Slide Video Interactions

[KansasSteve]

Hi Captivate Community!

I should be able to make a slide video (controlled by Captivate) pause and then when the user interacts wwith a simple button, it will play. But that won't work, and I believe I've observed that the video will continue again after a brief pause on revisit. 

So I added bookmarks and am having more success. Still, I wish there was a better way. I know about workarounds and use them. Maybe someone knows of a good workaround?

[KansasSteve]

By the way, I'm using mp4 video that is linked locally (as opposed to another site). 

[Lilybiri]

If the video is inserted as slide video, Play/Pause buttons will be functional. I don't understand exactly what you mean. How did you set up the Play/Pause buttons?

[KansasSteve]

Maybe they do work, but the content is packed so our viewers often go back and revisit the content without refreshing the browser. And that's when the buttons no longer work on revisit. Is there any work around for that?

To attempt to work around, I have pause buttons lined up with the book mark so that when the button is pressed it uses advanced actions, and it plays from the book mark it will then hide the button (so it won't interfere again). Now I think I must have the buttons appear again so that if they go back they can revisit the content and it will still function.

[KansasSteve]

Another issue I'm having is a windows user isn't seeing the same thing I am when publishing on web server to test. Many of the button stops seem to go past where I see them stop on my macs (both desktop and laptop). Are there differences in experience between mac and windows?

[Lilybiri]

This is really weird, that the Pause button is losing its functionality. I can only repeat my question: how did you set up that button? Maybe have a look at this blog:

http://blog.lilybiri.com/custom-play-slash-pause-button-version-cp2019

[KansasSteve]

Updating Media

Mostly just transparent boxes on top of buttons shown in the video. Or I use a png of an arrow. I have two advanced actions: 1) continue play 2) hide the button used.  They will remain active later in the video even if transparent if I do not hide the button, sending the user who knows where. I think I've solved the issues, but still cannot allow revisit so I have a message at the end instructing them to refresh their browser.

[KansasSteve]

I've taken out the bookmarks. 

[KansasSteve]

I realize that the buttons would be no longer active if hidden which is why you would never do that if interested in revisit. I'm now hiding the buttons because they are still active throughout the video if not hidden. It is a 16 min. video.

[Lilybiri]

A hidden button is indeed not active. Did you at least have a look at the blog post I mentioned before?  Please, post a screenshot fo the advanced actions you used instead of the setup of the button. It is also important to see the button timeline, and whether it has a pausing point which can be seen on the timeline or in the Timing properties. 

[KansasSteve]

For each button I set up an action. I know I might be able to set up one action for all. Couldn't figure it out.

[KansasSteve]

Another reported issue is I'm not in time with PC. I'm designing on a mac.  All interactions appear later on a pc user's computer. 

[Lilybiri]

That is not the way to add interactions to a video. Why do you not use overlay slides? I wonder even if the present 'buttons' will remain in synch as wanted, which would not be a problem with overlay slides. You can use anything on an overlay slide, but I always use dedicated master slides for them. See:

http://blog.lilybiri.com/tips-for-interactive-video

Mac or PC shouldn't be the origin of your problems, at least if you are using version 11.8 which is necessary for Monterey.

[KansasSteve]

In the previous version we didn't notice the difference between mac or pc. Being a community member here I've noticed several instances where a slide video is recommended. Does using slide overlays require more slides? And therefore a video in as many segments?

[Lilybiri]

Please have a look at the blog post. Overlay slides are static slides, but you don't need to distribute the video over multiple slides. Here is an example of an interactive video:

http://www.lilybiri.com/published/PlayPause_Scal/index.html

This is one slide video, added to that several overlay slides which appear automatically.

[KansasSteve]

Using a slide overlay blurs the background video. Can we avoid this? Are you saying that using the pause buttons on a slide video will move by themselves around without being manipulated? Because I've noticed inconsistent testing environments, even when tested on a separate mac or pc.

[Lilybiri]

The video, especially it if is long, takes time to load on entering the slide. Whereas the buttons will be loaded almost immediately. That will often lead to loss of synchronisation, reason why you should avoid long videos.

It is still not very clear to me what you exactly want. It is just an image to popup on top of the video? But the video should remain sharp? In that case distribute the video over multiple slides to avoid loss of synchronisation when putting buttons on top of it.

[KansasSteve]

I would do make multi slides, but it causes a distracting blank white page to come on screen briefly while the segmented video loads throughout. But thank you for trying.

[KansasSteve]

Great news! It was the video file itself being too large. I cut it down by 100MB and it works great now! I knew it could do it since i had a bigger one last time. If it weren't for your information, I wouldn't have reached that conclusion near as quickly. Thanks again!!!

[Lilybiri]

Sure, that was my suspicion from the start: video file too big.

Try to make it as small as possible with sufficient quality. I always use Adobe Media Encoder to achieve that. It is packaged with Captivate.

[KansasSteve]

Well, it tested fine for a bit. Now it continues testing inconsistently in it's synchronization with the buttons in browsers on mac/pc. So I split up the video into 3 parts, each part on one slide, but showing no improvement. Anything else you can think of is sure appreciated.

[KansasSteve]

Is going back a version an option?

[Lilybiri]

I don't think a previous version would help.

Since the problem is that using overlay slides is not possible because the video is not remaining in its clear state, here is just another idea. Use a static frame view of the video as background for the overlay slide. You do want to pause the video to show a popup, so that couldn't be a problem to have a static image.

[KansasSteve]

I just don't think I can rationally invest any more time doing this type of project in Captivate. I will use this fine product in another way on another day. Thanks.