Meant for?

Collaboration ibecomes easier with good understanding. This blog aims at improving understanding between the Captivate developer and her/his team mate - Photoshop expert.  You'll start with typical Photoshop terminology, followedby the two import workflows to import source Photoshop files into . Watching some typical examples can help you to make suggestions to your PS expert. 

Goal:  make your Captivate use of their creative work more agreeable, and save time.

Photoshop terminology

Layers

A layer in Photoshop is always static (not linked to a timeline) but can have multiple objects on a layer (not possible in Captivate cptx files, where each layer is an object timeline as well). They have some added functionality compared with Captivate likes:

• Mask on a layer can limit a region for applying editing or keeping it from editing.
• The opacity of a layer can be changed (or part of it if masked).
• Photoshop can have special type of layers interacting with other layers (you’ll see an example below, where Adjustment layers are used).
• The way pixels on layers interact can be changed by blending modes. I will not expand on that powerful possibility.

Similar to Captivate, a layer can be locked and made invisible. In the screenshot layer ‘Failure3Trans is visible. Layers Failure1 and Failure2 are locked.

The active layer – like in Captivate – is the one you are busy editing. Grouping of layers is also possible. In the screenshot you see two groups of layers and one individual layer at the bottom.

Flattening

However in the Captivate dialog box for importing a source Photoshop file (see below) the meaning is slightly different. Only the ‘checked’ layers will be imported as one merged image. You will see a typical example in the last section.

Layer comps

A Photoshop document can have a multitude of layers of all kinds. Not all of them are content layers as mentioned before. This can make the decision on which layers to import for a certain goal in Captivate very difficult. For an easier, workflow the Photoshop expert can define ‘layer comps’. See them as a filter: when you choose a comp, some layers will be made visible and checked off, while the other layers remain invisible. Using a comp you’ll import exactly the right layers just by choosing a ‘comp’ name. You will see examples in the third section of this blog. Very useful!

Import Photoshop Source Document

Default way to import graphic assets is by using the Media button on the Big Button Bar. That is possible both for  (bitmap) Image and SVG. You will not find an option under that button to import a PSD-file (PSD is the extension of a native Photoshop file).  You need to use two possible workflows:

1. File, Import, Photoshop file (Shift-Alt-P)

Using this method will import both to the slide and the Project Library. Similar to importing images with Media button, on the stage it will be centered automatically both vertically and horizontally. In the Library you will see a new folder under the root. The folder has the same name as the Photoshop file, and includes what is imported.

In the screenshot you see the Library with 3 imported Photoshop files: FailureSuccess – the file for which the layer panel was shown in the previous screenshot; CompExampleCP which will be shown as example for use of comps; TemplateFlatten which you’ll discover as an example for flattening and non-flattening in the example section.

2. Import button in Library

Using this workflow only export to the library, not to the stage. In the screenshot the Import button is indicated with a red rounded rectangle.

The result for the Library is the same as with the first workflow. New folders will be created. The level below the folders are all PNG images. You can drag those PNG-images to any slide and location.

Which of the two workflows is better, depends on the situation. Have a look at the example section, where I will indicate which workflow may be better for each example. Photoshop files can be designed for multiple purposes to be used in Captivate.

Examples

1. Photoshop file as ‘Library’

The first screenshot (Terminology, Layersà with the Layers panel of ‘SuccessFailure’ is a typical example of what I mean by ‘Library’. Several images, each on their layer, are in one Photoshop file. In this example they have the same style. The Captivate developer can choose which images she/he likes best for the active project. Some of the images have a version with transparent, and another with white background (multiple background are possible of course).

