Misalignment Issue: mp4 resolution in HTML5?

[mark-zajac]

Ahoy!

I have multiple Captivate projects with shapes and text superimposed on imported videos.  I should note that these projects solicit user input.

When exported as SWF, the video and superimposed items maintain proper alignment.

My problem is with the HTML5 format.

During the export process, Adobe Media Converter automatically reduces the video resolution from 758 x 504 to 320 x 240, resulting in misalignment of the video and superimposed items.

I have 81 projects that I would like to export in the HTML5 format, without too much manual intervention on each project.

What can I do?

[:-)] Mark

[Lilybiri]

Always a bad idea to insert static objects on top of video.  That should be done in a video editor, or, use overaly slides in an interactive video if you use CP2019.  Since you are publishing to HTML5, that is perfectly possible

Do you insert the video as syncrhonized video?  In that case I use AME manually to have a video with exact the resolution of the project, never had this reduced later on.

[mark-zajac]

Thank you for your response.

You wrote: "Always a bad idea to insert static objects on top of video."

The objects in question are not static.  The objects in question are shapes that act as buttons, to make the video interactive.

You wrote: "Do you insert the video as syncrhonized video?"

Yes.

You wrote: "I use AME manually to have a video with exact the resolution of the project."

The raw materials for my project are a preexisting collection of MP4 videos.  At the very beginning, I deliberately chose the resolution of my Captivate project to match the resolution of my source videos.  As each video was imported to the project, for synchronization with my slides, AME automatically converted each video to the FLV format.  The resolution of the FLV videos matched the resolution of the MP4 originals and, hence, the resolution of my project.  In extensive testing with the SWF format this all worked well.  At the time, it was not obvious that migration to HTML5 might be imperative.

When exporting my project in SWF format, the resolution of the FLV videos is not a problem.  However, if I try to export in HTML5 format, Captivate launches AME automatically and converts the FLV video back into MP4 video, which seems horribly inefficient!  At this point, AME changes the resolution of the video.  It does not seem to give me any choice in the matter.  I am not given the option of converting the video manually.

I have the original MP4 videos at the correct resolution.  How can I get Captivate to incorporate those videos into the directory structure that is created by HTML5 export?

[:-)] Mark

[RodWard]

You do not need to use FLV in Captivate.

If the MP4 videos at the correct height and width in pixels and correctly encoded you should be able to insert them on Captivate slides without any issue.

If Captivate refuses to accept the original MP4s then you can open AME on its own and try re-encoding them to be compatible format.

[mark-zajac]

Thank you for your reply.

You wrote: "You do not need to use FLV in Captivate."

I created the original projects some time ago.  At the time, I was using SWF and it seemed that conversion to FLV was required.  Perhaps that was not true.

You wrote: "If the MP4 videos at the correct height and width in pixels and correctly encoded you should be able to insert them on Captivate slides without any issue."

This is a good news / bad news situation.  The good news is that a solution exits.  The bad news is that I will need to go back a redo 81 projects to replace the FLV videos with the MP4 videos.  This will require "edit video timing" for each of the 81 projects.  It took a many, many hours to create the originals.   I am not looking forward to the redo.

It is a bummer that "export as HTML5" does not work without major reconstruction of my projects.

It's not your fault.  Thanks for your help.

[:-)] Mark

[RodWard]

I appreciate that it's not the answer you were looking for, but I think if you go back to the original MP4s and work from there at the end of the day you will get far better content quality.  If you have all of those MP4s in a single folder and work out (through experimentation) exactly what the settings need to be in AEM then you may find that they can be processed fairly quickly in batches.

[RodWard]

One more thing.  The reason Captivate used FLVs previously is that a long time ago the FLVs could be encapsulated within SWFs.  But for several versions now all videos must be external to the SWF.  Since even SWF is now being abandoned, the entire case for FLVs has pretty much collapsed (even though it was a great format in my opinion).  Almost everything intended for video over the web nowadays will be based on the MP4 format.

[Lilybiri]

FLV did support transparency, MP4 not. Moreover file size was much smaller.... but that was in the good old times of SWF....

[mark-zajac]

You wrote: "If you have all of those MP4s in a single folder... you may find that they can be processed fairly quickly in batches."

I fear not.  Each of the original videos shows two or three experiments, with a pause after each experiment to ask the viewer a question.  In my captivate projects, each video spans several slides.  The slides that correspond to experiments synchronize with long sections of a video.  The slides that correspond to questions synchronize with short sections of video.  This involves "Edit Video Timing" in the "Style" section of the "Properties" tab for each video.

I followed your suggestion and got the original MP4 into one of my Captivate presentations, as an experiment.  I have now discovered that the video does not pause when entering a new slide -- I had an action set to do this when the slide loaded.  I will start a separate discussion for this issue if I decide to go forward and need help with that.

