[moki]

Why take a static screenshot when Snapz Pro X 2 makes creating a movie just as easy? Snapz Pro X 2 does that, and so much more -- what a difference a version makes! Download a free demo version from our web site today or check out the demo movies we've created and see for yourself.

http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/snapzprox/

Snapz Pro X 2 allows you to effortlessly record anything on your screen, saving it as a QuickTime movie or screenshot that can be emailed, put up on the web, or passed around however you please. Snapz Pro X 2.0 costs $69. Upgrades from Snapz Pro X 1.0 w/ movie capture are $20.

[moki]

If anyone has any questions, problems, criticisms, kudos, whatever... feel free to post them here, I'll respond to them as best I can.

Man, I'll tell you, releasing software is like giving birth, but worse... everyone criticizes you for it, and you don't get any drugs

[eevyl]

I want to chime in just to say Snapz Pro X 2 is the best since caffeine in carbonated sugar water!

Up the Snapz!

[voodoo]

What are the system requirements moki? Would I have problems with recording movies on my 600 MHz iBook?

[moki]

Originally posted by voodoo:
What are the system requirements moki? Would I have problems with recording movies on my 600 MHz iBook?

No matter what machine you're on, it'll work much, much faster than the old 1.0.x version for movie recording.

Snapz Pro X 2.0 does require 10.2 or later, though, and likes Panther the best.

Let me know how it works out for you.

[hardcat1970]

is the audio capture working?

i have a version 1.0 license, do i have to pay $20 to upgrade with the movie capture ability?

[moki]

Originally posted by hardcat1970:
is the audio capture working?

i have a version 1.0 license, do i have to pay $20 to upgrade with the movie capture ability?

Yes, the audio capture is working -- have a look at some of our demo movies, this one is pretty cool:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/...2_dvd_bond.mov (5.4mb)

Yep, there is an upgrade fee for this version, but we've added quite a bit to the functionality/performance. The video capture is literally 20x faster with this version. This url shows you the upgrade options:

https://secure.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bi...item=spx2.html

Give it a whirl!

[benign]

Their bellies are bigger than their brains.
$10 for the upgrade, then maybe but...
Copernicus is only $15 new.


If you have Snapz bundled free
from apple - upgrade for only $19

If you have spent over $50 to purchase
and support Snapz in the past you are
charged $20 for an upgrade.


Where is this companies support of
those that have put real cash into their
pockets...

They officially now offer what they always
promised and have the audacity to charge
even more for fixing something that
never worked properly to start with.


CrapzSnapz

[moki]

Originally posted by benign:
Their bellies are bigger than their brains.
$10 for the upgrade, then maybe but...
Copernicus is only $15 new.

Copernicus also is simply no comparison with Snapz Pro X 2.0 -- I'm assuming you haven't even used Snapz Pro X 2.0, because I doubt you'd make these statements if you had. Take a look at the demo movies we've recorded (or record your own):

http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/...reenshots.html

With regard to your other statements, I'm not going to bother to respond, except to say that you're extremely mistaken, and pernicious to boot.

[hardcat1970]

Originally posted by moki:
Copernicus also is simply no comparison with Snapz Pro X 2.0 -- I'm assuming you haven't even used it, because I doubt you'd make that statement if you had. Take a look at the demo movies we've recorded (or record your own):

http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/utilities/...reenshots.html

With regard to your other statements, I'm not going to bother to respond, except to say that you're extremely mistaken, and pernicious to boot.

I have a legal 1.0 serial number, when i installed the 2.0 version, it said Snapz Pro X has been disabled. Please purchase a legitimate license code if you wish to use this product message. But i thought i could use it as a demo to see what's new on this version? now do i have to reinstall 1.0 if i don't want to upgrade?

I do feel like $20 upgrade is expensive because 1.0 never had the ability to save audio. And i was waiting, waiting and then boom! 2.0 with a paid upgrade.

