Appendix B: Recording Alternative Platforms


When crafting your expert tutorials and marketing spots for the various projects related to your work, it’s likely you’ll be exposed to computing platforms other than Windows. Unfortunately, Camtasia Studio currently supports only Windows 2000 and later. So what happens if you need to record a Mac or Linux application, or even a mobile program on the Palm OS or Pocket PC? In each of these cases, I can give you a way to record it using Camtasia Studio. While there are some trade-offs, I’ve found that these solutions do a remarkable job of getting content from other operating systems into Windows, where you can then capture it using our favorite program.

Recording Any Desktop Using VNC

Platforms supported: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Solaris (SPARC), HP-UX 11

VNC, which stands for Virtual Network Computing, is a software solution that allows you to remotely interact with other computers, effectively viewing (or even controlling) their desktops in a window on your computer. The VNC source code is open-source, and there are therefore about a gazillion variants. Fortunately, that is also what makes it available free for your download. While I’ve listed the more popular supported operating systems above, you can probably find a version of VNC for just about every operating system out there. It’s also available for Java.

VNC has two components: a server that offers up the computer as a host, sharing its screen and (possibly) giving up its control to the client computer; and the client, which can view the shared content and, if allowed by the server, control the mouse cursor remotely and execute commands on the server machine.

What’s important for our purposes is that VNC can take the screen of just about any OS and plaster it all over your Windows desktop. Gee, I wonder if there’s some sort of program out there that could capture the contents of that window and save it as a video? Using the Camtasia Recorder, we’re going to do just that.

How do we go about this? First, you need a copy of VNC for each operating system you’re working with. You’ll need to install at least the client portion on your Windows 2000 or XP machine (the one running Camtasia Studio). You also need the server portion installed on your source machine.

So where do we download all this wonderful software? As an open-source project, there are multiple developers of VNC, each of whom supports different operating systems. Check out some of these links for different flavors of VNC:

  • Real VNC (www.realvnc.com) - the “official” version by the original developers from AT&T labs in Cambridge.

  • TightVNC (www.tightvnc.com) - offers some bug fixes and enhancements, including enhanced compression algorithms.

  • UltraVNC (www.uvnc.com) - brings some security features to the table such as session encryption and Active Directory-based security.

  • Vine Server (formerly OSXvnc) (www.redstonesoftware.com/ products/vine/server/vineosx) - VNC server software for Mac OS X. They also have a VNC server application for Mac OS 9.

While it’s beyond the scope of this book to walk you through the process of capturing every OS out there with VNC, here’s a quick getting started guide, using the Macintosh OS X as an example. Please consult the documentation of your individual VNC server application to find out how to get up and running with it, but the client-side setup and the recording process should be the same as in this guide.

Recording Mac OS X Using VNC

To my knowledge, Vine Server is the only Mac-specific VNC server software out there, although there are several Mac-friendly clients. But it’s the server program we need in this case. Before you do anything else, download the software using the link posted above. If you haven’t already done so, also install VNC on your client computer (the one that’s doing the recording). Downloading from any of the first three links above should get the job done on the client side.

image from book

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s how we go about getting VNC up and running so that we can record our Mac application:

  1. On your Macintosh, launch Vine Server. Its dialog appears.

  2. On the General tab, make note of the display name (you’ll need this information later when connecting from your Windows PC).

  3. In addition, it would behoove you to enter a password into the Password field, also noting this information for when you connect.

  4. Click the Start Server button.

  5. On your Windows PC, launch Camtasia Recorder. Choose your capture input: Screen if you’ll be setting VNC to take over your entire screen, or Window if you’ll only be displaying VNC in a window.

  6. In the Tools Options dialog of Camtasia Recorder, enable both Minimize before starting capture and Pause before starting capture on the Capture tab.

  7. Launch VNC Viewer. The following dialog appears:

    image from book

  8. Click the Options… button. The dialog that appears will vary based on whatever flavor of VNC you happen to be using. Explore your options. There are two that I usually mess with. The first is Full-screen mode. This displays the operating system full screen rather than just in a window. It helps to be able to see the entire server screen without needing to scroll all over the place. Keeping the monitor resolution of the server computer lower than that of the client computer helps as well. If you’re going to enable full-screen mode, then you’ll also want to change a second option, namely to specify a hotkey for accessing the VNC menu. Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time accessing your own desktop and getting back out of the client when needed. Look around in your Viewer options dialog; it’s usually listed under Menu key or something like that.

  9. In the server window, type in the display name you noted back in step 2. Click OK.

  10. If you specified a password on the server side (step 3), you are prompted to enter it. Do so and click OK. The remote desktop will appear on your screen.

  11. Press your Record hotkey (F9 by default) to turn the Recorder on (in paused mode). If you’re recording VNC in a window, click the server’s desktop window when prompted. Press your hotkey again to get rolling. Record your session per usual. Press your Stop hotkey when finished.

image from book

VNC Tips

Tip 1: Forget the net. While VNC developers are constantly working to optimize its compression, keep in mind that viewing another computer remotely in real time sucks up a lot of bandwidth. If you’re going to be making a broadcast-quality recording of this session, you want it to flow as fast as possible so that it doesn’t look like your video was made in slow motion. I therefore recommend only recording content sent over a local area network (LAN), rather than over the Internet. If you can, get both machines (server and client) running off the same router.

Tip 2: Juggle computers. If you’re fortunate enough to have both machines in the same room, my recommendation is to work from the machine you’re recording. While it’s tempting to work remotely with the Windows computer while recording, thereby controlling everything from a single console, you want to avoid this. Even on LAN connections, there can be a bit of a lag, and this lag is exacerbated when your commands originate away from the source machine. To your audience, your mouse cursor will appear sluggish, and people will assume that its wielder is either highly uncoordinated or simply drunk.

Tip 3: Keep it simple. While the movement of a mouse cursor and the opening of menus are relatively fluid when viewed remotely, moving windows around or doing other activities with a lot of background changes can eat up a ton of bandwidth, and you’re almost certain to see some lag. Keep your actions simple. In addition, just doing things like cleaning up your desktop icons and temporarily removing your desktop wallpaper can also help stream that screen a bit faster (as well as reduce unnecessary clutter).




Camtasia Studio 4. The Definitive Guide
Camtasia Studio 4: The Definitive Guide (Wordware Applications Library)
ISBN: 1598220373
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 146
Authors: Daniel Park

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