Optimizing a Captivate Movie for Flash MX 2004


Being able to utilize the best of Captivate with the power of Flash MX 2004 is a very strong incentive to look for ways to make Captivate "play nice" with Flash. Here are some ideas:

  • Keep the Captivate movie small. The fewer Captivate slides, the better. The end result is a shorter Flash timeline.

  • Keep the Captivate slide duration to a minimum. Shorten the duration of mouse movements or other timeline objects. Remember, each extra second on the Captivate timeline adds 30 frames to the Flash movie.

  • Consider adding buttons or other navigation elements in Flash rather than inserting them into the Captivate slide. These items are converted to movie clips, buttons, and bitmaps in Flash and add only to the "weight" of the final Flash movie.

  • If the plan is to add an AVI video animation to the Captivate movie, consider using a more efficient FLV file in Flash. AVI movies are imported into Captivate as a series of slides.

  • If you are using a background sound track to the Captivate movie, consider adding it to the Flash movie using the more efficient Flash Sound Object. This way the sounds are not embedded in the Flash timeline.

  • If a Captivate movie is a self-running demonstration, don't add a controller to it.

  • If Question slides are necessary, consider using the Quiz templates that are installed with Flash MX 2004 (Figure 10.16).

    Figure 10.16. Knowing Quiz slides can't be imported into Flash, consider using one of the Quiz templates that are installed with Flash.


  • Change the frame rate of the Captivate movie to match that of the Flash movie before inserting sound into Captivate slides. This will ensure that the timing of the slide and the sound match.

  • If a Captivate movie is to be included in a Flash movie, consider using the ActionScript LoadMovie function in Flash to load the Captivate SWF file rather than importing the Captivate movie into Flash.

These are just a few suggestions. You can also pare down the weight of your Captivate movie during the Import process. When the Captivate Options dialog box (Figure 10.17) opens during import, deselect the elements that aren't important to the movie.

Figure 10.17. Judicious deselection of various Captivate features during import will slim down the Captivate movie. You can always replace deselected itemsmore efficientlyin Flash.


For example, if the movie is a self-running demonstration, you won't need the playback controller. Highlight boxes that result from mouse clicks are also good candidates to be jettisoned if they do nothing more than add "eye candy" to the movie. Deselect the End Options if you are comfortable writing your own ActionScript code and if you are familiar with either creating and coding your own buttons in Flash or using the combination of buttons in the Flash LibraryWindow > Other Panels > Common Libraries > Buttonsand Flash's behaviors to control them, then deselect Buttons in the Slide Elements area of the Captivate Options dialog box.



Macromedia Captivate for Windows. Visual QuickStart Guide
Macromedia Captivate for Windows. Visual QuickStart Guide
ISBN: 321294173
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 130

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