Animations in Storyline

the animations in storyline are limited to entrance/exit animations

you could do this in ppt and export as a video, or you may be able to achive this by masking the path of an exit animation and then changing state of an object from hidden to visible

Animation is something Storyline really needs to improve on (highest priority IMHO.) I create my animations in Flash and import them. Not sure if that is an option for you.

Shari, I just checked Storyline's support FAQs and it looks like you could import Captivate swfs (I am guessing CS5 and up) into Storyline. Captivate has the animation functionality that you describe.

Phil and Magda, thank you both for your ideas! I really appreciate them!

I have to agree.  The only real complaints I get about Storyline is that it does not do as much in the way of animations and will not animate on a line by line basis like PowerPoint.  Faculty are used to being able to animate a certain way like PowerPoint and then realize that they can no longer do anything other than the basics.  Not being able to animate lines of text is a sore spot, especially when importing a PowerPoint.

I have to agree that Storyline needs more animations.  Especially some of the basics, like being able to wipe during a fade in/fade out.  If I need to create the animations in Captivate, there is not need export into Storyline.  I may as well author the whole elearning in Captivate.  I use each authoring tool based on what is easiest for the needs of each course.

Please create more animations soon!  This is definitely a sore spot.

thanks

I have to agree with the above - I have just started using Storyline on a trial basis and although I like a lot of things about it, the limits placed on animation when compared to Powerpoint makes it less attractive to me.   I am not a Flash developer so I have to think pretty creatively if I want to make my content engaging - I wish there were more ways of moving things about in slides without having to be a Flash developer.      

I have to agree with the above remarks as well. I am evaluating Storyline as a trial as well and in just a couple of days have come up with a list of things that are either not available or are no longer supported. Still need to evaluate other tools to see what they offer.

Storyline offers so much more than animations.  Interactive engaging elearning is not just animations. There is so much more that can be done in Storyline.

There are lots of posts about the lack of animations, but this is a tool and no tool will do everything.  As designers it is our job to choose the correct tool for a job.  

Storyline is not and never will be powerpoint. 

Phil,

I agree with you that Storyline is much more powerful than PowerPoint which is why we are using it at the university even though Captivate is already available.  However, I do believe that a discussion based on user familiarity and functionality is useful.  Storyline appears to have successfully integrated many PowerPoint options in order to make users feel comfortable immediately (down to the top ribbon).  There is little doubt that it would be noticed to not have line by line animations or many of the most common animations and transitions.  I believe they will get this corrected and hopefully upgrade us in the future to this usability.  As designers and technologists, it is our responsibility to look for innovative ways to pursue learning, which includes asking questions.

Sincerely,

Ed

Yes, I agree that Storyline does make it really easy to create rich interactive experiences.

I think adding some animation functionality would be nice since it does incorporate a timeline. Some simple tweening between markers seems like it should be doable.

I think people are noticing this gap because almost every other tool has some simple animation capabilities. It's not a deal breaker for me since I can add Flash but not everyone knows Flash.

Agree with both Phil and Bruce. The reason I am evaluating Storyline first is the fact that with no experience in developing eLearning courses I have already put together a course in 2 days. It is a mindset issue - we are so used to text animations that the lack of anything more than very basic ones is a bit surprising in a program like storyline.

Also, the lack of slide timers is another one. Agree that this does not make sense in non-linear presentations. But where most slides are linear it would be a useful feature. Considering it was/is there in other Articulate programs? I do look at the time a module will take before deciding if I am going to sit down and do it now or come back to it later.

I am also trying to figure out how to extract course feedback from a Likert scale. Trying to get the email response to work.

I have no desire for ppt animations to be integrated into Storyline.  I want animations, I just feel the developers have the opportunity to stop looking back at ppt and create something truly amazing.

Wouldn't it be great if we had final cut style animations, tweening, morphing, control over elasticity and bounce.  with the ease of use of Keynote and Powerpoint.

I feel users should look beyond powerpoint and be really creative in what they want, if all we ask for is powerpoint animations, and motion paths, that is all we will get.

Hi  Sampath,

There actually is a "timer" there, with 2 x options, which you can get to when you publish, (see below).

May need to check it for accuracy.

Bruce

Phil,

My argument is that if animations are going to be supported in Studio '13, why not either support or include them in Storyline?  Then you can take and raise the bar even higher.  Just my two cents.  PowerPoint is also not an inferior product even though many like to say so.  Most of us cut our teeth on it in ID.

Ed

Storyline is a completely different product it may look like Powerpoint but it definitely is not, Studio and Storyline again are different (the only similarity is Quizmaker which has similar animations).

I don't believe you will see any animations added to Storyline before version 2 or before Studio 12.

I would agree with you that ppt is not inferior, but the animations are designed for presentations and have not really improved from version to version.  2013 is a good example because nothing new was added in the animations.

Studio 13

Thanks for that. Will look into it. Could be one problem solved!

Ugh. I just learned this the hard way. I tried to import a project I had originally done in Presenter into Storyline, and the animations that are not simple entrance/exit animations are missing. :-/