Screencasting for Libraries

1. YouTube’s recent post on Video Editing presents: Audio Editing
2. Phil’s recent post about Soundcli.ps

Soundcli.ps is a new site for sharing (would you believe it?), sound clips. Need a short sound effect? Browse Soundcli.ps for some ideas and potential audio additions. From the terms, it looks like these could be used by others.

YouTube’s audio changes include the following:

• Library of songs now includes more than 150,000 tracks
• You can now mix music into your video’s soundtrack at levels ranging from “soft background” to “completely replace”
• “Featured tracks” are offered in different genres
• The Audio Editing user interface has been revamped

Also, if you’ve not tried the YouTube audio enhancements recently, it does suggest possible audio clips that are exactly the length of the video.

• Clip Speed: Like in Camtasia Studio 7, Camtasia for Mac can now speed up or slow down a section of video
• Green Screen: Add a green backdrop to a video and then remove that color to put the person in front of the screen. This feature is not yet available for Windows users

Other changes listed include

• YouTube sharing options now include tags, description, and privacy
• Increased the number of fonts available for text elements
• Added support for .mov files with more than audio channels
• Added keyboard shortcut to show/hide the marker track
• Added keyboard shortcuts to select next and previous media
• Add preference to turn off recording status icon
• Added ability to scroll on the timeline via the keyboard
• Added the option to scale media from the center instead of the corner
• Added an arrow shape with a border
• Added aspect ratio lock in adjust canvas dialog
• Added scale readout while resizing objects on the canvas
• Increased the scale precision in properties panel
• Improved rendering of resized frame effects

And of course, they have a screencast to demonstrate the new features:

• Using annotations to reinforce audio instructions,
• Using zoom to draw attention to important actions, and
• Adding transitions to show the passage of time

If (like me) you missed the first screencast in this series, video tip #1 covers four excellent basic tips on recording:

• Write a script before recording
• Run through your plan at least once without recording
• Be mindful of where your cursor is
• Speak with a fun, natural and easy to understand tone

and the post also includes links to an example script and blank template.

Want to see it in action via a Webinar? If you are reading this in time, there is a webinar today at 1PM EDT (and another on March 22 at the same time). Register at Techsmith for these webinars that are supposed to include “real-life examples of how you can use the new Snagit.”

Note that with the launch of the new versions of Snagit, Techsmith is retiring Jing Pro. The free Jing is still available, but Techsmith decided that the Pro features are not better served with Snagit.

The screencast recording functions of Snagit do not include editing but do include easy uploading to YouTube, Screencast.com, and more publication sources. Here’s a quick demo about a Google Patent Fail uploaded to Screencast.com.

• Redesigned editor interface
• Ability to Extend Frames
• Callouts can be animated and customized
• Tilt and restore animations
• Mobile device frames graphics
• Cursor effects (highlighting, magnifying or spotlighting)
• Blur Effect
• Faster production with higher quality output including Flash with HTML 5 fallback

Many of these have been available in the Windows version, but they work differently on the Mac. Since I don’t have a Mac, I can’t test it myself, but see Techsmith’s screencasts below for a quick look at some of the new features.

• Gradients, shadows, and rotation
• Updated quiz templates
• Publishing to MP4
• Ability to publish to tablets, smartphones, and iOS devices
• Single click publish to YouTube option

Also new is a subscription pricing model. Pay $59/month on a month-to-month basis or $39/month with a year commitment.  Captivate is also sold as part of the Adobe eLearning Suite which is now at version 2.5. The suite includes Flash Professional, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Acrobat Pro, Presenter, and Audition. The Suite retails  for $1,799 ($599 for education version). The Suite is also available on a new subscription pricing plan: month-to-month ($135/month) or per year ($89/month). The new subscription pricing does not appear to be available for education purchasers.

]]> http://www.notess.com/screencasting/2011/06/04/updated-captivate-5-5/feed/ 0 http://www.notess.com/screencasting/2011/06/03/camtasia-studio-minor-update-7-1-1/ http://www.notess.com/screencasting/2011/06/03/camtasia-studio-minor-update-7-1-1/#respond Fri, 03 Jun 2011 20:40:31 +0000 http://www.notess.com/screencasting/?p=183 Techsmith updated Camtasia Studio to version 7.1.1 last week. The maintenance release mostly includes various bug fixes,but the announcement also highlights:

• Updating the My Screencast.com plug-in
• Fixing the a problem where a lack rectangle or table of contents covers the video
• and incorporated a requested option to show a rectangle around the area being recorded (as opposed to just flashing green indicators in the four corners)

Strangely enough, after installing the update and checking the version number under Help > About, the new version number is 7.1.1 (Build 1785, but it is dated way back to Jan. 13.

If you have Camtasia Studio and have not yet updated, just go under Help > Check for Update to get the maintenance update and then install.

All the more reason to continue supporting, using, and Screenr and Screencast-o-Matic for free, online screencasting and hosting. Here are a few recent examples that I have tried on each:

• Screenr: Google Scholar Settings
• Screencast-O-Matic: Embedded small version below. This is an example for a forthcoming book (more on that later) and includes notes (comments) at two points in the timeline. I had not realized I could add those at Screencast-O-Matic in the past.

The conclusion? “The results of this study indicate that screencasts facilitate student learning. By viewing instructional screencasts, most students learn how to successfully complete a multi-step research process, such as the series of tasks in this study. Most students are able to transfer their knowledge of the concepts involved in the process and apply it in new scenarios.” While this is a limited study it does show that instructional screencasts can be successful.