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VERDICT: Improved recording capabilities, richer design and interactivity and deeper integration with PowerPoint see Captivate build on existing strengths.

Adobe Captivate is a Flash-based solution for computer-based training (CBT). The use of Flash provides an immediate and massive advantage as it means that Captivate’s output is automatically viewable by anyone with the Flash player installed – roughly 98% of users with an internet connection...

Successful and efficient delivery is virtually guaranteed then – but what exactly can Captivate deliver?
Key to CBT is the ability to record screen-based demonstrations and, based on its Flash underpinning, you might assume that Captivate automatically records all screen activity to an embedded SWF video format. This is an important option and you can now quickly force such full motion recording as well as set it to be automatically triggered by certain actions such as onscreen drag-and-drop and painting/drawing. By default however, Captivate is far more intelligent, recording activity as slide-based screenshots overlaid with mouse and keyboard-based actions. This doesn’t just result in higher quality, lossless output and smaller, web-friendly downloads; it makes everything far more editable.

Captivate 3’s recording capabilities are more intelligent than ever

This editability proves particularly useful when adding a narration to your demonstration as it means that you can easily change onscreen timings accordingly. When synchronizing audio to video, Captivate 3 now lets you record your narration while previewing just the current slide or the entire project. In addition Captivate 3 adds support for line-in and system-based audio alongside the microphone. The end results Captivate enables are far more professional than you can ever hope for from less editable screen-and-audio recording approaches.