Visual artifacts in Captivate 6 .mp4 file

When I publish Captivate 6 simulations as .mp4 at 10 fps and view in Windows Media Player 12, I see visual artifacts, such as vertical black lines, rainbow colors, or holdovers of portions of the previous slide, even though everything looks fine in Preview. One co-worker doesn't see the visual artifacts on playback, another does, and we all have Windows Media Player 12. Publishing at a higher frame rate of 15 fps did not help. Any suggestions?

It's not so much a known error as just a fact of life that some things work better when you use them the way they were designed to work. If you publish a course for a SCORM LMS environment and then don't run it in a SCORM LMS environment, there are bound to be issues. Captivate content published for SCORM will be looking to communicate with a SCORM API. If it doesn't find one, it won't work properly.
Additionally, when testing content containing linked videos from your local hard drive, you need to remember that Flash Global Security can be an issue:
http://www.infosemantics.com.au/adobe-captivate-troubleshooting/how-to-set-up-flash-global -security

Similar Messages

Why does Captivate 6 create mp4 files that the swf does not playback clearly?

Captivate 5 created a .swf which suited my training purposes very nicely. There were swf files in the library, embedded in the (rather large) .swf that I asked the students to run. Now it seems that Captivate 6.0.1.240 won't do that. Captivate 6 creates external mp4 files for the video portion (audio is separately recorded mp3 that is imported to the finished demo video slide) and they look terrible when the .swf runs them. Those mp4 look fine on their own but the .swf must resize them to properly fit with the TOC on the screen.
The HTML created when I make the .swf looks fine but it does not all fit on the screen as does the .swf so I don't like it and don't want to use it. Thanks, in advance, for any replies and suggestions.

Hi llstewart,
I assume you are launching your program from C drive. Are any
components of Captivate stored on the remote drive? (I am thing
your user profile, are you the only person who accesses Captivate
from that machine?)
Does this happen all the time?
What I have noticed in my own network is that there are
periodic "dropped" connections on the network. I have never figured
out what it causing this, but Captivate does not like it. (Every
once in awhile if Word or Excel are writing to a file on a share,
they will become thoroughly corrupted too.)
The problem with Captivate is that it needs a lot of a
computer's resources and takes what it can get. It also seems to
write to a temp file a lot (while a capture is taking place) an
only "binds" it up when the user stops and ends the session. The
only thing I can think of is that during this process there is a
inturruption in your network.
Sorry I couldn't fully answer your question.
I would try (if you can) loading the software on a machine
that is not on the network and try to do a series of long captures
and see if the problem persists.
I work in a large network and I do not have the problem, but
I have also installed the software myself and made sure of the
installation. I also make sure the program I am recording is local
(whenever possible). Additionally, do you have problems with any
other programs and corrupted files?
Again, sorry I don't have a quick answer.
TPK

Can you insert mp4 files in Captivate 5?

Folks
I really need to use mp4 files in captivate 5 as the quality of these surpasses flv files. We do not have licences for Captivate 6 so can't use that. Any advice would help tremendously.
Roz Faulkner

Hello Roz,
Only way is to convert them as FLV and use them. Can you convert them to FLV using Adobe Media Encoder? That usually retains the quality, there are many presets as well that you can use.
Thanks,
Vish

Playing MP4 files in published Captivate 6.01

Help!! I have added an MP4 file (7MB) to a slide using Captivate 6 and it plays fine in preview mode but not when I publish the project. I checked to make sure that I have all of the updates for Captivate installed. I am not using a media server as this is a proof of concept for a potential client and I want to just hand them the zipped file to run. There seems to be a lot of issues around this topic. But, I can't seem to see a resolution to this issue.

Please remove the mp4 and re insert it.
Go to Edit > Preferences > Project > SWF Size and Quality, uncheck Advanced Project Compression and Compress SWF File.
Publish the project and select Flash Player version 10.
Extract the zip output, paste that mp4 in the folder (if not present in the folder) and then re compress it again.
Let me know the status
Thanks
Vikas

Adobe Captivate 6 - Publish withouth MP4 files?

I have problems in publishing projects which contain movies in the Video demo format.
When publishing in SWF format, MP4 files are generated for each Video Demo that I've inserted in the project. In this way I am not able to use the SWF file in "stand alone" mode, since the videos will not be displayed.
To avoid this problem I have to keep the MP4 files together with the SWF file, which is pretty annoying due to their size. Moreover this dosn't allow me to store the project on a SCORM plattform.
With the Version 5 I've never faced this problem. Can someone help me? I am publishing in the wrong way?
Otherwise would it be possible to open the project created with the version 6 in the version 5?
Many thanks for your support, Debora

Hi there,
Welcome to Adobe Community.
The feature of Video Demo that you are using was introduced in Captivate 6 and yes it creates the MP4 of the video demo. In earlier version the video demo used to be in a different way where it used to generate multiple slides and that option is still available in CP6. If you do not want an MP4 to get generated please choose the below option to create a demo:
Hope this helps!
Thanks!

