Capturing Video and Audio

[Tsar Nikk]

I know that I get this question a lot, so thought that it might be useful to someone out there...this is a great tool for showing your directors how their drill is supposed to look in animation:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en

Once you have it installed, set it up to "capture screen," capture the specific window you want (with or without audio), and tweak the settings as you see fit. Granted, the resolution isn't going to be that great, but you can get a taste of how it works here:

http://www.nikknakks.net/visual/samples.htm

In fact, I think I just thought of a way to make the drill look larger, which is just capturing the video from the Perspective view window...

But anyhow...just a tip to throw out there for my fellow PC users...I am sure Mac has something similar.

[desharkey]

Nikk,

I noticed in a response to one of my threads that you now use a Mac. Have you done a "video" for clients using the Mac yet? If so, any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Dale Sharkey

[Tsar Nikk]

Nikk,

I noticed in a response to one of my threads that you now use a Mac. Have you done a "video" for clients using the Mac yet? If so, any tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Dale Sharkey

I certainly have, and it surprisingly took me a bit of digging to find out how to do it correctly. What I am doing now is capturing the audio/video using a program for the Mac called iShowU (http://www.shinywhitebox.com/home/home.html). You can test out the demo for a month, and then you have to pay $20. I have already bought it, because it really is better than anything else I have come across.

I set the recording options to "Small, High Quality, Small File" and I check "Record System Audio," change the frame rate to 30, "Don't record the mouse," and uncheck everything at the bottom except for "Show Capture Guide when Recording." Then I open Pyware, and I use the new Figurines feature and the large perspective window. I go back to iShowU and click "Edit Recording Area" and make it the size of my perspective window. Then I go back to Pyware, hover my mouse over the Play button, and use the keystroke Shift-Command-A: That sets it to record, so I press the Play button and voila! When it is done, I press Shift-Command-T and it stops recording.

You can mess around with the features some more as your system requires. The file should be small enough to be able to send it to your client. If you have any questions, ask me and I will try to help.

[Ryan H. Turner]

OK...now that the season has died down I wanted to hit this topic one more time. I have a brother in law that was able to get me an authorized copy of Camstasia Studio 4 (he's a dealer or something...I paid for it though!) for pretty cheap. This program allows you to record sight and sound of what's on your computer screen. It works very well. It also can change the format of the video to match what you want it to, like Quicktime or WMV. So--here's what I do.

--Put my drill markers at the beginning and end of the song, and set it up for animation with music (if I have it synched).
--Put my "overhead" view on--the kind with the triangle figures and the ability to look at the drill from all angles and what have you.
--Turn on Camstasia, and it has an option to record only a PART of the screen, and you can define it with a simple click and drag and highlight JUST the viewer window.
--Hit play on Pyware and record on Camstasia, and away we go.
--Follow instructions to turn movie into a Quicktime file.
--Send Quicktime file (usually pretty big--too big to send via email) to "YOUSENDIT.COM" where you can temporarily store large files. It automatically ships a link via email to whoever you want.
--Director gets email of the link, goes to Yousendit, downloads animation that way.

I'm not sure Pyware will be happy that I'm circumventing what they REALLY want me to do and that's force a director to buy their viewer. But I think that's really chincey of Pyware. I don't see Finale or Sibelius charging me for THEIR viewers, now do I???

[gswmark]

Camtasia is now up to release 5. There are lots of options and it can be daunting at times to get through them all, but they have some nice wizard interfaces for those that are less computer-savvy.

iPas is also great but its very hard to tell how many students are using it and what effect (if any) it has on their individual performances. Unfortunately there is no automatic way of knowing who or how many are taking advantage of the service - that makes it hard to justify the annual expense.

Is anyone else using iPas? what do you like/dislike about it?

[Pyware]

I can tell you how many of your students have installed and activated the ipas performer's practice tools on your account. Please email me at dustin@pyware.com.

[marooncadets]

In my case, I am now an assistant director and I have a head director who is technologically challenged. I showed him what iPAS could do and he thought it was nice, but that was it. The students who use the viewer get some great feedback, which the kids really like.

Kids learn today with video games- fail, fail, fail, succeed, fail, fail, succeed.... you get the picture. If we don't use the resources that are available, such as iPAS and Java 3D, we are just missing the boat.

I look at this technology as a BIG TIME SAVER!!!! I have 2 kids and this time of year, they want their daddy back. Kids learn by seeing and hearing and DOING. Kids can learn much faster than we give them credit for. My 5 year old can find and do things on websites I couldn't do 5 years ago.

Having worked with iPAS for several years, I like the progress it has made from year to year, with changes that make sense and and are helpful (unlike some companies who throw out a new version yearly and have issues with it). It is stable and I have never had it crash (at least not yet). The integration with drill as well as musical testing is been a big plus.

I apologize for sounding like a spokesman for the company, but I really believe and like this product.