Is Captivate the right tool to create info-graphic videos?

I need to create a short video explanation of how a data management software organizes information. This shouldnt be too difficult, but I want to visually emphasize the point with colored shapes (that represent data) and moving objects (to show how they go from unorganized to organized.) Thins would just require a lot of animation on my part, but I think it should work.
the project will be published as a SWF on the internet and I am using Captivate 5.
This seems like it will work, but I'll probably have at least 30+ objects on a slide, maybe more. Do you think that this can be done in captivate to good effect? If not, do you have any reccommendations of other software?
Thanks in advance,
Joe

All depends on your Captivate and/or Flash skills
It is not always really necessary to have all objects on one slide...
Lilybiri

Similar Messages

Creating simple slideshows - is Catalyst the right tool?

I am a photographer and I want to create a slideshow of 100 images or so to promote my business. I was doing this with iDVD and it's simple - but doesn't support HD and has no provisions for a "Ken Burns Effect". I've used iPhoto and it does everything I need, but can't really burn a disk of the slideshow that works on PCs or Macs (that I know of). I am fairly proficient in Photoshop.
Here's my needs:
- drop in a series of photos
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- a simple transition between slides (could be just a fade)
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- automatically fit the slide duration to a mix of music
- burn a disk of that slideshow in HD (1080p or 720) give it to potential clients - they should be able to pop it into their Mac or PC and be able to play the slideshow just as I created it.
So is this something I can do easily with Catalyst? Is there a tutorial specific for this kind of need? Is there a better app for this kind of thing?

Robert-
If you are looking to create DVD that is viewable on a TV or something that is viewable on a computer? Either way, Flash Catalyst is not the right tool. It might be part of an overall solution, but it might get very messy to develop. I would take a look at what Lightroom might offer, or try asking in a photography forum. They might know a tool that might fit your needs.
Chris

I need to know the right tools and java technology

Please help,I need to know the right tools and java technology to support what I need.
I had background programming in Assembly,C++,Visual Basic,SAP/ABAP 4.
All I can say, programming is about logic, now we are very helped building program using objects.
I'm very interest to SAP tech, where all screens, programs, reports are resides on tables, this is the real dynamic!
CUrrently I'm eager to do the same technic with java. I'm new to java....
What I know the J2EE is the core for me to start is it right? I was very interest with the Client-Server Tech. How can I impelemet this with Java?
I'm a bit confuse with so many java solutions. There is Java Applets, Swing, Java AWT, JavaBeans, etc...
I don't know what is the best if I want my Presentation/Client Application will run within browser (not standard html, using like windows gui). What should I do to make business logic objects, how to invoke it within the gui. how to make installation package whenever clients connect to the http server.
if you have a pointer to do it please let me know.... I'm very appreciate all your response...
Best regards,
Lucky Pangemanan

I'd say - don't get carried away with the heavyweight frameworks. Don't use EJB if Hibernate and/or Tomcat will do the job. There's a danger of winding up using a bulldozer to crack a wallnut.
What people mean by "J2EE" varies a fair bit.
Start with Tomcat, which has the virtue of being free. Try some JSPs and servlets.
Use Applets to do client side presentation only if you must; Applets create an installation overhead on end-users, and some of them can't cope, while others may not have the necessary installation permissions on their office machines. They are pretty rarely needed, IMNSHO, most client-side behaviour is better handled with html and JavaScript.

Is Dreamweaver the best tool for creating a review site with user ratings/reviews? CMS?

Hello everyone,
I am really wanting to develop an online gaming review website and have some Dreamweaver/Wordpress/CMS questions i am hoping you can all help me with, thank you in advance for your patience as i am new to site development.
I am thinking of creating a review site which will involve me writing about 100 online gaming reviews, and then getting users to upload their comments/feedback, etc. Each of the reviews would be updated monthly with stats, performance, and other details. Each review would contain a text review, video review, and various images and screenshots. Integrating user-generated content will be a big factor.
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Please see below for some questions running through my head:
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2. Should i use Wordpress instead? ...or a combination of Wordpress and Dreamweaver? - why should i use a combination of the two?
3. SEO is a major factor - does that make a difference?
4. My reviews will need to be updated monthly, so i will try to maximize the use of templates, etc. Do i need to create a dynamic site in Dreamweaver or will a CMS manage that?
5. Which options are best to avoid as much as manual coding as possible
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Thank you,
Harps

Short answer: You don't need Dreamweaver. Simply install WordPress on your server and use it to build your site & add/edit content.
Star Ratings plug-in for WordPress
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gd-star-rating/
WordPress Theme with Review Engine
http://www.dailywp.com/review-engine-theme/
Nancy O.

