Overlay

An Overlay is a type of event you can add to an Immersive training experience in Strivr Creator. Overlays are informational windows that pop up in the Experience. They may display a title, description, and/or image. Overlays may appear for a certain amount of time, or can be dismissed by the learner if the Okay button is set to be shown.

When should I use an Overlay?

Use an Overlay when you want to provide context to your learner throughout the experience. Overlays work well for both looping and non looping videos.

It's a good idea to add an Overlay at the beginning of each experience to provide context such as what the goals or learning objectives are and how to proceed.

Tip: If the information you are communicating to the learner relates to a specific space in the scene, try using a Marker or Scene Exploration event instead so you can denote that area.

How to add an Overlay

  1. In the left-hand panel, select a video to which you would like to add an Overlay.

  2. In the Event bar at the top of the screen, click the Overlay icon.

  3. Select a location in the video preview to place your Overlay. It will appear in the Tree view.

  4. Double-click the new Overlay in the Tree view and rename it.

How to edit the properties of an Overlay

Select an Overlay in the Tree view and its details appear in the Properties panel on the right.

Overlay type

Depending on the type of Overlay you choose, you can add a title, description, and image. Images should be JPG or PNG. For overlays with a description, images should be 512px x 512px at 72dpi; for overlays without a description, images should be 800px x 600px at 72dpi. Images are resized to the maximum dimensions—make sure to maintain the proper aspect ratio (the ratio of width to height.)

Audio

You can add an external audio file to an Overlay (for example, audio that reads the description aloud.) The audio file will play automatically when the Overlay appears.

Start time/buffer time

If your Overlay is in a non-looping video, adjust the start time to match the time in the video at which you want it to appear. If your Overlay is in a looping video, the start time is the buffer time when this event will occur after the previous event (or, if the overlay is the first event in the clip, the buffer time from the beginning of the clip.)

End time

The time point, in seconds, at which the Overlay should disappear relative to the time it started. Note that if you set an end time and Show Button is set to On, the overlay will be dismissed when the time is reached or when the learner selects the Okay button, whichever comes first.

Show button

Determines whether or not an Okay button should appear in the overlay, allowing a learner to dismiss it. If you want to make sure learners dismiss the overlay with an Okay button, set End Time to 0 and Show Button to On.

Position

To move an Overlay quickly, click and drag it to the new location in the video preview. You can also specify exact coordinates for the Overlay.

How to delete an Overlay

  1. Select an Overlay in the left-hand panel.

  2. Right-click it and select Delete.

Overlay best practices

Adding sound

  1. Sound begins playing as soon as the overlay appears.

  2. The sound will stop playing if

    1. The Okay button is present and the learner selects it before the sound is done.

    2. The overlay is timed to end before the sound does.

    3. The overlay is timed to end at the same time or after the length of the sound file and the sound file reaches its end.

Overlay position

  1. Always set the Y coordinate to 0 when possible.

  2. Z-depth refers to the Overlay’s position in space on the z-axis. The recommended and default Z-depth is 7.0. It is not recommended to adjust Z-depth. If you increase the Z-depth, at some point the overlay will intersect with the video sphere or CG environment, possibly going entirely out of the scene. If you reduce the Z-depth, it could appear too close to the learner and be difficult to see or read, or cover up too much of the scene behind it.

Text and paragraph formatting

  1. Though no font formatting or line spacing is available for text on Overlays in Creator, you can use a separate text editor to add paragraph breaks to blocks of text and then paste that into Creator.

  2. You can paste simple unicode bullet points in. You can also use HTML tags to bold, underline, italicize, or line break.

Exiting overlays

On the first overlay in a module, it's a good idea to add instructions about how to exit the overlay (“Select Okay to continue.”), because some users will need that guidance.