Software zooming on a Mac.
September 29, 2010 1:38 AM Subscribe
Looking for a screen magnifier for OSX.
I know that Mac has zoom built in, but it seems to be a zoom tied into the hardware, so the zoom doesn't affect my screen capture program. I need a zoom tool that will do it via software so that I can zoom in on parts of my screen so that text is legible when the video is viewed.
Another feature that would be incredibly helpful would be if, instead of following the cursor, it would be positioned where I want it to be, and I could quickly change the positioning with a mouse click or keyboard function. The Windows Magnifier has options to either follow the cursor or follow keyboard focus, but there's no way to control it's position beyond that.
I know that Mac has zoom built in, but it seems to be a zoom tied into the hardware, so the zoom doesn't affect my screen capture program. I need a zoom tool that will do it via software so that I can zoom in on parts of my screen so that text is legible when the video is viewed.
Another feature that would be incredibly helpful would be if, instead of following the cursor, it would be positioned where I want it to be, and I could quickly change the positioning with a mouse click or keyboard function. The Windows Magnifier has options to either follow the cursor or follow keyboard focus, but there's no way to control it's position beyond that.
Omnidazzle has that, alongside a few other quirky things that are nice for presentations.
posted by jander03 at 8:02 AM on September 29, 2010
posted by jander03 at 8:02 AM on September 29, 2010
Is this for screencasting? If so, one of my friends has been absolutely raving about ScreenFlow, which has some really fantastic tools for zooming, callouts, and other useful/neat features that would make for a great screencast.
posted by malthas at 8:08 AM on September 29, 2010
posted by malthas at 8:08 AM on September 29, 2010
Response by poster: Yes it's screencasting with a talking head video on the side, i.e. Educator. I don't think my boss is going to be able to change the capture program we're using, but I'll look into Xcode, Omnidazzle and ScreenFlow.
posted by brenton at 1:31 PM on September 29, 2010
posted by brenton at 1:31 PM on September 29, 2010
Just a heads up Brenton, I use the built in zoom of the Mac with my Snapz Pro (although maybe it's just the screen capture of the Mac – but I know I have Snapz Pro installed).
Anyway, it definitely takes a screenshot of the zoom in.
Zoom in (control + zoom on mouse)
Screenshot (Command + Shift + 4)
Message me if that doesn't help. Hope it does.
posted by fantasticninety at 4:51 PM on September 29, 2010
Anyway, it definitely takes a screenshot of the zoom in.
Zoom in (control + zoom on mouse)
Screenshot (Command + Shift + 4)
Message me if that doesn't help. Hope it does.
posted by fantasticninety at 4:51 PM on September 29, 2010
Response by poster: Hey Fantasticninety, thanks for that tip. I'm surprised it works with the screenshot, because when we tried it out with our screencasting software, it made no difference at all. Maybe the mac screenshot program is aware of the zooming in a way that our software isn't. Which gives me the idea to look through the settings to see if maybe we can toggle something on... anyway, thanks for the comment.
posted by brenton at 3:02 AM on September 30, 2010
posted by brenton at 3:02 AM on September 30, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Snapz Pro may also offer what you want. It's a screen- and video-capture program which includes a "fatbits window" that can zoom in.
posted by DaveP at 2:03 AM on September 29, 2010