screen capture
Latest
Friday Favorite: Voila captures your screen with ease, on sale now
Given the issues with my former screen-capture app-of-choice Skitch, I recently went on the hunt for a replacement that can grab screenshots and handle video capture. I've finally landed on Voila. While it isn't perfect, Voila offers plenty of functionality and does almost everything I need. As is pretty standard for a screen-capture app, Voila lets you grab whatever is on your screen however you need it, either in a full-screen grab, from a specific window or from a drag-and-drop selection. You can grab videos in almost any configuration. I mostly use it for snapping rectangular pictures, but you can grab circular or polygonal pics as well. Voila even has an in-app browser and a connection to your webcam, for even more options. Once the picture has been captured, you can add annotations, blur or adjust it as you like and then export the file using an in-depth "Save As...". Unfortunately, this process isn't as simple as I'd like. You must hunt to find some functions, and while hotkeys can be set up, the Re-size function doesn't have a clear one. There's a re-size option on the save screen, so even when Voila doesn't have exactly what I'm looking for, it does have some fairly smart shortcuts. There are a few bugs in the app as well. One bug I'm getting recently has my pictures being saved as just a white screen rather than whatever I captured, but the support team has been more than ready to help with any problems or concerns. As for video capture, I think that's where Voila really shines. It's got a very powerful and steady video-capture functionality. You can select a window or draw a selection on the screen, and you can choose to use an external mic for audio, grab your computer's audio or use your Mac's internal mic as needed. Again, there are some small issues: The included YouTube connection won't accept videos if you've used a strange ratio when drawing a selection on the screen. But that's only a minor issue. I've still been able to just drag the videos out of the app, and then upload separately to YouTube. Voila isn't without its problems, but an app like this is designed for so many different use cases that it's not surprising there are a few hiccups. Plus, Voila is right in the middle of an awesome sale. It's only US$4.99 on the Mac App Store. If, like me, you were looking for a Skitch replacement with a little more functionality, Voila might be just what you need.
Native screenshot feature for Windows Phone 8 confirmed by emulator
While we found many features worth noting in our review of Windows Phone 7.5, one that was missing (and near to our hearts as people who review phones) was the ability to easily take screenshots on the devices. Thankfully, that issue appears to be resolved in Windows Phone 8, as WP7App.de has dug deep into the emulator (video evidence after the break) and confirmed the feature exists, enabled by clicking the Start and Camera button at the same time. That should make our lives easier and, for most, let them share snaps of their phone of choice's tile setup and inevitable autocorrect mistakes.
Frontrow has arrived to let you take and share photos from YouTube livestreams
YouTube's been beefing up the tools for its users lately, adding an audio editor, stabilization and color correction tools, and even ways for live-streaming productions to empty our wallets. Now, an outfit from the land of Oz has created an application that uses YouTube's live-streaming capabilities to allow those watching to grab pictures of live-stream and share them. Called Frontrow, it'll make its debut streaming the Vivid LIVE music festival currently going on at the Sydney Opera House. The app doesn't just let you take simple snapshots, either, users can zoom in and out and apply image filters to grab that perfect image of Florence + the Machine while watching them via WiFi a world away. Hit the more coverage link and check the video after the break for more.
