Code Camp Screen Capture Instructions
At Least A Few Days Before CodeCamp:
~To ensure a trouble~free presentation at CodeCamp, please prepare your computer according to these instructions, and perform a test capture.
~You can opt to record your session another day, if you prefer, and it will be included in our library. But,
~To be eligible for the Screen Casters’ Raffle, you must record your session at Code Camp (but you can still re-record it afterward, if you prefer).
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Requirements:
Headset
~Get a lapel or headset microphone
~Get a headphone extension cable long enough for walking around and gesticulating during your presentation (or a wireless microphone).
~You can usually find inexpensive headsets or clip~on mics and extension cables at Big Lots or Radio Shack.
Software
For PC:
BB Flashback Express, by Blueberry Software.
http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/bbflashbackexpress/home.aspx
For consistency we request that all PC presenters use this software. However, if you prefer to use another screencapture tool, and you’re willing to convert and edit your video as needed, feel free.
Mac:
~If you are presenting on Mac, Code Camp can provide you with capture software for free. Contact us at:
John@laptopacademy.net
Linux:
~If you are presenting on Linux, you may need to compile and configure the software on your own. We recommend the following:
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Preparation Instructions
Obtain a headset and extension cable. See above for tips.
Install the software:
~Download the installer from the manufacturer’s website:
http://www.bbsoftware.co.uk/bbflashbackexpress/download.aspx
~Run the installer, with Windows Administrator privileges
~Let the installer create a desktop shortcut to flashback.exe.
~Tell the installer to enable Flashback for ALL users.
~Restart your computer if instructed to by the installer
Connect your microphone BEFORE configuring Flashback:
~On some or all systems, essential Flashback audio configuration settings are hidden if the microphone is disconnected.
Configure the software:
~Our tests have shown that these settings will produce the smallest file with excellent quality. We recommend you apply the settings below:
~doubleclick the “BB FlashBack Express 2 Recorder” shortcut the installer created.
~click “Continue” when asked if you want to upgrade.
~Flashback will display a minitoolbar in your Taskbar.
~click the “Show Menu” button (looks like a dropdown arrow).
~Click “Options”.
~On the “Display” tab, make sure all options are UNchecked.
~On the “Sound” tab: Surprisingly, lower audio settings created a larger output file, so please use our recommended settings:
~~Check on “Record microphone in separate track”
~~Set “Sample Rate” to “22.05 kHz”
~~Uncheck “Stereo”
~~Check on “Use MP3 Compression”.
~~Choose “High Quality”
~On the “WebCam” tab, UNcheck “Capture video”
~On the “Keystrokes” tab, check ON everything
~On the “File Size” tab
~~type “120″ in “Limit to minutes”. If you forget to stop the capture, Flashback will automatically stop the capture after 2 hours.
~Check ON “Stop after time elapsed”
~On the “Record Mode” tab:
~~Set “Frames per second” to “4″
~~UNcheck “Boost performance”
~On the “Misc” tab:
~~Check ON “Automatically check for updates”
~On the “Advanced” tab:
~~Check ON “Sound recording threads get higher CPU priority”
~~Drag “Seek Time” slider to the far left “Slower seek”
~Click “OK”. Your settings will be saved in an ini file.
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Perform a Capture Test:
~In the Flashback toolbar, click the Record button (red dot).
~Your capture has begun.
~Perform a moment or two of mundane screen activity, while speaking into the microphone. Open, close, and move some windows, type in a document, launch an app, browse the web. Speak in a full voice, as you would during a presentation in front of a group of people.
Save the output file:
~In the Flashback toolbar, click the Stop button (red square) to stop the capture.
~Flashback will ask you where to save the output file (this may take a moment).
~Name and save the file. If you don’t save this file, your capture will be discarded.
View the output file:
~Make sure your speakers are turned on, or use headphones. Make sure your audio is not muted.
~In the Flashback toolbar, click the Play button (green arrow).
~Pick the capture file you just saved. The Flashback Player will open.
~On the “View” menu, click “Full Screen” (not “Full Screen View”)
~Move your mouse to the top of the window, and click the play button (green arrow) to begin playback.
~Make sure text is sharp and readable.
~Make sure the audio is strong and clear, and free of noise and distortion.
~Press the “Escape” key to exit full~screen mode.
That’s it! If your test was successful, you’re ready for CodeCamp. If you encounter problems, please consult the Blueberry forum. We have also found that Blueberry provides responsive email support, even for free users.
If Blueberry cannot resolve your issue, contact us at John@laptopacademy.net.
If you encounter and fix any issues we did not covered here, please tell us at the above address, so other presenters can benefit.
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On the Day Of CodeCamp
Fifteen to Thirty (15~30) Minutes Before Your Presentation:
~Connect your microphone, and determine your walking limit. You don’t want the microphone cable to get ripped out in the middle of the show, or yank your laptop off the table.
~Launch Flashback and click “Continue”. But don’t start capturing yet.
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5 Minutes Before Your Presentation:
~START your screen capture. That will allow you to focus your final moments on your presentation, instead of worrying about the screencapture. That excess will be trimmed off later.
CodeCamp may have an audience~member verbally remind you to start the capture, because we don’t want to miss a thing.
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After Your Q and A:
~Future video~watchers may benefit from your QA, so continue the capture until afterward.
~Stop the Capture by clicking the red square in the Flashback toolbar.
~Wait for Flashback to ask you where to save the file. It may take a few moments after a long capture.
~Name, and save the capture file.
~If you turn off your computer without saving, you’ll lose your capture.
~If you suspend or hibernate after your presentation, be sure to save the file when your wake your computer.
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Upload Your Fbr File
Use the following service to send your fbr file to john@laptopacademy.net:
http://www.badongo.com/
Backup service:
http://transferbigfiles.com/
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OPTIONAL: Convert Your Video To FLASH
You can greatly help CodeCamp by converting your own video. Then your video will become available more quickly. Otherwise, we rely on volunteers to convert your video.
~Before converting to flash, please send us your raw Fbr file, as described above.
~Launch “BB FlashBack Express 2 Player” from the Start menu or desktop shortcut.
~Click Tools menu/Player Options
~On the “Advanced” tab, set “Memory” to “Low”.
~Drag your FBR file into the Flashback Player, or click File menu/Open, and browse to your FBR capture file.
~Click File menu/Export.
~Choose FLASH format, and click “OK”
~On the “General” tab, choose “Whole Movie”, “Full Frame Rate”, “100%”, and “Keep Aspect Ratio”
~On the “Playback” tab, choose “Do not download movie until clicked”
~On the “Video Quality” tab:
~~choose “H.263″
~~set “Mode” to “Quality”
~~set “Quality” to “Highest”
~~type “240″ in “Create a keyframe every”
~On the “Audio” tab:
~~choose “Same format as in movie”
~~check on “Use MP3 compression”
~~set “Quality” to “High Quality”
~On the “Playback Controls” tab, UNcheck “Add playback controls”
~On the “Autoscroll” tab, UNcheck “Use autoscroll”
~On the “More” tab:
~~set “Color Depth” to “8 bit”
~Click “Export”
~When finished, when asked “View the export now?”, click “Yes”
~The video will open in your web browser. Click it to begin playback. Just make sure playback works. Don’t worry that the size of the video is too large to fit your screen. Don’t worry that there’s no way to resize the video. Our video host will provide the resizing controls.
~You can discard the html and swf files created.
~Upload the FLV file using the following service:
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OPTIONAL: Convert To AVI For Editing
If you’d like to beautify your video with title screens, or cut out bits of the video you’re not satisfied with, read on. We provide a sexy spash screen depicting a surfer riding a monster wave, with the words “SoCal Code Camp” emblazoned across the top. We cannot promise to have the volunteer resources to add spash and title screens to your video, so if that’s important to you, here are guidelines.
