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AI Assistant: Producing Highly Realistic Audio
As a course author, you want to do more than just present information—you want to create multi-sensory e-learning experiences that resonate with learners. Using sound creatively can help you get there. AI Assistant’s text-to-speech and sound effects features let you create highly realistic AI-generated voices and sound effects for more immersive and accessible content. Originally, both of these features could only be accessed in Storyline 360. However, as of the July 2025 update, AI Assistant in Rise 360 can generate text-to-speech narration. Visit this user guide to get started creating AI-generated narrations in Rise 360. In Storyline 360, these features can be accessed from the Insert Audio dropdown in the AI Assistant menu within the ribbon. Find them under the Home or Insert tab when you’re in slide view or chat with AI Assistant in the side panel for added convenience. Bring Narration to Life with AI-generated Voices If you’ve ever used classic text-to-speech, you probably wished the voices sounded less, well, robotic. AI Assistant’s text-to-speech brings narration to life with contextually aware AI-generated voices that sound more natural—and human! Check out the difference in quality between a standard voice, neural voice, and AI-generated voice by playing the text-to-speech examples below. Standard Voice Your browser does not support the audio element. Neural Voice Your browser does not support the audio element. AI-generated Voice Your browser does not support the audio element. To get started in Storyline 360, click the Insert Audio icon in the AI Assistant menu to open the Generate AI Audio dialog box. A library of AI-generated voices—which you can filter by Gender, Age, and Accent—displays under the Voices tab. The voices also have descriptions like “deep,” “confident,” “crisp,” “intense,” and “soothing” and categories that can help you determine their ideal use cases, from news broadcasts to meditation, or even ASMR. Find these qualities under the voice’s name, and use the play button to preview the voice. Toggle the View option to Favorites to find all your favorite voices, or In project to see voices used in the current project. Once you’ve decided on a voice, click the button labeled Use to switch to the Text-to-Speech tab. Your chosen voice is already pre-selected. Next, enter your script in the text box provided or click the add from slide notes link to copy notes from your slide. For accessibility, leave the Generate closed captions box checked—AI Assistant will generate closed captions automatically. You can instantly determine if your text-to-speech narration has closed captions by the CC label that appears next to each output. In Rise 360, insert an AI Audio block to open the Course media window. Under Voice in the AI audio tab, click the drop-down menu and select a voice from the Recommended list. Click the View all voices link right underneath to explore more voices in the voice library. Once you’ve selected a voice, enter your script in the text box or click insert block text if you’re adding audio to an existing block with text. Currently in both apps, there are 52 pre-made voices to choose from—as listed in the table below—and you can mark your favorites by clicking the heart icon. This way, you can easily access your preferred voices without having to scroll through the list. Note that voices labeled as ”Legacy” won’t be updated when future AI models improve. In Rise 360, pre-made voices can be identified by the absence of the open book icon on their voice cards. Pre-made voices (non-legacy) Pre-made voices (legacy) Alice Bill Brian Callum Charlie Chris Clyde Daniel Eric George Harry Jessica Laura Liam Lily Matilda Rachel River Roger Sarah Thomas Will Adam Antoni Aria Arnold Charlotte Dave Domi Dorothy Drew Elli Emily Ethan Fin Freya Gigi Giovanni Glinda Grace James Jeremy Jessie Joseph Josh Michael Mimi Nicole Patrick Paul Sam Serena Find More Voices in the Voice Library In addition to the pre-made voices, you also have access to an extended voice library with thousands of ultrarealistic, AI-generated voices that can be filtered by age, gender, and use case. Discover the right voice for your content in the voice library by checking out the following user guides. Voice library in Rise 360 Voice library in Storyline 360 Voice Removal Notice Period A voice may have a notice period, which specifies how long you’ll be able to access the voice if its creator decides to remove it from the voice library. When that happens, the removed voice will no longer be available from the library. If you’ve previously added it to My Voices in Storyline 360 or Favorites in Rise 360, the removed voice will still appear on your list and can be used to generate new content, but you’ll see a warning and the date when it’s no longer available. Once the notice period expires, the voice will display an error, and it can no longer be previewed or used to generate new content. Most voices have notice periods, but some don’t. Voices without a notice period disappear immediately from the voice library if the voice creator decides to delete them. Generated content using a voice that’s been removed from the voice library will continue to function as a regular audio file. Adjust the Voice Settings Unlike classic text-to-speech, the AI-generated voices in AI Assistant’s text-to-speech can be customized for a tailored voice performance. The Model setting lets you choose