Add more power with a Layers feature

insunderland · February 21, 2020, 12:14pm

Having a layers feature like in Articulate Storyline would be very handy indeed. It is a very powerful feature.

Thank you!

ToanLS · February 21, 2020, 2:55pm

Hi Ian,

To clarify, can you please let me know what you expect from this layer feature?
What do you want to do with it?
And What can’t be done in ActivePresenter without this layer feature?

Regards

insunderland · February 22, 2020, 12:31am

Firstly, let me say that I think ActivePresenter is one of the best pieces of software I have come across in a long time. It’s is actually amazing in my opinion.

The layers feature in Storyline is very powerful. It allows you to construct multiple layers all on one slide with their own timeline. So during a session these layers can be invisible or visible depending on what the user does. This is very useful and saves having to jump to different slides.

ToanLS · February 23, 2020, 2:12am

Hi Ian,

We need to know about this feature to consider, so please feel free to share your thoughts.
If you just need to change object visibility in a slide depending on what the user does, there are several ways to do that in ActivePresenter. For example:

Use Show Object / Hide Object actions. For multiple objects, you can group them into a group object, or use multiple actions
Use additional interactive timelines and timeline actions (Start/Pause/Continue Timeline) to control them: https://atomisystems.com/tutorials/ap7/using-multiple-timelines-activepresenter-7/

Regards

insunderland · February 26, 2020, 4:21pm

Hi, Thanks for response. The layer feature would act as a container for the assets, making it much better than grouping them together. It adds much better flexibility.
Yes, Show Object/HIde Object works well in your software, but Show/Hide on a whole layer would be so fab! Thanks

ToanLS · February 27, 2020, 9:39am

Did you try using an interactive timeline? It can do what a layer do, except creating an additional container.

Regards

insunderland · August 28, 2020, 9:04pm

So sorry, I never answered your question. Yes I have used the interactive timelines. It is an excellent feature, but still limited compared to Articulate Storyline’s layers feature which you can switch on/off as required. With your timelines feature, if I edit a group using it. eg ungroup objects for whatever reason, the link to the timeline is then lost. I have to then reapply the animation.

scotstew · September 28, 2020, 8:19pm

I agree with Ian that adding layer functionality to AP (e.g., for conditional branching scenarios, etc.) would eliminate one of the few competitive advantages Storyline still has over AP. It’s not a showstopper for us (we chose AP over SL even without it), but it would open up new possibilities for our eLearning development.

Thanks!
Scott

phuongdv · September 29, 2020, 1:19am

Thanks for your feedback.

We are thinking how to make it fit best with the current design of ActivePresenter.

Regards,

Sarie · April 23, 2022, 9:32pm

Is it possible to implement show/hide elements ‘by timeline’ when editing? (rather than just show/hide ‘all’ or indivdually … which are both usefulf features!). That could help it be more layer-like. Or maybe ‘de-saturate’ other timelines, as that could help with object placement.
But yes real layers is one of the few things I’m missing from other software too. I’m making a bit of a mess at the moment without it, but guess that’s just getting used to doing things differently.

phuongdv · April 25, 2022, 6:13am

Hi Sarie,

This is not a full replacement but the View > Selection pane provides more features than Timeline for hiding/showing objects.

Regards,

Sarie · April 25, 2022, 4:40pm

Thanks, I’d forgotten about that.