Captivate 4

Hi Dan, 

Welcome to the Articulate Forums! What Captivate files are you hoping to import? Are you talking video screencasts or interactive simulations or other slides?

I haven't actually done this with Storyline (I did it with Articulate Studio) so I'm hoping we'll get some more definitive feedback.

I believe that if you have standard screencasts created in Captivate, those can be imported. A full Captivate course or any interactive elements cannot be imported.

We have legacy courses in Captivate and are taking a grandfather method with them. All new courses are created in Storyline. As the Captivate courses need updating, those will be transferred into Storyline. At this point, that whole catalog is getting pretty dated looking so we're opting to transfer the content manually as needed. I initially planned to keep any of the original screencasts, but I've gotten to the point where it's faster to build it from scratch in SL.

Here is an excerpt from the support site below. Full version can be found here

I hope this was helpful!

• The following file formats are natively supported in Storyline:
  • FLV
  • MP4
  • SWF
• The following file formats will be converted to MP4 when they are imported into Storyline:
  • 3G2
  • 3GP
  • ASF
  • AVI
  • DV
  • M1V
  • M2V
  • M4V
  • MOV
  • MPE
  • MPEG
  • MPG
  • QT
  • WMV

Thanks Natalia.  Ours are interactive simulations of applications.  We created them to use as drill and practice in our training curriculum.  Sounds like the native .cp file is not one that can be imported.  We have a good deal of Captivate licenses, as well as Articulate Studio 09.  Our company is in the midst of upgrading to Windows 7 and Captivate 4 is not going to work going forward.  So there is the dilemma, upgrade to Captivate 6 to maintain the existing content and/or start from scratch recreating the simulations in Storyline as needed using your legacy approach.  Decisions, decisions.

Maybe it would be worthwhile to go for a combination and upgrade one or two Captivate licenses so you have access to your existing courses and then begin developing new courses, or courses that need a lot of updating in Storyline. There's nothing wrong with having a "tool box" . 

You are good!  That is the recommendation I just submitted this morning.  Great minds.....

Thanks again.

Obviously you'll fit right in here

 Hope to see you in the forums some more. It's a great place to share ideas and ask questions- even if it's not about an Articulate product. It's a far cry from experiences I had in Adobe forums. Maybe they have improved. I don't know because I stopped using them. 

Best of luck and see you around!

Thanks, I will make it a point to check back, read thru the topics and post if I have anything to share.

I will also be sure to compliment all of your posts as much as I can

Dan,

Did you create your Captivate 4 courses using AS2 or AS3?

When I converted from Captivate 4 to 5, it was easier to "rebuild" the courses rather than try to import/convert them.

Captivate 5 was rebuilt from the ground up.

Honestly, I think you are going to have to rebuild your courses from scratch.

I usually use Captivate 6, and I like Captivate because you can round trip from Photoshop and Flash.

But Articulate has advantages.

Check out Adobe's new monthly licensing fees- it nay help in your decision making.

But I recommend download free trials of both products to see which one works best for you.

tallis

Hi Dan,

Not sure if this will help but I have Windows 7 and Captivate 4 is working fine with it without any issues.

One of my colleagues have Windows 8 and Captivate 4 is also working fine there...No tweaking done just normal installation process.

We did however go to Storyline for the iPad capabilities

zola

We used AS2, I think your approach makes good sense versus trying to fix converted files.

I think we will ultimately go with Stroyline and use Captivate on an as needed basis to perform maintenance on our libray of simulations until such a time that we have rebuilt the content in Storyline.

Thanks Tallis!

Hi Zola,

I was able to use Captivate 4 on my home PC with Windows , however, our IT department actually does a wipe of our PCs and will not reinstall Captivate 4 :(  So it is upgrade or move to Storyline.

Dan

Like Tallis said -

Adobe has a new policy regarding their software. They are desperate to push people towards the monthly subscription policy. And if you bought the software outright and didn't sign up for the subscription, you will not receive any updates or patches. I work on Cap 6, and it's pretty buggy. They fact that they are implementing this policy and trying to force us to go to the subscription just so we can get fixes for their buggy software has convinced our higher ups to move toward articulate. ( Woohoo)  The good thing about it is that you will always be able to use the latest software when it comes out, the bad thing is, if your company is like my company, that will force us to upgrade our PCs to keep up with the software, and they don't like that.

Thanks Jerson, that is good to know.

Yeah. Adobe has really upset a lot of people (me included). They are strong-arming people to use their monthly subscription service, and screwing the people who don't. Captivate 6 is half-baked and buggy, but still pretty slick. AND some of the new,  "slick" stuff is only available to monthly subscription people (part of the strong-arming).

I will say this, your workflow for captivate with increase by 100% if you upgrade to captivate 5 or 6 from captivate 4. I would die if I had to go back to Captivate 4!

tallis

There is a video on youtube where they are recording the CEO of Adobe (in Australia) giving a speech. One of the audience members asks him why users from Australia have to pay $1,500 more then everybody else for the software.  The CEO avoided the question completely and just rambled on how great the creative cloud is,...blah,blah, blah. They asked him 2 more times and he just kept avoiding the question and kept talking about the cloud.  I think his head was in the clouds.

Here is the link

Yeah Jerson! Sorry to hear you have to deal with some hassle but that's awesome you get to transition to Storyline at work. I'm selfishly looking forward to you having a reason to add more posts in the forum