Using zoom tool across several slides

[Guest]

I have a software simulation animation which spans several different slides which includes mouse movement and entering text into login fields. I want to zoom in on that section to show this to the user. I'm attempting to create the zoom area so when I upload to YouTube - that area is enlarged in the constrained area of YouTube. The problem is - when the Captivate goes from slide to slide, the zoom area displays the 'zoom' effect again. Is there a way to have it only enlarge, or zoom, on the first screen and then remain the same enlarged size on the remaining screens without actually performing the zoom effect?

Thanks,
GMAN

[Captiv8r]

Hi GMAN

You should be able to do it this way. Create a single image at the zoomed in size you want. Then use the zoom tool on the first slide and instead of surrounding the area to zoom and using that, click the 'Select Image' button and point at your larger image. It should zoom as you want, then simply insert the image as a static image object on the following slides where you want the zoom to remain. On these slides, you wouldn't have a zoom area. Just the enlarged image.

Hopefully something here was helpful... Rick

[Guest]

Rick,

Sorry - I'm not quite sure I understand. On slide 1, I have the two boxes - the area I want to zoom in on and a second box displaying that actually displays the enlarged, zoomed area. Are you suggesting I take a screenshot of the second box (displaying the enlarged, zoomed image) and paste in on the second slide? Not sure what that would accomplish. Also - it seems that I would have a static image on the second slide which wouldn't display the animation. And can you explain where I find the 'Select Image' button?

I must be missing something here. BTW - I'm using Captivate 3

Thanks,
GMAN

[Captiv8r]

Hi again GMAN

Okay, I'll take another stab at it. When you click Insert > Zoom Area, you get two areas on the slide. One area is placed over the area you would like to provide a close up view of. The other area presents the close up view. Sounds like you understand that part just fine.

If you double-click the area that presents the close up view, you have a button allowing you to choose an image to "zoom up" as opposed to simply magnifying part of the slide. So if you took a screen capture of the larger image (the magnified part) you would use the zoom area tool to make the image appear to provide a close up. But you would only want this on one slide. For the next slide, you would simply want to present the close up view of the image with no zooming action occurring.

Now I see you mentioning displaying an animation. If this is the case, I don't believe the zoom tool will help. There is no way I'm aware of to zoom up and magnify an area, then keep it magnified on two or three slides. Hmmm, in typing that, I'm wondering if you could just copy and paste the zoom area, then change the zoom duration to be really super short. Maybe that will do what you want. Perhaps give it a try and let us know how that's workin for ya.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Hi GMG_55,
It sounds to me like you should not be using a zoom area. Zoom areas are static as you said, so if you wanted the entire YouTube window to be filled by a zoom area for multiple slides all the viewer would see is that static picture. Perhaps you should record that area seperately (basically zoomed before recording) and import it into your current proejct. I could be completely wrong, but its worth asking.
Peter

[Guest]

Thanks to both of your for your comments and suggestions. While you were supplying your info, I was performing a few tests. I did finally manage to see the 'Select Image' button, BTW on the properties dialog box for the zoom area.

So - basically, I created a very short animation project of the login process which was basically 6 slides. After publishing the piece without borders or playback controls I inserted the short piece on a static slide using Insert > Animation. I perfectly aligned the animation over the static slide and then used to zoom tool to zoom the animation to approximately double its size. I've also set it up so the animation begins AFTER the zoom has completed. When the animation completes - I fade out the zoomed animation and the presentation continues to the next zoom.

I've had to rethink my entire project to work with YouTube and now have lots more work to do. It's unfortunate that Captivate doesn't have an option to (1) keep the zoom window open during an animation and (2) provide an option to reverse the zoom without having to jump through hoops!

GMAN

[Captiv8r]

Hi GMAN

Reversing a zoom is fairly straightforward.

You (and others) should probably alert the development team that more flexibility is needed for this object. One thing I can think of is the "Reset to original size" option. Totally missing from the zoom feature.

Have you explored the Rollover Slidelet?

Click here to visit the Wish Form.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Yes, I have. I submitted my zoom tool enhancement request. I added the option to reset its size as well (or zoom out). Haven't played around that much with the Rollover Slidelet - but will check it out.

Thanks again for your help.

GMAN

[JasonDEden]

I think I may have a workflow, related to what Rick described above, but possibly a little easier (or repeatable).

1) Record your project in a standard screen size, either 800x600 or 1024x768.

2) Save two copies of your project. On one, append "-original" to the name. On the other, append "-zoom".

3) On the "-zoom" version of the project, delete any slides you do not intend to zoom in on.

4) Resize the "-zoom" version and crop to 640x480 or smaller (but make sure you keep the dimensions proportional), cutting out everything except the zoomed area. To keep the mouse roughly proportionately sized between zoomed and unzoomed slides, I recommend doubling the mouse size in any zoomed slide.

5) Save another version of the "-original" file, this time appending the name with "-small". Resize the entire project, but this time choose the Rescale option instead of Crop.

6) Import the slides you originally deleted from "-zoom" back into the project from the "-small" file. You may need to resize your captions. You may also need to decide between having the zoom appear with a fade-in, or if you want to show the zoom happening (which will mean choosing the unzoomed version of the first slide in the zoom sequence and adding a zoom object to it). Your call.

7) I recommend using a fade transition for unzoomimg slides.

If you have multiple zooms, that's fine, but you have to decide up front what your zoom resolution will be and stick with that. I think this is a lot easier than managing multiple animations in a project.

Thoughts?

Jason

By the way, if anyone wants to see a sample of what this might look like, I put one up for review:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu3-b8_4gno

I didn't spend a lot of time on this, so it could be more polished, but you can at least get the idea of what the output might look like on YouTube.