Working with video on layers in Storyline
Dec 20, 2020
Hello, the content I develop quite often has screen capture videos with embedded audio. I edit the video and embed the audio using Camtasia. I also add captions, but until now preferred to add the captions in Storyline because 1) captions are easier to work with in Storyline and 2) doing so gives the entire project a better consistency when I use captions in other parts of the course. However, working with video and audio in Storyline can be quite frustrating. For example, I am working on a project now where I have two videos with embedded audio on a layer of a slide (videos in my courses are always on a layer) . What I wanted to do is to play the first video, have a break with some other explanation, and then play the second video. How Storyline handles this is maddening.
1. Media that is added to the timeline automatically defaults to "show until end". When I add the second video, the timeline automatically is extended, so the first video is extended as well. When I deselect "show until end", one would expect that the video would be automatically cr0pped to its actual length, but that isn't the case. One has to manually find the end point by repeatedly playing back and adjusting the media length. and this is also not consistent. Sometimes the end is found a one point in the timeline, and sometimes another point. This is dependent on where you start the playback from. If you start it from within the video you get one result, if you start if from before the video you get another and if you start it from the beginning of the layer you get still another.
2. When previewing the media, the playback becomes unsynchronized and the audio of one video plays over the audio of the other, even when they are separated on the timeline. This can be "overcome" only by going to another slide or layer, play some other media, and then return to the layer giving you problems. And then you have only one time you can preview the layer, or the whole problem starts again.
It would be great to have the team at Articulate fix these bugs...
1 Reply
Hi William!
Thanks for taking the time to share this with us! I'm happy to help.
First, the timeline is based on the object with the longest time. So if I have objects set to show until 5 seconds and then add a video that's 20 seconds, the timeline will adjust to 20 seconds. The timeline doesn't crop the timing of the video. This can be done by using the Trim tool in the Edit Video popup.
Secondly, if you have two videos that you'd like to play one after the other, then you'll want them to be placed on the timeline next to each other. If you have any object layered from top to bottom on the timeline, those objects will show together unless triggered to appear at a different point.
It looks like both of the statements are feature requests rather than bugs. First, Storyline 360 crops the video if placed on a timeline shorter than the video's length. And the second statement sounds like a request to play videos one at a time even if videos are placed above/below on the timeline.
If you wouldn't mind first confirming this is what you're looking for in Storyline 360, I'll file two feature requests.