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