from three different options: v3 (beta) - Most expressive, high emotional range, and contextual understanding in over 70 languages. Allows a maximum of 3,000 characters. Note that this model is actively being developed. Functionalities might change, or you might encounter unexpected behavior as we continue to improve it. For best results, check out some prompting techniques below. Multilingual v2 (default model) - Highly stable and exceptionally accurate lifelike speech with support for 29 languages. Allows a maximum of 10,000 characters. Flash v2.5 - Slightly less stable, but can generate faster with support for 32 languages. Allows a maximum of 40,000 characters. Pro tip: Some voices sound better with certain models, and some models perform better in specific languages. Experiment with different combinations to find what works best. For example, the Matilda voice sounds more natural in Spanish with the Multilingual v2 model than with v3. The setting for Stability controls the balance between the voice’s steadiness and randomness. The Similarity setting determines how closely the AI should adhere to the original voice when attempting to replicate it. The defaults are set to 0.50 for the stability slider and 0.75 for the similarity slider, but you can play around with these settings to find the right balance for your content. Additional settings include Style exaggeration, which amplifies the style of the original voice, and Speaker boost, which enhances the similarity between synthesized speech and the voice. Note that if either of those settings is adjusted, generating your speech will take longer. Note: Some voices in the Multilingual v2 model tend to have inconsistent volume—fading out toward the end—when generating lengthy clips. This is a known issue with the underlying model, and our AI subprocessor for text-to-speech is working to address it. In the meantime, we suggest the following workarounds: Use a different voice Switch to the Flash v2.5 model Increase the voice’s stability Manually break your text into smaller chunks to generate shorter clips Do I Need to Use SSML? AI Assistant has limited support for speech synthesis markup language (SSML) because AI-generated voices are designed to understand the relationship between words and adjust delivery accordingly. If you need to manually control pacing, you can add a pause. The most consistent way to do that is by inserting the syntax <break time="1.5s" /> into your script. This creates an exact and natural pause in the speech. For example: With their keen senses <break time="1.5s" /> cats are skilled hunters. Use seconds to describe a break of up to three seconds in length. You can try a simple dash - or em-dash — to insert a brief pause or multiple dashes for a longer pause. Ellipsis ... will also sometimes work to add a pause between words. However, these options may not work consistently, so we recommend using the syntax above for consistency. Just keep in mind that an excessive number of break tags can potentially cause instability. Prompting Techniques for v3 (beta) The v3 (beta) model introduces emotional control via audio tags, enabling voices to laugh, whisper, be sarcastic, or show curiosity, among other options. The following table lists various tags you can use to control vocal delivery and emotional expression, as well as to add background sounds and effects. It also includes some experimental tags for creative uses. Voice and emotion Sounds and effects Experimental [laughs], [laughs harder], [starts laughing], [wheezing] [whispers] [sighs], [exhales] [sarcastic], [curious], [excited], [crying], [snorts], [mischievously] Example: [whispers] Don’t look now, but I think they heard us. [gunshot], [applause], [clapping], [explosion] [swallows], [gulps] Example: [applause] Well, that went better than expected. [explosion] Never mind. [strong X accent] (replace X with desired accent) [sings], [woo] Example: [strong French accent] Zat is not what I ‘ad in mind, non non non. Aside from the audio tags, punctuation also impacts delivery. Ellipses (...) add pauses, capitalization emphasizes specific words or phrases, and standard punctuation mimics natural speech rhythm. For example: “It was VERY successful! … [starts laughing] Can you believe it?” Tips: Use audio tags that match the voice’s personality. A calm, meditative voice won’t shout, and a high-energy voice won’t whisper convincingly. Very short prompts can lead to inconsistent results. For more consistent, focused output, we suggest prompts over 250 characters. Some experimental tags may be less consistent across voices. Test thoroughly before use. Combine multiple tags for complex emotional delivery. Try different combinations to find what works best for your selected voice. The above list is simply a starting point; more effective tags may exist. Experiment with combining emotional states and actions to find what works best for your use case. Use natural speech, proper punctuation, and clear emotional cues to get the best results. Multilingual Voices Expand Your Reach Another compelling benefit of AI-generated text-to-speech is the ability to bridge language gaps, allowing you to connect with international audiences. With support for over 70 languages depending on the model—including some with multiple accents and dialects—AI Assistant’s text-to-speech helps your content resonate with a global audience. All you have to do is type or paste your script in the supported language you want AI Assistant to use. (Even though the voice description notes