Skills & Drills Workbook...

Essentials of Adobe Captivate 4

Learn Adobe Captivate 4 by doing via this step-by-step workbook

If you are an instructional designer or technical writer, you have no doubt spent years attempting to perfect the art of teaching programs using fewer and fewer words. If you are in the business of educating, you know how difficult this job can be.

These days, interactive lessons that can be viewed over the Internet or from a CD are all the rage.

There are many programs that can be used to capture a computer's screen, mouse action and audio. Unfortunately, the resulting movies can be huge--a five minute lesson could easily gobble up nearly 100mb of storage space on a hard drive. Downloading a file that large will take a lot of time, even if a user has a fast Internet connection. Large file sizes are just part of the problem. The movies may not be cross-platform (they may not work on both Macs and PCs). Interactivity is a feature most of the "mouse capture" applications do not support. And there are few of these programs that allow images to be imported.

In short, the technology for creating interactive lessons WAS bad. But not anymore. Using Adobe Captivate 4, you can capture screen shots on your computer and quickly turn them into lessons (movies). The movies you create can be interactive--you can add images, captions, rollovers, clickable areas, typing areas and sound effects.

This book will introduce you to the essential Adobe Captivate 4 skills you need to know to get up and running with Captivate as quickly as possible. If you are an experienced Adobe Captivate user, consider our Adobe Captivate 4: Beyond the Essentials book.

Note: Adobe Captivate 4 does not come with this book. The software can be purchased directly from Adobe. You can download a trial version of Adobe Captivate 4 here.

To complete the lessons presented in this book, you will need the following software and hardware: Adobe Captivate 4, Intel Pentium 4, Intel Centrino, Intel Xeon, or Intel Core Duo (or compatible) processor; Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit editions); 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended); 1.5GB of available hard-disk space; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices); DVD-ROM drive; 800x600 screen resolution (1,024x768 recommended).

This book includes the following eLearning and Adobe Captivate 4 concepts:

eLearning and Captivate

• Education Through Pictures
• Planning eLearning Projects
• The Development Process
• The Captivate 4 Interface
• Set General Preferences
• Explore a Project
• Explore Project Views
• Navigate a Project
• Preview a Project
• Zoom Closer to a Slide
• View the Timeline and Library

Recording Demonstrations and Assessments

• Rehearse a Script
• Set Recording Preferences and Keys
• Record a Demonstration
• Record an Assessment Simulation
• Record a Training Simulation
• Record a Custom Assessment Simulation

FMRs, Panning and Image Slideshows

• Create an FMR
• Record a Lesson With Panning
• Create an Image Slideshow

Text Captions & the Timeline

• Duplicate a Slide and Hide the Mouse
• Insert, Resize and Move Text Captions
• Change Text Caption Properties
• Change an Object’s Slide Position and Size
• View the Timeline
• Change a Slide’s Display Time
• Change Timeline View Settings
• Use the Timeline to Set Object Display Times
• Show/Hide Timeline Objects
• Use Options to Control Object Timing
• Set Mouse Properties
• Check Spelling
• Align Slide Objects

Images and Drawing Objects

• Insert and Delete Slides
• Insert an Image
• Set Image Size and Slide Position
• Use the Library
• Manage Unused Project Assets
• Control Transparency
• Create an Image Watermark
• Set Image Timing Options and Transition Effects
• Work With Image Stacks
• Add a Visual Mouse Click and Click Sound
• Insert a Drawing Object

Pointers, Buttons and Highlight Boxes

• Change the Pointer Path
• Change the Pointer Type
• Edit Slide and Object Display Times
• Insert a Text Button
• Set a Button’s Options
• Insert an Image Button
• Insert and Format a Highlight Box

Rollovers and Zoom Areas

• Insert a Rollover Caption
• Set Rollover Area Properties
• Insert a Rollover Image
• Insert a Zoom Area
• Insert a Rollover Slidelet
• Set Rollover Slidelet Properties
• Format and Position a Slidelet
• Insert a Caption Into a Slidelet
• Insert an Image Into a Slidelet

Slide Labels, Notes and Audio

• Change Slide Background Quality
• Add a Slide Label
• Add a Slide Note
• Add Sound to a Slide Object
• Add Background Audio
• Calibrate a Microphone
• Record Audio
• Import Slide Audio
• Edit an Audio File
• Insert Silence
• Convert Slide Notes to Speech

Animation and Flash Video

• Change a Project’s Frame Rate
• Add Animation to a Slide
• Insert Text Animation
• Insert Flash Video
• Set Flash Video Properties

Converting Demonstrations Into Simulations

• Hide the Mouse
• Replace Phrases
• Insert a Click Box
• Set Click Box Options
• Change a Slide’s Display Time
• Set a Text Caption Transition
• Insert a Text Entry Box

Introduction to Question Slides

• Set Quiz Preferences
• Insert a Question Slide
• Add an Image to a Question Slide
• Reuse a Slide Background
• Format the Question Title
• Use the Slide Grid
• Format the Progress Indicator

Publishing

• Link to a Web Site
• Apply a Skin
• Edit and Save a Skin
• Delete a Skin
• Add a Loading Screen
• Set Project Information
• Create a TOC
• Publish a Flash (SWF)
• Publish Word Handouts
• Export Captions
• Perform a “Round Trip”

"Essentials of Adobe Captivate 4" Book Specifications:

ISBN: 1932733280 | Spiral Bound | Page Size, 8 1/2 x 11 inches
Retail Price: $35.00

See also:

Attend a Live, Virtual Class on Adobe Captivate 4

Adobe Captivate 4: Beyond the Essentials

Sample pages from this book