When I reviewed Steinberg Sequel, an entry-level music production suite, I created a short video to demonstrate a useful UI feature from that software. In hindsight, I wish that ScreenFlow had been available back then, as that would have made creating that movie so much easier, and the movie itself would have been more compelling.

According to Vara Software, ScreenFlow is a "Professional Screencasting Studio," and that description nicely sums up what ScreenFlow is all about. ScreenFlow grabs audio and video from the computer and from external sources, provides a timeline for editing these recordings, and offers a range of effects aimed specifically at creating on-screen software presentations -- aka "screencasts" -- like highlighting the mouse pointer or visualizing key presses and mouse clicks.

To put ScreenFlow to the test, I thought that re-creating that Sequel demo movie would be just the thing.

Hands-on Example - The Magic Mouse Tool

Steinberg Sequel has a feature called the "Magic Mouse Tool" for editing audio clips. Depending on where you place the mouse pointer in an audio clip when clicking the mouse button, the Magic Mouse Tool performs a number of different functions. Since Sequel is aimed at users just starting out on that fascinating journey into recording and editing music on a computer, I thought it would be a nice touch to include a quick demo video in my review, showing this Magic Mouse Tool in action.

Using Ambrosia Software's Snapz Pro X, I grabbed the on-screen video and later added QuickTime sub-titles manually (just don't ask...) for explaining to the viewer what she is seeing. Here's that original video:

The original video used in the Sequel review (Click to watch video.)

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As you can see, the "production values" don't quite qualify as impressive, and it's distracting to have to switch between watching the actual clip and reading the sub-titles, then having to synchronize both inside your head to fully grasp just what it is that the Magic Mouse Tool does. So, how about an audio track for the explanations instead of the sub-titles? And maybe somehow enlarging that mouse pointer to point out how its icon changes? Also, wouldn't it be nice to start off with a full-screen view of Sequel before zooming in on that audio clip?

ScreenFlow (and a 2GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook and a not-really-expensive Logitec USB headset) made all that possible, but before I explain the nitty-gritty to you, have a look at the result: the Magic Mouse Tool Screencast, Take 2.

Audio replaces sub-titles in Take 2 of the Magic Mouse Tool demo (Click to watch video.)

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