SmartTutor 360 : Setting Recording Options

When the screen recorder appears, the first thing you’ll want to do is set your recording options. Click the gear icon on the recorder control bar.

When the Screen Recording window opens, configure the following settings and click OK.

General

Video Recording Video Codec: SmartTutor 360 provides you some kinds of video codecs to choose depending on your specified purposes:

    • Lossy codec creates videos with less file size but not fully reserved quality (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC).
    • Lossless codec creates videos having quality reserved (FLV – Flash Screen Video).

Note: If you select the lossy video codec, the compressed videos will have lower quality than the original videos. They may also lack some information included in the original ones.

Besides, when recording video demos, especially streaming videos, you should select H.264 video codec. This video codec lets you stream videos with high frame rate but lower quality.

Frame Rate: When it comes to frame rate, it should be in the range of 20-30 frames/s.

FM should be high enough quality for ordinary voiceovers for eLearning. The higher the bitrate, the better the sound quality–but the larger the file and the slower it is to download.

Quality: Select the video quality in the range from 1 to 100. The higher the value, the higher the video quality, and the larger video file size.

Note: This option is activated only when you select a lossy video codec.
Audio Recording Audio Codec: Similar to Video Settings, SmartTutor offers you some kinds of audio codecs for different desired outputs:

    • Lossless codec having quality reserved (PCM,  16-bit).
    • Lossy codecs with less file size but not fully reserved quality (ACC, Vorbis and MP3).

Note: Using a lossy codec, the compressed audio will have lower quality than the original audio.

Sample Rate: The sample rate decides the fidelity or the quality standard of the audio. The higher the fidelity, the better the audio quality.

A higher sample rate increases the fidelity and audio size and vice versa. In SmartTutor, it’s recommended that you should let this value be 4800 Hz.

Channels: Select Mono or Stereo from the Channels list.

In comparison with mono, the stereo channel needs double storage size. However, the stereo channel can provide listeners with a more natural experience.

If there is no special audio quality needed, the mono channel is good enough for recording video demonstrations or interactive simulations.

Quality: Select the audio quality in the range from 1 to 100. The higher the quality, the larger the output audio file size, and vice versa.

Note: This option is only activated when you select the Vorbis codec.

Bit Rate: This option is only activated when you select the MP3 codec. You can select one of four options from the Bit Rate list. This is the number of bits that are conveyed per second. The higher the bit rate you select, the better the audio quality is.

You should select a 256Kbps bit rate that can provide much better audio quality than a 128Kbps bit rate does with a quite small file size.

Mouse Paths

The Mouse Paths tab allows you to have settings for the cursor in recorded screen.

Show mouse location and movement SmartTutor will record the mouse location and movement for your recorded videos making it easier for the audience to follow your steps. Otherwise, your video will have no mouse cursor recorded.
Disable capture layered windows When recording video screen, some layered windows may appear on the screen. In that case, SmartTutor will exclude those windows that you don’t want to record. That will reduce the flickering of the mouse pointer
Panning

Panning helps you capture events across a large screen even when the recording window is smaller than the size of the screen.

Select a panning mode if you want the recording window to follow your movements across the screen.

The following panning options are available in SmartTutor:

  • Automatic Panning: The recording window automatically moves along with the pointer whenever you move the mouse during recording.
  • No Panning: You must manually move the recording window to where the next event occurs. In all other respects, it’s like the automatic panning option.
Mouse Effects The mouse effects like pointer highlight, mouse click sounds, and effects will be included or excluded in your recorded videos/interactive simulations. You can set it from this section before recording, which helps you save a lot of time in the editing phase.

  • Animate on Click: The mouse movements on the screen have full cursor default effects.
  • Disable: The mouse movements on the screen have no cursor effects.
  • Use mouse path style based on current project: The mouse movements on the screen may have custom mouse effects depending on the custom theme. For example, you can customize the default cursor effects of the Mouse Path object in the current project. Then, save the current theme as a custom theme. Lastly, use that custom theme to record screen

Hotkeys

The Hotkeys tab allows you to set the shortcuts for some of the most usually used functions such as Pause/Resume, Stop, etc. Note that because of the differences between macOS and Windows keyboards, the Hotkeys tab in SmartTutor will look different on these devices

Name Windows MacOS
Paus/Resume Pause (Windows)
Stop F2
Cancel Ctrl + Alt + C
Manual Capture Print Screen
Capture for next slide F8
Start Full motion Recording F9
Stop Full motion Recording F10