Friday , March 29 2024
What do you want to snag?

Software Review: SnagIt 10 From TechSmith

SnagIt 10 is the latest release of TechSmith's professional screen capture program. SnagIt essentially replaces the native print screen function within the Windows operating system and adds many more features.

SnagIt is aimed at those who need to capture information from their screens and want a lot of powerful functionality as well such as the ability to capture small regions, web pages that scroll beyond the bottom of the screen as well as having the ability to annotate the information on the screen.

SnagIt 10 runs on Microsoft Windows 2000 or later, requires Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, 1 GHz Processor (2.4 GHz is recommended), 512 MB RAM (1 GB Recommended), 60 MB of Hard Drive space.

TechSmith originally started out in 1987 as a custom software company that developed for the Windows platform. Responding to a demand for screen capture utilities, the company created SnagIt in 1991. Over time, SnagIt offered some video capture capabilities and these, in turn, became Camtasia in 1999. The current version of SnagIt, 10, was released in May.

SnagIt enables Windows computer users to capture anything they see on the screen. You can then edit and combine those screenshots and share them via email or by  using your favorite applications, like Microsoft Office.

With SnagIt if you can see it you can capture it. Depending on the mode that you use it in, you can capture a small section of a screen, a whole window, multiple windows or a whole scrolling webpage. There are eleven preset buttons that let you target what you want to capture, whether just a region, some text, or the whole enchilada. You can even create your own custom presets.

So what is new with SnagIt 10?

• All-in-one capture – will let you snag anything as you see it and all on the fly. You can capture your desktop, a small region, a window, or even a scrolling webpage. It can be captured with a single hot key or a click. Now instead of having to select the type of capture that you want beforehand, you can just capture.

• Transparency – will let you keep the rounded corners from a captured window or even create a custom shape. The only background that you will see is the one on your website, document, or slide.

• Upload to Screencast.com – is now easier than ever to do. You can send your captures out for review with the built-in, online hosting from Screencast.com where you can share your images with embedded code or provide a URL with a clickable thumbnail. Screencast.com allows you to store, share, and gather feedback on all of your visual projects.

• Improved Auto Scroll – feature has been improved dramatically and can now sense when you’re on a web page that scrolls. It will automatically move through the page capturing it both vertically and horizontally all at your command. Just point and click.

• Updated Magnifier – is like a microscope for your computer screen. You can use the magnified crosshairs to get exact, down-to-the-pixel precision on every capture that you make.

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Formatted screen capture – is just great for reviewing text and making changes. You can grab the text straight off a web page and keep the formatting, and then edit and apply different font styles, sizes and colors.

• Cut-Out effect – will let you delete unwanted pieces of an image by removing vertical and horizontal sections. Then you can add a background image to fill the gap, or make it transparent.

• Page curl effect – will let you make your image look as if one of the corners is folded over for an eye-grabbing effect. Pick from one of the preset page curl options, or even create your own.

• Multiple Color schemes – gives you the ability to personalize SnagIt and change the background color to blue or silver, or just keep it black. It is all up to you!

• Rotating text – lets you have some fun with the text bubbles you add to your SnagIt images. You can rotate them round-and-round until you find the perfect spot.

• Custom trim effect – has returned. Did you miss the custom trim effect you had in Version 8? Well it is been brought back by popular demand. You can now custom trim your images pixel-by-pixel, from the top, bottom, left, and right.

I work online a lot and I find that it is much easier to grab a screen shot, mark it up and send it to someone than it is to try to describe something. This version of SnagIt really adds enough in the all-in-one capture alone to warrant the upgrade. While I never had a problem with old technique of selecting the snag first, this is way cool to just snag and select.
If you want to try it before you buy it, there is a 30 day trial available. To purchase it new, it is $49.95 for a single user license. Do you want it for the Mac? There is a beta version available. If you find yourself capturing screen shots on a regular basis, then owning SnagIt 10 is a must. SnagIt 10 is very highly recommended.

About T. Michael Testi

Photographer, writer, software engineer, educator, and maker of fine images.

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