Screencasting, or sharing your desktop as a video presentation, gives you the ability to record your comments and computer screen live for demonstration, teaching and sharing. There are many tools that are available, some are free, so you can begin screencasting without a large investment in software or apps.

Screencasting options for Mac

You can do screen casting with QuickTime 10 for free, so long as you are using OSX 10.8, Mountain Lion. The downside is there is not a lot of control over the recording, but the price is right.

I use Snaps Pro ($69) for my screen image capture and video capture. It has a lot of easy to use options and features such as reducing the size of the video. Check out the video I created for this blog post and uploaded to YouTube.

Another inexpensive option for Mac is iShowu ($20)

Editing Videos

When I need to do editing of my movies, I go one of two ways:

  • QuickTime Pro for Mac and Windows is $29.95 and it allows you to edit your videos using simple cut, copy and paste and gives you the option to save your videos in a host of formats.
  • I also use Screenflow ($99).

Export options from QuickTime Pro:

Screencasting options for Windows

  • There are several free options for windows, including CamStudio (free).
  • To do all the recording and editing on Windows, I’ve had good results withCamtasia ($299).

Screencasting advice

Check out the Jeffery Ways post on screencasting

Mouse Pointers for presentations and Screencasting

I use a mouse pointer to enhance the viewing experience in my screencasting videos. Here are some options:

Windows:

Mac: