Guest Post - How to Use Quicktime's Screen Recording Feature

This morning I received an email from my husband.  He had explored a feature accessible in the Mac Quicktime application.  He shared how to use this feature.  I am posting it here as a Guest Post to share with everyone.

QuickTime Player will record the screen video and mouse movements along with your voice:

Select New Screen Recording from the QuickTime Player menu:

 

What is not exactly obvious are the following two items:

#1 Before starting the recording you need to select the little triangle:  (allows user to select their microphone from the pull-down menu located on the recorder)
 

         
         
#2  After the video is recorded you get this screen at the bottom:  (The user can edit or trim the recording and also send the finished project to their MobileMe Gallery, iTunes, or YouTube account)



That's it:

Attached is a 1 minute instructional video I just made. It is only 5 MB so it should be small enough to email. The QuickTime app also allows directly posting to YouTube as well.

P.S. It helps to have a mostly one-color background. The same video was 4x to 8x larger when I was showing my messy desktop. Having a mostly white background cut the size down considerably.

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Making Movies Using Splice on My iPad 2

The idea of making quick movies on my iPad is intriguing. I continue to evaluate various means of using not only the iMovie app, but also other techniques and apps that are available.  I stumbled across an app called "Splice" by Path 36 in the iTunes App Store. 

I decided to give it a quick test and downloaded the FREE version onto my iPad 2 and also my original iPad, even though it is an iPhone app. It seems to work fine on these devices as well.  I preceded to run the app after installing and re-powering my iPad 2.

You can add video, photos or a combination of the two to include in your project.  Audio is taken from your music library on your device or from the few music files included with the app or you can record your own voice right in the app.




I chose New Project, typed in a name for my test video and entered options for Project Settings (as shown in the screen below) I selected several photos of animals from my iPad photo album stored on the iPad.  I then proceeded to tap various icons in the app, adding video, titles, transitions, setups for landscaping and also to add audio.  

The photos are put into the timeline in the order selected. You can move the clips of video or photos by holding your finger on each photo or clip and dragging and dropping to the area in the sequence of clips or photos.  You also have the option to add additional video/photos, add and edit transitions between photos, and add titles between the photos.

You can select the option to add titles between slides.  You can type in a title and then move and scale the title. and set the duration or length of time title or text will appear.  You can select the option to add transition.  The normal transition is set in the Project Settings, but each transition between each slide can be edited to a few built-in transitions.

You can add audio from your songs or playlists in your device's music library.  You can also add your own recorded audio or from music and sound effect files included with the app.  Click on the Audio tab along the top menu bar.  Clicking on the 'musical note icon" opens access to choose a song or sound effect from your library or those libraries included with the app.  Clicking on the 'microphone icon' brings up a red button that you tap on, and then record your voice for adding to the clip.  The audio appears on the timeline and can be easily slided to the corresponding photo or video clip, where you wish music or sound to occur.  You can also edit the sound clip, by trimming, fading in or out, and changing the volume for the clip.

I was able to export the test movie to my saved photo library on the iPad, and from there it was quick and seamless available to upload to YouTube or MobileMe.  In the few minutes, I played with this app, I found it easy to use, containing some of the features that most might want to use to create a quick slideshow from photos or to trim a movie clip or to add some zip to a movie clip.    The editing options for a video clip include trimming, varying the speed of the video clip,adding Ken Burns effect, cropping and duplicating the clip or deleting. 

The amazing thing is that this app worked with my original iPad and gives those persons with the original iPad and option to make some quick movies as well.

The developers for Splice also offer addtional add-ons in the iTunes App Store.   

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How to Get Previous Video into Camera Roll to Edit with iMovie on iPad 2

I am still playing with the new iMovie app for iPad 2 and have noticed several things.

iMovie seems to import or load only videos that are stored in the Camera Roll section of the Photo Album on iPad 2.  Some have assumed wrongly that you can only edit movies you made using the video camera function on the iPad 2.  I have been playing with various means to edit video that I have in the Movie tab of my iTunes library that are viewable on my iPad 2 but are not located in the Camera Roll section.

It is probably a good idea to make sure that the video or movie you wish to edit with iMovie app on your iPad 2 is in the proper format for viewing on iPhone.  As we all know, iTunes can handle this conversion for us by selecting our video movie and then Advanced>Create iPod or iPhone Version from the menubar in iTunes.

 I figured out a way to get this movie that I have in iTunes library into my camera roll.  Drag the movie from iTunes to your desktop and then into an email as an attachment.   Email this to one of the existing accounts you have setup on your iPad 2.  (Note:  This is a way to get photos or videos to and from your iTunes or Mac without having to sync your device to your Mac and iTunes).

 Once you receive the email on your iPad 2, select the attachment icon in the body of the email (allow the movie to fully load in your email window) and then click on the curved arrow in the upper right hand corner of the email display page.  You will be given a choice to 'Save Video'.  This option will save the video to the camera roll section of photo album on your iPad 2.

Now, you will be able to run the iMovie app on your iPad 2 and access this video for your project.  You  click on the + to create a new project then tap the upper screen or select the square movie icon to bring up the available video clips to edit from your camera roll.  You then click on the video clip you wish to edit and then the arrow to download it into the frame for editing.

As I explore iMovie, I will post tips and things here on my blog periodically that I discover.  There seems to be a lot of things to explore and frustration by users in getting some of their previous videos from other devices into the camera roll to edit.  Personally, I see the primary function of the iPad 2 video camera and iMovie app for editing an occasional movie that I might take on the iPad 2, but for any serious editing of longer movies that I might take with a video camera I would probably use iMovie on my Mac which has so many other features readily available.  Not sure if Apple intends to add more features to the app, but I secretly hope so as well.

One of the other things that I learned in my exploration of iMovie today is that you should also have the location set to ON in your Settings on your iPad for iMovie to be able to access your camera roll.

In addition, I emailed a movie from Talking Tom app of the cute cat from my iPad 2 to myself.  I then saved the movie to the camera roll from the email, but it did NOT show up in the list of videos that I could edit.  It seems that the format that came directly from Talking Tom app was not set to the format needed by iMovie.   So I dragged the video into iTunes and then using the Advanced>Create iPod or iPhone Version from the menubar in iTunes to convert it to a format that would work with iMovie app.   I then dragged Talking Tom converted video to my desktop and then emailed it back to my iPad 2 and saved to camera roll.  I was then able to edit the Talking Tom video, adding a music theme and title.



TEST:   I recorded a brief video using my iPhone 3GS and emailed it from the iPhone 3GS to an account that I could access on my iPad 2.  I then accessed the email on my iPad 2, allowing time for the video to load in, I then clicked Save Video (which went to my Camera Roll).   I was able to load that video into the iMovie app on my iPad 2 and created a new project, adding theme music and title.   While doing this edit, I discovered if you tap on one of the audio tracks in the movie timeline, you can adjust the volume of each one.  




Once the videos were edited, I uploaded both of these last two videos to YouTube using iMovie share option on my iPad 2.  The uploads seemed to work fine if I selected Public.   I had problems uploading them as Unlisted. Tweet

How To CLIP OUT Sections of Video Using QuickTime Player 7

When editing video using QuickTime Player 7 it is fairly easy to do so at the beginning and ending of the video using Trim Selection from the Edit menu.

One merely moves the IN and OUT selectors under the down arrow above the video clip display line.  Set the IN or left marker to the place where you wish to begin the movie and the right or OUT marker to where you wish to end the movie.   The area that is shaded is the area is the resulting movie after trimming the excess at the beginning and ending of the clip, by selecting TRIM SELECTION from the EDIT menu.

If you wish to keep the beginning of a video and the ending, but wish to take out a section in the middle this may appear to be confusing.  You will have to utilize making a NEW PLAYER and basically PASTE sections of the original video into this NEW PLAYER in the order that you wish to view it.

Load in your video that you wish to edit and select the first section that you wish to copy.  Remember to place the IN and OUT markers on that section that you wish to KEEP (i.e. the shaded area in the video display bar).

 

Select COPY from the EDIT menu to copy Section 1 or shaded area.

Select NEW PLAYER from the FILE menu to create a blank video player, where you will insert the clips that you copy from the original video, in the order that you wish to compile them.

       

 

Select PASTE from the EDIT menu and place the first section of video into the NEW PLAYER.   

Select the next section (i.e. SECTION 2) from the original video and COPY and then PASTE to new video player by inserting and the END or OUT marker to place the video clips in the sequence you wish to compile for viewing. 

The original movie clip will remain unaltered as long as you do not save the new video clip over it.  When you are satisfied with the new video then select SAVE AS under the FILE menu giving the edited video a new name.

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Making a Movie with iPad 2 and iMovie App

One of the features of the iPad 2 that is not available on the original iPad is the camera mode, which allows you to take video clips or photos. With these video clips and photos you and iMovie app available in the iTunes App store, you can edit and share these video clips with others.

My granddaughters were here for a visit yesterday and I thought I might try out the new iPad 2 video taking features. Of course, I am not one to read instructions and usually find it more fun to explore apps and devices by the trial and error method. So I took out the new iPad 2 and clicked on the camera icon, moving the icon button on the right hand side of the screen to the video position. I then clicked on the record button in the center of the app to start recording. I realized early on in the recording that holding the iPad 2 in the landscape mode that I was not getting the full range of the action of my granddaughter performing her gymnastic maneuvers. So I rotated the camera to the portrait mode to finish recording her acrobatic and jump rope maneuvers.

When I played back the recorded video, I soon realized that I had part in portrait mode and part in landscape mode, which did not look right. As I had purchased the new iMovie app and had not tried it out yet, I was elated to realize that somehow Apple had realized that many of us novice camera operators would make this mistake. It wasn't obvious to me how to edit out goofs (delete, split and rotate clips). I tried all the obvious icon buttons in the iMovie app, tapping the clips, etc.

I noticed the "i" on the left side of the iMovie app screen and was pleasantly surprised to see all the things I wished to do with this first video production to make it tolerable for viewing and sharing with others. The app has a nice help built in, one of the things that Apple has always been great at providing for us novice or beginners.

Within a few minutes I was splitting, deleting and rotating clip sections, and adding theme music and sharing with youtube.

Here is a sample of the video. The quality of the video is pretty good as well. I find that when I use the iPad 2 to take a photo or video and the lighting is good the clip is good, when the lighting is poor the video or photo is grainy.

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Is It Possible to Use Remote to Control My Videos to My Home Theater Screen?

I've been trying the homesharing feature playing music on my iPad and iPhones that is stored on my husband's Mac. This is a new feature added by updating my iPhone and iPad to version iOS 4.3 available today. Works great!

I was checking out some of the latest features and clicked on my 'Remote' app that controls my iTunes music library from my iPhone. I noticed that I was able to also control and play a video stored on my Mac by using the Remote app from my iPhone. Now this is an interesting feature and am not sure if this has always been there or if it has been added in this latest iOS 4.3.

I have an ethernet cable that runs from my Mac to my home theater, allowing me to view my Mac screen on my large home theater projection screen. I basically use this to play Netflix instant movies to my home projector screen. It was one of the ways one could view Netflix instant movies without purchasing another device such as an Apple TV or using a WI or PS3 or blueray disk player.

Now I am thinking that I can also view videos stored in my iTunes library using the Remote App as my controller. That will be something I need to try out. In the past I have had to control what was playing by walking over to my Mac and controlling the videos from the Mac itself. Is it possible that I can now use my iPhone to control this task via my Remote App?

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Rotating Video on Macintosh

I have discovered that when I took photos with my iPhone still or video camera in landscape mode and viewed them on a Mac they were fine, but if I uploaded them to one particular site online and viewed them on that site, the photo was displayed in Portrait Mode and was not in the orientation for best viewing the photo or video.  The site developer said their software for uploading the photo was Windows based and that my Mac was smarter, in that it was able to ascertain the orientation of the photo while the Windows software or PC was not.

If you are on a Mac and need to rotate the original Landscape video and save it in Portrait mode, you can do so using Quicktime player 7.  This version of Quicktime 7 for Mac still runs on Snow Leopard and you have to have also purchased the extra 'mpeg2 module' from Apple to run with this old version of Quicktime to access many of the movie features.   I have found the $20 is a fair price for the added features that I have used extensively to convert old VHS tapes to viewable format for youtube videos, as well as for making DVD's using iMovie for old home movies. 

Selecting 'Show Movie Properties' under the 'Window' menu.

Then select the 'video track' of the movie

and then select 'Visual Settings' tab to rotate using the option button next to 'Flip/Rotate'

Select Save as and save the movie in the new Portrait Orientation.

I put an example of a video on my youtube site that illustrates flipping a video and rotating it 90 degrees.  Sample Rotated Video

If you need to rotate a photo, you can use various apps on your iphone  or iPad to do so, I like an app called Rotate Mojo and another called Rotater.  If using a Macintosh, you can always, use applications such as iPhoto itself or Picasa (which is available on the Picasa.com website for free). Tweet

Another Slideshow Created with iPhoto/ Audio from Garageband

Example of my 'work' using iPhoto slideshow techniques and audio created with Garageband. iPhoto offers a few built-in themes, access to audio and music from iTunes and settings for transition, timing and titles. I was able to use my own voice recorded using Garageband and applied 'helium effect'. Enjoy!
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Test Slideshow-Mobile_2

Test Slideshow-Mobile_2
Originally uploaded by jheitzeb1

The second 'talking photo' using audacity and iPhoto's create slideshow option posted automatically via Flickr.
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Audio and Video Slideshow - iPhoto

I've been trying to determine the easiest way to set up a 'talking photo'.  The Mac offers a quick way to do this within iPhoto, by creating a simple slideshow.  You can select as many photos from an album, event or faces to include in your slideshow.

You can edit your slideshow to reorder your photos, add transitions, music or audio to the slideshow.

Once you have edited the slideshow to your liking, click on the + button in the bottom left corner of iPhoto window and then select 'Slideshow' in dialog box that appears.  Type in a name for your slideshow, click create.

You can export your slideshow in various formats for using on your iPhone, youtube, mobileme, etc.  Click on the 'export' button in the lower right hand corner of iPhoto window.  Then select the options for format and click on export.

I could then post to flickr, where users can click on the link below to view the finished product:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28759984@N05/4288031645/

Or, I could: After creating slideshow using iPhoto  and exporting as m4v (mobile format), I needed to convert the m4v movie file to 3qp format (using Quicktime Player 7) to load onto one of my test sites.  I then took the share or embed code from that site to reference on this blog and show the finished slideshow.

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Exploring the Wonderful World of PC 1985

This summer I took on the project of saving some of the old VHS, 8 mm film clips and mini dv tapes to my Mac.  I will be doing a few blogs on this procedure in November.  My main goal was to backup all those old tapes the kids made in junior high, before the tapes disintegrated.  

I came across a video on VHS  made in 1985 depicting a typical computer session in our home.  We were testing out the new VHS video recorder and I was trying to setup a new PC.  I had been an Apple user from day one, having such machines as a Lisa, Apple II, Apple II+, a Franklin (Apple clone), and Apple III.   The first programs, that I wrote and developed, were designed to run on Apple computers.   As my programs became popular, I was asked to port the software to the 'World of PC's'.    I thought I would post this old video, as an example of some old VHS footage that I was able to salvage.

Before I start explaining how I converted the numerous old VHS type tapes to my Mac, I thought I would explain how I was able to post this video into this blog.

Since the blogger site allows HTML embed code, this seemed the easiest way to embed the video to this site. So I went to my youtube site and brought up the video that I wished to place on this blog as an example.

To the left of the video, below the youtube account name and description of the video is the URL for this video, as well as the embed code for the particular video.  I also noticed a 'gear type icon' to the right of the embed code.  Clicking on this 'gear icon', options for adding a border, color theme and size to the player for this video was given. 

 I then copied the ‘embed code’ and pasted it into the blog HTML code editor for my blogger site.

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