How large is too large to eliminate sycn issues

Question

I am new to Captivate and have downloaded the trial version
before I buy it. I have seen many online videos between 10 to 15
minutes lenth i.e., Lynda.com where the producer who created the
files looked to be doing it in full motion recording with narration
at the same time. I have created several projects all from 10 to 15
slides. After they were published the collection of .swf were
between 10 to 20 megs. When I upload them to a server, after half
way through captivate video, the audio and video become out of
sync. I did not recorder all 10 to 15 slides at once. I recorded
about 15 to 30 seconds at a time.
I called Adobe Customer service and the representative said
that my files size was too large, and that was the reason for the
sync issues. Is this common with only with Captivate and are there
better products to be using? The rep suggested that I export the
audio and put it in a program to decrease the file size and import
it back into the slide. I exported the audio and imported the mp3
back into the slide however the published version was still the
same size.
I saw another post where the person suggested recording the
video first and then returning to the slide to record the
voiceover. That seems like it would be more challenging to read a
script and match it to the activity i.e., opening windows, typing
data into fields etc. vs. doing it simultaneously. Is recording the
audio and motion simultaneously a waste of time. Do I have to
record audio at FM radio bit rate which sounds awful?
I have spent several hours and am very frustrated. If any one
could help, that would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi there,
Thank you for your kind words, please find answers to the
questions you posed below.
quote:
Thank you for your suggestions. When you say daisy chain, do
you mean daisy chain multiple projects or slides? The 30 day trial
version does not allow my to export to Flash 8. Doesexporting to
Flash 8 give an additional opportunity to decrease file size? You
have buttons to the right side of your Training presentation, were
those created in Captivate too?
By daisy-chaining I mean to load one SWF once the previous
one has finished, essentially this is what I am doing in the
example I included. In Adboe Captivate 3 you carry out the
following steps:
1. Choose Edit > Preferences
2. Choose Start and End
3. In Project End options and from the Action menu you choose
Open another project
4. In the text field enter the name of your SWF such as
file2.swf
5. Click OK.
The navigation you see in my example is custom built by one
of our engineers. Essentially we are just using a web page with
some javascript code. You can see the JS code used by simply
viewing the source code in your web browser.
quote:
Full motion and simultaneous narration just seems to be a
quicker solution and the Lynda.com videos can always be paused and
rewound if necessary. What software are the camtasia videos dropped
into to reduce file size and can the Captivate video use the same
software to get the same results?
In some cases full motion recording and voice over can be a
quicker solution. This is the approach I used to take when I worked
for VTC, I would record the voice over and screen action at the
same time. However and bearing in mind that most of the time I was
working with beta software, if the application I was creating
training for crashed then it would be easier to start over and
capture the whole thing again from scratch. Using Adobe Captivate
and capturing in either Audio Recording or Manual recording mode,
because Adobe Captivate only creates the backgrounds as static /
background images I can move the mouse points and adjust things
much more easier than I could with products such as Camtasia.
Personally I much prefer Adobe Captivate because it just
gives me a greater level of flexibility. You can read more about
this via the
Adobe
Case Study
quote:
Back to Flash 8, if a Captivate project were exported into
Flash 8, I assume all the buttons would work and that the
components are exported as well? If so, and I put a preloader on
Flash 8 project, would this eliminate the sync problem? Probably
not because the Captivate has a preloader and that doesn't help.
Exporting to Flash may not solve your problem. Adobe
Captivate does include a number of preloaders which you can find by
carrying out these steps...
1. Choose Edit > Preferences
2. Select the category Start and End
3. Check the option Loading screens
4. Click the "..." button and browse to select one of the
preloaders.
5. Click OK.
quote:
Well it looks like I have to take static images and do a
voice over with Captivate or use CAmtasia and figure out what other
software they use to do the full motion/narration type training
videos.
For effective full motion recording most people will use
Camtasia. Though there are other products such as Hypercam which
you might want to take a look at. If you need something on the Mac
platform then Snapz Pro is a great tool. Just remember that when
working with full motion you are capturing frame by frame and
making dramatic changes to screens (if required) can be a time
consuming process. Adobe Captivate makes this a heck of a lot
easier. To learn more about this take a look at the Captivate 1.01
article I wrote.
Retouching
Images in Demos and Simulations
Regards,
Mark