How do I turn off the curvature tool in CC, I chose the selection tool to create a box and the middle selector that allows you to adjust the size has disappeared?

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You should post questions about using applications in the specific application's forum(s).
Here is a link to a page that has links to all Adobe forums...
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https://forums.adobe.com/welcome

SUBINACL - the right tool for the job?

Here is the scenario:
DomainA and DomainB
Full Trust both ways
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Hi,
Sorry for the delay reply.
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Powershell command to remove SIDHistory.
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How To Remove SID History With PowerShell
http://blogs.technet.com/b/ashleymcglone/archive/2011/11/23/how-to-remove-sid-history-with-powershell.aspx
Before we do this, please backup the system state to making any important change to avoid any risk. After clearing the SID history, please try to run the subinacl command to check if it
works.
Regards.
Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help. If you have feedback for TechNet Support, contact [email protected]

Process triggered by file upload - is GP the right tool?

Hello All,
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Yossi

Yossin,
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Adobe AIR for Video Wall project - the right tool?

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Is SSAS the right tool to replace SAS Enterprise Guide?

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Enterprise Guide?
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To name a few of these statistical analysis,
Under Describe, there are Distribution Analysis; One-Way Frequencies; and Table Analysis;
Under ANOVA: t Test; One-way ANOVA; Nonparametric One-way ANOVA; linear Models; Mixed Models.
Under Regression: Linear; Nonlinear; Logistic and Generalized Linear.
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Hi Hommer,
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High Performance.
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Reference:Analysis Services Features and Tasks
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Charlie Liao
TechNet Community Support

Creator the right tool for applets?

Hi.
beeing new to Sun's Java Studio Creator I would like some opinions whether the Creator is the tool to use if use cases mainly focus on applets that get their data via WebServices.
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Hi.
beeing new to Sun's Java Studio Creator I would like
some opinions whether the Creator is the tool to use
if use cases mainly focus on applets that get their
data via WebServices.
I just don't know if Creator is the right tool for
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Hi.
I'm in doubt deciding which might be the right tool to use to migrate forms modules from 6i to 10g.
The obvious choice seems to be Forms Migration Assistant. However I found Metalink Note: 201344.1 which clearly states :
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Hi,
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I have a contest with my city and I need to put music in my video. The problem is that I have to have rights to the music. When I buy iTune's music, do I have the rights to put it in my videos ? ?

From the 'File' menu, select 'Add folder to library'.
Browse to select your external hard drive (or the sub folder(s) within it that contain your music files). This should place all the tracks that are on your hard drive into your iTunes library. The tracks stay in their original location on your external hard drive, by adding the folder to your iTunes library you're just letting iTunes where they're located.
Then, just plug your iPod in and sync it.
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Is Captivate 4 the right tool for my purposes?

