Two New Storyline Characters Wearing Personal Protective Equipment
We’re excited to announce that we’re adding two new characters to our ever-expanding character library in Storyline! Dressed in hard hats and high-vis safety vests, Sebastian and Haley are ready for a variety of scenarios that require industry-specific outfits. Here’s a quick peek at how you can use these new characters in your courses. Sebastian Dressed in a hard hat, high-visibility vest, and work boots, Sebastian represents a variety of industries. His personal protective equipment makes him a great fit for settings like construction and events. With a serious, experienced presence, he can play many roles—co-worker, manager, foreman, or mentor. Haley Bright personal protective equipment makes Haley stand out from the crowd. She could be a member of a maintenance crew, an airport mechanic, or a stakeholder visiting a construction site. With her vibrant expressions and sleek ponytail, Haley is a versatile character, perfect for entry-level or managerial roles. Wrap-Up To insert these characters into your Storyline 360 courses, select Characters in the Insert tab. There, you can explore the full character collection in Content Library 360, which features these new characters and many more for a total of 100,000+ combinations of photographic and illustrated characters, expressions, and poses. We look forward to bringing you more characters dressed in different styles and for more industries. If there’s a specific character you’re looking for, let us know in the comments! These characters will work for folks using Storyline 360, the continuously updated version of Storyline included in Articulate 360. Want to try them out? Get a free trial of Articulate 360 right here. And subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date on the latest features and resources.Upcoming Articulate 360 Training Webinars
Stay ahead of the curve with our free Articulate 360 Training webinars. These weekly sessions are designed to help busy course creators like you enhance your e-learning skills without investing too much time. As an Articulate 360 subscriber, you can grow your expertise through targeted training on the latest techniques and best practices – all at no additional cost. And if you want to view some on-demand training to view at your own time, visit the Articulate 360 training site to see what's available. Check out our upcoming webinars and level up your e-learning game. If you can't attend, that's OK. We record all of the sessions, so just sign up and you'll get a recording emailed to you. Date Title October 8, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Rise October 8, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Storyline October 8, 2024 Getting Started With Storyline 360 October 8, 2024 How to Build Compliance Training in Rise 360 October 10, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Storyline October 10, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Rise October 15, 2024 Getting Started With Rise 360 October 15, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Storyline October 15, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Rise October 15, 2024 Getting Started with Reach 360 October 22, 2024 Branding your Rise 360 Course October 22, 2024 Getting Started With Storyline 360 October 22, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Rise October 22, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Storyline October 24, 2024 Unleash Your Inner Spark: Supercharge Your Self-Care with E-Learning with Guest Presenter Misty Wert October 29, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Rise October 29, 2024 ✨ Overview of AI Assistant in Storyline October 29, 2024 Reach 360: Ask Us Anything #2 October 29, 2024 Getting Started With Rise 360 October 31, 2024 Quick Tips and Tricks: Episode 109 Not yet an Articulate 360 subscriber? Sign up for a 30-day free trial and check out as many as you’d like. And if the live webinar time doesn’t work for you, no worries! Simply sign up anyway and you’ll receive the recording in your inbox so you can watch it whenever you have time. Hope to see you at one of our upcoming webinars!Getting Started with Articulate AI in Storyline
Introduction We’re proud to announce that Articulate AI features are now available in Storyline! These new tools make it easier than ever to create and perfect your courses. Not sure where to start? We’ve put together a Storyline practice file you can use to get to know the AI Assistant. Whether you’re an experienced AI user or totally new to it, you can use these resources to improve your skills. Ready to jump in? Download the storyline file and follow the directions below. You can also follow along with a webinar on the Articulate Training site. Create AI Voiceovers AI Assistant can help you create lifelike voiceovers in a snap. You can also generate automatic captions to improve accessibility. Follow these steps to learn how: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon. From there, there are three ways to access the feature: Click Insert Audio to open the Generate AI Audio window with the Text-to-Speech tab selected. Click the Insert Audio dropdown menu and select Text-to-Speech. Open the AI Assistant tab on the side panel and click Generate