You need to first convert the video to an AVI file, using the Flashback Express Player, and then edit the video using a video editor, such as one of the free video editors we recommend below.
Before editing, please export your raw capture to FLV flash, and send us the flash file, according to the instructions above.
Convert to a movie file to AVI for editing:
~Launch “BB FlashBack Express 2 Player” from the Start menu or desktop shortcut.
~Click Tools menu/Player Options
~On the “Advanced” tab, set “Memory” to “Low”.
~Drag your FBR file into the Flashback Player, or click File menu/Open, and browse to your FBR capture file.
~Click File menu/Export.
~Choose avi format, and click “OK”
~Choose “Cinepak Codec”
~Set “Compression Quality” to “0″. This produces a file with perfectly readable text and clean round edges, and a size 1/4th as large as 100%. If you require smooth halftones in images, set “Compression Quality” to 75%.
~Check ON “Keyframe every”
~Enter “240″
~Click “OK”
~On the “General” tab, choose “Whole Movie”
~On the “Frame Rate” tab, choose “Full Frame Rate”
~On the “Audio” tab:
~~Choose “Same format as in movie”
~~Check on “Use MP3 Compression”
~~Set “Quality” to “High Quality”
~On the “Autoscroll” tab, UNcheck “Use Autoscroll”
~Click “Export”, and save your movie. The save may take several minutes or even an hour, for a very long video. It may also slow down your computer so much that you cannot do anything else, depending on how much RAM you have.
~For reference, a 2~minute video will produce a 35 MB avi. A 2~hour video will produce a 2.5 GB avi.
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Upload
Before editing, please send us your Flashback FBR Capture File (if you haven’t already done so), your exported Flash file, and your exported AVI file.
Use the following service to send your files to john@laptopacademy.net:
http://www.badongo.com/
Backup service:
http://transferbigfiles.com/
~You may now edit the video.
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OPTIONAL: Edit Your Video, Add a Splash Screen, and Add A Title Screen
We cannot promise to have the volunteer resources to add spash and title screens to your video, so if that’s important to you, here are some tips. You’ll have to learn how to use the editor on your own, but we provide some guidelines below.
We recommend these free video editors:
~NCH VideoPad
~trakAxPC
~Windows MovieMaker (built into Windows. Detailed instructions below)
~To edit your video, you must first CONVERT it to AVI format with the FlashBack Player, according to the instructions above.
Below are some tips on editing your video. We provide step~by~step instructions for Windows Movie Maker, and some general tips for each of the other editors. If you plan to edit in another video editor, be sure to:
~Insert the CodeCamp splash screen at the head of the video. Click the thumbnail below, then right-click the full-size image and save it to your computer:
~Add your presentation tile and your name and email address (if you desire) to the beginning of the video.
~Export to the same dimensions (height and width in pixels) as your raw avi file
~In your export, make sure all text is sharp and readable at full~screen.
~Export your edited video to wmv or avi, for compatibility with our video host.
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NCH VideoPad:
~1.8 MB download
~renders a 2~hour video in 2 hours or less.
Here are the render settings we recommend for VideoPad, but you may need to adjust:
Video:
~AVI
~MPEG4 Native
~Framerate: 1000 average, 2000 max
~Export to the same dimensions as your raw avi file
Audio:
~MP3 Native
~16000 Hz, 80 kbps, Mono
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Windows Moviemaker
~Download the CodeCamp title screen here:
http
~Open Windows Moviemaker from your Start menu.
Create a collection folder:
~Click “View” menu/Collections.
~In the left~hand pane, right~click “Imported Media”, and choose “New Collection Folder”
~Name the new folder “CodeCamp”
Save:
~Click File menu/Save Project
~Name it according to city and year, for example “LACC09″ (LA CodeCamp 2009)
Import title and video:
~In the toolbar, click “Import Media”, and browse to import the CodeCamp title screen you just downloaded.
