Video is an essential part of modern communication. The world in
general is attuned to visual communication, the most effective way
of sending a clear message to the viewer. The saying, "a picture is
worth a thousand words" has never been more true in our modern
times. Video is the most powerful way to get your message across,
and is even more effective when the video includes narrative
speech.
ScreenShow Pro helps you achieve both. Whether you are creating a
product demo, business presentation, training videos, or just want a
simple and fast way to record what is on your screen, ScreenShow Pro
is the best software to use.
ScreenShow Pro saves video files in standard AVI (Audio Video
Interleave) format. This ensures maximum compatibility with other
software, as AVI is a format editable in most current video
programs. ScreenShow Pro lets you configure video and audio options
for maximum compatibility with your current applications.
When you need to capture your on-screen activity, ScreenShow Pro
is the perfect application for recording to standard AVI files.
Record everything on your screen with just a few clicks of your
mouse! Share your videos online, turn them into products, training,
and more.
With ScreenShow Pro, you can:
Create Product Demos
Record Software Presentations
Create Training Videos
Record Software Testing - recording steps taken for bugs,
procedures, more
Track your progress for software development
Record Streaming Videos
Create Flash presentations from your AVI files
ScreenShow Pro Overview
System Requirements
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP 400 MHz
processor 64 MB recommended 4 MB of hard-disk space for
program installation.
Uses of ScreenShow Pro
There are many uses for ScreenShow Pro. Here are just a few of
them:
You can create software demonstration by simply recording
everything you (can) do with an application, from mouse movement to
menu presentation and options demonstration and pretty much
everything you can think of. You now have the chance to make a
powerful presentation that will impress your audience.
You can create help files, assist trainings and build
professional tutorials by simply explaining on-screen how everything
works. ScreenShow Pro gives you the possibility to record yourself
while you work or use an already recorded file to match your new
recording.
You may want to upload a presentation of your software on your
website to give it a more professional look and to establish a good
communication between you and the user.
If you are testing an application, you can use ScreenShow Pro to
record the exact moment when the bug occurs.
Or you can just use it in personal interest such as recording
everything that happens while you’re not at your computer, whether
we’re talking about tracking the progress of an application that
runs for a long time or simply spying on other people using the
computer, you can be sure ScreenShow Pro does its job.
The Screenshow Pro Main Screen
This is the screen you will see when you first launch the
program:
Play the video below for a brief walkthrough of the main
interface:
ScreenShow Pro Modules Overview
Recorder - lets you capture your video:
Play the video below for a brief walkthrough of the Recorder:
SWF Producer - converts your generated AVI video to SWF / Flash
format:
Player - plays videos:
Tools - online tools for Screenshow Pro
Extras - online extras for Screenshow Pro
Recorder Module Quick Start:
Press the REC button to begin recording. When you click the
button, a flashing rectangle will appear. This rectangle helps you
select the Region for recording.
STOP complete stops the recording. A dialog then appears so you
can name the file and choose the location to save it.
Pause the recording at any time by pressing the PAUSE button. You
can resume recording again by simply pressing the REC button.
You can also set shortcut keys for these functions using the
Keyboard Shortcuts menu.
Video Basics
Every AVI movie is a sequence of bitmaps (known as frames). When
you record a movie using the ScreenShow Pro you are actually saving
this sequence of bitmaps which are then played in a rapid succession
to give the impression of motion. The number of frames recorded per
second is called the frame rate. If the frame rate is high the video
will play smoother but the resulting AVI file will be larger in
size.
There are 3 kinds of rates: The input rate is the number of
frames that your computer records in a second. The output rate is
the number of frames displayed in a second when you are playing the
AVI.
The two rates are usually the same. However, you might want to
play the video faster than you’ve recorded it, or, on the contrary,
play it slower. In the first case you’ll have to set the output rate
to be bigger than the input rate, and vice versa for the second
scenario.
The key frame rate. There are two ways of saving a frame in an
AVI file: you can either save it as a full frame (a complete image)
or you can save only the differences that occurred from the last
frame. This key frame rate specifies how often full frames are
written to the AVI file. A high value means you can fast
forward/rewind to a particular frame in your movie much faster. But
it also means a larger file size.
ScreenShow Pro's Recorder Module allows you to specify these
video rates to match you exact needs. Video options will be review
in the Video Options section.
