Video Controls vs. Seekbar Issues

Apr 04, 2017

Kevan Stranges
By Kevan Stranges

Hey Guys,

There's another post on our forums about this here:  http://bit.ly/2nGFKnD

I've got a screencast video that shows some keystrokes - during the video I have 3 different zoom regions that are being used (different portions of the screens, including the top of the screen).

When I use the seekbar for user video control commands, if they seek to another point of the video during a "zoom region" (probably the same if you add objects to slide as well) then the correct zoom regions are not restored - the ones used at the time of the seek remain on screen.   Essentially that can make things quite confusing for the viewer.

I've also tried to use the Video Controls option - albeit this much less confusing for the user it still has one primary problem in my experience thus far.  If I'm zooming into a region on the top of the screen, during that time the "Video Player control" element is no longer present.   Essentially the user can wait until the zoom is restored to normal and then rewind/control feed but I'm trying to give them control to do that at any time.

Is there any known workarounds for this?   I'm relatively new and have been searching the forums a bit but seem to be in a dead end.   Can you create your own video control element and position it at the bottom of the screen?  Is there a way for the built in video control elements to be "fixed" at the bottom of the screen - even during a zoom region outside of that area?  

Some suggestions would be greatly appreciated at this point;  Good Day!

-Kevan

 

 

9 Replies
Alyssa Gomez
7 years ago04/05/17 at 3:11 pm (UTC)

Hi there Kevan,

Thanks so much for your post. It sounds like you have a zoom region on your slide that is getting "stuck" when the learner skips ahead on the seekbar, is that correct? I'm having a little trouble reproducing this in a new file, so can you tell me a bit more about your set up? 

  • What version of Storyline are you using?
  • When you tested this, how did you publish the file--for web or LMS?
  • Where did you host the published content after it was published?
Kevan Stranges
7 years ago04/06/17 at 7:06 pm (UTC)

Hey Alyssa,

Yeah, there's a couple things happening (and using video controls doesn't seem to help much like I originally indicated).  I'm using Storyline 360 and I haven't tried to publish it yet, I'm using it in the preview.

I've attached a quick sample I just threw together.   During the screencast video, I'm trying to zoom into 3 different regions to show activity.   In the last two zoom regions, I've also added a rectangular shape within that zoom region (e.g. highlighting something on the screen).

In slide 1.1 I use the seekbar to jump around in terms of timing.   When doing so, I I try to jump to another spot, it takes my zoom region with me until the timeline tells the screen to adapt to a new one.   The boxes seem to show up at the right time.

In slide 1.2, I use the video controls.   This one just seems to control the video itself while the slide does what it's supposed too.  Additionally when your zoomed in - you lose the video controls.

Essentially, what I'm trying to do is create a seamless video of a few key steps.   I want to zoom into a few different areas during the video, and at times highlight those areas (e.g. an input field) while having voice-over to narrate what's happening.   Additionally, I would like the user to be able to return to rewind the video if they missed something.   

Do I have any options for this within Storyline itself?  At this point, I'm thinking I can let the final video run (with zooms and rectangular shapes higlighting) and take another screencast of that - using that video as my final video - essentially embedding the zoom and shapes into my video itself.  Am I missing something here?  (I'm sure I can use third party software to also edit videos if I wanted too as well).

Thank you
Kevan

Alyssa Gomez
7 years ago04/07/17 at 7:12 pm (UTC)

Thanks for sharing your file with me, Kevan. Now I'm seeing the issue you're describing, and the zoom regions definitely shouldn't function this way.  Since I was also saw the issue in a new file, I'm going to log this as a possible software bug. 

From here, I’ll meet with my team to take a closer look, so that we can verify this is a bug. Sometimes my team catches errors in my logic and we don’t have a bug after all. Of course if that’s the case, I’ll let you know!

Your idea to record a video of the screencast with zoom regions sounds like a good workaround in the meantime. Let me know if you're able to make that work for your project.

Thanks again for letting us know about this issue, and I'm really sorry if it's slowing you down.

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