Audio stuttering in generated MP4 file from Captivate 6

I'm using Captivate 6.0.1.240 on a Windows 7 machine. I opened a project that I created in Captivate 5.5 and published the project to an MP4 file. This project is straightforward: I captured video, imported audio into the captured file, and then edited the file so the video and audio match up.
The problem is that I get audio stuttering in the generated MP4 file. This problem doesn't occur when I preview the file within Captivate or when I generate an SWF file. I've implemented the potential solutions in this forum but so far nothing has worked. Since I'm viewing the MP4 file on my hard drive, bandwidth isn't an issue, either.
My project is for an online course for RoboHelp, so I would prefer to use Adobe technologies to create the course. However, I can't do that if Captivate won't generate working MP4 files. I would be happy to share the output file so you can see what's happening. If you need any other information to solve this problem, please let me know.

Hi, Anjaneai. The size of the generated MP4 file using the default settings is 115MB. However, as I said in my original message, I'm generating this file on my own hard drive so there aren't any bandwidth issues. I have noticed that the time it takes to generate the MP4 file takes significantly longer than the time Captivate originally estimates. For example, Captivate says the project file will take a little over 3 minutes to convert, but the actual time was a little less than one hour. I'm not sure if that's due to the fact that I was running Firefox and the associated Flash plugin at the same time.
The audio is a separate object on the timeline. I simply added the audio within the Properties tab.
I'm not sure what smaller resolution I should try. Please send a suggested setting (perhaps the lowest one?) and I'll regenerate it to see if that works.
Thanks,
Eric Butow

Is there a way to play an mp4 file at the beginning of a published project only when the project is accessed from a specific site?

Is there a way to play an mp4 file at the beginning of a published project only when the project is accessed from a specific site?
A little background info. I use Captivate 7 and currently have over 100 projects that I maintain on a quarterly basis. I publish using the SWF format and upload the swf/htm files to a server where they are then accessed from a few locations (within our online documentation, in our software product, on two different websites). Many of the projects are linked so some will be viewed as a series and others viewed as a standalone video. Each video uses the same template and includes an intro and end slide. Now my organization wants to implement a new intro to all videos (those I publish and those from several groups across the organization). My current intros provide overview material for the specific video so the new intro, which is an animation with audio in mp4 format, would need to be placed at the start of each project. The issue is, the intro adds 9 seconds to every video and in many cases doesn’t add any value (say, if a user accesses the video from within our product or views the videos as a series). I’ve talked it over with my boss and we want to try to add the intro only to videos accessed from site X, not any other location. So now to my question. Is there a way to play an external mp4 file (intro) only when the published project is accessed from a specific site, therefore eliminating the need to update each project? Maybe there's a way to add a parameter or variable to the URL or the html code?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions. Please let me know if you need additional information.

AimeeLove,
I have a solution for you. You may have to modify the code a little bit based on how long the timeline animation is for your clock. I based mine on 3 seconds to complete a minute hand sweep around the clock.
Milliseconds for each point on the clock:
12 = 0
1 = 250
2 = 500
3 = 750
4 = 1000
5 = 1250
6 = 1500
7 = 1750
8 = 2000
9 = 2250
10 = 2500
11 = 2750
In the mouseover section for 12 o' clock, put this code...
myVar = setInterval(function(){
     var pos = sym.getPosition();
     if (pos > 0 && pos < 50){
          sym.stop(0);
          clearInterval(myVar);
},10);
When you point to the time, the setInterval method loops every 100th of a second and checks the current position of the timeline. When the timeline reaches the range between 0 and 50 milliseconds (almost impossible to hit 1 specific point), the timeline will stop at 0. Also, the clearInterval will be fired to stop the loop.
In the mouseout section, put this...
sym.play();
clearInterval(myVar);
It start the clock again, and it also clears the loop in case you mouseout before you reach the range.
Make sure that myVar is a global variable so you can clear it from the mouseout section.
Repeat this for each point on the clock. To avoid potential conflicts, you may want to use my12, my1, my2, etc. instead of myVar. I put the milliseconds at the top that you would use as the beginning of the range. 50 milliseconds should be enough to catch it. So, for 5 o' clock, you would make your range between 1250 and 1300.
Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
Fred