[moki]

Originally posted by hardcat1970:
I have a legal 1.0 serial number, when i installed the 2.0 version, it said Snapz Pro X has been disabled. Please purchase a legitimate license code if you wish to use this product message. But i thought i could use it as a demo to see what's new on this version? now do i have to reinstall 1.0 if i don't want to upgrade?

It only ever displays that message if you're using a known-pirated license code. Please email me privately if there has been some kind of mistake here: [email protected]

I do feel like $20 upgrade is expensive because 1.0 never had the ability to save audio. And i was waiting, waiting and then boom! 2.0 with a paid upgrade.

Mac audio capture was never something we promised for 1.0.x, but it is something we've been working on for some time. Play with the new version for a bit, and I think you may agree that the upgrade fee is very reasonable:

-- video capture that's literally 20x faster than anything else, and tear-free
-- audio capture
-- redesigned interface that is extremely powerful
-- significantly enhanced image and movie capture tools
-- the "Live Preview" feature lets you see exactly what you're saving before you do
-- dozens of other enhancements and optimizations

I should also note that the static screen capture version, despite significant enhancements in version 2.0, is a free upgrade to Snapz Pro X 1.x owners, and those that paid for the bundle upgrade for 1.x get a free upgrade to the full version (with movies) of Snapz Pro X 2.0 as well.

[benign]

An extremely pernicious company
with a deviant upgrade policy.


Why :
Free apple bundle $19
Paid customers $20

[moki]

Originally posted by benign:
Why :
Free apple bundle $19
Paid customers $20

I'm really not sure what you're asking here, or what you have a problem with?

[Person Man]

Originally posted by benign:
An extremely pernicious company
with a deviant upgrade policy.


Why :
Free apple bundle $19
Paid customers $20

Think of it as a $20 upgrade to a $70 program. This is a LOT better than companies who have $100 packages and charge $80 for the upgrade. That is really messed up...

Now, having paid the $19 bundle upgrade myself back when it was still Snapz Pro 1.0.7, I was pleasantly surprised to find I could upgrade for free to 2.0.

[ckohler]

I have a Dual G5 and I was able to do a full screen capture at 30fps (1280x1024) *with* audio and it didn't drop a single frame. Brilliant.

I happily paid $20 to upgrade. There isn't a piece of screen capture software this good anywhere else on any platform period.

[Xeo]

Well, I knew the movie capturing was better, but it's really impressive to see first hand. A full screen capture worked very well on my iBook G4. The only slowdowns were on the Exposé and minimizing effects. It's definitely much more usable now for larger captures. Everything else happened in real time. And this was at 30 FPS, too.

[moki]

Originally posted by Xeo:
Well, I knew the movie capturing was better, but it's really impressive to see first hand. A full screen capture worked very well on my iBook G4. The only slowdowns were on the Exposé and minimizing effects. It's definitely much more usable now for larger captures. Everything else happened in real time. And this was at 30 FPS, too.

Cool, glad it's working well for you. The iBooks are one of the worst-case scenarios for Snapz Pro X 2.0, because of the video card and memory bus.

BTW, if you do end up making videos to send to people or post on the web, you probably don't want to record them at 30fps, because they will be rather large. We've found that between 8-12 fps is about right for something that looks good, but is as small as possible without using a very high compression setting.

[-Q-]

The video capture is the most impressive thing I've seen in awhile. Full motion DVD capture, with audio, and no dropped frames? Astounding.

You received my upgrade fee last night - and unlike some, I definitely think $20 is a reasonable upgrade fee for the incredible improvement in the video capture process.

I like the simplified interface too (especially the way the objects fade out of your way as you're selecting the area size to be recorded or modifying your movie settings).

Well done.

[moki]

Originally posted by Person Man:
Now, having paid the $19 bundle upgrade myself back when it was still Snapz Pro 1.0.7, I was pleasantly surprised to find I could upgrade for free to 2.0.

We took a lot of flack for charging for the bundle upgrade, even though we really didn't have much choice (we were not given a user list from Apple), so as a present for those who stuck by us and paid the bundle upgrade fee, we decided to make this version free. Enjoy.

