Multiple Object Effects / Advanced Actions

Hi all,
I am trying to create an animation in Captivate that moves multiple times. I am having trouble with the effects that I am adding.
Basically, I have a line (signifying a balance bar) that I want to go either left or right when certain objects "Fall" on it. I was able to successfully add the "rotation" effects and space them out at different times. Each rotation takes less than half a second to complete.
However, as my project actually plays, the object seems to "anticipate" the next rotation. It compeltes the first adjustment but then you will see the object slooowwwllyy creeping in the direction of the next one - before that effect is even set to play.
After some quick reading I thought maybe this meant I needed to instead add object triggers. Problem is, I only see the action pane when I have the slide selected - nothing else (I am trying to add the effects to an image - I also tried recreating it with a shape in Captivate and still nothing) - AND, I can't figure out how I could "time" multiple actions through triggers anyway because as far as I understand, I could only select the effect to occur "on enter" - not at a specific time.
Can anyone help me figure out either how to stop the multiple timed effects from creeping up on each other, or how to get the advanced actions applied for this effect?
Thanks,
Chantelle

Hi Lilybiri,
No, I didn't grab that list. I didn't see that link in your post earlier.
Either way, the description in the list and the way you have explained it still don't clarify the behavior I was getting. It seems that, based off of my new understanding, the regular "rotate" should then make the object turn immediately (as in, one second it's flat, and then the next it's slanted - without showing the steps in between). However, I think you agree that when I was using the "rotate" effect, it did seem like it was doing a slow change instead of just changing the property. It wasn't obvious to anyone reading that it was just a matter of using the wrong effect, otherwise I would have expected that response earlier. So, it seems something still wasn't working correctly that I hope someone can better pinpoint and explain so we all have a better understanding.
Lesson learned I guess, but it would nice if Adobe also did a better job of documenting what the effects are supposed to do - straight from the source that created them. It's kind of crazy to me that someone had to make a table themselves attempting to explain these things.
Thanks to everyone for your time trying to help, and please do keep me updated on whether or not there is some kind of reasoning for the effect I was getting.

Similar Messages

Prompt user to select multiple objects within an action

Hi there,
In illustrator, is it possible to select multiple objects within an action or prompt the user to do so when needed ?
I know about the note trick but I am not quite happy with this one. I would like another solution if there is any.
Thanks !!

In order for a macro (Action) or script to select something, it has to have access to some criteria by which to target the object(s). Actions are much more limited in this regard than scripts, but there are some "hooks" you can employ.
For example, Actions will record the assignment of a Note in the Attributes palette. So if your Action at least starts with the object(s) of interest selected, you can take that opportunity to record the entry of a string in the Note field. Thereafter, if the object(s) become deselected, the Action (or another Action) can re-select them by means of the Select Object(s)... step. When manipulation of the target object(s) is done, you can record changing its note to nothing, to prevet its being seleced by the same Select Object(s)... step later.
JET

Cannot Edit Advanced Action (Captivate 5)

One of my projects has a conditional advanced action that Captivate will not let me edit. I can select its name in the "Existing Actions" drop-down list in the "Advanced Actions" window, but then neither the "Action Name" field nor the other fields in the window get populated with the values for that action.
I tried restarting Captivate in case that resolved the problem, but it did not.
Can anyone suggest a solution?

Hello,
About your point 1: do not even know what you are pointing at, never keep track of that kind of numbers (not an accountant) because I feel them being unimportant. I'm happy if I can help some users out with issues and do learn a lot myself by trying to solve problems.
Thanks for introducing a feature request. Of course I have done that multiple times concerning advanced actions. I also would like to have a search and replace function (for object ID's principally), to add comments, to print (not possible directly now) and to be able to construct a library with actions that can be opened like the external library of another project. Those are only a few of my long wish list.
I'm glad that my idea for re-using scripts with a template has at least one 'follower'. If you have time, would love to see your comment on that particular blog post, could be inspirational for other users. Here is the link:
Template for reusing scripts
Lieve

Apply multiple effects to multiple objects with single click box

I would like to click on a click box and have one object appear and another object disappear. I guess what I'd like to do is apply effects to multiple objects with a single click box. Is that possible?
Thank you.

Welcome to our community
Sure it can be done but you won't use effects to do it.
When you insert an object in Captivate, you have an option to enable or disable Visibility. You also have an option to name the object. So you would give the object a meaningful name and clear the Visibility option to "hide" it until needed.
Then you would create an Advanced Action that would hide some objects and show others.
After that, you would assign the Advanced Action to a Click Box or a Button or some other event.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Adobe Certified Captivate Training
SorcerStone Blog
Captivate eBooks

Can you open multiple files using an advanced action?

I have either Captivate 5.5 or Captivate 7 to work with. Currently my project is in 5.5.
I have a button that I want to open three PDF files. I created an advanced action, selecting Open a new file/URL and selected the file name. Currently they are set to open in a new window.
When I test the button, only one file opens.
If I set one to open in a new window and another to open in the top window, I lose the course but get two to open.
Is there a way for me to open each of these files in a new window using the same button?

You could do it by executing javascript:
in Captivate: open_win()
add this to the head section of your html page that loads the captivate object:
<script type="text/javascript">
function open_win()
     var url1 =" http://www.google.com";
     var url2 =" http://www.yahoo.com";
     var url3 =" http://www.bing.com";
     window.open(url1);
     window.open(url2);
     window.open(url3);
</script>

An you tell me how to add an advanced action to the TEB so you can check for multiple lines of input

an you tell me how to add an advanced action to the TEB so you can check for multiple lines of input? How do you add the advanced action?

Can you elaborate your requirement?
If you want to have a text wrapped around and enable a scroller for the same, you can achieve it by TEB properties and check the scroll bar option,
Is this what you are looking to achieve?
Thanks,
Anjaneai

Add advanced action to submit button and setting different objectives score for the same course

Hi, i would like to increase a counter in a quiz slide when the user press the submit button, using advanced actions.
It's like if the submit button is somehow inhibited from certain options, and i cannot find how to add an advanced action to it.
what i need, is to allow unlimited attempt until the user selects the right answer. each time the user click on submit, a counter increases by one. When user finally select the right answer, we read the counter value and assign a different score, depending on the attempt (for example: 1st attempt=20 points, 2nd attempt=10 points, 3rd attempt=0 points)
After that, i need to save all score obtained for a certain group of quiz slide separately from the "main score" (i think the main score is stored in cmi.objectives.0.score) to have partials scores for a course. I examined the "advanced interactions" panel and i noticed that for each quiz slide there is a specific interaction ID and each quiz slide is associated typically to the same Objective ID. What i need is to associate different groups of slides to different Objective ID's.
In Storyline i was able to do this by passing to the lms a cmi.objectives.n.score (where "n" is the place in the objectives array) and i did it by executing a javascript on success for each question slide. (each javascript added the score of previous slides in the same group to obtain the total score of the group to be passed to lms with a specific function).
examining captivate scorm functions in the published scormdriver.js i found the following function
function SCORM_SetObjectiveScore(strObjectiveID,intScore,intMaxScore,intMinScore)
so i think it can be done the same way in captivate executing javascript in the right way.
Is there also an easier solution to write different scores to different obectives in the same course?
many thanks for any help!

Have a look at:
Question Question Slides in Captivate - Captivate blog
Question Question Slides - Part 2 - Captivate blog
Indeed, Submit button is part of the Question slide, not a normal button. You can add a custom shape button, but it will never replace what happens when the Submit button is clicked: validation of the answer, showing captions, adding to score etc. Making the score depending on the attempt is not possible with default functionality, it is possible with custom question slides, but then the reporting to LMS is another issue. You should try to do it by JS, or if you only need SWF-output you could use the Master widget by InfoSemantics.
Link score to attempts in Custom questions - Captivate blog
Lilybiri

