Greg Swann got me onto SnapZ last fall when I wanted to improve on what was available from Screencast-O-matic.   I was looking for something that looked good, that would last more than 10 minutes and that would allow me to render stuff and do what I wanted with video.  I downloaded the Free-and-Functional-for 14 days Snapz Ambroisia.  And things were good.  I was able to share info, I was able to build videos that explained to folks what I did and how to get on a blog.  But something was missing.  I bought the paid license anyway, and I used it.  It was fast, hotkey driven and it was always waiting for me, always at the ready, when I wanted to make a video.  I was also able to use it to rip some DVDs the long way, and that worked out well, too.

Namely, layering.  I wanted to make some callouts.  I wanted to do some things that looked less ‘vanilla.’  And Final Cut wasn’t really something that I wanted to get into at the time (I’ve changed since then, since Imovie 09 introduced me to layered video.)    So Kasey Kelly suggested ScreenFlow.  And I hated it.  At first.  I downloaded the free trial, and I hated its guts.  It had an interface that bit, it had a timeline I hadn’t seen before, and I couldn’t get past the learning curve.  And, with Imovie 09 making things easier, there was no need to.

So I was sticking with Snapz and iMovie to edit stuff.  And life went on.   Except when I got my Guerrilla.ME idea: reputation management + social media training idea.  I wanted to go beyond it, and I knew–from watching good ones–that screenflow was a cool tool.  And ultimately, I use it daily, it beats the crap out of Snapz, and I no longer

Screenflow Wins, But First The Bad News

There is about a 90 minute learning curve.  Snapz is faster.  It’s easier to use.  It’s the thing to get if you do one or two–total–screen casts.  If you plan to do one a month or more, you might consider Screenflow, because once you use it, it’s quick.  It’s also cool that it saves only the part of the screen you tell it to, and if you’re stuck editing video in Imovie ’08–where there’s no cropping–that’s something to consider. Screenflow has its own Non Linear editor built in.  And, I like a lot of the way it THINKS better than iMmovie ’09 or Final Cut Express.

Snapz also doesn’t put your talking head on anything, and you can put your mug in the corner with Screenflow which is important to some folks (me).   You can shrink stuff down, make callouts (need more callouts)

Also, ScreenFlow doesn’t save settings.  I do screencasts that generally look fine at 10-12fps. So I want to save ‘em that way.  There’s no “default,” saving.  PITA.  Also, if you want to open the program and start, it doesn’t want to do that.  Finally, it makes me ‘prepare to record’ first, and I do love the ‘instant on’ part of snapz.

What ScreenFlow Does Great

Screenflow is a fantastic entry point to non linear video editing.   It doesn’t launch in that mode by default, but it is fantastic at trimming clips, splitting clips, and doing loads of other ‘minor’ fixes’ like adding titles.  I like using it–for the most part–better than Imovie.  When I need transitions or color effects I use iMovie, but most of the ‘roughing’ can easily start in Screenflow.  It also rendes as fast or faster than Snapz on my setup.

It also captures your face.  You can do a training video and put your little talking head in the lower left or upper right (or, hell, you could drift annoyingly across the screen).  That makes a training video more relevant and intimate.  There could be options–like color filters and CROPPING (in lieu of just resizing) but that’s a minor complaint, and I don’t think SF needs more complexity.  It also does a good job of recording Keynote presentations and you can then put your face in the corner if your ego requires it.

Finally, if you want to make callouts, to make some things get bigger to illustrate a point, SF does a good job there–and it’s easy once you do it a couple of times.   If you need a video TODAY, snapz is the way to go.  If you need a video to be GOOD, screenflow it is.  I own both, and I probably wouldn’t buy snapz again, but I still use it almost daily…particulaly when screenflow is rendering.

Screenflow can improve, but at the moment it does a nice job.   There are workarounds for almost everything, and it’s a good tool to learn to sync sound with video…

Till next time.