Another example which I saw several times with clients: Photoshop was used as layout tool, each of the slides were on a layer in Photoshop. That may be considered also as a PSD file of this ‘Library’ type. When you open the Import Dialog box, with one of the two workflows, it will look like the screenshot to the right:

• There are no comps, you leave it to ‘Simple’ (blue marker)
• There is only one option in the Dropdown list:’ Last Document state’. It means the state when the Photoshop document was closed in Photoshop.
• I recommend to check the option to scale (green), unless you have the images created exactly at the wanted size for use in Captivate (which is the best practice).
• You will see all the layers of the Photoshop document. You can check the layers you need to import.
• If you have multiple layers selected, you probably will not want them to merge to one image, since the images are choices, not part of a global image (red rectangle: Layers is the default setting).
• About the workflow: if you want more than one layer Workflow 2 (Import button) is recommended here. If you choose Workflow 1 (file menu) all layers will be converted to PNG images AND inserted all in the center of the slide. Not what you want. Use workflow 1 only when you import one layer.

2. Flattening or not?

The screenshot shows the Layers panel (Photoshop) of the file ‘TemplateFlatten” which you also could see in the Library screenshot.

This file has 3 image layers which were extracted from 1 bitmap image. Each of them is exactly on the location as in the original bitmap image. I added a ‘template’ layer which can eventually be imported and used to restore the original combined image. But in most cases that will not be necessary.

In this case I recommend Workflow 1, whether you want to import the individual layers as PNGs (Layers in the Import dialog box) or the combined image by checking the option ‘Flattened’.

Reason: when the image are imported to the stage, they will in the correct (relative) location. When you import them only to the Library, you’ll need to use the Template to position the individual PNGs in the correct location.

Look back at the Library panel (Captivate) in the section ‘Import’: the four layers were imported as layers, and in a second process the flattened image was imported as well. That flattened image will be posted automatically in the correct library folder, and gets a generic name (FlatImage1) which you can edit of course.

3 Use of Comps

In the second example I used the same image as here for the comps example. In that example 2, each of the images has a text on the head scarf. The color of the images is gold. I wanted to make this file more flexible in two ways:

• To have another ‘hue’ for the images, so that it better fits with a project color scheme.
• To be used with the Texts in multiple languages.

That has led to a lot more layers, since text had to be on a separate layer (make it also editable), and to change the hue I used Adjustment layers which are a non-destructive way to change the ‘look’ of the layers below. In the screenshot below you see text layers in two languages (English and Dutch) and 3 adjustment layers on top. To keep it manageable for this blog, I kept only the global image, not the individual ones.  Next to the layers panel you see the Layer Comps panel. Each of those comps defines a situation. Presently ‘DutchSepia’ is active and reflected in the Layers panel: the visible layers (eye icon) are needed for this look, with Dutch text on the scarfs and a Sepia adjustment layers.

Captivate makes it really easy to import the wanted ‘comp’. Kudos to the team! In most instances you will want to import one comp, and it is possible with two different setups of the Import Dialog box.

In the left screenshot, next to ‘Photoshop Layer Comps’ the option ‘ Multiple’ is checked. If the comps were labeled well, you can easily select the wanted comp to import. It will be imported always as Flattened. The options for ‘Import as:’ are dimmed.

The result of comps import is visible in the Project Library screenshot (Import section). You see that I repeated the import process 4 times, because 4 comps are available, each being a merged image from the layers visible in that comp filter.

Second possibility is to keep the Single radiobutton checked next to ‘Photoshop Layer comps’. Have a look at the screenshot to the right which shows that situation.

Open the dropdown list under ‘Last Document State’ and you will see all the available comps.

Advantage of this second workflow is that you can see which Photoshop layers are selected for import. You could eventually edit those selections, but be careful. You can import layers in this case as well, but I would not recommend that if adjustment layers are used. They cannot be imported into Captivate, only the real images.

Since you will mostly import only one comp the choice for the Import workflow is free, whether with File, Import or with the Import button in the Library.

Updating

Not mentioned so far, because you’ll find this in all blogs and video about Photoshop roundtripping.  The ‘green’ checkmark next to the Photoshop folder, which indicates that the original PSD-file is in synch with Captivate. If your Photoshop expert updates that file in any way: adding layers, editing content on one or more layers, correcting typos in the text layers this will be reflected in Captivate by a color change in that round checkmark.  Clicking the red checkmark will allow you to update and have the changes automatically be imported and applied in Captivate.

Intro

The Assets panel is a nifty new feature, and I am confident that its use will be enhanced in the future. You could have read my first comments in this post. You find under Tip 2 a special feature concerning the Characters of the Illustrated category. One of the complaints often heard about downloading characters is that you have to do this one by one, which is taking a lot of time. If you like the Illustrated category, and also have access to Illustrator, you can find a tip which could save you a lot of time. It is no secret that the new features in 11.5 for SVG’s are my favorites, and they’ll play a role here as well. What would you think about characters in SVG-format, which means always crisp, never pixelated? With the possibility to edit the colors within 

Workflow

Step 1: Download Illustrated Work File

After the download you’ll be able to open the folder immediately from the popup dialog box. I mentioned already that it is under Others in eLearning Assets (under Public documents\Adobe if you are on Windows).

Step 2 Illustrator – Preparation

Be sure I am not at all an expert in Illustrator, my expertise is more with Photoshop, Captivate, Audition and InDesign.  Three items in the Illustrator environment will be important, try to find them and get acquainted. The active workspace is not  important, I used Essentials:

1. Selector tool (black arrow) which is the first tool in the vertical Toolbox, indicated by a red circle in the next screenshot. It has also a shortcut key V.
2. Properties panel: it may be open, just find it or you can open it from the Windows menu. This panel will be used to identify the nature of a selection (step 3).  It is highlighted in light blue in the screenshot. For this particular selection it indicates as ‘Group’. You are familiar with grouping in Captivate and that knowledge will be useful in step 3. IYou can increase its size both horizontally and vertically.

The characters come with 4x6  poses.  Only face changed in the groups of 6: disappointed, speaking, normal and happy.

Step 3: Identify and change status of character

Choose the Selector (arrow) and drag a rectangle surrounding (or cutting) the character you want to save.  You’ll see a lot of blue lines (paths) appear in the image. If the Properties panel indicates that this is a group, it is great, done with this step! Here is an example (character Sydney):

For the following example, the selected paths are indicated as "Mixed Objects". You need to group them which is possible with the same shortcut key CTRL-G as in Captivate. Alternative is the command 'Group' from the right-click menu , or from the menu Object. Here is an example of a selection which has to be grouped (character Jessica):

Step 4: Drag objects to Asset Export panel

Step 5: choose Export fomat(s) 

You can  indicate to which format you want to export, and multiple formats are possible. In the screenshot below you’ll see that not only  SVG, but also PNG’s in 3 different sizes was chosen. The last option indicated an exact height for the PNG. That way you can increase the quality to what you want exactly, since the original image is vector-based. You know the rule in Captivate: best quality for a bitmap image (PNG is bitmap) needs inserting the character in exactly the size you want. It can also be interesting to increase the size if you want to use only part of the character.

Let us compare with the normal download of characters from the Assets panel. You get only two choices , both with a fixed size (high and low).

Available formats are visible in this screenshot. For the characters, which have a transparent background you should not use JPEG because it will replace  the background by a solid color:.Now click the Export button. You will be asked to indicate the location for the images. You can put them in a subfolder of the eLearning assets or anywhere. They will not show up in the Downloads section of the Assets panel.

Conclusion

I like the Illustrator Export Asset panel a lot. Being able to use SVG format has many advantages: always high quality, and  it is so easy to edit colors in Captivate (or by roundtripping with Illustrator). This article is also meant to provide a possible workaround for having all characters available immediately without having to download them one by one. Too bad that you do not get such an overview image for the normal characters, only for the illustrated ones.

A warning: the downloaded Workfile (see step 1) nor the exported assets will appear in the Downloads section of the Assets panel. You could store them in the Others folder under eLearning Assets, but will have to import them manually to the Library of a project to use them. 

