Text input

HelpXplain is the exciting new animated infographics and screencast tool that integrates with Help+Manual.

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Kai
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Text input

Unread post by Kai »

I need to show text input in a screencast.

The best way seems to be to...

1. stop recording
2. enter the text
3. continue recording

It's not perfect however. Of course ideally the characters entered should appear one after the other, though probably faster than I usually type, but I can see why that is probably not possible.

Is there a better way to do this?
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Tim Green
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Tim Green »

Have a look at the typewriter text animation.

https://helpandmanual.com/help/gf_getti ... ncast.html
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Martin Wynne
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Hi Kai,

HX has a great Typewriter animation on a Text object. The characters are typed one after the other as you want.

You need to leave the original text field blank and insert the animated text object over it. Use a Magnify Effect Lens to zoom in on the field to match the Text object size. Or change the Text object font size in Customize Theme to match the field.

Then enter it into the original field before continuing the screencast.

edit: Snap! Tim.

cheers,

Martin.
Kai
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Kai »

I can see that the TypeWrite animation can be very useful.

In my case it does not help too much: I can achieve what I am looking for but it's cumbersome and time consuming.

I have attached a video that shows what I am typing into the IDE of my language of choice (APL) - that's what I need to emulate somehow.

Or just have that video to be played on a slide - it would do the job nicely.
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Kai wrote:In my case it does not help too much: I can achieve what I am looking for but it's cumbersome and time consuming.
Hi Kai,

While recording a screencast you can press the PrtScreen key to capture additional slides. If you do that after every character it would run very slow, but maybe after each word entered?

p.s. I can't see a video?

cheers,

Martin.
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Tim Green
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Kai,

I suspected it wouldn't really be what you needed. Until it becomes possible to embed little videos that kind of things will be one of the limitations of this format. I'm not a fan of trying to make every tool do everything because it ultimately makes all tools equally unusable. It's like the definition of a camel: A camel is a racehorse designed by a committee.
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Tim Green
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Tim Green »

PS: There are other ways of doing this. For example, overlay one or more text objects with increasing parts of the text (several words more in each step, or even just two objects, each with half of the text) and animate them to appear in sequence. There are a lot of different solutions if you think outside the box a little and don't insist on one particular way of showing something. 8)
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Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Kai
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Kai »

Tim, if I understand you correctly then it will become possible to embedd a video?

That would be good enough for me, certainly, because I almost always start with a couple of commands before a GUI shows up, and from then on Xplain does a superb job!
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Martin Wynne
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Martin Wynne »

Kai wrote:Tim, if I understand you correctly then it will become possible to embed a video?
Hi Kai,

Bingo! You can do that now -- if the "video" is created as an animated GIF. :)

It has to be inserted as a Picture object added to an existing slide, it doesn't work as a separate slide. But it could cover an entire blank slide.

Many thanks for the idea -- that's going to be a big help for me!

cheers,

Martin.
Last edited by Martin Wynne on Thu Jul 18, 2019 1:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Kai
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Re: Text input

Unread post by Kai »

Excellent idea Martin. Problem solved and case closed.
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