Free Articulate Storyline 360 E-Learning Templates
Good morning my fellow developers. We have a bunch of old courses that need to be refreshed at our company. To save time, I wonder if you know any good places to find FREE modern storyline 360 templates because starting them all from scratch would take a lot more time than we have. If you know of any places, I should look please let me know.Rise Learning Journal / Notes
Update (04 June 2025) This project is now available open source at GitLab. I've included a quick glance at the License (Same as Moodle). License: GNU GPL v3 Type: Strong copyleft license Implications: ✅ You can use, modify, and distribute Rise Learning Journal freely. 🔁 If you distribute a modified version, you must also release the source code under the GPLv3. ❌ You cannot make it proprietary or incorporate it into closed-source software. ✅ You can use it commercially, but the GPL applies to any distribution. Instructions for implementation further down the page under the heading BETA Version Release. I've been working on a Learning Journal for Rise. I have an BETA version I'd like to share on SCORM Cloud. (trial account, limited to 10 users, ping me, mailto:notes@rebusmedia.com, if it's maxed out and I'll clear users). The features we have included so far are: Comments persisted between sessions (SCORM 1.2 & SCORM 2004 3rd and 4th Ed) Save comments, associated with blocks individual blocks Comments are organised into topics/pages Edit existing Comments Delete Comments Print comments (to printer, or PDF is you have the required software installed) Export comments to Word (*.doc) Pagination (If comments exceed a defined number, they are split into pages) Add the functionality to individual blocks, or globally. There are some things that needs to be finalised which will not take a great deal of work to complete. Mobile compatibility WCAG 2.2 AA What I'm looking for is a bit of community input, as I know people have wanted this feature for quite some time. This is my best guess of how somebody might use a learning journal, but would love to hear any other examples of how it could function, or additional useful features that could be included. If you would like to check it out on SCORM Cloud. You can visit this URL: Rise Learning Journal on SCORM Cloud (trial account, limited to 10 users, ping me, mailto:notes@rebusmedia.com, if it's maxed out and I'll clear users). Update (3rd December 2024) I have continued to work on this project and it is now SCORM 2004 compatible. Again, it is using the cmi.comments_from_learner. Unfortunately I found a significant issue with the Articulate implementation of the SCORM 1.2 and 2004 comments. I am in communication with support after logging the issue. I am hoping I can convince them that the implementation is incorrect, and the base script is updated. In the meantime, I am applying a patch to the Articulate "WriteComment" function to ensure comments are stored correctly for SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004. I have also made some cosmetic changes and updated the CSS for the HTML to ensure the application picks up the current Rise module theme (colours, fonts etc). I've fixed a few bugs I have found along the way with regards to deleting journal entries, and editing journal entries when not on the page they originated from. This all appears to be working really well now. My next priority will be working on the CSS to ensure it is mobile compatible. Once all of the HTML and CSS is finalised, I'll then work on the accessibility. I've been implementing aria attributes as I go along, but there is still some testing and development to be done on that side of things. I will be looking to release this as a BETA to a handful of people early in the new year. Update (9th December 2024) Accessibility Started work on accessibility. Currently implementing and then will be looking to test using JAWS 2024 and NVDA over the xmas holiday period. On track for BETA release Jan 2025. Update (09 January 2025) Accessibility & refactoring Still working on accessibility and refactoring. There is a little more work than first forecast. Yes, I know, you've never heard that from a developer before. I'm 50/50 as to whether I can get this out in January. It will depend on other work commitments, but I will keep this post updated. I have decided to simplify the colour scheme and move away from using the defined "branding" colours inherited from Rise, as I was finding this a bit unpredictable with colour contrast, and so in the interest of ensuring the content has the best colour contrast, I'll be hard coding the CSS rather than using the CSS variables defined in Rise. I'll re-visit this in future. Looking at the code, I need some serious refactoring as I think I found some redundancies and so need to delete any unused code that I added and then abandoned. Oh, and Happy New Year. Update (24 January 2025) Accessibility & refactoring Almost ready for BETA release. Should be ready for release next Tuesday. Accessibility just about completed. I think I could spend another few days improving things, but I think this will be a good first release. BETA Version Release Contact: notes@rebusmedia.com Minimum requirements: Rise course published SCORM 1.2 or 2004 (xAPI not currently supported) LMS Support for cmi.comments (TalentLMS cmi.comments implentation is not supported as the comments are not persisted between sessions). Release Notes: This is a BETA release, and is provided as is without any warranties and It should be used with caution and fully tested for your use case