I need to create a bunch of videos for work, to demonstrate how a new piece of software works – little short ones – e.g. This is how you save an order.

Ideally I want to find some software that will let me record my screen, and then afterwards, edit it into a short video with text overlay explaining what is going on, on screen. Before and after the video I’d need the ability to put a splash screen / image with the company logo and title on it.

Any suggestions of software that’ll do this? Obviously I could do this with premiere pro or something, but that seems a bit overkill. I’ve found a few pieces of software (e.g. OSB studio) that’ll do the screen capturing, but not the text overlay and splash screens.
Free / opensource is best, but commercial is fine as well if it’s decent.

Any ideas?

Techsmith SnagIt or Camtasia (not sure which is best suited as there’s some overlap). Commercial, but been around for ever and the defacto for anyone building documentation or content that relies heavily on pulling content from the screen itself.

https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html

I’ve used camtasia in the past and it’s pretty intuitive.

Adobe after effects is will do the text bit.

+1 for SnagIt

Cheers all – some good options there

I use snag it every day for screen shots and annotation.

Not done too much with video but it can definitely capture screen, microphone and system sounds – I think it will also do a webcam insert if you’re that way inclined.

Just grabbed something into the editor and you don’t appear to be able to edit the video other than for length.

Seems like Camtasia is the bit you need to do the fancy stuff like overlays etc.

Steps recorder comes with Windows and may be helpful here.

Might not be as slick as you want but I’ve used PowerPoint and the screen record function for this sort of thing

I am guessing that you are on Windows? If so, this will not help, but if on Apple….
Quicktime will record the screen, or any part of it and iMovie will do the editing for all the needs you outline – all stuff that comes as standard.

Ashampoo Snap might suit your needs

I got a free copy via PC Pro magazine a while ago and have paid to upgrade as I find it useful.

You can do it in windows
https://gizmodo.com/windows-10-is-hiding-a-great-video-capture-tool-1719196149

Might be able to do it from graphics driver control panel too, such as AMD radion Relive

can i add a request here? Just so i don’t start up another software thread:

I need to share HTML designs in mobile format. Ideally what I’d like is a web service that can just limit the size of your browser window, so I could give someone a link like

http://www.usefulservice.com/?www.WebPageThatIWantToShare.co.uk?414px

and it would open in a browser but just showing at 414px width.

Obviously the easiest thing would be to give someone the normal link and tell them to resize their browser, but I work in a department where phrases like ‘then just resize your browser’ cause people’s eyes to glaze over because they just don’t understand all these technical things

Upload the video to YouTube or similar and give them a link?

I use Camtasia all the time and it will do exactly what you need.

Check out these tutorials for a taster.

Think of your audience, ie what do they need NOT what do you think they need? What devices and res are they running? How will they access the videos? Do you need to track any activity, eg John Smith did x y but is still crap at z.

Write a script. Say it out loud even if you don’t want to use a voiceover. Add captions if necessary (sometimes better than annotations). Transitions are handy but don’t try being too clever.

Hang on…

resize your browser’ cause people’s eyes to glaze over because they just don’t understand all these technical things

And they are watching videos on HTML? :s

no my request is not related to the OP! I’m sharing HTML emails. Normally I share them by just handing out the ‘view in a browser’ link but obviously this displays the desktop version. I’d prefer ppl to get the mobile render if possible.

Doris its not perfect but you can define the size of the window a link opens in using something like this in the link onClick=”window.open(‘page.html’,’pagename’,’resizable,height=400,width=200′) – although some pop-up blocker etc may not like it.

Ewan, there are various screen recorders etc. If I was looking to do this I’d go slightly further and take a look at WalkMe and see if it can help? Not sure how the pricing is – but if the numbers work its even better than a video.

I need to share HTML designs in mobile format. Ideally what I’d like is a web service that can just limit the size of your browser window, so I could give someone a link like.

A few responsive design checker type apps may do the job for you. For example:

https://www.responsinator.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsingletrackworld.com%2F

https://responsivedesignchecker.com/checker.php?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsingletrackworld.com%2F&width=1200&height=700

How do you annotate an iMovie? Use the ‘Titles’ feature?

Telestream Screenflow is the dogs for doing this, sadly Mac only

thanks funkybaj – both of those were a bit odd (the 2nd one worked for about 2 minutes and now won’t do anything at all) but they set me on the right track and I think I’ve found something now!

(it’s http://mobiletest.me/htc_one_emulator in case anyone’s interested)