Recording screencasts in AVI and converting them into Flash(Windows XP, Vista, 7)

             Giving step-by-step instruction for a DIY software workshop can be a laborious task. What if you could illustrate the entire process in a video? But the questions is, how do you record a software while it performs tasks?
             Similar to taking screenshots of applications, even videos of the entire process can can be recorded. This is called screencasting and it can be done using freeware such as CamStudio. While this application creates AVI files by default, you can even create flash videos, which can later be uploaded to videosharing sites such as YouTube.

             Installation: The installation process is farily simple. All you have to do is uncompress the contents of the zip file into a folder and execute the program. Even the recorder is simple to use, However, before starting, you need to configure some crucial settings.
            Settings: The ‘Region’ option from the main menu offers options to select what area or window you want to capture. As the name suggests, ‘Full Screen’ captures the entire screen, and if you want to record only a paticular portion of the screen, select the option ‘Region’. Now, when you start recording, if the latter is selected, you’ll be prompted to select an area. You can then make your selection by clicking on the top left-corner and dragging the mouse cursor diagnolly. Before you begin recording, you might also want to set the default destination of the recorded video. Go to ‘Options’ from the main menu and navigate to "Program options | Temproary directory for recording | Use user specified directory". Here, select the folder where you want to save the raw recorded fi le. Preferably, select a folder in the secodary partition so that you can prevent the raw video from clogging the system’s resources.

               There are certain hotkeys you can use, such as [F8] for recording/pausing and [F9] to stop the recording. In order to define shortcuts, go to "Options | Keyboard shortcuts". If you wish to pre-determine the quailty of the resulting video, you can do it from "Options | Video Options". Here, you can customize the data compression and frame rate. You can even use ‘Time Lapse’, which will save memory considerably. A value of 50 is adequate for a lengthy and stutterfree playback. As long as ‘Auto Adjust’ is enabled, the tool autmatically adjusts the value under ‘Playback rate’. The time lapse starts half way through the recording. This means that the program records frames with time intervals, and then puts together 20 frames per second and saves the fi le. Here, the playback appears to be sped up. Other settings such as cursor display and audio are also customizable.
              Creating Flash videos: After the recording is complete, the program saves the file in AVI format, so you then need to convert it into SWF format. In order to do this, go to "Tools | SWF-Producer", select the AVI file that needs to be converted, and if requried, make the desired settings such as picture rate, in the following steps. Click ‘Ok’ to to begin converting.