Support says it's a bug. But I don't understand why isn't everyone complaining about blurry images here? I can't believe hundreds of users are suffering in silence, so am I the only one?

I am suffering too. I am utterly tired of how terrible Storyline can be when it comes to rendering high quality images. Maybe back in 2012 it wasn't so pertinent, but here we are, on the cusp of 2022, when even 4k is yesterdays news, and Articulate refuse to acknowledge the problem. I have submitted a feature request (and everyone else should do the same) that Articulate stop focusing on adding new features to Storyline, but instead, devote their resources to getting the basics right. Images should not be blurry. Period. The Zoom function should use the native resolution of the image, and not just magnify the screen render. We should be able to screen record a full 4k monitor. I am so tired of this. Articulate... PLEASE do something about this. This is not right.

Here's a link to a similar thread from 3 years ago. During the discussion, it was suggested by Articulate that the issues stemmed from us users not adhering to 'best practice', which is, quite frankly, bizarre. I mean, 2 years AFTER the initial posting, Articulate jump in with the amazing announcement: "Fixed: Arrows and dashed lines were blurry when previewed or published." Let that sink in. We, the users of Storyline, have been creating workarounds and hacks to get something as simple as an arrow or dashed line to view pin-sharp, and kind of forced it into our workflow. Unless the client didn't mind (or notice) the blurriness. It took untold years and innumerable complaints to get something as simple as non-blurry arrows to be presented to us like it was some kind of damned achievement level unlocked. This is all really basic stuff. I mean, REALLY REALLY basic stuff - MS Painter level stuff. How can you trumpet 360 panoramic interactivity when one cannot make a simple mask within Storyline? Why herald a 'feature', such as Importing SVGs as an image file, when its functionality is different to any other image instance, with regards Points 6 and 7 mentioned by Matt above? After importing even a simple, single colour icon, one cannot alter the transparency of the SVG, to use, as, say, a watermark, in a course. It's nonsense. One cannot even use the old PNG trick of importing the icon as a white line SVG and select Format > Recolour. The previously trumpeted 'feature' of being able to Import SVGs From Powerpoint, which allowed SO MUCH AWESOME flexibility, despite being a technical process, was actually a much better solution than what is now offered, and even that methodology has now been broken. Instead of importing as shapes, the SVG is now an awkward uneditable, un-tweakable, fully-opaque image. The ability to do basic stuff WITHIN a software programme is kind of the point of most software programmes I use. Not many ask the user to use another, possibly more highly specialised third-party product to do basic stuff like creating bespoke shapes (c'mon, why can't we combine, break apart, tweak any shape combo within Storyline itself?), Masks (seriously, it's almost 2022 now!), import and/or store bespoke gradients, the ability to specify corner roundness/bezel values of ANY corner, (and not have to rely on flipping, inverting and rotating a shape to get the desired result thereby rendering all the internal geometry of the shape out of whack)... There are so many basic features being asked for, including getting features that are actually in Storyline to work (Hello Format Picture > Picture > Blend > Mode... I mean, seriously WT-ACTUAL-F is it there for? It does not work, never has and shows such sloppy attention to detail, UX and interface design, and what Articulate really think of its user base). Launching SVG Direct Import as a major achievement and to have the reality of it be so utterly disappointing and fundamentally broken clearly illustrates that Articulate is simply relying on loyalty (and fear of the unknown) to maintain revenues without addressing some nearly decade-old issues that are so blatantly, inanely, absurdly rudimentary to functionality is beyond depressing. It's despairing. It shows such a lack of vision, such a lack of understanding of who uses this software and what it is there for, and such a lack of respect to these same users who for years have been pleading to "get things fixed first, new features later". Also, anytime something new is announced, something old gets broken, such as the annoying glitch whereby if one clicks on VIEW > SLIDE MASTER and then VIEW > FEEDBACK MASTER the screen jumps to the SLIDE VIEW. Sloppy.

What I would like to see is just some transparency from Articulate. Honestly, I would admire them if they came out and said, 'yes, we know there's a problem', and then provide us with a timeline to fix it. If it's 6 months, a year, two years, well fine... I'll work around these bugs, or just use other tools in the meantime. Over to you Articulate.

I logged on with hopes of reading some good news, but to no avail. I’ve been asking this question for way too long with no answers. I had to sell my company on SL and have been using it for the past 5-6 years. And now I’m still trying to convince them to keep it because of cost. AND in addition, my credibility is being questioned because “my work” looks so blurry. That’s not cool at all! I have resorted to skipping the interactive aspect and have gone to videos in our LMS. And get this, I’m using PPT to produce the step by step videos because the images remain crystal clear. Cmon Articulate, this is basic stuff. Perhaps give the folks at Microsoft a ring for some tips? 🤷🏽♂️ HELP, I’m barely hanging on here.