text-to-speech. In the Generate AI Audio window, select a voice from the voice dropdown menu. To preview a voice, click the play button. Insert text. You can also adjust Stability, Similarity, Style exaggeration, and Speaker boost under Advanced settings. Click Generate speech. Click Insert to add your narration to a slide. Write and Edit Inline Generating and refining content has never been easier. AI Assistant can help you update tone, check grammar, improve readability, reformat copy, expand ideas, and more. Practice in your file with these instructions: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon and click Insert Text. Type a prompt in the text-entry field or let your AI Assistant help you generate content in various formats. When you’re done, click the paper plane icon to start the text-generation process. You also have multiple ways to start editing with AI: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon, select the text object, then click Edit Text. Click a prompt that suits your needs. Highlight the text and click the sparkle icon in the floating toolbar that appears. Generate Images AI Assistant can create high-quality images in various prebuilt styles–or, enter your own style preferences and create endless imagery for your courses. Get started by following these steps: In Slide View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon and click Insert Image. Or, go to the AI Assistant side panel and click Generate image. You can also right-click on an existing image and select Replace Picture, then select Generate Image with AI. In the Generate AI Image window, type a prompt in the description field. Select an image style from the Style drop-down list and choose the aspect ratio: landscape (16:9), square (1:1), or portrait mode (9:16). Click Generate Image to start the image-generation process. To add an image to your media library, hover over an image and select the media library icon. Or, select Add all to media library in the bottom right corner of the generation panel. To view enlarged versions of each image, hover over an image, click the view button, then use the navigation buttons to view each result. If you don’t like any of the results, click Generate Again. Try adjusting your prompt for different results. Click Insert Image to add an image to your slide. If you’re replacing an existing image, click Replace. You can select multiple images by pressing Ctrl+Click or Shift+Click, then insert them all simultaneously. Generate Knowledge Checks Want to find out what your learners retained? AI Assistant can help you quickly create questions, answers, and feedback. Try it for yourself using these instructions: In Slide View or Story View, go to the Home or Insert tab on the ribbon and click Question. Or, go to the AI Assistant side panel and click Generate question. In the Generate Question window, select the content you’d like the AI to incorporate into the knowledge check. Click Continue. Type a topic in the prompt field. Use AI Assistant to modify the draft. When your draft is ready, click Insert to insert the knowledge check as a new slide. Additional Features AI Assistant offers even more ways to help optimize your Storyline workflow! Open up one of your courses and try these other features: Quiz generation. AI Assistant can incorporate content across different slides to create a comprehensive quiz. Summary Generation. Use AI Assistant to create a snappy wrap-up of your course based on multiple slides. Wrap-up These practice materials will guide you through the fundamentals of using AI Assistant in Storyline. Did you know you can also use AI Assistant in Rise? Go to your Rise dashboard and download “Getting Started With AI Assistant in Rise 360” to learn and practice more. This template will work for folks using Storyline 360, the continuously updated version of Storyline included in Articulate 360. Want to try it out? Get a free trial of Articulate 360 right here. And subscribe to our newsletter to find out about other helpful downloads.Unlock New Skills with AI Assistant Training
We’re thrilled that AI Assistant is here, and the Articulate 360 training page is packed to the brim with videos and resources designed to get you up and running fast. Whether you're looking to sharpen your skills with AI image generation or refine your writing using the power of AI, our on-demand video library is here to support you on your journey. Live Webinars Save your spot in our live sessions! You’ll learn how to partner with AI Assistant to improve writing, generate content and images, instantly convert blocks, create text-to-speech narration, and more. AI Assistant in Storyline Upcoming Webinars AI Assistant in Rise Upcoming Webinars On-Demand Training One of the best parts about our training videos is the flexibility they offer. You can watch them anytime, anywhere—whether you have a few minutes or a full hour to spare. You’ll be able to apply what you’ve learned in no time, boosting your confidence and competence using AI Assistant. AI Assistant in Storyline On-Demand Training AI Assistant in Rise On-Demand Training Hands-On Practice We know that hands-on experience is crucial. That’s why our practice videos are designed to provide real-world examples and practical exercises using AI Assistant. Pause, rewind, or