Time lapse process videos

[Alen]

What are some decent programs out there that will record what goes on on your desktop, and in photoshop particularly? I tried a few freeware versions a while back, but they didn't work out too well, they seemed to have trouble saving after the recording was done. Quality was pretty horrible as well.

I'm looking to make a video for a buddy of mine, demonstrating a few things in photoshop and such..

Any ideas?

[Slash]

Camtasia works wonders for me, I've used it to record photoshop with good results.

[stoph]

if youre a mac person, i swear by iShowU (http://www.shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html). 20 bucks, one time cost and you get the full program. you can adjust your recording area, your framerate, your video compression quality, you can opt to record system or input audio, etc etc. spits it all out as a .mov file, which is compatible with quicktime and can be easily imported into any video editing software you own

[Alen]

Thanks for the input, will check out Camtasia when I get a chance.

I'm on a PC stoph so that won't fly unfortunately, but maybe they make a PC version too?

[CGMonkey]

Here's Camtasia but it's entirely free: http://camstudio.org/ works GREAT.

[egerie]

I can also vouch for Camtasia which I've used for exactly that since 2000.

[Alen]

Hmm I think I remember using this program.. what kind of settings do you guys have going? I remember recording about an hour of work in photoshop and when I hit stop, it tried to save it but totally choked. The file was giant.

I installed it just now, will try the default settings.

[egerie]

Well it depends what you want to do. For a timelapse of you working in photoshop, I'd do:

- Fixed Region (if you have a dual screen, on the screen you work in OR the window you use)
- Tools Options:
- Video Setup - Xvid MPEG-4 Codec (OR Techsmith's but anyone viewing will need to install the codec)
- Time-Lapse capture - Capture : 1 frame per 30 seconds - Playback : 15 frames per 1 second
- uncheck the Interleave Audio

- Effects > Options
- Zoom Tab - Zoom level starts at capture [60%]


Try a few minutes of testing to find out what would suit you best.
I had different settings to record my whole day session as I wanted to do a 'day in the life of..' thing. It recorded my whole dekstop space (2 screens) throughout the day but zoomed out enough that you couldn't make out text. Worked quite well and will possibly be featured in a developper diary. The file was around 5 mb I think.
Anyway, good luck :)

[Alen]

Wow I'm an idiot.. I just spent three hours wrestling with the wrong program.. I downloaded Camstudio instead of Camtasia.. sigh. Reading comprehension ftw. :zzz:

Thanks for the details egerie, I'll give it a shot as soon as I download the right software. :)

[CatConvention]

camtasia is free?
is it just a trial?