Look Listen Touch

By George Williams and Cory Bohon

Overview

Software Options

There are many options available to the would-be screencaster, but these are some of the most commonly used tools:

Tools for capturing video of the activity on your computer screen

ScreenFlow

$99, Mac only. [Insert other details here]

QuickTime X

[Rephrase this: (Included in the most recent OS upgrade). Insert other details here.]

Jing

Free for the basic version. $15 per year for the “Pro” version. Produces quick-and-easy but unpolished videos and audio tracks ready for publishing. [Insert other details here]

Camtasia

$299 for the Windows version. $99 for the Mac version.

Tools for editing the video that you capture

iMovie ’09

iMovie is Apple’s consumer-leve (but still powerful) video editing application. It allows you to import your recorded screen capture to add voice over, text and subtitles, and fade ins/outs to make your videos more polished and professional looking. [Insert some additional details here?]

Windows Movie Maker

[Insert some details here.]

What to consider when choosing your tools

There’s no perfect set of tools that everyone should use; each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Your choice will depend on several factors, including price and operating system, which are detailed above. You should take the following factors into consideration:

Audio quality and flexibility

ScreenFlow or Camtasia allow you to capture the full audio from the computer, while also giving you the option of capturing audio from your computer’s built-in microphone. By contrast, QuickTime X or Jing only allow you to capture from the computer’s built-in microphone, making computer audio less than stellar because of background noises.

Ease of use

If you want to quickly and effortlessly capture your screen while briefly talking about a subject and publish out for your audience, then Jing might be right for you since it has a built-in publishing platform that gives you a clean and simple URL to share your capture.

The step-by-step tutorial below describes the process as it works in a Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) environment using Screenflow (or QuickTime X) for screencapturing and iMovie ’09 for post-capture editing.

4-Step Process

Step 1: Record your screen activity

In ScreenFlow, select the camera icon in the menu bar and select “Record…”

In QuickTime X select File > New Screen Recording, and in the resulting window click on the record button.

Step 2: Export what you’ve recorded

Directions for ScreenFlow

Click the camera button in the menu bar and select “Stop Recording”

Once the video opens in the preview window, select File > Export and change the following settings:

1. For the Preset select “Web - High” and then click the “Customize” button.
2. In the resulting window, select the “Settings” button underneath the “Video” section
3. Set Key Frames to “All,” Data rate to “Automatic,” Compressor quality to “Best,” and the Encoding to “Best Quality – Multi-pass”
4. Click “OK”
5. Uncheck the “Prepare for Internet Streaming checkbox”
6. Click “OK”
7. Under Dimensions, do a scale by of “100%” and click the Export button. The exporting process will take about 20-40 minutes depending on video length and processor speed

Directions for QuickTime X

From the menu bar, click the stop recording button

The movie will automatically open in QT X and allow you to export it

From the Share menu, you can quickly export it to iTunes, YouTube, or MobileMe

1. iTunes export
   1. Select Share > iTunes
   2. Select “Computer” for the size as this is the top quality export that it provides
   3. Click Share

   

2. YouTube export
   1. Select Share > YouTube
   2. Signin and validate your account
   3. Type in the metadata and
   4. Click Next and Then Share
   5. Your video will be exported and uploaded to YouTube using the metadata that you just provided.

   

Step 3: Edit the video you’ve captured

If your project requires speed more than it requires polish, then you don’t need to do much (or any) editing. In fact, for a quick and basic screen capture, you should probably just use a tool like Jing from start to finish to capture and upload your screencast.

However, if your project requires a more polished and professional screencast, then you’ll want to use a tool like iMovie. Editing and recording a voiceover will take more time than using a tool like Jing, but the results can be worth the effort.

Importing your videos

1. File > Import > Movies; Import all of your recoreded screen captures
2. Your videos will be imported (copied or moved; although moving the files will decrease the amount of space used) to an “event” that is created in iMovie. You can name the even whatever you’d like, but I’m calling mine “VoiceOver Screen Captures.” All of your imported videos will go here.

Adding videos to the time line

1. You can add your videos to the “timeline” by dragging and dropping the original files from the event to the above timeline
2. Adding titles and fade ins/outs is as easy as clicking on the appropriate buttons in the toolbar and adding them (this will be different for your specific video editing application)

Exporting your videos with the highest fidelity

1. In iMovie.app click Share > Export Movie
2. Type in the appropriate file name
3. Click the “HD” export option — this will give us the highest quality file
4. Click “Export and the video will begin exporting to the location you specified

Step 4: Upload and share your screencast

1. You can now upload the resulting .mov file to YouTube, Vimeo, or your favorite video sharing website.
2. You will end up with a mid-range file size of roughly 40MBs for ~6 minutes of video.
3. The file upload to YouTube or Vimeo will take around 10-15 minutes from a fast Internet connection