VSU 2021: How do you screen capture?

[SVOhio]

How do you screen capture say a 2" x 3.5" area on your computer monitor (laptop screen)?

I have read the help manual and nothing in the instructions resembles anything I'm looking at neither in description or steps. The tutorial videos don't look anything like my VSU 2021? Very, very vague it like they leave out 2-3 steps between each step. For example, If I use the help manual about capturing, not a single example tells how to "screen capture"... it's all about capture from devices. If I go to the "How to Screen Capture" under VideoStudioPro.com, it once again is vague. For example, it says to open "Multi-Cam" (which I have) and then "to select the area" I want to capture, but it doesn't tell me how to do that. There is a "Capture Window" with a drop down list, but what is scary about that is that it lists notepad files I recently opened... what is up with that?

Honestly, this unfriendliest I have ever used, especially for money. I've had VSU for six months and every time I try to use it - it fails me. All I have been able to do is capture video from other sources and the edit them in VSU. I can and have done better work using a $7.00 download from Microsoft, or a free version of Bandicam. I've been Corel Customer for 30 years, primarily with CorelDraw and this company, customer service, and it's products are less than ideal all around. I'm so disappointed... and it frustrates me to no end.

So, now that I have vented... can some please tell me how you do a simple screen capture of a particular screen area.... not a full screen?

[pogonips]

Any reason why you can't just use the Windows screen capture? It's easy and seems to work in most situations.

[Ken Berry]

All I have been able to do is capture video from other sources and the edit them in VSU.

I'm almost speechless! All that you have been able to do is what in fact VS is all about. You don't say what you want your size "screen capture" for, though I suspect it is not to include in another video. The problem is that you are thinking of "screen capture" in one sense, while most of us here in this forum are thinking of it in another sense.

There are any number of small programs out there which can do 'screen capture' in the sense I believe you have: not even involving capture of part of a screen out of a video, but capturing the whole or part of, say, a computer monitor screen. Video Studio is not, and was not designed to be, a screen capture program in that sense. It is primarily an NLE -- a non-linear video editing program. The limited idea of screen capture in a program like VS is to be able to capture a screen (notionally, the whole screen) from within a playing video, and then use it either as a single image in, say, advertising material, or to reinsert in the same video or in another video as a still image.

As I have already said, there are many programs out there to do what you want, some totally free, some with small to moderate charges. I happen to use Ashampoo Snap which can take whole screens, half screens, bits of screen, and even whole or bits of videos. You can use the product as stills or even as video still playing part of the original video... But I use it mainly for capturing from my computer screen, either from a program or whatever is on the monitor screen or part of the screen that I am interested in. I use VS on the other hand to edit videos, and take a whole screen snapshot from a video I am editing for use as, say, a title in the video itself or for some other purpose. But it is only if I absolutely need that snap to come from that video that I will use the snapshot function of VS rather than Snap. And if I want only a small part of the screen, then I will open the whole-screen snapshot in a dedicated photo-editing program (I use primarily PaintShop Pro) to crop the snapshot down to the size I want...

[SVOhio]

Thanks for the replies. I really had gotten to hair pulling frustration. It took some digging but I found what I needed under the Game Play instructions - though they were very vague . Later, I found the MultiCam User Guide which had some better instructions.

So this issue is resolved for me.


With all due respect (hard to convey online) and regard to VS not being designed for screen capturing, I do gather the point you were trying to make and agree as far as a primary usage, but Video Studio is as much designed to screen capture images and videos as much in equality with other necessary features of video editing and is promoted on their primary product page as such. This is also demonstrated in Corel videos as far back as 2013. It is a key and necessary feature in order to meet the needs and demands of video creators today... especially with YouTube, Video Gamers, other video platforms, etc. According to both the VS User Guide/FAQ/ and online video tutorial helps, an individual should be able to screen capture a portion of the screen whether it is a snapshot or video.


One of top 5 Key Product features with featuring video
https://www.videostudiopro.com/en/learn/

The manual/user guide/FAQ:
Can I record my screen with VideoStudio 2021?
Yes, VideoStudio 2021 has a screen recording tool. You can use the included MultiCam Capture Lite software to
record your screen and capture webcam video simultaneously! This is the perfect way to create gaming videos,
tutorials, presentations, and more.

Game Play as the example to screen capture:
https://www.videostudiopro.com/en/pages ... -gameplay/