# Making Sketchup movies on the Mac

**URL:** <https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441>\
**Category:** SketchUp\
**Tags:** advice\
**Created:** [July 4, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441 "2024-07-04T16:51:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chip\_Cookie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/chip_cookie/32/214470_2.png) [@Chip\_Cookie](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Chip_Cookie)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/1 "2024-07-04T16:51:45Z")

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Dear All,

What is the best way folks have found to make cool demonstration videos or GIFs on the Mac (MacOS Sonoma 14.5). Like the demos Box does regularly.

If this has been covered extensively, I apologize for using the wrong search terms.

Chip

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**Author:** ![colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/colin/32/266703_2.png) [@colin](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/colin)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/2 "2024-07-04T17:12:10Z")

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Pretty sure Box is using Windows, and I dare say there are equivalent GIF recording tools for Mac.

But, the built in screen recording tools are worth a try. I will give it a try as I type this…

You type Command-Shift-5, and this panel will appear at the bottom of the screen:

 ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/original/3X/7/b/7b89481b1123f237a2c9013c6dc91d4de318d63e.png)

In my case I have selected the record video, for the selected area of the screen, and under Options I turned off audio, so the video will be silent.

After setting the area, you then click Record, and a square icon appears in the menu bar. You can stop by either typing Command-Shift-5 again, or click that stop button in the menu bar. I will do that now…

Here’s what I recorded:

You can trim that recording right away, or you can open the file in QuickTime Player and do more editing. You then can export the video as different formats, which would help with reducing the file size.

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**Author:** ![Guido](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/guido/32/208097_2.png) [@Guido](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Guido)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/3 "2024-07-04T17:21:38Z")

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Be careful not to capture more of the screen than you need - if you do, you will hit the maximum upload size of 16MB very quickly. If you do go over the 16MB limit you will have to use a third-party file sharing program.

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**Author:** ![colin](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/colin/32/266703_2.png) [@colin](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/colin)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/4 "2024-07-04T17:26:36Z")

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For my example the recording happened to be below 12 MB, so I didn’t need to improve on that. Here’s the video exported from QuickTime Player as 480p, which in this case didn’t help with the file size! But, for some cases it might.

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**Author:** ![Chip\_Cookie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/chip_cookie/32/214470_2.png) [@Chip\_Cookie](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Chip_Cookie)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 5:42pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/5 "2024-07-04T17:42:31Z")

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Colin and Guido,

Thanks tons! BTW, I didn’t even know Quicktime still existed!

Tom

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**Author:** ![slbaumgartner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/slbaumgartner/32/7302_2.png) [@slbaumgartner](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/slbaumgartner)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 6:13pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/6 "2024-07-04T18:13:45Z")

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I still use Licecap. Its free and does what I need.

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**Author:** ![RTCool](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/rtcool/32/181048_2.png) [@RTCool](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/RTCool)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/7 "2024-07-04T18:36:32Z")

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Yes, Licecap makes GIFs, and that’s what Box mostly produces. File size seems to be lower for GIF’s than outright video. I’ve used Licecap too for years. I’ve used Quicktime capture as well, especially with sound. I’ve posted video to my YouTube channel (can be private) and then posted a link here. It plays here in a YouTube player and doesn’t suffer the maximum upload limit of the BB.

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**Author:** ![Chip\_Cookie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/chip_cookie/32/214470_2.png) [@Chip\_Cookie](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/Chip_Cookie)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/8 "2024-07-05T19:18:44Z")

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I will be trying Licecap. Thank you again.

If anyone is interested, here is a place to **[get Licecap](https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/49461/licecap)**.

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**Author:** ![ateliernab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/sketchup/user_avatar/forums.sketchup.com/ateliernab/32/198399_2.png) [@ateliernab](https://forums.sketchup.com/u/ateliernab)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://forums.sketchup.com/t/making-sketchup-movies-on-the-mac/280441/9 "2024-07-05T19:55:17Z")

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also here, the home of the project 😉

[https://www.cockos.com/licecap/](https://www.cockos.com/licecap/)
