Location: ANTS - Animated Tutorial Sharing Discussion Forum

Discussion: Choosing a SoftwareReported This is a featured thread

Category: Discussion Forum / General Discussion
Showing 5 posts
Laura_Howell
Laura_Howell
Choosing a Software
Feb 19 2009, 3:36 PM EST | Post edited: Feb 19 2009, 3:36 PM EST
Hello,
Do you have experience in screencast software? I need your input!
Have you or your department done a critical comparison of screencast software in regards to the output (e.g. the resulting video design/look/feel) and how this serves the intended users?

At UW we are in the process of evaluating different screencast software such as Camtasia and Captivate. However, in order to get a true idea of how effective the videos are we need more qualitative information on top of the typical ‘specs’ that are readily available on the software websites.

Here is a quick example of the type of information I am looking for:
I have noticed that a major difference between Camtasia and software like Captivate or Wink is that “Caption Balloons” are used quite differently. In Camtasia the caption balloon are sparingly added afterwards and the “script” that is usually read by the developer and recorded as audio can be added at the bottom of the video during the editing process as text. In Captivate and Wink the caption balloon are added automatically and can be edited afterwards.

Thank you,
laura
 Do you find this valuable?    
Keyword tags: None
Kazakoff
Kazakoff
1. RE: Choosing a Software
Feb 23 2009, 12:53 PM EST | Post edited: Feb 23 2009, 12:53 PM EST
Hi Laura:

You might want to start by reading our thread on Camtasia Help http://ants.wetpaint.com/thread/1285499/Camtasia+help/ It was created several months ago and new releases of both products are now available.

One thing I have learned since then is that Camtasia allows you to automatically indicate if the output is for a handheld device ( I think for an iphone or ipod - but Richard Baer can tell you more about that.). It also has supposedly made it easier to edit audio on their video. This was an issue for a while as you really needed to get your recording right when you did the screencapture as the audio editing was minimal. This meant if you could get used to recording and narating at the same time, you could produce tutorials quickly. If you like to refine what you do, then something like Captivate or Viewletbuilder were preferable as they were like powerpoint (using static screenshots - to which they added moving mouse movements, and you could add / edit Text Bubbles, Text boxes and audio. And as you mentioned, Captivate automatically generates text boxes for you and intelligently adds text that corresponds to your mouse's actions (if you mouse over a link and click on it - for example - it adds text to this effect.)

As the software evolves one thing I would DEFINITELY keep my eye out for is (1) what file outputs are they providing - Shockwave Flash ( SWF), FLV (used on YouTube, MPEG 4 (used on Youtube and Quicktime / iTunes), AVI (Windows movie Files), (2) do they publish for Handheld Devices? I don't think any of them do MPEG 4 yet, but there are file converters out there that will convert to different file types if you want that ability right now. Others may know differently, however, and I welcome thier input.

Carmen 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
paulbetty
paulbetty
2. RE: Choosing a Software
Feb 26 2009, 4:19 PM EST | Post edited: Feb 26 2009, 4:19 PM EST
Hi Laura,

Sorry for the delay in my response. I've been in and out of the office this week. Carmen raises some good ideas about output. If you plan on using Youtube or other video hosting sites, then Camtasia is a good choice. Richard might be able to confirm this, but Camtasia Studio 6 allows you to publish your projects as mp4, the new standard for digital video, in part b/c it supports High Definition video! There was a bit of an uproar, b/c Camtasia Studio 6 dropped FLV as an output, but so many users complained, that the current release gives you all the options now in terms of digital video.

If your focus is in building interactive learning objects, then Captivate or Viewlet Builder are worth considering. Captivate includes some nice quiz templates, and allows you to easily create branching scenarios (like those Choose Your Own Adventure kids books!). All of this interaction requires you to publish your project as a .swf file, which means you'll most likely need to host the project on your own server. Youtube and other video hosting sites don't accept .swf files, in part b/c they can be used to execute JavaScript, and thus pose a potential security problem.

Hope this helps!

Paul B. 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
Laura_Howell
Laura_Howell
3. RE: Choosing a Software
Feb 27 2009, 10:18 AM EST | Post edited: Feb 27 2009, 10:18 AM EST
Thanks Carmen and Paul. This information is very helpful!

It is a hard decision to make because I have used both Captivate and Camtasia and they are so different, yet similar.

I really like them both -- maybe we can get both!! haha. (In another life maybe!)

Have you done any user studies/surveys?

Laura

 Do you find this valuable?    
Kazakoff
Kazakoff
4. RE: Choosing a Software
Feb 27 2009, 4:29 PM EST | Post edited: Feb 27 2009, 4:29 PM EST
We really have not done any studies related to which software people or students like. Richard did some related to what features in screencasts that students like, but did not compare the software.

Perhaps other ANTS members will have done a comparison. I suspect that you will find both work well and it is design that makes any creation good or bad. But do keep in mind the output files and features that you might want to include like Quizzes (you will have to check on this, but I think they are also possible on Camtasia but it may - or may not - have the templates that Captivate or Viewletbuilder does.)

Carmen Do you find this valuable?