Difference between revisions of "Screencasting"

Revision as of 11:38, 14 September 2011

SCREENCASTING

A screencast is a digital video recording that captures actions taking place on a computer desktop. A screencast captures what happens on a monitor over a period of time. This is used for illustrating software features . Screencasting is a technique of creating video tutorials and software imitation by capturing a sequence of screenshots of any running software application. Screencasting tools work like a video camera which can records of the actions on a user’s computer. The recorded video can be exported in a range of popular video formats like EXE, SWF, Flash, WMV, AVI, Quick Time, MPEG-4. These formats are widely used in any video sharing site and may easily import into any video editing tools.

There are two types of screencasting applications:

Desktop application: It is essential to download and run the screencasting software in your local computer.
Web-based application: You do not need to download the software in your computer you can run the application directly from the web.

Many screencasting tools are completely free to use and don’t have any registration procedure. Some tools can be used for a trail period and some tools must need to purchase to get started. After creating a video you will have option to download video in your desktop and to upload the video in video-sharing site like YouTube, Revver, Vimeo etc. A few of them let you to embed your recorded screencast on your blog without uploading to YouTube first.

Using screencasting tools is very straight forward. You can record the entire screen or only a selected area. You cBold textan use the shortcut key in order to start, stop and push your recoding. Below, You will find a set of features which will help you identifying free screencasting tool that better suit your needs.

Features of Screencasting tool

In order to select the screencasting tool that meets your needs and expectations, there are a series of features that should be considered:

Operating System: Required Operating Systems to run the selected tool.
Region capture: Recording option of full screen or selected area screen.
Audio: Adding system voice or microphone recording and voice annotation support during your recording.
Shortcut key: Key to start, push and stop your recording.
Output format: The format of the video after screencasting.
Length: Duration of recording.
Editing: Recreating, combining video,adding voice or text annotation on your recorded video.
Video uploading and sharing: Easiest way to upload and share the recorded video.

Steps to create a screencast

You can commence to create a screencast and deliver it to the user by using the subsequent five significant steps.

Preparing content: Choose your topic and get the idea about it which you plan to screencast. Get ready with all content before starting record your screen
Recording: Select a screencasting tool to record your screen output and push the red button to start recording. After recording your screen you can store the recorded file in local computer.
Editing: Edit your video according to your paradigm. Select an video editing tool which let you to add audio and text annotation. Generally, video editing tool gives you some basic functions like- adding title, audio and text annotation, combining videos.
Produce: Produce your video that best fit your intended output video format and which will be easily streaming from web or delivery on disk.
Distributing the video: Select a video sharing site which permits to upload and publish your recorded video for the users.

Find below a list of useful tools to record, edit and publish your screencast.

Free screencasting tools

In this table there is a selection of free screencasting tools and a description of their features.