Cursor Options
Cursor options allow you to draw attention to the action your
cursor is performing.
Hide Cursor Allows you to hide the cursor
during the recording.
Show
Cursor This will show the
mouse cursor during the recording.
There are several cursors you can use:
Use Actual Cursor will use the actual shape and position of
the cursor.
Use Custom Cursor allows you to select a custom cursor from
the list on the right.
The "Use Cursor From File" option allows you to load a cursor
from a file.
Cursor
Highlight You can use
the Highlight Cursor option to color a defined area around the
cursor. You can select the custom size by moving the slider and also
choose the shape and color of the highlight area using the Shape and
Color options. A preview of the cursor is shown in the box on the
right; the preview size is half the actual size. When recording, the
highlighted area will not appear around the cursor, it will only be
shown when playing the video.
Keyboard Shortcuts
You may want to record a video without letting the ScreenShow Pro
window appear in it. To do this you have the Keyboard Shortcuts
option. They allow you to define hotkeys for starting, stopping,
pausing or canceling a recording.
You can also define keys for operating with layouts, jumping to
the next or previous layout and showing/hiding the current layout.
Please see the Layout section to learn more about layouts. You can
choose any keys and any combinations using the CTRL, ALT and SHIFT
keys.
You can access the Keyboard Shortcuts menu by choosing the
Tools->Keyboard Shortcuts. (as shown in the image below)
Autopan
When this option is selected the fixed area defined in the
Regions Settings will follow the mouse cursor wherever it goes.
Select the Enabled option in the Options->Autopan menu:
Setting the Autopan Speed
This controls the maximum speed at which the recording area
follows the cursor. The value is expressed in screen pixels. If the
number is small, the recording area will move very slowly thus
allowing you to exit the recording area without being able to see
that when you play the video. If you want to avoid that, you should
set the speed to a higher value. On the other side, a value that is
to high will cause the rectangle to actually jump from one point to
the other and that is not really esthetic. Therefore, you should set
the speed to a medium value.
Regions & How to Set
Before you start your recording, you should set up the recording
region (the region on the screen which will be recorded in the
video). You can set it up by choosing Record from the top menu. You
can see 3 options:
Region
This option lets you choose a rectangle before the actual
recording starts. The mouse pointer will turn into a cross-hair pen
(), allowing you to select an area of your screen. You can do that
by clicking the left mouse button and dragging over the desired
area.
Fixed Region
Full Screen
Full Screen mode records the entire screen.
Video Options
You can access the Video Options dialog box by choosing
Options->Video from the menu bar.
Setting the video options allows you to optimize your video
recordings by choosing between the file size, quality and frame
rates of your video files.
The Compressor
The select-box allows you to select the encoder for your AVI
file. An encoder compresses your AVI files to make them smaller in
size and cause them to play faster. The default setting is the MS
Video 1 compressor.
Configure
You can click this button if you want to configure the parameters
of your selected compressor. You should, however, be very careful
what changes you make for it may cause the ScreenShow Pro software
to behave unpredictably or degrade its performance. You should know
exactly what you’re doing when adventuring to change the
compressor’s parameters. For some compressors, clicking this button
will not have any effect.
Quality
This determines the quality of your video. A lower quality means
a smaller file size.
Set Key Frame
As discussed above (Video Basics), this field lets you specify
how often full frames are written to the AVI file. This has a direct
impact on the file size and the video quality. It also determines
how fast you can fast forward and rewind to a specific frame when
watching the video.
Capture Rate
This will determine the number of frames that ScreenShow Pro
captures every second (the input rate).
Playback Rate
The playback rate allows you to specify the number of frames
played back in a second (the output rate). The typical frame rate
for both input and output is 20 fps (frames per second).
Auto Adjust
Use the Auto Adjust settings to set the Key Frame Rate, Capture
Rate and Playback Rate automatically through the slider. Shift the
slider to the left to increase the frame rate and to the right to
reduce file size. If the slider is situated at the right of the Time
Lapse indicator, it means you are creating a time-lapse movie.
In Time Lapse mode, ScreenShow Pro will usually capture a frame
only after a long period of time. However, during playback, the
frames will be displayed more quickly.
Audio Options
You can also choose to record a soundtrack to go along with the
movie you record. There are several options you can define.