a specific accent or language, AI Assistant will generate the narration in the language used in your script.) Note that some voices tend to work best with certain accents or languages, so feel free to experiment with different voices to find the best fit for your needs. The table below provides a quick rundown of supported languages. Available in v3 (beta), Multilingual v2, and Flash v2.5: Arabic (Saudi Arabia) Arabic (UAE) Bulgarian Chinese Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English (Australia) English (Canada) English (UK) English (USA) Filipino Finnish French (Canada) French (France) German Greek Hindi Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Polish Portuguese (Brazil) Portuguese (Portugal) Romanian Russian Slovak Spanish (Mexico) Spanish (Spain) Swedish Tamil Turkish Ukrainian Available in v3 (beta) and Flash v2.5: Hungarian Norwegian Vietnamese Available only in v3 (beta): Afrikaans (afr) Armenian (hye) Assamese (asm) Azerbaijani (aze) Belarusian (bel) Bengali (ben) Bosnian (bos) Catalan (cat) Cebuano (ceb) Chichewa (nya) Estonian (est) Galician (glg) Georgian (kat) Gujarati (guj) Hausa (hau) Hebrew (heb) Icelandic (isl) Irish (gle) Javanese (jav) Kannada (kan) Kazakh (kaz) Kirghiz (kir) Latvian (lav) Lingala (lin) Lithuanian (lit) Luxembourgish (ltz) Macedonian (mkd) Malayalam (mal) Mandarin Chinese (cmn) Marathi (mar) Nepali (nep) Pashto (pus) Persian (fas) Punjabi (pan) Serbian (srp) Sindhi (snd) Slovenian (slv) Somali (som) Swahili (swa) Telugu (tel) Thai (tha) Urdu (urd) Welsh (cym) Create Sound Effects Using Prompts Sound effects that align with your theme and content can highlight important actions or feedback, like clicking a button or choosing a correct answer, offering a more engaging and effective e-learning experience. With AI Assistant’s sound effects, you can now use prompts to easily create nearly any sound imaginable. No more wasting time scouring the web for pre-made sounds that may cost extra! Start creating high-quality sound effects by going to the AI Assistant menu in the ribbon under the Home or Insert tab. Then, click the lower half of the Insert Audio icon, and choose Sound Effects. (You can also access it from the Audio dropdown within the Insert tab. Simply select Sound Effects under the AI Audio option.) In the text box, describe the sound effect you want and choose a duration. You can adjust the Prompt influence slider to give AI Assistant more or less creative license in generating the sound. Since AI Assistant understands natural language, sound effects can be created using anything from a simple prompt like “a single mouse click” to a very complex one that describes multiple sounds or a sequence of sounds in a specific order. Just note you have a maximum of 450 characters to describe the sound you want to generate. Play the following audio samples to listen to sound effects created using a simple prompt and a complex one. Your browser does not support the audio element. Prompt: A single mouse click Your browser does not support the audio element. Prompt: Dogs barking, then lightning strikes You can also adjust the Duration—how long the sound effect plays—up to a maximum of 22 seconds. For example, if your prompt is “barking dog” and you set the duration to 10 seconds, you’ll get continuous barking, but a duration of two seconds is one quick bark. Adjusting the Prompt Influence slider to the right makes AI Assistant strictly adhere to your prompt, while sliding it to the left allows more free interpretation. Pro tip: You can instantly determine if your sound effect has closed captions by the CC label that appears next to each output. Some Pro Terms to Know Using audio terminology—specialized vocabulary that audio experts use in their work—can help improve your prompts and produce even more dynamic sound effects. Here are a few examples: Braam: A deep, resonant, and often distorted bass sound used in media, particularly in trailers, to create a sense of tension, power, or impending doom. Whoosh: A quick, swooshing sound often used to emphasize fast motion, transitions, or dramatic moments. Impact: A sharp, striking noise used to signify a collision, hit, or sudden forceful contact, often to highlight a moment of action or emphasis. Glitch: A short, jarring, and usually digital noise that mimics a malfunction or distortion, commonly used to convey errors. Foley: The process of recreating and recording everyday sound effects like movements and object sounds in sync with the visuals of a film, videos, or other media. Here’s something fun to try! Generate a 3-second sound effect using the prompt “studio quality, sound designed whoosh and braam impact.” Increasing the duration may produce better sound effects but will also create more dead air towards the end. Pro tip: Onomatopoeias—words like “buzz,” “boom,” “click,” and “pop” that imitate natural sounds—are also important sound effects terms. Use them in your prompts to create more realistic sound effects. Video Tutorials Want to learn more before getting started? Check out our video tutorials for additional guidance on using AI Assistant to generate text-to-speech and sound effects. Create AI-generated Text-to-Speech Create AI-generated Sound Effects Articulate 360 Training also has additional video tutorials on using other AI Assistant features. Use AI Assistant features in Rise 360 Use AI Assistant features in Storyline 360 You must be logged in to your Articulate 360 account to watch the videos. Don’t have an account yet? Sign up for a free trial now!
