Visual Media Creation
Flash segment itself. Short, simple animations are the easier to integrate with audio than pro- longed displays.
Third, the more keypoints in your Flash movie, the larger the file. Keep keypoints to a minimum. Complex scripting should also be avoided. Although Real maintains that interaction with Flash elements as defined using ActionScript is preserved through the Real player, we rec- ommend extensive testing before you include significant interactive elements in your Flash pieces.
Don’t forget that the use of Flash for our pur- poses is only to enhance the display of visual information. If you find that Flash is becoming the centerpiece of your tutorial, you may wish to reassess the decision to use streaming media as your method of delivering instruction.
Video Production
Digital video is a bandwidth intensive medium that requires some special skills to edit and prepare for presentation. If there are segments of your tutorial that will benefit greatly from the inclusion of video, use it. However, if your tuto- rial does not require video to be successful, you may choose to use other, less complex visual elements.
One way of using instructional video is to cap- ture actions on a computer screen with a prod- uct like Camtasia. This can be helpful if you are trying to convey procedural knowledge such as interaction seqences with a computer program
or Website. Screen capture video is not as effec- tive for teaching conceptual knowledge such as Boolean logic or information evaluation.
Regardless of the software/hardware or format in which your original video is captured, you will need to convert the file to Real media for- mat (.rm). Real Producer, Camtasia, and other media creation applications provide options for saving your files in Real media format. Your set- tings will vary according to the type of server that will host your media and the connection speeds of your users. To determine the appropriate set- tings for your tutorial, consult your Webmaster and the Real Networks online documentation.
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