Screen capture for Mac?

SketchUp
1

It’s a while since I last used Licecap for screen recording, and I’ve since upgraded my OS X to Monterey.

Licecap seems no longer to work in v1.31, and apparently according to a 3 year old post here stopped working with the previous upgrade to Big Sur.

I’ve just downloaded and installed the latest v1.32 Licecap, and that doesn’t work either - instead of recording actions in the Sketchup window, it cuts through it and records only a static image of my desktop wallpaper.

What do others on the forum now use, on a recent (in my case not even the latest) Mac OS X?

[My 8-year old iMac won’t upgrade to any later version of OS X than Monterey v12.7.x.]

2

I use Screenflow (paid) but you can try OBS (free)

3

for a very short recording (or small), like this, I would use the native tool.

standard shortcut is command+maj+5
(4 will make a full screen image, 3 will make an area, 5 allows you to make videos as well)
you can also fin the app in application/utilities

For longer videos of fullscreen, I use OBS.

4

I’ll go recheck later when at my computer, but last I tried licecap was still working on my Mac.

5

I knew about Cmnd + Shift + 3 and + 4 for static screen grabs, but not + 5 for video capture.

Is there a time limit, or file size limit, for the native video capture tool?

Have just read about OBS - seems more complex than Licecap but more versatile.

Thanks, Steve. Glad to see you still have power after the storm in Boston (USA) - at least so far!

6

You can record screen capture with Apple’s quicktime

Record your screen in QuickTime Player on Mac – Apple Support (UK)

7

I just checked, and Licecap 1.3.2 still works fine on my Mac under macOS 13.6.3 Ventura. I have no idea why it is peeking through to the desktop for you. I don’t see a setting that sounds like it would cause that effect (and I can’t imagine why anyone would want it!). I do remember that in some versions I had to explicitly enter the .gif extension on the file name before it would work, but that seems to happen automatically in 1.3.2.

I like Licecap for grabbing short animations because it is simple to use and generates .gif, which most browsers will play. The macOS capture (cmd-shift-5) generates .mov. .mov is a container around an MPEG-4 file that Apple developed for QuickTime. Safari on Mac will play a .mov, but I’m not sure what other browsers and apps will do so without an extension, especially if not on macOS. So, I still prefer .gif.

8

I’ve made very long videos using the native recording tool, maybe it’s limited by your internal storage space available.

OBS is good but it’s more focused on streaming.

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9

Command-shift-5 is all I use now. It lets you capture the whole screen or part of the screen as a still image (to a file or the clipboard), and the whole screen or part of the screen as a video. You can choose whether to record audio, and where the audio comes from.

It does other things too. There is no longer a need to use QuickTime Player for screen recordings.

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10

Native tool is great but it makes standard mp4 with little compression. I just made a test, full screen (1920*1080) for one minute, it’s already 20,5mb

OBS is indeed streaming-oriented, and many of its parameters are here for that.
However, you can set up a screen recording (with or without sound, mic or internal) in a few minutes, and the result is not as heavy. Same parameters, 1 min fullscreen, 3,8bm (mp4 too)

so yeah, if I need a quick snip of my screen to post to the forum, I’ll go native, if I need a longer / bigger vid, I’ll go OBS.

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11

+3 on Quicktime. I also use Giphy Capture as Gifs are sometimes better for short screen caps. There is an option to output to MP4 as well:

Screen Shot 2024-01-10 at 10.19.13 AM
Screen Shot 2024-01-10 at 10.19.13 AM1788×773 135 KB

12

Licecap is still working for me on Catalina although I can’t get it to save as a LiceCap file

13

I use a 2024 newly tool - FoneDog Screen Recorder. I got it from a discount activity, only a few bucks and a license for a month.

15

Thanks for those suggestions. I’ll explore them. I don’t use screen recording often, so don’t want to spend much or any money on a replacement for LiceCap.

The built in QuickTime method works ok, though i spent a frustrating 15 minutes looking for the Stop (recording) button! On the very left of the menu bar, not near the right,

16

I learned from this guy. He does excellent Mac specific tips on all sorts of topics.

17

Many thanks for the link.

He shows the bit I had trouble with - finding the Stop button!

18

I used to stick with command-shift-5 too, but after a while I needed things like scrolling captures and marking stuff up with arrows or highlights right away, especially when making guides for friends or coworkers. The macOS tool works for basic stuff, but if you want more flexibility or batch screenshots with the same size cropping, it’s worth looking for something else.Lately, I’ve been using movavi for screen grabs and quick edits. The tools for drawing and consistent cropping really sped up my workflow.

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