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Rise 360: Manage Course Media
While text often forms the backbone of a Rise 360 course, adding multimedia can really make your training content shine. You can easily add images, audio, and video directly into many Rise blocks or in their own special blocks. Adding web content can enhance your training even more. Keep reading for tips on working with multimedia content. Images Audio Videos Web Content Images In addition to image blocks, many other Rise 360 blocks also support adding images. Depending on the lesson or block type you’re using, click the camera icon or the Add Images button. Sometimes it’s found in the main window; other times it’s accessible in the sidebar via the content menu. Generate images with AI Assistant, upload images from your computer, or search photos and illustrations from 14+ million assets in Content Library 360. Since Rise 360 compresses images with virtually no loss of quality, you can use high-quality images in your courses. Rise optimizes them for web distribution. Select Preserve file quality when uploading images to bypass optimization. File size limits still apply. After adding an image, use the action toolbar to remove or replace it, crop the image, or add alternative text for screen readers. Create Images from Scratch with AI Assistant Can’t find just the right image? If you have an AI Assistant subscription, you can turn your ideas into high-quality images. Learn how to use AI Assistant to level up your course authoring game. Audio The easiest way to add audio to your training is with a multimedia audio block. After inserting the block, add audio by clicking the Content icon to open the sidebar and then the Replace audio icon to the right of the audio playback bar (it looks like a microphone). You can also add audio to most text, statement, quote, and list blocks, as well as some interactive blocks. See this article for a list of audio-enabled block types. For supported blocks, open the content sidebar. In the Audio section for the relevant block element, click the Add/Replace audio icon. When the Course Media window displays, you can either generate AI audio, Record audio, or Upload an audio file. AI Audio If you have an AI Assistant subscription, you can use the AI audio tab to generate an audio file from a text transcript. More than 5,000 voices are available, with others added regularly. AI Assistant can also generate an audio transcript for you if you have existing audio. Learn more about text-to-speech with AI Assistant. Record Audio To get started with the Record audio tab, simply click the Record button. Note that there's no countdown, so you’ll want to be ready to record once you click the button! Once recording, you can pause and resume recording. Stopping the recording saves the current session. Click Record again to discard the current audio file. To have AI Assistant transcribe your recording, select the option before inserting your audio recording. Click Insert audio to add your recording to the current block. Upload If you have existing audio, add it via the Upload tab. Rise 360 supports playback of all major audio file formats, up to a maximum size of 5 GB per file. Rise 360 optimizes uploaded files for broadcasting without sacrificing sound quality, maintaining stereo tracks or creating two mono tracks if the original audio is mono. Audio Transcripts Where available, select Transcribe audio file option to manually enter a transcription of your audio file or have AI Assistant transcribe your audio for you. When using the auto-transcription feature, make sure you edit the transcription to ensure accuracy. To cancel the auto-transcription process, toggle Transcribe audio file. The transcription field isn't available for editing until your audio has been processed. When generating audio with AI Assistant, the script you use is included automatically as the audio transcript. When audio transcripts are available, learners can click the icon in the audio player and open the transcription in a sidebar. Delete Once audio is attached to your block, open the sidebar, hover over the audio playback tool, and click the Remove audio icon. Videos In addition to video blocks, several other blocks support video content. Where available, click the media folder icon and choose Upload media. Sometimes the icon is in the main window; sometimes it’s in the sidebar. For best results, we recommend using high-quality videos with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Rise 360 compresses videos so that they maintain high quality while offering smaller file sizes for web distribution. To bypass optimization, select Preserve file quality when uploading videos. The maximum file size for each file uploaded to Rise 360 is 5 GB. After adding a video, click Edit to remove or replace it. Tip: You can also import screencasts you create with Replay 360 and Peek 360. Web Content To add web content in blocks that support embedded media, click the media folder icon and choose Embed from web. Sometimes the icon is in the main window; sometimes it’s in the sidebar. Just paste the URL or embed code for the web content you want to use—for example, a YouTube video or an interactive graphic. You can even use parameters for embedded YouTube and Vimeo videos. Note: Videos in embedded web content don't pause when the learner switches to another tab or scrolls away from the content. To enable auto-pause, you must upload the video as a file, as detailed in the previous section. We use Embedly to embed rich media in Rise 360 courses. That means you can use videos, images, documents, and other media from more than 400 content providers, including YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram, and Scribd. See the complete list of supported content providers here. If an error occurs or your web content doesn’t display, see these articles for tips: Embedded Content Is Missing or Blank How to Fix Invalid Embed Code
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Storyline 360: Enrich Audio Narrations with Classic or AI-Generated Text-to-Speech