before considering for production. If you do find bugs, please report them to notes@rebusmedia.com (include browser, LMS, device) and I'll release a fix as quickly as possible. This is a side project and so does come second to our day job which can be busy, and so you may need a certain level of patience. Fixes can be expedited for your use case through engagement of our services for time critical projects. It has been tested on mobile, but not extensively (Google Pixel + iPhone). Win/Chrome has been the browser used for development, and testing has also been performed on Win/Firefox and Win/Edge. Features requests: If you require any features that deviate from the BETA version, they will be considered on their merit, but can only be guaranteed for your own implementation through engagement for our services. We have a long list of features that we would like to add if there is enough interest in the application and if it is viable. Accessibility: We made the decision to remove colors from the modal window theme to keep it simple and generic and accessible (high color contrast). The application has been tested with JAWS 2024 and is fully keyboard accessible and keeps assistive technology users informed of what is happening when interacting with the modal window. I'm always willing to make improvements to accessibility as a priority. Accessibility issues are treated as a bug and not a feature request. Implementation: Publish your Rise course to either SCORM 1.2 or 2004 Download the two files note.min.css and notes.min.js files to your computer. Extract your published Rise course to your computer and then copy the note.min.css and note.min.js files to the scormcontent\lib folder Open the scormcontent\index.html file in a simple text editor such as notepad and paste the following text just before the closing head element, which looks like this </head>. <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="lib/notes.min.css"> <script type="text/javascript" src="lib/notes.min.js" data-notes-per-page="5"></script> It will look something like this: // Excerpt of scormcontent/index.html starts window.__loadEntry = __loadEntry window.__loadRemoteEntry = __loadRemoteEntry window.__loadJsonp = __loadJsonp window.__resolveJsonp = __resolveJsonp window.__fetchCourse = __fetchCourse })() </script> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="lib/notes.min.css"> <script type="text/javascript" src="lib/notes.min.js" data-notes-per-page="5"></script> </head> <body> <div id="app"></div> // Excerpt of scormcontent/index.html ends You can adjust the data-notes-per-page="5" attribute to determine how many notes should be listed in the viewer, before the pagination (note navigation) kicks in. Save the scormcontent/index.html file It's important to get this bit right, as the LMS expects the imsmanifest file in the root of the zip file you are about to create. Navigate to the folder containing imsmanifest.xml and then select all (CTL+A) and then select archive/zip/compress depending on the software you use the terminology can be different. It must be a zip file though and the imasmanifest.xml file must be in the root of the zip file. Update (28 January 2025) Print functionality improvement After some user feedback, I have adjust the print functionality so that there is less chance of the student losing the course window during printing. When print is completed or cancelled, the print page closes and the user is return to the course window. Update (30 January 2025) Fix: Added functionality to handle learn.riseusercontent.com cmi.comments implementation. The cmi.comments implementation is incorrect on the LMS and requires the application to retrieve all comments and save to the LMS rather than appending to existing comments. This could cause memory issues if users add multiple long comments over time. CSS: Improved CSS for mobile view (using full height of the screen to display the application. Update (31 January 2025) Bug: There is a known issue with TalentLMS. TalentLMS does not persist SCORM 1.2 cmi.comments between sessions. All comments are disregarded at the end of the session. For this reason, we cannot support TalentLMS unless TalentLMS changes the functionality of the SCORM 1.2 cmi.comments. CSS: Improved CSS for mobile view. Supporting devices with a minimum screen width of 355px wide. Update (07 March 2025) New configuration option: I have added a configuration option that allows you to determine where the note button should be inserted (instead of globally). In order to determine where the note button should be inserted, you need to follow these steps: Grab a copy of the latest version of the JS and CSS files. Wherever you would like to insert the note button, within the Rise authoring environment, simply add {RM.NOTES} to the top of the block, for example: Follow the Implementation instructions, outlined earlier in this post. When you come to add the script to the HTML file, you will need to add an extra data attribute to the <script> tag called data-notes-global and set the value as false. <script type="module" src="lib/notes.min.js" data-notes-global="false"></script> Update (12 March 2025) BETA Distribution files, including the README.MD document, are available to download. This will be the last feature addition for a while now. Bug fixes and stabilisation will continue, but any new features will have to wait or can be requested via notes@rebusmedia.com. Prompt You can now add a prompt to the note when defining a notes button using the {RM.NOTES} directive. The prompt is defined as a configuration option in the following way {RM.NOTES PROMPT="Prompt text goes here."