The user’s understanding of the subject matter is the chief objective when developing e-Learning. Still, once we are positive that we have built something in which communication of the material is effective, there’s still that lingering element that every designer always covets: a little magic, otherwise known as the “Wow Factor.”
One way that we like to play magicians at Yukon Learning is by crafting our own custom slide transitions, outside of what Storyline 360 already offers. For example, the learner selects an object, and the items on screen linger for just a moment before they animate away—in whatever fashion we so choose. Custom transitions are a way to add some pizzazz for your audience, keeping them engrossed, yet without taking too much attention away from the content on your part, or theirs. (Remember to design for purpose and not distraction!)
Getting Started
The first step is to create the initial slide. Easy enough, right?
Let’s also verify that there are no Exit Animations on any objects that last until the end of the slide, so that our custom transition to the next slide is fluid.
When ready, simply duplicate your first slide.
The Magic Trick
Navigate to your latter, duplicated slide and open the Timeline panel. Once there, select all of the objects from the previous slide that our users are done with. In my case, I will select everything but my background photo, as I will want to retain that. You can select multiple objects on your Timeline at once either by holding Ctrl and clicking each (or by holding Shift and clicking first an object on one end of the group, and then the other—either the topmost object and then bottom object, or vice versa, thereby selecting everything in between).
Now that all desired objects are selected on the Timeline, we will leave them as such for the next three steps, allowing us to execute actions for all of them in unison.
First, let’s make it so our objects will exist on the second slide momentarily and then—like magic—disappear. To do so, click and drag the far right side of the selected objects (when your cursor appears as a double-arrow) and shorten their duration on the Timeline. We are going to adjust the ending of these objects to somewhere between a quarter of a second up to two, depending on your design. (In our example, we are at .75, or three quarters of a second. You can also adjust duration by right-clicking each object individually and selecting “Timing.”)
Secondly, so as not to spoil the illusion that the user hasn’t yet left the first slide, we want to ensure that these objects have no Entrance Animation that may have come over from the original. Otherwise would be quite the giveaway that the original slide and the new slide are in fact two separate entities.
Finally, though we want no Entrance Animation, we probably will want to select an Exit Animation for all selected objects, such as a Fade or a Fly Out for a nice polished feel.
That’s it! Our smoke-and-mirrors effect is complete, and you are ready to add the new content for this slide.
For an extra effect, adjust the Effect Options for each individual object. As in my example, objects on top will Fade up and out of the slide, while objects below will Fade down. Just imagine: objects on a Fly Out in every which direction, or even incorporating Motion Paths. The sky is the limit with Storyline 360!
For those that have attended or plan to attend our Basic Storyline Training, an example of this arises in the completed version of the scenario build. See a live example of the concept here or download your own copy of the source file at this link.
Let us know below if you have questions, musings, or have created something similar! How would you imagine building this?
“What’s your story?”
~Alex
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