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| How to Create a Simulation using Wildform Flair |
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| Introduction |
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This is a very basic tutorial which shows how to create a simulation using Wildform Flair. A simulation simulates the use of software you have installed on your computer - everything from a model of how a program works, to a representation of using a website.
Wildform Flair contains a great number of features that are not covered here. Instructions on how to use these features are located in the help file of Wildform Flair.
This tutorial will focus on creating a software simulation on how to encode video using the media encoder in Wildform Flair. |
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| Getting Started |
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Open Wildform Flair and create a new project.
To start we need a video, or screen recording of the actions we want to simulate. So the first thing you need to do is a screen recording.
You can create a screen recording with Wildform Flair (Select the "Record" menu). For more information on how to use the screen recording features in Wildform Flair, review our tutorial here.
Recording tip: When recording the voice over for your simulation, remember to leave space for the actions you wish to include, or you can record your audio separately. By way of example, if you want the viewer to click somewhere on the screen you may say "Click here now" and then leave a brief pause before you start speaking again to leave time to insert the actions listed below.
If you have a pre-existing video, you can import it into Wildform Flair using the File>Import File menu. |
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At this point it's a good idea to review your screen recording and to make notes of the timeline and the various points where you want to stop the action and make the simulation interactive. |
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| Stop Action |
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Now that the source video is imported and you have noted stop times we can begin. Play your video until you arrive at the first stop point.
The first action to create is a Stop Action. This will stop the screen recording so the user can interactively cause it to continue.
Right click in the timeline and select Insert Stop & Go To Actions>Insert STOP Action. |
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| Highlight Box |
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| Next we are going to create box to highlight the interactive area for the viewer.
To create a box select Insert Textbox in the Text menu. (you can also insert a rectangle). |
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| Drag the control points on the edges of the text box to create a box the dimensions you wish around the area you want highlighted. To format the color and line width select the Line Color and Line Width icons in the standard toolbar. |
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| Your text box will now look like this: |
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| Callout |
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To further highlight the interactive area and to help guide the viewer though the simulation we will now create a callout.
Click on the Shapes, Lines & Components toolbar and select the CallOuts section from the drop-down list and choose a callout of your choice. |
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| Drag the callout to the appropriate location. Double-click in the callout to open the text box portion of the callout and then type in any text you want within the callout. |
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| You can format the text using the text toolbar. |
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| Jump to Action |
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We will now add a jump to action so the user can continue the simulation at a pre-specified point.
Click on the highlight box object (added previously using a text box - see above) and open the Object tab in the Settings window. In the Mouse Events tab select the Add on Click box and select the Jump to frame button. Select a target (in this case it is slide 1) and frame number that you want the simulation to jump to (in this case it is just past the stop action we previously inserted). This enables the viewer to jump to the next section. |
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| Go to tip: you can also use go to actions to skip a section of the project (for instance if there is too long a delay in a section you can jump over it). |
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| Inserting a transparent object |
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If you do not use a highlight box, you can still add a jump to action using a transparent object. Using this method you can add any of the mouse events actions (link, jump to, load SWF and mouse-over) to any object, or to any section of any object in your Wildform Flair presentation.
A transparent object is just that - invisible. So you can add actions to an area without it having a viewable presence in your project (this is a great way to add clickable "hot spots" to any presentation).
To insert a transparent object right click on the timeline and select Insert Transparent Object. |
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| Place the transparent rectangle over the area you wish to add an action to. Then add the action to the transparent object as described above in the "Jump to Actions" section. |
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| Adding finishing actions |
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We now add 'fade' and 'hide when done playing' actions to each element that we have created. By adding a fade or hide action, the element will disappear from the simulation once it is no longer needed. Without using the "hide when done playing" or a fade out (or an out animation), the objects (including a transparent object with a mouse action in it) will remain on screen and active throughout the presentation. Also, fade in effects help an object transition in smoothly.
Open the Object Settings window and select the Play tab. Check the Image Fade In box for the fade in. For the out transition you can use either the Image Fade Out action or check the Hide when done playing box. |
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| Moving forward |
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Repeat the same steps outlined above with the remaining stopping points in your simulation. You can customize your simulation with the wide range of callouts and shapes available in Wildform Flair.
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| Conclusion |
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| This tutorial is meant to provide you with the basics of creating a simulation. Wildform Flair provides a rich array of features and options, and you will no doubt wish to explore these in greater depth. All of Wildform Flair's features are explained in this help file. |
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