}. It would look something like this in the Rise author environment. This would ensure that a notes button is inserted on this block, and when selected, will display the text input, preceded by the prompt "What should you include in your clinical notes?". In order to use the prompt, you must set the global flag to false using the <script> tag as follows: <script type="module" src="lib/notes.min.js" data-notes-global="false"></script> Note button position The note button default position is the top right of the target block. The button can now be positioned at the centre bottom of the target block. The position configuration can be used with the global flag set to true (buttons inserted automatically on blocks) or set to false (buttons only inserted where the {RM.NOTES} directive is present within the block. <script type="module" src="lib/notes.min.js" data-notes-button-centre-bottom="true"></script>Integrating a Chatbot into My Storyline Project
Hi all, I'd like to integrate chatbots in my Storyline courses in the near future. I tried a little test with my ChatGPT API key. It doesn't work because I don't want to buy API tokens. Also, I read other posts that let me know that I would be exposing myself to malicious hackers if I used my API key in a front-end server (I think I'm saying that right). What I'd like to know is, has anyone successfully integrated a chatbot without using an API key? Is there a better option than ChatGPT? Thanks! KrisStoryline 360 Pros — What’s Your Favorite “Hidden Gem”? 💎
As someone who’s spent a lot of time working with (and on!) Storyline 360, I’ve come to appreciate the power in the little things — those lesser-known features that quietly make our lives easier. Here's one of my personal favorites: 🎧📽️ Cue Points with the “C” Key: I recently spoke with a customer who struggled to time trigger actions to audio and video media on their slides. They would preview the slide, make note of when a trigger should be fired, then return to slide authoring view to add a cue point to the timeline to tie into the trigger event. This would require a lot of manual back-and-forth between authoring and previewing. I often have to do the same thing, and there is an easier way. If you use stage preview (accessible via the "Play" icon" in the lower-left corner of the Timeline panel), Storyline will stay in the slide authoring view and play the timeline of the slide, including any audio or video media that's present. As it plays, you can press the "C" key on your keyboard to have cue points added to the current playback position. It’s a simple way to place cue points in real time, right where they’re needed — perfect for syncing trigger actions to specific moments in your media. cting Storyline 360's UI and using the "C" key to drop cue points on the timeline. Now I’m curious: What’s your favorite under-the-radar Storyline feature? Something small, subtle, maybe even a little obscure — but that you personally couldn’t live without. Drop it in the comments — I’d love to learn what little gems you rely on. 👇Customizable 3D Model Viewer in Storyline 360 Using Three.js
TLDR A 3D model viewer (GLB/GLTF and OBJ fiel formats) for Storyline 360 using Three.js. See the links below. Please check in the comments for additional updates. Updated (2025-03-08): Minor adjustments to model reloads and resource disposal. Use new project file. Demo: 3D Model Viewer https://360.articulate.com/review/content/87acc80c-2820-4182-b99b-db9e7fd60852/review Demo: 3D Model Display Customizer https://360.articulate.com/review/content/d740f374-c2ac-4ae0-92bc-255b7d35ee1a/review Introduction In my ongoing efforts to better my skills, I’ve been learning more about Three.js, a 3D animation and visualization library for the web. At its simplest, Three displays 3D models in a web browser. This is something that many Storyline users have expressed interest in but alas, it is not directly supported. Storyline actually does incorporate Three.js as its viewer for 360-degree images but otherwise does not include it as a part of its projects. This Project Since displaying graphics with Three is actually fairly easy, it seems like this is something that would have already been done. Since I couldn’t find much regarding integrating Three with Storyline however, I decided to use this as a test bed for my learning experience. As a disclaimer, I am not a programmer, so my code may be inelegant and inefficient in areas. I also know very little about 3D modeling. My design decisions were based upon what I found interesting or potentially useful and may overlook standard practices or some key features that one might expect. Feel free to comment. The Model Viewer I broke this project into two parts. Both are created within Storyline modules. One is a model viewer template that you can use to display two varieties of 3D model files (GL/GLTF and OBJ models). It accommodates a configuration option (list of variables in a trigger) which allows you to customize many aspects of how the model is displayed on your slide. You can include multiple models, each with their own configuration, and switch between them. The size of the model viewer matches the container object on your slide, so it can be sized to your needs. The template module is pretty simple, with a viewer container, some JavaScript, and a handful of triggers and variables. I’ve included the project file for the viewer. You should either be able to adapt it directly or incorporate its parts into your own projects. The Display Customizer