To access the Audio Options dialog box select Options->Audio
from the main menu:
Recording Audio from Microphone
You can choose the Record Audio from Microphone option. When this
is enabled you will be able to record your voice (or anything you
want) using the microphone as the audio recording device
Do Not Record Audio
You can also choose to have no audio for your movie. You can do
this by choosing the Do Not Record Audio option.
Setting Audio Options for Microphone
To set up your options when recording with a microphone you will
need to select the Settings... options from the menu shown above. It
will allow you to set the recording format and the compressed format
of your audio.
Recording Format
You have several options here. What you have to know in order to
properly choose the desired recording format is that there are three
attributes defining the format:
The samples-per-second (SPS) option (measured in kHz). In data
conversion, an analog signal is converted to a stream of numbers,
each representing the analog signal's amplitude at a moment in time.
Each number is called a "sample." The number sample per second is
called the sampling rate, measured in samples per second.
The mono/stereo option.
The bits-per-second (BPS) option defines the frequency at which
bits are passing a given "point". For speech, the usual values are 8
and 16. This, however, is a poor quality if you want to record more
complex sounds.
You should be aware that by increasing the SPS and BPS values you
will also increase the size of the final file.
Compression
Aside from choosing the recording format, this option allows you
to choose the format that will be saved with your movie. After the
recording is done using the options in the Recording Format section,
the audio will be compressed using the Compressed Format options.
When clicking on the Choose Compressed Format button you will be
asked to choose a format. You can either use a saved format from the
Name list, or you can simply use a predefined format. You have a
list of existing formats in the Format list and you can further
describe the format you desire by selecting the Attributes (they are
the same as the one discussed in the Recording Format paragraph
above).
Interleave Video and Audio
You measure the Interleave Factor using frames or milliseconds.
The interleave factor determines the amount of interleaving in your
movie. Normally, this value is specified in number of frames. A
value of 1 frame will mean full interleave. This will determine how
smooth you movie will play. Larger values will mean less
interleaving.
You can also specify the Interleave Factor in milliseconds. If
you choose to interleave a movie every 100ms for a movie with a
capture rate of 200 frames per second (capture frames every 5
milliseconds), the Interleave Factor will be equivalent to
interleave every 20 frames.
Use system method for audio recording
It is advisable to use this option if you don’t really know how
to set up the recording options. If you experience low quality audio
recording using your options in ScreenShow Pro you might want to
check this option. You might get better results. It will use the
system commands to (MCI Recording) perform the recording. When this
method is selected ScreenShow Pro will ignore all the Audio Options
for Microphone settings except the Interleave Factor.
Please note that you can set up the system input device in
Control Panel->Sound and Audio Devices->(Audio Tab).
NOTE: Some sound cards disallow your system to record while
another application is playing sounds. In this case ScreenShow Pro
will issue an error when you attempt to record with the Record Audio
option being enabled.
Audio and Video Synchronization
If you the audio is not in phase with the video during playback,
you have the possibility to synchronize them by using the Audio and
Video Synchronization menu. You can access it by choosing
Tools->Audio and Video Synchronization... from the context
menu.
The SWF Producer is a program that converts AVI to flash. You can
choose that option if you want to start the SWF Generator and
convert your AVI to SWF.
The default option is Do not shift the audio or video stream. You
should change this only if you experience problems.
Note that the dialog only handles the case when the audio goes
before the video, allowing you to delay the video recording, thus
synchronizing the audio and video recordings.
The shift amount is measured in milliseconds. You can usually set
the synchronization after viewing the video several times.
Program Options
The Program Options allow you to customize the program’s behavior
before/while/after the recording. You can access the Program Options
menu by clicking Options in the menu bar and moving the cursor over
the Program option. You can see the available options in the image
below:
Minimize program on start recording
This option will automatically minimize the program to the system
tray after the recording starts.
Hide flashing rectangle during recording
Normally, a flashing rectangle is displayed on the screen while
recording your video. If this option is checked, the flashing
rectangle will no longer appear during
recording.
Save settings on exit
You have the choice to save all the changes you made to the
program’s options. If this option is not checked, the program will
reset all the settings you made and return to the default
ones.
Capture translucent/layered Windows
In Windows 2000 or XP, there are certain windows that are
translucent/layered and cannot be captured without turning this
option on. An example is the Office Assistant in Office 2000 or
XP.