rewatch sections as you practice alongside the video. Hands-on Practice with AI Assistant and Storyline Hands-on Practice with AI Assistant and Rise Feature Tutorials Our easy-to-follow video tutorials walk you through all the key functionalities of AI Assistant, ensuring you get the most out of every feature. Whether you’re looking to master a specific function or explore new capabilities, our short tutorial videos are designed to make learning quick and enjoyable. AI Assistant in Rise Tutorials AI Assistant in Storyline Tutorials Resources to Bookmark For more help getting started with these features, check out our handy user guides: Accelerate Course Creation with Articulate AI Rise 360: Create Content with AI Assistant Storyline 360: Create Content with AI Assistant And if you want more information about AI Assistant and the other AI features we’re working on, head over to these resources: Articulate 360 FAQs: Articulate AI Build Compelling Courses Up to 9x Faster with Articulate’s AI Assistant How E-Learning Experts Are Shaping Articulate AI How Articulate AI Safeguards Your Data Articulate 360 Feature RoadmapEngineering Journal: Demystifying 64-Bit Storyline
I’m Jesse Taber, engineering manager for Storyline 360, here with the first Engineering Product Highlight. My plan is to regularly cover a new or upcoming Storyline enhancement from an engineering perspective to provide technical insights you won’t find in release notes or product documentation. This first highlight is all about 64-bit. In November 2023, we released a 64-bit version of Storyline 360 to public beta that appears in the Articulate 360 desktop app as “Storyline 360 x64.” Since then, we’ve heard a lot of excitement about this new version of Storyline 360—but also some confusion. To address this feedback, I wanted to offer an FAQ that goes beyond the basics covered in the support article about 64-bit Storyline 360. What is Storyline 360 x64, and how does it differ from the version of Storyline 360 I’ve been using? Storyline has traditionally been a 32-bit application. The primary difference between 32-bit and 64-bit applications is the amount of system memory they can use. In Windows, 32-bit applications can access, at most, ~4GB of memory, while 64-bit applications can access far more memory than any modern consumer-grade PC can accommodate. Put simply, the 64-bit version of Storyline 360 can take advantage of the relatively large amounts of memory available on most modern PCs. Does Storyline 360 x64 provide performance improvements? The primary benefit of targeting 64-bit processor architecture is the ability to use more system memory. When Storyline 360 opens a project file, it loads it all into memory. Very large projects, particularly those with many rich media assets, can experience issues opening, saving, and publishing in the 32-bit version of Storyline 360. Projects like this should be much more stable in Storyline 360 x64. Aside from memory usage, most authors will likely see performance on par with the 32-bit version of Storyline 360. While performance improvements were not a primary driver for creating Storyline 360 x64, we plan to invest more directly in performance improvements going forward. Is Storyline 360 x64 a full rewrite of Storyline? No. Storyline 360 x64 comes from the same source code as the 32-bit version of Storyline 360. The difference is that it’s compiled to support 64-bit processors and operating systems. What functionality differs between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Storyline 360? Because both versions of Storyline 360 share the same source code, their functionality should be identical. However, certain third-party components Storyline 360 uses don’t work with a 64-bit processor architecture. We’re currently working on removing, updating, or replacing those features. For example, the screen recording feature was not available in early builds of Storyline 360 x64 because a third-party component it relies on did not support 64-bit. As of Update 85, however, the screen recording functionality is available in the 64-bit version. The support article about 64-bit Storyline 360 lists the features we plan to remove (deprecate). Storyline 360 x64 is in public beta. Is it okay to use for my day-to-day work? We feel confident that Storyline 360 x64 is stable and suitable for production work. We have been using it internally for months without issue. We have also gotten positive feedback about its stability from several Storyline 360 users who have been using it regularly since it was in private beta. We plan to move Storyline 360 x64 out of public beta and into general availability in the second half of 2024. Most of the remaining work centers around providing a seamless experience for all customers to migrate from the 32-bit version. Because it shares source code with the 32-bit version of Storyline 360 there are no compatibility issues. That means that if you run into problems with Storyline 360 x64, you can always close your project and reopen it with 32-bit Storyline 360. Why did it take Articulate so long to deliver a 64-bit version of Storyline 360? Articulate released Storyline 1 in 2012. At that time, 64-bit processors and operating systems were becoming more popular in consumer-grade PCs, but 32-bit software