"Why is Fallen Angel so happy?" you're probably wondering. She's very happy because she's just found some lovely FREE software.
The problem: Currently putting together a training course that requires a demo of how to use the SMF forum software to total internet newbies - need a screen capture/recording app. The first couple I downloaded trials of needed a degree in rocket science to figure out the controls, and slowed my PC down to the point I needed to reboot when they were processing the captured files. I was just about to give up and do a slideshow from screen captures using good old 'prnt scrn', when I happened upon something wonderous - I really don't want to have to do the demo 'live' on this course because I'm gonna be on a dial-up connection that's flaky at best, so I can't rely on it.
The solution: CamStudio. Simple, but effective. Download two files - the .exe file and the codec (there's even a video on how to download and install), run the .exe file to install CamStudio and install the codec, and you're all set. In less than 10 minutes I'd produced my first test AVI and converted it to the Flash SWF format. A tiny tweak of the code to get it to run in Firefox (the bug that causes the problem is explained on the project page) and I was set to use it for real. Review of it
here.
Pros
* Free
* Thorough help in HTML format (which I didn't bother reading before I started, so that's how easy it is to do a basic recording)
* keyboard shortcut keys let you start and end your recording and stuff without fumbling about (which is quite important in view of limitations - see below)
* Like the sound of your own voice? You can record that as well as part of your movie!
Cons
* Annotation tools are apparently awkward (not really played with those yet though)
* No movie editing capability
* Big problem with the conversion into Flash is that the Flash output isn't accessible. Not a problem particularly if you're wanting to use this in a presentation as I'm doing on this project, but if you're wanting to deploy this on the web and accessibility matters to you, then it is.
I've been searching for a suitable app for this project for the best part of a week, and have discovered that though there are quite a few low cost screen capture/recording apps out there, the only one that's got all the accessibilty options is Macromedia's Captivate. At the mo though that's just not feasible for me, so until I've saved my pennies up, this'll have to do.
If you just need something that will record screen actions into AVI format and/or Flash though, and you don't need all the bells and whistles, for the price (did I mention it's Free?
), you can't beat this one.
