screen capture
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Show floor video: Screensteps makes documenting easier
Do you make documentation? Do you constantly find yourself having to explain step-by-step procedures to do things on the Mac? BlueMango Learning Systems has been doing this stuff for a while, and the tedium eventually drove them to create their own tool to make things faster. That's innovation for you-- if you can't find a tool, build one (that's how Plasq wound up creating Skitch). Screensteps is truly handy for anyone needing to illustrate steps, like bloggers doing how-to's, all the way up to professional manual-makers. Scott got a quick demo on an excursion to Moscone West. Video after the jump.
Beta Beat: Screenium
Screencasting is becoming a standard method of conveying software-related information. I'm fairly certain that even my mom knows the word, which is my typical buzz-guage. And here you were, thinking "I wish there was yet another contender in the screencast recording arena", right? Lucky you.Synium's Screenium, which is currently in beta preview, is a new arrival in an already teeming category of software. It has standard features like fullscreen, fixed area and mouse-follow capture, hotkey integration and adjustable quality/frame rate with capture presets. It also boasts a single window capture mode and frame rates up to 60fps. I don't know why you'd need to capture a screen at 60fps, but it can't hurt to know it's available. In my testing, Screenium performed exceptionally well in the area of small filesize, high quality captures and its default presets were simple and useful. It also gets high marks for ease of use. And it didn't max out my CPU and turn my fans into Harrier jets after 2 minutes, which is kind of nice when you're recording microphone audio. It's got some distance to cover before the official release in February, but Screenium is looking like a strong contender.
Snapz Pro X 2.1.1 is available
Earlier today, Ambrosia released version 2.1.1 of their popular screen capture tool (we've written about Snapz Pro X several times). For the unfamiliar: Snapz Pro X lets you capture what you're doing on your Mac's screen - or just a portion thereof - as a Quicktime movie. It's a fantastic way to make screencasts, and also snags audio and still images.Version 2.1.1 brings a number of changes, including: Improved registration experience Several squashed bugs, including the blank frames at the end of some movies and garbled video capture on older, nVidia-equipped Macs Improved performance for audio captures We like Snapz Pro X quite a bit. Try it out. A single license will cost you $69US. It's universal and requires Mac OS 10.3.9 or later.
Mac 101: Capturing your screen
Everyone got a #2 pencil? Then we're ready for more Mac 101, tips and tricks for novices and "I forgot how to do that!" veterans alike. Today we're talking screenshots, an essential tool whenever you need to document or display something for posterity. While there are lots of third-party tools for screenshot capture, the basic functions included with Mac OS X are nothing to sneeze at.The original, held-over-from-Classic method for screen capture is the venerable keyboard shortcut (sometimes referred to as an 'F-key'), Command-Shift-3. Hitting this key combo creates a 'Picture 1.jpg' (or .png, .pdf or .tiff file, depending on your OS version and whether you've fiddled with your settings via Terminal or AppleScript utility) that includes your entire desktop, multiple displays and all. Too much of a good thing? Try Command-Shift-4, and drag the crosshairs over the target area (hit Spacebar to toggle a 'camera' icon that will capture a full window with a click; hit Esc to get out of capture mode). As you use these keys, and a collection of 'Picture N.jpg' files begins to accumulate on your desktop, try adding the Control key to the combo -- Ctrl-Cmd-Shift-3/4 sends the captured image to the Clipboard, rather than a file. Personally, I use the clipboard version of the 4 key all the time to copy snippets of my iPhoto images into outgoing mail. It's faster & easier than exporting the full-size image.Sometimes, unfortunately, a command key is not quite good enough; for example, it's tricky to capture a pull-down menu onscreen. For this, there is Apple's Grab application, hiding out in your Utilities folder (also available as a Service in many applications). In addition to basic capture acrobatics, Grab offers a Timed Capture tool that works exactly like the timer button on a camera: hit the Capture menu/Timed Screen (or Command-Shift-Z), start the timer, get your ducks in a row and wait ten seconds. You can even Cmd-Shift-4 the resulting full-screen image to snag a small section if that's what you need. Happy snapping!
