Read the Indezine review of Tanida Demo Builder 11, a product that allows you to capture onscreen activities as
videos, which can them be edited and shared.
You may have seen many tutorials online, especially on YouTube and video learning sites like Udemy and Lynda.com that show you how you
can use a particular feature within a program through a screen recording accompanied by annotations and voice. This approach, of course,
is an alternative that many users prefer rather than going through a textual series of steps. But how can you create such video demos on
your own?
Demo Builder 11 from Tanida provides just what you want. It is an easy way to create tutorials, presentations or demonstrations that
show how software and systems work. Demo Builder 11 works well for generating the demos you require to teach, train, or sell.
Demo Builder 11 is from Tanida Inc., a company based in Toronto, Canada that also creates e-learning software
for home and office use. You can learn more about Demo Builder, and download a 15-day trial version
from their site.
My contact at Demo Builder for this review was Dan Tatomir - thank you, Dan.
You can download an installer for their 15-day trial from their site—or you can buy a licensed version of the product. Run the setup
routine and follow the instructions explained.
This will create a new Demo Builder option within the Start menu as shown in Figure 1.
Go to your Start menu and click the Demo Builder 11 option (see Figure 1 above).
This opens the Tanida Demo Builder opening screen, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Tanida Demo Builder opening screen
Here you can choose from four options to create a new movie. You can also choose to view an existing project from the
Samples listed. The Training section of this screen includes links to the tutorials to help you in
the process. We decided to create a new movie, and chose the Record the screen option.
This brings up a red box that represents the area to be recorded, as shown in Figure 3. You can resize this area as needed.
Figure 3: Capturing onscreen activity
You will see various recording options within the top-left corner of the red rectangle (see Figure 3 again). These options
are explained below as marked in Figure 4:
Figure 4: Capturing onscreen activity
Record: Click this option to start recording.
Fit To: Selecting this option opens a drop-down menu listing all active applications on your screen as shown in
Figure 5. Select the application that you want to record , and your recording dimensions will change to the window size of the chosen
application.
Figure 5: List of active applications
Width and Height: You can select from a list of preset width:height proportions or enter width and height values manually to
set the recording screen dimension.
Take screen shots: If you select this option, Demo Builder captures images when a change occurs on the screen you are
recording. You also have the option of also manually forcing a screenshot.
Full-Motion Recording: Recommended for applications where changes in the screen happen quickly and for instances where
you want to capture such things as drag and drop, screen resizing, animated GIFs, or even full motion movies.
Record Voice-Over Narration: Select to record voice narration at capture time.
Record System Sound: Enable to record system sounds at capture time.
Options: Brings up the Recording Options dialog box as shown in Figure 6 that includes
various setting options for the recording. You can choose various customization settings in this tabbed dialog box.
Figure 6: Recording Options dialog box
Once all settings are customized, click the Record button, as shown highlighted in red within
Figure 7. Click the OK button in the resulting, optional window, also shown highlighted in
blue within Figure 7. The recording will now commence. All your onscreen activity is now captured to a
Demo Builder project.
Figure 7: Recording your onscreen activity
To pause the recording, press the Pause button shown highlighted in red within Figure 8,
below. You will also find the End Recording button, highlighted in blue. Pressing this button will stop your recording.
Figure 8: Pause or stop your recording
When you stop the recording, you will see a window as shown in Figure 9 where you will be provided with the options to preview, export,
and share the recording. You can also add new scenes to the recording at this stage. You can double-click the thumbnail here to access the
options to fine-tune the recording.
Demo Builder 11 is an accomplished onscreen capture program that can create fantastic video demos, and has plenty of options to edit the
recordings, and export to a range of file format types.
PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts and Sequences:
PowerPoint 2016, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2007 and 2003 for Windows
PowerPoint 2016 and 2011 for Mac
PowerPoint Online for Windows and Mac
Have your ever used keyboard shortcuts and sequences in PowerPoint? Or are you a complete keyboard aficionado?
Do you want to learn about some new shortcuts? Or do you want to know if your favorite keyboard shortcuts are documented?
