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RoboDemo 3.0 eHelp Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG
RoboDemo
creates interactive tutorials and demos. RoboDemo makes a movie that will enable
you to demonstrate a product or how-to for any business or learning environment.
If you need to teach employees how to use software, explain what their job
entails, teach a technique, or demonstrate how something works, RoboDemo will
let you do it with style and ease. It’s fast in performance, easy to learn,
and perfect for a business, school, or organization/group that wants to
demonstrate how to do something and keep the learning experience interesting as
well as educational. From how to properly use features on a web site to showing
employees how to use a word processor, you can do it with a RoboDemo flash movie
tutorial. Learning how to do something is much easier with assistance from a
visual aid than it can be just reading instructions or hard to understand
manuals. You can even add a RoboDemo movie to a help file or as I have done, to
an online review to demonstrate what the product I am writing about looks like
or how to use it. Even though this product isn’t a graphics or web
development application, it is a tool that allows me to create tutorials and
demonstrations of the products that do pertain to my SIG. It’s perfect for
helping me offer more information and how-to’s in the online review section. Click
here to view the online demo of RoboDemo. It is a large file and may take a
while to download with a slower connection. In order to show all the features
and tools, it was necessary to make a movie with many frames. I hope that those
of you who look at it find it to be helpful. Suggested
uses for RoboDemo: eLearning, sales demonstrations, application help, online
marketing, user support, and for a web site.
So
how do you do it? You can import files that have already been created in
PowerPoint, an AVI file, QVP (Qarbon Viewlet), or TDP (TurboDemo). Bring these
files into a new RoboDemo movie and you are ready to go. A nice feature here is,
the files import in the order they are created in or in the screenshots you take
in an application. You don’t have to sort them out and rearrange them in the
proper order. If you import extra files after beginning the RoboDemo file, you
will have to place them in the order in which you want them to appear. You can
also take screen shots from an open application. It’s a simple as pressing
Print Screen when an application is open. There is also an option for
auto-capturing screen shots. You open the application and take the shots as you
work. You can also use this method and use a custom setting to set a specific
screen resolution. Using the application method, when you end the screen capture
session RoboDemo is open and the frames are ready to work on. It’s so very
easy to use that you will be able to make great help movies in a very short
time. RoboDemo movies can also be created as full screen demo’s or in a
resolution for a Pocket PC. Ease of
use is very important. Products that have a difficult learning curve have a
tendency to become “shelfware” and waste your time and money. This won’t
happen with RoboDemo. Once you start to use it, you will see all kinds of
possibilities for using it. It’s like super “Show and Tell”! When
you have decided on what your demo or tutorial will be like, such as many screen
shots with or without text captions or more text information with fewer screen
shots, you can begin to edit and add items to the movie. You can also begin with
an introduction frame, end with a credits frame, and add elements like a
copyright, voiceovers, and music to the movie. You can even record keystrokes as
you are typing….see the letters appearing in the text file as you are typing.
These are just some of the extra’s that you can add! Begin
editing by double-clicking on a frame in the multi-frame view mode. This will
take you into the full screen view of that frame. You can move back and forth
between frames by using the forward and back arrows as you edit each frame. You
can also preview the movie at any point while you are working on it. It can be
viewed in it’s entirety, next 5 frames, to the next frame, from the frame you
are in, or in a web browser. You also have the option to have a mouse cursor move from slide frame to slide frame indicating what you are showing in the movie. There is a large selection of mouse pointer options to select from and you can choose the path type the cursor follows from either straight or curved. Mouse cursors also have a sound option - click, double-click, or no sound. If you prefer not to use a mouse cursor, they can be left out by selecting the option not to use them. The mouse movement flows smoothly through the movie just as though you were controlling the mouse yourself.
The
Menu Bar on the interface consists of the File Menu, the View Menu, the Insert
Menu, the Frame Menu, the Movie Menu, Options and Help Menus. You can also
access features and options by right clicking on a frame or object such as a
caption window. Tools are located on the right hand side of the interface.
Adding
content or interactivity to the frame is accomplished through the Insert menu.