[hardcat1970]

Originally posted by moki:
It only ever displays that message if you're using a known-pirated license code. Please email me privately if there has been some kind of mistake here: [email protected]



Mac audio capture was never something we promised for 1.0.x, but it is something we've been working on for some time. Play with the new version for a bit, and I think you may agree that the upgrade fee is very reasonable:

-- video capture that's literally 20x faster than anything else, and tear-free
-- audio capture
-- redesigned interface that is extremely powerful
-- significantly enhanced image and movie capture tools
-- the "Live Preview" feature lets you see exactly what you're saving before you do
-- dozens of other enhancements and optimizations

I should also note that the static screen capture version, despite significant enhancements in version 2.0, is a free upgrade to Snapz Pro X 1.x owners, and those that paid for the bundle upgrade for 1.x get a free upgrade to the full version (with movies) of Snapz Pro X 2.0 as well.

I just sent a private email message to you about the serial number issue. I would definitely try the demo version and will pay the $20 upgrade if it works well.

[moki]

German, Korean, Swedish, and Traditional Chinese Snapz Pro X 2.0 users...

We've discovered that users who have their computer set to use either German, Korean, Swedish, or Traditional Chinese as their main language, -AND- had Snapz Pro X 1.0.x previously installed will be unable to launch Snapz Pro X 2.0

The installer doesn't clean up these old localizations properly, which are not present in Snapz Pro X 2.0 (we're working on getting them done!) To get Snapz Pro X 2.0 working for you, simply delete the "Snapz Pro X" folder that is in your Applications folder, then run the Snapz Pro X 2.0 installer.

[C.J. Moof]

Is the compression progress window supposed to be immune to Expose? It's there when I go to the Finder, but if I invoke Expose, it fades away.

It would be useful to be able to use Expose to see how the progress is going, but alas, there is no window to see.... I have to command-option click on the desktop to monitor the compression progress.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by moki:
BTW, if you do end up making videos to send to people or post on the web, you probably don't want to record them at 30fps, because they will be rather large. We've found that between 8-12 fps is about right for something that looks good, but is as small as possible without using a very high compression setting.

Well, I remember a few years ago when I was doing more video work, I needed full screen capture of the computer screen. Snapz, back then, was far too slow to capture it properly. If was was to do that project again, it would look MUCH better with this version of Snapz doing the work. For that use, 30FPS is much more desired.

[k2director]

Can't wait to try it! I've been a daily user of SnapPro X for creating my books (Final Cut Pro for Dummies, Final Cut Express for Dummies), and for giving artists feedback when I'm working on a film.

I CAN'T wait to try out the movie recording feature, as that's been something I've wanted to do for a long time.

I think it's a great product, and an incredibly fair price. Looking forward to it....

[mpmchugh]

Originally posted by moki:
If anyone has any questions, problems, criticisms, kudos, whatever... feel free to post them here, I'll respond to them as best I can.

Moki,

Question: Besides the Audio and Video features? What's new? Is there an acual listing of new features anywhere?

Though I'm sure the A/V stuff is great, I have no use for it, really, though I'll likely upgrade for the interface improvements.

Perhaps the A/V stuff should be a seperate version? Or is it?

On another note, the only feature I've ever requested, at least a couple of times is the ability to capture a full scrolling Web page.

I really do hope this gets integrated in a future version, as it's very much needed for those of use that do software documentation.

Thanks,
Michael

[moki]

Originally posted by mpmchugh:
Though I'm sure the A/V stuff is great, I have no use for it, really, though I'll likely upgrade for the interface improvements.

If so, then Snapz Pro X 2.0 is a FREE upgrade for you, despite the enhancements.

As for what is new for you as someone who is just interested in the static capture abilities, the two big features are the greatly enhanced image capture tool, with Photoshop-style Selection styles (Normal, Fixed size, and Fixed Aspect Ratio) and other enhancements.

Probably the most useful feature to you will be the "Live Preview" -- you click on the "Preview" button, and it shows you *exactly* how the image will look when saved. You can adjust the scaling, color change, borders, even the JPEG compression on the fly and see exactly what the image will look like when saved to disk. Saves a lot of time.

There are a number of other features, bug fixes, and enhancements that you'll benefit from as well.

On another note, the only feature I've ever requested, at least a couple of times is the ability to capture a full scrolling Web page.

Yep, this is on our wish list.

[moki]

Originally posted by C.J. Moof:
Is the compression progress window supposed to be immune to Expose? It's there when I go to the Finder, but if I invoke Expose, it fades away.

I think this is just what Expos� does with windows from applications that how no menu bar?

[mpmchugh]

Originally posted by moki:
If so, then Snapz Pro X 2.0 is a FREE upgrade for you, despite the enhancements.

That's great. Thanks for the details on the upgrade. I'll be sure to check them out.

Originally posted by moki:
Yep, this is on our wish list.

Cool. Any idea when? I mean, is this a 3.0 feature, or maybe a 2.x feature?

Thanks,
Michael

[moki]

Originally posted by mpmchugh:
Cool. Any idea when? I mean, is this a 3.0 feature, or maybe a 2.x feature?

Thanks,
Michael

It's a "as soon as I can figure out how to do this without resorting to skanky APE-like hacks" feature.

[moki]

Originally posted by k2director:
Can't wait to try it! I've been a daily user of SnapPro X for creating my books (Final Cut Pro for Dummies, Final Cut Express for Dummies), and for giving artists feedback when I'm working on a film.

I CAN'T wait to try out the movie recording feature, as that's been something I've wanted to do for a long time.

I think it's a great product, and an incredibly fair price. Looking forward to it....

Please do let me know what you think after you've tried it... enjoy!

[C.J. Moof]

Originally posted by moki:
I think this is just what Expos� does with windows from applications that how no menu bar?

Then 2.1 needs a menu bar, IMHO.

[moki]

Originally posted by C.J. Moof:
Then 2.1 needs a menu bar, IMHO.

that wouldn't work very well. You don't want Snapz's menu bar in your captures, and the kludges that Grab use to not have a menu bar are nasty. It's the same reason that Apple's built-in screen capture function has no menu bar.

[Diggory Laycock]

Congrats,

Just a little pedantry:

"...imagine how priceless..."

Priceless (like unique) is an absolute - literally 'without price' - so you can't have degrees of priceless-ness.

It's like saying "almost unique"

[moki]

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
Congrats,

Just a little pedantry:

"...imagine how priceless..."

Priceless (like unique) is an absolute - literally 'without price' - so you can't have degrees of priceless-ness.

It's like saying "almost unique"

I'm almost certain you're correct.

[moonmonkey]

Originally posted by benign:
CrapzSnapz

How does the price of something dictate if it is good or bad?

"Aston Martin's are crap, they cost $200,000US"

http://www.astonmartin.com/db9_intro_base.html

[schuey100]

I like the idea of the App but I just can't get it to capture video without really bad audio drop outs.

I'm running OSX10.3.2
17" PB
1 gig proc
1 gig RAM

I'm trying to capture from a Ram file. Is Snapz not compatible with this or is it just my system?

Oh, and also, I agree that it needs some kind of menu bar. I don't like the fact that I can't see it running. I do audio work so I don't want processes running that I'm not aware of.

[moki]

Originally posted by schuey100:
I like the idea of the App but I just can't get it to capture video without really bad audio drop outs.

I'm running OSX10.3.2
17" PB
1 gig proc
1 gig RAM

I'm trying to capture from a Ram file. Is Snapz not compatible with this or is it just my system?

We had one other person with your exact machine configuration (17" Powerbook) state the same thing. We're flummoxed.

Even more oddly, we've had someone else chime in that on the same machine (17" PowerBook) he was able to record Final Cut Pro with full audio, with no problem at all.

Is your monitor set to Millions mode?

[moki]

Originally posted by schuey100:
Oh, and also, I agree that it needs some kind of menu bar. I don't like the fact that I can't see it running. I do audio work so I don't want processes running that I'm not aware of.

