Adobe Captivate is a powerful eLearning tool which allows users to create several types of engaging and interactive eLearning courses.
To make the most of Captivate here are 5 productivity tips:
1. Always begin with Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a great photo-editing tool. Start creating your course layout in Photoshop using the exact eLearning course dimensions and then start importing and editing generic stock images within it. With Adobe’s recent partnership with Fotolia.com, stock images are easier to come by if you have a full Creative Cloud subscription. And even if you don’t, using Fotolia as a stand alone stock imaging platform and on a “pay-as-you-go” plan can bring your course to life.
Once all the interface elements and graphics are ready, you can create a Captivate project and import the PSD file. All layers/layer comps in the PSD file are imported as individual graphics and they are saved in the Captivate project library. You can reuse these graphics as many times in a project. The best part is that the PSD file for the eLearning course is a live document, you can make changes to the PSD file anytime and sync the changes in the Captivate project.
2. Colour
Using the right set of colours is utmost important for creating any artwork and that stands true for your eLearning courses as well. You need to comply with your company/customer style guide and use the specified colours mentioned in it. Or you might have your favourite colour that you prefer using.
The best way to work with colours in Adobe Captivate is to use the Swatch Manager. This dialog allows you to import colour swatches from other applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Adobe Color; or add your own colour swatch to the Swatch Manager by using the eyedropper or colour picker tool. These colours also appear in your Fill and Stroke dialog and makes it easy for you to use them. Icing on the cake is that if you use these colors as a part of your theme color palette, you will get a set of lighter and darker shades of the color swatch you add.
3. Make use of Smart Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can make it easier to work with your PC, saving you time and effort as you work with programs and other apps. Use the popular shortcuts below to increase your productivity while using Captivate.
4. iPad/iPhone Simulation
If you need to create a simulation capturing your iPad or iPhone screen, don’t manually create it using several screenshots. Use a software to mirror the iDevice on your PC/Mac and capture it using Adobe Captivate. My favorite software for screen mirroring is Reflector.
Here are the simple steps to capture a simulation using Captivate and Reflector:
- Make sure your computer and iPad/iPhone are on the same Wi-Fi network.
- Start Reflector application on your computer.
- Enable Airplay on your iPad/iPhone and select mirroring option for your computer.
- Your iPad/iPhone screen will start projecting on your computer.
- Start Adobe Captivate on your computer.
- Start recording software simulation with iPad/iPhone as the application to be recorded.
- End recording.
Your iPad/iPhone simulation is ready!
5. Share & Care
Advanced actions in Adobe Captivate give you a lot of power and customisation options but it’s quite painful to write scripts again and again for creating similar interactions. Save your advanced actions as shared actions and reuse them across objects, slides, and projects. And be generous and share it with you fellow eLearning professionals as well.
Content created with Adobe Captivate can be used to make your live virtual classrooms in Adobe Connect more engaging.
Original source: http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2014/12/top-5-productivity-tips-for-adobe-captivate.html
