Spotlight Preferences and Interactivity Questions

[excelteacher]

Scott has some great Activtips on the Spotlight tool in Inspire. Those would have been helpful earlier when I was experimenting with it earlier today in the middle of my class. But I can always use the tips in class tomorrow. One of his tips dealt with the spotlight preferences. Scott used the preferences to change the appearance of the spotlight screen from opaque to semi-transparent. But, that changes the appearance of the tool for every time we use it. To work around setting the spotlight differently for each flipchart, Scott created a different profile. If I don't want to switch profiles or create a special one for a special spotlight tool setting, is there a way to adjust the spotlight tool's transparency to have it appear differently on different pages within a flipchart instead of an all-or-none preference?

My second question has to do with the spotlight tool and action objects. I took a picture of a pdf and created a flipchart to reveal the answers using the show/hide action. I also wanted students to focus on each particular statement, so I turned on the spotlight tool. However, when the spotlight was on, the action object in the center of the spotlight was disabled. Is there a way to allow the actions to continue to work even if we have the spotlight tool on? If not is that something to consider for a future update? :DTIA...

[Louise Chew]

Hi

The short answer to the first question is no. The setting applies to the spotlight throughout the flipchart

Question 2 - this should work. It might be which tool was selected when the spotlight was on. Make sure you've got the select tool on when the spotlight is on & try again.

[excelteacher]

Louise,

Thank you for your quick reply. Since this is not an option right now, I hope that this would be something to consider for a future release. I think it would be really cool to have an opaque spotlight on a particular page, but have a translucent spotlight on another page for something like examining a work of art. Just a thought...;):D

:)I think you can work magic through the computer. After I read your response to my action objects not working, it decided to work!!![clap]I must have had another tool selected when I tried to use the action object.

[Louise Chew]

Louise,



:)I think you can work magic through the computer. After I read your response to my action objects not working, it decided to work!!![clap]I must have had another tool selected when I tried to use the action object.

aahh, if only I could do that:D

[LisaD]

While you can have only one setting for your spotlight at a time, you could "fake a spotlight" using a magic eraser group.
This group of objects includes magic ink which will look through the top layer to what its behind.

Here is a example of some pages with Magic Erasers.

Most of the ideas are from this Resource Pack called Magic Erasers.
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=ConResource.13692

Lisa

[excelteacher]

Louise,
I figured out what the problem was. I had not made my spotlight wide enough, so I think I was "hitting" the spotlight with my pen. When I widened the spotlight, it worked just fine. Thanks again for your help.:D

Lisa,
Well...DUH!!! :p It didn't even occur to me to try to use a magic eraser. I'll have to try that next time. Thanks for great advice.