Why make a screencast?

Screencast is a digital recording of computer screens, full screens or screen regions and usually comes with an audio narration to describe the on-screen actions. The term screencast dates back to 2004 with an interesting story.

In 2004, a columnist Jon Udell invited readers of his blog to propose names for the emerging genre. In all the suggested terms, Udell selected screencast, which was proposed by both Joseph McDonald and Deeje Cooley. His "Heavy metal umlaut" screencast is a well-known example - which explains how Wikipedia works. http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/gems/umlaut.html
Since then, the term screen has be known by more people and the use of screencasts has itself become more popular. Currently the new trend of screencast is documentary filmmaking of software-based social networking services like Wikipedia, del.icio.us. or digg.

Screencast Types

Product Tutorials:
The screencast tells users how to use a software application or service by showing screen introductions. Usually, there is a recorded voice over to walk through the steps. See examples below.
Eventools online Demo http://www.eventtools.nl/demo/Eventtools-Toevoegen-wijzigen%20personen.html

Short How-to:
This kind of screencast is often short and demonstrates a simple guide or gives tips and tricks to solve a small problem or dig into a product feature.
See example below.
Xtrmlive Web Service Demo http://xtrmlive.com/demo/sponsorship2/

Conversational Demos:
Conversational demos have more focus on the conversion rather than the screens. Usually, there are two voices for the screen. Often one is asking question about the screen and another gives the answer.

Software review:
If you are asked to write a software review , you can always make a screencast to highlight some features.
Boq System Online Demo http://www.boq.se/help/qounter/qounter.html

User produced demo:
Some software applications are difficult to use and you sometimes have some unexpected troubles. Making a screencast to explain, will help you a lot when you are talking to the technical support. You can even make yourself a troubleshooting demo to share with your friends and families.
DMM Online Support Demo http://www.dmm-support.dk/uploads/video/4pictures/add_pictures/add_picture_to_SDB.html
Of course,there are more types has not yet included in this article.

Screencasting Tools

For Window Users
Windows Media Encoder - Free but with high system requirements http://www.videohelp.com/tools/Windows_Media_Encoder
Wondershare DemoCreator - Flash-based Screen Recorder http://www.sameshow.com/demo-creator.html#107
CamStudio - Free. It has the ability to capture in .avi or Flash (swf) http://camstudio.org/


For Mac Users
Snapz Pro X http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox/
iShowU http://www.shinywhitebox.com/

Guide Lines of making a screencast

Know what you want to present
First and foremost, You’ll need to have an idea about what you’ll present, and you’ll need to figure out which platform to use. Knowing your purposes of making a screecast is the first step.

Make it real
Always make a screencast real and substantial. For example, if it is for software demonstration or a network monitor, then work with the software or live network.
Of course , for reasons of logistics or security, this isn’t always possible. But the more real you can make it, the better.

Interactivity is important
Interactivity engages viewers through the demo. If your screecast is just screen by screen, your viewers will leave soon. You can and should record narration or insert background music to the screencast. Usually, some screencasting tools like DemoCreator enable you to add some visual aids to the captured screens like callouts, shapes, annotation buttons and animated images. Note that when a screencast is interactive it will engage the viewers in a conversation that steers it into unexpected areas.

originated from: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Screencast

Free Online screen recording

People love to watch how-to videos or demo screencast of your software and Web applications manual to cut down your support and marketing efforts. A screencast is a simply video capture of your computer screen. Most of the screen recorders available are desktop based, but with the Web-base moving towards Software as Services (SaS) platform, a few online screen recording services have emerged. We take a look at some of the popular remotely hosted screencast services. and it is totally Free.

ScreenToaster uses a Java applet to capture your computer screen, video and live streams from your webcam. Recorded videos are streamed and saved live making editing and publishing faster. The web-base application video editor allows you to annotate videos or add voice. Once your screencast is ready, you can upload it to the servers of ScreenToaster or send it to your Youtube account. Alternatively, you can download a copy of the video as .mov or .swf. Screencasts published on the ScreenToaster site can be set to be accessed publicly or privately and supports social sharing and commenting features.
Price: Free
Pros: Extremely fast video upload and processing.
Cons: Lacks video editing features.