Modify effect speed activated by Advanced Action

Hello,
I created a motion path which I activate by advanced action on a button click. The movement is too slow and I would like to reduce the amount of time it takes to occur by half. I've opened the xml file hoping to locate numbers I could modify to increase the speed. Any suggestions? Following is the xml for the motion path.
I am working on a mac using Captivate 7.
thank you,
Nancy
<effect_sequence item_duration="3.0">
<effect name="RightToLeft-Ease" display_duration="2.0" appear_after="0.0" enabled="1">
<Motion xmlns="fl.motion.*" xmlns:geom="flash.geom.*" xmlns:filters="flash.filters.*" duration="60">
<source>
<Source frameRate="30" x="351.7" y="75.2" scaleX="1" scaleY="1" rotation="0" elementType="movie clip" instanceName="abc" symbolName="Symbol 1">
<dimensions>
<geom:Rectangle left="-97" top="-50" width="97" height="50">
</geom:Rectangle>
</dimensions>
<transformationPoint>
<geom:Point x="0.5030927835051546" y="0.506">
</geom:Point>
</transformationPoint>
</Source>
</source>
<effect_config effect_type="motion_path">
<config_item display_name="Ease:">
<effect_property type="number" property_value="EASE" default_value="0" valid_range="{{-100,100}}" decimal_places="0" modifiers="{offset:0,multiplier:0.01}" increment="1" value="0">
</effect_property>
</config_item>
</effect_config>
<Keyframe index="0" tweenSnap="true" tweenSync="true" x="0.00000000" y="0.00000000">
<tweens>
<SimpleEase ease="EASE">
</SimpleEase>
</tweens>
</Keyframe>
<Keyframe index="59" tweenSnap="true" tweenSync="true" x="-362.50000000" y="1.50000000">
</Keyframe>
</Motion>
</effect>
</effect_sequence>

How about this?
<Motion duration="61" xmlns="fl.motion.*" xmlns:geom="flash.geom.*" xmlns:filters="flash.filters.*">
          <source>
                    <Source frameRate="24" x="0" y="0" scaleX="1" scaleY="1" rotation="0" elementType="graphic" symbolName="Tween 1">
                              <dimensions>
                                        <geom:Rectangle left="-25.5" top="-16.5" width="51" height="33"/>
                              </dimensions>
                              <transformationPoint>
                                        <geom:Point x="0.5" y="0.5"/>
                              </transformationPoint>
                    </Source>
          </source>
          <Keyframe index="0" tweenSnap="true">
                    <tweens>
                              <SimpleEase ease="1"/>
                    </tweens>
          </Keyframe>
          <Keyframe index="30" x="-362" y="1.5" scaleX="1.1" scaleY="1.1"/>
          <Keyframe index="60" blank="true"/>
</Motion>

Can I have 2 different advanced actions on an object?

Hi there
I was hoping someone can help me with this, I have a slide acting as a menu with 4 pages on it. Once a page is clicked it would take the user to the corresponding slide for that choice. I was wondering if I could apply an effect to that 'page' before it takes me to the new slide.
For instance, I was thinking that once the 'page' is clicked that it would zoom in to that 'page' and then go to the correct slide.
I don't know if this can be done with an advanced action or adding javascript.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Julie

You could do it with Advanced Actions (but it does get a little messy).
Place a transparent button over each menu item. Have each button pause near the start of each slide.
Create a standard action as below (you will also need to create a variable for each menu item - mine is called Zoom1 in the example):
This will trigger the zoom (you will probably want zoom size to be 100% for the initial size, then whatever your final size needs to be).
Create an advanced action like the one below:
You can have an action for each menu item/button in the one advanced action using the tabs under the Name field. What you're doing is saying if the button for an item has been pressed, jump to the specified slide for that item. In the slide properties, set the advanced action to run on the slide exit.
You will need to play around with the size and timings to allow the zoom to reach the end point at, or just before, the end of the slide, otherwise it jumps to the new slide as it's zooming.
There may be easier ways to do it that others here may suggest, but that's my intial idea - hope it helps.

Click box - advanced actions - dims images

If I have a text box, by using advanced action on slide I hide it, then on a click box I want it to show - when the hidden text box reveals itself, the image dims. Why is that? What do I have set incorrectly?
thank you to anyone who can help!

Hello again
Indeed I thought I had explained that.
Each object such as an Image, Caption or whatever is generally equipped with a Fade In and Fade Out transition effect. These effects are typically half a second long. So if you pause the slide very near the end of the object display time, the pause is occurring as the transition is fading the object out of view. Thus the "dimming" occurs.
If you configure the object so no fade out occurs on the transition (Fade In only) then it doesn't matter if you pause near the end because it doesn't fade out of view. Likewise, if you adjust the timing so the Click Box pauses the slide before the transition begins to occur, the dimming won't happen either.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
Begin learning Captivate 5 moments from now! $29.95
Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Adobe Certified Captivate Training
SorcererStone Blog
Captivate eBooks

Can I use conditional and advanced actions on the same button?

I'm fairly new to Captivate, but come from a background of flash and am struggling to use Captivate to do some things I would have expected to be fairly simple and a normal requirement.
I want to create a screen with a number of interactive objects, in this case pictures, that the learner clicks on to display a piece of text.
On clicking the next picture the first piece of text is hidden and a second piece shown.
There are 6 pictures/buttons that need to work this way.
However I also want to assess whether all the buttons have been used, as we have to force the user to view the entire slide before they continue.
I can do the hide/show of text and buttons, and I've written a conditional action to check the variables for each button. However I don't know how/when to call this action.
I was hoping that in my advanced action for each button I could add in a call to the conditional 'check variables' action, which would nicely fulfil this requirement, however this doesn't seem to be the case.
I have also got animation/effects on the timeline before the images are on screen meaning I don't want to go back to the start of the timeline to use a 'on enter' event.
I'm surprised this isn't something more people need as although it may be frowned upon out in the e-learning field, disabled navigation is frankly not going away and working for any large corporation will be a must.
If anyone can shed some light on this, or maybe suggest a better approach then I would appreciate it.
Thanks.

Hi Lilybiri,
Thank you for this, I suspected that this was going to be the way I would have to progress.
I have to ask though, at present the company I work for uses a very straight forward off the shelf WYSIWYG elearning content designer.
One of the core template pages is a hotspot page, which works in the way I have explained at the top.
This is also one of the standard e-learning pages I have used in all my other positions, including when building in Flash.
It seems incredible to me that to do such a simple, commonly used, page type we will require what is a fairly involved process rather than this being one of the page types or templates.
I am currently trying to pilot Captivate to show how much better it is to the current product, however the other designers have no programming background and I think will stuggle with the conditional actions, meaning that this is pretty much going to be a no go which I'm gutted about...
I think I stand a chance of teaching advanced actions but anything beyond that is unlikely initially.
RodWard, thanks for your comments, I'm finding the actions ok in Captivate, as I say above I'm just amazed that this simple and commonly used page is so convoluted to create!
My other frustration is the lack of control of the events, not being able to specify x and y for motions etc. but I'm finding work arounds...
Is there a way to create my own page template? Could I write all the actions and bundle that into a page to provide the other designers so with some naming conventions they could use this functionality?
Thanks for your help.
Matt

How do i control my object effects when i use a button?

I want to use a button so when I click on it a square rises up from the bottom of my slide. What I'm finding is by the time I click the button to make the square visible its effect has already loaded with the slide so you don't get to see the squares effect working, how do i pause the effect of the square until I have pressed the button? Should I just make the button jump to a duplicate slide so the effect hasn't loaded if so this will be a pain when I have several buttons on the slide that I want to make objects move when i click them?

Hello,
Nothing to do with button becoming inactive, really, but with the way the Effects are scripted. Will try to answer your question about the buttons however.
I'll try to explain the functionality of a button. A button typically has a pausing point that is visible on the timeline, right? The portion before the pausing point is the 'active' portion, which will mean that the user can click on the button and this will have results. When you click on a button, the action attached as Success action is triggered, in this example the Text Caption is set to visible. But at the same time the playhead is released and moves beyond the pausing point into the Inactive portion, which means that it cannot be clicked again.
Two possible solutions:
use a rollover caption instead of your click/text captions work flow.
Create a small advanced action BtShow1 and BtShow2 for each of the buttons, again I have screenshots ready but they are not accepted, bummer.... Will try to write the statements:
Show Text_1      for the first button, shows the correct Caption
Hide Text_2       hides the other caption that could have been shown by the other button
Assign rdcmndGotoFrame with rdinfoCurrentFrame            this expression puts back the playhead directly before the pausing point so that button remains active
You can duplicate this action to create Btn2, and you only have to reverse the ID's of the Text Captions
When you attach those actions to the buttons, you can click as many times as you want. You tell that you have searched the forums? Bit strange because I have been explaining this so many times, and blogged about this kind of micro-navigation (frame by frame):
Micro-navigation in Adobe Captivate
Lilybiri
PS: when updating, I can insert one image, will try to add the other one, in a second update perhaps

