Screen+Capture+Tools

toc Capturing your computer screen is a terribly handy trick in all sorts of situations, ranging from creating tutorials to capturing web moments for posterity. Capturing what happens on your screen is a simple process, however, if you want modify or change the image in some way, you'll need a specific program.

Two new vocabulary words for the day!

Screenshots vs. Screencasts

 * Screenshots** are pictures taken of your computer's desktop. This may include the desktop background, icons of files and folders, and open windows. It may also include whatever is being displayed by currently running programs.


 * Screencasts** are digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a //video screen capture//, often containing audio narration or the audio of the applications currently running.

Here is some information on a variety of programs for different purposes:

Snipping Tool (Windows, Free)
Included in Windows 7 and Windows Vista, Snipping Tool fits into a perfect niche for many users. For those of you who don't need high-powered screen capture tools, the basic functionality of Snipping Tool allows you to capture the whole screen, individual windows, or user-specified capture areas. Snipping Tool also has extremely basic editing functions, like the ability to highlight and write on your screen captures. It lacks the more advanced features included in other screen capture tools, but it does a great job filling the gap between the frustrating Print Screen and Paste style screen capture in earlier versions of Windows and more advanced applications. Snipping Tool is a solid choice if you've already got it on your system and your screen capture needs are minimal and far between. (Life Haker)

[|Jing] (Windows/Mac, Free)
Jing is the spartan baby brother of another screenshot tool, Snagit, both of which are products produced by software company TechSmith. Jing fills a niche in the screen capture crowd, allowing folks who want to share their screen captures to do so as quickly as possible. When you install Jing and set up an account at Screencast.com, you can also set Jing to upload to your Flickr account or YouTube account. Once you've set it up, going from capturing a screenshot to sharing the URL for your hosted file takes a matter of seconds. Jing has basic annotation tools, but the real draw is speedy sharing. Upgrading to Jing Pro for $15 a year removes the Jing branding from your images.

[|Skitch] (Mac, Free)
Skitch is a screen capture tool in the same vein as Jing. Skitch the application is closely tied to Skitch.com, the screen capture hosting site. Skitch captures your screen, annotates it, draws on it with swanky graphics, and when you're ready, sharing it online is as easy as saving it to your desktop. If you don't want to use Skitch.com to share your screenshots, you can just as easily use your own FTP, Flickr, or .Mac account. The interface of Skitch is particularly user friendly; nearly all the editing functions are laid out in a ring around your screen capture, making it easy to find the tool you're looking for.

[|Jing] (Windows/Mac, Free)
That's right! Jing also will take screencasts (short movie files) of what happens on your desktop as well. Select any window or region that you would like to record, and Jing will capture everything that happens in that area. From simple mouse movements to a fully narrated tutorial, Jing records everything you see, and do. And then lets you share your SWF videos with anyone. **Jing videos are limited to 5 minutes** for instant, focused communication. Jing can also be configured to return html [|embed code]so you can insert your image or video directly into a blog, website, wiki and more. Upgrading to Jing Pro for $15 a year removes the Jing branding from your videos and also allows you to save your video files in the popular MOV file format.

The new QuickTime Player comes with two new features that will undoubtedly improve the workflows of users that produce screencasts and video tutorials on OS X. Whereas options like “capture a specific area of the screen” or “show mouse clicks” were previously exclusive to third-party tools for the Mac, they’re now built into Lion and accessible directly before a new screen recording session. Quicktime will produce videos any length that you need... as long as you have the hard drive space available!



Screencast-o-matic.com (Windows/Mac, Free)
Sreencast-o-matic.com is a web-based service that utilizes Java to record screencasts of up to 15 minutes. SOM will also allow you to quickly upload your videos directly to YouTube (tagged and all) as well as download the finished video in a varieity of popular formats such as MP4, AVI and FLV. For $12 you get some other cool features as well.

Screen Capture iOS Devices...
