![]() ![]() A license for ScreenFlow will set you back $99. Using ScreenFlow my production time has gone down and quality has gone up. This is interesting because the developers at Vara Software actually started ScreenFlow with the idea of being able to record keynote presentations for the internent. In addition to my MacSparky screencasts, I use screencasting in my day job to drop little helpful movies into presentations. Not just to sell software but also to teach friends. I think we really are at the very beginning of mainstream screencasting. For ScreenFlow’s competitors, the bar has been set high. One big pile of sugary screencasting fun. ScreenFlow is like chocolate cake with ice cream and frosting blended in. They have made huge strides on the output side and, for me, transformed the application from merely interesting to essential. The biggest improvement to ScreenFlow with the latest version 1.1 is the addition of presets for lossless video and AppleTV. I can definitely see where this feature would be useful. In addition to doing a fine job recording audio, ScreenFlow gives you some other audio tweaks such as the ability to add a keyclick sound. For the time being, I’m continuing to use a great freeware application called Keycastr to handle keyboard display duty. I hope they add some more options in future releases turning down the dazzle and up the functionality of this feature. You can also have it automatically display key presses but I’m not a fan of the way it zooms your keypresses across the screen. I also like the way you can easily resize the image and, if you are feeling really spunky, add a reflection. The list of features in the edit process is long but just to point out a few of my favorites I like the way you can spotlight the mouse with a circle the size of your own choosing and feather the edges. I still do some transition work and introductions and closings in Final Cut but with ScreenFlow, all the complicated stuff is already done for me. The trouble is, unless you are very proficient in those applications it will involve a lot of time and, most likely, a few tears. In fact, you can do just about any screen effect with Final Cut and Motion. I’ve done some of these effects in prior screencasts using Final Cut. Using ScreenFlow I can select portions of a clip and resize the screen, call out the front window and blur the background, zoom up and zoom down, and just about any other fancy trick within reason to make it easier on your viewer. Despite the simple interface, however, there are some powerful tools. It is timeline based but not quite so intimidating as Final Cut. This editor reminds me of the old iMovie. So once you have your screencapture completed you can arrange them in ScreenFlow’s handy editor. This application includes its own editor. You then are required to submit those clips into iMovie or Final Cut for editing and processing. Now for most Screencasting applications, that is where the story ends. You can capture multiple takes into one project so you can break larger projects into small bite-sized chunks. I tried this but ultimately decided, as the old line goes, I have a face for radio. You can also elect to record or ignore your system sounds and, if you are really brave, your iSight feed so people can look at your mug while you record your screencast. I use a Blue Snowball for this purpose and while it is not perfect, it does an acceptable job. ![]() It also will record audio from either your built in microphone or your own plug-in microphone. ScreenFlow does a dandy job of capturing your various clicks, drags, and actions on your screen. By this I mean you turn it on and the little invisible camera over your shoulder starts taking pictures of the screen. So let me break this down a bit.įirst there is the capture. It gives you one application to capture video and audio and perform sophisticated editing. ScreenFlow is the screencasting application for the rest of us. Well this all changed a few months ago when ScreenFlow came on to the stage. Up until a few months ago I accomplished this through a byzantine series of steps in multiple applications that was both time intensive and spectacularly underwhelming in its result. While I cannot claim to have the superhuman skills of my friend Don McAllister, I do want them to look nice. I’ve been producing screencasts now for almost a year.
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