Snagit 2.0 arrives with expanded feature set (updated)
TechSmith's powerful Snagit app for capturing and annotating screenshots or websites has been around for a little over a year, having first been reviewed on TUAW in November 2010. Today Snagit (US$49.95) has been updated to version 2.0, expanding the capabilities of the app to a higher level. Screen capture apps like Snagit are extremely popular with bloggers, since they give us the opportunity to capture entire screens or details of apps for review purposes. For example, if I need to grab screenshots of Wirecast screens for a review, I'll click on the Snagit button that floats constantly in the upper right of my Mac screen. That action (or just moving my cursor over the button) opens up a tiny window populated with buttons for capturing video or still imagery, along with toggles for including the cursor in my screen capture or snagging the images to the clipboard. With a click on a big red button, a set of crosshairs appears on the screen -- moving the cursor around highlights different areas to capture, and clicking on the screen either captures a still image or begins the recording process for video. The new features in version 2.0 provide a lot of power. For those who are working to capture screen video for post-processing in Camtasia to create screencasts, Snagit not only captures video of what's happening on the screen but can grab a video narration still image from a webcam. Video now outputs to Camtasia, TechSmith's Screencast.com service, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and FTP. Users just need to set up accounts in advance for one-click uploads to those sites and services. For image captures (not video), your masterpiece can now be sent to Facebook, Twitter and Evernote. %Gallery-148543% The powerful image editor in Snagit now adds a number of new stamps. My favorites are the OS X and iOS interface stamps, made up of common interface elements that you can select, stamp, move, and resize. There are new color filters for grayscale, sepia, and inverting images, as well as a way to change the canvas color. Another screenshot app that is popular with bloggers is Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro X ($69.95), but at the present time it doesn't include editing and annotation tools for images, nor does it have the breadth of social networking links of Snagit. Note that if you're looking for a tool that will let you add effects, callouts, and more to captured video, you'll probably want to skip Snagit and go with TechSmith's Camtasia. A review of the latest version of Camtasia can be found here. The update is free available to existing owners of Snagit for $24.95.
Daily Mac App: Snap App
Taking screenshots on Mac OS is easy thanks to its decent built-in capture utilities, but taking nice ones is not as simple as you might think. App Snap is a developer-orientated screenshot utility that makes taking screenshots for app display a bit easier to manage. It's not just handy for developers, the utility is great for anyone who regularly takes screen captures of application windows, whether it's in an iOS or Android simulator or just regular desktop Mac apps. App Snap does what most other capture utilities will do, takes an image of the window of the app in question. Where it really shines is in the ability to quickly create aesthetically pleasing captures without having to mess around clearing your desktop and worrying about image sizes or aspect ratios. Once you've captured your window, App Snap will place the capture on an App Store orientated background, in this case the default desktop wallpaper at the right size and ratio for submission to Apple. It automatically obscures finder and anything else you might have on your desktop and gives you a nice clean App Store-ready capture in one click. In writing up these Daily Mac Apps, I often fight with screen capture tools with a combination of OS X's built-in tools, SnagIt and Skitch, aided by BackDrop to obscure the rubbish I have littering my desktop. App Snap has replaced all those apps with one click for US$0.99 If you're an developer for the Mac or iOS app stores, or even the Android Market, then App Snap could be a great addition to your workflow that takes the hassle out of screen captures.
Native screencaps coming to CyanogenMod 7.1
Taking screenshots on Android devices is by and large a sore spot for pretty much anyone whose needed to perform the deed. Unless your phone is one of the few that supports the functionality, you must first root your handset and install third-party software -- or grab the Android SDK and access your device in USB-debugging mode from ddms. Regardless of how you get there, neither option is ideal. Now, the creators of CyanogenMod think they can do better. While rooting your phone is still a prerequisite, the operating system will bring native support for screen captures via a long-press on the power button. You can expect to receive this delightful new feature in the upcoming CyanogenMod 7.1, which is currently in Release Candidate status -- or, just check the nightly repository -- if you dare!
