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KatelynThedf665's avatar
KatelynThedf665
Community Member
23 days ago

Adding Exit Animations to Objects on a Menu that Can be Revisited

Here is the goal:

  • A menu slide appears with objects animating in (entrance animations) and audio playing
  • The menu presents 4 selectable options (slide is set to advance by user)
  • Users select one option 
  • The objects on the menu slide exit (exit animations) and the project jumps to the slide based on the option the user selected
  • When finished viewing the selected material, the user selects a menu button, which takes them back to the menu with the first selected option set to a visited state and the audio does not repeat 

My initial thought was to create 4 layers on the menu slide, one for each option, that houses the exit animations (one second long). When a user selects an option, a trigger is created to show that selected option's exit animation layer. The objects animate out, and then the trigger is set to jump users to the specific slide when the later timeline ends. 

The issue I am having is that when the user is on the slide(s) for selected material and selects "menu" (which has a trigger to jump them back to the menu slide), it replays the exit animation layer, which makes them "stuck" on the selected option. How can I get them to land back on the resumed state of the menu with the layers hidden until the next selection is made?

advice
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  • KendalRasnake-1's avatar
    KendalRasnake-1
    Community Member
    22 days ago

    Hi Katelyn,

    May I respectfully suggest that you alter the way you are doing things.

    1. I suggest that after the menu options animate in, you can have the timeline freeze by right-clicking the timeline and adding a cue point, then adding a trigger that says "Pause timeline when the timeline reaches the cue point."
    2. Then, by using variables, you could record the user's choice of menu button selected.
    3. By selecting the button it could also restart the timeline with a trigger.
    4. Then, as the timeline ends a trigger would jump the user to the slide needed based on the variable that was chosen.
    5. When the learner finishes a certain section a simple "Jump to slide" trigger can take them back to the main menu section.
    6. Using the variable already activated by the previous menu choice, the button for that same menu choice can be changed into a "Disabled" state as the timeline starts on the menu slide, provided that the menu slide is set to "Go to initial state" upon revisit. That way, the timeline on the menu slide starts over, but the previous menu buttons that were chosen are disabled because their associated variables had been activated when they were initially chosen.

    In essence, while your idea is clever to play the exit animation on the layers, you can actually pause the timeline using a cue point and trigger and wait to play the exit animation on the same layer. Then you can both 1) control where the user goes next based on their menu choice by using variables, and 2) control which buttons are available upon revisit to the menu slide by using variables.

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