GoView is a new player in the screen recording business that has been developed by Citrix Online, the company behind GoToMeeting and GoToMyPc. Similar to the other services, it supports both video and voice recording. After downloading and installing a small application, GoView will sit in your system tray. Your screencast are automatically uploaded to the goview.com site which can then be easily shared. When tested, we found that the quality of video recorded is far better than the other services. GoView also has a web based video editor that allows you annotate, split and export your videos to MP4 format.
Price: Free
Pros: High quality screen recording
Cons: Uploading screen capture is slow. Video cannot be embedded on site.

Screencast-0-Matic was the first service to offer web-base screen recording right from the browser without any software installation (requires only Java support in the browser). You can select to record your full-screen or just an area of it. Once recorded, your videos can be uploaded to the Screencast-O-Matic web site or sent to YouTube in HD format. You can also export the video as downloadable formats like Quicktime (MP4), Flash (FLV) or as Windows Media Player (AIV).
Price: Free
Pros: Multiple export features.
Cons: Lacks video editing features.

ScreenCastle is the easiest screencast recorder. It no registration requirement, just the download of a lightweight Java applet that takes less than a minute to install. It supports both video and audio recording from your microphone. You can select to record full-screen or just an area of your computer screen. After the recording, it will take a few seconds for your video to be uploaded and right after upload, you will be presented with linking and embedding options. The best part about ScreenCastle is that it has an API version, called Skoffer. Skoffer allows developers to build in the screencast recorder into the web application. Plugins that makes use of this API are already available for popular scripts like WordPress and MediaWiki.
Price: Free
Cons: Lacks video editing features.
Pros: Extremely simple and easy to use and has an API available.

originated from: http://freefree-online.blogspot.com/2007/04/free-online-screen-recording.html

Screencast Demo - How to Add Google Analytics Tracking Code to Your Blog

Do It Your Self Video

Whether you need to have a plan or not for making a tutorial video project depends on how complicated the video project is. You need to at least have a one-page project plan if you are making a fairly complicated project involving lots of media elements and having a number of steps to complete the project. If your project will contain just a small number of media elements and just a few steps to accomplish, then you only need to have a project idea in your head. A good practice to follow when making videos using your computer is to group your files into your various video projects. Make a single folder for each project and put all the files and media elements pertaining to that project in its own project folder. This practice can save you a lot of time and effort in looking for misplaced or missing files.

A video tutorial is a movie that teaches how to do something on a computer by showing the student how the computer screen looks while the teacher is explaining what he is doing. It's an effective way of teaching a computer skill because it shows how actually the task is accomplished in a computer. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a moving picture could probably be worth millions.

Things You Need to Make a Video Tutorial

For you to be able to start and complete a tutorial video, you need to have the following in your computer:

A Vista or XP computer with Internet connectionMicrophoneThe Paint ProgramCamStudio softwareWindows Movie MakerA video project ideaAn Internet connection is not an absolute must but being connected to the Internet will be vitally important if you need to download something that you need to complete your project. You will also need an Internet connection if you want to upload your video to a file hosting site as a way of sharing your video with people who are interested in viewing it.

The type of microphone that you are using to make your voice over determines the voice quality that you can achieve in your video. You will either have an in-built microphone in your laptop or you might be using an external microphone that you connect to your computer. You generally have more flexibility in using an external microphone since you van move it as closer or further from your mouth. It is very much possible for your microphone to have a very low level of pickup that your voice comes out barely audible in your speakers. If you're using a Vista laptop, you can use the Sound tool in your control panel to increase the recording volume and boost the pickup of your computer's microphone. In the Sound tool, click on manage audio devices link and then click on the recording tab of the pop-up window that comes out. By clicking the name of your microphone hardware, a properties button that becomes visible can be used to increase the microphone's recording volume and its pickup boost.

The Paint program is already present in your Windows computer if your computer is using the XP or Vista operating system and can be found under the Accessories folder in the Start menu. CamStudio is a free screen capture software that you can download from the Internet. It is a powerful but easy-to-use software that you can use in showing how to do certain things in your computer. Window Movie Maker is already installed if you're using either an XP or a Vista operating system in your computer.You will learn how to make a video tutorial by actually making a video project. Have a simple project idea that you will undertake as a first project. Start by making the media elements that will comprise your video, and then integrate everything using the Windows Movie Maker.

