Screenflow 3 Adds Major Features.
Friday, 22 July 2011 23:53 Written by Marty
If you have not heard yet, Telestream is launching Screenflow 3 soon (Update: realeased August 10th) which includes some major feature updates as well as a new look logo. I have had the privilege of using the Screenflow 3 for the last few months in it's BETA version(s) and have summarized here for you some of the features you can look forward to if you are thinking of buying or upgrading.
Since Telestream acquired Screenflow software in 2008, there (will) have been two major upgrades to the software being v2.0 and this upcoming v3.0. Each of which are fairly distributed with a modest $30 upgrade fee. This is consistent with common software products of this price range, in having one major (paid) upgrade each year.
With v3.0, Screenflow makes more improvements to it's deceivingly simplistic workspace, while building on an impressive array of outstanding screencasting and editing capabilities. While the basic interface of the product is the same, Screenflow has continued to add useful and well thought out features.
A couple of the most requested feature additions for v3.0 are Callouts and Annotations, something former PC users shouted about no doubt. The freehand callout feature now allows for users to draw directly onto their canvas for the purpose of creating focus or perhaps blurring out sensitive data. Annotations are basically quick graphics that can be added to the canvas that are used to hi-light or maybe even block something out. Both the annotations and call out features can have their own default setting as well for repeated use in a video or series.
The timeline in screenflow v3.0 is also the focus of some significant feature additions as well including the ability to easily re-order them in your project. You could do this in previous versions but the controls to the far left of each track make it much more easier to accomplish. You can also minimize track you are not working on (for example an audio track) while leaving another track at full width for editing. This could come in handy in keeping your project neat and tidy, as well as being able to see all of the tracks while editing.
I also like the new split track feature which can be seen at the bottom of the scrubber. What this does is allow for separation of all tracks at the same point, ideally for inserting another clip at a precise moment. (Hint: Youtube takes 3 images from your video for previews, one of them is exactly in the middle of your video.)
Grouping of tracks on the timeline represents a major improvement to the Screenflow workspace as this allows for multiple clips to be "locked" together physically, if not visually. This is great if you have a segment in the screencast that MUST remain as one, but comprises several clips. It will also serve as a handy feature if you have an intro/outro, particularly in a video series that remains unchanged in multiple productions. Telestream could improve this feature even further by colour coding grouped clips because after you group them they appear on the timeline like all others. It's only when you try to move one of the clips within the group that you remember that it is linked with other content.
The media library now is more flexible in screenflow 3 as well, with the welcome additions of being able to preview clips without bringing them into the timeline, and also resizing the icons of the media files so as to help identify them easier before bringing them into the timeline.
You will also be pleased to know that audio media files have improved wave-form visuals allowing the user to see audio peaks and volume effects added to the tracks. You can also smooth volume levels to limit peaks over long recordings and Screenflow 3 added the iZotope noise reduction that can help reduce background noise from less-than-ideal recordings. There are also a slew of audio effects that you can add to a recording that can make your voice sound (for example) like it was recorded in an ancient Church in France or the CNN press room in New York. Ideally you may want to select a segment of your audio - even a few words, and use these features for interesting effects in your final video. One more audio "effect" that is new in screenflow 3 is the ability to create an engineered audio from a string of text. "synthesized" speech they call it. There are a modest selection of male and female voices, all of which sound completely foolish in that robotic way, so I could only imagine these being used for comical purposes. Is ti just me, or does anyone else have fun making robot voices say swear words?
Telestream took the initiative in this screenflow 3 update to address the somewhat limited export capabilities in past editions. Now you can custom manage your favorite export presets which is great if you normally do the same thing with your finished projects. There are also iPad and iPod rendering presets and Vimeo has been added to Youtube as direct upload options.
There are other minor improvements in screenflow 3 but the features described here make up the "sell" of the upgrade, which for a mere $30 is well worth it. I have been using the BETA 3.0 for a few months now would not want to step backwards at this point. However, in saying that, I could also produce the exact same productions in earlier versions of screenflow. V3.0 of Screenflow just makes it easier and even more fun to use.