This posting should not be misunderstood as bad mouthing Captivate 4. For the most part, I really appreciate Adobe products and have invested a significant amount of personal money into many Adobe products over the years.
My current role involves designing a course curriculum using Adobe Captivate 4 and Adobe Connect Pro. Unfortunately, I am becoming increasingly concerned that I may be using the wrong tool, at least, in regards to developing all parts of a lesson. Perhaps my workflow will improve if I develop the front facing portion of my lessons with Lectora, and use Captivate solely for creating software simulations?
Because I have already spent a lot of time building my first lessons, and I have a subscription to Adobe Connect Pro, I would rather solve the issues I listed, rather than start over.
My question is... are my issues based on my lack of knowledge with Captivate 4, or am I experiencing real issues with this product? If it is my lack of knowledge, please tell me how to solve my issues.
At this point, I would like to give kudos to Rick Stone (known as Captiv8r) for all his help as a hired consultant. I highly recommend his services. Without him, I probably would not have gone as far as I have with Captivate.
Please correct or comment on the followin…
Minor annoyances
-    Too easy to accidentally move objects. Double clicking on a small graphic or a text caption can easily cause it to move or change size slightly. No way to lock their position only (e.g. lock text position but still allow editing).
-    Text caption boxes mysterious maximize (vertically) from time to time.
-    Grouping of objects is not possible.
-    Previewing “From this slide – F8” does not take into account (or initialize) persistent graphics (or otherwise) on the first slide or template; this results in missing objects when doing a quick preview.
-    Item names/variables are unwieldy. I have a number of graphics which I re-use throughout a lesson. I want to give each of them common names, such as ico_jobaid, img_core_splash, etc. Unfortunately, I cannot use identical names throughout a lesson. Each page requires a unique name for every object. This results in an item name like ico_interactive.png (as it is named in the library), appearing as TImageItem681 and TImageItem680 (copied twice) on a slide.
This is common for every object and makes it difficult to control objects.
Major issues
-    Occasionally I insert a graphics that can’t be made visible.
-    .cp file size seems to continuously increase in size, despite removing unused resources.
-    Text bullet issues (ending bullets occasional show up as a larger size)
-    Roll-over slidlets do not work as intended in AS3 mode. I must preview or publish in AS2.
-    Recording Software Simulations!
Captivate 4 allows recording of simulations in up to four modes (Demonstration, Training, Assessment, and Custom). Unfortunately, it appears to record these simulations are separate and distinct recordings. This is a problem because call-outs and other edits must be repeated for each simulation. Other simulation tools record once and can be edited once for passive and/or interactive viewing.
-    Buttons! Multiple buttons/text captions on a slide.
If I want to place multiple buttons on a slide, I must follow these steps to make these buttons/captions work properly. This is an unreasonable amount of work in order to use buttons on a single slide.
Step 1 - Determine the frame value. Note: It seems that if the frame value is not included, the lesson will move to the next slide, after clicking one button. Another caveat is that adding or removing slides may change the correct frame value.
1. Click Insert from the top menu,
2. Select Standard Objects,
3. Select Text Caption,
4. Click the Insert Variable button,
5. Select System from the Variable Type pull-down menu,
6. Select rdinfoCurrentFrame from the Variables pull-down menu.
7. Position the text caption appropriately on the screen. You may need an appropriate pause inserted in order to see the value.
8. Click Preview and select Project from the pull-down menu (or Click F4),
9. Step through slide show to the slide where rdinfoCurrentFrame text variable was inserted and record the displayed value.
Step 2 – Insert Button control
1. Click Insert from the top menu,
2. Select Standard Objects,
3. Select Button,
4. Choose appropriate button and button options (skipping steps),
5. Click Ok,
6. Position button appropriately.
Step 3 – Setting up advanced actions.
1. Click Project from top menu,
2. Select Actions,
3. Click the Advanced Actions tab,
4. Click the Edit / Create Action Pull down menu and select Create a New Action…,
5. In the new action name: text box, type action name (i.e. but_core_console),
6. Double click twice on Add Statement (sometimes it doesn’t behave as it should),
    – this feature seems error prone.
7. Double click twice on Statement (in red),
8. Select Standard Action from pull-down list,
9. Select Show from pull-down list,
10. Select object name (text caption) you wish to show,
11. Repeat (if necessary),
12. Select hide and the element name you wish to hide and repeat as necessary,
13. Double click twice on Add Statement (sometimes it doesn’t behave as it should)
– this feature seems error prone.
14. Double click twice on Statement (in red),
15. As the last step, select Assignment from pull down list,
16. Select rdcmndGotoFrame from pull down list,
17. Select Value from pull-down list,
18. Enter the frame value (as determined Step 1),
19. Click Save.
For the next buttons,
1. Click the Duplicate button,
2. Edit the New action name: name appropriately,
3. Edit the information in the Advanced actions for the this action. (skipping steps)
4. Click Save.
Repeat as necessary!
Configuring buttons
1. Double click on first button,
2. In the section, “If the user clicks on the button”,
    click on “On success” pull-down menu and select, “Execute advanced action”.
3. Click the Action pull-down menu and select the appropriate named action.
Repeat as necessary.
-    Building buttons for several slides will create a large number of advance actions. Even though these advanced actions are only applicable to a single slide, they are viewable from any slide in a lesson. The number of actions (or advanced actions) quickly adds up in a complex lesson.
-    Cannot find a way to edit the default look (object positioning/object sizes) of a quiz. The only attribute that seems changeable is the font size.
Lock ups and crashes
-    Double clicking on a .cp file will often result in Captivate freezing at the start up screen.
-    Captivate crashes and sometimes predictably, especially where animations are inserted.
I am using both a Windows 7 64 bit and a Windows Vista 32 bit OS. I have tried the following options with seemingly no difference: RUN AS Admin, XP Compatibility mode
Examples from Windows Applications log:
The program AdobeCaptivate.exe version 4.0.1.1658 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Problem Reports and Solutions control panel. Process ID: 16f0 Start Time: 01ca623e805d8f30 Termination Time: 81
The program AdobeCaptivate.exe version 4.0.1.1658 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Problem Reports and Solutions control panel. Process ID: 1654 Start Time: 01ca622b67764380 Termination Time: 70

The only one that can answer that question is yourself ;o)
I wrote my comments and suggestions with red text here. My company uses Captivate to develop courses and so far we have been very happy with Captivate. Earlier we used Flash to develop courses, but the development time was very long so Captivate has allowed us to speed up the development process with 2-300%. We still use Flash quite a lot to build interactions etc. and import these into Captivate to add extra features.
We did look at a variety of tools when we wanted to find an alternative to Flash but at that time (we started with Captivate 2) we found that the best option was indeed Captivate. I regularly check up on competing products and there are some interesting alternatives available now but they are not as advanced as Captivate imho.
When that is said. Captivate is (and has always been) full of weird bugs and things that aren't working properly. This is extremely annoying but we have learned to work our way around most of them. It also seems that the stability of Captivate varies greatly from installation to installation. We are 8 people in my department all working with Captivate. Our computers are all the same and the OS is a corporate standard. Despite this some people here have some weird problems with Captivate that I never experience. I can't explain why it happens (and neither can they) but it could be the installation or it could be the way people work. An example is "missing/corrupt" Captivate files. We have always been working directly on a network drive. This is something that is often recommended against doing because it can cause corrupt Captivate files. The interesting thing is that I have never once experienced a corrupt Captivate file even though i have opened, worked on and saved many thousands of them from/to our network drive. One of my colleagues had around 20 occurences of corrupt Captivate files in the same timespan and from the same network drive.
The biggest problem in Captivate is the quiz module in my opinion. The quiz module is probably the most important when we talk about E-learning development tools and that is where Captivate is the weakest. You can't really customize your quizzes, there isn't enough different question types and interaction types, you can't use video but worst of all - it is unstable and buggy. Users can get stuck in a quiz without being able to move forward or backwars, the review quiz is buggy etc.
One thing I often see with Captivate developers is that they try and do everything in Captivate. While most things are possible to do in Captivate then it might no be the best solution. Some things can be created in Flash and imported into Captivate saving you tons of time and grief and in the end give you a much better end-product. I know that everyone doesn't have access to a Flash programmer, but then you can buy your way out of the problem.
If you are looking for a tool where you can have full control of everything in your courses then the only real solution is Adobe Flash. This will allow you to build the courses exactly as you please but it comes at a big price. It gets way more complex to create courses, which results in longer development times and updating your existing course becomes much more difficult and time consuming.
Minor annoyances
-    Too easy to accidentally move objects. Double clicking on a small graphic or a text caption can easily cause it to move or change size slightly. No way to lock their position only (e.g. lock text position but still allow editing).
Doesn't really bother me but I guess it's different from person to person. You could just click on the object in the timeline instead to avoid moving the object.
-    Text caption boxes mysterious maximize (vertically) from time to time.
I never experienced that.
-    Grouping of objects is not possible.
I agree that this could be handy on slides with many objects.
-    Previewing “From this slide – F8” does not take into account (or initialize) persistent graphics (or otherwise) on the first slide or template; this results in missing objects when doing a quick preview.
Yes but if Captivate was to take into account everything that happened earlier than previewing from this slide you might as well click preview project (F4).
-    Item names/variables are unwieldy. I have a number of graphics which I re-use throughout a lesson. I want to give each of them common names, such as ico_jobaid, img_core_splash, etc. Unfortunately, I cannot use identical names throughout a lesson. Each page requires a unique name for every object. This results in an item name like ico_interactive.png (as it is named in the library), appearing as TImageItem681 and TImageItem680 (copied twice) on a slide.
