Sometimes, explaining what happens on a computer display doesn’t capture the action like moving visuals can. Fortunately, for desktop software developers, budding tech reviewers and others, screencasting programs can step in when words fail.
The software can record every click, window switch or animation, making it simple to record video desktop demonstrations.
Mac os note app. Free Cam allows you to save your screencast on your desktop or instantly share it on YouTube. Share on youtube. Enter your YouTube account in Free Cam and share your videos with a single click. Your screencast will be a WMV video of HD quality (720p). You can use the video in presentations, email it to your colleagues. Screencastify is the #1 free screen recorder for Chrome. No download required. Record, edit and share videos in seconds. Videos autosave to your Google Drive, and can be published directly to YouTube.
See also: Podcasting On A Budget: How To Record Great Audio For Less
- See full list on lifehacker.com.
- Published in: Apple Mac - GIF - Screencasting A bunch of Mac developers have teamed up to create QuickCast, a screencasting app for your Mac OS X that not only records screencasts but will also host your screencast videos online with the click of a button.
Plenty of options cater to Mac OS X and Windows users; for now, I’ll go over some top tips and picks for people with Apple desktops and laptops. (If you have a Windows machine, don’t fret—I’ll cover those choices in a separate post.)
What To Look For In A Screencasting App
Screencasting can involve more than just doing a flat capture of a whole desktop. You may need to zoom in on certain parts or focus on other nuances.
Subtle effects, such as keystroke display and mouse-click effects--which show the characters you type and the options you click on, respectively—can make a huge difference in the quality of your video. Callout effects, like arrows and highlights, can draw attention to other specific elements on the screen.
If you’re recording a tutorial, for example, such effects can illustrate the steps clearly, so that viewers can follow your movements.
Most screencasting applications offer these features, so you’ll want to practice and get comfortable with them. Every program handles them a bit differently.
As you assess different apps (see: below), don’t forget to consider their video export options. Videos rendered with a lot of compression, so they come out as smaller files, may work well for streaming. But you’ll have to be a one-shot wonder. In other words, don’t count on editing that footage further. Programs like iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premier and others compress the file when they export, which means you will have compressed it twice. To avoid significant loss to video quality in those scenarios, choose screencasting apps that support an uncompressed, or lossless, format.
You’ll want to think about those types of needs and others early on in the process, so it can help you choose the right program. Do you need video-editing capabilities built-in, or will you use an external editor? What format(s) will the video be published in? Do you want the program to upload it to video sharing sites for you? Use the answers to help guide your selection process.
Once you have this list, you’re ready to start searching for screencasting software. I recommend spending a little time with them on test videos. Many paid programs even offer trials or demos. Start small, so you don’t invest a lot of time, only to find out that the exported video has, say, a time limit or a huge watermark.
Good Screencasting Apps for OS X
Ultimately, good screencasting apps get out of your way. There are dozens of screencasting apps out there, many of which offer the same basic features.
Mac OS X (version 10.6 or later) also offers a built-in screencasting tool, but it offers only limited video-export options—none of which are lossless—and has no built-in editing. That means, if you want to edit the clip, you have to use a separate app and you will wind up with lackluster quality, regardless. That’s the primary reason people grab third-party applications.
Below, I’ve listed a few top picks that I’ve used to record video tutorials. Each have pros and cons, but all of them can produce quality screencasts.
ScreenFlow 5
My personal go-to app for screencasting in OS X is ScreenFlow 5 ($99) by Telestream. It doesn’t just record your desktop; it also hooks into your webcam, microphone and system audio, as well as the screen of a connected iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
ScreenFlow 5’s advanced video editing, audio mastering tools, high-quality recording, and export options make it one of the best equipped all-in-one screencasting solutions for OS X.
The program also comes with a pretty powerful video editor and effects—including pointer zoom, click effect, keystroke display, media management, captions and others.
When you’re done recording, you have a slew of posting options, with presets available for YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Google Drive, Dropbox and Facebook. You can also export and save videos to your computer in a range of file types, or even set up batch exports for larger jobs.
iShowU, HD, HD Pro, and Studio
iShowU by shinywhitebox offers a whole family of products for screencasting.
The original iShowU app ($20) offers a robust list of user-configurable settings and presets—including a dedicated one for recording World of Warcraft gameplay. However, deciding on those configurations on the fly, while you’re in the recording stage, can be confusing to new users. Also bear in mind that you have to choose effects, like mouse-click blips and cursor-tracking, before hitting the record button.
