still fairly new with Captivate and some of the things you suggest take me a while to figure out.  Your desert comment was not the situation at all.

Now that I followed your suggestions, I have another slide that does not play the audio.  That is a new thing.  I tried what you said and it did not make a difference.  I have another slide that plays the audio twice, one on top of the other.  I tried rerecording the audio and that did not fix the problem.  Unfortunately both those slides are instructions for the learner that cannot be left out.

All and all, out of 68 slides with lots of interactions, things are looking and working very well.  Once I get these two bugs worked out, I am good to go.

I always appreciate your help, and, believe me, I do listen!!

[Lilybiri]

Sorry!

Did you apply those 'gaps' only on two slides or on all slides (which should be the best). Maybe it is the audio of the slide before or the slide after the problem slide that is causing the problems. Especially when you say that two clips are playing at the same time, and they are both slide audio, it looks like a missing 'gap'.

[Erik Lord]

If you have audio that's playing twice, you may have dragged the audio asset onto another asset instead of onto the timeline itself first, thought it didn't take, then dragged the audio from the library to the timeline correctly.

Check the objects on the stage - do any of them happen to have audio attached to them?

[Guest]

I did a work around for the audio problems.  But fixing one thing makes for another.  I'm hopping this last issue will be it and I can publish this as I've got a pitch fork to my rear end.

What I'm getting now are red bars that appear almost at random.  It is moving very well and then BOOM! I get a red bar that covers everything.  I've looked everywhere and do not see any reason for it.  Any ideas on what may be happening and how to get rid of that bug?

Can't tell you how much you have helped me here.  Wish I had time to get this done in a realistic fashion.

[Captiv8r]

Hmmm, red bars often indicate your computer memory is being exhausted as the project runs.

I'd maybe look at the library and see what your image sizes are. If they are overly large, consider exporting the image and scale it, then pop it back into Captivate.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest · Accepted solution]

One last thing.  I found something very important which I'd like to pass on to those newbies like myself.  With all the problems I was having, the best solution was to publish it as an executable file and view it.  Everything ran as smooth as a dirt road.  yes, I got to the end with no hang ups.  I will certainly remember that for my next project.

I want to give special thanks to the pros here that went out of their way to help.  I promise to not always be so needy.

[Lilybiri]

Maybe that will not solve everything: exe file is Flash-based. If you want HTML output, you could have the same issues