Maria's suggestion works, and if you're happy, all's well and good.
Here's a simpler alternate, for anybody that may need this later.
If you don't need the variable for some other purpose, forget the variable, and the state.
If you want the paragraph to appear at, say 20 sec, expand the timeline, set the paragraph to appear at 20 sec, by paragraph, and drag each paragraph to the right on the timeline, (like you did.) Then pause the timeline at 19.9 sec (after the Button 1 appears), and create a trigger on Button 1 to resume the timeline.
I like both the solutions presented here, but both are work arounds and I hope that this can be addressed by development at some point. Setting the initial state of an object to Hidden should ALWAYS make it appear as hidden until triggered. The fact that setting the "by paragraph" animation setting overrides states means we're looking at a bug. I can confirm as of today, this bug STILL exists.
Maybe I can clarify just a bit. What Evan refers to can be seen only with a text box and only if you set an animation on it, and only if you set it to animate by paragraph. So any other object will stay in its initial state (whether hidden, or some other state) until triggered. Setting it to enter by paragraph creates a bunch of triggers you don't see, and don't have to create. They are basically: Change state of paragraph 2 to Normal when animation of paragraph 1 finishes (or Set the state of paragraph2 to Normal when the timeline of Textbox reaches X seconds."). So it's not really a bug, it's a time saver that I , for one, appreciate.
There are two ways to make an object hidden; one is to set its state, the other is to change its beginning on the timeline. If you set the state, any trigger (like those created by animating by paragraph) triggers the state change. Evan says, " Setting the initial state of an object to Hidden should ALWAYS make it appear as hidden until triggered."And it does; it's just that you don't have to create all those triggers. Setting animation by paragraph does it for you.. They are triggered as soon as the first paragraph shows on the timeline. So if you want them to show up later, move them to the right on the timeline. But that raises another problem, if you need the learner to perform certain actions before the text is shown. Since you can't predict when those actions occur, you can't just place the objects on the timeline, and expect them to show up at the right time. Now you need triggers to pause the timeline at each specific spot, and one more (to rule them all) to restart it when the learner completes each action.
Not a workaround, not a bug, but a lot of different ways to obtain a variety of options. Options and flexibility are good things, not bugs.
5 Replies
Hi, Michael.
Thank you for sharing your .story file!
If it works for your design, one suggestion might be to add the textbox with the animation to a layer and use your Button 1 to trigger the layer.
I'm looking forward to other suggestions our talented community members might be able to offer for what you're looking to accomplish.
Magnificient, what a simple solution that works.
Thank you so very much for your help.
Maria's suggestion works, and if you're happy, all's well and good.
Here's a simpler alternate, for anybody that may need this later.
If you don't need the variable for some other purpose, forget the variable, and the state.
If you want the paragraph to appear at, say 20 sec, expand the timeline, set the paragraph to appear at 20 sec, by paragraph, and drag each paragraph to the right on the timeline, (like you did.) Then pause the timeline at 19.9 sec (after the Button 1 appears), and create a trigger on Button 1 to resume the timeline.
I like both the solutions presented here, but both are work arounds and I hope that this can be addressed by development at some point. Setting the initial state of an object to Hidden should ALWAYS make it appear as hidden until triggered. The fact that setting the "by paragraph" animation setting overrides states means we're looking at a bug. I can confirm as of today, this bug STILL exists.
Maybe I can clarify just a bit. What Evan refers to can be seen only with a text box and only if you set an animation on it, and only if you set it to animate by paragraph. So any other object will stay in its initial state (whether hidden, or some other state) until triggered. Setting it to enter by paragraph creates a bunch of triggers you don't see, and don't have to create. They are basically: Change state of paragraph 2 to Normal when animation of paragraph 1 finishes (or Set the state of paragraph2 to Normal when the timeline of Textbox reaches X seconds."). So it's not really a bug, it's a time saver that I , for one, appreciate.
There are two ways to make an object hidden; one is to set its state, the other is to change its beginning on the timeline. If you set the state, any trigger (like those created by animating by paragraph) triggers the state change. Evan says, " Setting the initial state of an object to Hidden should ALWAYS make it appear as hidden until triggered."And it does; it's just that you don't have to create all those triggers. Setting animation by paragraph does it for you.. They are triggered as soon as the first paragraph shows on the timeline. So if you want them to show up later, move them to the right on the timeline. But that raises another problem, if you need the learner to perform certain actions before the text is shown. Since you can't predict when those actions occur, you can't just place the objects on the timeline, and expect them to show up at the right time. Now you need triggers to pause the timeline at each specific spot, and one more (to rule them all) to restart it when the learner completes each action.
Not a workaround, not a bug, but a lot of different ways to obtain a variety of options. Options and flexibility are good things, not bugs.