For a much more user-friendly interface, consider iShowU HD ($29.95) and HD Pro ($59.95) instead. Though simpler, they also feature live video preview and a plethora of recording options.
Power users looking for a decent built-in video editor could find what they need in the premium version, iShowU Studio ($79). But note that it requires OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) and above.
One caveat: iShowU can’t record system audio on its own. But for a fairly simple fix, you can download Soundflower, a free program lets you pipe any application or system audio to any other program, so you can record it.
Camtasia
Camtasia for Mac ($99) by TechSmith proves just as capable as ScreenFlow, in terms of editing and export options. But it also has a few extra tricks up its sleeve.
The software, which supports both OS X and Windows, also ties into other TechSmith apps that, together, add additional recording options to the mix. TechSmith Fuse, for example, lets you capture video and photos from your mobile device while you’re out and about, and then upload it to Camtasia to add it to your video project.
QuickTime
QuickTime is free and comes pre-installed with OS X (10.6 or above). All you have to do is fire it up, go to File > New Screen Recording in the QuickTime menu, select your options and begin recording. To record all or part of your screen, just click and drag the area you wish to capture. You can even set it to record “blips” (or visual cues) for every mouse click.
Apple’s software is simple and easy to use, but there are downsides. First, your video is captured in a compressed file—a lossy H.264 .mov file, to be exact. That won’t necessarily look bad for simple, straightforward projects. Outlook progressive web app mac. But the quality will get worse, if you have edit, and then export that, which compresses it again. Edit pdf documents free.
Either way, you can get better quality using one of the paid applications listed above. All of them have free demos available, if you’d like to try one out.
Budget users might be tempted to check out other free offerings, such as Screencast-o-matic. But they usually come with compromises in quality or other limitations that may or may not work, depending on your project. If the penny-pinching winds up costing you in other ways, the resulting proof could be as clear as the screen in front of your face.
Lead photo courtesy of Shutterstock; iShowU screenshot courtesy of shinywhitebox ltd.; Modern Family image courtesy of ABC; Camtasia screenshot courtesy of TechSmith
Related Posts
Screencasting is a strategy used to effortlessly instruct something to somebody. For instance, you can demonstrate to somebody generally accepted methods to complete something on his PC or how to investigate a system issue. It is pieces of software that permit you to record screen activities, complete with mouse developments, clicks, and sometimes, sound and video too, including outside gadgets as inputs.
If you have a Mac and are searching for a screen recorder that you can use to your heart’s substance, look no further we have covered some top best screencasting apps for Mac. Some Screencasting arrangements are as basic as snap and record, while others give a more perplexing device set for cutting edge recording and altering. How about we look at what’s accessible.
1. Tapes – Screencast Sharing
Screencasting App For Mac Download
Tapes is a screencast application living in your menu bar. Select part of the screen, record up to 3 minutes of video and momentarily get an offer connection. Tapes is easy to utilize and super quick. There is no sitting tight for the transfer, the connection is added to your clipboard promptly so you can share it over text, email or by means of Twitter.
2. QuickCast
QuickCast is one of the best and the least complex devices to catch the screen on a Mac. With its simple to utilize choices, you can begin recording your screen in a matter of seconds. In the event that the recording that you simply did is just a few moments in length, you can have a GIF variant made to be imparted to your companions.
Screencast O Matic App For Mac
3. Monosnap
Another free Menus bar application that packs a significant punch with regards to simply recording your screen without it being excessively favor. A standout among the most one of a kind elements of Monosnap, other than it being accessible for various stages. Monosnap app can records your screen in 60fps and playback even in the most requesting situations.
4. Camtasia
Screen Casting App For Mac
Camtasia is fundamentally the same as Screenflow in that it likewise records your whole screen, and afterward takes into consideration altering, zooming in and out of various parts of the screen in the recording course of events. Put a face to your voice. Basically turn on your webcam when you begin screencasting, and Camtasia will naturally include it as a different track.
5. Screencast-O-Matic – Screencasting Apps For Mac
Mac apps open at startup. Screencast-o-Matic is an online useful screencasting apps for mac that you can use without much bother. This is likewise the main instrument on this rundown that qualifies as freemium, where it has a free form that you can use to your recreation as much as you wish, while extra components will cost you cash.