If you are a budding screencaster, then there are a number of
tools which can help you in your quest.
Some are free, some cost money,
some are quite complicated to use, and some are simple.
Today, we’ll be
looking at one of the best free and easy alternatives out there.
The Jing
Project,
TechSmith’s free-to-download, cross platform screen capture
and
screencasting tool, has just received some welcome upgrades that make
it even easier for anyone to get started in the world of screen
recording.
Useful Functionality Added
I reviewed Jing when it first reared its head
back in July, and since
then the Techsmith team have added some useful functionality to this
already useful tool.
If you haven’t encountered it before, Jing Project
lets you make
screen capture still images of your desktop (or anything on it), or
movies of up to five minutes long of the same.
This can be really
useful if you are trying to show a friend how to do something on your
computer, or need to get a point across quickly to a client without
laboriously putting it into words and pulling out your hair.
New features Include
- A 3, 2, 1 countdown before you start recording your
screencast, so you can get “psyched” - Onscreen status of whether your mic is on or muted
- No more sign up for Screencast.com when you go to upload
your video (this is now dealt with in the app setup) - Rollover info on the items in your recording history
- Much better access to the HTML embed code, right out of the
share menu (my favourite)
Beauty In Its Simplicity
As I’ve said before,
this isn’t professional screencasting grade stuff – for that
you want to take a look at the new Camtasia Studio 5, or upgrade to Final Cut Pro
if you’re feeling wildly frivolous and have a lot of time on
your
hands.
But Jing’s beauty is in its simplicity, and the ease
with which
anyone can make a screencast and share it over the web in a minute or
so.
Originally written by Michael Pick, a professional screencaster, web video maker and blogger. Some Rights Reserved.