PSA: T-Mobile G2x and LG Optimus 2X include two-button screencap function (video)
Taking screenshots on Android has always been an ordeal akin to an emergency visit to the dentist -- you know you have to do it but you just don't want to. The convoluted process involves either installing the Android SDK on a computer, enabling USB debugging on the target device, and running ddms, or rooting the specimen and firing up one of the many existing (and potentially shady) screenshot apps. In contrast, taking screenshots on other platforms is often simply a matter of pressing the right key combination in the right order, like holding the sleep / wake button and then clicking the home button in iOS 4. Well it looks like the folks at LG have decided to grace both the T-Mobile G2x and its Optimus 2X sibling with a rather simple yet nifty bit of code that lets you take screenshots by simultaneously pressing both the power / lock and home buttons... Huzzah! Now let's just hope Google borrows this idea and makes it a standard feature in all future Android versions. Take a look at our demo video after the break. [Thanks, redman12]
Superstash lets you collect and annotate the mobile web
Superstash is an iPad app for collecting and annotating pages on the Web that inspire you. I see it as an app for designers, but it has many applications. The basic idea: snap screenshots of the viewable area of a web page using the in-app browser, add text and drawings on top of them and save the result into your collection. You can organize your shots with tags and/or folders, add notes to the entries and email any screenshot (with annotations) at any time. It's similar to LittleSnapper, which is great on the desktop, but the mobile version is currently only available on the iPhone. Superstash brings the functionality to the iPad. I've used Moodboard to do similar things on the iPad, but Superstash is focused only on saving web snaps and provides a more precise set of tools for doing so. The interface is very aesthetically pleasing. It follows a (possibly overplayed) wood desk motif, but does it subtly and with a refreshing attention to detail. There are only a few icons in the toolbar at any time, and their meanings are easy to intuit. There's a URL bar with fairly obvious possibilities, and to the left, you have your basic browser buttons (back, forward, bookmarks) and a lightning bolt that takes you to Superstash's pre-defined collection of inspiring sites. The ready-to-go bookmarks encompass a vast array of topics and make for great free-time browsing. The tools on the right side of the interface let you snap either the full viewable screen, or use a crop tool to select any part of it. The last button on the right takes you to your folders, where you can search for and navigate to previously collected pages. Once you snap an image, you're immediately taken to the annotation screen, where you can add text bubbles and draw with your finger (or stylus) in any color. It's a far-from-extensive toolset, but it does the job. Once you're done, you can email or save the result. The save dialog includes fields for optional title, rating, tags, notes and destination folder. I really dig this app, both in concept and execution, but there are a few things I'd love to see. First, some means of syncing bookmarks with my Safari bookmarks. Better yet, let me pull bookmarks from Pinboard and search them; wishful thinking, I know. However it's done, make my web browsing tracks more portable, and I'll be much more comfortable in an in-app browser. Second, some line/arrow tools in the annotation mode would be great. Admittedly, I draw a terrible arrow with just my finger. Also, along those lines, let me pick the size of the eraser head or offer a stepped undo button. Lastly, I'd love to be able to save the entire length of a web page. I know there are probably technical limitations there, but it would be a huge plus. Superstash is available on the App Store now for an introductory price of US$3.99 the price has dropped to US$2.99 for the time being.
Skitch leaps out of beta, 1.0 available now
Since it debuted in beta form at Macworld Expo in 2007, Skitch has become a favorite Mac utility for many, many people. It's great at grabbing screenshots, adding annotations and notes, and sharing them on Skitch.com, Flickr, Mobile.me or even your own server. We've waited three years for a 1.0 release while the beta kinks got worked out, and now the wait is over. Skitch has burst out of beta with a ton of new features and an entirely revamped web app geared toward social image sharing. It's aiming to be the Flickr of screenshots, with a full-featured desktop app to back that up. Most of the features that have made Skitch so popular are still free, including screen capture, image editing and annotation, and online sharing of images. If you want to go "Plus," you'll pay a yearly subscription fee of $14.95 (that's a discount right now; it will go up to $19.95 soon). The Plus subscription adds a range of new features, from the ability to grab full-length web page captures to additional editing capabilities. It will also remove ads from the online experience and provide more storage and options. One of the best features in the Plus package, in my opinion, is automatic copy of direct image links after upload. Yes, you can get that for free using something like Droplr or CloudApp, but when combined with all of the other features, it adds some value to the subscription price.
Snagit on Mac: First look at this powerful screen capture tool
Back in December of 2009, I reported on the public beta of Snagit on Mac, a screenshot tool for Mac from TechSmith, the folks who bring you the Camtasia screen recorder. Well, the beta is over, and after 100,000+ testers gave the app a good scrubbing, it's now available for sale for US$49.95. Snagit isn't a new product -- it's been around on the Windows platform since 1991 -- but Snagit on Mac is new. One purchase of the application on either platform gives you a non-concurrent use license for both Windows and Mac. I had tried out Snagit on Mac during early beta and frankly wasn't impressed, but I'm pleased to say that the release version is replacing my current screenshot solution. Tech bloggers and authors do a tremendous number of screenshots, so switching to a new tool isn't something that is done lightly. Follow along with me as I give you a first look at Snagit on Mac. %Gallery-107072%
Caption contest: Gulliver's iPhone makes it big in Hollywood
So apparently the hidden island of Lilliput has cellular coverage, but who cares -- it's still gonna be another crap movie. Way to ruin Gulliver's Travels with Jack Black. Joe: "Finally, Angry Birds the way it was meant to be played." Darren: "That's a big iPhone." Josh T.: "The monolith taught the monkeys to kill, also, how to make conference calls." Paul: "Time-traveling Jack Black plants hidden iPhone reference in Jonathan Swift novel." Thomas: "It's holding you wrong." Tim: "Eighteen months ago, the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried forty feet below the lunar surface, near the crater Cupertino." Vlad: "It's just a jumbo iPhone, I don't see what all the fuss is about." Sam: "What does this mean? It's so bright, so vivid." Sean H.: "And so did the tiny scholars toil for decades to unravel the mysteries of the blue block, and the significance of its question marks." Richard Lai: "Paul Miller makes a cameo appearance in this scene, tut-tuts at the low pixel density." Myriam: "I'm crushing your head! I'm crushing your head!"
