Screencapping question..

[ash48]

First up! HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS to the gorgeous and supremely talented maichan808. Oh man! My LJ life would just not be the same without you hun!!! *snuggles you tight* I wish I had got my act together to make a wee vid for ya sweetie! You'll just have to accept my warmest of wishes and snuggles.

And I got TWO, count 'em, 2!, Christmas cards from her! *dances and feels special*


Now the question....

Could some kind soul please let me know if I need a specific program to make screen caps *feels ridiculously naive*. I started making them with my VLC player, but that's proving to be a pain in the neck. I know I can screen capture in my vidding program, but that seem like a long way around. So, if there a good program to use?

Thanks if someone can assist this newbie. Oh and I use a Mac.

*huggles*

Comments

[maichan.livejournal.com]

Hee, thanks for the wishes and snuggles :D

And so long as you're not capping a DVD, you can take screencaps using the keyboard commands on a Mac:

Command-Shift-3 shortcut for taking a screen capture of your entire screen
Command-Shift-4 which gives you a crosshair cursor so you can choose which area of the screen you want to capture

For video capture, I use Snapz Pro X. It's a little pricey but completely worth it.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

My pleasure!

I knew about the first command-shift option but not the second one. I've just had a play with it and that does the trick. A bit fiddly trying to get each size exactly the same, but I'm getting better at it. And for what I am doing (a mini picspam) it should work fine. Thank you.

And thanks to the link to that program. I'll look into that. I figure those peeps that produce 200 caps from an episode must have a faster or easier way to do it other than what I have been trying. (Not that I want to make that many!)

<3

[maichan.livejournal.com]

With the Command-Shift-4 shortcut, you can hit the space bar to auto select the active window automatically.

Also, Snapz Pro X is more for recording video of your screen, although it does do screencaps as well.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Now I'm feeling totally useless, but when I press the space bar it gives me a camera and captures the entire picture - including the player. Is that what you mean?

At the moment I'm selecting clips that I have already made, playing them through QT, finding the frame I want and then using the shift-4 short cut to capture the part of the image. Unless there's a better way?

[maichan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it captures the whole active window so if you're snagging a QT clip, it will highlight the player too, so it's not really helpful for what you're trying to accomplish. Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you!

You'll need a screencap app in order to further streamline/automate the process.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hee! That's cool. I love learning new stuff.

The shift-4 is doing the trick. I only need to make about 12, so that will work fine.

Thanks so much for your help.
xx

(If I end up trying to make those book covers then I'll probably need something more streamline).

[babycin.livejournal.com]

Hi!
I know that a friend use KMPlayer, but I don't know if it works with Mac too *-*

Edit: She tells me there's an apple software for screencaps

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hi! Yay - thank you. I did just have a look and it looked like PC only - but I'll take another look and see if I can find the Apple version.

Thanks so much for the info hun.
xx :)

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

I use the freeware program called FRAPS The paid version lets you take higher resolution screencaps, but the free version I use is really useful when I go icon making mad. Not sure if that helps.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much hun. I'll check it out! :D

ETA: looks like it's just for PC's. But I have been recommended the equilvalent for Macs. :)

[rhymephile.livejournal.com]

Here is a tutorial on LJ that shows you how to batch-screencap with VLC. The tut is a little old so the images have disappeared for it, but the tut is sound and not complicated if you follow the text. VLC can do many, many things, and you should really explore its features.

For example, did you know you can record video clips using VLC?

The link above goes to Lifehacker.com. You might want to type in "VLC" in the search bar at the top of the page to explore.

Also, the comm here on LJ called cap_it covers lots of TV shows and movies. Check the tags to find the most recent.

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

I don't believe a version of VLC exists for Mac OS. Am I wrong about that?

[rhymephile.livejournal.com]

You are :-) VLC is cross-platform, even for weird OS's!

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks! :-) I didn't know that's what you were talking about. I've had that for years. How embarassing!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thank you SO much for the links.

I started doing them on the VLC and I really like the quality but I found it very hard to scrub through the images and pin down the exact part I want. Plus it was crashing every time I hit play. It could be my player or that I'm just not handling it correctly.

Thanks so much again. This is a great help.
xx

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

Many DVDs are coded now to prevent screen capping. I'm also on a Mac, and the usual Command+Shift+3 or 4 routine sometimes fails me because of this. To work around this (and give myself some greater flexibility) I use Snapz Pro X and am very satisfied with it. It helps to launch the application before starting the DVD, or you run into the same "no can do" error. I notice that I also have something called SnapNDrag, which I believe is freeware. I forget why I acquired it, but it also does caps. E-mail me directly -- mara_snh (the symbol for at) yahoo.com -- and I'll send you the apps to try.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hi there. Thank you so much. I will send you an email when I get home. wouldn't mind seeing what they can do.

I haven't been screen capping directly from the DVDs, so I haven't come across that problem yet. I've played selected clips through QT adn then captured the picture that way. Though taking them directly from the DVD might be something I will want to do in the future. I imagine that would give better quality.

Thanks again. :)
xx

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

Great! I'll look for your e-mail. We're expecting a huge snow storm here that threatens to shit everything down until sometime Sunday, so don't freak if you don't hear back from me right away. I'll be outside playing shoveling.