My laser was down last week, and I was busy with the end of semester.
Yesterday I realized that the method I thought I could use for screen recording doesn’t record the ZoomIt arrows or my mouse pointer. So I had to pick up a new method.
Today… I am not busy, my laser is up and running, and I have a new piece of software to try out. So, I made this:
And recorded the process from start to finish: Process Video
I did realize a little ways in that I was being inefficient in my process. And I am sure that I forgot to announce a few keyboard shortcuts I was using (like the DELETE key to remove points). But I tried to be as thorough as possible so that someone else who doesn’t know Inkscape could make a similar sign for themselves.
If anyone has ideas for other projects, I rather enjoy doing this kind of thing. So I would be willing to take requests and do up more videos.
That is very elegant!
If I may ask, what software and OS are you using?
I have been looking at options on my mac but have not found anything that I like yet.
Windows 8.1 and Inkscape 0.91 (I had gone to Windows 10, but it messed up my security camera program and I could never quite get the settings right. Reverting back to 8.1 fixed everything)
For the screencast, I used XSplit Broadcast 2.7.lottastuff. You can pay for better resolution and framerate. After trying to read the settings on the Lasersaur interface in video… I may actually want to step up the resolution. XSplit is subscription based though, so I would have to look for a different program to get better resolution.
You might also look into SnapZ Pro X (for Mac) I have it and it works fine for screen capture. Although I have not used it for voiceover I believe it will do that.
Thanks very much for doing this! Any video of the process of preparing files for laser through to completion are extremely helpful for newbies like me. It’s a lovely plaque and very well executed. If you ever do box making, including accounting for kerf in the tabs/slots, that would make a great demo project!
Check out these sites for custom designs for your boxes:
The last one allows you to set the kerf (it’s an optional parameter). If you’ve got a good laser and a longer focal length you can possibly ignore the kerf - my last box I needed to do some edge relief post-cutting and mallet tapping to get it to fit. No glue needed But if yours cuts a little thicker then the makeabox will take care of that for you - measure the real cut kerf not the .001mm that you tell the software as the kerf is likely to really be .01mm or potentially more.
I’m a big fan of VSDC which not only has a screen recorder program but also has a video editing program much like Adobe Premiere Pro. Which leads me to ask, if you have Photoshop, do you not have Illustrator? Or do you like Inkscape better for some reason, and if so, what is that reason. I first knew Illustrator, and now, being out of college, I don’t have access and have been picking up Inkscape. Would like your thoughts! Thanks!
I have illustrator. But have not seen where to control parametric values (ie - make a box exactly 4"x2").
Plus Inkscape is free, so I prefer making tutorials in there, and like to know how to use it so that I can have students working on any of my computers, instead of forcing them to use my personal computer which is the only one I have illustrator set up on.
There are still some things that I would turn to Illustrator to do, since I didn’t know how to in Illustrator. But that list has been shrinking (actually I am not sure if there is anything I don’t know how to do in Illustrator now).
I’ll check out VSDC tomorrow after I administer my class’s final exam. The big catch for me is that the program has to pick up the mouse (so people can see what I am doing) and the arrows I draw with ZoomIt (so I can highlight what I am doing). Those needs forced me away from iSpy and VLC, which were my initial attempts.
@jacobturner, the tutorial is good all the way around. Thanks so much for taking the time. The techniques you illustrated will come in handy. It is amazing what Inkscape can do. I learned so much in such a short time.
Snapz hasn’t been kept up to date as much as SnagIt does (and snagit has a nice feature which is a plug in for FireFox allowing auto-scrolling of the page, so you can capture one whole page as a single image, which is super helpful if it is bigger than the screen). And unlike Snapz (I have been using snapz since the very first release) is that the editor in snagit allows much nicer annotation of the image captured.
But if yours cuts a little thicker then the makeabox will take care of that for you - measure the real cut kerf not the .001mm that you tell the software as the kerf is likely to really be .01mm or potentially more.