Help with a slide with vectors, text boxes, states, hotspot, animation - oh my!

Nov 18, 2022

Hello, 

I'm a newbie and I can't get something to work the way I want it to (shocker, right?). I'd like for the user to click on one of these paddles that has a question on it, have the question text disappear, show a spinning animation, and then have the answer appear. It's tricky without being able to have a state for groups. (the paddle vector and text box are a group, which I've ungrouped for this.) Could any of you take a quick look at the slide and my triggers and let me know where I'm going wrong? Thanks for considering. 

12 Replies
Judy Nollet

I edited the first slide of your file to show how I would create this effect.

  • Create 2 shapes that are filled with the image of the paddleboard, one for the question and one for the answer. 
  • Give the answer shape a Spin entrance animation. Set its Initial State to Hidden (so it won't appear at first). 
  • Add triggers to the question shape: 
    • The 1st trigger hides the question shape.
    • The 2nd trigger shows the answer shape, which appears with its entrance animation. 

FYI: Grouping object is fine if you just want to keep them together for an entrance animation or just to be able to easily move them during development. But it's best to avoid groups for interactions. That tends to complicate and/or screw up the programming.

  • Filling an object with an image is a great way to avoid having to group an image with text. And it allows you to take advantage of states.
  • When you are editing an object's states, you can insert other objects to make them part of a given state. Those added objects can even be outside the main shape area. For example, in a Visited state, you could insert a big checkmark above the shape.
Kathleen Czop

Hello Judy,

Thank you so much, that worked perfectly! Most importantly though, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain why it worked and to give me some tips. I just learned something so useful that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. I can tell you must be a great instructor.

Kathleen Czop

I'll definitely check out your profile, thank you. I have another question:
Is there a way that I can set this up so that the answer paddle is a
different color? Or am I asking too much from life? A friend showed me a
way to do it where I could at least change the text to a different color
but it would be more visually interesting with the whole paddle changed.

Judy Nollet

Kathleen,

I'm glad you were able to figure out how to change the text color.

To change the color of the paddle, you'd need to change it in a copy of the original image, and then use the revised image to fill the shape. How you do that depends on the graphics editing software you use.  

BTW, filling shapes with an image is done via the Format Shape window, which you can access by right-clicking an object: 

Format Shapes is also where you'll find the Text Box settings for adjusting margins, etc.

FYI: My business does not offer one-on-one Storyline consulting. In other words, I voluntarily answer some questions here on the Forum, as my time allows. But I don't reply to individual email requests for help. 

I recommend that you start new discussion threads when you have new questions.