Question About CamStudio Or Other Tutorial Software

Factual Questions
1

I teach and want to create a few video tutorials showing how to do some things with Photoshop and Illustrator.

I found the open-source, free software: CamStudio.

In one sense, it is quite good - I can make some great video clips showing how to do some exercises, can have audio so I can explain as I show how to do things and all-in-all, it is exactly what I need and want.

However, the files are HUGE in the .avi format, and even when I transfer them to .swf they seem to get all choppy and funky and are still kind of large. I need to upload these to the student portal so students can download them if they want to review, or if they miss class and want to catch up. I try to keep the clips under 5 minutes or so - but maybe that is too long?

  1. Is there a better “free” software out there?
  2. Is there a “trick” to make the .swf files smoother and cleaner?
  3. Is my only option to make shorter clips and label them Part One, Part Two, etc.?
2

Saving (if that software does it) or converting it to .MP4 will make it around 10% the size of .avi

3

I believe the only option with CamStudio is to convert to .swf but I think there are other converters out there that I could use, once I create the .avi file, so I might look into that! Thanks.

Is .mp4 a standard format that most everybody could view easily, without having to download another program?

4

Yes, mp4 is very common … used by iPod, iPhone, etc., and is the preferred format for uploading to YouTube.

There are lots of free video converters available. I can’t recommend any because I use Camtasia Studio which can save / convert most any format … but it is far from free. :wink: