Video created as Storyline output has blank start screen when used in Rise multimedia block

Aug 23, 2019

Hi.  I've created a video in Storyline 360 from 4 slides.  When I embed it in Rise, it shows as a blank screen with start button.  It plays as expected but I'd like to get a first frame picture showing rather than the white square.  Grateful for any suggestions.

 

62 Replies
Birgitte Frier

I am still experiencing this issue. But this used to work (just a few months back). I have tried all the suggested solutions with removing the trigger, audio, transition, and effects on the first slide. Or using the Player to choose a slide as the thumbnail. I have also tried rolling back the SL version to the previous version. The mp4 file is still exported with a few seconds of black at the beginning, resulting in the black thumbnail in RISE. Any new information about this? We end up having to edit these videos on another programme. 

Wendy Schweitzer

Last year, I also experienced the black screen when importing a SL file into Rise. What I did was add a first slide that looked just like the beginning picture of my video. I used SnipIt and put the Snipit picture in the first slide. Then I added a play button over the picture in the first slide. I added a trigger to say that when the user presses the play button go to the next slide. Now the user sees the first slide in Rise and presses the play button to see the video. I had to do this for all my SL videos. 

Karen Loftus
Errol Muir

What worked for me was to insert a first slide with relevant picture and NO actions, on a short time-line. Check to ensure that there are no transitions or animations and no sound.  In the 'publish to video' section there is also an opportunity to see what the opening will look like - make sure that it shows the inanimate slide. Note that doing this alone is not sufficient to avoid the black opening. Then publish to SL as video, When I did this, the video came out correctly.  Good luck.

This is the critical solution I have found that works.  It may require duplicating the original first slide, then on the new slide 1, take off all actions, and add a trigger that says "Jump to next slide when timeline starts on this slide."

Eric Santos

Hi Laurel,

I'm sorry for the trouble with the video thumbnail. I appreciate your efforts in applying the suggested troubleshooting steps, including the one from Errol above. 

If you're comfortable sharing your Storyline file with us, we'd be happy to take a look to investigate further. You can upload it here or privately in a support case. We'll delete it when we're done testing!

Math Notermans

First of all im wondering why anyone wants to export Storyline files as video. When i need a video i make it in AfterEffects or Premiere. Storyline for sure not my first choice for that.  A authoring tool like Storyline is for creating interactive experiences, at least thats how i see its use. However i can imagine a usecase where you build something in Storyline, and want to reuse it in some promovideo or whatever. But even in that case, i would postprocess it in AfterEffects or Premiere.

Meghan McKay

Replying just to confirm we are having the same issue. (Just a blank screen with a play button for exported videos). We've been using SL for years and never had this issue in the past. 

I've tried all the workarounds above including using a slide thumbnail in Player settings and duplicating the first slide and removing all audio/animation/transitions. 

Hopefully one of the lovely folks at Articulate can respond to this thread to share the cause/solution for anyone else who may be experiencing the same thing. 

Jose Tansengco

Hi Derek,

Happy to help!

The black screen and play button you're seeing is expected if you have an audio or video file placed in the very first slide of your Storyline 360 project. Most modern browsers like Google Chrome require a "click" to allow autoplay of media.

If you want to change the black background to a custom image file, add a cover photo to the Player of your Storyline 360 course. 

If you want to allow your Storyline 360 blocks to automatically play, make sure that the first slide of the course doesn't have any media files in it. Note that for embedded blocks viewed on Mobile devices, the Play button will always be present. 

Let me know if you have any questions!