Whole slide looks pixelated whilst editing.

Report · Aug 16, 2019

Hi guys,

I'm new to captivate but am an Adobe veteran, so am pretty competent in general with Adobe software. That doesn't make the learning curve feel less steep though!

I am creating an interactive video but all the elements on my screen look very pixelated which is making it hard for me to be accurate with placing buttons etc. It is fine when I export so it seems like it's just an issue with display quality. It's similar to Premiere where you can play in 1/2 or 1/4 resolution.

I assume there is a pretty simple solution but can't for the life of me find out how to preview at full quality!

My project is 1920x1080 and is not responsive.

Cheers,
D

Report · Aug 18, 2019

I can see that you are indeed working on an interactive video. What is the resolution of that video? Text is IN the video? What is the functionality of the button? Just wondering if you are not transferring some of your experiences with other Adobe apps (Premere, Pro, After Effects, Animate?) to Captivate.

If the text is on an overlay slide, is it possible to see that overlay slide? The playhead is positioned on a bookmark/overlay point, and the video behind is dimmed.

Interactive video is a slight enhancement of passive video, but certainly not the ultimate eLearning asset which remains the full interactive cptx file. Is there any reason why you choose interactive video for this project?

Published a couple of interactive videos online, here is one link:

Custom Play/Pause button

To see the difference with a normal Captivate project, although it is based on a presentation, you'll the difference concerning interactivity:

Captivate's Timeline

The last one is already couple of years old, reason why it doesn't have a poster image because AutoPlay was still allowed then.

Here is a blog with some tips for interactive video:

4 Tips for Interactive Video - Captivate blog

Written for CP10³7. In the most recent version you can add a sequence of overlay slides.

Report · Aug 19, 2019

Hi Lilybiri,

Thanks for your reply. The size of the project is 1920x1080, like the video that's inside it.

The blue buttons you can see were created in Adobe After Effects and exported with the footage so that I am working with a single video file.

What I am trying to do:
Add semi-transparent buttons over the blue buttons I have already created that jump to specific points in the timeline when clicked. These points are indicated with bookmarks.

Because of this pixelation, I can't create buttons that fit perfectly over the blue buttons I have already created.

Surely there is just some kind of preview quality setting.

Report · Aug 19, 2019

I would never use buttons over a video, you will always get synchronization problems. Would be the same if for an audio file separate form the video file.

If you want a menu to jump to bookmarks, please, have a look at my blog post (which I used in the interactive video for which I posted a link before). Apparently you didn't mind looking at the links, just tell me if that is the case. It is then only a waste of time for me and for you. That link was in the blog with tips for interactive video.

Interactive Video, Navigation Bookmarks - Captivate blog

Report · Aug 19, 2019

Hi Lilybiri,

I did go through the links you posted, so thanks for sharing those.

I don't want to create a menu within Captivate as the 'buttons' that I have already created, animate into the video in the way that I want them to.

What kind of synchronisation problems do you get if you use buttons? What exactly would go our of sync?

Why is using hyperlinks with "Execute Advanced Actions", better? I can't find an explanation on your posts.

Also, did you have any idea why the whole preview of my Captivate project is pixelated?

Cheers,
D

Report · Aug 19, 2019

I don't want to offend, maybe I better stop trying to help you.

An interactive video has overlay slides. Those slides can have EVERYTHING what is possible on a normal Captivate slide, including advanced/shared actions, buttons.....

Video has to be loaded (or streamed) when you enter the slide (same for audio if it has a separate timeline). The normal slide objects (your transparent buttons would be normal objects) do not need loading. That could lead to synch problems.

The start approach that you want animated buttons in the video is not what an interactive video is meant. The Overlay slides are appearing automatically when the frame is reached in the video, hence no synch problems. You have a command Go to Bookmark whch can be used from interactive objects on overlay slides.

An interactive video typically has a bookmark navigation menu, but it is not yet built in the present feature of Captivate, that is why i wrote that blog post. Hyperlinks are easy for this purpose, because all interactivity is in one shape. If you ever want to create responsive projects, you will learn how important it is to reduce the number of projects and to avoid stacking objects on top of each other.

Your idea of interactive video is probably totally different from what most (including me) think.

As for the pixelation, really have no idea, because never had that issue at all. In Captivate I would never use that big resolution for a project, because the published course needs a browser or LMS environment which takes up lot of pixels. I never want the learner to use the scrollbars all the time.