Screen Grabs: Blackberry Storm saves the world in new Doctor Who
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today's movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dt com. While the US was busy delivering a certain tablet product yesterday, British sci-fi fans sat comfortably at home for a brand new Doctor Who series. We won't go into too much detail here, but the eleventh Doctor -- played by the charming Matt Smith -- was spotted writing a computer virus and sending pictures on a BBC-debranded Blackberry Storm, minutes before the aliens were to incinerate Planet Earth. Perhaps the freshly-regenerated Time Lord's a fan of the virtual keyboard? As a bonus, the Doctor also borrowed a disguised 15-inch Acer Aspire laptop for some virtual face time with chief brainiacs around the world, and then promptly reminded the owner to "delete your internet history" in reference to, well, something more disturbing that he found on the computer. And who are we to question the orders of a time traveler? Update: Turns out the new Lead Writer Steven Moffat learned of his job offer on a Blackberry back in June 2008. Too bad the Storm wasn't due out for another five months, but a quick trip through the time vortex could turn this into an amusing coincidence.%Gallery-89694%
Screenshot Plus and iWork: the poor man's screenshot editing suite
Despite their office productivity leanings, the iWork suite of apps (Pages, Keynote and Numbers) also serve as good image editors. With each app, you can crop and mask an image, as well as create alpha channels. While a handful of useful paid-for screen capture apps are available for Mac OS X -- and many with very useful advanced features -- the one-two combination of the Screenshot Plus Dashboard widget and iWork can serve as an adequate pseudo screen capturing app. While you can use Command-Shift-3 (or 4) as well as Control-Command-Shift-3 (or 4) to accomplish similar tasks, Screen Capture Plus also includes niceties, such as timed screen grabs and image file type options that, in addition to its straightforward functions, don't require much fiddling with.
Five widgets for Friday
As we've previously pointed out, in many ways, Dashboard Widgets are the precursor to iPhone apps. Need to know when your latest packages will arrive? Yes, there's an app for that. But there's a widget too. Need to figure out how many pesos are in a dollar, or what a Quarter Pounder with Cheese comes out to in the metric system? There's an app, and a widget, for that as well. For this Friday afternoon, here are five useful Widgets to help you make the most of your Mac. And best of all, they're all free.
New Snow Leopard beta build includes screen recording capabilities, a certain je ne sais quoi
If you're keeping track of Snow Leopard's progress, you'll be pleased to know that a new build (10A335) has been released into the hands of devs (and consequently, the world). Most interestingly, however, is that it seem this new iteration has a handy screen grab feature that hasn't made an appearance until now -- namely, the native ability (under QuickTime) to "record" your on-screen activities. There are other third-party apps that handle this duty, like the classily-named Snapz Pro X, but the inclusion in this latest beta will almost certainly mainstream the function. It should come in handy if you're constantly trying to tell you parents how to change their network settings, or if you're thinking about producing your own version of You Suck at Photoshop. [Via Mac Rumors]
app4mac releases Sequence 1.1
Sequence, a screen capture utility developed by App4Mac, has been revised to version 1.1. This is a free update for registered users. For capturing screenshots or video of Mac screens, Sequence takes advantage of multithreaded code and 64-bit support for compression. Capturing DVD playback and audio is easy, and it's possible to record from your iSight and screen at the same time. With the voice recording function, you can narrate the screen capture for easy creation of screencasts.Documentation for Sequence is now built into the application, which can be used to develop training videos, product demos, tutorials, and archiving streaming video. Mac OS X 10.5 or later is required.Sequence is available from App4Mac for $29. Localized versions are available in French and simplified Chinese.