was still prevalent. In the years that followed, memory got cheaper, which meant more PCs with memory greater than 4GB hit the market. Larger amounts of memory drove the need for 64-bit processors and software that supported them. We opted not to update Storyline 360 to support 64-bit until 2023, which we now realize was a mistake. When we consider the changes we want to make to Storyline 360, we have to weigh the impact that each change will have and the effort required to implement it. We must also consider the opportunity cost of choosing certain changes over others. We believed the effort to make Storyline 360 support 64-bit processor architecture was far higher than the impact it would have on our customers since it wouldn’t bring dramatic performance improvements. The Storyline codebase is over a decade old, and to say it is large and complex would be a gross understatement. Ensuring this code and the various third-party components would work properly in a 64-bit environment was daunting. Customers were also asking for many other features that would need to be put on hold if we committed to the 64-bit work. The team discussed 64-bit support many times in the 10 years that I’ve worked here. Each time, we reached the conclusion that it didn’t make sense. So what changed? Why now? Over the past several years, some of the third-party components that were roadblocks to 64-bit support have been updated or removed through the normal course of expanding and improving Storyline 360. More importantly, some intrepid software engineers on the Storyline team spent their Hackathon—a quarterly event where engineers can work on self-directed projects—proving that getting Storyline to support 64-bit processor architecture was more feasible than previously thought. When Kerry Munz came on board as our CTO, she brought a fresh perspective. She correctly surmised that our customers interpreted the lack of 64-bit support as a signal that we were not investing in Storyline 360. She directed us to prioritize this work as the first of several projects to modernize Storyline 360 and cement our commitment to its future. Will there always be both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Storyline 360 available? The number of 32-bit processors and operating systems actively in use today is extremely low. Eventually, we will only build and ship Storyline 360 in a 64-bit configuration. We’re currently working on a plan to make this transition as seamless as possible for our customers. We’ll share more details when they’re available. Wrap-Up I hope this product highlight has clarified the “what, how, and why” of Storyline 360 x64. If you haven’t already, I recommend trying out the public beta, particularly if you need to work with large or media-heavy projects. And remember to use the “Report a Bug” option at the top right corner of the application window to share any feedback directly with the engineering team. Stay tuned for future engineering journal entries! And please leave a comment below if there are specific topics you’d like me to cover.3 Ways to Create Drag-and-Drops with Storyline 360
Are you looking for a way to make e-learning courses more dynamic and engaging? Look no further than drag-and-drop interactions. Drag-and-drop interactions give your learners the opportunity to make decisions and engage with course content, and can be an excellent learning tool when used appropriately. That begs the question, when should drag-and-drops be used? In my experience, they can really come in handy when you want your learners to: Sort correct and incorrect items (view an example) Order the steps in a process (view an example) Match items (view an example) Place items or objects (view an example) Storyline 360 offers a variety of ways to create drag-and-drop interactions. Let’s have a closer look at three easy techniques. Graded Quiz Slides Storyline 360 offers 11 graded question types, two of which are prebuilt drag-and-drop interactions. The nice thing about Storyline’s graded question slides is that they’re superquick and easy to set up since you don’t have to create a single trigger. All you have to do is select the type of drag-and-drop question you want—matching or sequence?—and insert your content. View a Storyline 360 Matching Drag-and-Drop Quiz Slide View a Storyline 360 Sequence Drag-and-Drop Quiz Slide Matching activities are great when you want learners to make a connection between several items, for example an event and the date it occurred. Sequence is great for having learners identify the order of a process or task. Freeform Freeform slides let you convert any regular slide into a graded drag-and-drop quiz slide in a few clicks. Freeform slides are a really powerful tool because they allow you to completely customize every single aspect of your slide and drag-and-drop interaction. Freeform is perfect when you want to create a drag-and-drop that is not a matching or sequence activity, for example, to sort incorrect and correct items or to match non-text items such as shapes or images. Here are some examples of customized drag-and-drop interactions created using Freeform slides: View a Freeform Gamified Drag-and-Drop View a Freeform Placing Drag-and-Drop Activity To create a freeform drag-and-drop interaction, insert a new slide