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There is one
main product that most professionals use for video screen
capture and that is Camtasia. This product allows you to
capture all the activity on your desktop and is excellent for
making tutorials etc and is great for creating products. It is
a must have for any internet marketer.
It all stemmed
out of an free open source product called Cam Studio which we
have provided for you here. Play with it and use it and if you
like what you see then I encourage you to upgrade to Camtasia
Studio.
This is
definitely the future of Internet business - creating videos
of products, tutorials etc.
Why?
Because they
have a much higher perceived value than other products.
Preparing
to record your Screen Capture
When creating
your screen capture video the same principles apply in that
you need a quiet space, you need to prepare the format and
make sure you have no interruptions.
Cam Studio
records screen activity from your Windows Desktop into
standard AVI movie files. It is an ideal tool for developing
videos to demonstrate features of a new software product or
any other task that requires the capture of desktop activity.
The program is easy to use, and you can select an area or full
desktop for recording. You can adjust the video quality
settings to reduce file size, use custom cursors and add a
soundtrack through your microphone. Furthermore, you can add
screen captions to your desktop while recording. These
captions are anti-aliased, high quality images that support
text display in multiple languages. With the Video Annotation
feature, you can also personalize your movie by including a
webcam movie of yourself into the AVI.
Doing a
screen capture of products and/or services will reduce your
support, refunds and chargeback's.
Once created you
can convert these avi files to flash or other streaming
formats or place them on cd's and include them in
presentations. This whole process simply enables you to show
people live things that would take you ages to write about and
also adds some credibility to your products.
There is one
main product we all use in the industry called Camtasia
however I found the original open source program that this is
based on and so you can learn it all with Cam Studio and
because it is open source you could also get a programmer to
update it for you and sell your own private version.
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CamStudio
records activity from your screen into .avi or .swf
movie files. It is ideal for demonstrating software,
creating training, capturing a meeting, or recording
buggy behavior.
The program is insanely
easy to use, generates relatively small files, and
records sound from a microphone or your system
speakers.
Version 2.0 seems to be
the last freeware version, and many copies disappeared
from the internet as a training company seems to have
taken a commercial interest in the technology.
However, the license.txt of these full-featured
versions provides for free use and distribution.
CamStudio 2.0 (95, 98, Me,
NT 4.0, 2000, XP)*
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Download
A free eBook with 5 streaming Videos.
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You'll need the latest version of Adobe's Acrobat Reader installed
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You can download/update it free of charge directly from their website here:
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(Links opens in a new window. Close it when finished to return here)
10 Minutes
to your First CamStudio Video
In this tutorial, we will
take you through a quick-start approach to getting you up and
running quickly with Cam Studio. Completing this tutorial
should take you ten minutes or less.
Within this brief tutorial,
the following topics will be covered.
- Making a recording.
- Editing your video using
the cut and split options.
- Adding a transition to
your video.
- Producing the final video.
Step 1. Making a Recording
The first step in creating a
Cam Studio project is to record your screen. Cam Studio
automatically records all the dynamic activity on your PC
screen, including:
- Mouse movement
- Text entry
- Scrolling windows
- Animation and video
- Pop-up windows
- Animated CAD designs
So... let's make a recording.
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To begin, choose Start
> Programs > Cam Studio.
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Once the recording panel
opens go to Region in the menu and make sure region
is selected. If you are making a recording of a fixed
window like a software program then you can use the Fixed
Region and then use the select button to out line the
window payne of the software. We rarely use the full
screen function as the files are so bib. Its ok if you are
putting the final output on a cd or using it in a
presentation. So lets make our first video of the actual
Cam Studio screen.
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Now lets set up our
options. You can leave most of them as is for this
tutorial however I encourage you to go in and try
different combinations to get the best results for your
project. If you want to add audio just make sure that the
record from mic is ticked. You can leave the rest.
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At this time, take a
moment to get familiar with the record options. For now,
you will use just two of the options: Record and Stop.
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Once you are ready to
record, choose the red record button and use the blue
pause if you want to pause and the blue button to stop the
recording.
