Editing Slides That Contain Mouse Movement

So far, all the examples you have seen consist of screens that don't include any mouse movement. Attempting to edit movies that include a mouse pointer using a traditional screen capture tool is probably one of the most complex tasks you are likely to encounter.

In this section you will see how Macromedia Captivate deals with this troublesome issue and the problems that result when attempting to record a demonstration using a screen-capture tool such as Camtasia Studio 3.0.

Consider the following scenario: You create a demonstration that includes both mouse movement and a mouse click to show a pop-up menu. You then find that there are a number of items present (in this case, the FlashPaper tool bar in a Microsoft Word document) that you must remove from the project.

In this test case, I recorded a project in both Macromedia Captivate and Camtasia Studio 3.0 from TechSmith. The aim of this demonstration is for you to learn how to apply a heading style to a block of selected text, using the Style menu in Word:

1. Select a block of text in a document.
2. Choose a heading style from the Style menu.
3. Save the document.

Remove the FlashPaper tool bar by inserting a new graphic. Because the demonstration took less than one minute to capture, the task should be completed in less than two minutes.

Findings with Camtasia Studio 3.0

In Camtasia Studio 3.0 I was able to insert a new graphic image using a feature called custom callouts. However, this meant that I had to insert multiple custom callouts on the Timeline. This was time-consuming and became extremely frustrating because I couldn't use the cursor keys to reposition my graphic elements.

With Camtasia Studio 3.0 the process took over 12 minutes and yet there were still some instances when the FlashPaper tool bar was visible. However, a much bigger problem was when the mouse had to travel over the newly added graphics. Because Camtasia is a screen-capture application that includes the mouse at capture time, attempting to overlay a new image results in the mouse pointer traveling behind the image rather than in front of it, as shown in Figure 6. Because this made the demonstration look unrealistic, I would have had no choice but to record the whole task again.

Figure 6. Demo project created with Camtasia Studio 3.0

(+) View larger

Findings with Macromedia Captivate

Using Macromedia Captivate I was able to correct my project easily by overlaying the new tool bar image onto each of my slides. In Macromedia Captivate the mouse movement is a different layer, so I can choose whether the mouse travels behind or on top of the inserted tool bar image. When the mouse traveled past the new graphic, I had only to make sure that the image object was below the mouse object on the Slide Timeline, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. Macromedia Captivate Timeline showing the image below the mouse object

Below are the steps I followed to remove the FlashPaper tool bar in Macromedia Captivate:

1. Select Image > Insert.
2. Reposition the graphic using the cursor keys, which allows pixel-level precision.
3. Move the graphic so that it is below the mouse object on the Slide Timeline.

4. Select the graphic and show the image by removing fade in/out effects.

   Note: The image transition must be set to None. Otherwise it will be apparent that a new image has been inserted on top of the original region of the screen you are trying to alter.

5. Copy the inserted image.
6. Select the next slide to which you want to add the image.

7. Select Edit > Paste.

   Note: When copying an image, Macromedia Captivate captures the position of the graphic. You don't need to go through the process of repositioning it again, nor is it necessary to changes its position on the Slide Timeline.

8. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 on the desired slides.

Success! Using Macromedia Captivate I completely removed all traces of the FlashPaper tool bar. The whole process took just over 44 seconds and, most importantly, the mouse pointer travels in front of the inserted graphics, as you can see in the Macromedia Captivate movie.

View Macromedia Captivate demonstration: Modified Images Through Macromedia Captivate

Conclusion

In this article I covered how you can create demonstrations and interactive simulated content, safe in the knowledge that you can change virtually any screen at any time, even if your screens include complex mouse movement. With Macromedia Captivate, having to recapture a screen is finally a thing of the past.

Page 4 of 4

Previous Page