The second part is another, more complicated Storyline module. This component can be used to customize how your model is visualized. I linked much of the viewer’s functionality to a collection of Storyline controls, spread across multiple slide layers. Once you have your model setup and adjusted to your liking, you can export a block of JavaScript that represents all of the settings used in the viewer’s configuration options. You will copy and paste this into one of your viewer’s project triggers. Combined with your model files, this enables the 3D viewer to reproduce what you designed for display on your slide. Of course, you can also manually edit the configuration options if you desire, but for anything more than minor edits, this is far easier. Due to its complexity (4000+ lines of script and several hundred variables and triggers), I have not shared the project file. I will, however, leave an active link to the published module that you can use to set up your models. The Details (for anyone who cares) Inspiration for this project came from the following sources: https://threejs.org/docs/ https://threejs-journey.com/ https://github.com/donmccurdy/three-gltf-viewer https://community.articulate.com/discussions/discuss/drag-and-drop-objects-into-storyline/994181 https://github.com/Sphinxxxx/vanilla-picker Model Viewer The viewer module consists of A web object containing your model files and some JavaScript A viewer rectangle on your slide with its accessibility text set to “glb” A few variables A few triggers, including a main JavaScript routine and some configuration options The Web Object We will use a web object to include your model files and the Three.js base code into your project. While Storyline can load a version of Three when needed, it is older and lacks many of the additional resources we need. The script in the web is a custom bundle of the current Three components we need in this project, along the js-beautify library. The functions and classes are made available as global variables under window. Using a static version ensures that everything works together even if Three issues updates that break interactions. You also will include copies of your model resources. The configuration script specifies the base model files for the viewer. Additional files are typically referenced from within the base files. It is easiest if you create a folder for each model, and place all of the related files inside that folder, inside the web object folder. The viewer supports GLB, GLTF, and OBJ models. GLB models are typically one file with everything embedded. GLTF models often have additional texture files associated with it. Preserve any file structure that came with your model (i.e., If your textures are in their own folder, leave them there. If they are at the same level as the model file, leave them there. Also don’t change any of their names. You can rename the GLTF or GLB files and their containing folder, but they must match what is listed in the configuration script. OBJ models usually require several files. Include them all unless you know they are not needed. Final renders and reference images are not normally needed. As with GLB and GLTF, OBJ model files can be renamed but must match the configuration script. There is also an MTL file that should use the same name as the OBJ file (this allows the script to find this file). Don’t rename the texture files unless you know they need to be changed. Note: If you download models from places like CG Trader, Turbo Squid, or Sketchfab then sometimes the textures are separate from the models, or the filenames don’t match what is specified within the GLTF or MTL files. You may have to manually locate and/or rename the texture files. Sometimes you might need to edit the texture specs inside MTL files as well. If you make your own models, then I’ll assume you have what you need. You can also include optional environmental textures, which can provide lighting information and visual backgrounds within the viewer. These are supported as EXR, HDR, JPEG, PNG, and GIF files. If you include these, create a folder inside your main model folder called myEnvMaps and put the required environmental texture files inside this folder. Finally, add an empty text file to the web object folder and rename it to index.html. Once the web object folder is ready, add it to your project in scene 2. Note: Anytime you change the contents of the web object folder, you need to follow ALL of the steps below. Delete the existing web object Insert the new web object (browser to the folder, set to open in new window) Move web object to bottom of timeline list Publish the single slide in scene 2. Click the Load Now button to open the web object page Copy the portion of the URL text matching story_content/WebObjects/[random characters]/ Make sure to include the trailing “/” Paste this value into the dataFolder variable The Viewer Rectangle Create a rectangle. Fill and outline don’t matter, as it will be removed when published. Right-click on the shape’s timeline entry, select accessibility, and edit the text to read glb. You can change this value in the tagViewerContainer variable. This rectangle can be any size or shape and placed wherever on the slide. Variables and Triggers Make sure all of the variables listed in the viewer template project are included in your project. There is one trigger on the slide master. It loads the JavaScript for Three (from the web object). On the base slide, there is one trigger for the main JavaScript viewer routine. For each model you wish to display, there is