Steps to Be Done in Making the Video Tutorial

To make a tutorial video, you need to perform the following steps:

Download, install and test CamStudioHave a short plan or project idea in your headPrepare slides using the Paint programRecord a discussion of the slides using CamStudioMake demonstration videos using CamStudioAssemble all the media using the Movie MakerInclude special effects or background musicUpload video to hosting sites in the InternetYou might need to use an administrator account when installing the CamStudio software. Once installed, make a short screen capture to make sure that both the video and the audio are working well. Your final project brings together all the media elements that will comprise your tutorial video. The basic approach really comes to making the media elements using the Paint program and CamStudio and then combining all the media elements into one video file using the Windows Movie Maker.Using the Paint ProgramPaint's default document size measures 640 by 400 pixels. This is too small if you want to put in more text in the slide and use larger size fonts. You can increase the document size by clicking on the Image command and clicking the Attributes option. Use a larger document size like 800 by 600 pixels. A medium font size like 20 points makes the text legible in both small and large screens. Choose an attractive font style and prefer to have your text in bold. A darker font color degrades better when the screen size is increased or reduced. Having a light background color will go a long way in making the image more pleasing to the eye.

How to Use CamStudio

Before using CamStudio, make sure that you check the record audio from microphone option before you start capturing your screen. Capture a medium sized screen that can remain readable when the screen size is enlarged or reduced. Using approximately three-fourths of your total screen area can be used as a guide in determining how large a screen size you need to use. All the video elements that should go into the making of the screen capture should ideally be opened but minimized and ready to be restored as needed in your discussion. Make sure that the image will fall inside the video capture boundary when it is brought into the picture.

It can happen that you become at a loss for words when doing a screen capture. If you think you cannot talk continuously in an extemporaneous way, write a script first then read your script as you perform your screen capture. Keep your discussion focused on the topic at hand. Your screen capture area should never be allowed to be cluttered with unnecessary images so it is best to keep the images to the minimum. If you happen to make a mistake, just click on CamStudio's stop button and cancel any prompt to save the video.

Using the Windows Movie Maker

If you have a lot of media elements in your project, it's a good practice to have a sequenced list that can be used as guide in sequencing the media elements in the timeline. Make sure that all your media elements are already included in the timeline before setting the transitions and effects that you will be using in your video. Movie Player has an undo button that you can use when you make a mistake in making your video. It can be particularly helpful when you want undo a mistake that affects most or all of the media elements in the timeline.

Windows Movie Maker offers a lot of special effects and transitions that you can be tempted to use a lot of them in your video. While effects and transitions can help improve the visual impact of the images shown on the video, too much of it can also hinder your viewers' understanding and appreciation of the video you are making. As we are using Windows Movie Maker for learning purposes, you will be well advised to use special effects and transitions sparingly. When using the Windows Movie Maker's titles and credits wizard, make sure that you use the same background color and font face that you have used in making your slides. This is to give the uniformity effect that can help a lot in making the video easily understandable.

How to Upload Your Video to Files Hosting Sites

You generally have to open an account with the file hosting services provider by registering a user id and email address and providing other information about yourself. Each hosting service has a different upload page but basically, you will be asked to enter information about the video you are uploading. It takes some time after uploading your video before it is published in the file hosting site. It is good practice to read the terms of agreement that you make with the file hosting web site so as to avoid any problem that may arise regarding your upload. You should be very careful that you do not include any copyrighted material in your video without the permission of the copyright holder. Check your video once in a while to check on the comments that viewers give on your video. These comments can prove useful in improving your video making skills that you can use in your future video making projects.

