What programs/software do you use to create?

Mar 10, 2012

What programs/software do you use to create?

What/which if your favorite and why?

22 Replies
MJ Doss

Ruei Chen said:

Articulate

Lectora Inspire (includes snagit, flypaper, and camtasia)

Captivate 5

Adobe CS5 - great for graphic design and video/ audio editing

Audacity

Let me know if you want to learn more about how we use it.

I'd happy to share it!

Yes, can you please explain the purpose of each? I am just discovering ID and am planning to begin my Master's soon! I love reading the experiences of soon-to-be IDs and professionals!
Eric V

I use alot of Sony Vegas (video editing software). I deal with alot of videos courses to be converted  into articulate. I cut up the video/ audio in sony vegas, then export the parts as needed. I can also apply audio filters or video filters in sony vegas. I can cut up the video into many parts and tag each part with a number, corresponding to the slide number it will match.

Sayuj Ravindran

Articulate Studio - for obvious reasons..  

Captivate 4 - for screen recording demonstrations

PowerPoint serves for majority of the graphic purposes - clip arts, shapes, custom shapes using curves, etc

Audio - generated from Captivate text to speech

FastStone - for Screen capture

Photoshop - Advanced image editing (used rarely)

Audacity - in rare cases to tweak the audio

Soon to join our tools is the Adobe Production Premium Suite (yay..!!). Mainly being bought as a support for our Corporate Communication section to make some Corporate Videos but I am sure it will help us in bringing some new stuff in our e-Learning wing as well...

Job Dittmer

PowerPoint (still on version 2003)

Articulate Studio '09

Captivate 4 (screenr.com occasionally)

Adobe PhotoShop Elements

Adobe Premiere Elements

Audacity

SnagIt

Inkscape (to open Adobe Illustrator files)

Samson Go Mic (usb microphone)

Harlan Hogan Porta-Booth, a short mic stand, and a cheap pop filter (for the GoMic)

MP3 Gain (to normalize audio levels across the entire course)

Canon PowerShot SX20IS (for both still shots and short video)

home made green screen

My favorite is the Canon camera and the green screen.  I wish I had the full Adobe Creative Suite so I could make transparent Flash video for my courses but I know a guy who can do that for me,

My boss's favorite is Audacity / Go Mic / Porta-Booth.  We had a very poor sounding course about a year ago.  She was viewing it and said something about doing better quality audio.  We did a bit of research and came up with the mic and booth.  She has been very happy with the audio in our courses since them.

Steve Flowers

Among the favorite tools in my toolbox: Adobe Fireworks is a vector / raster creation tool hybrid that works great for everything from interface construction to prototypes to illustrations. Love it. It's spendy to buy by itself. Inkscape and other tools are a bit cheaper but I find FW offers most of what I want including:

  • PNG is the source file format. Save your PNG and you can use it (albeit a little inefficiently) as an output. 
  • Vector data is maintained within the source. So lines, vertices (points) and fills are all based on math.
  • Nice vector editing tools are included
  • Many Photoshop (basic) raster features work in FW
  • Library items help with repeat elements
  • Multi-state behaviors and slicing tools
  • Plug-ins (commands) for more complex things
  • Batch processing wizard is pretty ez and powerful
  • Live preview of compression settings and side-by-side comparison for tuning sizes

There's more, but these are the favorite features. I use PS and FW both but find that for much of my first stage build-ups, FW provides an efficient and pleasant workflow.

James Brown
  • PPT 2010 (E-learning course)
  • Audacity (Audio recordings)
  • Camtasia (Screen Recording - Movies)
  • Snag-it (Screen Captures)
  • Flickr (Creative Commons Images)
  • CS3 Fireworks (Photo manipulation - Graphic Design)
  • CS3 Flash (Flash animation & Games)
  • Prezi (E-learning Course)
  • Dreamweaver (Webpage development)
  • QuickTime Pro (Create Movies)
  • Captivate (product walk through)
  • Jing (Screen recording)
  • Fraps (Recording variable frame rates that are common in video games)
  • TVNima (Avatar creation & online presentation creation)
  • Gimp (Free photo manipulation program)
  • Qarbon (Screen capture - I personally prefer Qarbon over Camtasia)
  • Adobe Premiere elements (Movie creation and special effects such as green screen -- Flat awesome program)
Sayuj Ravindran

Job Dittmer said:

PowerPoint (still on version 2003)

Articulate Studio '09

Captivate 4 (screenr.com occasionally)

Adobe PhotoShop Elements

Adobe Premiere Elements

Audacity

SnagIt

Inkscape (to open Adobe Illustrator files)