Jing makes screen captures slick and easy
It's always something: just as I start to write up a Mac 101 on screen grabbing, along comes something cool, free and pretty: Jing for Mac. Built by the screen capture savants at TechSmith (developers of Windows tools Camtasia and SnagIt), Jing combines a lightweight, one-click image or motion capture tool with a free 200 MB hosting account at Screencast.com. The result is a fine way to quickly get 'casual' captures online and shared with a minimum of fuss. The motion captures are saved as .swf Flash video, which is either a bonus or a drawback depending on your perspective.The current-but-one version (labeled a 'project,' not a beta) gave me a smidge of trouble on a dual-monitor setup, but the current 1.2.4 version seems to be working better, and it also cleared up a conflict with Growl. I'll do a few captures here and get a gallery together to see how they look. Jing isn't going to replace power tools like Snapz Pro, ImageWell or Skitch, but it's pretty good at what it does. Also, as Laurie pointed out, the Jing installer comes with a handy 'autoinstall' AppleScript that copies the application and then unmounts the disk image -- particularly useful for those friends and family (you know who they are) that seem to get confused and end up running applications from a mounted .dmg instead of installing them properly.Thanks Laurie & Dave
Telekinesis enables remote Mac access through your iPhone
Those hankering for more streamlined file access on the iPhone will still have to test their patience a bit longer, but here's something to tide you over. The Telekinesis application enables users to "remotely access their Mac through a collection of mini web apps on their phone," essentially allowing any iPhone user to tunnel into their home Mac and take control. More specifically, it enables screen capturing, iTunes control, Home directory browsing, iSight image captures, and even the ability to run AppleScripts remotely. Just a heads-up, however, that this software is still listed as Alpha, which means that things are more likely to go wrong than right when trying it out. If you're courageous enough to give it a whirl, though, be sure to let the gunshy know how things went in comments.[Via TUAW]
Desktops of the week for 10/15/06
Here we go with another edition of TUAW Desktops ladies and gents. You readers are submitting some great stuff to our desktops Flickr group, and since our last edition was a nice overall roundup, I decided to pick a theme for this week: function. I'm a big fan of making the most out of my available desktop real estate, and the desktops I've chosen each exhibit an interesting perspective on this practice. In this edition we have desktops ranging from über-minimal yet uniquely-functional to a full-on Exposé overload, and even a pseudo-multi-dock environment. But without further adieu, let's get down to business:First up is shorts by pacificbro. By his own admission this isn't so much a clever, intricate desktop setup, though it's more of a functional use of the wallpaper space with many common (and some not-so) keyboard shortcuts he needs to get around his daily business. Too bad I didn't see this before the My Dream App stuff started - I just got inspired to submit an app idea that swaps out shortcuts like this on the desktop space depending on what app you're currently working in. A simple F11 Exposé keystroke would reveal all (or most) of the shortcuts you need to work. *Sigh* - maybe I can get in on round two. But speaking of Exposé, let's keep moving.
New video capture mode for DevHook
DevHook has just become even more amazing. ADePSP from PSP-Hacks has modified the GTA Cheat Device's ability to record in-game footage and has appended it to DevHook. With this new homebrew application, you'll be able to record footage from the games you play as animated GIFs. It'll even record footage from the XMB! This awesome application will require quite a hefty Memory Stick, as the files recorded are uncompressed.
Screenshot Settings 1.1 applescript
Just like its title implies, Screenshot Settings 1.1 is a simple little GUI applescript that allows you to change both the image format Mac OS X uses to capture screenshots, as well as the default location where these images are stored. While altering Mac OS X's screenshot format is pretty simple with this little utility (see: this post's screenshot), the trick to choosing a new default location for storing screenshots is a little less obvious: simply drag the new location from Finder onto the utility to set it as the screenshot hotspot for your Mac.