Bridge loads .mp4 files, upon import to After Effects, .mp4 video data lost

Hello all,
Today I've encountered a strange issue with my .mp4 file. My friend exported a video with h.264 compression with the YouTube 4k Preset from Premiere Pro CC (Mac version). The only settings he changed were the maximum/target bitrate to the maximum allowed and checked "maximum render quality". He exported that directly to his Dropbox desktop application and sent me the download link. I previewed it on Dropbox's website. There was audio and video. I downloaded the file and Windows Media Player sees it as just an audio file and there are no visuals. Quicktime sees it as a video file and displays visuals. I open the file in Bridge CS5.1 I have the Production Premium Collection CS5.5. In Adobe Bridge, the file contains audio and visuals (including metadata to back that up). I can even preview it. I right click the file and select place in After Effects and in After Effects, once again, the file shows no resolution, just audio. Why won't After Effects display my clip? (While the Bridge photo doesn't display it, if I drag the cursor to the middle, there is a preview of the frame. The preview area is just blank because I had to open clipping tool to take the screenshots.) Thank you!

What happens if he makes you an intermediate file in something other than h.264?
For the record, that's not an ideal choice for an intermediate codec. Is there a reason you can't use the native .r3d file?

Cap7: Problems with Publishing .mp4 file on Mac

Hello,
Using Captivate 7 for the Mac, i imported a Power Point PPTX file, added audio tracks to the slides, and then tried to Publish it for YouTube. It did not work. After trying many different ways to publish, I realize that the published .mp4 file is zero bytes every time. I have tried all formats for you tube, as well as strait mp4. Those don't work. Publishing to html5 format works OK.
Hardward: Mac Book Pro Mid-2011
Mac OS: Lion
App: Captivate 7.0.0.118, I also updated Adobe Media Encoder 6.0.2.81
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks,
Jeff

Hi Jeff,
Instead of re-recording the audio, you can try export/Import of audio files from Library.
You can perform it in two different ways.
1. Select all the audio files from library, Export it in some location, Import it back in the new project, and assign it to the slides accordingly
Or
You can try opening the old project's library in the new project through 'External library' option and can drag and drop audio files accordingly.
Thanks,
Nimmy Sukumaran.

Unwanted visual artifacts with mastered DVD

My mastered DVD has unwanted visual artifacts resulting from a video recording of a dance recital that contained taped markings on a stage floor This visual disturbance does not appear with raw footage or compressed file but only with mastered DVD. Tried changing field order with each subsequent build but still get wavy lines that fluctuate. Any one dealt with similar situation before? Any suggestions?

We had the same issues with artifacts which appeared wavy, especially during fast movements. We read several forums and attempted different methods with no results to solve the issue. Finally, we discovered a solution!
We use Adobe Premiere CC and 6.
Recorded footage AVCHD 1080i
AVCHD 1080i30 (60i)
Make sure you have your footage in the correct editing sequence setting.
When exporting the auto settings appeared to compress the footage in interlace format which made artifacts on the screen on a progressive TV.
In Premiere Export in MPEG2 (Not MPEG2-DVD)
Select HDTV 1080p 29.97 High Quality (Or the format you recorded at but select P for progressive)
Export your video.
Afterwards import into Encore or your DVD authoring program.
Unfortunately, if your using Premiere with the dynamic link option to connect from Premiere to Encore there's a known bug that prevents from fixing this issue.
For an average dance recital the compressed file should be larger than the 4.7GB DVD size but once imported into Encore the program should allow the footage to fit onto the DVD. Otherwise, depending on your program you may need to change your export compressing settings to allow for the video to fit.

API to access and set properties for MP4 files

I am looking for some APIs in Visual C++ to use in Visual Studio to set
and get properties for .mp4 files. Can anyone help me in this regard?

Hi Rahul,
Try using the Windows Media Format SDK with help from the below document:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tims/archive/2004/03/28/extracting-metadata-from-windows-media-files.aspx
Alternatively, you can give a try to ffmpeg libraries for a open source alternative.
https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html
(Please mark as answer if this solves your query. Please upvote if this reply is helpful).
Regards,
Rajesh Nath

Transform a .swf file to an .mp4 file

Hello,
How could i transform a .swf file to an .mp4 file
Could this happen with Captivate 5 or i need Captivate 6 ??
Thank you very much
Petros

Hello Vikram,
If an swf is published as an MP4 what are the implications for:
Audio
Animation
Effects
Transitions
Text captions
Highlight boxes
I'm capturing a software demo and publishing it as an MP4. Would the MP4 output retain all the qualities of the swf?
As I understand, an MP4 would run only as a video and there cannot be any interactivities.
Thank you.

