Creating an interactive video with Near-Life CREATOR is easy. You can create an interactive video without any media, or upload images and video in 2D, 180 and 360-degree formats so that you can make truly engaging interactive videos. In this tutorial, we’re going to take a closer look at using slides and images.
Steps
All nodes have a slide set by default and you can change this to an image or video. In order to change the media type, you will first need to upload the correct media asset using the Upload Media shortcut in the Node Editor OR via the Upload Media button in the Canvas.
ADDING SLIDES TO YOUR INTERACTIVE VIDEO
1) Background color – You can change the background color by clicking on the Background color bar and then adjusting the color picker. It works just like the color picker in Scenario Settings.
2) Set Duration – by default, a slide and an image have no duration. That means the node will stay on screen until an end-user interacts with it, unless you set a duration. When you enable the duration, you unlock additional features. To set the duration, drag the minutes and seconds time bars across to your desired length.
3) On end, jump to – Now that you have a time limit, you can determine whether to give this node a default action, that is, you can define what happens at the end of the node. To set the default action, indicate where you want to jump to on end. If this is your first node, then you will only have two choices, jump to: <None> or <New Node>.
- <None> – nothing will happen at the end of the node, the scenario will end
- <New Node> – choose this if you want to automatically redirect the end user to a new outcome. This is useful if you do not want to end the scenario at this node. The end user may have run out of time to make a decision or just took too long to decide, rather than end the scenario, you can move them forward.
- Once you have created a few nodes, they will appear in the drop-down list for you to choose from.
4) Media countdown – by default, this feature is turned off. However, if you want to let the end user know they have a limited time to make a decision or you just want them to know that the node will end soon, you can enable the media countdown.
- When enabled, it will automatically default to the time set in Scenario Settings. You can edit this by moving the slider left to decrease or right to increase the time.
- NOTE: The media countdown cannot be longer than the node duration.
ADDING IMAGES TO YOUR INTERACTIVE VIDEO
To set the media to anything other than a slide, you must upload that media type first. You can use the Upload Media shortcut in the Main Media section of the Node Editor or via the Upload Media button in the Canvas.
1) In the properties section of the Main Media, change the Type to image
2) Then select the image file from the Media drop-down (Note: Images set as the main media will act as a background)
- If the image is smaller than the video space, it will be uploaded at 100% – this means that it will appear at its full size and will NOT be stretched to fill the screen.
- If the image is smaller than the video space, the background will appear. You can edit the background color using the color picker.
- Because the image is being used as a background, you will not be able to move or resize it. If you want to fill the screen, you will need to upload an image in 16:9 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1080 px or 1280 x 720 px.
3) Background, Duration, Jump to and Media Countdown all work as explained above for Slides.
For both Slides and Images, see Using Overlays to add interactions and build out your game map.
Download
Slides and images as media PDF
Want to know more about interactive video?
If you’d like to learn more about why Near-Life is the right tool for creating interactive videos, please go ahead and book a demo.
Or, if you’re already confident it’s right for you, you can get started right away with a free trial.
Be sure to check out the rest of our ‘How to make an interactive video’ series: