HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Unofficial support for the KXStudio Linux distribution and applications.
More info at http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/

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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

I've thought about doing a screencast. But I'm using XFCE. Any suggestions? (I've never made one before, but it would definitely be worth the try..)

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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by wolftune »

Works great!
http://youtu.be/IusGRX7rjSM

I was frustrated, however, that I couldn't get kdenlive to do screen recording directly. It had some error.
I would like to do more advanced screencasting that zooms in on certain sections of the screen.

Anyway, always more to learn. And I hope to eventually do more and create more KXStudio how-to stuff!

Cheers!
Last edited by wolftune on Fri Oct 26, 2012 6:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by wolftune »

Whoops, typo. Had to rerender and reupload:
http://youtu.be/IusGRX7rjSM
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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by wolftune »

falkTX wrote: nice, I'm glad the script is useful :)
I agree that a tool for screen-zomming would be great to have. I know compiz had a plugin like that (meta + mouse-wheel would zoom on the screen).
Actually, KDE has a zoom function in the desktop effects. I played with it a while before. I guess I could see about just using that…!
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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by carlos »

Hi, I'm a very happy user of KXstudio. Today I'm testing these great scripts for screencasting. if anyone is interested, I added xrec_1 options for using LXDE and Lubuntu. Also for Mate DE http://mate-desktop.org/, but there is a problem with the mouse cursor that I don't know how to solve, I don't know anything about programming, so if anyone wants to try and correct what may be wrong ...

Using Lubuntu or LXDE works fine for me.
Thanks a lot and sorry about my english.
Cheers.



Code: Select all

#!/bin/bash

# all dependencies:
# $ sudo apt-get install xserver-xephyr libav-tools jack-capture xterm

init_screen () {
# Set up nested X server
Xephyr -keybd ephyr,,,xkbmodel=evdev -br -reset -screen 1280x720x24 -dpi 96 :2 &
sleep 3
}

start_screen_gnome2 () {
# set environment
export DISPLAY=:2.0

# start Gnome
gnome-panel &
nautilus

# wait for ctrl+c here
export DISPLAY=:0
}


start_screen_mate () {
# set environment
export DISPLAY=:2.0

# start Mate
mate-panel &
caja

# wait for ctrl+c here
export DISPLAY=:0
}

start_screen_kde4 () {
# set environment
export DISPLAY=:2.0
export KWIN_COMPOSE=N

# kill current desktop, only 1 instance allowed
killall plasma-desktop plasma-desktop.kde4

# start KDE
plasma-desktop
kwin

# wait for ctrl+c here, restore desktop
export DISPLAY=:0
plasma-desktop
}

start_screen_xfce4 () {
# set environment
export DISPLAY=:2.0

# kill current panel, only 1 instance allowed
killall xfce4-panel

# start XFCE
xfce4-panel &
xfdesktop &
xfwm4

# wait for ctrl+c here, restore desktop
export DISPLAY=:0
xfce4-panel &
}

start_screen_lubuntu () {
# set environment
export DISPLAY=:2.0

# kill current panel, only 1 instance allowed
#killall lxpanel

# start LUBUNTU
startlubuntu

# wait for ctrl+c here, restore desktop
export DISPLAY=:0
}

start_screen_lxde () {
# set environment
export DISPLAY=:2.0

# kill current panel, only 1 instance allowed
#killall lxpanel

# start LXDE
startlxde

# wait for ctrl+c here, restore desktop
export DISPLAY=:0
}

case $1 in
  gnome2|-gnome2|--gnome2)
init_screen
start_screen_gnome
  ;;

  mate|-mate|--mate)
init_screen
start_screen_mate
  ;;

  kde4|-kde4|--kde4)
init_screen
start_screen_kde4
  ;;

  xfce4|-xfce4|--xfce4)
init_screen
start_screen_xfce4
  ;;

  lubuntu|-lubuntu|--lubuntu)
init_screen
start_screen_lubuntu
  ;;

  lxde|-lxde|--lxde)
init_screen
start_screen_lxde
  ;;

  *)
echo "usage: xrec_1 <DE>

DE can be:
    -gnome2     Gnome2 session
    -mate     Mate session
    -kde4       KDE4 session
    -xfce4      XFCE4 session
    -lubuntu      LUBUNTU session
    -lxde      LXDE session
"
  ;;

esac
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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

Falk,

I'd like to try my hand at making a screencast of mx44, using XFCE (you wrote above that this is possible now). After I add the scripts, what commands do I use?

Thanks,
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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

falkTX wrote: The scripts are already packaged in KXStudio (and updated), just install 'kxstudio-scripts'.

Just follow the steps on the first post, using 'xrec_1 xfce4' instead of kde4.
Ok, thanks. I'm crossing my fingers! :D

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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

I also need to know:

you wrote that the audio and video are saved separately. Do I have to load them into kdenlive (or similar) and sync them together manually? (I was hoping I'd have a finished product automatically.)


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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by wolftune »

brian, be happy with the need to use kdenlive! You will find that there are lots of easy places to take a minute deleting useless gaps or just fine-tuning most of the time. It is worth it to preview in kdenlive before committing because you'll end up with a better result. That was my experience anyway.
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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

Hi guys,

I had installed "Record it now" a while back, and after opening it earlier, it now won't leave me alone. I rebooted and it appeared after login! :shock:

If I remove it, it says that it will also remove "kxstudio meta all" and "kxstudio meta video" and install "record my desktop" instead.

What should I do?


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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

Ok, I killed it, and I feel really bad. :cry:

I made the screencast, although one of the two terminals complained that it couldn't run in realtime and that I should have done it as root. ???

Anyway, I have an audio file and a video file now. I logged in in KDE, since kdenlive didn't open in xfce before..

I put the two files unto two tracks at the bottom, and they play, but I can't see the video as it progresses. Any quick tips on making this vid? (All I want to do is remove the first minute or so.)

Then at the end, I hit "render" and it makes a complete video with audio, right?


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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

falkTX wrote:I think you should finetune kdenlive a bit before starting the project (one-time operation).
Your project profile MUST be set as a 720p variant, so it exports correctly. (see my notes on youtube presets on 1st post).

Maybe you should watch some kdenlive tutorials too.
It may look simple, but kdenlive is a very powerful tool.
Yes, I set it to 720p at 25/sec (I can't remember exactly, but 720p was selected.)

I'll look at youtube a bit first. All these learning curves! ...


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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

Very basic... but it worked!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hS6lLCG8QMw

Thanks guys! (any suggestions welcome!)


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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by briandc »

falkTX wrote:I've updated the scripts to now use a patched ffmpeg that does audio+video at once, hopefully in perfect sync.
You might want to set a higher buffer-size and cpu freq to max when recording. xruns will break the AV sync.

The first post was updated with related info.
Feedback is welcome.

and btw, you now have no more excuses to not make videos! :lol:
Falk,
were the updated scripts automatically given in the repos, or do I have to download them somewhere? I'd like to get back into screencasts again now that it should be a bit easier.

Thanks!

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Re: HOW-TO: Make a screencast with KXStudio

Post by b4rney »

Just tried this but launching ardour from Claudia opens outside the recording window. I can see the connections ... Just not the app.

Is there a better way to do this?
Cheers
Barney
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