August 27, 2010

Flash Export in Captivate 5

Export to Flash is an old feature modeled in a new way. In previous versions of Captivate, for this feature to work, Flash needs to be installed on the same machine from where you want to export. But, taking the advantage of the XML-based FLA file format introduced in Flash CS5, we have removed the dependency of Flash for this feature to work. Yes, for export, now there is no need for Flash to be installed at all. When you export, a FLA file will be generated which can be taken to some other machine where Flash CS5 is installed and you can work on it.

To export, go to File > Export > Flash CS5. This will show a Export dialog in Captivate unlike the earlier versions which show an Import dialog inside Flash. You have to specify the location to save the output FLA file. You can also select what all items you can export by checking/un-checking the options in the Export dialog. Clicking on export will export the Captivate project to a FLA file. Along with the FLA file, any dependent SWF files or ActionScript files will be placed in the same folder as the FLA file. If Flash CS5 is installed, the output FLA file will be opened in Flash for further editing. We have restructured the library based on the items. Slides, captions, mouse item, interactive items, animations, images, audio – each item will go into its corresponding folder. As of Captivate 5, only the listed items in the Export dialog are supported.

In earlier versions of Captivate, after importing Captivate file inside Flash, you have to save the FLA file in the same directory as that of the cp file. Otherwise it will not load all the dependent swf files. Also taking the FLA file to another machine was a bit complicated, as along with the FLA file and dependent SWFs, you had to bundle the necessary ActionScript files, which were present somewhere deep inside the Flash Application Data folder. All this trouble is gone now. When you click on export and choose a path to save the FLA file, all dependents including SWFs and ActionScript files, will be pushed to the same folder. This will also remove the trouble of saving the FLA file in the same location as that of Captivate file.

We have also improved the feature stability and reliability. Added few more options – Audio fade, Don’t pause for success/failure captions, Enable/Disable Click sound, Double mouse click, Honoring number of attempts of Click box/TEB, Masking caption texts and Text Entry Boxes to show text in that region only, Rollover Area’s fill outer area option, Duration of Animation etc. Please try out this feature and give us your feedback.

Posted by Ravi Kishore10:56 AM
  • Dan Shannon

    I’m using Adobe Production Premium CS3 for instructional design at work.
    Am thinking of getting company to purchase Captivate 5. (Don’t have Captivate right now).
    Will I be able to export Captivate 5 files as x.fla and import them into Flash CS3, then add whatever learning interactions I want in Flash?

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/ Allen Partridge

      Dan,
      The answer to this one is yes … and no. Many of the objects / elements in an Adobe Captivate 5 movie are easily included in the export to *.fla function, but not all features are supported at this point. The ones that are supported are actually implemented in a fashion that allows you to select each element by type in order to determine what you want to export. So if you want to export a screen capture for example the functionality is all there, but there are some other elements that are not yet supported. I’d encourage you to download a copy and play with it, (File: Export: Export to Flash (*.fla)) to see if the feature is sufficient for the use case you have in mind.

  • http://www.extraordinarytraining.com Joseph D’Alessandro Jr.

    It doesn’t work as expected. Captivate 5 text animations do now carry over, still images with click boxes don’t carry over, table of contents doesn’t show up, FLV videos don’t carry over… basically it’s a mess. They shouldn’t even have this option if the majority of it doesn’t work.

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/ Allen Partridge

      Joseph, thanks for your comment. Basically those elements which have been implemented in this feature thus far are those that are used in screen capture. So there is a logic behind the selection of the initial assets that would export to Flash. If you have a ‘top list’ of preferred elements you’d like to see enabled for Flash export, I’d encourage you to post to wish-captivate@macromedia.com – you can request features there and it gets read daily. It’s a great way to let folks know what priorities you have and what kind of needs you have.

  • Malcolm Fretwell

    Could you please provide further information on how to export Captivate 5 to earlier versions of Flash.

    I have Captivate 5 and Flash Professional CS4. The Captivate 5 created .fla won’t open in Flash CS4. Within Flash CS4 it is no longer possible to import captivate projects as adobe captivate is no longer within the file format list.

