Techsmith has released a new version of Camtasia for Mac. The new 2.0 version features include the following:
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.
Just before last weekend, Adobe updated Captivate to version 5.5. The new features include the following
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.
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.
While their Twitter account still exists, Screenjelly has not posted for over a year. When I checked screenjelly.com today, it redirects to a strange SteinerSports picture and email request page (which is why I have not linked it). Parent Veodia.com (which also bought out ScreenToaster) ends up at a “You reached an inactive URL address” message. ScreenToaster which earlier went defunct now just results in an Apache “successfully installed” page. So they all seem to be defunct. I’ll be updating my software page to remove the links.
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:
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.
I’m not in Philadelphia for ACRL today, but there was an interesting session this afternoon entitled “Do Screencasts Really Work? Assessing Student Learning through Instructional Screencasts.” Even better, ACRL has posted the PowerPoint slides, the paper, and a handout with links and sources. These report on research from the University of Michigan library attempting to answer the question “do undergraduate students really learn from watching these videos?” The study included 15 undergraduate students who were pre-tested, shown two screencasts, and then post-tested on the same tasks (finding a subject-specific library database on the library’s website). The two YouTube-hosted screencasts can be seen at UMich’s site: Why Use Library Databases and Finding Library Databases, and both were created using ScreenFlow (Mac software).
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.
Since the demise of ScreenToaster (and I can’t even get to their site today) and my expectations that ScreenJelly may not last long, I’ve been looking for a new favorite among the free, online screencasting tools. Screencast-O-Matic has greatly improved since I last looked at it, and the editing options with the oh-so-affordable $9/year Pro account, make it even more compelling. I’ll have a more in-depth review of Screencast-O-Matic and its newer features later. However, today, I was impressed while playing around with Screenr. I used to consider Screenr primarily as a tool for Twitter users. But what I realized today is you can use Screenr to record a screencast (up to five minutes) and then upload to YouTube where you can use the Annotations function to add call outs. It is not full editing, but it does give the ability to create text bubbles and notes over the video, and that is one of my favorite editing capabilities.
Here’s the screencast, embedded. I’ll have to create another one to show how to do this. If you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, the call out annotation is at 1:58.
A few weeks ago, Techsmith announced new features available at Screencast.com. I was a bit confused by the announcement, but now I think I understand what’s new and who has access to which new feature. So here’s my attempt to explain:
First, there are now quick links to share a hosted screencast via Twitter and Facebook. The Tweet and Facebook Like buttons show up just above the hosted screencast window. However, these will only appear on screencasts that are in a Public folder. Screencast.com also lets you create Hidden, Password, and Authenticated folders. Any screencasts in something other than a Public folder will not have the social buttons. Note that Jing uploads are in a Hidden folder by default.
Second, Google Analytics users can put their Google Analytics code so that Analytics can track the number of visits to particular screencasts and can integrate that with the rest of your site’s Analytics data. Just click on the My Account link in the upper right corner and then add your Google Analytics key in the new box for it. Note that you should not put the entire Google Analytics code that you use on pages on your web site. Just put in the code that looks like UA-XXXXXXX-X into the box.
Third, Screencast.com Pro users (not free users) can add or edit captions to any screencast from within Screencast.com. Some other technical requirements must be met. See Techsmith’s tutorial for more details.
Fourth, Techsmith is asking for feedback on Screencast.com and is using a Feedback button on the right side of the screen. This button connects to a Get Satisfaction account for Techsmith. Not only can you send feedback, but you can send it privately or publicly. Curious to see what others are asking? Take a look at the Screencast.com questions, answers, and comments or see the full Techsmith feedback
Lastly, HTML5 support has been added. What this means is that for hosted items with Flash hotspots (and table of contents and close captioning) will work even on devices like the iPad that don’t know how to support Flash. It is nice to see all these new features.
Of the various free online screencast recorders, my favorite was ScreenToaster. It was free, included hosting, and it did not limit the screencast length as severely as others. In addition, you could add text to sections of the screencast. Unfortunately, in June 2010 ScreenToaster announced that it was closing down, even though it had been acquired by Veodia back in July 2009 who then launched Screenjelly. Even though they were considered “sister products” (see the ScreenJelly Twitter feed), it is not at all clear that either will survive.
Since the summer, ScreenToaster has been up and down. The site itself has been down at times. As of Jan. 2011, the site remains, but every time I try to record I just get the recorder down message whether I’m logged in or not.
Strangely enough, other users seem to find ways to make it still work. The “Just Toasted” gallery on the site has several screencasts from Feb., although none seem to have sound.
Meanwhile, I have to wonder about Screenjelly and Veodia itself as well. Screenjelly still works, but check the footers at ScreenToaster, Screenjelly, and Veodia. All have a 2009 copyright date, when they were all most active. Check the ScreenJelly Twitter feed (last post April 2010), Veodia’s blog is empty and the news page has no content since 2008. ScreenToaster’s Twitter account is similarly dated.
As an intermittent blogger myself with long gaps in my activity, I know that sites can return, but when these three have been so long incommunicado, I suspect that it is time to move on. Fortunately, Screencast-O-Matic remains active and has made some improvements (which I’ll cover later). As to ScreenToaster, I am reluctantly saying it is now time to declare it “toast.”
Probably of interest to only a few readers, but just in case you have some Linux users in your organization or have Linux-using friends (mostly systems managers or other computer-intensive users with some mathematicians and physicists thrown in for good measure), take a look at 5 Ways to Screencast Your Linux Desktop from LinuxHaxor for some possible solutions.
I came across another screencast that only uses audio to add a music soundtrack. I was checking out the CrossLoop page which has a link to their demo video. Like the excellent CustomizeGoogle demo, the CrossLoop demo uses text within the screencast to communicate its main points. While I liked the screencast and watched most of it, I found that with this sound track I turned the volume all the way down part way through it. Is it more a sign of my musical tastes or do others share the opinion that the music at CrossLoop does not work while the CustomizeGoogle does?
Not to sound too negative to this screencast, I do like a couple of other aspects of the CrossLoop demo:
Small size (video window about 320×240 pixels, delivered by default as a pop-up)
The way it zooms in to the relevant section (it looks to me like it was created with Camtasia Studio 5 using the new SmartFocus pan and zoom feature.
For me, this is a good example of how adding music may turn out to take too much time and energy to find an engaging track that is not distracting from the information content.
LibCast