I had hoped that migration to HTML5 would not involve recreating my project from scratch.  I see now that major debugging of multiple issues will be required.  It took me almost four months to create my original captivate projects in SWF format.  I'm not sure that I have another four months.

[:-)] Mark

[RodWard]

I doubt that you'd need to recreate your project from scratch.  But there will definitely be some debugging and modification required.  In my experience that is always the case when migrating from SWF to HTML5.  The two outputs are VERY different.

The design of your particular courses with such heavy reliance on video files is also going to make your job harder.  Spreading videos across multiple slides, and wanting them to pause on each slide, though possible with Captivate, is also going to add more opportunity for issues to surface when you have to change the video files themselves.  Timing is bound to be out of synch in places.

Sorry that things are not working out to be as simple as you hoped, but there was a politician here in Australia many years ago who became famous for saying: "Life wasn't meant to be easy."  That was about the ONLY thing he got right.

[mark-zajac]

You wrote: "The design of your particular courses with such heavy reliance on video files is also going to make your job harder."

I was given the videos and asked to make them interactive.  The original videos pose rhetorical questions like "What do you think happens next?"  The videos were begging for viewer feedback.  Converting the rhetorical questions into actual questions with a Captivate overlay was a pedagogically sound idea.

You wrote: "Spreading videos across multiple slides, and... pause on each slide... possible with Captivate..."

This works perfectly in my original SWF implementation.  Students have given the videos positive feedback for several years.  I would be less frustrated if it had never worked.

At this point I am just wasting your time with my moaning.  Feel free to have the last word but I am ending my posts to this thread now.

Thank you.

[:-)] Mark

[mark-zajac · Accepted solution]

In brief, there is no simple answer.  A project that exports perfectly from Captivate to SWF format may develop multiple issues when exporting to HTML5 format, even if previewing the project in Captivate reveals no problems.  This thread provides some helpful though potentially labor-intensive work-arounds.

[:-)] Mark

[Lilybiri]

I didn't answer anymore since Rod took over.  CP2019 improved the workflow to create interactive video's a lot, without the syncrronizing issues that existed in older workflows.  I have also created interactive videos to be published to SWF. Problem may be that you want to stay with the old workflow you are used to for SWF. There wa snot a reaction to my proposition for interactive video in my first answer.

Just for the sake of other users watching this thread, here is a link to an example of an interactive video, in this case based on a Video Demo mp4:

Custom Play/Pause button

One video slide with overlay slides which can have all interactivity you want, and there is a Knowledge Check slide as well.

[mark-zajac]

You wrote: "Problem may be that you want to stay with the old workflow you are used to for SWF."

I am happy to adopt a new, more modern work-flow for future projects.  I will certainly take your advice for future projects.  My problem is that I have 81 existing projects that work perfectly when exported in SWF format.  I was hoping that exporting the projects to HTML5 would be possible without fundamentally redesigning all 81 projects.  I was hoping to leverage the many hours of work that were already invested, rather than starting again, with a new approach.

You wrote: "There was not a reaction to my proposition for interactive video in my first answer."

It may be that I misunderstood your suggestion about editing the videos.  In my current projects I have added buttons to the videos that accept feedback from viewers, to make the videos interactive.  The feedback from those buttons is reported to my LMS when the SWF presentation terminates.  Are you suggesting that video editing software can give me that sort of interactivity?  I would be surprised if this is so.

You wrote: "CP2019 improved the workflow to create interactive video's a lot, without the syncrronizing issues that existed in older workflows."

I am a teacher.  I have a limited budget.  My initial purchase of Captivate 9 was a major investment for me.  Upgrading to a new version or -- your other suggestion -- some sort of video editing software may be expenses that I can't afford.  Even with an upgrade, I will still need to redo my original 81 projects.  Those took about four months the first time.

[:-)] Mark

[RodWard]

You still seem to be (as you put it) "moaning" about the fact that this isn't working out to be as easy as you would have liked.

You were also correct in saying: "...there is no simple answer.  A project that exports perfectly from Captivate to SWF format may develop multiple issues when exporting to HTML5 format, even if previewing the project in Captivate reveals no problems."

We can't change how Captivate output works, which version you originally purchased, how you designed your courses to work, nor what budget you happen to have for the upgrade process.

I'm not sure what else you expect from us here. 

[mark-zajac]

I had promised you the last word but I would like to apologize if I seemed ungrateful for your advice.  With my initial post, I was checking to see if I had overlooked a simple solution to my problem -- perhaps I had the wrong export setting, or something like that.  I have learned, instead, that the answer is not so simple, which is useful information.  Thank you for your time, expertise and patience.

[:-)] Mark