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How can I save PartyCAD Movies to an AVI file?
PartyCAD Movies vs AVI Movies
In PartyCAD's Virtual Reality module you can record and save movies for playback on your machine or for use with PartyCAD's Picture Show module. These movies are actually just small files that contain movement data within a PartyCAD design. A small program that comes with PartyCAD loads the design related data and then recreates the movements to play back the movies you save. This strategy results in small files compared to traditional AVI or Flash movies, and has the added benefit that the movie can be stopped and the user can then move around in the design just as PartyCAD user can in the VR module.
So, that's pretty good, but suppose that what you really want is an AVI or Flash version of the movie suitable for sending to any client or even uploading to YouTube. Can you do that? Yes, but not within the program. PartyCAD does not currently save its movies in AVI or Flash format. You must use a screen recorder.
Screen Recorders
If you look at any of the Help videos on the PartyCAD CD, you are watching an AVI movie of PartyCAD in action.
If you watch any of the online movies at PartyCAD Videos you are watching a Flash movie of PartyCAD.
Both of these types of media were created using screen recording software. Such programs record all or part of your screen and anything you say into a microphone. Once complete, you can save the result to an AVI, Flash or other standard movie format that can be played back with Media Player or any of a host of other playback programs.
So, here is how you can record an AVI of a PartyCAD movie:
1. Create the movie in PartyCAD.
2. Run the external Screen Recorder. Set it to capture just the PartyCAD movie area of the screen. Tell it to start recording.
3. Play the movie in PartyCAD.
4. Stop the Screen Recorder and save the result to an AVI or other format.
Which screen recorder should you buy?
In making his movies, Brad experimented with a couple of screen recorders:
AVICapture (free) Evidently a bit tricky to use.
VirtualDub (free) Seems to me to lack professional polish.
Camtasia ($299) is the last of the packages Brad mentioned. This is what I use to make the PartyCAD videos, and it is fun to use and effective.
Other possibilities:
If you Google Screen Recording Software you will see any number of products you might try. Here are three I know just a little about:
Instant Demo ($299) I found to be very quirky. At that price, Camtasia does a much better job.
ScreenVirtuoso ($20-$40) I like the look of this, but only experimented with it briefly.
CamStudio 2.0. (free-$30) One PartyCAD user reports good success with this. It will create both AVIs and flash videos.
http://www.hufsoft.com/QnA/AVI.htm
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