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• • August 25, 2015 at 12:14 pm #77548
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi. I’ve spent the morning watching videos and reading forum posts but I still can’t figure out where I’ve gone wrong.

    I have an InDesign document (CC–up to date) and I placed an .mp3. I then created buttons to play that sound file (and set the buttons up for playing). I will hopefully hide the mp3 file, but regardless things aren’t working–hidden or not.

    In the preview this system works. I am then exporting to interactive PDF. When I do so, despite all the tutorial information I can find, there are no options for hyperlinks etc (just Forms and Media, which I have on) though there are the (I also can’t find interactive export options under File, as there are for print). I export a couple pages to test and my buttons are clickable but they do not trigger the sound (playing in Acrobat Pro).

    I’ve seen information about Distiller (seems to be out of date info?) and all sorts of other info that indicates that I should have more options on my export panel. What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried going in to the .pdf and messing with options (optimizing) but things only seem to get worse.

    Please help.

    thanks,
    marisa

  • August 26, 2015 at 3:29 am #77561
    Gert Verrept

    Member

    OS? I’m on windows 7, CC2015. Did you use “file –> export –> interactif pdf”?
    For hiding, see this thread https://creativepro.com/hiding-sound-files-in-an-interactive-pdf.php
    You cannot use distiller for a interactif pdf.

  • August 26, 2015 at 7:47 am #77572
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Thanks. Yes, I used File>export?interactive but there are very few options. Most of the tutorials out there show more options on the export screen (more like the one for print).

    I’ll check the hiding info but hidden or showing I can’t get any sound to play. When you click the button I made the sound visual pops up but no sound.

  • August 26, 2015 at 7:48 am #77573
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Oh, and Mac OX 10.9.5

    thanks

  • August 26, 2015 at 10:24 am #77581
    Gert Verrept

    Member

    Strange, I just tested it and it works fine. Created a frame, added an mp3 file, made it a button and exported as a interactif pdf. Opens fine and plays the sound. Did you make it a button with an action on it?

  • August 26, 2015 at 10:57 am #77582
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    I did. I made a button with an action (2 actually, one for play and one for stop) and brought in the mp3 and programmed the button to trigger the mp3. the mp3 image pops up but no sound. I’ve desperately searched for any settings in Acrobat pro (to see if my sound just wasn’t playing) and also opened it in Acrobat Reader. Nothing. I spent all day yesterday trying different things. The file is large (which could probably cause problems) but I’m exporting just a few pages to test.

    thanks

  • August 26, 2015 at 11:07 am #77583
    Gert Verrept

    Member

    Just wondering. Did you try to create a new doc and add a sound? Can you play any sound? It could be the settings in the system which aren’t good (mute?)

  • August 26, 2015 at 11:27 am #77584
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi. I have looked for .pdf settings that might be muting the sound. The issue is on both of my computers too. I suppose I can try sending the .pdf to someone who can see if the sound is playing. I haven’t tried that.

    I just tried to make a new document with a single button and sound file and the same thing happens: the button is clickable and the ugly sound visual pops up but no sound.

  • August 26, 2015 at 11:28 am #77585
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Oh, one more thing.. I’m not sure if I said this but this all works in Epub swf preview.

  • August 26, 2015 at 11:59 am #77586
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    The strange thing is I can’t get the PDF reading mode to work. I am starting to think my problem is in acrobat. But I can’t for the life of me figure out what that problem is. I sent a test file to a few people and hope to hear that there is sound. no word yet, not everyone is stuck to their computer in August I guess.

  • August 26, 2015 at 12:03 pm #77587
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    False alarm. I opened in Reader 9.5 and I can get the read aloud but still no .mp3 sound triggered.

  • August 26, 2015 at 1:04 pm #77589
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Yup, indeed, my friends can’t play the sound either.

  • August 26, 2015 at 1:53 pm #77591
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    saved as CS4 compatible, opened in CS6 and exported. No sound.

  • August 26, 2015 at 2:36 pm #77592
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    The only thing I’ve been successful with at this point is going back to Acrobat X and adding the sound directly to the document there. AND the file is massive doing it that way.

    thanks for any thoughts ideas etc

  • August 26, 2015 at 2:54 pm #77593
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Sorry, me again. Turns out I can do it without a button but with the audio track directly placed. the problem is that this is a multipage document. There’s a read along component and you may need to stop the audio 5 pages later. The way I planned to do this, with buttons worked well but this way you would have to turn back 5 pages to stop the audio.

    Also, it exported as an Epub just fine.

  • August 28, 2015 at 2:11 pm #77708
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Marisa, sorry, PDF files cannot start a sound playing and keep it playing after you change pages.

    The other problem with sound is that I believe it currently only works when Flash Player is installed on the computer.

  • August 28, 2015 at 3:22 pm #77710
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Thanks much David and Gert. I think I’ve got it working.

    I believe that the compression on the .mp3 must have been weird (perhaps not all .mp3s are the same? I couldn’t see any difference in the properties between the ones that worked and the one that didn’t but Iconverted the file and it seems to be working) but when I finally tested it with another file it suddenly worked (as long as I didn’t try to hide the ugly controller and it’s kind of a 2 step thing where you hit my play button and then you have to hit the controller play button). I’m crossing my fingers at the moment. This has been such a massive project and I might be close to done. I just wish the threading issue didn’t get me every time… But that’s another problem.

    I did find that I could keep the file playing as I moved through the pages… however I can’t necessarily stop the original file pages later–which is too bad as that’s what my plan was.

    Anyway… thank you

  • October 7, 2015 at 11:34 am #78614
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Hi again. I thought I would let you know that most of my sound files finally worked but I was struggling with one. I kept creating new exports with new settings because there are no specific best settings listed anywhere. FINALLy I tried changing the name to something shorter and now my sound clip is working. Yeesh! Good to know for all who might do a project with sound in the future.
    thanks

  • October 14, 2015 at 11:09 pm #78768
    Marian Schiavo

    Member

    David, Marisa, does this mean that if I export my book to EPUB3 (fixed layout) with sound file objects, that they will not play on an ISO device?

    Marisa, have you been able to find a work-around and have a bed of music playing over several pages and stop on demand on a different page?

    Many thanks, Marian

  • October 15, 2015 at 8:16 am #78774
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Marian: I don’t think that will work in EPUB/FXL. Not sure what you mean by ISO device.

  • October 19, 2015 at 11:06 am #78831
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    David, I think she means IOS.

    Marian, I edited the sound so that you start it on one page and it keeps playing as you read through the following pages (it’s curriculum for children so they are reading along) and it ends because the clip ends. The stop button wouldn’t work pages later for the same clip because I had to insert the clip again on that later page and so it essentially was a new clip (make sense? I know it sounds convoluted).

    In terms of IOS, I haven’t tested it but I have read that different PDF readers are very different in terms of interactive components so I would be very very careful about depending on this functionality.

    I hope that helps,
    marisa

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