Blurry Images in Preview and Published

Jun 12, 2017

I've noticed this for awhile, all of my images I insert into this Storyline 3 course appear quite blurry everywhere - on the Storyline development screens, when previewed and when published (either as HTML5 or Flash).

The images are all smaller than the maximum size, they are at 100% scaling, have no effects applied to them. My Publish settings is set to 100% quality.  I've tried bitmaps, pngs, jpgs, all identical blurry results.

I've searched these forums and seen a couple other threads on it , but never found a solution or real explanation for it. I can't send this course over to my client - it's embarrassingly bad. 

190 Replies
Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi M., 

It sounds like you may be running into a similar issue as described here, although you also mentioned blurry in publish?

The blurriness while editing or previewing it may be connected to the changes we put in place for high resolution monitors. You can modify the DPI setting to display at 100% and that should change what you're seeing. 

We are also aware of an issue with the published output appearing blurry in Google Chrome while viewing the HTML5 output - but it appears normally in IE11 and Firefox for both Flash and HTML5. 

Some general best practices for working with images (and any media) are described here, and it does sound like you're following along with those but worth a double check. 🙂

If any of the above ideas don't help, I'd love to take a look at one of your files with a few sample images. You can share it here using the "add attachment" button at the bottom of the Reply window. 

M. Bosscher

Sorry - it's just odd to hear about image degradation coming from scaling an image down in size (assuming you maintain exact aspect ratios). AFAIK it has always been best practice when dealing with images to scale down but NEVER up or you will greatly impact the images quality - so i was shocked to hear that scaling an image down in Storyline results in blurry images.  

Why would Storyline allow for the scaling of images within Storyline if this is the case?  Honest question.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi M., 

Storyline won't stop you from scaling an image - we want you to be able to insert and modify content as needed. Some instances the blurriness may not be noticeable or as large a concern depending on your course needs and users. 

The best practice is to insert the image at the size you need - that allows you to edit, modify, and create images in a specific editing tool and then use those in Storyline. The best of both worlds. 

Natalie Baumstark

Publishing as HTML5 Only.  When I test Chrome on a Mac, my hi-res images look beautiful.  Chrome on PC is incredibly blurry. Does that make sense?  We really would prefer the users have the ability to scale down, since we have a variety of different desktops and laptops staff will be viewing on.  If we have to aim with the lower resolution in mind, then images are going to look really awful on larger monitors.  Chrome is our organizations browser of choice, so instructing them to use a different browser for this one purpose is going to be tough. Thank You!!!

Crystal Horn

Hey there, Adam and Natalie.  We've documented an issue where the HTML5 output appears slightly less crisp in Chrome than in Firefox or IE, for example, and we've given it priority.

In our research, we discovered that Chrome has this issue documented.  We're waiting on some movement from them, since at least part of the problem is outside of our control.

I'm sorry that your courses are impacted, and Natalie, I know you mentioned that you primarily rely on Chrome.

The current workaround is to use Flash first publishing to improve the Chrome blurriness.  Your course can still fallback to HTML5 output if Flash Player is not enabled or supported in the learners' browsers.

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Charlotte and welcome to E-Learning Heroes :)

I do not have an update at this time, but our team is investigating this issue as well internally to see if there is anything we can do.

It seems to be related to Chrome and HTML5 output.

I will add this thread to the report as we track user impact and so that we can update here when we can as well.

Amy Schuster

Having the same issues and with many of our users using Chromebooks it is causing many problems. We try to use Flash as suggested but it seems everytime Chrome runs an update they make more hoops you must jump through in order to enable to flash. We are an online k12 school and it very difficult to get the information to all of our users. Please make this fix a priority. 

One thing I don't understand. This is not an issue in Storyline 2 as far as html5. I love the new updates as far as allowing shortcut keys and the player updates with Storyline 3 and html5, but I feel this is a big problem. Why the change from no problem (SL2) to a problem (SL3)?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Amy,

With Storyline 3 and Storyline 360, we rewrote our HTML5 publishing engine to provide broader support for HTML5 browsers and other features. Although that may not be the cause of the issue, it does make for a different set up in Storyline 3 than what was originally in Storyline 2. 

The issue is one our team is still working on and checking varying Chrome versions and how those compare to other browsers such as IE, Edge, Firefox, etc. Once we have any additional information to share we'll be certain to update the discussion here. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Lynn,

Sorry, you're having some trouble with the blurriness of the Storyline UI. We've seen a few users running into similar if they're screen resolution is set outside of the standard 100% - do you know what you're using? It's an option you can check from within the Control Panel.

As Leslie shared, our team is continuing to monitor this and look for options to improve the experience. As soon as we have more info to share on that we'll be certain to let folks know.

Katie Riggio

Hi, everyone! I saw there are some Storyline 3 users here, so I wanted to share that we've just released Update 5 for Storyline 3check out all the new fixes and features here!

In this update–and thanks to your support–courses should no longer appear blurry when you preview them in Storyline 3 or view the HTML5 output in Chrome. 

Here’s where you can install and update Storyline 3 to see everything this version has to offer. Let us know what you think ..and if you're still seeing blurriness, please let us know!

Katie Riggio

Hi, David! Really sorry for the confusion there.

We released a fix for the same issue where courses would appear blurry when previewing and viewing the HTML5 output in Chrome in Storyline 360 as well. A fix for this was included in build 3.17.16117.0

Are you still seeing some blurriness while using that particular build or a recent one? To check, click the Help tab, then click About Storyline.

I'll be standing by!

Stian Larsen

Hi Katie! I'm writing to let you know I still have this issue with blurry preview, and blurry Chrome HTML5 output. This is very unfortunate, as we've got over 30.000 active users, and most of them use Chrome. 
I'm on version "Update 5: 3.5.16548.0"
It's really annoying not being able to preview the course properly, and definitely a deal-breaker when courses look blurry and unsharp when published... =/

Stian Larsen

Hi,

I tried creating a new course from a blank project, and still have the same issues. I'm uploading the test as we speak. It's really annoying when the preview does not show the final result, so Iæm rellay looking forward to a solution. Also, blurry view in chrome is not good for us, as we hav ea lot of users using chrome. :)

Gary Overgaard

I just upgraded from Storyline 2 to Storyline 360 and opened an existing project in 360 for the first time. That is the first thing I noticed as well. The Preview in 360 is blurry. I have the latest 360 build installed as well.

Not a great confidence inspiring first experience. I have not yet made any modifications to my in-progress project and will definitely go back to Storyline 2 until this issue is resolved.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Gary, 

Are you experiencing the blurriness anywhere else besides Preview, such as while editing or viewing your published output? 

If it's only in Preview, what is your Windows Scaling/DPI set to? Can you test it at 100% scaling? 

If you're seeing this in publish, can you let me know: 

  • How you published and where you've uploaded your content
  • Browsers and version you're using to view it
  • Is it only images, text, or both
  • Are you using modern or classic player
  • Does this happen to new files created in 360? or only those upgraded from Storyline 2?

Once we have a bit more detail, we can dig in deeper to next steps!