    However, within the following Captivate 5 featured page it states under the Powerful personalization and customization section that you can export Captivate 5 projects directly to Adobe Flash Professional CS3, CS4, or CS5.

    http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/features/

  • Bill Main

    I have tried this export from a full motion capture in Captivate 5 to Flash Pro, and the resulting fla file is just white. There appears to be no content. Is this feature working??

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/ Allen Partridge

      Bill, The file appears white in Flash editing at first, because Captivate Project fades in from White on the first frame. Just press CTRL + Enter to test the swf and you’ll see what’s there. You’ll also be able to edit via the Flash timeline and find all your files in the Flash Library. -Allen

  • Michael McNair

    The export feature from Captivate 5 to Flash CS5 works!? The instructions that are provided here do actually export something….but the something that is exported does not import into Flash CS5. I have gotten NOTHING BUT ERROR messages.

    Why not specify exactly what exactly can be exported from Captivate 5 into Flash CS5, instead of inferring that Captivate 5 simply exports [the Captivate project] into Flash CS5; there is a disconnect between the export and the import, pal. There is nothing that I saw that indicated some features exported/imported and some didn’t.

    Something isn’t right.

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/ Allen Partridge

      Michael, when you go to export from CP5 to Flash, you should immediately get a dialog with a couple of dozen check boxes. This allows you to export the checked items from Cp into Flash. Only the checked items may be exported. Those items which are exportable, are all listed in the check box on export. Could you share the specific error messages? you can always report any bugs to wish-captivate@macromedia.com

  • Michelle Rooker

    Hi,

    I have just tried to export a scenario that I built into Flash-it doesn’t work at all. I get the same white screen that was described above, and by pressing CTRL + enter, I did see some of my material, but buttons weren’t visible and the images also didn’t work. Can scenarios actually be exported into Flash?

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/ Allen Partridge

      Michelle, You can export content from Cp to Flash, but it is designed primarily for use as an exporter for screen capture. 2 things here.
      1. When you export to Flash, ensure that all of the boxes are checked for all of the data types.
      2. When you arrive with the file in flash – Cp starts with a fade in from White, so while the first frame appears white, if you scroll ahead or play ahead, you’ll see that the backgrounds etc. from the screen capture have carried over.

      Now if you have just slide images, those are among the unsupported items. Slide backgrounds will carry over. If you want to get the total picture of what will and what won’t come across, check the export dialog. If it isn’t in the check boxes on the export dialog, it won’t carry into Flash. If you want to use things like quiz questions etc. in your Flash project, consider trying the Flash Learning interactions that come with the eLearning Suite. They can help to speed up the workflow if you’re using Flash as the primary development environment. You can also now use Flash to capture directly if you have eLearning Suite (Command: the last one down will be Screen Capture if the version of Flash is coming from eLearning Suite.)

      Last, but not least, I hope you won’t hesitate to mail us at wish-captivate@macromedia.com – letting the product management team know that you really want more features to export to Flash. Ideally you can be specific about which elements you’d like to see translated for editable Flash. -Allen

  • Eoin

    Hi, I have the same problem as Michael above and Michelle. I have all the options ticked when I try to export from captivate to Flash but not all the content comes through. none of the text animations I use in captivate appear in Flash nor do any of the captions. I definitley have these options selected when I export to flash. both “animation” and “caption” are options which are available for export in the export dialogue but even though they are selected the are not showing up in flash. I have already tried scrolling through and re-exporting from flash and these elements definitly are not coming through. Am i doing something wrong ?

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/ Allen Partridge

      Eoin,

      What happens when you press [control + enter] in Flash? Does it all play back as expected with captions and all?

  • Darren McNeill

    I have the same issues/Questions….

    Alot of the learning courses created have streaming Video FLV files on the Slides.

    Testing the option on several occasions to export to Flash CS5 results in a train wreck in Flash.

    None of the FLV files will play when published, as none of the RTMP details convert over.

    Captions export either in the wrong place, not at all or sometimes with incomplete words.

    This should have been tested in greater detail to accomodate all types of users and uses before implementing.

