Captivate Beginner Software Simulations

[Artrellwk2020]

I am trying to get over my reluctance to create my first elearning. I am creating a software simulation, and I'm not even sure if that's the best approach to take for what I'm trying to communicate. I have gone through the sequence to complete the task in the software system, but these captions have shown up that I did not create. Are those just guides/suggestions based on my actions? Is there a way to turn that off? 

How do I keep the simulation from playing all the way through and make it stop for interaction from the learner?

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Captivate has always been famous for the way it handles software simulations. Although you now also have Video Demo, which is better for a pure demo, the Training and Assessment mode work great. Problem is that you only used Demo miode.

If you want to have a real training simulation, when starting the recording of the sim you need to change to Training or Assessment mode. You kept to the less useful Demo mode. You can even record once and have the three modes in one session. That is good way for a newbie to see the difference, to discover the use of interactive objects and the timeline. 

In Demo mode you get the captions, in Training mode you'll only get the Hint message, in Assessment mode you will not get anything. Each slide will be paused by an 'interactive object': either a click box, because the learner needs to click somewhere, or a Text Entry Box because he needs to type in a text. You will easily see the 'pausing point' in the Timeline panel.

Next time when creating a software sim: check the three radiobuttons (Demo, Training, Assessment) in the Software Simulations dialog box where you identify the application or window to be recorded. You'll end up with three files in three tabs of the application (MDI means Multiple Display Interface) which you can compare and explore. Eventually you can copy/paste slides from one file to another one. In any basic training which includes sims, I start by creating a global file 'Show me, Let me Try and Test me' from those three files. You will only have to add a dashboard, to navigate to each of the three workflows.

[Artrellwk2020]

Thanks for the information LilyBiri and thank you for the speedy reply. I did have Demo and Training checked and the one I was in was the one that played continuously. When I tried the other, it played as expected. I've also been able to make sense of the automatic captions. I'm not sure how I feel about them yet, as it sometimes puts them in places that I would not have, but I have been able to change the ones that are there.

The default caption size and fonts are not ideal, and they are often bigger than the text boxes that Captivate puts them in. How do I address that as a setting, so that I don't have to manually change all of them? 

[Lilybiri]

Maybe this blog which I wrote a while ago can help?

https://elearning.adobe.com/2019/11/software-simulations-1-preparation/

Do not look for the blogs I planned to do, since no one seemed to be interested in what I wrote. Why follow an easy way when it can be done in a complicated way? 

[Stagprime]

I will start by admitting that my response to this is probably not going to be much help and I am sure there will be some others who can address your question directly. That said...

I think Captivate is an excellent solution for software simulations.

Now - perhaps I am a glutton for punishment but I do not record them at all - which is why I cannot address your question directly. I craft my simulations "by hand" with all the screenshots I need and then I place all the click points as appropriate and build the logic to guide the learner through the process. I will also often provide a box to check to enable "tips" that will tell the learner where to click next in case they get stuck.

It requires a bit more work but I feel it is a better product in the end.

I also do not use the timeline as the entire project is based on clicking the next spot through the tutorial and all the buttons have pause points on them by default.

Perhaps that is what you're missing... some buttons to pause the project until the user clicks...?

[Artrellwk2020]

I'm intrigued by your approach, Stagprime. Are you unable to get the same result by recording the process? For clarification, you walk through the process in the sofware system and capture screen shots at each relevant point in the process, adding notes along the way? I can imagine that logic will give you more options and flexibility. What types of things do you do with the logic that recording doesn't do?

[cassiej66211677]

I will need to do this as well since I will have to create a simulation using someone else's screen shots. I am new to Captivate: can you give me some direction on how to accomplish this? Click boxes? What else?

Thank you.