Reading the Flash Timeline

Let’s take a quick look at how the Timeline is structured for imported Captivate projects within Flash MX 2004.

Figure 15. Timeline after importing a Captivate project

Notice that there are nine layers for this project:

1. Actions: This layer contains the slide title number and any actions (ActionScript) that the piece uses.
2. Playback: This layer contains the playback controls for the movie, if you imported any. This layer is locked; you shouldn't modify it.
3. Background transition: This layer is also locked; you shouldn't modify it.
4. Mouse Path: This layer contains the path the mouse takes during the simulation.
5. Mouse Sounds and Effects: This layer contains any sounds pertaining to the mouse, as well as any special effects.
6. Objects 1 through 8: These are the elements of the Captivate project.
7. Sounds and effects: This layer is where all music and sound effects play.
8. Slide background: This layer displays the slide backgrounds .
9. Movie background: This layer contains any movie background you might have had (note that this is different from the individual slide backgrounds).

The Timeline itself is broken down by slide numbers. For example, here is the partial Timeline for Slide 4:

Figure 16. Partial Timeline for Slide 4

The Timeline stretches to match the length of the slide itself. For example, Slide 4 extends from frame 505 to frame 593. Some frames can be very large depending on the number of elements and the length of time they are on the screen.

In Frame 1, there is an action where Flash loads an animation. The ActionScript for that process looks like this:

Figure 17. ActionScript for Flash loading animation.

Before finishing, take a look at the imported Captivate project after Flash publishes it, even after you have added no changes:

Play the demo: The Captivate project exported from Flash

Note: The SWF file is almost exactly the same as the Captivate version with only minor differences.

Where To Go from Here

This tutorial doesn't cover the details of how Captivate and Flash work together. I recommend that you create your own pieces, export them into Flash and play with the results.

With all the new capabilities and features that have been added to Captivate, you may never need to go to Flash. The capability is there, but I doubt you will need to use it often.

In most cases, you will probably create a Flash framework with menus, calling smaller Captivate SWF files as needed.

The Macromedia Captivate team has done a superb job of integrating Captivate with Flash so you can extend it if you need to. Have fun with it!

Understanding Captivate and the Flash Library

Flash places all of the imported elements from Captivate into the Flash library. In this particular import, 188 items were placed in the Flash library.

Figure 14. The Flash library

That’s a lot of elements to track, so Captivate organizes the assets more logically in a folder called Captivate Objects, which contains the following subfolders:

• Backgrounds (Captivate)
• Captions (Captivate)
• Elements (Captivate)
• Images (Captivate)
• Interactions (Captivate)
• Mouse pointers (Captivate)

In the next section, you'll learn how to read the Flash Timeline.

Exporting a Captivate Project to Flash

The first thing to do before exporting to Flash is to create a Captivate file or open an existing one. I created a sample file (contained in the sample download, captivatetoflash.zip) so that you can see how the file looks in Captivate before exporting it to Flash. Later, you'll see what Flash does with the Captivate piece. To view the sample, click the link below:

Play the demo: The Captivate project before exporting it to Flash

This is the sample file you will export for customization in Flash. The movie contains many Captivate items including:

• Captions
• Graphics
• Animations
• Narration
• Music
• Buttons
• Captured application

Export the Captivate demo to Flash MX 2004 as follows:

1. Start Captivate. Open FLAexport.cp.

2. Select File > Import/Export > Export the Movie to Flash MX 2004.

   

   Figure 1. Exporting the movie to Flash MX 2004

3. Captivate asks you to save your Captivate file, if you have changed it at all. I recommend that you always click Yes even if you have just saved the file.

   

   Figure 2. Captivate asks you to save the file.

   If you click Yes, you will briefly see the following window as Captivate saves the file:

   

   Figure 3. Captivate saves the project.

   Captivate asks if you would like to open Flash MX 2004 (Figure 4).

   

   Figure 4. Captivate asks if you would like to open Flash MX 2004.

   While you could cancel this dialog box and open Flash later, selecting Open Flash MX 2004 saves you a little time; you can avoid having to go through the Flash opening dialog screen.

4. Save your Flash MX 2004 piece as Flash loads your Captivate file. Captivate populates the Flash file name with the name of your Captivate file.

   

   Figure 5. Saving the Flash file

   Unless you need to name your Flash piece differently, stick with the default Captivate file name for ease of maintenance.

   Once you save the piece, the following dialog box appears to help you when you are in Flash.

   

   Figure 6. Captivate dialog box providing instructions on what to do when you open Flash MX 2004

   If you're wondering why this dialog appears, it's because Flash does not automatically import the Captivate movie to its Timeline. Follow the steps described above in Figure 6 to actually import the Captivate movie.

   In RoboDemo 5, the export to Flash opened and imported the movie, but there were so many variables and so many potential issues that the Captivate development team decided to simplify the process and eliminate the potential for confusion and error.

5. Start Macromedia Flash MX 2004 if you haven't already. In the following steps, you'll import your Captivate content. Figure 7 shows the Flash interface when it opens.

   Note: Your screen may look different depending on your screen resolution and the interface that you've configured for Flash.