In a previous article I described the workflow to edit a Character (from Media) with Photoshop, without damaging the original image. In this interactive video you’ll see the workflow: an inserted character from the Illustrated category will change colors and be flipped. This very simple workflow is suited only for regions with solid colors. The next interactive video will show the workflow to change a color in a photographic image.

Watch this video:

Why?

Yesterday a question appeared on the forums: ‘How to save in the Library the edits to Characters’. In this use case it was meant to save the flipped version of the Character. In the Library the original version will always be kept. Result: when you drag another instance of the character on a slide, it will not be flipped. Edits to the character, made with the Edit image functionalities will never be saved to the original image in the Library.

Characters folder

As you probably know, the downloaded characters are stored (for Windows) in Public Documents, under AdobeeLearning Assets. If you have multiple versions of Captivate, you’ll find a subfolder ‘Characters xx’ for each of the versions. Because of that location you are able to edit the characters even without Administrator rights. 

For each character in the folder you’ll have a Thumbnails and an Images subfolder. The Thumbnails show all what is available for that character, the Images only the downloaded image, both in a High and a Low version.  Although you can always choose for 3 ways of inserting a character: Full, Half and CloseUp, there is only one image in Low and High version, real images for those who were downloaded, placeholders for the others. 

When you insert a character in a Captivate project, it will appear on the stage and in the Library. The file showing up in the Library can be one of the 6 possible versions: High/Low in CloseUp, Half or Full version. 

Editing Characters

On the stage

You can edit the Character  on the stage with the set of editing possibilities provided by Captivate:

• Resizing, flipping, rotating using the Options tab in the Properties panel (inspector). 
• Using the Edit Image button in the Properties.  It is a limited set of editing functionality but could be sufficient in some circumstances. In this image you’ll see some edited instances of the same character.

This workflow will not change the original image in the Library. However if you need to use the same edited image multiple times, you’ll have to use the copy/paste workflow. The editing is not saved in the Library.

In the Library

Do NOT Rename

If you save it that way that particular instance of the image will be changed also for future project. Bit confusing, but the other 5 instances remain untouched. In this example I edited the Low, Half version of Sarah01 (Illustrated category). As you can see in this screenshot, the other instances keep their original look, although you’ll find only one image for Low on your system.

Do Duplicate

What is the correct way to preserve the original image? You have to duplicate the image in the Library and edit the duplicate. You can see the result on this screenshot for the Sticky Woman, low resolution, Half instance:

Multiple edited characters

If I need multiple edited characters in a course, to be reused over and over again I would prefer to create a layered Photoshop file and use the Import functionality. You did see that I created an extra folder for Characters under the Images folder in the Library in the last screenshot. With an Imported PS file that would be unnecessary.  Do not forget that it is always possible to use edited characters in the Library in any other project, by using the External Library workflow.

How?

I really do like the new feature in the eLearning Suite 2 that allows you to edit the source file in Photoshop from Captivate. In Captivate 4 you had already the possibility to import a layered Photoshop file, indicate which layers you wanted to use. But after import each layer was converted to a PNG-image. If you wanted to change an image, you did have roundtripping to Photoshop and it worked fine. But if you had to change multiple images, that were all imported from the same Photoshop file, you had to repeat this 'trip' for each of those images separately.

In Captivate 5 you can edit all layers at once using the 'Edit Source PSD file'. If you never used this possibility I created a small demonstration to show the workflow. In one of the Photoshop-files I created with reusable objects I have two buttons, using five layers as you can see in this screenshot. When imported in Captivate, as you'll see in the demonstration I can create each of the buttons using three images: an Text image (Nee or Ja), a background color (RoodNee or BlauwJa) and the Overlay (which I use for both buttons). Both text and background color have to be changed.

Similarly I created Photoshop files with all kind of arrows, with text balloons etc. The idea is to be able to reuse those items, and when necessary to change quickly the color by using the roundtripping feature I described in the demo.