You can add a caption, which is text in the form of information, or even ask a
question. The caption properties window offers many styles of “balloons” or
“windows” that come not only in a large variety of styles but colors as
well, including a transparent window. The font style and size is edited here. It
can be shown plain, in bold, or italic style. Underline it and justify it right,
left, or to the center. A transition, such as fade in & out, can be set
here, as well as the time the frame is to be viewed. All of this can be done
with one simple, easy to understand interface. The application itself has a
simple easy to use interface that is like other Windows interfaces. Everything
is straightforward and easy to work with. Captions
are only one feature of the Insert menu. You can also add a highlight box to an
area of the frame, insert a click box, an image, a text entry box (a place to
answer a question or enter information….a question can have the option to give
a correct or incorrect response to the answer, set a limit on the number of
tries, and other options), a rollover caption, a rollover image, an image frame,
a colored frame, a blank frame, or add additional frames. Viewing the demo I
will have online will show these features much better than I can explain them
here. The
Frame Menu features include adding audio, timing settings, show or hide a mouse
pointer, make the mouse pointer move in a straight path, you can add a no click
– single click – or double click sound to the mouse movements too. The
options for the frame can be set to standard, optimized, jpeg, or high quality.
Each of the higher settings will increase the movie size somewhat. But you have
control over an individual frame. If you have a jpeg in a frame, you may want to
set the jpeg option for that frame so that the image is clear and sharp rather
than a lesser quality. You may also delete a frame from the Frame Menu. The
Movie Menu options are preferences, audio format, start and end, playback
controls, movie effects, spelling, and show mouse.
The movie effects options are: mouse click audio, keyboard tap audio,
visual mouse clicks, and double size mouse. The
Options Menu features advanced options, auto-size captions, quick preview and
recording options. Last
on the bar is the Help Menu. From here you can use help files and use tutorials.
When you are connected to the web, you can check for file updates, connect to
the RoboDemo Community, got to eHelp Corporation’s home page, and send email
to get support. The
tools enable you to export, backup, set the playback controls, set the movie
preferences for timing and effects, select options for how the movie starts and
ends, add active movie effects, turn the single mouse click for the individual
frame on or off, set the frame timing, and lastly the mouse pointer properties.
There are a many style options available just for the mouse pointer. As you can
see, you have a lot of creative control of the features of the movie and a large
selection of elements that can be added to it.
When
you export the frames, the Export Options window will open and you choose how
you want to export the movie. The options are: Flash Movie (.swf file format),
Outlook, Outlook Express, Exe, FPT Upload, Captions, or Microsoft Word (for
print tutorials, books, guides, etc.). I have tried the Flash Movie feature and
the Exe format. Each has worked perfectly. With the Flash Movie, you can use the
html page that is generated to show your movie or copy and paste the necessary
code in an existing web page. The Exe file can be sent as a file or added to a
CD and used in what ever way you would like. Double clicking on the file will
launch the Flash Movie for viewing. The files are viewable in Windows, a Pocket
PC, Macintosh, Webtv, and with Linux. I
really like this product. No, I’m very enthusiastic about it. The
variety of items that can be added to enhance and improve the quality of the
demo or tutorial and all of the other features make this a superior application.
It exceeded my expectations. I have used a similar product, that worked very
well and exported movies to the same format but it didn’t have all of these
features. When you are considering the purchase of a product like this, you want
to have as many features as possible and one that is reasonably priced.
Currently this application is selling for $399. Considering all you get, the
many things you can do with it, it’s the perfect tool for presenting or
demonstrating your projects. The price is not too expensive even for a small
business purchase, or school or organization, and it is a product that will be
used over and over again. I have found it to be perfect for club use and I am
sure anyone who has to demonstrate, present, or teach others how to do something
will feel the same way. I have also spoken to the technical support people for
this company. They are quick to respond to questions, excited about their
products, and very helpful. Everyone I have spoken with at eHelp has been
terrific. That is certainly another plus to consider when looking for software
products. If
you would like to learn more about RoboDemo, you can visit the RoboDemo web site
at www.robodemo.com. You will find
everything from trial versions to demo movies to view and a large amount of
information. For more information about other eHelp applications, visit www.ehelp.com. System
Requirements: Hardware
Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, or XP
32/64 MB of memory (64/128 MB recommended)
12.5
MB available disk space
Pentium II 200MHz or faster processor
Software and accessories
Internet Explorer 4.0 or later
Microphone for recording sound
Speakers and sound card
Internet connection to obtain software updates and to publish movies to
the Web
Mouse or other pointing device
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