In a recent project that I was working on I had to include a couple of short videos stepping through a registration process. The course was initially being developed in PowerPoint and would be transferred over to Storyline. I originally assumed I would do the short screen recordings using Storyline's built-in screen recording feature. However I also needed the screen recordings in PowerPoint and needed to design them with a computer graphic around them. Since Storyline places the screen recording on the slide, I found I wasn't able to do much in the way of resizing the recordings to fit in my computer screen graphic.
So I started looking for alternatives. Lo and behold I found it right within PowerPoint itself. I hadn't ever noticed the feature within PowerPoint, but there is a Screen Recording tool built-in to the Insert menu. It recently came out in February 2015 and was added to PowerPoint 2013. I tried it out and found that it works great!
You can find the Screen Recording tool by going to the Insert tab and clicking on Screen Recording. Here are the instructions from Microsoft on how to use the tool - Record your screen in PowerPoint 2013.
So I started looking for alternatives. Lo and behold I found it right within PowerPoint itself. I hadn't ever noticed the feature within PowerPoint, but there is a Screen Recording tool built-in to the Insert menu. It recently came out in February 2015 and was added to PowerPoint 2013. I tried it out and found that it works great!
You can find the Screen Recording tool by going to the Insert tab and clicking on Screen Recording. Here are the instructions from Microsoft on how to use the tool - Record your screen in PowerPoint 2013.
Keep in mind these instructions are for PowerPoint 2013 and the Screen Recording feature must have been already downloaded and installed into your PowerPoint. This happened automatically for me since I get automatic updates from Microsoft, but if you have PowerPoint 2013 and you don't see this option in your Insert menu then you will need to go here to download the update: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2956149?wa=wsignin1.0
Below are some tips that I have for getting started using the tool.
1. Size the browser to fit the longest drop down menu on the screen. I had several drop down menus that I had to click on throughout the screen recording. I was also trying to fit as much on the screen without taking up too much real estate. So it was a bit of a balancing act to make sure I had the right screen size that would fit everything and still be large enough to be legible. Tom Kuhlmann has a great blog post that talks about setting up the size of your screen recording.
2. I wanted to make it look like the video was playing on a computer screen. I could do this in a couple of ways. By putting an image on the screen of a computer and putting the video on top. Or I could use the Video Format tools to create a border around the video to make it look like a computer screen. I did the second option because it gave me a bit more flexibility and then it was part of the video itself. When I had the video selected I went to the Format tab on the Video Tools menu and selected Video Border. I selected a black border and then went to weight and selected 4 1/2 pt. You can leave it like this or you can play around with the line options a bit more. Below is a screenshot of the Format Video menu. I changed the width to be a bit thicker at 14pt and the Join Type to be Round. I also added in the base taken from a another image of a computer monitor. There are a ton of free computer monitor images you can choose from to grab a base at sites such as Pixabay.com or at Articulate's Download section of their E-learning Community.
Below are some tips that I have for getting started using the tool.
1. Size the browser to fit the longest drop down menu on the screen. I had several drop down menus that I had to click on throughout the screen recording. I was also trying to fit as much on the screen without taking up too much real estate. So it was a bit of a balancing act to make sure I had the right screen size that would fit everything and still be large enough to be legible. Tom Kuhlmann has a great blog post that talks about setting up the size of your screen recording.
2. I wanted to make it look like the video was playing on a computer screen. I could do this in a couple of ways. By putting an image on the screen of a computer and putting the video on top. Or I could use the Video Format tools to create a border around the video to make it look like a computer screen. I did the second option because it gave me a bit more flexibility and then it was part of the video itself. When I had the video selected I went to the Format tab on the Video Tools menu and selected Video Border. I selected a black border and then went to weight and selected 4 1/2 pt. You can leave it like this or you can play around with the line options a bit more. Below is a screenshot of the Format Video menu. I changed the width to be a bit thicker at 14pt and the Join Type to be Round. I also added in the base taken from a another image of a computer monitor. There are a ton of free computer monitor images you can choose from to grab a base at sites such as Pixabay.com or at Articulate's Download section of their E-learning Community.
3. For my particular project I had several steps that needed to be completed. I decided to break these down into smaller screen recordings rather than have one large screen recording. This helped when I had to go back and add in the audio. I had smaller files to work with and therefore less time to pause in between clicking and what had to be said in the narration. But this did mean I had to make sure my files all lined up from screen to screen so that the video looked as if it was playing seamlessly. In order to make sure they lined up properly I did the following:
4. Lastly I had to set up the slides in PowerPoint so that when the instructor used it in a face to face class it would play and advance automatically. To do this I had to be a bit creative. For whatever reason, PowerPoint doesn't recognize when some types of video files come to an end. I thought since I was using the Screen Recording tool within PowerPoint it would be a file type that PowerPoint would understand, but apparently not. So below are the steps I had to take to get it to play and advance automatically.
With those settings your video should play automatically and then move to the next slide automatically. This is helpful if you have multiple videos in a row that you want to play through automatically. The small image that you created that is off of the slide will not be seen by the viewers but it allows you to set up something on the slide to trigger it to move on after the video is over. Keep in mind the small object must be AFTER the video in the animation order. To check this you need to show the Animation Pane under the Animation tab and check the order of the video and shape. Also if you will be having multiple screen recordings, I would suggest getting the first one totally set up with all the animations and transitions before duplicating. That way you just need to make the minor changes to timing.
Some additional resources I found helpful include:
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the process.
- Duplicated the slide with the video
- Added in the new video
- Used the Format Painter tool to copy the formatting that I set up above with the black border
- I arranged the Top and Left of both videos. Then resized the new video to the one in the background.
- Once I was sure they were the same size, I deleted the first video.
- I repeated these steps for each new screen recording
4. Lastly I had to set up the slides in PowerPoint so that when the instructor used it in a face to face class it would play and advance automatically. To do this I had to be a bit creative. For whatever reason, PowerPoint doesn't recognize when some types of video files come to an end. I thought since I was using the Screen Recording tool within PowerPoint it would be a file type that PowerPoint would understand, but apparently not. So below are the steps I had to take to get it to play and advance automatically.
- With the video selected, go to the Playback tab on the Video Tools menu.
- Next to start, select Automatically (you can also use the Playback tab to trim the video's start and end time if necessary). By selecting automatically, your video will play as soon as the PowerPoint transitions to that slide.
- Next create a small shape off of your screen. With the small shape selected, go to the Animations tab and click on Appear for the animation. On that same menu, set the Start to With Previous. This sets it up to show when the video begins playing.
- Next set the duration of the animation to be the length of the video. So if your video plays for 22.36 seconds, set the duration for that time.
- Now go to the Transitions tab and under Advance Slide click on the box next to After. Leave the time to be 00:00.
With those settings your video should play automatically and then move to the next slide automatically. This is helpful if you have multiple videos in a row that you want to play through automatically. The small image that you created that is off of the slide will not be seen by the viewers but it allows you to set up something on the slide to trigger it to move on after the video is over. Keep in mind the small object must be AFTER the video in the animation order. To check this you need to show the Animation Pane under the Animation tab and check the order of the video and shape. Also if you will be having multiple screen recordings, I would suggest getting the first one totally set up with all the animations and transitions before duplicating. That way you just need to make the minor changes to timing.
Some additional resources I found helpful include:
- Online Training Tips: Software Simulations Made Eas(ier)
- Here Are Some Time Saving Tips for Your Next Software Demo
- How to Create Screencasts You Can Be Proud Of
Feel free to email me if you have any questions about the process.
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