Custom Vector Shapes

Mar 10, 2016

Sarah Mottaghinejad
By Sarah Mottaghinejad

Is there a way to add custom shapes to the shape bank that will recolor with the theme?  I’ve tried to import many different types of vector files, but Storyline rasterizes all of them and I need the color to change with the color scheme just like the shapes built into Storyline.

So, there are two things I'm trying to do:

  1. Create custom vector shapes in Illustrator that will change color with the chosen color scheme just like native shapes.
  2. Add my own shapes to the shape asset bank.

Obviously, if I could create these shapes in Storyline, the change color thing would not be a problem, but the shape editing capabilities in Storyline are very limited.

29 Replies
C. Ferguson
7 years ago01/24/17 at 3:50 am (UTC)

Why can't storyline import vector images without either (a) rasterizing said images, or (b) greatly reducing the resolution?

SVGs, EMFs, WMFs, TIFFs, etc consistently turn fuzzy and/or lose resolution. They don't import worth a cracked egg.

I would request that before skyrocketing into Rise or 360 or whatever other bleeding edge enterprise Storyline heads toward, that you please address the long-overdue basics: Vector images in storyline.

 

 

ray laurencelle
7 years ago02/14/17 at 1:54 pm (UTC)

This question (and feature request) goes back at least 4 years !  Evidently the powers that be at Articulate don't react to anything unless there is a clamor from the user base.  Maybe hundreds of users aren't too concerned with vector graphics in their presentations.  But if Storyline aspires to be a great program it should at least have what other pro-level programs have had for years and what serious developers expect. Until it does it will remain an inferior choice.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
7 years ago02/14/17 at 6:33 pm (UTC)

It does go back some time, but our team continues to read, evaluate and monitor the varying feature requests, fixes and other roadmap priorities as we look at updates to our existing products and the creation of new products. We're always taking into account the user feedback, depth of impact of a missing feature, and any viability of other workarounds - so knowing a bit more about how the lack of the image types impacts you and your development directly is the feedback our product team needs and wants to hear. We're happy to have those discussions in the forums, although the Product team doesn't get as much time to read and respond in here we'll pass them along. They also monitor all the submissions from our feature request form here. 

ray laurencelle
7 years ago02/14/17 at 7:15 pm (UTC)

Thanks for your reply but seriously what good would one more request submission for a basic feature do?  Four years from now people will still be asking for it.   Since Storyline's tool set seems to mirror PowerPoint and a lot of users probably import PowerPoint,  why not at least match PowerPoint capability.  If PowerPoint can work with vector graphics, so should SL, and so on.

Meghan Gurlitz
almost 7 years ago05/09/17 at 9:58 pm (UTC)

Just adding another voice too! It would be nice to create custom vector shapes. Especially with the options for animating and displaying different states, it just looks mismatched when you have an imported image vs. a vector shape. You can clearly see the fuzziness of the graphic and the crispness of the vector.

Ed Rand
almost 7 years ago07/14/17 at 4:54 pm (UTC)

Just found this thread , I am a little amazed that an industry standard practice is not supported in an industry standard piece of software. The infinite possibility of clean scalable vector images for software that is supporting scalable delivery on different platforms seems like a no brainer. please look into this as a priority. Thanks

Alexander Spep
almost 7 years ago07/18/17 at 11:28 am (UTC)

I did some thinking and came up with two ways to make custom complex shapes in SL3 (or SL2).
1. Draw the desired shapes in PowerPoint. New versions of PowerPoint allow you to combine different shapes into one. Save the presentation. Import this presentation into SL3.
2. Draw need a sophisticated shape in Adobe Illustrator. Ctrl+C. Go to (I hope, programmers will forgive me) SL3. Ctrl+V. Right-click on the inserted picture. Select command "Ungroup" in the context menu . Again right-click on the picture. Again, select Ungroup. (Only 2 times). Erase unnecessary transparent objects. On the slide we can see the object "Freeform", which can change the color, outline and other properties.
I'd prefer the second method.

I tried to visualize my words. Sorry, if it did not work out very nicely, I'm not an expert in video clips.

Я немного подумал и придумал два способа сделать собственные сложные фигуры в SL3 (или SL2).
1. Рисуем нужные фигуры в PowerPoint (2013-2016). Новые версии PowerPoint позволяют объединять отдельные фигуры в одну. Сохраняем презентацию в pptx, содержащую 1 слайд со всеми нужными нам фигурами. Импортируем эту презентацию в SL3.
2. Рисуем нужную фигуру любой сложности в Adobe Illustrator. Копируем фигуру в буфер обмена - Ctrl+C. Переходим в SL3. Вставляем на слайд - Ctrl+V. Правый щелчок на вставленной картинке. В контекстном меню выбираем команду "Ungroup". Еще раз правый щелчок на картинке. Опять выбрать "Ungroup" (всего 2 раза). Лишние прозрачные объекты стираем, это мусор. На слайде видим объект "Freeform", для которого можем менять цвет, линию обводки и другие свойства, присущие фигурам.

 

David Gale
over 6 years ago01/20/18 at 3:29 pm (UTC)

I'm posting a video of a technique I use to get pretty vector graphics into Storyline as a shape to use as a button.  A colleague of mine who I consider to be a Storyline super user said she had never seen this technique before.  So, this is the first thing I'm sharing in e-Learning heroes in thoughts it might be helpful to others.  It was done by going back and forth between Adobe Illustrator and Storyline360.

https://360.articulate.com/review/content/c796a7f3-a5eb-4479-8b56-1da16739f61c/review 

Harold Lentink
over 6 years ago01/22/18 at 9:28 am (UTC)

In addition to this thread, does anyone know if its possible to convert a freeform shape into a placeholder so you can place it on the master. I'm just setting up a theme and would like to make an theme with as much standard objects as possible. But freeform object placed on a master slide can't be edited on a slide afterwards. 

Also in addition, is it possible to create a company specific "library" where you can place your content like the buttons David Gale is talking about. So users can re-use these objects easily.
Bu the way, i'm working with storyline 360. 

Alyssa Gomez
6 years ago01/23/18 at 7:04 pm (UTC)

Hi there Harold!

Since you asked about a company specific "library", I wanted to point you to Teams Slides. This feature, exclusive to Articulate 360 Teams subscriptions, allows you to create a library of shared team slides that everyone can access right from Storyline 360. 

You could easily insert slide objects like buttons on a team slide, then share with other members of your team. 

Is that what you had in mind?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
6 years ago01/23/18 at 7:05 pm (UTC)

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing that here! I'm sure it'll help other users such as Harold (even if it doesn't work for every type of shape!).

Harold, 

We don't have a library of assets that you could share among a team, but if you're using Storyline 360 and your on a Articulate 360 Team, you could use team slides as a way forward! 

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