Play AVI File Options
Options:
Play the final AVI file immediately and automatically after
recording
Not play the AVI file after recording
play the movie using your default player
play the movie using the ScreenShow Pro Player
Temporary Directory for Recording
ScreenShow Pro creates temporary files while recording. These
temporary files can become very large and crash your system if your
system ran out of disk space.
You can choose to save the temporary files in: The Windows
Temporary Directory The directory where ScreenShow Pro is
installed Another directory that you specify
System Resources & Thread Priority
There are programs that use a lot of the system’s resources.
These programs can cause ScreenShow Pro to be unstable and the frame
rate drops to about 0-5 fps. In order to avoid this, ScreenShow Pro
can be set to have a higher priority than other programs. However,
this will decrease some other programs’ performance as well as
causing Windows to stop responding. If you really want to record
something and need to change this priority, you can set the value to
Above Normal, Highest and Time Critical. However, it is best to
leave this option with its default value, Normal.
Options for Naming the AVI file
You can choose to have the AVI file automatically named and saved
after the recording stops or you can choose to have the program ask
you for a name every time you make a recording:
With auto-naming, you can now avoid giving a name to every AVI
you record. The name of the file will have the following format
1422005_1520_26.avi and is saved in ScreenShow Pro’s installed
directory. The name is constructed using the following rules:
the first string of digits is the date of the recording: 1422005
– 14th of February, 2005
the second string represents the time when the file was saved:
1520 – 3:20 PM (15:20)
the third number indicates the length of the movie: 26
seconds.
Preset Time
You can specify the length of your movie before you start the
recording. In order to do this you have to check the “Stop recording
after a period of” checkbox and then select a number of seconds
using the up and down arrows:
Troubleshoot
There are 2 common problems that occur when recording with
ScreenShow Pro, which are actually wrong settings. If you encounter
one of these two problems, you can use ScreenShow Pro to
automatically fix them and restore you’re system.
For the first problem, when the audio recording no longer works
properly, you’ll have to check the I have encountered the above
problem box and click OK. You will be announced that the program
needs to shut down in order to restore the settings.
For the second problem, when the program actually crashes you can
simply check the box and click OK. The program does not need to
restart. It’s simply a codec conflict and ScreenShow Pro can
restrict the video codecs in order to prevent the crash.
You may want to record a video without letting the ScreenShow
window appear in it. To do this you have the Keyboard Shortcuts
option. They allow you to define hotkeys for starting, stopping,
pausing or canceling a recording. You can also define keys for
operating with layouts, jumping to the next or previous layout and
showing/hiding the current layout. Please see the Layout section to
learn more about layouts. You can choose any keys and any
combinations using the CTRL, ALT and SHIFT keys.
(You can access the Keyboard Shortcuts menu by choosing the
Tools->Keyboard Shortcuts; see the section on Keyboard Shortcuts
for more options in that dialog)
Screen Annotations
The Screen Annotations feature allows you to add captions to your
screen during recording. To instantiate a certain shape (for example
the Orange Gradient shape) you can simply click-and-drag it out of
the Screen Annotations window.
This is an example of a Screen Annotation:
You can access the Screen Annotations menu by choosing
Tools->Screen Annotations in the menu bar or by simply clicking
on the Screen Annotations button:
The Screen Annotations option consists of two main components:
Shapes and Layouts.
Shapes
Shapes are ‘floating’ boxes that appear on top of all other
windows. It’s composed of an image body where a image of your choice
can be displayed and a text area where you can write whatever you
want. You can see an example above. The uses of these shapes are
pretty obvious: to explain certain parts of a video. You can write
an additional explanation, a comment or make any kind of statement
while the movie is playing.
Instantiating a shape
To create a shape, click and drag the shape out of the Screen
Annotations window.
Editing a shape
You can access the edit option for a shape by right-clicking on
it. A drop down menu will appear and you have several options.
Aside the actual editing options, you can choose to:
Save – which will save the shape’s appearance Save Layout –
which will save the layout (read more about Layouts Clone – which
will make an exact copy of the shape Close – will close the
active shape Close All – will close all the shapes on the
screen Refresh – will refresh the shape if it is not shown
correctly
Editing Text
Choose the Edit Text... option. The Text Properties window will
appear:
In this window, you can edit: The text message Font
options Text Color Alignment Language/encoding (if you need
specific characters; this feature is only available on Windows
XP/2000)
When you choose the Edit Text... option you will notice that a
dotted rectangle appears around the text:
You can move the rectangle by dragging it with your mouse, or you
can resize it by dragging the edges/corners.