One for all you advanced action gurus out there :)

Ok so here is what im wanting to achieve.... on a slide i have various click box's that pop up some more info.
I want a continue button to appear only after all the click box's have been viewed..
In the past i have been able to achieve this when the click box's on the page direct you to another slide for the information, this way i have an advanced action set up on my initial page 'on enter' to see when all have been viewed to then show the continue button.
In this instance its slightly different as i will never be 'entering' the slide again, i want to remain on the slide at all times?
Possible??? let me know your thoughts?
Thanks

This will certainly be an example use case for conditional action with multiple decisions in my 'cookbook' for variables and advanced actions that I'm preparing.
The only events you can use are the Success events for the click boxes (or other interactive objects) which means that for each of them you'll need a conditional action with a mimicked standard action and a real condition to check if every click box has been clicked. Have multiple examples on my blog post, and in threads here everywhere. You have to make one important choice:
Can each click box be clicked multiple times, or is it OK to deactivate it when it has been clicked - that is the easiest way, because you can then use one variable as a counter and check if it reaches the number of click boxes
Example: http://blog.lilybiri.com/blog-after-posterous-clickclick
If each click box should be always available, you need a variable for each click box to toggle and you'll have to check if all variables have been toggled
Example (old): http://blog.lilybiri.com/template-for-reusing-script
Have new templates for CP7 and CP6 but stopped offering everything for free. You can still have the 5.5 on request.
Lilybiri

Can advanced actions be applied to animations, images etc??

When messing around with Cap 4 last week, I was sure I saw a
function that would make it possible to apply an advanced action to
an image or animation. Now I simply can't find it and I am
questioning whether I saw it in the first place and that it was
possibly a dream of what I wanted Cap 4 to have.
Can anyone help me?????
Regards,
Ryan

Hi Ryan,
You can show / hide objects using the Show and Hide actions
that are part of the Standard Actions. Choose Project >
Actions.... When the Action Dialog appears click on the Advanced
Actions tab. Next, from the Edit / Create Actions menu choose
Create a new action... Now double-click on Add Statement, from the
menu that now appears, choose either Show or Hide and then select
the object you want to show or hide.
Once you have created and saved your Action. You could then
apply this to say a button.To do this you would simply create a new
button and from the on success Action menu of the button dialog,
you would select Execute advanced action and then select the action
you just created.
If you wanted to hide multiple objects. You could choose
Multiple Actions (from the on success) menu. Clicking the "..."
button will display the Set Advanced Actions dialog. Selecting say
Hide would then display all the objects on the current slide. From
this dialog you can then select each of the objects you want to
hide and then click the Add button. Clicking OK twice to dismiss
both the dialogs and then previewing the project will then enable
you to test out the hide functionality.
Actions are a fantastic addition to Adobe Captivate 4 and
although they might take a little getting used are definitely worth
preserving with.
Best - Mark

BUG: Advanced Actions duplicated when creating NEW PROJECTS FROM TEMPLATE using Adobe Captivate 8.

Need: CREATE NEW PROJECTS FROM TEMPLATE using Adobe Captivate 8.
Problem: NEW PROJECT (.cptx) duplicates the Advanced Actions originally configured within TEMPLATE FILE (.cpt.).
For example: Template file (.cptl) advanced action "_initializeModule" gets duplicated as "_initializeModule1", "_initializeModule2", "_initializeModule3" within NEW PROJECT. FYI, the original "_initializeModule" advanced action still appears.
MAJOR BUG, what the heck is going on?!?!!! Planning to deploy this template file to use for multiple courses with multiple users, this WILL cause epic confusion across the board.

Similar problem, think they are working on it as well: when dragging a shared action from an external library to a slide or object event, and that action is using a parameter that was already created for another shared action, there will be a new parameter created which really screws up the shared action contrary to this problem. Tip: for the moment do not drag shared actions from an external library immediately to an event, but drag them first to the Library: Reuse Shared Actions in other Projects - Captivate 7 vs. 8 - Captivate blog

Multiple Object Effects / Advanced Actions

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for