-
Once you finish you will
be asked to save the output and just create a new folder
on your hard drive or save into any place you want and
give the file a good name so you can keep track of it.
Important
Note:
Once you click record, your screen may momentarily go black.
This is normal and expected.
Perform some on screen activity such as opening and closing a
dialog box or typing in a Word or just open some windows in
the Cam Studio Software.
Note:
If Cam Studio Recorder has minimized during recording,
double-click on the flashing Recorder
Step 2. Software for Editing
Editing allows you to trim
out the pieces of the video that you don't want. Unfortunately
Cam studio does not have an editing package so you need to use
another program however if you use Windows XP
then you will have in your accessories folder a program called
movie maker which is free and you can edit it in here
very easily. There are plenty of tutorials around for this.
This is a great little piece
of software as you can add other clips, record audio to add to
the clip which means you could make a silent movie then add
audio to it later. The latest version and some tutorials can
be found
here excellent Tutorials. You can
download
the latest copy here. In fact version 2 is almost the same
as Camtasia editor. It will usually install in
accessories/entertainment.
Editing clips
You have several options for
editing clips:
Step 3. Splitting your Video
You will use the Split
Movie option to split your video clip into two pieces.
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Place the seek bar in the
location where the split is to occur.
-
Click on the Split
Video button  .
The movie is split into two pieces. At this time, both
pieces are placed on the Timeline or the Storyboard.
Step 4. Add a Transition
Using video transitions,
video effects, and titles
You can enhance your movies
by adding different elements to your movie, such as the
following:
- Video transitions.
A video transition controls how your movie plays from one
video clip or picture to the next. You can add a
transition between two pictures, video clips, or titles,
in any combination, on the storyboard/timeline. The
transition plays before the one clip ends and while the
other clip starts to play. Windows Movie Maker contains
various transitions you can add to your project.
Transitions are stored in the Video Transitions folder in
the Collections pane.
- Video effects. A
video effect determines how a video clip, picture, or
title displays in your project and final movie. Video
effects let you add special effects to your movie. A video
effect is applied for the entire duration that the video
clip, picture, or title displays in your movie. You can
add any of the video effects that appear in the Video
Effects folder in the Collections pane.
- Titles and credits.
Titles and credits let you enhance your movie by adding
text-based information to your movie. You can add whatever
text you want, but you may want to include information
such as the title of your movie, your name, the date, and
so forth. You can change the appearance of the title or
credit, in addition to changing the title animation, which
determines how your title or credit displays in your
movie.
Step 5. Save your Project
At this time, it would be a
good idea to save your project. Saving the project allows you
to come back to this video and continue working on it at a
later time. With movie maker you have the choice to save as a
Windows Media File or an AVI.
-
Click on the Save
button 
on the toolbar.
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Browse and select
the folder where you would like to store this project.
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In the File Name
field, give this project a name.
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Choose Save.
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To resave as an Avi
choose other settings and DV AVI then you can use the cam
studio to produce a flash streaming file.
Step 7. Produce the Final
Product
Up until now, we have been
working with an avi file. Until you produce your video, you do
not have a video file that can be played on the net.
-
To produce your video as
an flash streaming file, choose Start > Cam
Studio > SWF Producer.
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Within the producer,
choose file and open your edited avi file.
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Now choose the convert
to swf and a widow will open giving you the ability to
choose a whole range of options.
-
In the output file name,
within the Destination Folder field, browse and
select the folder where you would like to store this
video.
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In the File Name
field, give this project a name.
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Choose Finish. The
program status dialog box displays showing you the
progress of the production. Once the production is
complete, your video will playback for your review.
That's it. You've just
created your first Cam Studio video. Of course you could also
do the same and create a wmv file for streaming but it
requires a little more work.
Now if you want to add this
video into a web page simply use your preferred editor and open
the html file and copy all the code between the <object>
and </object> and then open your webpage and paste where
you want the video to appear. Also move the swf file into the
same folder or reference to where you have stored the file on
your server.
Just watch one of our
tutorials on audio and use exactly the same process.
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