Initial Recommendations

[cybernetnews]

I've been using Screenshot Captor for a few days and thought I would give my recommendations as to what would make this a perfect app.

• As jtbworld pointed out in in this post the screenshot capturing in Vista could be a little more snazzy.
• The toolbar in the editor window should by default be placed along the top. After I moved it the app seemed a lot more usable, and more like other programs that I've used before.
• The crosshairs when selecting a region of the screen to capture should stretch from the top to bottom and left to right much like FastStone Capture does. I think this feature makes capturing the area you want a little easier
• Other screenshot apps show a little zoom box (similar to what's in the Screenshot Captor's editor) when you're selecting a region of the screen to capture. This often lets you get extremely close to the area you want to capture without having to guess, and prevents needing to crop the screenshot in the editor where you have full zoom capabilities.
• There's a lot of different algorithms available for scaling images...a brief summary of the benefits each one offers might be helpful. I use Bicubic the most, but that's mostly because I don't know where/when the others would be better.
• Maybe a basic and advanced mode when configuring options. I'm a power user all the way, but all of the different options were pretty intimidating at first. I spent about an hour configuring and playing with all the different choices until I got it just right, but less advanced users might prefer a simpler interface for adjusting options.
• Along the same lines as the previous bullet...I would like an option to save my settings. If I ever format my drive I would hate to reconfigure everything. I'm sure there is a way that you can backup the profile though.

I know the list probably looks long, but these are just things that came to my mind while using the program. Most of them are petty little things that probably don't matter that much.

Thanks for the great app mouser!

[mouser]

keep 'em coming! all of the software on this site thrives from user feature requests (and bug reports)

vista capture of rounded windows will be fixed asap.

can you explain crosshairs suggestion a bit more?

Along the same lines as the previous bullet...I would like an option to save my settings. If I ever format my drive I would hate to reconfigure everything. I'm sure there is a way that you can backup the profile though.

all settings for all of my programs are saved in an ini file (i loathe the registry), the only thing i don't remember is if in Vista what directory it saves it too..

[cybernetnews]

Oh yeah, and two other things I thought about that would be cool:

• Make the ESC key exit the editor. Alt+F4 is too hard for me to press to close it.
• A torn edge effect

Also, I plan on reviewing this app in great detail within the coming weeks. I'll probably write the article late next week and it will post in about two-weeks. So if you've got any upcoming features you're working on that you would like me to mention in the article feel free to let me know. Or if you plan on releasing a newer version soon I'll hold off on writing the article until then. Thanks again mouser!

vista capture of rounded windows will be fixed asap.

-mouser (August 29, 2007, 04:54 PM)

Hopefully that includes the capture of shadows...because that would be super sweet and make my job a lot easier. Vista's screenshots look a lot better when they include the shadows, and I think that was what jtbworld was trying to point out in his screenshots. You might easily be able to accomplish this by letting the user define a padding amount (in pixels) to be included when doing a window capture.

can you explain crosshairs suggestion a bit more?

-mouser (August 29, 2007, 04:54 PM)

I suppose a picture is worth a thousand words...the crosshairs on FastStone Capture extend all the way across the screen which astonishes me how much I miss this feature. In the picture where the crosshairs meet is where my mouse is currently positioned.

Along the same lines as the previous bullet...I would like an option to save my settings. If I ever format my drive I would hate to reconfigure everything. I'm sure there is a way that you can backup the profile though.

all settings for all of my programs are saved in an ini file (i loathe the registry), the only thing i don't remember is if in Vista what directory it saves it too..

-mouser (August 29, 2007, 04:54 PM)

I never actually "installed" the program, just extracted the EXE for Screenshot Captor. I love programs that I don't have to install, and the portability is a huge upside. I just noticed that all settings are nicely tucked away in the installation directory...THANK YOU! Now I just have to backup that directory and I'll have the program and my settings.

[mouser]

A torn edge effect

one of the things i really regret with sc is that i implemented quite a powerful masking/frame system but no one has created any nice frames/masks for it.  And the masks+frames i provide just suck.


What i really need is to either:
1) find someone who can make some nice ones for us
2) add a different way of supporting frame/mask effects (i looked into using paintshop pro format frames but never tried to code it)
3) spend a little time myself making some reasonable torn edge type masks just to at least get people started on seeing how nice these can be.

[mouser]

ok i see what you mean about the cross hairs, i'll put that on my todo list.

[cybernetnews]

Okay...those frames and masks rock. I actually never even noticed that feature.

Update: Those masks are really great. They're a nice way to spruce up the normally dull edges.

[mouser]

the feature is not bad, but the provided frames and masks are horrible.
i really do want to extend this feature in sc, both in providing higher quality frames and masks (which are just normal files anyone can create), but in adding more kinds of frames and masks.  it's one of the areas that i think would be very useful to improve.

[katykaty]

I can't remember if I previously suggested profiles - not filenameing profiles, but options profiles.

E.g.

1. 96dpi, gif, include cursor, automatic save & filename
2. 300dpi, jpeg, no cursor, open preview

That kind of thing.

And I know I've suggested this before but just a gentle reminder    - better object detection

[kisg]

I can't seem to find the method to make the torn edge frame stay...I would like it to be the default frame and mask when i capture.  Is it possible?

[rjbull]

all settings for all of my programs are saved in an ini file (i loathe the registry), the only thing i don't remember is if in Vista what directory it saves it too..

-mouser (August 29, 2007, 04:54 PM)

When I was at work, part of my backup strategy was to run a batch file that ran an archiver, Info-Zip or 7zip, or RAR, that started from the top of the HD and archived up copies of all new/changed INI (and similar) files, using the archiver's options to include child directories and save paths, so the files were automatically saved complete with their full paths.  The archive was put in a directory that was routinely copied to the network and and/or other backup destinations.  While this worked well with DOS or WinXP, it might be more of a problem now because of access permissions through UAC.

[mouser]

I would like it to be the default frame and mask when i capture.  Is it possible?

not currently possible.. i get the impression that almost no one uses the frames and mask feature of SC.. it would be nice if people made some new and better frames (like some better torn edges frames), then maybe it would be worth improving the feature.