Re: DemoShield and .wav files

Subject: Re: DemoShield and .wav files
From: David Warren <David -dot- Warren -at- NEXTEL -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 18:03:57 -0400

Howdy!

The limitation is in the speed and architecture of the Wintel
platform. Despite any amount of marketing hype, Windows just does not
handle animation and especially sound very well or gracefully. And
you are really s.o.l. when trying to synchronize the two. Even on
Macs, your results will be less than smooth if a user runs it on a
minimum-standard machine. (I know DemoShield is a Wintel product, but
it doesn't change the point.)

You might try recording the voice in Quicktime for Windows and make
the moving object a sprite in Quicktime. That at least will sync.
them. I cannot tell if your current authoring software supports this
or not--updated versions should.

I bet you could also do this as a Macromedia Director or Authorware
presentation. I just hate to recommend a company that is almost as
bad as Quark in its upgrade policy and customer service.

Good Luck!

David T. Warren
Publications Mgr., Nextel Communications ESD

PS: How can you tell the pioneer in the field? From the arrows in her
back!


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: DemoShield and .wav files
Author: "Michael C. Magras" <mcm -at- WORKGROUP -dot- COM> at INTERNET
Date: 6/5/98 11:20 AM


I am using DemoShield 5.3 to develop an online tutorial that includes two
or three dozen .wav files. These .wav files are voice recordings that I
made using Sound Recorder and Cool Edit. When users run this tutorial,
the .wav files don't always behave as they should. I was wondering if
anyone out there is familiar with DemoShield, or .wav files in general,
and has run across any of the three problems described below.

1. A DemoShield tutorial developer can specify the exact point in a
scene at which a .wav file should begin playing. The files in my
tutorial usually obey my settings, but occasionally they start two or
three seconds later than they should. Consequently, the file is cut off
before its ending and often delays the start of the .wav file that
immediately follows. The frustrating part of this problem is that these
delays don't occur every time you run the tutorial. A file that starts
too late during one run may start at the right time the next, and
*another* may start late instead. There seems to be no consistent
pattern here.

2. Another randomly occuring problem is a Max Headroom-like stutter that
infiltrates these files. The files occasionally hesitate or burp when
played back, so that sections of words are clipped off, or the beginning
of a word plays twice, creating the stutter effect. Again, this does not
occur consistently. You could play my tutorial five times and hear these
static blips at five completely different sets of intervals.

3. The final problem is that .wav files tend to slow down when certain
visual effects occur on screen while the sounds are playing. Unlike the
first two problems, this one occurs consistently. Whenever there is
movement on the screen -- a graphic moving into the picture from
off-screen, a text object that washes into place from left to right --
the .wav file slows noticeably. I called DemoShield's customer support
for guidance on this problem earlier in the week. The well-meaning
gentleman I spoke with gave me two suggestions. The first was to
decrease the sampling rate at which I record the files. The second was
to change the visuals; if an effect slows down your .wav file, he said,
don't use that effect. Neither of these options is acceptable to me.

I'd appreciate any suggestions you might have on any of these topics.
Thank you for your help.

Michael C. Magras, Senior Technical Writer
Workgroup Technology Corporation
91 Hartwell Avenue
Lexington, MA 02421




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