elearning, tutorials, and simulations mike hamilton v.p. product management madcap software...

eLearning, Tutorials, and Simulations

Mike HamiltonV.P. Product ManagementMadCap Softwaremhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

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e-Learning, Tutorials, and Simulations

•What can we create?•How hard is it?•Components•Considerations•Audio•Techniques/exercises

Different Tool Choices

The Big Three:

Adobe Captivate

MadCap Mimic

TechSmith Camtasia

• Frame-based• Specialized in eLearning

• Frame-based• Specialized in single-source publishing

• Traditional video• Specialized in live action

What Can We Create?

•Software demonstrations

•Software tutorials

•Software training

•Software simulations

•Interactive graphics

•Photo-based training

Stages of InteractivityR

ealism

Difficulty of Construction

Full Simulation

Multiple Paths

Data Input

Point and Click

Screen Capture

Passive Movie

Point & Click Movie

But…How Long Will it Take?

That depends…• Required quality level• With or without interactivity• With or without audio

For your first movie/recording schedule ½ to one day per minute of finished movie.

But…How Long Will it Take?

With experience a 10 minute movie will take:

• Passive movie – 1 hour to 90 minutes• With interactivity – 3 hours • Heavy interactivity – 4 to 5 hours• With audio – Add ½ hour per minute

Note: Estimates include story boarding, recording video, writing dialog script, recording audio, and editing

The Components to Create a Movie

Break the creation process into components

•Planning

•Video/visuals

•Interactivity

•Audio

The Components to Create a Movie

Break the creation process into components

•Planning

•Video/visuals

•Interactivity

•Audio

Planning

• Create tutorials that are:

– Brief (chunking)

– Meet the immediate needs of the user (context)

– Correct identified performance gaps (learning)

Planning

Know in advance:• Why are you creating a movie?• Who is your audience?• Is it high level (demo) or deep

knowledge (training)?• What quality level?• How will movies be deployed?

Basically, create a movie style guide for your company

Storyboard

• Storyboarding

– A process used to design and develop multimedia presentations and web-based training

• Storyboarding forces you to:

– Examine your motives

– Organize your thoughts

– Test your ideas

Storyboard

• Storyboarding allows you to create flow of learning:

– Text

– Graphics

– Links

– Interactivity

– Branching

– Assessment

Storyboard

• Create low-fidelity storyboards:

– Rapid prototyping

– Easy to create

– Easy to modify

– Don’t need graphic artist !

– Use 3x5 cards, post-its, PowerPoint

– Follow your style guide

Sample Storyboard Frame

Storyboard

Your storyboard will:

• Uncover design problems

• Point out where additional material is needed

– Title image

– Credits

– Any other content

• Provide a first chance to edit ruthlessly

The Components to Create a Movie

Break the creation process into components

•Planning

•Video/visuals

•Interactivity

•Audio

Video/Images – The Recording

• Have a process

• Two IMPORTANT best practices:– Always record at delivery size– Always record with common PC settings

on a common background

• Follow the storyboard to ensure you get what you need

• Record more than you need to make editing easier (it is extremely painful to try and add more later)

The Components to Create a Movie

Break the creation process into components

•Planning

•Video/visuals

•Interactivity

•Audio

Interactivity

• Linear interactivity– “Click to Continue”

– “Show Me”

• Branching– Decisions

– Quizzes

– Simulations

Linear Interactivity

• “Click to Continue”– Simple and fast– Set frame to pause– Add button with “go to next frame”

• “Show Me”– Requires multiple buttons, both visible and

invisible– “Show Me” button is visible and starts

animation– Invisible button captures action and jumps to

next frame

Branching

• Think of a movie as a flow chart

Frame

Frame Frame

Frame

Frame

Frame

Frame

Branching

• Think of a movie as a flow chart

Frame 2

Frame 3

Frame 5

Frame 1

Frame 6

Frame 4

Frame 7

Branching

…but, in a straight line

Frame 2

Frame 3

Frame 5

Frame 1

Frame 6

Frame 4

Frame 7

Frame 2

Frame 3

Frame 5

Frame 1

Frame 6

Frame 4

Frame 7

The Components to Create a Movie

Break the creation process into components

•Planning

•Video/visuals

•Interactivity

•Audio

Audio

• Not always necessary

• Adds significant time and complexity to development

• Be careful of file sizes

• Recording audio per frame is superior to one long audio soundtrack for movie

• Usually the last step in the process

Considerations

• Localization

• Integration and compatibility with other applications (both authoring and playback)

• Customers’ ability to view formats

• Support

Audio in Depth

• Professional sounding audio is by far the most difficult part of the process

• The first hurdle is using quality equipment, not the microphone built into your laptop

• Use the best audio equipment that your budget will allow

MadCap’s Audio Workstation

Audio

Audio

Shure SM58$100£65

Lambda Lexicon$140£90

+ = $240£155

Audio

Audio

Shure SM48$50£33

Lambda Alpha$80£52

+ = $130£85

Audio

Yeti$150£97

Snowball$100£65

Snowflake$60£39

Audio

Logitech$25£16

Audio in Depth

Where do you record?

• The quietest location you can find

• Turn off AirCon

• Unplug telephones

• Keep the microphone as far away from a noisy PC as possible

Audio

Audio in Depth

Audio software:

• Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Audio in Depth

Recording settings:

• Mono, 16 bit, 44,100hz

MP3 file save settings:

• CD quality: bit rate of 128

• FM radio quality: bit rate of 96

• AM radio quality: bit rate of 32

Audio in Depth

Typical audio software workflow:

• Record audio track

• Normalize/DC offset

• Noise removal

• “sweeten” (remove undesirable noises)

• Save MP3 file for inclusion in movie

Techniques/Exercises

• Record movie

• Add text callouts

• Add interactivity

• Add a quiz

Questions

Questions?

Mike HamiltonVP, Product Managementmhamilton@madcapsoftware.com