Course authors have long relied on the classic text-to-speech feature in Storyline 360 to create quick audio narration for their e-learning content and speed up course development. However, even with the neural voice options that have been added to the standard ones, the voices in the classic text-to-speech feature can sound robotic, making for a less natural and engaging learner experience. Now, AI-generated text-to-speech is changing the game. The newest addition to your authoring toolkit, AI Assistant’s text-to-speech gives you access to incredibly lifelike, AI-generated voices that are hard to distinguish from a real human voice. So will you keep using the classic version or embrace the brave new world of AI text-to-speech technology? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each to help you decide which option to choose for your next project. Classic Text-to-Speech Storyline’s classic text-to-speech has evolved significantly over the years. In particular, the introduction of neural voices empowered authors to create more realistic and natural-sounding narrations. Here’s an overview of when classic text-to-speech may be the best choice to elevate your audio content. You need certain languages. Classic text-to-speech allows you to create narrations for diverse audiences with support for multiple languages in standard and neural voice. In addition, some of these languages—including Icelandic, Welsh, Catalan, and Irish—are only currently available in classic text-to-speech. You need full SSML support. Unlike AI-generated text-to-speech, classic text-to-speech offers full speech synthesis markup language (SSML) support. This allows you to fine-tune narrations by adjusting the speaking rate, modifying pronunciation, adding pauses, and more to boost clarity and interest. You have reservations about using AI. Not everyone is ready to embrace new technologies like generative AI, and even some organizations have restrictions on using AI-powered tools. Outside of these specific circumstances, however, the overall quality of classic text-to-speech voices may not be sufficiently natural, especially for more complex or nuanced content. Want to judge for yourself? You can hear classic text-to-speech in action by playing the narrations below. Standard Voice Your browser does not support the audio element. Neural Voice Your browser does not support the audio element. AI-Generated Text-to-Speech AI Assistant’s text-to-speech feature takes voice narration to the next level, using generative AI technology to create highly realistic voices. You can customize the voices to fit your content needs, making the experience feel more personal and engaging to your learners. Here’s an overview of when AI text-to-speech may be the best option for bringing your narrations to life. You need certain (other) languages. AI Assistant allows you to broaden your reach with support for up to 32 languages, depending on the model used to generate narration—including some with multiple accents and dialects. The table below lists 11 languages you can only find in AI text-to-speech. Bulgarian Croatian Filipino Greek Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Malay Slovak Ukrainian Vietnamese You want an easier process. AI Assistant’s intuitive interface helps you quickly generate narration in any supported language. Simply select a voice and enter a script—AI Assistant handles the rest. Even though the voice description may note a specific accent or language, AI Assistant still generates narration in the language used in your script. You need highly customizable voices to create a personalized audio experience. AI Assistant lets you control everything, from adjusting the balance between steadiness and randomness to determining how closely the AI should adhere to the original voice when attempting to replicate it. Click here to learn how to customize AI-generated voices. You want to impress your learners with lifelike, context-aware voices. AI Assistant’s text-to-speech adapts to the tone, emotion, and nuances of your content or script. Here’s an example of a text-to-speech narration created using an AI-generated voice. AI-generated Voice Your browser does not support the audio element. You need voices tailored to specific training needs. AI Assistant comes with a voice library that offers thousands of ultrarealistic, AI-generated voices that can be filtered by age, gender, and use case. That said, AI text-to-speech has its own drawbacks. For example, because the underlying models don’t support SSML phoneme tags, AI text-to-speech has limited SSML options, as mentioned above. If you have special terminology or pronunciation, indicating that can be harder without full SSML support. And while AI text-to-speech does support the break tag <break time=“1.5s” /> if you want to manually control pacing, note that an excessive number of break tags can potentially cause instability. In addition, AI text-to-speech offers a huge variety of options but no specific guidance on which voices work best for a given language. Finding just the right voice can require a lot of experimentation—that may be time you don’t have. Pro tip: Keeping a reference list of voices that work for specific languages in your courses can help with your next project. Check out these user guides for step-by-step instructions on creating AI-generated text-to-speech audio, including in Rise 360. AI Assistant: Producing Highly Realistic Audio AI Assistant in Rise 360: AI-Generated Text-to-Speech Choose What Works For You AI-generated voices clearly have the edge over classic text-to-speech options on voice quality. However, if you (or your organization) are still on the fence about adopting generative AI in your content creation process or have specialized needs, classic text-to-speech is still there to help you create engaging audio interactions. You get to decide what sounds right for your learners—and for your own content and workflow.
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Storyline 360: Adding Videos
