A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output. It is widely used in illustrate technical concepts and operation procedures which are hard to explain in words. Most screencasts are generated by screen recorder software. So we can say screen recorder is a helpful presentation tool to create screencasts for software and system demonstration.
For most graduates from technology universities, they will make some software applications or systems for their thesis defense. When in the presentation, they will show their productions to their teachers while operating the computer. Students can show the overview and structure of the production with PowerPoint presentation. When it comes to usage of the production, showing the teachers step-by-step illustration will be good. Speaking and operating at the same time is not that comfortable for students especially they get nerves.
If there are screencasts showing the operating steps of their productions, they will perform better in the thesis defense. In that case, screen recording software is in need.
Supposing you are going to have your thesis defense, you can rehearse the thesis defense before presentation. Try to express and run the productions. Practice delivery while moving the mouse.
Create solid screencast script. Ensure that your script doesn't just explain how to perform a task, but ensure it properly highlights the features and benefits of the production being demoed. By continually pointing out the features of the production and then going further to explain why they're beneficial to the audience you make a more compelling demonstration.
Control the operating timing. In the task you will handle, how much time will be spent describing an operation, what will you say to highlight a feature, and when will you zoom on an area for details, you should get a feel for controlling the timing. During your rehearsal, ensure that you are speaking clearly and slowly like that you are at the thesis defense presentation.
Avoid unnecessary mouse movement. During your production operating recording, ensure you don’t move your mouse unnecessarily. Movement on the screen will draw your audience’s attention. Consider using some screen recorder like DemoCreator which enables users to modify or delete the mouse curse.
Add interactivity objects to the presentation. You can add interactivity objects to enhance your presentation. Then you can interact with your teachers and audience for better communication.
Record voice-over narration in practice. You will express your point in the thesis defense presentation by yourself, so making a silent screencast is OK. But you can check the audio recording option and record your narration and listen to your recorded voice, you will know the defect of your presentation. Then you can make improvement for better performance.
Prepare the screencasting software. There are a lot of screen recorder available. According to the requirement we mentioned above, a Flash screencasting application with powerful editing feature, and supports audio recording is good. DemoCreator is a nice option.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Streaming Flash Movie for Web Sharing
Using Screen recorder DemoCreator, you can create compelling screencasts and deliver them in a couple of ways. The most popular way is to distribute and share your screen recordings on the Internet. In that case, streaming Flash movie is the perfect solution.
Why creating streaming Flash movies?
There are many advantages that make Streaming Flash movie an outstanding format for web streaming.
Instant On
Streaming Flash movie starts playing instantly when the first section of the Flash movie is loaded and the play button is selected.
Advanced Seek
Viewers can jump to any point of the movie regardless of the length of the movie or whether it has been fully downloaded.
Multiple browsers and operating systems support
With browser penetration for the Flash plug-in above 95%, almost anyone who can browse the Web can watch streaming Flash movie without hassle. Users can expect consistent media experiences across operating systems and browsers.
Content Security
The Html web page generated by DemoCreator does not link to Flash movie directly, so streaming Flash movie is not cached by Web browsers.
High-quality Video
The new Flash 10 codec, now widely supported by browsers, offers superior video quality at smaller file sizes.
Programmable connection and delivery control
Developers can adjust the setting options to define how their video is streamed. The streaming video begins playing as soon as the first segment has been downloaded, and you can set the segment size based on the local bandwidth.
Customizable player skins - and more
Developers can set custom players that are in accordance with your site's design style or with unique functionality.
Rich decoration objects
Streaming Flash movie can be a Flash presentation containing text, still images, animation - even interactivity.
In general, streaming Flash movie is different from Flash movie for download in that it can be viewed while it is being delivered over a network. It enables audience to start watching right away after requesting the video and to jump forward to any part with little playback delay. It can be played with the popular Flash plug-in in web browser, so almost everyone can view it readily.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Record Computer Screen and sound
DemoCreator enables users to create narration-based software
presentations with ease. Here we will learn how to use DemoCreator's
advanced audio capabilities to add and edit audio in your movies. This screen
recorder provides 3 ways to add the audio to the screen recordings:
record sound at capture time, record sound at preview time, import audio
file to the screen recording with audio editor.
Record sound at capture time
Record the onscreen activity with voice-over narration at the same
time.
1. Launch DemoCreator and select the recording area, and you can see more
recording option in the following window.
2. Tick the option of Record narration, and there are some
settings to test the audio recording device.
3. Select the Microphone as the audio input(this depends on
the recording input you want to record).
4. Click Calibrate button to detect optimal recording
sensitivity level, then speak to the microphone and you will see the audio
sensitivity level if the recording device works.
Tips:
DemoCreator can detect the recording device of your computer, and you can
select the right recording input. Here are 3 input resources to choose:
Microphone, Rear Input, and Stereo Mix.
Recording voice-over narration with microphone can significantly enhance the
impact of your presentation. Stereo Mix is for recording the playing audio in
the computer. If you want to record some audio from some other resource, connect
the audio device with the Rear Input port.
DemoCreator enables you to record a narration from microphone and also you
can record the narration from playing audio tracks on your PC.
If there is no problem with the recording device, click
Record button and start your recording.
Record sound at preview time
If you are not satisfied with the audio you have recorded with the screen
recording, you can rerecord the audio when your audio when you preview the
recorded screencast; And it is OK if you want to add the narration to the silent
screencast at preview time.
1.When screen recording is over, Click the Audio button and
you can see the audio editor window.
