Create Flash/AVI tutorials: Camstudio 2.0

Camstudio 2.0
http://www.camstudio.org/
(updated 7/30/07)



Ever wished you could just record your actions on your computer and then make it a part of a tutorial CD or internal training resource for your 'not-too-savvy' users? Do you wish there was a way to replay your finest moments while hacking into a government server? Just kidding - if you are trying to do anything illegal, I'd expect you'd best not record yourself doing it... :)

In any case, I had a few instances at my old job where I needed to create some online tutorials - how to reset a password, how to configure the BlackBerry Desktop Manager software, etc. Sometimes, it is best to show someone rather than typing out very detailed instructions. Lets face it, if your users were anything like mine, then you needed to type out extremely detailed instructions for them...and sometimes, that wasn't enough. *sigh* - but that's not my problem now :)

The what:
Camstudio 2.0 (mind you, not 2.1!) is an excellent freebie program that allows you to record/capture your actions on the screen and export the result into an AVI or SWF (complete with an auto-generated HTML file with the SWF embedded) file, allowing you to post it to your website. The exported SWF is a very respectable compression ratio, and Camstudio allows you to tweak a good amount of parameters to hone your resulting export even more.

The interface:
Camstudio is very innocuous at first, but it is a veritable powerhouse of features. You can set up a region you wish to record in, allowing you to move icons or windows off/out of the recording area. You can also enable an auto-pan feature if you want to skimp on the size of your flash file, but need to get a little more content than what your tiny el-cheapo window can provide.

You can set your audio codec (yes, you can record your voice as well!) and framerate quality.


Hotkeys can be configured manually - they are pretty basic and easy to use.

You can set up screen annotations for those who don't listen too well (I have selective listening, or so I thought I heard). This includes shapes, gradients, and customizable text bubbles/boxes.

Camstudio actually records via a video compression algorithm of your choice and saves to an AVI format, which isn't exactly known for its frugality for disk space...however, this would be why you would want to save to an SWF format...a much much better way of compressing the video to stream to your audience. Your network administrator will thank you for it.

In the shadows...
The crowning achievement of Camstudio is not the recording interface itself, but the Camstudio Producer applet that comes with the installation file. This is the piece that does the work and converts the avi which is recorded to the SWF format (if you choose AVI to save to, the file will be saved after you finish your recording, making it immediately available to view through your media player of choice).

Have you accepted Camstudio as your personal recorder and savior?
Converting your AVI files to Flash couldn't be any easier. The actual conversion takes quite a bit of time, of course depending on a couple factors, obviously things like how long the recording is, your PC speed, memory, etc. will come into play. Other factors will be dependent upon the features you enable/disable in the 'Conversion to Flash' screen shown below.

After your conversion is complete, you will be able to open the newly created Flash file either in your web browser, or another Flash viewing application.

Note:
You could always use the SWF Producer to convert files other than what you've recording with Camstudio, but I've not tried it - - seems to be a cool way to convert some of your older AVIs over to a much more efficient media type.



There is some interesting goings-on with the Camstudio project on Sourceforge...version 2.0 is the actual Open Source version by Rendersoft, a now-defunct company which was purchased by RoboHelp, which was bought by Macromedia, which was...yadda yadda yadda. The original source code is out there, and 2.0 is the actual Open Source version...2.1 is floating around out there, but some features have been stripped out of it, so go for the 2.0, yo -

Read details on the Camstudio page for more info...

This is a most definite must-have for anyone who produces online documentation, or internal training notes...you just can't beat this simple free software. I'm looking forward to the new version by the project lead.

Of course, like most of the applications I review, there is a donate link to help make the project better, please take advantage of it, for the sake of awesome freebies!

Update:
Usually, I like to post to the main support forum for a program/email the author when I write about their software. I got a response from 'Nickethegeek' the project lead for Camstudio, regarding the upcoming 3.0 version last night (talk about a fast response!).

Here's his response:

"Hi Rob

Thanks for the great review ... I'm liking the black Vista theme ... nice!

Don't know if you've seen, but I've also setup a blog for CS here: http://www.camstudio.org/blog which provides a little more information ...

CamStudio V3 is almost done (aiming for a Jan 2007 release date) and yes, it'll still be free and open source with an option to purchase a priority support package to help fund development ...

Keep checking the blog for more info ...

Thanks again for the review

and I look forward to seeing what other goodies you review ...

Best Wishes
Nick :o)"

Thank you Nick! I love it when they write back :)

Alternate:

• Wink (updated 7/11/07)
• Jing (updated 7/30/07)