one additional JavaScript trigger that sets the configuration options. You can generate new text for these triggers using the display customization module. Display Customizer The viewer has many options. Most are built into the Three objects used to display the model. A few are specific to this viewer implementation. You can manually edit the configuration trigger for each model if desired, changing values to fine tune your viewer. For large scale changes or initial setup, you might want to use the display customizer module (linked above). Loading Models The interface consists of a viewport on the left and various controls on the right. To load a model, you can drag and drop one or more files or a folder onto the viewport (or drop new files later to change models). The viewer will try to find and load the model and all of it associated textures and environment files. Dropping the files is convenient as an interface, but it requires extra processing to access the files. Since some of the model files can be large, it might take several seconds before everything gets loaded. Also keep in mind that all of the processing is done in the browser on your computer. If your machine is not very robust, then processing times may be longer. If in doubt, open and watch the browser’s inspector panel console to see if there are errors related to loading the files; especially when trying to load new models. Sometimes you don’t have all the files you need or they’re in the wrong folder. You will see what files the viewer is looking for, and if they are found. If unexpected problems occur, try reloading the browser window. Feel free to comment here if you discover recurrent error conditions. Base settings The base settings panel provides the main interface. You can see and control key aspects of lighting, as well as environmental, animation, and shadow conditions. You can also adjust the viewport aspect ratio in case you need something that is not square. Lighting Unless you set up an environment to provide illumination, you will need some lights to see your model. There are four types of lighting available. Ambient is equivalent to overhead sunlight. The other three types offer up to four light sources each. The controls show the colors. The corners control specific features (see the Help button for details). Right click on each square to get additional options. Each light type has its own options. There is a color picker to set your desired color. Making changes will be immediately visible in the viewport. If you can’t see a change, you may need to adjust the intensity or the positioning of the light. There is an option for a helper, which is a visual representation of the light shape and position. Turn this on to help you set up the lights. Syncing Lights Since the viewer offers the ability to orbit the camera around your model, lighting usually remains static in relation to your model (i.e., the model and lights appear to rotate together in the viewer). A custom feature in this implementation is the ability to sync your lights to the camera so they also move around your model, creating interesting effects. This can be enabled for each individual light, in two different sync styles. Lights may be made relative to the camera position, so they appear to remain in one place in 3D space. They may also be synced in the direction of the camera, at a fixed distance. This is similar to having a flashlight trained on your model as you view it. You can also specify whether each light will generate shadows. This can add realism to your displays. Shadows require significant processing, so use them sparingly to prevent laggy performance. Other Settings Other settings, including rotation direction and speed, environment controls, intensities, and animations are available. Animations seem to work with GLB/GLTF models. OBJ models do not support animation directly. Try out the various controls on your model to see the effects. Export Settings When you have set up your model as desired, you can use the Loader Settings button to export a copy of the current settings snapshot. These include the model filenames and camera positions (like a snapshot). Make sure things are in the position that you want them to start before you click the button. You will see a long list of settings that can be highlighted and copied. This will get pasted into the options trigger in the Model Viewer module. See the triggers attached to the example buttons in the demo file. You can also load and save copies of settings as session data in your browser. This could be useful if you have commonly used settings you want to reuse, or if you want to pick up where you left off on the previous day. Note, these are local to your machine and browser. They will not be available elsewhere. You can also Apply the loaded or the default settings to the current model if desired. The Defaults when Drop Loading checkbox indicates if newly dropped model files will use the current settings or the default start-up settings, in case you prefer one over the other. Technical Notes (thanks for reading this far) Loading Files The Model Viewer uses physical model files included with your published project. This increases your project size but improves the loading speed of the models on the slide. The Display Customizer uses a file drop mechanism to make it easier to switch between random models. This works by parsing through the files or folders dropped and converting them into URL blobs. The blobs act like internal web addresses pointing to each of your files. Large files, especially environment