Screencapture, Slidecasting and Sceencasting tools

Jing, SnagIT, Slideshare, Camtasia, Captivate, BB FlashBack

Definitions

Screen capture (aka screen grab, screen shot)

A method of "capturing" a snapshot of your computer screen.

Most basic form: pressing the "Print Scrn" key on your keyboard

 

Slidecasting

Slideshare (slides) + podcast (any mp3 URL) = slidecast (slides/mp3 mashup)

A new multimedia format for viewing slide decks synchronized with an audio file

 

Screencasting

Screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture, often containing audio narration.

Just as a screenshot is a picture of a user's screen, a screencast is essentially a movie of what a user sees on their monitor.

Source: Wikipedia

Format

Tools

• Laptop/PC
• Microphone + audio editing software (audacity or wavepad)
• Software
• Anything else?

Software

• “Free screenshot and screencast sharing application”
• 2GB storage on Screencast.com
• For short, sweet and off the cuff screencasts (e.g. reference enquiries?)
• Simply select an area of your screen, capture it as an image or record it as a video, and then click Share. Jing conveniently places a URL to your content which you can paste into any of your conversations.
• Images are always in PNG format and videos are always in SWF format.

• Screen capture tool. 
• Capture anything on your screen, edit the image and print it or share it as you wish. It can capture the content of a scrolling window. You can grab all the images on a Web page, menus using a time delay - and even make a video of on-screen actions.
• Been around for almost 20 years
• Distributed by TechSmith who also distribute Camtasia Studio
• US$50 to purchase (free 30 day trial)

• PowerPoint + YouTube
• Free service for sharing presentations and slideshows over the web.
• Site where you can host your presentations and share them with others.
• Share publicly or privately. Add audio to create a webinar aka “slidecasting”.
• Users are able to add tagging, rate, comment, and embed content.
• Flash is required in order for the presentations to be seen properly.
• The maximum size for a slide show is 100 MB.

• Published by TechSmith
• Tool that will let you record your screen to create training, demo, and presentation videos, aka screencasts.
• US $299 (free fully-functional 30 day trial)

• Published by Adobe
• US $699 (free 30 day trial)
• Screen recording

• Software simulations/scenario-based training
• Presentations and quizzes
• Fancy stuff:
  • Text animations, animated slide transitions
  • Rollover hotspot
  • Different capture modes:
  • Demo mode, Adobe Captivate 3 automatically adds mouse movement, text captions that describe onscreen actions, and highlight boxes. Simulation mode creates a project with scored interactions and instructional feedback.

• Published by Qarbon
• US $399 (free trial)
• Can record screen or can take lots of screen captures – software shows cursor moving from position in one screen capture to position in next screen capture
  • Small file size
  • Eliminates mouse wobble

• Published by BlueBerry Software
• US $225 (free fully-functional 30 day trial)
• 'Capture driver' technology gives us a head start on other screen recorders. It catches screen changes in a radically different way, to create tiny, lossless quality movie files, without affecting PC performance.
• Flash, AVI, WMV, MS PowerPoint and standalone EXE formats.
• Edit multiple audio tracks side by side with video. Designed to make synchronizing sound with images as easy as possible.

Emma's notes: Fantastic software. Excellent for synchronizing pre-recorded soundtracks with screencasts and for frame-by-frame editing. Unfortunately lacks an "Undo" button.

Other options 

Screengrab

http://www.screengrab.org/

Free extension for Firefox that makes it easy to save a web-page as an image. With it, you can save anything that you can see in a browser window - from a small selection, to a complete page.

 

Camstudio

http://camstudio.org/

Free

GPL-licensed (general public license – aka free software license) screen capture application for Microsoft Windows (open source). CamStudio is a simple, straightforward program to record screen activity to AVI or SWF format. You can also record audio from your speakers or microphone.

 

Screencast-O-Matic

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

Free and easy way to create a video recording of your screen (aka screencast) and upload it for free hosting all from your browser with no install.

Allows for audio and notes and has a limit of 5 minutes per screencast

Other things to decide

• How do we want to use screencatching?
• Pilot projects?
• Do we need to trial or test software in an organised way  before buying more?
• What training / gear / tools do we need?
   
   

Acknowledgements and Contact Details 

Session notes created by Emma Taylor (emma.taylor@watercorporation.com.au) and Aaron Trenorden (a.trenorden@murdoch.edu.au)

PowerPoint slides created by Kathryn Greenhill