Making a Video Tutorial Has Never Been Easier Now

With the advent of more powerful computers and ready availability of user-friendly hardware and software, it has become very easy for computer users to produce learning videos that can prove to be of immense value to people interested in learning how to make better use of their computers. Undertaking a simple video making project as a kick-off activity can go a long way in helping you learn how to make a video tutorial using the resources available in your Windows computer.

originated from: http://tipsfortechy.blogspot.com/2009/04/do-it-your-self-video.html

Experience of Zoom and Pan in Screen Recorder DemoCreator

Wondershare released Democreator v2.5.5 in Mar. 2009, a screen recorder on Window Platform that creates interactive presentations, tutorials and demos. This version shows the zoom and pan feature that provides specific details of a certain area on the screen, and more editing features are available. Zoom-n-pan is especially useful when the movie is replaying on a small screen. And it can also help to focus the audience’s attention on important screen operations.

Besides the zoom-n-pan feature, the developers redesign the beginning and ending of the movie. That makes the published demo more professional. The master image object introduces the new feature that you can adjust the transparence and add the redirect link in you Flash movie. You may find its good when you want to add the logo to the demo to mark it of your own, and the clickable logo can drive more traffic to your website.


The advanced editing features enable users to edit the recording readily. Because the recorded movies are shown as slides, you can drag the visual components to modify the pace and control the timing of objects. There is a library of available objects to decorate the recording, such as Flash animation, mouse movements, text box, edit entry, zoom-n-pan for specifying details of selected area, highlight boxes for spotlighting areas in a slide, and clickable buttons for directing users to another slide or a URL page. You can decorate the movie by adding the objects to make the illustration explicit. Besides, you can record the narration or import the music file to enhance the movie.

Back to the Zoom-n-Pan feature. Click the Zoom-n-Pan object in the Objects Library, then click and drag a rectangle area in the edit scene to adjust the area your want to enlarge for emphasis. When editing, the zoom area is displayed and can be easily repositioned or resized with the mouse or the property dialog box.

When you put the Zoom object in the movie, you can see its length in the time line. The total Zoom length includes the Zoom in duration, Zoom out duration, and the time when the zoom area playing as the enlarged status. Easily modify the Zoom in duration and Zoom out duration in the zoom property dialog box. Most slides are short for seconds, if you want to zoom in to show part of the screen for quite a while, you can set the zoom object to apply to multiple slides.

If you link up two zoom objects and preview the movie, you can see it pans smoothly from the first zoom area to the second one. That is how the panning effect achieves.

Last step is to publish your movie. There are only some publishing formats for you to choose from, but no dimension setting for the movie. It seems there is some logical error for this software. Most people don’t have the idea where to set the movie dimension, so what they do is just publishing the movie of the original size. When zooming in to enlarge an area of the movie, it comes to be a little blurring!



The truth is that you can adjust the movie dimension in the scene setting dialog box. But the Scene scale in the same box make me confused, in fact, scene scale is just related to the ratio of the editing scene but the movie dimension.

Anyway, there is the zoom-n-pan feature available in this software. In general, it is nice tool to make demos of your screen. And there are still some details and features need to be improved for better use.

Top 7 Screen Recorders with Zoom-n-Pan: Show Specific Details

Zoom-n-Pan is very useful when making videos for the small screen. This feature allows you to zoom and pan in a specific area smoothly showing specific area in details, and focus your audience’s attention on important screen movements or actions to make your point clearly. Now more and more screen recorders come to introduce this feature that provides full visual clarity when replaying on a smaller screen. Here I have collected 7 screen recorders with the zoom-n-pan feature, you may pick up the one that fits your need.

1. DemoCreator

Easily creates the powerful animated software video tutorials and website demos just by three steps: Record, Edit, and Publish. The new version of DemoCreator 2.5.5 has enhance the user’s experience and the editing features.

Put the zoom object on the area of the slides you want to enlarge for emphasis. When editing, the zoom area is displayed and can be easily repositioned or resized with the mouse. If you link up two zoom objects, you can see the panning effect.

2. Captivate

Captivate from Adobe lets you create powerful and engaging Flash-based simulations, software demonstrations, and scenario-based training without programming knowledge or multimedia skills. Captivate 4 has just been released.

To achieve the zoom-n-pan effect in Captivate, you need to put a zoom object to select the area. It works like a magnifying glass on your screen.

3. Camtasia

Easily record onscreen activity. Edit for professional polish, enhance for emphasis. Share multiple video formats conveniently. Version 6.0 features support for HD, timesaving editing hotkeys, and the ability to edit audio and video tracks independently.