textures or complex models, may take a bit to fully process and load (the Burger model for example). When you utilize the Model viewer for your final product, performance should be better since you only need a single set of files, and they are included locally. You could potentially modify the Viewer script to allow for loading from external URLs rather than local files, but I have not done that yet. Environments Environment textures are 360-degree images, similar to what you use in Storyline. The format can be EXR, HDR, JPEG, PNG, or GIF. This only supports equirectangular, 2:1 images. EXR and HDR files tend to be very large, so keep that in mind. When using an environment Three infers lighting information from the selected image, making external lights unnecessary. If you want to use additional lights, you will need to lower the Environment Intensity setting so the lights don’t get washed out. The environment does not need to be visible to have an effect. If you want it visualized, then the image will replace the background color. Since the focus is really on your model, it is normal for the environment background to be somewhat blurred. Using low resolution images as textures will make this much more pronounced. If you wanted to have crisp images in the background, I believe you would need to modify the script to project the image onto a sphere instead, as you would when displaying 360-degree images (maybe I’ll add this later). OBJ Models My understanding is limited, but environments don’t project properly (or at all) onto imported OBJ models. You can display them, but they provide no lighting effects. Supposedly you can apply the environment textures to the meshes within the model, but I couldn’t get that to work. My approach, awkward but I like the outcome, is to replace all of the meshes in the loaded OBJ model with new meshes, apply the existing settings, and make some adjustments to shine and gloss settings on the fly. This results in a final model that responds to your environment lighting. I found that the test models I downloaded all seemed to come out super glossy. I added a few simple steps to calculate relative gloss levels between the model components and applied an overall adjustment to set it to a reasonable level. I was happy with the test results. Your mileage may vary. If your OBJ models don’t come out as you expected, you may need to adjust the MTL file to fine tune the output. I’ve also found that many OBJ model files (the MTL in particular) contain erroneous paths or incorrect textures assigned to material properties. If your model looks all white, black, grey or some odd color, check the MTL file (it’s plain text) and verify the data. Fix any broken paths, check to see if textures are supposed to be in their own directory, and make sure the correct textures are assigned. Particularly the lines starting with “map_”. These assign the texture images to material properties. Look at the actual texture images, the MTL file, and the Wavefront reference linked below. Play around with different settings to see if you can get it to look like it’s supposed to. See this link for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavefront_.obj_file. Lastly, the OBJ models don’t support animations like GLB/GLTF models. Even if your source says the model is animated, that may only apply to other model formats. You may be able to convert another animated version to a GLB format online, or by using Blender. Performance Remember that JavaScript runs on the user’s machine. Everything that Three and this viewer script does happens locally. Don’t overburden your model viewer with an abundance of processing requirements if you don’t think the end users’ machine can handle it. Light syncing and shadow display require extra processing. If you use them, do so sparingly to make an impactful point. Not every light needs a shadow to look realistic. Also, only include the files that are really needed in the final product. Extra environment textures just take up room and slow down website loading times. Excessively high-resolution images do the same and may not be needed. Downloaded models may include extraneous files unrelated to display needs. If you’re not sure they are needed, try removing them and see if everything still works. Only include those that are required. Customization There is a Storyline variable in the project called viewer. This holds a reference to the model viewer. Many of the settings seen in the Display Customizer can be accessed and modified using this variable. If you desire, you could add your own script that loads this viewer object and allows you to directly change settings. Things like turning lights on or off, changing colors, changing positions, starting or stopping rotation or animation, and moving the camera are all easily modifiable, giving you extra control on how your model behaves. You will need to reference the configuration settings script, the main viewer JavaScript trigger, and the Three documentation website (linked above) to understand the possibilities. Limitations There are a lot of moving parts in this project (quite literally with the 3D models). The Display Customizer module is quite complicated, and building something like this inside Storyline is not recommended for the faint of heart. It required 4 weeks, on and off, from concept to this beta version. There are undoubtedly logic errors and code conflicts that I have not discovered yet. This project is provided as is, with no guarantees. If you experience an issue, post a comment. I will look into it eventually and fix it if I can. I may post updates if I fix bugs or add any features. The models included as examples were all available for free from the CG Trader, Turbo Squid, or Sketchfab websites. You can download others or use your own. I could not get FBX models to work properly and lost interest in them. THREE seems to work best with GLB/GLTF models. I like the OBJ models as well since they are easy to manually examine and modify. Additional FIles Web object used in project file (holds Three.js and the example models. https://paedagogus.org/3DModelViewer/Web_Object.zip Additional sample models to experiment with. https://paedagogus.org/3DModelViewer/Other_Sample_Models.zipSimplified Approach to Adding Transparent Videos to Storyline
