Forum Discussion

YATHINKRISHNA's avatar
YATHINKRISHNA
Community Member
10 months ago

SSML initiation in Text to Speech.

Hi everyone,

I updated Articulate 360 on 14th Dec 2023, expecting an update in text to speech conversion using SSML. But when I type <speak> initially, SSML will not get activated. The voice will have the word "speak" on execution. Please help!

  • Hi Everyone!

    I'm happy to share that we just released Storyline 360 (Build 3.84.31647.0) which includes the fix for the bug:

    • Storyline reads the SSML tags in the TTS script if there is a blank space or line break at the beginning/end of the code

    Now all you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app to take advantage of the newest bug fixes and features!

    If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team by submitting a support case.

  • Make sure you are also ending the string with </speak>  and make sure there is no return after that.

    • MEJohnson's avatar
      MEJohnson
      Community Member
      Ron Price

      Make sure you are also ending the string with </speak>  and make sure there is no return after that.

      That solved my problem! Thank you.

  • Just in case someone else has a similar issue. 

    There seems to be an arbitrary limit set on duration or character limit for Text to Speech, Neural Voice and SSML in Articulate Storyline. I banged my head against the desk for a while before I started typing it all from scratch.

    Yes, I'm fully updated.  Yes, my tags are correct.  No, I've no leading or trailing lines or spaces.

    The Insert button greys out beyond ~3 minutes of VO generation.

    The #1 requested feature for SSML needs to be a Blog Posting with some sample "scripts" we can copy and paste.  It's such a cool feature, but let's be honest, we're not programmers and this is a new feature. 

    Help us ease adoption with the "Script Kiddie" route, then we can adjust from there as we grow more familiar.

    • LaurenConnelly's avatar
      LaurenConnelly
      Staff

      Hello Mike!

      Thanks for your feedback! I can see how a blog post with sample scripts would be helpful. I'm going to share this with my team and I'll keep you updated!

  • Just to add to what Ron mentioned about making sure there is no carriage return; if there is a blank space after the last character of your TTS, it will also cause storyline to read the SSML tags as part of the TTS instead of modifying whatever property it was intended to. Here is what those two scenarios look like, and deleting them by using a backspace will fix the problem. We are keeping tabs on this behavior on our end.

  • i also was excited about this feature, but for English (US) I only have the option for neural voices (not standard), I tried standard voices for other regions and get this error. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?

  • Hi Lori!

    Thanks so much for reaching out! We appreciate you sharing what you are experiencing on your end in a screenshot.

    I've created a sample file, including the Text-To-Speech SSML, with Nicole as the narrator. Please let us know if you are still experiencing this behavior in my sample file. If you're still running into trouble, we can take a closer look at your .story file in a support case.

    Also, looks like part of your email signature came through when you replied via email. You can remove that if needed by clicking ‘Edit’ beneath your response. Here’s a quick Peek video if you need help.

    Looking forward to hearing from you! 

  • OK, Still can't get the SSML to work. I didn't see any notes or test in Luciana .story file. 

    Any help would be appreciated. I wrote my test in Word and copy and paste, Is that my problem?

  • Hi there, Eric!

    I'm happy to help! I tried replicating this on my end and was able to get the SSML that was copied from Word to behave as expected in Storyline. 

    What narrator are you currently using? I'm also curious to know what font you are using in Word?

    Could you please upload your Word doc and .story file to this thread or privately in a support case? I'd like to take a closer look at your setup! 

    Happy 2024! Looking forward to hearing from you! 🎉

  • Hi Everyone!

    I'm happy to share that we just released Storyline 360 (Build 3.84.31647.0) which includes the fix for the bug:

    • Storyline reads the SSML tags in the TTS script if there is a blank space or line break at the beginning/end of the code

    Now all you need to do is update Storyline 360 in your Articulate 360 desktop app to take advantage of the newest bug fixes and features!

    If you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to reach out to our team by submitting a support case.