Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Record Your Screen Activity with RecordMyDesktop in Ubuntu

As you always wants to capture your memorable moments into a video. That’s the same case when you do some important work in your PC and want it to get capture into a video. Like you have installed any software in your PC and want it to show the step-by-step guide of installation to your colleagues, so instead of repeating the installation process, you can show the video of the same to them by recording your activity during the installation process.

Yes, you can record your screen activity with RecordMyDesktop. RecordMyDesktop is one of the video capture programs available in Ubuntu. RecordMyDesktop will record your activity which you have done on your entire screen or the selected portion of the screen and produces Ogg Theora video files. This format of video file is compatible with the entire video player and you can even upload them to YouTube without having to convert them in another format.

To begin with this, you need to install RecordMyDesktop. You can install it from the terminal by typing the command:-

     sudo apt-get install   gtk-recordMydesktop  

Or, you can install it from Ubuntu Software Center by typing RecordMyDesktop in the search box.

After installation has been done, now you are ready to capture your screen activity.

To start, you have to launch the RecordMyDesktop. You can do this by typing RecordMyDesktop in the dash and then select it.

                                                                         Fig:1

You will see the main screen of RecordMyDesktop with the few options. If you want to record the sound as well so ensure that the checkbox beside Sound Quality is checked.

                     
                                                             Fig:2

Then there are more options like Advanced button. You can do the settings as per your requirements.

                             
                                                             Fig:3

You can start recording by clicking the record option in the RecordMyDesktop screen or you can click the red button appear in top right side of the system tray.
                                    
                         
                                                             Fig:4

After starting the recording the red circle button will change into a red rectangular button.

Unless you select an area of the screen RecordMyDesktop will capture everything that is happening on your screen. This can increase the size of your video file. So better to select the area of the screen and then capture it. You can select the area by clicking the red button and then click on “Select Area on Screen”. Now, you have to drag the mouse, a red rectangle tells the area that you are selecting. After releasing the mouse button, the area that you have selected will be outlined with a black rectangle.
                                                                                              
                                           
                                                                Fig: 5

After selecting the area, you should click the record button and start recording. Now, whatever activity you do in that particular area will get recorded. After that you can stop your recording by clicking at the rectangular button.

Then you will find the video file has been produce in the home directory, named as out.ogv. If the file already exists, RecordMyDesktop will not overwrite it, but instead create a new file with a number at the end to differentiate it.

                                                     Fig:6

Here is a recording of the activity done in the selected area of the screen.

                      
                                                             Fig:7
   

Enjoy recording your activity done on screen of your PC.

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