| Screen Casting Tools are used
to capture media from the screen of the computer, and other
media capture devices, edit the source file, and produce an
output file in many different formats for distribution.
Screen casting tools are empowering educators and product
marketers alike. As an ideal way to present complex information
or demonstrate product features, screen casting is within
the capabilities of amateur media hounds and professionals
alike.
There are a number of screencasting tools, the most popular
are:
- Camtasia Studio
- Qarbon Viewletbuilder
- Macromedia Captivate
Camtasia Studio
Camtasia Studio [Developed by Techsmith] probably the most
popular Screencasting tool.
Camtasia Studio records screen activity in all multimedia
formats. The software editing functions are then used to enhance
the captured material with special effects, narration and
other multimedia features.
Screen capture presentations are ideal to teach or demonstrate
complex content. Once produced, the media can be streamed
live on the web or distributed by CD / DVD.
New Camtasia Features
New features in Camtasia Studio include:
- Flash Printer - ability to convert CAD
Drawings, Photographs to smaller Flash SWF files.
- Picture-in-Picture [PiP] - a video image
of the presenter is embedded into th corner of the video
screen recording presentation. This is achieved by Camtasia
capturing video media from a video camera and synchronizes
it with the screen recording.
- Titles - Title graphics and text can
be inserted to videos for emphasis or to add credits to
their endings.
- Quizzing – interspaced quizzes
help retention of media content
- Smaller Flash Files
Current Version
Camtasia Studio 4.0
Case
Study for converting PowerPoint Live presentations to flash
with Camtasia Studio
Qarbon Viewlet Builder
ViewletCam acts as a video camera capturing keystrokes and
screen presentation.
ViewletBuilder authoring allows users to take snapshots of
the screen while recording the demo.
Slide Capture Timeline - Each screen capture is represented
as a slide in a timeline where finishing touches can be given
to the interactive Flash viewlet.
Compiled viewlets are Macromedia Flash files, SWF, with advantages
of streaming, greater accessibility, easy distribution, small
file size, better audio integration and compatible with PDA’s
and Pocket PC's.
Uses:
- Presentations - Use Viewletcam to record
powerpoint presentations with mouse movements and voice
narration, save it to a flash .swf file and stream it on
the web or local intranet. A Macromedia Breeze alternative.
- Personal Flickr Badge - Create a slideshow
of family pictures and embed the flash file on your weblog
page.
- Security Monitoring - Track internet
surfing habits by running Viewletcam in the background in
Record Mode to create a movie of online activities.
- Manual System Restore Utility –
Create snapshots prior to major changes to Registry or PC
audio settings. Record change actions – use in restore.
- Real Estate Virtual Tours – walk
through home tours for prospective buyers.
The Viewletbuilder application is written in Java so the
program runs on Windows, Linux, Solaris and now it's also
available on the Mac OSX.
Qarbon offers the full version of ViewletBuilder for 30 days,
but the viewlets created in the Trial version will have a
superimposed watermark until you pay for the licensed version,
which will remove them.
Download
Viewlet Builder
Macromedia Captivate
Adobe Macromedia Captivate offers all the normal screen casting
and screen capture capabilities of Camtasia and Viewlet Builder
plus many project management features. This includes:
- Visual Scenario Branching - Develop scenario-based
training by visually mapping out the different learner paths.
Automatically branching based on users choice at the beginning
of the simulation.
- Dialog Box-Driven Process - Alpha channel
support and insert Flash Video recorded with green screens.
Use Avatars to highlight screen areas, or videos for characters
in scenarios.
- Drag and Drop Library - Reuse and update
content in the project library - saves production time with
Drag and Drop objects from the library onto the slide or
Timeline.
Zooming in or graying out to focus attention on specific
areas.
- Skins and Menus - provide an index of
demonstrations or simulations. Customizable skin and playback
controls.
- Scenario Project Wizards - to generate
the basic project outline and placeholder slides.
- Output Print Support - Provide printed
documentation and concise step-by-step guides.
- Customize Scoring Slides - quiz result
slide with customizable score options and default text captions.
Download
Trial Version of Captivate
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