and click the “Convert to Freeform” button on the “Insert” tab of the Storyline 360 ribbon. Select the drag-and-drop option, then click Insert. Storyline will automatically create a graded drag-and-drop quiz slide, and will even add the “Submit” button and the feedback layers. You will be presented with “Form View,” where you can assign your drag items and your drop targets. Storyline 360’s Drag-and-Drop Freeform Form View When you’re in Form View, you’ll notice that there are options available to you in the ribbon. Options available in Drag-and-Drop Freeform Form View A few things you can do here: shuffle the answers, assign a results slide, and assign the number of attempts learners have. Above all, the one key feature you need to know about is the “Drag & Drop Options” button. Drag & Drop Options Knowing about these options can save you a ton of time and headaches. These options give you flexibility when you’re tweaking your drag-and-drop interaction to work just the way you want it. Need your drag items revealed one at a time? No problem! Do you want to allow multiple items onto one drop target? Just check the box. These options will let you customize your drag-and-drop interaction to behave just the way you want. Triggers There’s one more, little-known, way to create a very simple, ungraded drag-and-drop interaction by using a single trigger. You’ll need at least two objects on your slide to make this work. The “When” drop-down menu in the Trigger Wizard offers two options: These Drag Drop Events are available in the Trigger Wizard By using either of these options in a trigger with two objects from your slide, you can create a very simple drag-and-drop interaction. However, you can’t customize that interaction in any way and it can’t be graded. For that reason, it’s typically recommended to use the freeform drag-and-drop interaction, which is superpowerful, graded, and offers many options for customization. In Sum Creating drag-and-drop interactions with Storyline 360 is intuitive and easy, no matter which method you choose. Go ahead, build your own drag-and-drop interaction so you can see for yourself how quick and easy it is. Let me know how it turns out in the comments below! Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.How to Number Randomized Question Bank Slides in Storyline 360
In the past, numbering slides in a randomized Storyline 360 question bank was doable but required quite a bit of manual setup. This is because the process included creating variables and setting up triggers for each and every question slide. That process has gotten a whole lot quicker and easier with the Insert Slide Number feature available in Storyline 360. This feature allows you to pop in the slide number in one click, no triggers or variables needed. Have a look at how it works in this example: View Example|Get Download Let’s have a look at how quick and easy it is to accomplish this. Step 1: Create Your Question Slides The first step is to create the question slide you want to include in your question bank. Be sure to add an area on the slide where you can reference the question number. As you can see in the example below, I’ve included text that says “Question /5”. The actual slide number will appear before the “/5,” as in slide 1 out of 5 or slide 2 out of 5. Remember: the slide number will be different every time the learner goes through the course, because these slides will be pulled in randomly from a question bank. I need the slide number to be pulled in dynamically, and this is where I’ll use the Insert Slide Number feature. I’ll start by placing my cursor inside the text field where I want the slide number to appear. Next you’re going to head to the Insert tab on the Storyline ribbon and click on the Slide Number drop-down arrow. From the drop-down menu, you’ll select the More... option, which will open up the Insert Slide Number window. In this window, you want to select Project Order, and then Slide Number in Scene from the Insert drop-down, as indicated above. When you’ve inserted the slide number, your slide will look like this: Now you can duplicate this question slide and update the question text and answers to create all the question slides you want to include in your question bank. Step 2: Create Your Question Bank Once you’ve created the question slides, you can create a new question bank and copy the existing question slides into the bank. You can also adjust your Attempts and Points for each question slide here in the Question Bank view. Step 3: Insert Slide Draw The last step is to insert your Slide Draw into your project. The Slide Draw is what will pull questions from the question bank. It’s important to note that the Slide Draw should be the first slide in the scene, because the questions in the bank use the Slide Number in Scene option. Once you’ve got it set up, you can preview your project to test out the question bank and see your slide numbering in action. There you have it! That’s how easy it is to set up automatic slide numbering for random question slides with the awesome Insert Slide Number feature in Storyline 360. Have you used the Insert Slide Number feature in your Storyline 360 projects? If yes, let me know how and why in the comments below! Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.
