Before using Captivate to create a project, take the time to plan using the following steps.ĭecide why you're creating a course. Map out the entire course.ĭetermine your audience. To create a compelling, effective eLearning course, you need to plan ahead. Ever since then, Captivate has been known as Adobe Captivate and is now used to create eLearning courses about anything that you want. They also changed the name from RoboDemo to what we now know as Captivate.Īdobe acquired Macromedia in 2005. Macromedia helped RoboDemo evolve by adding more features.
It would create more sophisticated demonstrations – and even interactive simulations.ĮHelp Software created RoboDemo versions 3 through 5 before Macromedia acquired eHelp Software. RoboDemo was more advanced than Flashcam. Before long, however, Flashcam was acquired by eHelp Software and was renamed RoboDemo. It was effective enough, but still nothing capable of creating interactive learning tools like Captivate offers today. Just think about word processing programs and how basic they were in the 1990's. They were nothing more than a type pad! Then look at Microsoft Word now and all it offers. Adobe Captivate is no different.Īdobe Captivate began as a little program called Flashcam in 2002. It was simply a screen capture application. Software programs continually evolve to meet technology, but also to create new technology based on the needs of its users. It also needed to have reasonable file sizes so that they could be hosted on servers without having to wait until the next millennium for them to upload. That said, meet Adobe Captivate! The History of Adobe Captivate
If eLearning was truly to become of value, it needed to be more interactive, in addition to being compatible with multiple operating systems and devices. While you could show and tell things to your learners, you were not able to let them actually perform what you taught them to do.
The files you created on a Windows computer probably weren't compatible with the Mac. Years ago, the best way you could go was to use a screen recording program that would allow you to show viewers and students the content on your screen while you used your mouse to guide them through different aspects – and your voice to talk to and educate them. This was a primitive way to create online instructional content, and it also resulted in very large files. When you need to create an eLearning course or any type of video that provides instruction, you have several options. Preview projects before publishing to LMS Improvements to the device capture feature Improvements to the multi-state object feature If you've used prior versions of Captivate in the past, you'll want to check out the notable enhancements and improvements that have been made in Adobe Captivate. What's New in Adobe CaptivateĪdobe Captivate is continually growing and evolving.
They can be viewed on Mac or Windows and can be displayed on YouTube, a private server, Vimeo, mobile devices, and Adobe Reader. Courses created in Captivate can include text, rollovers, clickable hotspots, quizzes, typing areas, special effects, audio, video, and the list goes on. Projects completed in Adobe Captivate can be published as Flash, HTML5, Word documents, PDF's, as well as videos.
Adobe Captivate is a responsive authoring tool that allows you to create eLearning content, such as eLearning courses, software demonstrations, branched scenarios, games, quizzes, and screencasts. The files you create in Adobe Captivate can be exported to MP4 and played in media players, as well as uploaded to websites.ĮLearning courses that you create in Captivate can contain as many features and interaction as you need to create the course you want.