    It would be faster to create the same thing from scratch in Flash than fixing the issues, so defeats the purpose.

    I would have though that by now, using an Adobe product, streaming Adobe Video to an Adobe Streaming Server (FMS 4) and displaying it in another Adobe application would not be so difficult

  • http://www.emotica.it Daniele Fontanot

    the same problem for me when trying to export a project, i also tried to reduce the number of slides thinking it had some limitation in file size, but i always recieve this message when trying to export:” AN ERROR OCCURRED WHILE TRYING TO EXPORT TO ADOBE FLASH”.
    I specify i have a trial version of Captivate 5, while on the other side i have the regular licence for Flash. is it maybe a limitation of Trial? should not be.
    thank you

  • Patat

    L.S.

    For some reason, I get “flash can not parse this document” when exporting to flash (captivate 5.5 to flash 5 or 5.5). It’s driving me nuts. Any pointers?

    Sincerely,

    Patat

  • Patat

    L.S.

    For some reason, I get “flash can not parse this document” when exporting to flash (captivate 5.5 to flash 5 or 5.5). It’s driving me nuts. Any pointers?

    Sincerely,

    Patat

    • http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate Shameer Ayyappan

      @Patat, @Daniele, recently we’ve discovered an issue that limits the size of the #AdobeCaptivate file that can be exported to Flash. The limitation is in the number of objects in the Cp project (not the actual size in MB). While we investigate a fix, try breaking the Cp project into smaller modules and then exporting the same to Flash.

  • anna

    Hi,
    I have a customy flash build player which plays .swf files. I want .swf files created by captivate to play in that player. But the play and pause button does not seem to work, only on the .swf files created with captivate. Is there any special publish setting that need to take in consideration. Thanks

    • Ravi Kishore

      Hi Anna,
      We are not exporting any variables in Flash Export to control the captivate swf. You can log an enhancement request. wish-captivate@macromedia.com.

    • Joseph

      Anna have you heard anything? I find the export process amazingly incomplete.

  • anna

    movie.soundHandler:[object rdSoundHandler]
    decrementWait = 1
    incrementWait = 2
    I get this in output when i try to play .swf files created in captivate in a custom swf player, plus play and pause button doesnt work either.

    • Ravi Kishore

      Hi Anna,
      Sorry, I didn’t get this correctly. Are you working with the exported .fla file or the Captivate generated .swf file. Because these messages will not come in a .swf file published from captivate exported .fla file.
      If you are working with .swf files generated from Captivate and you want to control the .swf file, you can check this post. You can use the variables listed in the post to control the captivate swf. But this doesn’t apply to the .swf files generated from captivate exported .fla files.

  • Joseph

    I’m finding this whole process somewhat funny. After having used “Articulate” to add annotations to Powerpoint slides for some simple CBT, tedious under Windows on a MAC, I still got fairly usable results. I was delighted to use Captivate 5, where I could essentially do the same thing, somewhat seamlessly. Unfortunately, then the funny begins. Using the “Export” feature – wildly thinking I would export the entire 5 slides I made as a test, TOC, and elements which are the most basic of controls for managing the transitions, then, in an insanely optimistic leap could publish the CS5.5 into an iPad app, simply following documented instructions. Whoops – export doesn’t export your project, but it does, in the parlance of software, “silently” drops virtually everything that’s part of the e-Learning environment and simply hands me a flash file while I note, when trying to view gives me a “file has more than 16000 frames, publish only part?” question. The flash file, trying to view, is a blank white screen – silly of me to not have divined that I’m supposed to do something else besides “play” to play the file – shades of Microsoft’s “click on Start to shut down the machine”. The playable file had only narrative and slides of what I copied over, none of the controls I asked for – so it’s useless. Plunging forward, I “published” it for iPad, and after requisite privileges and provisioning, I arrived at an app which is a completely blank screen.

    Just a wild question, did anyone consider, like, making a simple CBT from annotated powerpoint, exporting into CS5.5 to publish to multiple target environments?

    I have a very hard time believing that the combination of Captivate 5/CS5.5 has even been tested for the most basic applications. Evidence points otherwise.

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