I’ve heard of CamStudio in passing, but for some reason had never given it a try before. A post by Chad at Library Voice prompted me to actually give it a go, and if you’re on a really tight budget, this puppy will get the job done for your screencasting needs! It’s definitely quirky, but it’s better than Wink, IMHO. CamStudio allows for audio narration, but no post-creation editing. Well, actually it does give the option of outputting to a Flash Source File for post-processing in Flash, but I don’t know Flash well enough to even attempt that.
Two of the biggest impediments are the fact that the SWF file that it creats won’t play in Mozilla/Firefox unless you edit the HTML file it creates. Not a huge problem, but still. Second is much more of a strike for me, and that’s the fact that while you can add annotations as you go, they have to be all perfectly planned out ahead of time. From the documentation:
“You usually prepare all your layouts before recording starts. When you start recording, you will click a hotkey / shortcut key to cycle through the layouts to display the appropriate captions at the proper time.”
The first test I did had better sound than this example – then I changed a setting and it came out more choppy, but I’m pretty sure it can be made to sound as it should. Here’s a really quick sample for you.
Again, if you’ve got no money and are willing to put up with the quirky interface, CamStudio is worth a look for screencasting.
Technorati Tags: Screencasting, Free, CamStudio
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3 Responses to “CamStudio – Free Screencasting Software”
You’re correct, Paul. The second strike that you mention can be a royal pain. I had to redo some of the same movies over and over because I would mess up. Also, to use the Screen and Video annotations, you basically need to pause the recording to insert arrows, text, etc. There were times when I forgot to pause the recording, and so I would actually record me clicking on the button to insert text. I’m using Captivate now, but I did tinker with DemoStudio for a bit. You can find some examples of what both products can produce on my Biz Wiki Business Screencasts page. I think Captivate produces a much better end product, but for free CamStudio/DemoStudio gets the job done in a pinch.
Thanks for the links, Chad – great to see some examples that were actually thought out rather than thrown together in 3 minutes 🙂 Another example of getting what you pay for I guess…
Another option for good free screencasting software is freescreencast.com
Streamlined free screencasting software with one click upload and hosting to freescreencast.com. From the website you can embed your screencasting into your website or blog by copy/paste of provided code (just like youtube).
The software will also let you save the created .FLV file locally.
Very easy to use, makes getting your screencast onto the web super easy.