Deleted a post kind of critical of something Michael said: "there is some resizing going on which isn’t ideal for image formats that do not scale well like SVGs, EMFs, or WMFs" After re-reading that line a few times I realised he was saying "like" to mean "as well as"... Apologies.

Blurry images in Storyline 360 November 2021

94 Replies

PeggyKunz
Community Member
4 years ago
I am so frustrated and hate to be the loud one - I am always pretty content working with what I have to work with....but this is just unacceptable. I have to meet with my boss on Monday and try to explain why this is okay. I even just tried the screenshot feature within Storyline and even those images are blurry.

I am ready to get a 30-day subscription to Captivate and just crank it out there at this point.
MariaCS
Staff
4 years ago
Hi, everyone.

I want to reiterate what Michael mentioned a few days ago: this is not the expected behavior, and we are actively investigating the issue.

Based on the support cases received through this thread, there are multiple scenarios discussed here (SVGs, screenshots from third-party apps, images created in Photoshop, etc.), which might require different fixes.

If you haven’t yet, we encourage you to submit a sample project where you’re experiencing the loss of quality in images to our support team, so it can help us in our investigation.

We’ll keep everyone posted as we know more.
- MarkKirby-c9f94
  Community Member
  4 years ago
  Hi Maria
  
  There is just 1 scenario here - images are blurry when published, end of story. You don't need more sample projects. You have replicated the problem going back at least 2 months (Case #03001137) - so this kind of "reply" really doesn't help us.
- DiarmaidCollins
  Community Member
  4 years ago
  
  Based on the support cases received through this thread, there are multiple scenarios discussed here (SVGs, screenshots from third-party apps, images created in Photoshop, etc.), which might require different fixes.
  
  Another thing is you might want to consider is what we had for breakfast, what star sign we were born under and whether or not our monitors are calibrated to an exact specification when we created the image files.
RandySimmons1
Community Member
4 years ago
When an image is clear in Word, PowerPoint, SnagIt and other applications, but blurry in Storyline, me thinks Storyline has an issue.
- JohnFanely
  Community Member
  4 years ago
  What he said
MarkKirby-c9f94
Community Member
4 years ago
And I was trying not to be witty.....
VenessaSeip
Community Member
4 years ago
I am also having issues with blurry images in Storyline360. I am so frustrated.
SarahTucker
Community Member
4 years ago
Just to add to the conversation, I had no problem with this until the January 18,2022 update. That updated created HUGE problems with everything being super blurry. I've uninstalled that update, and now I am back to my images looking fine.
- MarkKirby-c9f94
  Community Member
  4 years ago
  Hi Sarah - Couple of questions for us on this thread -
  
  What version have you gone back to that works fine, and
  
  Have you tried an image that contains text to see if it's really fine?
  - SarahTucker
    Community Member
    4 years ago
    So "fine" may be relative. I noticed things were SUPER blurry after the update. I rolled back to the Dec 14 version (3.59.26702.0) and they were back to their normal state. I have tried images that contain text and they're back to their normal level of "not as great quality as the original but not super horrible blurry" So, I don't think rolling back fixes your issue, but it fixed the obvious sudden difference for me.
MarkKirby-c9f94
Community Member
4 years ago
Love your diplomatic "not super horribly blurry"....thanks Sarah!

Articulate support have prioritized fixing the blurry issue, so keep the faith. I'm hoping we are now no more than a few updates away from seeing this sorted. (I was firmly told at my previous company that "hope is not a strategy"....)

Note that this thread IS being actively watched by Articulate support....
JamieShaw-e75b7
Community Member
4 years ago
I'm really hoping this issue is fixed soon... thanks all on this thread for keeping the pressure on Articulate.

I'm now at the point where I am manually overwriting the published images, which I'm not even sure classifies as a workaround (maybe a worka-worka-workaround).

It's crazy that even at 100% image quality in the publishing settings, the images are still being compressed.

How about a simple 'Use original images' tickbox in the publishing settings? I mean seriously, how hard would that be?
MarkKirby-c9f94
Community Member
4 years ago
Hi Jamie

I think uncompressed is one of the options Storyline are looking at.

I'm not sure if the problem/barrier is

upload time (we would gladly wait longer for projects to upload if they remained beautiful?!) or

download time (if it was, then how come the rest of the internet works with good quality images?)

something else

all of the above
MarkKirby-c9f94
Community Member
4 years ago
Hi there my blurry and bleary-eyed heroes,

Can someone tell me what determines whether my video when inserted will have the compression control selectable (to None) vs grayed out to Automatic? The automatic setting makes the video blurry. I cannot figure out why some video seems to be controllable and some is not.

Forum Discussion

Blurry images in Storyline 360 November 2021

94 Replies

Related Content

Introducing the Basics of Storyline

Get Started Quickly with Storyline

Storyline 360: Applying Merge Shapes

Overview of Storyline's Interface

Storyline 360: Create Content with AI Assistant

Learn

Connect

Discover

Community

Company

Trust Center