Enhance your Storyline 360 courses with videos from files and websites, and learn how to make your media accessible to all learners. To learn how to add videos from Content Library 360, read this resource. Add a Video from a File Add a Video from a Website Make Videos Accessible Add a Video from a File Note: Videos are automatically synchronized with the slide and controlled by the timeline. Here’s how to add a video from a file: First, do either of the following: In Slide View, go to the Insert tab on the ribbon, click the Video drop-down arrow, and choose Video from File. Or, drag a video file from your computer and drop it on your course slide. In Form View, go to the Home tab on the ribbon, click the Media drop-down arrow, and choose Video from File. Browse to the video you want to use and click Open. Storyline 360 supports both MP4 and WebM videos. The following video formats are automatically converted to MP4 when added to your project: 3G2 3GP ASF AVI DV M1V M2V M4V MOV MPE MPEG MPG QT WMV Tips: If your video placeholder is difficult to see because it appears as a white, black, or transparent rectangle in Storyline 360, right-click it and choose Set Poster Frame. Then, browse for an image file to use as the video placeholder. If you add a video without captions, AI Assistant prompts you to generate them automatically. Click Generate Captions to create captions for your video. To generate captions automatically next time, check the box to Remember my choice for future imports. You can adjust this preference anytime from the Features tab on the Storyline Options window. Add a Video from a Website Note: Website videos play independently of the slide and aren’t controlled by the timeline. Here's how to embed videos hosted on websites such as YouTube and Vimeo. In Slide View, go to the Insert tab on the ribbon, click the Video drop-down arrow, and select Video from Website. Copy the video embed code from the hosting website and paste it into the Insert Video from Website box. Click Insert. Make Videos Accessible Video accessibility fosters inclusivity and boosts comprehension for all learners. Here are a few tips to make videos accessible: Turn off autoplay. Video content that autoplays can disrupt learning and interfere with assistive technologies. Adjust video properties to prevent autoplay and enable playback speed control. (1.4.2 Audio Control). Enable accessible video controls. Turn on the accessible video controls in Storyline 360's modern player for a more inclusive and flexible learning environment. (2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide). Use closed captions. Closed captions help all learners fully engage with and comprehend your content. You can import captions, create your own, or let AI Assistant generate them for you automatically—all right in Storyline 360. Position captions at the top or bottom of your slides and customize the foreground and background colors to maximize readability. (1.2.2 Captions [Prerecorded]). Provide synchronized video transcripts. Synchronized video transcripts can be automatically generated from closed captions. Transcripts should include descriptions of narration, sound effects, and other audiovisual elements. (1.2.3 Audio Description or Media Alternative [Prerecorded]). Use audio descriptions where necessary. Include audio descriptions that narrate important visual details not conveyed through dialogue. This practice gives learners with visual disabilities access to all the necessary information and allows them to understand the content thoroughly. (1.2.5 Audio Description [Prerecorded]). Keep your language simple. Use plain language in your video content and descriptions. Straightforward and clear language helps your audience easily read and understand the information. Avoid distracting videos. Stick with non-flashing videos. Content that flashes, blinks, or flickers more than three times per second is distracting and can trigger seizures in learners with photosensitive epilepsy. (2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold). You Might Also Want to Explore: Adding Content Library 360 Videos Editing Videos Adjusting Video Properties
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Storyline 360: Converting Text to Speech
Speed up course development by converting text to speech right in Storyline 360. For example, use the text-to-speech feature to quickly narrate a course for stakeholder review or to localize narration in different languages. You can even choose the voice and language to make sure every word sounds right. Watch this video demonstration, then check out the detailed instructions below. Converting Text to Speech Selecting Languages and Voices Updating Script Changes or Using a Different Voice Generating Closed Captions Replacing Text-to-Speech Narration with Recorded Narration Create Text-to-Speech with AI Assistant Bring narration to life with AI-generated voices that are highly realistic and customizable. Add your script, define voice settings, and let AI Assistant do the rest. Learn how to use AI Assistant to level up your course authoring game. Converting Text to Speech Go to the Insert tab on the ribbon, click the Audio drop-down arrow, and choose Text-to-Speech. When the Insert Text-to-Speech window appears, select a Language from the first drop-down list. This ensures that your words are spoken with the correct pronunciations. Choose a Voice (standard or neural) from the second drop-down list. You can hear what a voice sounds like by clicking the Preview Voice button next to the list. Type or paste your script into the text-entry field. Or, if you want to use your slide notes as your script, just click the Copy from Slide Notes button. You can convert up to 10,000 characters at a time. When using speech synthesis markup language (SSML), you can convert up to 3,000 characters for text and 3,000 for SSML tags. If your script is longer than that, break it into smaller chunks and generate more than one text-to-speech audio clip. Then, place the audio clips back to back on the timeline so they play in sequential order. See below for tips on pronunciation and phrasing. Keep the Generate Closed Captions box marked to add closed captions to your text-to-speech narration. Learn more about text-to-speech closed captions below. Click Insert to complete the process. You must have an internet connection to convert text to speech. If you're offline, Storyline 360 prompts you to connect to the internet and try again. Storyline 360 converts your text to narration, and it’ll appear as an audio clip on the slide’s timeline. The conversion process is fast, but lengthy scripts take longer to convert. Text-to-speech narration works just like other audio clips in Storyline 360, so you can use the built-in audio editor and audio tools to customize it. You can add as many text-to-speech clips as you want. You can even use different voices for different clips, which is great when creating a scene where two or more characters are conversing. Tips