Storyline Play/Pause timeline toggle

Nov 15, 2012

I have a client that wants custom navigation contols instead of the default storyline controls.

I added buttons and triggers. My question is how do I pause the timeline (not just audio or media), then toggle to resume play on the same trigger?

56 Replies
Sinchu Raj

HI Leigh

Create one more layer and call the layer when buttons appear, in the new layer make the properties to pause the base layer.

i have deleted fade-in effect from the buttons, i have removed the effect because am calling a trigger to appear the layer when time line starts. in this layer i have already made a settings to pause the base layer, because of this function button will not be visible.

please see the attached file for your more reference and let me know the status.

Brodie Greig

Hey Guys,

I think this fits here...

This may be apparent to some of you but I thought I'd post it anyway to save someone out there a bit of time in the future. I worked out how to pause the timeline while playing different media (video). This need arose when I needed the ability to attach and play narration on the base layer (and this is important so that the user can scroll through the audio at will using the timeline) while also having a video option on the slide too (the user can trigger the play of this video on will also). The problem was that I wasn't able to pause the audio AND the timeline specifically when I chose to play the video. The timeline just kept on running even though the audio was paused and this messed up my ability to seek and caused the audio to cut out short. So, solution. For video, now I just put it on another slide, put reference/trigger the video on the slide that I want the video on (like a big play button) and then I just use the lightbox function to play it, with the video controls on that slide. This pauses the timeline and everything appears to the user working well.

Easy =)

greg carter

Hi guys

I too have been struggling to create an effective pause feature on storyline but found a simple solution that works for me.

I create a slide that simply says "paused" with a button on it saying "resume". I put a pause button on the all of the slides and slide layers with a trigger to "lightbox" the paused slide. I then set the "resume" trigger to close lightbox.

This works really well in my projects which have many layers with different media running. When you hit resume it always picks up from the right place.

Hope that helps someone.

Greg

Glori Edewaard

greg carter said:

Hi guys

I too have been struggling to create an effective pause feature on storyline but found a simple solution that works for me.

I create a slide that simply says "paused" with a button on it saying "resume". I put a pause button on the all of the slides and slide layers with a trigger to "lightbox" the paused slide. I then set the "resume" trigger to close lightbox.

This works really well in my projects which have many layers with different media running. When you hit resume it always picks up from the right place.

Hope that helps someone.

Greg


This was the PERFECT quick & easy solution to the Pause issue I was having. Thank you Greg!
Matthew Atherton

The Lightbox solution solution that Greg offered was perfect for my application, too! Except, I am actually using the lightbox slides to allow the user to read more information about the topic at the point where he or she paused the playback (with an icon indicating that more information is available).

It's kind of like a custom pause button... A great solution! Thanks, Greg!

LaKeisha  Purnell

I've read through all the threads and have tried some of the solutions but I am still having the same issue. I am creating a video library for a client. This project contains multiple slides that have multiple layers and each layer contains a video. For example Slide one has 15 layers (not including the base layer). The base layer contains the full interview video. Then this video cut by questions which appear on the different layers. I have placed buttons on the base layer that are triggered to go to the different layers. I didn't see a trigger to return to the base layer so I created an additional layer for the Full Video.

My issue is that the video on the base layer does not stop playing when I click on a different layer. The videos on the other layers do stop when I click on another layer. The settings on all of the layers has been set to pause timeline on the base layer. I do know that if can create a trigger to stop media when Question 1 is clicked (but I would have to do this 12 more times). I'm sure that there is something that I am over looking but is there an easier way of doing this. My project will consist of 28 more slides similar to this.

I have attached a sample of my project.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Lakeisha, 

Thanks for sharing your file here. How are you getting back to the base layer of that slide to see that the video hasn't paused? I'm not seeing it continue to play behind the individual slide layers, and I didn't notice any triggers to hide the individual layers and therefore bring the user back to the base layer. 

Have you looked at adding triggers to the individual slide layer buttons to "pause media" the video on the slide base layer when the user clicks any of the buttons to show the new layers. 

Belen Ferrer

@LaKeisha -- This is not ideal, but you can Copy/Paste triggers from one shape to another, so that will cut down production time. All you have to do is create the Pause Media trigger once, then go to your Trigger Panel and Copy:

Then, click on the next button to select it. Paste the trigger in the Trigger Panel. Continue pasting until you have all your triggers.

This will at least save you a few clicks.

LaKeisha  Purnell

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure how to make the user click back on the base level because the base level is not a option from the drop down menu for the triggers. That's why I created another layer for the full video. The users are not expected to view the videos in a specific order. Is there a way to make the full video button go back to the base layer when it's clicked?

Belen Ferrer

You would have to attach a trigger to "Hide layer: Layer 1" to the Full Video button -- but make a new trigger (on that same button) for every layer. Maybe too time-intensive.

Alternatively, you can place no video on the Full Video layer, but still have the 'Hide other slide layers' checked on. In this way, the Full Video layer would stop all the other videos from playing, but would not add its own video. It would just be a 'clear' layer.

Does any of that help?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi LaKeisha,

There isn't a "return to base layer" trigger but you can use a "hide layer" trigger to hide the layer the user is on, and that would return them to the base layer.

Even though the video on the "full video" layer is the same as the base layer - it's been inserted twice, and each layer is being treated separately, so it won't pick up in the "full video" layer where the user may have left off on the base layer.

In regards to the triggers, it would need to be added to each button/layer and as Belen shared, there is the copy trigger element to help make that a bit easier to set up.

Rachel Frost

I am having the same issue I believe, but I've never used variables so I am having trouble. I took a stab at creating one and setting triggers to jump back to my current slide (and restart my audio), but alas, it did not work. Help!

My slide basically describes three situations, then at the end of the slide, 3 buttons appear and you can click on them to review those three situations again individually (each one is on a separate slide layer). If you replay the slide, there is no audio. I set a variable to start as false, then change to true if the person presses one of the buttons. I guess I just don't know where to place the "jump to slide" trigger. When it's "when the timeline starts" it just circles through and doesn't do anything (which I get), but I just don't know where to put it. Ack. (I have a cold and my brain isn't working...)

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Rachel,

I only made changes to the one layer "The patient" layer, and shortened the timeline there to make it easier to go through testing this - since you've got the variable option to jump back to the main slide when the timeline on the layer ends but I don't see the "dispensary" layer when the slide starts over again? Also, if you enable the seekbar and the audio is being triggered as in this file, they won't be in sync and therefore the seekbar won't allow you to replay the audio. 

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