Demo: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/6534ea7f-0df5-4a02-813b-70811843fbf0/review Updated: Added an option for overall video transparency. Allows for see-through videos. For example, if you wanted to project them against a surface, like a wall, or overlay them onto a graphic background. Disclaimer Some time ago, Matt Kurtin published some instructions on adding webM videos to storyline to support transparent videos. Other discussions have also addressed this issue, utilizing web objects to contain transparent videos inside Storyline. I typically used web object for my projects, but recently developed an approach very similar to Matt's to make handling transparent videos more flexible. See: https://www.innovativelg.com/resources/enabling-videos-with-transparent-backgrounds-in-articulate-storyline/ I had not actually read his article before making this. I do want to acknowledge his work though. My approach expands upon the concept somewhat. Transparency on the web Videos with transparent videos are popular online. They are great for overlaying action onto otherwise static backgrounds. Support for transparent video formats is limited by your browser, however. A widely supported, but quite old format is webM. This uses the V9 codec, and it supports an alpha channel, which provides the transparency option. It is supported by the primary Windows browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, etc.). These browsers on a Mac also support webM. The Safari browser on a Mac does not support webM, however. It supports an HEVC format that can be packaged as an MP4. Incidentally, the codec is tied to Mac hardware, so you cannot generate transparent video in this format unless you have Mac hardware (unfortunately for Windows users). To fully support both platforms, you need to offer both formats. Storyline and Transparency Storyline currently does not directly support video transparency. Import options are limited and any inserted videos are converted to a uniform format during publication. Even if you are able to insert a video that includes an alpha channel, it will be lost when published. The Web Object Approach My traditional approach to inserting transparent videos into Storyline has been to load them into web objects and display them as if they were their own webpages. This way, I could use any format you wanted. I would place the video files and an index.html containing the webpage structure into the web object. Controlling these from Storyline could be difficult but was doable. The biggest problem with web objects, however, is that they don’t render during the design phase, and properly sizing what they contained could be a hassle, requiring a lot of trial and error. Overall, using web objects was fairly straightforward, but cumbersome. An Alternative Approach Here, I offer another approach to inserting transparent videos into Storyline. This method still uses web objects to convey the video files into the Storyline project but is more friendly on the design side. Technically, you could also modify this solution to accommodate using the URLs of web-hosted videos and eliminate the web objects all together. I’ll leave that to you to play with. For this method, we insert a video (any video clip will do, since we’re not really using it) into our slide in one of the usual manners. I use the default Storyline settings of Show Video in Slide, Play Automatically, and Show No Controls. We will then simply replace the video source specified by Storyline with one of our own, using our transparent video and some JavaScript. Since this is done in real-time, after the project is published, Storyline does not prevent us from utilizing our transparent video formats. As long as we have access to the video files, we can use them instead. I mentioned that any video can be inserted to start. You should use a video with the same dimensions as your desired video, so the proportions are correct. You could also just resize the video placeholder to the appropriate dimensions. You can use a version of your actual video if you want. I just create a very short clip from my video, maybe the first few frames, and insert that. That way it remains small. It’s just a placeholder after all. Benefits The benefit of this approach is that the video is now easy to reposition and resize on your slide, without having to hassle with modifying and possibly re-inserting your web object each time. Any changes to the video’ size and position will be reflected in the transparent video that is swapped in to replace it. You also still have control over the video player through Storyline, without having to take extra steps. Making it Work Add a Poster: On the design side, in Storyline we can specify the image displayed by the inserted video placeholder. You just right click the video and click on Set