Realmac teases LittleSnapper
Our friends over at at Realmac Software, makers of the popular RapidWeaver website creation app, have just posted some information on their next Mac app, LittleSnapper. From what I can glean from the promo page, LittleSnapper -- which is expected sometime at the end of 2008 -- is designed to be the ultimate mash-up of screenshot applications like Skitch and Paparazzi.Back in May, I tested and reviewed various (static) screen capturing programs and options for OS X. Although I did not have a chance to actually address the issue of full web page captures in that article, I was, and continue to be frustrated by the lack of a good, Leopard-friendly program that can capture an entire web site, and not just the portion that appears on the screen. Stitching together screenshots in Photoshop is time consuming and unfortunately, Paparazzi's Leopard support is kludgy (.43 works with Leopard, but .5 won't even open). I demoed Web Snapper, but it is a Safari plugin (or InputManager for the semantically correct), which is not always ideal.From the Realmac website, it looks like LittleSnapper is really designed to take the best aspects of a program like Skitch, the ability to capture portions of the screen and annotate and share with other people, with the ability to work with web browsers and also organize screenshot libraries. They even show off a DOM-highlighter, so you can instantly capture a specific element of a site, much like Safari's WebClip and CSSEdit's Inspector.We'll let you know more about LittleSnapper as the details eke out. You can sign-up for updates at Realmac's website. LittleSnapper will be a Leopard-only application.
Rumor: Firmware 2.5 may allow screen captures
CVG has learned from a shadowy "development source" that the next major PS3 firmware update, possibly 2.5, may include the ability to capture screenshots directly from the PS3. "Exactly how this would be done and what you could do with the shots once you've grabbed a piece of the action isn't yet known."The PS3 already has the ability to save images from games to the hard drive, but they must be specifically programmed into each game. For example, players can save low-res images from Metal Gear Solid 4's camera. They can also save images from replay videos in WipEout HD. Having the ability to take screengrabs whenever will let us immortalize our most cherished gaming moments ... and will certainly make our jobs easier.
AppleScript: Taking screenshots
Last week, Dave mentioned that you can change the file type used system-wide for screenshots. However, some people are afraid of using Terminal.app to muck around with their Mac. In this week's AppleScript article, I am going to show you how to take screenshots and change their file type using an AppleScript.The AppleScriptproperty N : 0set N to N + 1set picPath to ((POSIX path of (path to desktop)) & "Picture_" & N & ".png") as stringdo shell script "screencapture -tjpg " & quoted form of picPathUsing the AppleScriptOpen the ScriptEditor (/Applications/AppleScript/ScriptEditor.app). Copy/paste the AppleScript into the script edtitor and click the run button at the top. You will hear the camera shutter sound and a picture will be taken and saved to your desktop. This script comes in handy when you want to take a screenshot in a different format. To do this, just change the ".png" file type to whatever you might want (say, .jpg, .tiff, etc.). When you re-run the script, the new file type will be associated with the capture image. Continue reading to learn how to save this script.
TUAW Faceoff: Screenshot apps on the firing line
Whether you want to post something to a web page or blog, or show off an application element in a presentation, taking quality screenshots is becoming an increasingly common task for lots of different Mac users. Although OS X comes with its own built-in screenshot utility, Grab, and onboard F-keys for the task, there are lots of third-party options as well. Contrary to popular belief, not all screen capture applications are created equal. So what program is the best for taking quality screenshots off of your computer? To find out, I put five screen capture programs through their paces to try to find the "ultimate" screen-capture program. The programs I used: Grab - built into OS X Skitch - free (at least while in beta) Snapz Pro X - $29 for image capture only, $69 for image and motion capture InstantShot! - free QuickSnap - $14.95 Read-on for my analysis and take a look at the gallery for screenshots from each program, as well as head-to-head comparisons. %Gallery-22020%
