Animations in Storyline???

Mar 14, 2013

Hello - I use a lot of object animations in my e-courses because the subject matter I work with (construction/industrial/technical) calls for it and because I just plain enjoy them . We recently upgraded to Storyline and I'm attempting to import Powerpoint slides which have animations that play during the entire slide duration. However, Storyline is treating them as simply entrance animations, and not playing them until the end of the slide. It seems adjusting the timeline makes no difference. Is there anywhere to adjust the timing and other animation options in Storyline? Will there be an update soon with expanded animation options? Also- any chances of getting construction-themed cutout people? Thank you.

13 Replies
eTam Miller

I really hope they are working on this as an update. Aside from movement being one of my favorite design elements, I frequently illustrate technical processes and compositions, and make classy use out of PowerPoint's custom motion paths and emphasis animations. It's very disappointing to learn that these don't carry over into Storyline (yet). There's got to be many other instructional designers who work with non-office & non-scenario-related subject matter, right? In the meantime, maybe it's finally time for me to learn Flash...

Nancy Woinoski

Hi eTam, instead of going to the trouble of learning Flash (which does not work on the iPad or other apple devices), you might want to continue using PowerPoint to create your animations. You could then use the create video option in PowerPoint (2010 or above) to save the slides as a video which could then be imported into Storyline.

Gina Heumann

I'm in agreement with you, eTam... I teach an architectural history course and it's great to have animations that circle specific building features on the slide or point to various items while you're explaining things. I also wish we could animate text to go along with the voice over in Storyline, as we can in Articulate. I'm new at this and still trying to figure out what I can do!

Nancy Woinoski

Hi Gina, you can  do the things you are describing in Storyline.

You can adjust the timing of individual objects (text, images, symbols, video, buttons etc.) by placing them in the Timeline at the point in which you want them to appear.  If you want to time bullets within a single text box, you can add an entrance animation to the text box and select the "1st level paragraph option."  When you do this a gray arrow appears next to the object's name in the timeline.  When  you click the arrow, it expands to show a line item for each 1st level paragraph that you can then time to the audio.

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