Playing with SnagIt

[solarblast]

I finally installed SnagIt, and it's very easy to use for grabbing segments of the screen. On the other hand, going further is a bit bewildering, perhaps because I have yet to print out the 200+ page color manual. There seem to be so many pages that use color that it could cost a small fortune to print. In any case, I'll likely defer to b/w.

In the meantime, how do I tell what version I have? The program doesn't have the conventional About.

Operationally, after one selects the area to be grabbed, the preview program appears with the captured image displayed. I can see that it's possible to use the tools there to draw on the image. Fine. If I then capture another image without closing preview, then it replaces the first image. I would have expected that I could capture several images into the preview, but I guess not. It seems one needs to save each image, then capture; otherwise, preceding images are lost.

I do like the way it captures and the easy availability of drawing tools. It may be that one can capture audio and video.

Comments?

[Starman*]

I don't use SnagIt (I use freeware FastStone Capture) so I can only offer generalities.

For your instructions, use the online html (which looks quite good) and the downloadable pdf, no printing needed:
http://www.techsmith.com/learn/snagit/documentation.asp

If there is no "About" try the "Help" menu or the splash screen when the prog opens (if you have configured the prog to see it).

I'm not sure what you are getting at with the multiple previews. Usually one makes a capture and saves it. Snagit's editor seems quite basic but you can access all the saved captures (and presumably copy and paste from one image to another as well as draw). See the html editor pages. For more complex manipulation of several images it's best to save captures and use a third party (someone else's!) graphic editor.

Screen capture utilities are not usually very good for video (and still frame video) captures. I don't think SnagIt has any audio capabilities. There are a number of guides and posts in this forum on video capture.

[solarblast]

It turns out the Help->About is in the so-called main program, which is not the one that pops up with a capture. I had hoped, expected, was that when I was capturing from several open windows, that I could find each one in the capture window, edit each, and then save each individually. Instead I had to capture, edit, save, capture, edit, ...

I'll look at the url you mentioned.

Yes, SnagIts big brother is Camtasia, which does capture video; however, I read or heard somewhere that SnagIt might do something with video and audio. I think SnagIt is pretty slick. It turns PrtScr into a powerful key.

[Starman*]

Re save and edit. I'm not sure why you want to edit multiple captures prior to saving but I guess that's your preference. From my experience when making captures, the first thing you always do is save the capture. If there are any software or pc problems the capture is not lost. Perhaps more relevant to video capture.

Every capture utility I've ever used has autosave and autonumbering capability so you get the captures in the can and think about editing afterwards (best to choose lossless format like bmp for save if you are going to edit). If you have captures that are no good/unwanted, you just throw them away.

Some video capture programs capture to galleries for later save. If you are capturing live from tv, a pc crash loses the lot. Better to use software (or a configuration) that immediately saves to disk.

[DarrellS]

Snagit does capture video and audio. It has a 2 GB capture limit though. I capture a certain show every week and it is a little over 2GB and Snagit gives me an error but if I go into the temporary folder, I can copy the file to a different folder before closing the window and get the file. I have to capture in DivX for this to work because the snagtemp.avi is unreadable until it is reindexed which Mpeg4modifier does for me.

I have to capture at 30 fps since it doesn't do 29.97. Read the manual and practice, practive, practice.

[Starman*]

I've used that same recording capability in Camtasia but it's not what I would really call video recording. It's intended more for creating descriptive video (like the "Video Professor" learning videos) where you can record the screen, mouse movements etc and add a commentary.

If you are trying to record imported video it's still preferable to use proper video software. There are many apps (pay and freeware) that are better for recording video (or editing pre-recorded video).

[DarrellS]

There are some videos on the internet that you can't just download, no matter how many different programs you have to try and get them. The only way to get them is to use a program like Snagit and capture the video screen as it is playing.

I could just capture the same TV program with my TV tuner capture card but I don't get the watermark or the commercials this way and I'm saving the 1080x576 capture in HD-Divx that I can edit with Virtualdub in Smart Render mode in no time at all. The finished file looks and sounds pretty good on my 36" TV screen.

[solarblast]

Yes, that's certainly an important part of Camtasia. I downloaded the 30 day trail last spring, but never fully tried it.

Interesting about capture cards. I didn't know one could do that. Hauppauge? Now if I could only figure out how to get recorded programs off my DirecTV DVR...