Add the zoom-n-pan effect to the selected key frames, and adjust the zoom speed and scale for best result.

4. BB FlashBack

Easy-to-use screen recorder creates compact, high quality movies for tutorials, demos and presentations with powerful video and audio editing features. Version 2.5 includes and enhances multiple formats export.

You can emphasize key actions and areas of the screen by adding 'pan' and 'zoom' effects to your presentation for that professional
finish.

5. Instant Demo

Using a very simple interface you can create animated Flash demos quickly and easily. Most controls to edit and annotate are contained in just one small window.

Zooming is done during editing by dragging a rectangle around the region to be enlarged. The zoom region can automatically follow the mouse activity.

6. DemoBuilder

A powerful Flash-based tool that allows you to create eye-catching and professionally-looking interactive presentations that do not require any programming skills.

Set the zoom scale and time for the key frames. Adjust the parameter by dragging the parameter to left or right. You may find setting your zoom target area confusing if you are not familiar with this screen recorder.

7. TipCam

Free screen recorder for Windows. Record your screen and voice in a flash video (FLV format) and share it instantly at uTIPu.com or via e-mail.

The only free application supports Pan-n-Zoom so the recording area can easily follow the movements of your mouse cursor. The Pan-n-Zoom feature is controlled by some hot key when recording. Not that convenient for users.

Step-by-step Guide Video - Tech Support Solution

As a technical support staff, a question that I am asked a lot by my customers is "Can you show me the solution of the problem step by step?" I try really hard to state the operating steps to them by the words in the email or on the phone, but they don’t get what I mean for most of times. In fact, the 80% questions have been asking again and again, but I still have to answer them one by one. Now the solution is clear for me: Creating the step-by-step video for troubleshooting.

Why create a video for technical support?

• It is an easy way to explain your solution process
  
• No continual stop/start grabbing screenshots and typing instructions
  
• Easy to follow along and reproduce steps
  
• Friendly to users
  
• Reduce service costs with online customer self-service

To make a troubleshooting video, there are 4 steps to go: prepare your script, record screen activities, edit your recording, and publish your movie. There are some applications available to record what happens on your computer. A few of them are free, but with little editing feature. Some editing is necessary for making a compelling step-by-step video. Here I will focus on the editing feature of DemoCreator.

The advanced editing features enable you to edit the recording and add details to your video. Because the recorded movies are shown as a slide format in this screencasting tool, you can readily modify the pace and control the timing of objects such as visual components on the timeline editor for each slide. There is a library of available objects to decorate the recording, such as Flash animation, mouse movements, text box, edit entry, zoom-n-pan scale for specifying specific details for selected area, highlight boxes for spotlighting areas in a slide, and clickable buttons for directing users to a different slide or URL page. You can enhance the video by adding the objects to make the illustration explicit. Besides, you can rerecord the narration or import the music file to the video if it is in need. Furthermore, the existed project can be imported to the current recording project. It means that this screen recorder supports project reuse, and the multiple videos can be integrated as one.

To make a good step-by-step video, there are some useful tips:

• Prepare your recording script: Be familiar with the software you are going to demonstrate, and know clearly of the operating steps. If you want to add the narration to the video, you’d better write down the script or prepare it in your mind.
  
  
• Capture only the minimum screen area that you need. This will reduce the file size. And you can emphasize the important part by zooming and panning.
  
  
• Adjust the screen resolution and color quality: To improve your computer’s performance during the screen-capture session, especially if you plan to capture the entire computer screen, reducing the screen resolution and color quality is good for the recording performance.
  
  
• Be aware of your mouse movements: When selected the Taking screenshots recording mode, avoid the unnecessary clicks; when selected the Full motion recording, you may hang the mouse to the area which need to be selected or clicked for a second or two. For a video with audio, the synchronization is very important.
  
  
• It's OK to pause. If there is a long video or if you have to pause when in recording, it is all right. And you can resume your recording by capturing additional slides.
  
  
• Save your recording in the shareable format. To put the video on your websites, publish the output as Flash movie with Html page is nice. To share it on video sharing website like Youtube, you can publish it as Avi.

Well, have a try and make the video of screen for technical stuff. You may enjoy doing that.