   

   Figure 7. The Flash MX 2004 interface

   Select File > Import.

   

   Figure 8. Importing the Captivate file into Flash

   Flash opens the Import dialog box. Notice that the file type is already set to Captivate (Figure 9).

   

   Figure 9. The Import dialog box set to Captivate Projects

   Select the FLAexport file from the Import dialog box and click Open.

6. The Captivate Options dialog appears. This dialog box enables you to select which elements you want Flash to import from Captivate.

   

   Figure 10. Captivate Options in the import process

1. Basic elements

• Background changes (keyboard typing and state changes): Most of the time, you import all background changes. However, if you want to modify your piece with Flash typing or components, deselect this option.
• Mouse movements: Unless you want to customize mouse movements yourself through Flash, keep this option selected.

2. Slide elements

• Highlight boxes
• Images
• Captions
• Animations
• Click boxes
• Text boxes
• Buttons
• Rollover captions and images

3. Movie elements

• Audio
• End options (Stop or loop movie, goto URL)
• Playback controller: Depending on what your Flash needs are, you can probably create more sophisticated navigation and playback structures in Flash if you have the expertise. If not, then keep this option selected to import the Captivate playback controller of your choosing.

In this tutorial, keep everything selected on and click the Import button. Flash shows the following as it imports your Captivate project:

Figure 11. Flash importing the Captivate project

When the import is done, Flash warns you that several elements were not imported (Figure 12):

Figure 12. Some elements were not imported.

The following elements were not imported:

• Reporting Options: This refers to the SCORM and AICC tracking capabilities built into Captivate. Since Quiz elements are not exported, the reporting, or LMS tracking, options are also ignored. If you need to track items in your new Flash piece, insert the Flash E-Learning objects into your movie.
• Loading screen: This is your preloader screen. If you need to have a preloader in your Flash piece, either create your own or use one of the many preloaders available for Flash on the Internet.
• 508 compliance: These are the accessibility options built into Captivate and supported by Macromedia Flash Player.

Click OK to close the Captivate Importer dialog box. A second dialog box will appear if your Captivate project has animations on any slides.

Figure 13. The Captivate Importer dialog box if your Captivate project has animations on any slides

Slides 1 and 11 have animations on them. Captivate exports the animations as individual Flash SWF files and then loads them dynamically at run-time.

Note: You must have any animation slides that Captivate generates included in the root directory of your published Flash piece for them to play correctly at runtime. I have included these SWF files in the ZIP file in the Requirements section of this article.

Congratulations! You have just imported your first Captivate project into Flash MX 2004. That was pretty easy, wasn't it?

In the next section, you'll learn how the Captivate elements are imported into Flash.

As you already know, Macromedia Captivate is a powerful tool for creating robust software simulations quickly and effectively. Captivate is targeted at anyone who needs to create professional software demonstrations for marketing/sales, training for e-learning, or customer service support materials. Did you know that you can also leverage what you create in Captivate by exporting it to Macromedia Flash MX 2004?

The development team for Captivate has covered all the bases by also keeping in mind “power users.” These users, like you, not only use Captivate, but also integrate their demos and simulations with Flash MX 2004, learning management systems, websites and more.

In this brief article, I’ll show you how to:

• Export a Captivate movie into Flash MX 2004
• Read the Flash Timeline for an imported Captivate movie
• Understand what goes into the Flash library when you import from Captivate

Note: Captivate only exports to Macromedia Flash MX 2004. It does not export to older versions of Flash.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Macromedia Captivate

Flash MX Professional 2004

Tutorials and sample files:

• captivatetoflash.zip (ZIP, 18.2MB)

  This ZIP file contains the files you will need to complete this tutorial: one Captivate file and two SWF files.

Prerequisite knowledge:

• You should be familiar with Captivate and have a working knowledge of Macromedia Flash MX 2004
• Basic ActionScript 2.0 (not required, but beneficial)

Where to Go from Here

Macromedia Captivate is the easiest and most flexible way to create interactive demonstrations and software simulations. It is fun to use, does the hard work for you, and lets you spend more time focusing on polishing up your tutorial, simulation, demonstration, or test to make it more effective. Because I have prior experience creating these types of presentations manually in Flash, I know that Captivate significantly reduces the amount of time and work required to create these demonstrations and simulations. I hope that CaptivatePlayer complements your workflow by providing a final, easy step in deploying your finished work for your users online, on an intranet, or even running locally, off of another user’s machine.

In talking to Captivate authors from all over the USA, from Canada to Germany, by phone and e-mail, I can definitely say there is room to grow and improve the way the CaptivatePlayer deploys Captivate movies. One author has requested that I add a global control bar instead of having Captivate generate one for each demonstration or simulation. This would help end users quickly access other Captivate content, not just locations inside one demonstration or simulation. Other authors, who have lot of Captivate content, called modules, also have sub-modules. They prefer the current menu to contain nested menus, like most context menus do today (File > New or Right click > Properties for example). This is especially ideal for users, because a volume of 50-100 Captivate demonstrations or simulations does not fit well into a one-level menu.

Creating these demonstrations or simulations is only part of the process. I created CaptivatePlayer to fulfill a need to deliver Captivate content quickly to users.