Tools	Licence	Type of Application	Special Features	Uploading and Sharing Options
ScreenToaster	Free	Web-based	Output Format: MOV,SWF Editing: No Audio: Yes Length: No limit Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows, Mac, Linux	Video file Can be embedded on blog and other site Video file Can be stored on site and shared via email
Screen-o-Matic	Free	Web-based	Output Format: MOV,WMV Editing: No (Free version) Audio: Yes Length: 15 minutes Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows, Mac, Linux	Video file can be stored on Screen-o-Matic website. Video file can be uploaded on YouTube directly Video file can be embedded on blog
FreeScreencast	Free	Desktop (Run by local computer)	Output Format: FLV Editing: No Audio: Yes Length: No limit Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows	Video file can be stored on freescreencast.com. Video file can be shared via email Video file can be embedded on website Video file can be downloaded file in FLV format
ScreenCastle	Free	Web-based	Output Format: Unknown Editing: No Audio: No Length: No limit Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows	Video file can be stored on site. Video file can be shared via email Video file can be embedded on website
Screenr	Free	Web-based	Output Format: MP4 Editing: No Audio: Yes Length: No limit Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows, Mac, Linux	Video file can be stored on Screenr site Can easily be shared via email links Video file can be embedded on websites. Video file can be downloaded file as MP4 format
Avi Screen	Free	Desktop	Output Format: AVI Editing: No Audio: No Length: No limit Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows	Video file can be stored in local computer Video file can be uploaded to YouTube or any other video sharing site
Copernicus	Free	Desktop	Output Format: Unknown Editing: No Audio: Yes Length: No limit Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Mac	Video file can be stored in local computer Video file can be uploaded to YouTube or any other video sharing site
Jing	Free	Desktop	Output Format: SWF Editing: Yes Audio: Yes Length: 3 minutes Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows, Mac	Video file can be stored in local computer Video can be directly uploaded to YouTube or any other video sharing site
uTIPu (TipCam)	Free (Standard version)	Desktop	Output Format: AVI, FLV Editing: No Audio: Yes Length: Limited Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows	Video can be uploaded directly to uTIPu.com, uTIPu communities and YouTube.
uTIPu (TipCam)	Free (Standard version)	Desktop	Output Format: AVI, FLV Editing: No Audio: Yes Length: Limited Region capture: Yes Shortcut key: Yes OS: Windows	Video can be uploaded directly to uTIPu.com, uTIPu communities and YouTube.

Proprietary software

In this table there is a selection of paid screencasting tools and a description of their features.

Tools

Licence

Type of Application

Special Features

Uploading and Sharing Options

Camtasia studio

Proprietary commercial

Desktop (Application runs on local computer)

Output Format: AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG4, MP4

Editing: No

Audio: Yes

Length: No limit

Region capture: Yes

Shortcut key: Yes

OS: Windows

Video file can be stored in local computer
Video Can be directly uploaded to YouTube and screencast.com
Video can be hosting and collaboration via Acrobat.com

Adobe Captivate

Proprietary commercial

Desktop

Output Format: MOV, AVI, WMV, FLV, MPEG4

Editing: Yes

Audio: Yes

Length: No limit

Region capture: Yes

Shortcut key: Yes

OS: Windows

Video file can be stored in local computer
Video Can be directly uploaded to YouTube
Easily integrate with eLearning application and Leading SCORM
Video can be edited with rich animation effect
Multivideo support and synchronization

Demo Builder

Proprietary commercial

Desktop

Output Format: SWF, EXE, HQX

Editing: Yes

Audio: Yes

Length: No limit

Region capture: Yes

Shortcut key: Yes

OS: Windows, Linux, MAC

Video can be stored in local computer
Video can be uploaded in video sharing site

Editing

You can edit your recorded video by using the video editing tool. The video editing tool gives you some options for adding a timeline, voice or text annotation, deleting unwanted sections of a movie, merging with other movies or video clips. You can choose the best editing tool from the following list of video editing tool.

Name of Application

Licence

Features

Window Live Movie Maker

Free

Use: Easy to use

Edit: Cut, split, merge

Timeline: Yes

Annotation: Yes

Animation: Yes

Output format: WMV

OS: Windows

Other: Recommended for YouTube

Camtasia Studio

Need to purchase

Use: Simple to use

Edit: Cut, split, merge

Timeline: Yes

Annotation: Yes

Animation: No

Output format: MP4

OS: Windows

Other: Recommended for Screencast.com

Camtasia Studio

Need to purchase

Use: Simple to use

Edit: Cut, split, merge

Timeline: Yes

Annotation: Yes

Animation: No

Output format: MP4

OS: Windows

Other: Recommended for Screencast.com

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 |Need to purchase
-|'''Use'': Simple to use
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 '''Edit''': Cut, split, merge

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Difference between revisions of "Screencasting"

From Learning and training wiki

Revision as of 11:38, 14 September 2011

Contents

Features of Screencasting tool

Free screencasting tools

Proprietary software

Editing