2. Click on the Record button at the bottom of Audio
Editor and you can see the audio Device testing window. Just test your
audio recording device as the method we mentioned in Record sound at capture
time.
3.Start recording your narration, and you can view the recorded movie at the
same time.
4. When it is over, press the Stop button.
5. Click the Play button to view the recorded movie with
audio. Further more, you can modify the narration with editing tools on the
audio editor.
Import audio file with audio editor
Besides the two methods mentioned above, you can import audio
file to the screen recording as background music.
Back to the audio editor, there is an Import button for you to add the
wanted music file from you local disk.
After the recording you can get the audio file of MP3 format in the project
folder.
View
samples>>
More
Tutorials>>
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Record Computer Screen to EXE File
Flash movie and AVI are the popular formats for distribution. However, it can be a problem when the user is unable to play the SWF file because Flash player has not been installed, or some codec is missing for playing AVI file. For best compatibility, we can record screen activity to a self-played executable file because all Windows computers are able to run executable file without players.
Further more, EXE file of screen recordings can be burnt to a CD or DVD for distribution. If the screen recordings are software demos, you may give them out in the software exhibition; If they are some technical support documents for technical support, you can send them to your clients; If they are some software or system video tutorials, disks offers an off line distribution way. DemoCreator make it easy to create EXE files from screen recordings.
The EXE files generated by DemoCreator is played in a built-In video player. To play the screencasts published as EXE files, you don’t need to install any player on your computer. Besides, the original dimensions can be preserved and you can keep good quality of your screen recordings.
Why Generate EXE files from DemoCreator
There is an executable wizard that packs SWF of screen recordings in a built-in player. So the published EXE files own almost all the features of published SWF files.
1. Preserve the interactive objects
The features of all the objects in the screencast can be maintained. For example, you can add some direction buttons to guide users to the sections they want to view, and the direction action and be used in the running EXE files. Here are some action settings for the button in DemoCreator: Continue, Go to slide, Go to URL, Close Demo and E-mail.
2. Customize the player
The two built-in player options: Classic style and Active style. You can select to show the player you like or not to show the player at all, or just show the necessary buttons on the player.
3. Compression
Because the EXE files generated by DemoCreator are published based on the SWF files, the compressed files will be rather small.
4. Burn the files to CD
For CD-ROM delivery, please burn all the files in the output folder to a compress disk. And we have discuss the convenience at the beginning of this tutorial.
How to publish EXE File in DemoCreator
To create an EXE file using DemoCreator, follow the steps given below:
1. Click the Publish button on the main menu, and you can see the publish option window.
2. Select EXE/CD, you can add the title and change the publishing directory.
3. Click the Publish button, and go to the publishing process.
4. After a few minutes(it depends on the length of recording and the performance of the computer), a pop-up dialog window will show you publishing is over and you can open the EXE file to view your recording.
As we can see the EXE file from your screen recording is generated, you can pack it up and email it to your friends or burn it to compressed disks and send them to your clients.
Record Computer Screen to Flash Movie
When you finish your screen recordings, what format you would like to distribute? This depends on you purpose of your screen recording. If they are software demos that you would like everybody to watch them online, or they are some software tutorials you want them shared on the web, distributing your screen recordings as Flash movies, or we can say publish your screencasts as SWF files with Html page is a good idea. DemoCreator enable you to make clear Flash movies from computer screen, and there is more control over the viewing experience when your screen recordings are played back. We can learn more why publishing Flash movie SWF file for your screen recording.
The Flash movie format SWF (originally standing for "Shockwave Flash", later changed to "Small Web Format") a partially open repository for multimedia and especially for vector graphics. Intended to be small enough for distribution on the web, SWF files can contain animations or applets of varying degrees of interactivity and function.
SWF currently functions as the dominant format for displaying "animated" vector graphics on the Web. The SWF file format delivers vector graphics, text, video, and sound over the Internet and is supported by Adobe Flash Player. From the systematic, Flash Player already reaches over 98% of Internet-enabled desktops and more than 800 million handsets and mobile devices.
Generate SWF files from DemoCreator
1. Preserve the interactive objects
Publishing the screen recordings as Flash movie can preserve the interactive objects you edited in the movies. You can add some interaction buttons (like Stop and Continue) in your recordings to enhance your training effort. At the end of the movie, the SWF files can be set to Loop Demo or Go to URL.
2. Customize the player
There are two built-in players in DemoCreator: Classic style and Active style. You can select to show the player you like or not to show the player, or just show the necessary buttons on the player. Further more, the transparence the player is changeable in DemoCreator.
3. Compression
SWF files published by DemoCreator are compressed by default setting. They are small in size and easy to share to all.
4. For web sharing.
Publishing as a Flash movie and generate Html files to be uploaded to web server can be accessed by web browsers. And you can embed the Flash movie to your web page to play your screencast.
Steps to publish SWF movie
When finishing screen recording, follow steps given below to make a Flash
movie using DemoCreator:
1. Click the Publish button on the main menu, and you can see the publish option window.
2. Select Flash, you can add the title and change the publishing directory. And you can choose to publish Html page for you SWF files or not.
3. Click the Publish button, and go to the publishing process.
4. After a few minutes(it depends on the length of recording and the performence of your computer), a pop-up dialog window will show you publishing completed and you can view your recording in Flash player or Internet
browser.
Now that the Flash movie is generated, you can upload it to web server to play on the web or you can email it to your friends for technical support.
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