Rotating a slide gives you a rotation animation when it is displayed

To make HelpXplain rotate the contents of a slide into view just rotate the slide that contains it on the canvas. Then when HelpXplain displays the slide it will be rotated into view at the same time as zooming it to fill the canvas. If you rotate the slide so that it stands on its head you will get a full 180° rotation.

In this example two slides have been rotated. Because of the zig-zag grid order of the slides there will be a full rotation after every slide:

1.Select the Slides Overview in the Slides list.

2.Select the slide you want to rotate in the workspace and rotate it by dragging the green rotation handle projecting from the bottom edge. Hold down the SHIFT key while rotating to rotate in exact increments.

When you then publish and play the Xplain the slide will rotate into view when it is displayed if you are using animated transitions. There will be no visible effect if you are not using animated transitions. Then the slides are just replaced instantaneously in the display window when stepping through them.

Changing the entire slide's dimensions to make it zoom on display

If individual slides have different dimensions than the viewport of your project their content will be scaled in our out to fill the slide. If you are using animated transitions this will give you a zoom effect that can be combined with rotation. The effect will be more pronounced in combination with a background image and the can configure this with the Parallax Effect setting in the Properties pane on the right.

Adjusting slide dimensions with the mouse (scaling a slide):

1.Select Slides Overview in the Slides list.

2.Adjust the size of the slide with the mouse.

Note that changing the slide size with the mouse does not actually resize the slide. It scales it relative to the other slides. You will see this if you compare the size shown in the Size and Background section in the Properties pane with the current information on the slide shown in the status bar at the bottom of the HelpXplain window.

Changing the slide's dimension properties:

1.Select the slide you want to change in the Slides list.

2.In the Size & Background section in the Properties pane on the right select the Change... button and change the size for the current slide. You may need to adjust the content to fit the new size after changing it when using this method.

You can insert slides inside other slides to zoom in on details. For example, if a full image is slide 1 and a detail of it is slide 2, the animation will first show the full image and then zoom in on the detail. Or you could change the sequence to start with the detail and then zoom out to the full view.

Putting a slide inside a slide to zoom in and optionally rotate on slide content

You can zoom in on content inside a slide and rotate it into view by putting a slide inside another slide. The easiest way to do this is with the Insert Zoom-In Slide option in the New Slide tool. When you use this tool the zoom-in slide is nested inside the main slide and it will be resized and moved along with the main slide when you manipulate the main slide.

1.In the Slides list on the left, select the slide where you want to insert zoom-in content.

2.Select Insert Zoom-In Slide in the New Slide tool menu in the Home tab. This inserts a new slide inside the parent slide.

3.Adjust the position, size and rotation of the zoom-in slide by selecting it inside the main slide.

4.Select the new slide in the Slides list on the left (it has its own entry) to add content to it. This is just like adding content to any other slide.

Dragging a slide into another slide in Slides Overview

Alternatively, you can also simply select the Slides Overview and then resize one slide and drag it into another with the mouse.

Changing the natural order of slides

You can change the "next" slide for any slide with the Follow-Up Slide option:

1.Select the slide in the Slides list on the left.

2.Open Position & Timing in the Properties pane on the right, then select the slide you want to play next withe the Follow-Up Slide setting.

Adding click options to go to different slides

You can add a click option to any element to allow the user to perform an action when they click or tap the element:

1.Select the slide in the Slides list on the left.

2.Either have autoplay off for the entire Xplain (when you publish) or select Stop AutoPlay at this slide in Position & Timing in the Properties pane on the right. If you don't do this the user won't have time to click!

3.Select the element you want to make clickable. Then choose Go to another slide in Link & Interaction in the Properties pane on the right and choose the slide the link should go to.

See Object Links, Actions & Data for more details on this.

The slides in your animation are normally displayed in their numbered sequence. The different slides in the sequence can be positioned anywhere on the canvas. HelpXplain's virtual camera will automatically pan and zoom and rotate across the canvas to the slides in the sequence that you define them.

When you insert or define slides they are automatically given the next available number in the current sequence. You can change this sequence in two ways:

Drag slides up and down in the Slides List

Thumbnails of all the slides in your project are shown in the Slides list on the left. You can adjust the sequence by dragging the thumbnails up and down in the bar with the mouse.

Move slides up and down with the right-click context menu

Right-clicking on a slide in the Slides list displays a context menu with which you can move the slide up or down in the sequence.

Renaming slides

Select the slide in the Slides list on the left, then press F2 to edit its name. You can also do this with the slide items in the Objects list.