Create Screencasts for Free
Let me just say right of the bat, this post is for the Windows users looking to create screencasts for free. I am not using a Mac right now in my daily workflow. The Mac in my house is in the entertainment center downloading video podcasts and playing music on through the stereo. Soon it will be downloading rented movies from iTunes.
Screencasts are meant to be a first person view of what’s going on the narrator’s computer. Usually they teach something. Some of the screencasts that I view have to do with developing software. The narrator walks you through the necessary steps to get a development environment environment working and developing a simple application. But screencasts can be about anything. Showing someone how to subscribe to your podcast for example. Hint, hint.
The best free program that I’ve found for creating screencasts is called CamStudio. It’s a freeware program that had it’s roots as a commercial application. Check out the web site for more information.
For creating information screens with helpful information like what the screencast is about, the author, the website where the viewer can find more, you can type those into Word and then use CamStudio to create the video, or create a more imaginative information screens, use a free program like Paint.net. After capturing the video from the intro, pause the recording, switch applications and then push record again. The cut will be very clean. You can then record your decked out information screen in CamStudio. Another option is to import the graphic into a video editor .
To get that pro looking output, you might want to get a video editor. There area bunch of free video editors out there including the built-in Windows Movie Maker on Windows XP and Vista. In the useful links section below you’ll find a page with a great list of free video editing applications.
So as an example, I spent literally five minutes recording the screencast below. It is a quick example of what you can do with free tools. I used Word for the intro and then iTunes to teach a listener how to subscribe to a podcast. Simple, yes, effective, definitely.
Useful Links:
List of free video editing applications
CamStudio
Paint.net
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Great blog you got here! I’m not into podcasting but I’m sure those who are will find your posts useful.
Thanks for the link!