Poster Frame. Create an image (for example, a single frame of your video) that is saved as a transparent .png file. Make the image the same dimensions as your video. This way, the displayed video placeholder will accurately represent your video. Accessibility Tag: You will need to edit the Accessibility tag for the video in SL (right click on the video in the timeline). Make the tag the same as the actual filename of your transparent video, without the extension. For example, for “Petals.webm”, just use Petals as the tag (no quotes). If you include both a .webm and an .mp4 version of your video file, make sure the base filename is the same. Create Transparent Videos: You need to have transparent videos ready. You can make your own or convert some green screen videos that can be downloaded from the web or through the Storyline media library. You will need a way to key out the green screen and then convert the video formats to webM (from Chrome, etc.) or HEVC MP4 (for Safari). If you have Adobe products, then After Effects and Premiere would work. You can also use the free version of Davinci Resolve to remove green screen in videos. Search for “3D Keyer Davinci Resolve” on YouTube for help. Save in ProRes format with the include alpha channel option checked. Output will be a .MOV file. These are very large, which is why it’s best to convert them into HEVC MP4s with a smaller size for web use, if you are supporting Safari. If you have access to a Mac, you might be able to use something like Rotato Converter to create both WEBM and HEVC MP4 formats. For shorter clips, you could use a free online converter (for example, https://www.aconvert.com/video/mov-to-webm/). This will convert the transparent MOV file into a webM file. You can also adjust the bitrate. Adobe Premiere can export webM with alpha using a plugin (https://www.fnord.com/). This is what I use to create webM files, make short placeholder clips, and extract a single frame to use as the poster image. Create the Web Object: The transparent video files should have the same base name, one that matches the accessibility tag you assign to the Storyline video. These go into the web object folder, along with an empty index.html file. This folder gets inserted into your Storyline project (say in a separate scene). See this discussion for more details on getting and setting the woFolder name inside Storyline. Notes on accessing files inside a web object: See the last section of this article Set the vidParameters Variable: This passes the details to the JavaScript that swaps the video on your slide. It specifies the identifying tag and other features such as autoplay, muting, and time indexes. It uses a string of text with commas separating each field. The script and this variable set up the initial swap of video when your slide loads and can also control your video further while your slide is visible, if you desire. See slide #1 in the demo to see how this works. The tag name is required, all the other fields are optional. Trigger the Script: Trigger the JavaScript to create the initial swap. For control later, place a “C” in the second field, and model the variable string as shown on Slide #1. Slide #2 shows a very simple example, with the minimum elements needed to make the video swap work. The buttons shown on the slide are optional. It should work on Chrome, Firefox, etc. browsers (I did not include the transparent Safari file). You can find the clip in Storyline by searching for “petals green” under insert video. Slide #1 should work on Safari as well, although I did not have a Mac handy to check. The clip was from another project. I’ve attached a sample .story file and the web object folder used in the demo. The script is commented. Feel free to modify it as you see fit. Still can't attach the zip file. https://paedagogus.org/VidSwapRsc/woFolder+Project.zip3D objects in Storyline
Hi Articulate Team, Are there any plans to bring support for 3D objects (such as .obj files) into Storyline? Essentially I'm referring to a 3D model viewer component function added to Storyline allowing for some basic manipulation of the 3D object itself such as rotate and move in X/Y/Z axis, exploded view, and part isolation. This would work wonders for so many learning projects and enhance the actual learning being achieved by the learner. Whilst Storyline has an insert web object feature, this requires additional overhead of the resource itself already being suitably hosted online or in a folder that can be hosted online (i.e. it contains HTML like files - index.html, etc. which is effectively asking for it to be web-ready). This isn't always suitable or practical for every company and their respective IP assets/resources. I have come across multiple threads asking for such a feature. Here's a few of them: 3D Models in Storyline | Articulate - Community Import 3d shapes into articulate storyline 360? | Articulate - Community How to put/import 3D moldels in Storyline | Articulate - Community In one of the threads I came across, there was a reply from Katie Riggo who stated "We're working on the ability to add 360° media assets to your courses". However, later on in the thread this turned out to be referring only to 360-degree images despite the thread being filled with people asking and requesting for 3D object support in terms of 3D models and being able to manipulate them like they can in PowerPoint. You can chalk this up as another +1 to the feature request for native 3D object support by way of being able to import and, to a basic level, manipulate them. Kind regards, Sam