for Controlling Pronunciation and Phrasing Don't use abbreviations. Spell out words to make sure they're pronounced correctly. If a correctly spelled word isn't pronounced the way you want, try spelling it phonetically or adding hyphens between syllables—for example, Articulate vs. Articu-late. Use punctuation, such as commas and semicolons, when inserting brief pauses. For longer pauses, convert your text to speech, then open the clip in the built-in audio editor and insert silence where needed. Want more control? As of December 2023, you can use SSML to adjust the speaking rate, modify pronunciation, add pauses, and more. Selecting Languages and Voices Choose from various standard and neural languages and voices to enhance your training. Standard Voices This is the full list of standard voices in Storyline 360, alphabetized and arranged by language. Language Name(s) Arabic Zeina (Female) Chinese (Mandarin) Zhiyu (Female) Danish Mads (Male), Naja (Female) Dutch (Netherlands) Lotte (Female), Ruben (Male) English (Australia) Nicole (Female), Russell (Male) English (India) Aditi (Female), Raveena (Female) English (United Kingdom) Amy (Female), Brian (Male), Emma (Female) English (USA) Joanna (Female), Joey (Male), Justin (Male), Kendra (Female), Kimberly (Female), Matthew (Male), Salli (Female) English (Wales) Geraint (Male) French (Canada) Chantal (Female) French (France) Céline (Female), Léa (Female), Mathieu (Male) German (Germany) Hans (Male), Marlene (Female), Vicki (Female) Icelandic Dóra (Female), Karl (Male) Italian Bianca (Female), Carla (Female), Giorgio (Male) Japanese Mizuki (Female), Takumi (Male) Korean Seoyeon (Female) Norwegian Liv (Female) Polish Ewa (Female), Jacek (Male), Jan (Male), Maja (Female) Portuguese (Brazil) Camila (Female), Ricardo (Male), Vitória (Female) Portuguese (Portugal) Cristiano (Male), Inês (Female) Romanian Carmen (Female) Russian Maxim (Male), Tatyana (Female) Spanish (Latin American) Lupe (Female), Miguel (Male), Penélope (Female) Spanish (Mexican) Mia (Female) Spanish (Spain) Conchita (Female), Enrique (Male), Lucia (Female) Swedish Astrid (Female) Turkish Filiz (Female) Welsh Gwyneth (Female) Neural Voices Starting with the September 2023 update, you can generate realistic, natural-sounding text-to-speech narration with neural voices. This is the full list of neural voices in Storyline 360, alphabetized and arranged by language. This list is updated whenever new voices are added. Language Name(s) Arabic (Gulf) Hala (Female), Zayd (Male) Catalan Arlet (Female) Chinese (Cantonese) Hiujin (Female) Chinese (Mandarin) Zhiyu (Female) Czech Jitka (Female) Danish Sofie (Female) Dutch (Belgian) Lisa (Female) Dutch (Netherlands) Laura (Female) English (Australia) Olivia (Female) English (India) Kajal (Female) English (United Kingdom) Amy (Female), Arthur (Male), Brian (Male), Emma (Female) English (USA) Danielle (Female), Gregory (Male), Joanna (Female), Joey (Male), Justin (Male), Kendra (Female), Kevin (Male), Kimberly (Female), Matthew (Male), Ruth (Female), Salli (Female), Stephen (Male) Finnish Suvi (Female) French (Belgian) Isabelle (Female) French (Canada) Gabrielle (Female), Liam (Male) French (France) Léa (Female), Rémi (Male) German (Austria) Hannah (Female) German (Germany) Daniel (Male), Vicki (Female) German (Swiss) Sabrina (Female) Irish English Niamh (Female) Italian Adriano (Male), Bianca (Female) Japanese Kazuha (Female), Takumi (Male), Tomoko (Female) Korean Seoyeon (Female), Jihye (Female) New Zealand English Aria (Female) Norwegian Ida (Female) Polish Ola (Female) Portuguese (Brazil) Camila (Female), Thiago (Male), Vitória (Female) Portuguese (Portugal) Inês (Female) Singaporean English Jasmine (Female) South African English Ayanda (Female) Spanish (Latin American) Lupe (Female), Pedro (Male) Spanish (Mexican) Andrés (Male), Mia (Female) Spanish (Spain) Lucia (Female), Sergio (Male) Swedish Elin (Female) Turkish Burcu (Female) Updating Script Changes or Using a Different Voice What if you convert text to speech and then need to update it with script changes? Or what if you want to switch to a different voice later? No problem. Storyline 360 makes it easy to update text-to-speech narration. Right-click your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline and choose Text-to-Speech from the context menu that appears. Or, select your text-to-speech audio track, go to the Options tab on the ribbon, and click Text-to-Speech. The Insert Text-to-Speech window opens with your original script. Edit the script as needed or choose a different voice—or both. Click Update. Generating Closed Captions Storyline 360 can generate closed captions that are automatically synchronized with text-to-speech narration, making your course more accessible. You can add closed captions at the same time you convert text to speech or add them later. Here’s how. Generate Closed Captions When You Convert Text to Speech Keep the Generate Closed Captions box marked to add closed captions at the same time you convert text to speech. Learn how to convert text to speech above. Update Existing Narration with Closed Captions Right-click your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline and choose Text-to-Speech from the context menu that appears. The Insert Text-to-Speech window opens with your script. Check the Generate Closed Captions box. Click Update. Use the Closed Captions Editor to Add Captions Select your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline, then go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Add Captions. When the closed captions editor opens, Storyline 360 automatically generates captions that are synced with your narration. Just click Save & Close on the ribbon. Learn More Creating and Editing Closed Captions with the Built-In Editor Importing Closed Captions for Narration and Videos Replacing Text-to-Speech Narration with Recorded Narration You can use text-to-speech narration during course development and later swap it out with professionally recorded narration, keeping your closed captions intact. Here’s how. Select your text-to-speech audio track on the slide’s timeline and go to the Options tab on the ribbon. Click the drop-down arrow beside Replace Audio. Choose to replace your text-to-speech audio with an audio file from your computer or an audio clip from the media library. Or, record narration with your microphone.
