Video on Top of Image

Question

Before I ask 'how' I'll ask if this is possible within
Captivate (hopefully I can explain what I want to do).
I would like to display a static image (e.g. a screen shot of
one of our agent tools) and then, from the side, have a video file
showing a person as if they are walking on screen (from off
screen). I don't want it to be a video 'box' but more like how a TV
Weatherman is superimposed over a map.
Does that make sense? So, is it possible to do with
Captivate? Do I need another Adobe program to make that happen?

Answer 1

> Rick, thanks for the quick reply. I just got off the
phone with Adobe
> sales
> and they recommended Adobe Presenter as something to fit
my needs.
>
> Do you (or anyone that wishes to offer insight) have any
comments
> regarding
> working with Presenter and incorporating .flv into
Captivate using it?
> Would
> you recommend another program?
>
> We would primarily be using our own personal camcorders
to record and need
> a
> program that allows for easy upload, editing,
transparent background
> capabilities, and works well with Captivate.
>
Since Presenter is not a video production tool, I think you
have been
misdirected.
Here's the nutshell version of what you need to do.
1, Record the video - or source some from somewhere ;-)
2, But actually, you need to prepare first - you've heard of
Green Screen,
right? You need to be able to record your walk-on video
against a
solid-coloured background, typically a screen that is green,
but you can use
blue or whatever too.
3, Once the video is recorded, you need to bring it into a
video editing
tool so that you can remove the green background and make the
video
background transparent. Two tools from Adobe that you can use
to do this are
Premier and After Effects. They are both video editing tools
- Premier is
good for all your editing needs, AE is more targeted at
adding special
affects and is actually more powerful in this regard than
Premier, but not
so well suited for editing large videos.
4, You can then export the video in a format that retains
transparency
information and is compatible with Adobe Flash. The process
of converting
the video (say, AVI) to a Flash Video file is trivial, and it
will result i
a transparent video image that can be imported straight into
Captivate.
The above steps are relatively trivial to anyone who has
worked on this sort
of thing, but it can feel like a mountainous task if you are
trying to take
on the entire task yourself. It might be cheaper and easier
for you to
source a local expert who can record/edit the video for you
and then hand
you a file on DVD that you can process with Flash and import
to Captivate.
You don't really *have* to use Adobe tools for your editing
as there are
many video editing options out there, but you do have to be
sure you are
using something that can do the do on your green screen
stuff. :-)
HTH
Steve
http://twitter.com/Stevehoward999
Adobe Community Expert: eLearning, Mobile and Devices
European eLearning Summit - EeLS
Adobe-sponsored eLearning conference.
http://www.elearningsummit.eu