Snapz Pro X 2.0 is meant to replace your built-in screen capture function, which is also always running, and also has no menu bar. It does not use up system resources when it is not in use.

As for worrying about extra processes, you're in for a bit of a shock. Open up Terminal in /Applications/Utilities

Paste in this line of text and then hit the Return key:

ps -aux

...to see how many processes are running on your machine.

[schuey100]

Originally posted by moki:
Snapz Pro X 2.0 is meant to replace your built-in screen capture function, which is also always running, and also has no menu bar. It does not use up system resources when it is not in use.

As for worrying about extra processes, you're in for a bit of a shock. Open up Terminal in /Applications/Utilities

Paste in this line of text and then hit the Return key:

ps -aux

...to see how many processes are running on your machine.

That didn't really answer the first question I had.

Second, I know exactly how many processes are running in the background. I use this system to run PT and Logic for audio recording and mixing and I really want to keep as little running as I possibly can. Are you saying that Snapz will take up no CPU at all when it's not active? Seriously? In that case it's not so much of a problem.

I do still think there should be a menu bar option. I guess it's down to personal preference but it's nice to have a visible item which allows the user to see what's running.

From the way you are speaking it sounds as if theres a technical reason why there's no menu bar item? If enough people were to ask for a menu bar or a dock item, would you be able to include it as an option?

Thanks.

Michael

[moki]

Originally posted by schuey100:
I like the idea of the App but I just can't get it to capture video without really bad audio drop outs.

I'm running OSX10.3.2
17" PB
1 gig proc
1 gig RAM

I'm trying to capture from a Ram file. Is Snapz not compatible with this or is it just my system?

The thing is, the only two people who have mentioned this problem have both been using 17" PowerBooks, which really gets me wondering... We had another user with similar problems -- he's thinking it is a hardware issue, because others with the same machine seem to have no problem recording anything. from an email:

Yes I can't figure this out at all, I ran the Apple hardware tests today, quick and extended, everything passed, one thing I did notice on an inspection of the boot with dmesg is this error,

ASC::checkProperties ERROR: failed to find platform-set-frequency-high
ASC::start ERROR: failed to find the properties

A couple people on the Apple discussion boards have had this error as well, and its somehow related to the Apple Sound Chip, this is the only thing so far that hints are a hardware problem, the only catch there is the sound works fine. I'll poke around some more and try to corroborate something with Mel.

[moki]

Originally posted by schuey100:
Are you saying that Snapz will take up no CPU at all when it's not active? Seriously? In that case it's not so much of a problem.

Yep, seriously. When it isn't invoked, it literally does nothing, other than wait for its hot key to be pressed, and occasionally looking at the list of windows on your computer.

[Phoenix1701]

Originally posted by moki:
that wouldn't work very well. You don't want Snapz's menu bar in your captures, and the kludges that Grab use to not have a menu bar are nasty. It's the same reason that Apple's built-in screen capture function has no menu bar.

How about a menu extra, then, that the user can turn on or off from within Snapz? It would serve as a visual indication that Snapz is what's going to come up when you hit Command-Shift-3 rather than the default screenshot tools, it would not look particularly odd in a screenshot, and there are well-documented APIs (well, assuming you use the status menu API and not the system menu extra API) and easy mechanisms for turning it on and off from within an app. Seems like a solution to me.

[moki]

Originally posted by Phoenix1701:
How about a menu extra, then, that the user can turn on or off from within Snapz? It would serve as a visual indication that Snapz is what's going to come up when you hit Command-Shift-3 rather than the default screenshot tools, it would not look particularly odd in a screenshot, and there are well-documented APIs (well, assuming you use the status menu API and not the system menu extra API) and easy mechanisms for turning it on and off from within an app. Seems like a solution to me.

Well, most people who record things with Snapz Pro X don't want it appearing anywhere in the movie. It'd be sort of like the camera man and his camera appearing in a Hollywood movie shoot... a little odd. Interesting suggestion though, thanks.