Samson Go Mic (usb microphone)

Harlan Hogan Porta-Booth, a short mic stand, and a cheap pop filter (for the GoMic)

MP3 Gain (to normalize audio levels across the entire course)

Canon PowerShot SX20IS (for both still shots and short video)

home made green screen

My favorite is the Canon camera and the green screen.  I wish I had the full Adobe Creative Suite so I could make transparent Flash video for my courses but I know a guy who can do that for me,

My boss's favorite is Audacity / Go Mic / Porta-Booth.  We had a very poor sounding course about a year ago.  She was viewing it and said something about doing better quality audio.  We did a bit of research and came up with the mic and booth.  She has been very happy with the audio in our courses since them.

Hi Job,

Great to know that you have a home made green screen set up... Could you please tell us more? Do you have the lights also installed? If yes, what lights? How big is the studio / room? Do you shoot videos for green screen yourself? (Sorry... thats a lot of questions.. )

Sayuj Ravindran

MJ Doss said:

Wow, this is a lot! But I can see the purpose of each.  I'm so excited to begin my program.  I am eager to learn about the green screen and using the camera.  Did you make the green screen?

Also how long have you guys been using the software/hardware and how long did it take for you to be proficient?


Hi MJ,

Lets us wait to hear more from Job on the green screen. To answer your second query.. Most of the software are easy to learn..especially Articulate and PowerPoint 2007...this community is the best resource for learning these.. Adobe Software like Captivate, Photoshop, Premiere Pro will take more time to learn... but if you have the interest you will love the whole process.. Other software like Screen Capturing, Audacity etc are very easy to learn..

Job Dittmer

Sayuj Ravindran said:

Job Dittmer said:

PowerPoint (still on version 2003)

Articulate Studio '09

Captivate 4 (screenr.com occasionally)

Adobe PhotoShop Elements

Adobe Premiere Elements

Audacity

SnagIt

Inkscape (to open Adobe Illustrator files)

Samson Go Mic (usb microphone)

Harlan Hogan Porta-Booth, a short mic stand, and a cheap pop filter (for the GoMic)

MP3 Gain (to normalize audio levels across the entire course)

Canon PowerShot SX20IS (for both still shots and short video)

home made green screen

My favorite is the Canon camera and the green screen.  I wish I had the full Adobe Creative Suite so I could make transparent Flash video for my courses but I know a guy who can do that for me,

My boss's favorite is Audacity / Go Mic / Porta-Booth.  We had a very poor sounding course about a year ago.  She was viewing it and said something about doing better quality audio.  We did a bit of research and came up with the mic and booth.  She has been very happy with the audio in our courses since them.

Hi Job,

Great to know that you have a home made green screen set up... Could you please tell us more? Do you have the lights also installed? If yes, what lights? How big is the studio / room? Do you shoot videos for green screen yourself? (Sorry... thats a lot of questions.. )


My original green screen was just a 6' by 6' piece of cloth that I pinned to the wall.  I shot my own video by setting my camera up on a tripod and them moving into the frame.  Since then I have only upgrade to a bigger piece of green cloth (from Joanne Fabric). 

The lighting is very critical to get a good video and not leave ghosting when you key out the green.  I have access to a large room with lots of windows in which I can record.  Sunlight is SO much better than artificial light if you can find a way to do it.

You can use a blue cloth or a green cloth - depends on what you are wearing.

It easier than you might think.

Job Dittmer

MJ Doss said:

Wow, this is a lot! But I can see the purpose of each.  I'm so excited to begin my program.  I am eager to learn about the green screen and using the camera.  Did you make the green screen?

Also how long have you guys been using the software/hardware and how long did it take for you to be proficient?


I've been using PhotoShop and Premiere Elements since version 6 (quite a few years).  Many of the other tools for just as long (except Articulate - just about a year with it).  I am capable with all of the software.  Still working on proficient.  :-o

Efrat Maor

MJ Doss said:

In your place of employment, how fancy does your boss like for you to get? I would think content is more important than visuals, but visuals really help, also.

Thanks for your input.


I think this is not the right way to view it.
Today great look-n-feel is a must.  Your learners (all our learners) are used to, and exposed daily, to the best visuals and high-end look-n-feel out there. They don't care that that company spent millions for this tiny ad or that website or the cool app. They are used to a high standard, and they are very spoiled and expect all to be that fun and engaging, and the other content they encounter daily.

If we go with the - content is more important than visuals perspective,we are creating an unprofessional impression from the start (I'm talking about the learner, not your boss or the internal\external customer).

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