I’ve covered some of the basics for working with ScreenFlow in the two previous posts. At this point I want to show you a non-conventional way that I use screencasts on a regular basis. What I am referring to is creating videos that are not meant to live on YouTube or another publicly accessible server, rather, videos that have a very limited lifespan, as in hours.

I often find that a quick screencast is the most efficient means to explain something, from how to install/configuration an application to pointing out a problem spot in a block of code.

For example, in the video that follows I talk through the steps I recently explained to another blogger for inserting code into a php file on a WordPress blog to display a Digg icon. The video is short and to the point.

The same idea holds in the next video, no bells or whistles, just a simple description on how to choose a color using the Color Picker application and use the hex value of the selected color to configure style sheet information in an application.

If you are already familiar with creating screencasts, or would like to give it a go, you owe it to yourself to download a free trial of ScreenFlow.

Technorati Tags: screencast, screenflow

In a previous post on using ScreenFlow, I demonstrated some of the basics of this unique application for creating screencasts. What follows is another video demonstrating how to record video separately from audio. Unless you’ve spent time creating a screencast, and have experienced the challenges that come with the same, you might not fully appreciate the value of this feature.

Let me put it this way, I often find it challenging to synchronize all the moving parts, from typing code, clicking the mouse to verbally describing what I’m trying to demonstrate, and if there’s a means to simplify the process, I’m there.

There are tools available for recording video and audio separately, and mixing the two into a final product. However, ScreenFlow offers these capabilities in one tool.

Have a look at the video below to see how I create an audio recording inside of ScreenFlow and merge this with a video recording:

In my short time in working with ScreenFlow, I’ve been impressed with both its ease of use (read, short learning curve) and the powerful and well thought out (and implemented) features to take away some of the pain of creating screencasts.

Technorati Tags: screencast, screenflow

This post is one in a series demonstrating a very intriguing application for creating screencasts, ScreenFlow. If you are currently creating screencasts on a Mac, or have considered doing so, you definitely need to give this a look.

In this post I will create three short screencasts, all created using ScreenFlow. The first will be a simple demonstration of a coding trick which is handy when working with column blocks in TextMate. The second will show how to make various modifications to the first video from within ScreenFlow, and the final will show the end result.

When watching the first video, understand that we haven’t done any editing as of yet, so the code/text is rather hard to read. This is even more pronounced in the second video where I demonstrate ScreenFlow to capture a video showing various editing features of ScreenFlow (it’s not as confusing as it sounds). Stick with me on this and I’ll make it right (click the image below to watch the first video)..

Now that we’ve captured the demonstration of the TextMate trick, we need to dive into some of the editing features of ScreenFlow to make the text more readable (click the image below to watch the video):

And with the changes complete, we can now see the final result (you know the drill):

Join me in the next post where I’ll demonstrate some additional features of ScreenFlow including how to record video separately from audio. If you’ve ever created a screencast, you’ll truly appreciate this feature!

Technorati Tags: screencast, screenflow, TextMate