> An engineer called me to help setup a CAD training class. They'd like > to record some small screen vignettes, e.g., > opening up forms, > filling out test values, > issuing simulations etc. > and play them back on the same machines where they do the work.
Ah yeah - I actually do a bunch of this. Specifically recording Cadence videos. So that's good luck and coincidence. Of course I understand you'll have to do videos, but I will say based on personal experience - sometimes I do screen captures, sometimes I do videos - that the most effective form of instruction seems to be saving screen captures into something like a Powerpoint presentation (or OpenOffice presentation or whatever.) Reason being: With a video, you watch for a few seconds, click pause, repeat what you just saw on your own system, then unpause a few seconds, etc. You don't really gain much from watching the pointer move, and you have to remain interactive the whole time with a lot of mouse clicks etc. It's also difficult to use the video as a reference, after you've learned it once, it's rather difficult to quickly skim through the video again at a later date. Instead, I recommend saving screen captures into a presentation, because it's easy to move at your own pace. I only recommend using the video if there's a need for something like rhythmic timing, or if you want your voice to come across. I'm not quite sure how relevant my experience will be in your case, but either way it'll certainly be a good starting place for you - The best reference I can name from the top of my head is http://www.showmedo.com They tell you where to find the best freeware video recording stuff (such as camstudio) and show you videos of how to capture videos. I know I normally capture videos of a VNC session to the RHEL machine - I know it's not quite what you asked for - but I'm sure there's a decent Linux based capture program to use instead. _______________________________________________ Tech mailing list [email protected] http://lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tech This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