Distorted picture while editing MP4 file in Adobe Premiere CS5

hi,
I am trying to edit an MP4 file in the Adobe Premiere CS5 and having a distorted picture every few seconds.
When I am playing the original file using VLC or Media Player it looks OK.
Untill now I didn't have problems with editing MP4 files.
Did anybody had similar problem (and a solution )?
I am adding the file info captured by MediaInfo:
General
Complete name                    : E:\tami\video\M4H04540.MP4
Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : Sony PSP
Codec ID                         : MSNV
File size                        : 17.5 MiB
Duration                         : 16s 16ms
Overall bit rate                 : 9 189 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-07-01 07:14:25
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-07-01 07:14:40
Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                   : Advanced Coding Efficiency@L4
Format settings, BVOP            : Yes
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                         : 20
Duration                         : 16s 16ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 9 000 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                 : 14.0 Mbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 29.970 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.326
Stream size                      : 17.4 MiB (99%)
Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-07-01 07:14:25
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-07-01 07:14:40
Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AAC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                   : LC
Codec ID                         : 40
Duration                         : 16s 0ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 64.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Channel positions                : Front: C
Sampling rate                    : 24.0 KHz
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Stream size                      : 125 KiB (1%)
Encoded date                     : UTC 2011-07-01 07:14:25
Tagged date                      : UTC 2011-07-01 07:14:40
Thanks,
Miki

Not a problem; not scolding, just suggesting that users there might be of more help, since CS5/CS5.5 is a whole different animal than CS4.
I suspect that, if setting playback to full resolution didn't help, there's not much you can do with these files as they are. You'll have to convert them to something else. Does the break up appear when you step through the video frame by frame? If not, you could use AME to convert these to something else, which will then let you edit a little more effectively in Premiere Pro.
EDIT: Sorry, missed that you said that exporting retained the blobs. In light of that, you'll have to look at a third-party converter to flip these. MPEG Streamclip for Windows might work.

Playback of MP4 file on 2 different Macs/Quicktime versions look different

I created a MP4 file from a Motion project (the project has been transferred between my MacBook Pro on Leopard and my iMac which has Snow Leopard).
On my iMac the file shows 156MB, and I use Quicktime Pro 10.X (its at home so not sure of what version) and the file comes up at 1280x720 as intended.
I then copy the file to my MacBook Pro which has Quicktime Pro 7.6.6 (I thought installing FCP included latest QT Pro Player??). The file size shows up as 149MB, and when i play the file back it comes up squashed, as in it's squashed at the top and bottom. So a circle looks oval now.
When i try and export on my MacBook Pro - i get the squashed image straight away.
I dont understand how this is possible? Can anyone shed light on whats going on? Is it the different QuickTime Pro versions?

I dont understand how this is possible? Can anyone shed light on whats going on? Is it the different QuickTime Pro versions?
Sounds like what you are seeing basic difference in the way the two versions of the QT Player display the aspect ratio. Beginning with iMovie '08 thru iMovie '09 and on into QT Player X, the display dimensions are determined by the by the pixel aspect ratio setting and not the the "Current Size" setting data embedded in your file. QT 7, on the other hand, relies on the "Current Size" sitting to display the movie. When these settings equate to different dimension, your movie will display differently depending on which player you are using at any given time. The easiest way to corrent this problem in your case, is to simply open the movie in QT 7.6.6 Pro, reset the display scale to 1280x720 in the Video Track "Visual Settings" tab in the "Properties" window, and then save these changes. Thereafter, the movie should play correctly in either QT Player. If things had been reversed and it was the pixel aspect ratio setting that had been erroneous, then you would have had to re-compress the file embed the correct aspect ratio. This is also why your QT v7.6.6 attempted exports reproduce the error since it is passing the incorrect scale dimension on to the new file you are creating unless you manually modify the output dimensions.

Converting MP4 files with 5.1 sound

I tried using Videora, Xillisoft and Cucusoft's converters, but all of them fail converting my MP4 files with 5.1 sound.
I don't mind losing the other 4 channels, but can anyone tell me what program can convert them?
BTW the files were created with NERO.

Saw this somewhere:
Ok, I managed to get Dolby Digital from a Video file. The steps are very easy:
Create an mp4 from your DVD or other source with Handbrake or Visual Hub - Audio Settings are not important
If you are ripping a DVD then open Mac the Ripper, choose Chapter extraction, open streams and select the Audio File you want to be extracted
You will now need Quicktime Pro
Open both files (the mp4 and the ac3) in Quicktime. Copy the ac3 stream and paste it to the mp4 file
Save the file as a MOV movie
Import it in iTunes
That was it!!!
I am now trying to figure out how to extract ac3 audio from mkv files...

Visual artifacts in Captivate 6 .mp4 file

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