Issues importing PPTx animations into Storyline
Mar 22, 2013
I’m dealing with an urgent issue with a client. We’re trying to import a very deep and complex animation into Storyline. (there are over 50 different animation steps, with some items appearing and exiting several times)
The animation was created in PPT for Mac (2011 v. 14.3.2) by the client and are being imported to Storyline by us using PPT 2010 for Windows.
When we import into Storyline, many of the objects have moved and text boxes are resized (we realize this is known behaviour) and are difficult to work with to ensure the animations to stay true to the way they were designed in PPT. We are using the most recent version of Storyline. We are looking to ensure that we are using the most efficient path to develop this in Storyline.
Here are my questions:
- Are there specific issues with certain versions of PPT?
- Are there specific issues with using PPT files created using Mac vs Windows?
- Are there specific settings in PPT or Storyline that will streamline the process of importing the animations?
- Are the specific recommendations to prepare the PPT file for more efficient importing into Storyline to minimize the amount of work to do after we import?
- There seems to be very specific issues with the exit animations – is this a limitation? They seem to exit at the end of the timeline, if they disappear at all, which seems intermittent.
- Items that appear and disappear multiple times in PPT only have one entrance and a disappearance at the last instance of the appear/disappear in Storyline – is this expected behaviour?
I’ve looked at several posts here on the forums, but I am looking for a compiled response to quickly address my client's needs.
Thanks,
Jamie
6 Replies
Jamie,
Not sure I can answer any of the questions above, however, as you are using PPT 2010, could you save out the animation slide to Video Format, and import that into SL - that way it would be exactly the same as the original?
Bruce
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the suggestion. There are 4 places within the animation that require the users to click - the client would prefer to keep the learning interactive rather than passively watching a video.
That said - what is the best way to save the video for import into SL? My early tests of this were that the video played very quickly, and wasn't as paced as it was in PPT.
Thanks Jamie
Our biggest concern is whether we're doing this the most efficient way - the animation took ~5 hrs to create in PPT and we're seeming to have to spend at least the same amount of time (probably more, actually) cleaning up the import into SL.
It seems like the import should be more streamlined than this.
Try saving the animation as one slide of it's own, then Save As > Windows Media Video (WMV).
I have done this on numerous occasions and lost none of the original animation integrity and timing - in fact...you cannot tell it's not Storyline.
Remember - you can then drop a hotspot etc. over the video to interact with it if required.
Bruce
thanks - I've tried that. It's an interesting way to implement it - it does seem seamless, however the issues with the timing are because they are click to advance in PPT.
Also, the interactivity is that a button is placed on the slide at a particular spot and then the learner clicks to continue the timing - is that possible, or would we need to save as several segments with the button to stop the video from playing?
Oh, and another factor is that there is a file size limitation on the server, so we are trying to keep file sizes to a minimum. We really only have about 2-3 MB for a compiled ZIP file.
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