[Phoenix1701]

Originally posted by moki:
Well, most people who record things with Snapz Pro X don't want it appearing anywhere in the movie. It'd be sort of like the camera man and his camera appearing in a Hollywood movie shoot... a little odd. Interesting suggestion though, thanks.

Quite welcome. I had in mind that the people who wouldn't want it appearing in a movie or screenshot could turn it off from within the preference window before taking the shot, and then (if they wanted) turn it back on afterwards. There wouldn't be any indication between the time they finished taking the shot and the next time they opened the preference window, but that should be much better than nothing.

[moki]

Originally posted by Phoenix1701:
Quite welcome. I had in mind that the people who wouldn't want it appearing in a movie or screenshot could turn it off from within the preference window before taking the shot, and then (if they wanted) turn it back on afterwards. There wouldn't be any indication between the time they finished taking the shot and the next time they opened the preference window, but that should be much better than nothing.

Well, help me understand this one thing... the built-in Screenshot function, which Snapz Pro X replaces, has no menu bar or menu extra either. Do you wish it did as well?

[C.J. Moof]

No, but it also doesn't have a progress window that I would like to keep track of- the one that appears while compressing a movie. Having that window not be exempt from expose would be beneficial.

[Phoenix1701]

Originally posted by moki:
Well, help me understand this one thing... the built-in Screenshot function, which Snapz Pro X replaces, has no menu bar or menu extra either. Do you wish it did as well?

No. The built-in screenshot function can be seen as a sort of "default behavior", since in the absence of Snapz Pro X it is loaded at startup automatically by the OS. Snapz overrides that behavior and replaces it with a custom (and better ) one. Therefore, having a visual indication that Snapz is running indicates to the user that a behavior of the system has been overridden, the same way that caps lock is indicated by a light on the keyboard
In general, visual affordances are a good idea whenever there is a modal behavior that can be switched on and off -- for example, one of the biggest complaints about Classic in Mac OS X was that there was no affordance indicating that Classic was running; this is an example of such a modal behavior, as having Classic running changes what happens when you activate a non-native application or document. In Mac OS X 10.3, they solved this problem by adding a menu extra that indicates when Classic is running. I don't think a permanent menu extra is necessary for Snapz, but having one (optionally) there to indicate that it's running would definitely be a good move.
I must note that the Expose argument is another matter entirely; I'm not sure there's a good way to get the window to respond normally, and adding a menu extra won't fix that problem.

[benign]

I used the Apple scripts that came
with the app. Put them in your Script
menu and you can start and quit Snapz
from the menu bar.

I have been testing the movie capture
function of snapz 2 on an end of the
line Ti-1Ghz with a Gig of ram and have
also at times near no sound capture.

With very large files at the end of a small
1 minute capture ( long time processing too)
what's the secret to smaller end-file sizes...

[moki]

Originally posted by benign:
With very large files at the end of a small
1 minute capture ( long time processing too)
what's the secret to smaller end-file sizes...

The size of a video -- any video -- is completely dependent on the size of the area that you're capturing, the framerate you're capturing the video at, the compressor you choose, and the compression amount you specify.

If the resulting files are too large for your use, you can specify that they are compressed more highly by clicking on the Settings... button next to the video track information. This brings up the standard QuickTime compression dialog box where you can choose the compressor to use.

Any video compressor is always a tradeoff between video quality, and the size of the resulting capture. More CPU intensive compressors like MPEG4 can indeed take time to compress.

You can also, as I mentioned, capture at a lower frame rate, or a smaller area. Here's a little example for you.

If your monitor has a resolution of 1024x768, and is set to Millions mode, a single uncompressed video frame is about 3mb in size. If you're capturing at 30fps, 10 seconds of that video will take up about 921mb of disk space. Video is very large.

[moki]

Originally posted by benign:
I used the Apple scripts that came
with the app. Put them in your Script
menu and you can start and quit Snapz
from the menu bar.

Just a note here... Snapz is designed to always be running. It is meant to start up from your Startup Items, and be always running, just as your screen capture function is always running.

When it isn't being used, it does not use up system resources, and it will always be available for you to take a screen capture.