Screencasting software

Since posting my first screencast yesterday I’ve received a couple of emails asking about the software used to make it.

iShowU is used for capture. I already held a license for the standard version of Snapz Pro X, and normally I would lean towards it because it is the product with the more established reputation but after trialling iShowU for just 5 minutes I decided it was the one for me. It costs US$20 (compared with US$40 for the Snapz Pro X upgrade) and has a large number of features and preferences that make it ideal for screencasting; I’m sure that you’ll feel the same if you give it a try.

KeyCastr is used to show what keys are being pressed on the keyboard. It too is highly customizable and once again there’s no competition. It’s freeware.

OmniDazzle is used to highlight the location of the pointer.

These tools are ideal for throwing together a quick-and-dirty screencast like yesterday’s; that is one where you want to just to do one take and record live audio as you go. For lengthier, more polished screencasts I think you’ll have to do multiple takes, record the audio separately (almost definitely with a microphone other than the built-in one that came with your Mac), and put it all together in Final Cut Pro as described here.

I found out about most of these tools from watching the screencasts provided by Railscasts. They have very high production values and are well worth checking out if you want to learn about Ruby on Rails.