What program do you use for screen caps?

logorzat · Post by **logorzat** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:45 pm

I was just wondering what program everyone uses for screen caps? I would like to make some for the cels in my gallery but I'm not sure how.

kittens · Post by **kittens** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:01 pm

nevermind

Sorry

mistakes

Sugarflower · Post by **Sugarflower** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:05 pm

I use BS player always. Seems to be the easiest program for me to use. I know others have their own favorite program. Irfanview can also be used for .avi files.

buma · Post by **buma** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:22 pm

you can use a free program called virtualdubmod to make your screencaps as it gives you frame by frame control over the video so you can find your exact scene in your cel.

Just remember, whatever you use, you will have to resize them to make them the right proportion - from 720w x 480h to 640w x 480h (you'll need to do this in a photo editing program like WAX, GIMP [both free] or Photochop [not free])

wELCOME cONSUMER · Post by **wELCOME cONSUMER** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:58 pm

PowerDVD

miz ducky · Post by **miz ducky** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 9:01 pm

Yes I use PowerDVD. It came with my DVD-rom.
It has a little camera looking button or there is a keyboard shortcut too (it might be c if i remember correctly).
This puts the image into your windows clipboard (where everything goes for copying and pasting).

Depending on what you want a screen cap of, you can also use the PrintScreen button on your keyboard. This copies the image on your monitor, the Whole monitor. However, I've found that this doesn't work when playing something in WMP. Whatever is shown in WMP, disappears for the copy.

Then I just paste the image to Paint or something.

Buma for what purpose were you talking about resizing the image?
If someone just wants a picture, the only size requirements are from the website you are putting the picture on (like how we have to shrink images to put on RS).

buma · Post by **buma** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:42 am

it has to do with pixel ratios between 1:1 square computer pixels (640w x 480h) and 0.9:1 rectangular TV pixels (720w x 480h). Images off of a DVD are meant for TV's so they appear 'wider' on a computer when you do a capture for them (screen captures using the print screen function probably don't suffer from this as the software dvd player compensates and shows them at the correct ratio). Below is an example of a cel that I own with it's screencap:

720x480 (raw TV rectangular pixels from dvd capture)

640x480 (resized to computer square pixels)

image of cel

You notice that the raw capture is horizontally stretched wider to display correctly on the rectangular pixels of a standard tube TV (I think that LCD tvs must be programmed to adjust it into the correct ratio so that images don't appear wider on an LCD tv as compared to a tube one). The resized image closely matches the proportions of the actual cel image.

So, this is the reason that your screencaps should be resized to 640 x 480.

Krafty · Post by **Krafty** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:02 am

Sugarflower wrote:I use BS player always.

Thanks Sugar, I haven't laughed so hard all day. "BullS***" Player sounds crap to me or is that just what you tend to watch on it? j/k

Ducky, I think you're correct that by default, PowerDVD will save screencaps to the clipboard, but you can change the basic settings so that every screencap you make is saved to a specific folder. This is very useful.

I also find PowerDVD to be the best/easiest.

Buma's point about the image resizing is something you need to play around with until you find the correct one. It's all about changing the settings then once it's done, save them as defaults and you don't have that problem again.

I think we're making this sound more tricky than it is, it's a simple process ^__^

Golden Boy · Post by **Golden Boy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:49 am

For Mac users, you can use VLC and Grab together to get caps.

gb

Sparta101 · Post by **Sparta101** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:06 am

the best and easiest 1 i know and use is windows media player classic you just pause it where you want go to file then save image.

RoboFlonne · Post by **RoboFlonne** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:11 am

I use the PrtSc button on my keyboard and AdobePhotoshop to crop the image!

buma · Post by **buma** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:27 am

Krafty wrote:
Buma's point about the image resizing is something you need to play around with until you find the correct one. It's all about changing the settings then once it's done, save them as defaults and you don't have that problem again.

I think we're making this sound more tricky than it is, it's a simple process ^__^

actually, it is easy - there's no figuring out required ^__^
if you have Photoshop (or one of the free alternatives I mention above) here's what you have to do:
1. capture your raw image using virtualdubmod (for my example) by clicking on the 'video' menu and pulling down to 'snapshot source frame' and save your image as a png file.
2. open in up in photoshop, select all and copy
3. open a new document up with the following dimensions - 640w x 480h x 72dpi
4. paste the image into the new document and use the 'free transform' feature in the 'edit' menu to squish the image horizontally.
5. voila - the trick, she is done! - just save as a file of your choice and you've got your properly proportioned screencap

oh, and if you're interested in knowing why I know this, its from doing AMV's and trying to get the right proportions for distribution sources (dvd's require 720 x 480, over the internet for computer viewing requires 640x480 - fun fun fun)

miz ducky · Post by **miz ducky** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:40 am

buma wrote:oh, and if you're interested in knowing why I know this, its from doing AMV's and trying to get the right proportions for distribution sources (dvd's require 720 x 480, over the internet for computer viewing requires 640x480 - fun fun fun)

yeah so for just looking at a pretty picture, I've never had to resize anything. So it depends on how you capture it i guess.
...

PowerDVD works for me! (in a tv commercial kinda way)

monkeyboy · Post by **monkeyboy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:47 am

<--- not the brightest monkey around.

GB what is VLC stand for?

Golden Boy · Post by **Golden Boy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:56 am

buma wrote: actually, it is easy - there's no figuring out required ^__^
if you have Photoshop (or one of the free alternatives I mention above) here's what you have to do:
1. capture your raw image using virtualdubmod (for my example) by clicking on the 'video' menu and pulling down to 'snapshot source frame' and save your image as a png file.
2. open in up in photoshop, select all and copy
3. open a new document up with the following dimensions - 640w x 480h x 72dpi
4. paste the image into the new document and use the 'free transform' feature in the 'edit' menu to squish the image horizontally.
5. voila - the trick, she is done! - just save as a file of your choice and you've got your properly proportioned screencap

oh, and if you're interested in knowing why I know this, its from doing AMV's and trying to get the right proportions for distribution sources (dvd's require 720 x 480, over the internet for computer viewing requires 640x480 - fun fun fun)

there are many ways to do the same thing, this is just my lazy person's suggestion

:
after step 2., you can set your crop tool to 640 pixels wide, 480 pixels high and 72 dpi (or whatever dimensions you require). then apply it to your picture. you can also save and name these crop settings so that next time all you have to do is open the image, choose crop tool, select the preset and crop accordingly. voila!

gb