Capturing screencasts with SimpleScreenRecorder

Video in Video

A common trick in desktop recordings is not only having your narrator heard but also seen. This gives the video a more personal touch and shows the viewer who they're dealing with (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Record yourself along with your subject matter to make a more personalized and interesting screencast.

Such a picture-in-picture solution is far less complicated than you might think. All you need is a webcam together with a viewer such as Xawtv. You simply let the viewer window run somewhere on the desktop so that it blends in with the recorded image.

Be sure that the camera is the proper equipment. Notebook cameras are usually rigidly mounted and provide a rather unflattering "bottom up" camera angle. If you want a nicer image of yourself, consider getting a pivoting full HD camera.

To avoid distractions from your main focus, you should also avoid an overly flashy or colorful background and choose a monochromatic one instead. If you don't have a background screen, a simple bed sheet might do as well.

Using Xawtv

The Video4Linux system usually senses an attached camera automatically. Once you install xawtv, which virtually all major distributions provide, you have direct access to the webcam.

Select the webcam as the video source in the program and you'll instantly see the image on the webcam on your desktop. To make the video integration especially appealing, you have two options:

• Practically any desktop environment can present windows without frames. By enabling this option for the xawtv window, the video-in-video will look more elegant.
• Many desktop environments allow you to display a specific window in the foreground by default. This way, other screen elements don't obstruct the window. You may want to apply this to your video window – with you visible as speaker.

You can usually find both options in the title bar of the program window, often next to the controls for closing, minimizing, and maximizing the window.