Snapz Pro X 2.0: Master of the screenshot and more...
Feb 16, '04 11:29:00AM
Contributed by: robg
The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 10 out of 10]
Although Snapz Pro X already has a spot in our Hall of Fame (see the top of the Pick of the Week table), I felt the recently released version 2.0 is worth a repeat mention. Why? Basically because version 2.0 is a total rewrite of the program, and it offers improvements in user interface, features, and (most notably) movie recording performance.
In the first release of Snapz Pro X, the interface for controlling the various options was quite confusing. With version 2.0, Ambrosia has taken huge steps in simplifying the interface, as seen below:
On this new palette (which floats and scoots out of the way when needed), the Preview button is extremely useful -- set your options for color change, border, watermark, etc., then click Preview, and you'll get an on-screen peek at what your final image will look like. This feature alone will save hours of work when produces the hundreds of screenshots required for any good-sized book or documentation project.
Read the rest of the hint for the remainder of the review, including a number of movie grabs...
But the real power of Snapz Pro X 2.0 lies in its movie capture skills. While the first version could capture movies, version 2.0 takes it to another level. On any level of machine, the captured frame rates have increased greatly, and on faster hardware, it's pretty easy to get 30fps on just about anything. I spent a bit of time this weekend making a few demo loops to demonstrate the power of the movie capture tool ... click on the link below any of the following images for the full movie in a new window (a friend pointed out that some of these clips do a good job of demonstrating the power of OS X as well!).
[Bonus points for the first poster who names the movie in the DVD Capture clip!]...
Any artifacts you see in the above movies are a result of the size reduction and MPEG4 conversion for web posting; SnapzPro captured the originals at 30fps in full resolution -- up to 1920x1200 for the desktop capture. It's hard to describe the quality of the originals, other than to say that they perfectly represent what you saw on your screen while they were recording.
Downsides are few: captured movies can take quite a while to encode, and you'll use a ton of hard drive space for larger movies (the raw capture of the surfing clip was over 1gb before I trimmed it down and reduced the size). Some people may choke on the $69 price for a movie capture tool, but if you rely on captured movies and professional image captures for books or training materials, you'll find the new Snapz Pro X 2.0 a true bargain.
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