How to capture steps taken in Paint.Net for an MM Movie?

[Carver]

I am trying to make a Paint.Net tutorial (just to send to some friends, not to post here). I am using Windows Media Encoder to capture the step-by-step action on the screen. The resulting WMA/Video file produced by Windows Media Encoder looks okay when I play it full screen in Windows Media Player. However, when I edit it as a Windows Movie Maker project everything on the full screen is blurred even before I save it as a project and convert it to a

Movie Maker movie. So what I have captured is totally useless. What can I do to capture a better quality?

[Simon Brown]

Have you tried using a different program, such as CamStudio?

[Carver]

Simon, I have only tried Windows Media Encoder. It seemed to do a good job until I tried to use its wma file in Movie Maker. I have never used CamStudio, but I will give it a try. Have you used CamStudio for this purpose? Any tips on using it?

[Simon Brown]

Your post didn't make clear whether you wanted to record a video or stitch several screenshots together - CamStudio records a video (which I haven't tried in WMM, but plays in all three media players I have installed). You can also add annotations within the program, although I haven't tried this.

[Carver]

I am trying to make a few short videos showing the steps involved in using Paint.Net. I can capture exactly what I want using Windows Media Encoder, but the quality of what I save when doing that is very poor so I cannot use it to make the Movie Maker movies that I wnat to end up with. So, I am looking for specific tips to help me do a better job of capturing using CamStudio than I have been with Media Encoder (or even tips on how to do a better job when using Media Encoder).

[Simon Brown]

Are you having problems with CamStudio?

[Possum Roadkill]

Another program you might try is Utipu's Tip Cam. I like it better than Cam Studio (which I also have) because it has a few more features than the Cam Studio version I have and it also allows you to export the file as an .avi making it easier to edit in a program like Movie Maker. You also might consider adding screen captures to your tutorial. This would allow you to do markups on the .png file like text, arrows, and circles to draw attention to settings in plugins.

[Simon Brown]

Another program you might try is Utipu's Tip Cam. I like it better than Cam Studio (which I also have) because it has a few more features than the Cam Studio version I have and it also allows you to export the file as an .avi making it easier to edit in a program like Movie Maker.

CamStudio also exports the video as an AVI (as well as SWF), although I don't know what codec the video is in, as AVI is just a container.

[Possum Roadkill]

Another program you might try is Utipu's Tip Cam. I like it better than Cam Studio (which I also have) because it has a few more features than the Cam Studio version I have and it also allows you to export the file as an .avi making it easier to edit in a program like Movie Maker.

CamStudio also exports the video as an AVI (as well as SWF), although I don't know what codec the video is in, as AVI is just a container.

I have an older freeware version that only exports as a SWF. Have you tried Tip Cam? It does a really nice job. I have used it for tutorials on my mapping website and found it to be a little more versatile. I liked being able to set it so that the capture window follows your cursor when zoomed into a part of the screen. This gave me a better output resolution when showing details like tools settings and dialog boxes.

[Simon Brown]

I have an older freeware version that only exports as a SWF.

There is a commercial product with a similar name (CamTasia Studio), but CamStudio is still freeware. Although i'll try TipCam in my VM.

[Carver]

I have to say that I ended up having the same problem with CamStudio that I had with Media Encoder. What I captured looked okay as I was working on it in Movie Maker until I tried it in full screen. Then suddenly everything was again blurred. For example, all of the icons on my screen appeared so blurred that even I could not recognize them. It was really bad.

I am not sure, but I assume that the problem is trying to save the entire screen. I also have Camtasia. I use it only to capture & convert PowerPoint presentations. When I capture a PowerPoint presentation, the entire full-screen presentation is reduced to a window much smaller than full size, maybe less than 1/4 of size of the full screen. When the full screen is captured from that smaller window, the quality is great. I was hoping that there was some such feature in Paint.net or CamStudio that those who make Paint.Net tutorials would be able to tell me about.

One reason I was asking about help with CamStudio is that its help button leads to a porn discussion group instead of FAQs and the link to its web site does not work either. I was just looking for some basic instructions. I only have a freeware version of CamStudio but it converts to avi which imprts readily into Movie Maker but, again, the quality of what I capture is poor when enlarged to full screen.

I'll take a look at Utipu's Tip Cam. Thank you for that suggestion. At this point I do not need more features, just better quality, maybe that will help.