Editing an Image
Using this option you can set the options for the background
image as well as the options for the cutout region of the selected
shape.
Select Edit Image... from the shape menu.
You can choose from:
1. No cutout region.
The shape will display as-is.
2. Create cutout using transparency color.
This will create a cutout region by selecting a transparency
color (similar to an alpha channel in Photoshop). If you specify a
color, all areas of that color will be made transparent allowing you
to see the background.
In the example below, the selected transparency color is
Black.
The image above will then look like this:
3. Create cutout using pre-defined shape
You can create a transparent region around the shape using a
pre-defined shape: Round Rectangle, Ellipse and
Rectangle.
When using the Round Rectangle option, the first
image above will display like this:
You can also add a border to the shape. If we use a Red Border
Color and specify a Border Size of 5 pixels, the image displays like
so:
4. Background
If the shape has no background image you can choose a background
color by clicking on the Background Color button.
If the shape has a background image you can load an image for the
background by clicking on the Load New Image button. The accepted
formats are GIF, BMP and JPG.
Editing Transparency
Select Edit>>Transparency
You can change the shape’s transparency if you want to be able to
still see the background. This option is only available in Windows
2000/XP
NOTE: If you choose to enable the Transparency option you should
be aware that it will affect the frame rate causing it to drop
significantly. Also, if you want the shape to be captured properly
during recording you should enable the Capture Translucent/Layered
Window option in the Program Options menu.
Resizing Shape
Select Resize... from the context menu to resize the shape.
You can specify the Width and Height by moving the slider and you
can return to the original size of the shape by clicking the Reset
Size button
NOTE: A larger shape will be drawn and displayed very slowly.
Managing Shapes
You have the choice to set the library options by choosing the
Library menu in the menu bar. The options:
New Shape Library – creates a new empty shape
library. You can create new custom shapes to populate this new
library Open Shape Library – opens a shape library from an
existing fil Save Shape Library – saves the opened shape library
for future us Insert Shape Library – adds the shapes from an
existing library to the library that is currently open New Layout
Library – creates a new empty layout library Open Layout Library
– opens an existing layout library from a file Save Layout
Library – saves the current layout library Close Screen
Annotations – closes the window
You can also set up some object options using the Screen
Annotations' Objects menu. Aside from the editing options which were
discussed above, you can set up the following options:
Move Item Up – moves the selected shape/layout one position up in
the list Move Item Down – moves the selected shape/layout one
position down in the list Copy/Paste – classic copy/paste
option Remove – you can choose to delete an item in the
list Layout Shortcuts – you have several layout hotkeys you can
define. You can also set these up using the Keyboard Shortcuts menu.
The available options will be discussed in the Layouts
section. Edit Name – allows you to choose a different name for
the selected shape. You can also do that by selecting a shape and
pressing the F2 key.
Creating a New Shape
By right-clicking the shapes box you have the option of creating
a new shape as shown below:
You can see that you also have here the same options as the ones
discussed in the Managing Shapes section.
When you select the New Shape option the New Shape window will
appear:
This window lets you:
Choose a name for the new shape you’re creating Specify what
background you want to use. You can choose to have a Blank Image as
your background, allowing you to further change the background color
in the Edit Image menu (see Editing Images). If you choose to have
an image as your background you will have to browse to the image
file. Choose the size of your shape Enter the text that you’d
like to be displayed
Layouts
A layout is just the arrangement of one or more shapes on your
desktop.
You can access the layout menu by selecting the Layout tab in the
Screen Annotations window.
You must prepare all your layouts before recording starts. The
layouts will be arranged in a list. This list determines the order
in which they will appear on the screen. When recording you can
switch between layouts by pressing the chosen hotkey for
next/previous layout. You can select the desired key combination in
the Keyboard Shortcuts menu. This cycling between layouts will
determine the right shape to appear at the proper time in the right
position (layout).
You can right-click a certain layout to display a drop-down menu
for the selected layout. You have the same options here as you had
in the shape menu: Copy, Paste and Remove, the name editing option
and the Open Layout option for displaying the selected layout. You
can also operate with the layout libraries. For more information on
these options please read the Manage Shapes section.
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