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Storyline 360: Importing Closed Captions for Narration and Videos
Enhance accessibility in your Storyline 360 courses for learners who are deaf or hard of hearing by importing closed captions for narration and videos. Insert standard SRT, VTT, SBV, or SUB files—or create captions and subtitles from scratch with the built-in editor. Prepare Caption Files Import Captions Delete Captions Export Captions Customize Your Closed Captions Show or Hide the Closed Captioning Button on the Player Use Triggers to Turn Closed Captions On and Off Create Closed Captions with AI Assistant Instantly generate high-quality captions for your audio and video content to boost accessibility. Learn how to use AI Assistant to level up your course authoring game. Prepare Caption Files Storyline 360 supports SRT, VTT, SBV, and SUB files generated by third-party captioning services such as YouTube, Amara, and 3PlayMedia. Here are some tips to ensure your caption files are properly formatted for Storyline 360: Storyline 360 supports bold, italic, and underline formatting in caption files as well as voice tags to indicate which person is speaking. All other formatting tags, such as font and font color, will be ignored. (Use the closed caption settings in the player properties to format your captions.) A caption will automatically wrap if it's too long to fit on a single line. However, if you need a caption to break at a specific point, add one line break in your caption file in the appropriate place. On the other hand, if you need to split a caption into two separate caption boxes that display simultaneously, add two line breaks in your caption file. You might do this when two people are speaking and you want each speaker's dialogue to display in its own caption box. If some letters or characters in your captions are unexpectedly replaced by symbols in Storyline 360, make sure your caption files are encoded for UTF-8. Import Captions Closed captions are supported for audio tracks and videos. You can import captions simultaneously with your media, or you can import captions separately. We describe both options in the table below. Import Captions Simultaneously with Media If your caption files have the same names as your media files and are stored in the same folder with the media, they'll automatically import into Storyline 360 when you import your media. For example, if I have a video called MyVideo.mp4 and the corresponding caption file is named MyVideo.srt and is located in the same folder, I only need to import the video into my Storyline 360 project, and the captions will automatically import and sync with the video. To learn how to import audio and video files into Storyline 360, read these user guides: Importing Audio Files Importing Video Files Import Captions After Adding Media To import captions after adding media to your Storyline 360 project: Select the audio track or video that you want to caption. Go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Import. Browse to the caption file you want to import, then click Open. Another way to import captions is to right-click the video placeholder or the speaker icon that represents your audio track, choose Accessibility, then click the Import icon. (Read this user guide to learn more about the Size and Position window.) Note about captions in markers: When you right-click an interactive marker and choose Accessibility, you'll see closed caption features for audio and video since a marker can have both types of media at the same time. Pro Tips: You can import closed captions from the ribbon or the Size and Position window, as described above. Even better, you can use the media library to import and manage closed captions for all audio clips and videos in your project. You can add captions to all audio clips and videos, except website videos. Storyline 360 automatically generates synchronized video transcripts from closed captions. Media content with closed captions displays a CC label in their media icons on the timeline and slide stage for quick identification. Delete Captions To delete existing captions, follow these steps: Select the audio track or video that has captions you want to remove. Go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Delete. (It will be grayed-out if there aren't any captions to delete.) Export Captions To export captions from Storyline 360, follow these steps: Select the audio track or video that has captions you want to export. Go to the Options tab on the ribbon and click Export. (It'll be grayed-out if there aren't any captions to export.) Choose a location where you want to save your caption file, then click Save. Exported captions always generate a VTT file. Customize Your Closed Captions You can set your captions’ foreground and background colors, font, size, and position, and turn the text shadow on or off. In the player properties window, click Colors & Effects on the ribbon, use the Closed Captions formatting options, then click OK to save and close. If you're using the classic player, you can choose the captions font. You can also set the font size for all player elements and captions as a single unit by adjusting the Player font size percentage. Show or Hide the Closed Captioning Button on the Player The closed captioning button on the course player is enabled by default, but you can disable it if you plan to build your own custom controls or use accessible video controls. Go to the Home tab on the ribbon and click Player. When the player properties open, mark the Captions box to show the closed captioning button or uncheck it to hide the closed captioning button. Click OK to save and close the player settings. Tips for interacting with the closed captioning button: The closed captioning button may not always be visible throughout your course. It's only visible when captions are available on the current slide or layer. It'll disappear for slides and layers that don't have captions. This gives learners a visual clue when captions are available. When a learner clicks the closed captioning button to turn on captions, the button will remain turned on throughout the course until the learner clicks it again to turn it off. Use Triggers to Turn Captions On and Off If the closed captioning button is enabled on your course player (see above), learners can toggle captions on and off whenever they want. However, you can also control captions via triggers by adjusting the built-in Player.DisplayCaptions variable to either True (on) or False (off). Here are a couple scenarios where you might control captions via triggers and how to set them up. Turn Captions On by Default Captions are turned off by default, but if most of your learners need captions, consider turning them on automatically when the course starts. Just add a trigger to the first slide in your course with these trigger wizard parameters: Action: Adjust variable Operator: = Set Variable: Player.DisplayCaptions Value: Value = True When: Timeline starts Object: Select the first slide in your course from the drop-down list. Build Your Own Custom Navigation Buttons If you disable the built-in player features and build your own custom navigation buttons, you can use triggers to show and hide captions. Just add a trigger to a button with these trigger wizard parameters to create a toggle: Action: Adjust Variable Operator: Toggle Variable: Player.DisplayCaptions When: User clicks Object: Select your custom button from the drop-down list.
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