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Authoring Research Update

Posted by Allen Interactions on Fri, Sep 11, 2009 @ 06:04 PM
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Scott Colehour, solutions architect, allen interactions

by Scott Colehour, Solutions Architect

First off let me get everyone caught up on the progress of the Zebra research project here at Allen Interactions. We have made some very good progress on the prototype and have added some things that we really think will be valuable. As a result of these additions, we need to hold off a bit longer on releasing it to our research group that has volunteered to participate with us. What we would like to do in the mean time, is get your opinions on a few design features/ideas we have been pondering about this potential development tool.

The first question we would like to pose to the group is about an integrated bitmap editor within a development tool. Too what extent do you feel this is a “must have” in a development system? Our internal discussions revolve around a multitude of bit editor choices currently available to designers/developers vs. the need to devote resources to integrating a simplified bitmap editor in the development tool.

We would appreciate any thoughts you may have on this design option.

Tags: ,

Comments

posted by emily.blanchard on September 17, 2009 
BITMAP EDITOR 
I'm not sure whether its a "must have" since I import the graphics into my editor. However, I would be interested in a tool that could do one or both of the following: 1) a quick sketch- nothing elaborate, but would allow me to illustrate a point using my poor art skills. 2) an overwrite tool that would allow an imported photograph, diagram etc. that I can insert arrows, text, highlight, and circle without having to edit the picture outside of the program. I consider myself a true novice when it comes to e-learning development software but these are the two "snags" I've run across.
Posted @ Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:07 PM by Allen Interactions
posted by Scott Colehour on September 17, 2009 
BITMAP EDITOR 
Emily, Thanks for your reply. I understand #1. Have a questions on #2. Are you envisioning these overwrite objects be integrated into the actual bitmap, or would it work to have them be layers on the bitmap with a group function to result in a single object? Thanks for your thoughts.
Posted @ Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:07 PM by Allen Interactions
posted by Judy Unrein on September 23, 2009 
BITMAP EDITOR 
I don't consider a bitmap editor a "must have" at all, though it could be a plus if it were a good one. I work with Lectora a lot and only use the bitmap editor when I need to edit a very basic screen shot that's already placed on my screen. I wouldn't use it for anything serious because it's nothing more functional than Microsoft Paint. The main benefit is that I can easily open the screenshot and edit from right inside the program, and save it and it pops me right back into my authoring tool. Flash does the same thing with Soundbooth... very convenient. What I think would be really cool is if Zebra would allow you choose a program to use as your bitmap editor. Actually... I think this is how Lectora functions; you can use their built-in or a different program of your choosing.
Posted @ Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:08 PM by Allen Interactions
posted by lbibaud on September 24, 2009 
BITMAP EDITOR 
I don't see that it would be necessary. There are so much more powerful tools out there so I find Judy's suggestion to have Zebra allow to choose a bitmap editor a very interesting solution. I also use Lectora and I do not find the bitmap editor to be very helpful. I always go back to Photoshop or Illustrator.
Posted @ Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:09 PM by Allen Interactions
posted by bwilson6040 on September 28, 2009 
BITMAP EDITOR 
Scott I would like to respond to your question to Emily. I would opt for the layer. I can see where an ID person might import a graphic and do some directional stuff that a graphics person could then take and make pretty. I would not want the graphics person to have to start over - they could use another layer and do the "final" art and then blow away my scribbling and group the final image.
Posted @ Thursday, October 01, 2009 6:12 PM by Allen Interactions
Just joining in from the Authorware list. Hello. As for layers, I think the main thing to make sure you have in the program is the ability to at least import TIF files and/or PNG files with the alpha channel transparency option. This makes life SO much easier when trying to combine bitmaps over master backgrounds, or combine text/vector objects with images seamlessly. The bitmap editing as someone said is probably best left to the bigger guns except for the simple paint features, crop and maybe a color adjustment feature for imported JPGs. Glad you're working on this project! Thanks.
Posted @ Friday, November 13, 2009 8:01 AM by Alan Camerer
My recommendation would be to not waste precious development time on it at all. There's already a crowded & mature market full of bitmap editing tools - to the the point the name Photoshop has actually been 'verbed' (much to the dismay of Adobe's lawyers). Anyway, I personally would rather use Photoshop for this - and would ask only for a menu item/pop up for the asset in a library and/or display window/stage that says, "edit in..." Thanks.
Posted @ Friday, November 13, 2009 8:56 AM by Locke
I WOULD NOT build in a graphics editor. Focus on the core program. I would however like to see the option to double-click on the image, the authoring tool automatically saves a temp graphic for editing on the hard drive, launches the user's graphics app (determined in preferences), such as PhotoShop, and then update the graphic in the authoring tool after the graphics app is closed (or have an UPDATE button that the user could click to load and replace the image with the newly edited version.
Posted @ Thursday, December 17, 2009 5:03 PM by Greg Sweeney
Round tripping is the key. If we can use a tool like Photoshop, make the asset and then bring it into the authoring environment as a PSD, we should hopefully also be able to open that PSD again inside Photoshop, make a change and have that change reflect inside the authoring environment without having to re-import the graphic. 
 
That’s a really long, run on sentence that defines round-tripping. Adobe has also incorporated a 'edit in photoshop' button in most of their tool palettes. Incorporating this into our authoring environment would allow the user to select the graphic they wish to edit click 'edit in photoshop' and the graphic would open in Photshop. Upon saving the graphic in Photoshop, the changes made would auto-reflect in the authoring environment. That’s the other side of round-tripping. But as you can imagine, round-tripping is an enormous time saver.
Posted @ Thursday, February 04, 2010 10:49 AM by Dan Thatcher
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