Introduction

This guide will help you get your computer set up and guide you through the process of making a screencast. There are many different ways to do this and different applicationd you can use. This guide will cover the more popular choices.

Setup

Some setups will differ slightly depending on preference and what kind of screencast you are making. It is recommended you use a virtualization enviroment. Most people have different applications, Themes, Desktops, and Icons. These can confuse a new user. Also A VM allows you to have a fresh install to start from each time. If the intention is to demonstrate application usage and the host configuration is sufficiently similar to a standard install a VM is not necessary.

Applications

• VirtualBox (virtualization enviroment)

• gtk-recordmydesktop (record the screencast video/audio)
• audacity (recording audio separately)
• openoffice.org (for titles)
• pitivi (for combining video and audio together and re-encoding to some other formats)

Outline First step is to decide exactly what it is you are wanting to show. Keep the videocasts short and focused. Cover only one topic in each screencast. Dry Run You will want to reherse the steps you are going to take. This is a good opportunity to develop and refine your script.

• Start a virtual machine running the operating system and application which is to be demonstrated
• Go through the software and practice the steps to be demonstrated

Live Recording

• Start a virtual machine running the operating system and application which is to be demonstrated

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox

 Note: If the  demo requires the installation of additional packages then to save time  it can be preferable to setup the necessary repositories, download the  necessary packages without installing them, then remove the repositories  to put the system back to an post-install state. This of course assumes  that you want to show how to enable repositories and install software  within the screencast. To download packages and not install them use  apt-get with the -d option:- apt-get -d packagename1 packagename2 ...

• Start a recording application to capture the contents of the virtual machine window

http://showmedo.com/videos/video?name=1820000&fromSeriesID=182

Note:  It is sometimes preferable to record the video first, and add in the  audio later. If you're sufficiently able to multi task reading aloud  instructions whilst doing them, then record audio and video together. 

• Go through the software and execute the steps to be demonstrated
• Watch the screencast to ensure all is ok
• Add a 'intro', 'outro' slides to the start and end of the screencast

Note: If you  chose to record audio and video separately, then open an audio recording  application and record a narration whilst watching the screencast again

• Check the audio recording for defects
• Post-process the audio to clean it up and ensure it's the right duration for the video
• Combine the audio and video together
• Check the combined audio/video for errors/glitches/sync problems
• Optionally encode/compress screencast to other formats
• Upload screencast to webhosting

= Making the Screencast = Once the applications are installed It is time to make the screencast.

Script

First step is to decide exactly what it is you are wanting to show. Keep the videocasts short and focused. Cover only one topic in each screencast. It is sometimes preferable to record the video first, and add in the audio later. If you're sufficiently able to multi task reading aloud instructions whilst doing them, then record audio and video together.

Dry Run

You will want to rehearse the steps you are going to take. Say or read the script while you so this and make sure they are working well together. Before doing anything you will want to save a snapshot of your VM so that you can easily go back to a clean fresh install.

• Start a virtual machine running the operating system and application which is to be demonstrated
• Go through the software and practice the steps to be demonstrated. You might need to do this a couple of times until you are comfortable with the steps and you know the script very well.

Record the Screencast

Once you are familiar with the steps you will be taking, it is time to record the screencast. If the demo requires the installation of additional packages then to save time it can be preferable to setup the necessary repositories, download the necessary packages without installing them, then remove the repositories. This of course assumes that you want to show how to enable repositories and install software within the screencast. To download packages and not install them use apt-get with the -d option: apt-get -d packagename1 packagename2 ... Start a virtual machine running the operating system and application which is to be demonstrated. Start a recording application to capture the contents of the virtual machine window. Go through the software and execute the steps to be demonstrated Watch the screencast to ensure all is ok Add a 'intro', 'outro' slides to the start and end of the screencast Combine the audio and video together Check the combined audio/video for errors/glitches/sync problems Optionally encode/compress screencast to other formats Upload screencast to webhosting

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