recording frame bigger than my monitor or the application window

[MissFennoman]

Hei!

I've been trying to record a software demonstration but I've been having quite some difficulties figuring out Captivate 5.

My current problem is this:

When I want to record, I use the record Application Window option. However, I use two monitors, so when I want to record, there is always a thin line of my other monitor in the recordings. I can't move the recording frame, so that it doesn't record that line.

When I record using the monitor option, the recording is good, however, when I want to add extra slides to this project, the option to record from a monitor is gone and I only get a recording frame the size of my monitor (I have one that uses 1440x900 and one that has 1680x1050). When I want to move the frame, I can't get it to fit the screen, because there will always be a line of the other monitor.

This is so frustrating, because I have been working on it for almost a week now. I couldn't find a solution in the tutorials, the captivate help file I found (after a looooooooong search) nor this forum.

Hopefully someone has a solution for me!

Thanks!

[RodWard]

Do you have your monitors set up as Extended or Duplicated?

What size are you capturing at (height x width in pixels)?

[MissFennoman]

I have my monitors extended.

I'm trying to get either one to work, I'm having trouble with the capturing of both monitors.

[RodWard]

What is your actual capture size in pixels?

You should be able to see this in Captivate 5 under  Modify > Rescale Project  as well as right down in the bottom right corner.

[MissFennoman]

Well if I capture it in my main screen it's 1680x1050, if I capture in my additional screen it's 1440x900.

It's the same as the pixelsizes of my screen, which I've mentioned in my original post..

[RodWard]

Okay.   That's what I was trying to establish.  You seemed to indicate that you might be trying to capture an application window that was maximised to full screen on monitors running high resolutions, but I wasn't quite prepared to believe it.

I realise that you may only be starting out with using Captivate for screen capturing so I'm going to offer some suggestions that should make your life a lot easier.

Unless you have an impelling reason for capturing at such large window sizes (e.g. you KNOW that all of your target audience WILL be using similar monitor resolutions, AND you cannot display the captured application at anything less, AND delivery bandwidth is NOT an issue) then I would suggest you aim for something much smaller.  You really don't need to capture at full screen.  There's no advantage to it, and as you've discovered, there are heaps of disadvantages.  You just cannot predict how the edges witll turn out consistently enough to enable you to go back and add more screens at a later date.  They just won't match.  This isn't Captivate's fault.  It's just not a good strategy to use.

The better way to go is to decide up front what the MINIMUM practical size should be for your final output and then set your Captivate project up at those dimensions before you start capturing.  For example, even though I also run dual monitors at 1920 by 1200 pixels, I never capture at anywhere near that size.  If I'm doing tutorials to teach Captivate 5, I'll choose something around 1260 pixels wide by about 630 high and set my project to that.  Then I'll use the capture option to snap the target application into my project size.  So you make your application fit your project, not let your application or maximum monitor size determine how big your project should be.

You need to remember that many people will not be using resolutions as high as yours.  If you build your tutorial too large, they won't be able to see all of it, and if it's too high, they won't be able to get to the playbar at the bottom to control the movie.  So one of the first things you need to get sorted BEFORE capturing anything on a project is who the target audience is, and what their minimum monitor resolution will be.  Then you still need to allow a margin for "browser chrome", browser toolbars or title bar, and cut it down even further on the height dimension to allow for the playback bar controls.  So even if you DO happen to have a target audience that are all on 1440 x 900, by the time you allow for all the things that cut into your screen real estate, you might find you need to capture at around 1420x800 or less.

Is this making sense?

[MissFennoman]

Thanks for the information

It is making sense..

However, the goal for this demonstration is to be placed within the (webbased) software it has recorded. Therefore it should have the entire window in it and everything should be well visible, even though the area in which the demo is placed is much much smaller than the actual recording window.

With the application window smaller it results in not having the whole software on the screen, therefore making the demonstration unclear.

You've mentioned the snap to project option, that option results in the frame and the application window I'm trying to record, to jump to the middle of the extended desktop. Which, in my case, means that I have one half of the window on my left screen and the other half on my right screen. In between my monitors there is about 15cm of space (due to set up in my office). So I won't be able to efficiently demonstrate the software whilst recording.

I haven't been able to move the frame, nor the application window. It's just stuck right in the middle..

[RodWard]

Have you considered NOT using extended monitors just while you are capturing?  If this set up is not working for you, plenty of people are able to use Captivate quite well to create software sims with just one monitor.  You can go back to your dual monitor set up once you've completed the capturing phase.

I'm not sure I really understand your statement: "...the goal for this demonstration is to be placed within the (webbased) software it has recorded. Therefore it should have the entire window in it and everything should be well visible, even though the area in which the demo is placed is much much smaller than the actual recording window."

Are you able to upload a screenshot of what you're trying to achieve, or at least what you're getting right now which is NOT what you wanted?

[MissFennoman]

I don't think I'm allowed to change the settings of my displays.

What I'm trying to achieve is a demonstration video of software my company has been developing, which can be placed in the software itself.

It's a webbased software which is being displayed full screen in a browser (for the best results anyway). The demonstration video will be placed on a page within the software. So when you go to the application, you can click a button that says, 'demonstration'.

Unfortunately I can't show you what I want, because I don't have it yet.

My overall problems are that when I want to add new slides to the project the recording will add an extra line of my desktop on the side of the recording, or that the recording frame is too small to be able to create a demonstration of the software.

And with a dynamic menustructure the slides aren't capturing the adding of the menu, but are only showing the extended menu (so the fact that the menu is dynamic is only capturable with FMR).

Basically my question here is, that I can't get the recording frame to be sized to my monitor when adding slides. Usually it's too big, therefore showing a strip of my desktop (or my other monitor). (In the screenshot below the lines on the left and top side of the slide)

[RodWard]

The plain fact is that trying to record full screen isn't going to be the solution for you.  Even if your software looks better in FullScreen mode, you need to forget about having it maximised and use the Snap to Recording Window feature in Captivate instead.  That will eliminate the extra lines around the edges that you're complaining about.

Record on a single monitor setup.  Run your larger monitor setup (1600 etc) so that you can set your recording window size to 1440 x 900 or however large it needs to be, and then snap your application inside that.Go back to dual monitors for the rest of the Captivate editing process if you want.

Switch to FMR when recording your dynamic menus (press F9 to start FMR and F10 to stop it).  That's the only way you'll be able to capture what they look like.

There are no perfect solutions and like the Stones said: "You can't always get what you want...but you can get what you need."

[MissFennoman]

Hi!

Thanks for the info!

I've also had contact with the development team from Adobe and they said pretty much the same.

I don't have to change my monitor set-up, but I need to set the recordinge settings to 'custom size', and then pick a smaller size than the monitor screen settings are.

That pretty much solves all the problems I had with the recording.

Also, your suggestions about the FMR F9 and F10 buttons are really helpfull!

Thanks a lot!