I think this is the same in any application.. The whole idea of naming objects is that they have a unique name to be identified and manipulate later. I do however agree that the default naming in Captivate sucks. If the resource is named ico_interactive.png in the library, then Captivate should name it slide1_ico_interactive.png as the object name. It would make it easier and quicker to identify the correct resources.
Major issues
-    Occasionally I insert a graphics that can’t be made visible.
I never experienced that with properly configured graphics. Sure you can have problems if you insert a CMYK image or a 300 dpi image, but if you use RGB 72dpi images then it works fine. (at least it always have for me).
-    .cp file size seems to continuously increase in size, despite removing unused resources.
True but I never really experienced this as a problem. In Captivate 3 it could really get out of hand, but in CP4 it's much better. Alternatively create a blank Captivate file with the same dimensions and copy/paste your slides into that. (Don't know how it will behave with all your advanced actions though).
-    Text bullet issues (ending bullets occasional show up as a larger size)
It is because you have a different font size on the last line of the caption. Just do a CTRL-A to select all the text and select the proper font size. Alternatively adjust the default font and size to what you want in Captivate to avoid this in the future.
-    Roll-over slidlets do not work as intended in AS3 mode. I must preview or publish in AS2.
Didn't know that - you should probably report it as a bug if you haven't done so already.
-    Recording Software Simulations!
Captivate 4 allows recording of simulations in up to four modes (Demonstration, Training, Assessment, and Custom). Unfortunately, it appears to record these simulations are separate and distinct recordings. This is a problem because call-outs and other edits must be repeated for each simulation. Other simulation tools record once and can be edited once for passive and/or interactive viewing.
Agree - this is rather annoying.
-    Buttons! Multiple buttons/text captions on a slide.
From what I understand you have a whole bunch of buttons on a slide and then when the user clicks on one it shows some text / image? If that is the case then yes it will be a tedious process to build all this. I don't know if it would be easy in any other applications though (surely most of the other Rapid E-learning tools won't even be able to do it). Perhaps it would be better to rethink the way you build the course. Can't you use rollover captions / images instead?
Another alternative is to build these "interactions" in Flash and then import them into Captivate. Basically you would need to build a couple of different templates where you would be able to reuse the Flash framework and only change images/text in Flash and then importo it into Captivate.
-    Cannot find a way to edit the default look (object positioning/object sizes) of a quiz. The only attribute that seems changeable is the font size.
This is a major handicap in Captivate and one of the reasons why we don't use Captivate quizzes in our courses. We build all our course in Captivate (and add Flash and other interactions) but we always use a Flash Quiz. The Captivate quiz is simply too ugly and unstable. We deploy courses to 35.000 people worldwide so stability is our number one priority and sadly Captivate quizzes don't offer that at this point.
Lock ups and crashes
-    Double clicking on a .cp file will often result in Captivate freezing at the start up screen.
I never had that problem. I use Win XP, Vista 64-bit and Win7 64-bit.
-    Captivate crashes and sometimes predictably, especially where animations are inserted.
I am using both a Windows 7 64 bit and a Windows Vista 32 bit OS. I have tried the following options with seemingly no difference: RUN AS Admin, XP Compatibility mode
My regular development PC runs Windows XP Pro. I never have any problems here. On Vista 64-bit I have a ton of problems, but Captivate didn't crash or lock up - it simply didn't perform the actions I wanted it to do. So far on Windows 7 I haven't encountered any crashes or problems. However there is no doubt that Captivate 4 was designed with Win XP in mind and Vista and Win7 are not native platforms for it.
/Michael
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