Recently, I recorded a new screencast (an introduction to Bespin’s Python backend), and I got to use the new ScreenFlow 1.5. It’s a great update to an already awesome product. The ability to add text layers from within ScreenFlow is a very welcome addition.
Beyond that, one of the lesser features is a actually a big deal for me: mics that are recorded in mono are automatically played back in stereo. Lately, I’ve had to record screencasts using my Blue Snowball USB mic. The Snowball sounds OK and all, but it’s very quiet, even with the firmware update that increases the gain. With ScreenFlow 1.5, I can use my Audio-Technica large condenser mic instead of the Snowball. I used that mic on my latest screencast and did not need to adjust the gain after the fact at all. The relatively small improvement of making a mono signal come out in stereo makes a big difference for me.
Speaking of audio, ScreenFlow 1.5 added audio effects. I found them to be largely useless, because I don’t think a screencast sounds very good with reverb. I had expected the effects to be something more along the lines of compression and normalization rather than reverb. Maybe next release…
Beyond that, The Omni Group has released OmniDazzle for free!
Introducing OmniDazzle, a set of fun and useful enhancements that help you highlight certain areas of your screen, create visual effects, and track the location of your mouse pointer.
It’s not the kind of product I would pay for, but for free it looks like a nice addition to a screencaster’s toolbox. Highlighting portions of the screen with OmniDazzle looks lot better than normal text highlight. OmniDazzle’s price change didn’t happen until after I recorded my latest screencast, so I’ll have to use that one next time.
Camtasia for the Mac is still vaporous at this point, but I know that TechSmith is working hard on it, so the competition will be heating up.