~Again, click File menu/Import video, and browse to import your converted video. It may take several minutes for a 2 GB file to import, depending on how much RAM you have.
Insert the Title Screen:
~Drag the CodeCamp title screen into the first cell in the storyboard (image).
Find your desired starting point:
~Click your video in the Collections pane (image).
~Click the Play button, and pause your video at your desired start point. Use the step buttons and position slider to fine~tune it (image).
~Be sure to include about 6 seconds extra video BEFORE your starting point, as this will be used~up by the FadeIn and your credits.
~Click the Split button to cut at that point, leaving two pieces (image).
Save
Find your desired endpoint:
~Drag the position slider near the end of your video, and find your desired endpoint, adding about 3 seconds after the endpoint for the fadeout.
~Click the Split button again.
~You now have 3 segments~~the middle segment, marked with a “(1)”, is the useable video.
~Drag your trimmed presentation (the middle “(1)” segment) to the 2nd cell in the storyboard.
Save
Now add fade effects:
~Right~click the CodeCamp title screen IN THE STORYBOARD. Click FadeIn (image).
~Right~click your presentatin segment IN THE STORYBOARD, and choose FadeOut.
~Click “Transitions” in the left~hand pane.
~Drag the “Fade” transition to the Storyboard, in between the title screen and your presentation.
Save
Add your credits:
~Click your presentation in the 2nd cell in the Storyboard.
~Click “Tools” menu/Titles and Credits
~Click “Title overlay on the selected clip”
~In the top textbox, enter your presentation title.
~In the bottom textbox, enter your name and contact info.
~Click “Change the font text and color”
~Choose Candara or Arial font (image).
~Click “Add Title”. Click “OK” if an info message is displayed.
Save
To test your edits:
~Click the jump~back button in the storyline pane (image), and click play. If everything looks good, you’re ready to export.
~Note, don’t worry about any jitter or latency you may see~~ the final export should be smooth.
~MovieMaker may have difficulty playing toward the end of the video. Don’t worry, the export should be fine.
~If the movie freezes up, close and restart MovieMaker, and click your project name on the File menu to reopen it.
To export the finished video:
~Click File menu/Publish Movie
~Click “Next” twice.
~Click “More Settings”, and choose “Windows Media HD 1080p (7.8 Mbps)”. This will export a wmv file.
~Click “Next”. A 2 hour video may take several hours to publish, depending on your hardware. You will probably be able to use your computer for other tasks.
~When the export is done, play the exported video, and confirm that everything looks and sounds good.
~A 2~hour wmv video should be about MB.
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trakAxPC
~Intuitive to use
~Some limited zooming features
~Drag your files from Windows into trakAxPC to add them as layers. Then you can move the segments into a single layer, with cross~fades.
~Group the video and audio tracks before dragging them. Drag the CodeCamp video 10 seconds into the timeline. Then insert the flash screen and title screen before the video.
~Cross~fades are automatic, when you overlap segments (transitioning from the flash screen to the title screen, and from the title screen to your Code Camp video). Display the splash and credit screens for 5 to 10 seconds each. Use a 1~second overlap between each segment.
~Export to the same width and height as the AVI produced by the Flashback player, or your text will be unreadable and distorted. To get the dimensions, right~click the CodeCamp segment in trakAxPC, and click “File Properties”. See “Width/Height” in the “Video” section.
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Upload Your Edited Video
Upload your edited video, and, if you haven’t already done so, your raw fbr file, your raw avi export, and your flash export.
Use the following service to send your files to john@laptopacademy.net:
http://www.badongo.com/
Backup service:
http://transferbigfiles.com/
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Video Host
We will host all CodeCamp videos on blip.tv. Blip allows us to use our own flash files, instead of their conversion (which looks inferior on every video host we tried). Blip cross~promotes videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and many other video sites, for maximum exposure. They allow audiences to download videos in both flash and avi formats. We feel their presentation looks professional.