Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Picnic Mar16 08

Publish specific segments of your video clips without editing them and learn how to download video clips that are embedded on other web sites.

Photo credit: Betacam-SP

Also in this Sharewood Picnic: Visual communication tools for making effective screencasts, image search and create animated slideshows with audio with just a click of a button. Here, my complete selection for online visual communicators:

1. Viddler: Video hosting web-site lets you upload and tag moments of your videos, that you can them embed in players
2. Screencast-O-Matic: Java-based application allows you to create screencasts online
3. UnPlug: Free Firefox extension scans web-pages lets you download embedded videos
4. Phrasr: Submit a phrase and transform it into a series of pictures from Flickr's library
5. Thumbalizer: Provide a URL, decide the resolution and get a screenshot of the desired web-page
6. EveryStockPhoto: Free image search engine gathers results from multiple services
7. Animoto: Create personalized slideshows with you images and music in a matter of seconds
8. MagMyPic: Create fake magazine covers with your pictures online for free

 

 

 

Video Publishing

1. Viddler
   
   Viddler is an online video hosting web-site that allows you to upload, store and share your videos online. You can upload many videos at once, in .mov .avi .wmv .mpeg formats, up to 500MB-per-file. You can then tag specific moments in a video to make other people easily find the main parts of the clip. Then you can embed the player on your blog or web-site. Free to use, registration required.
   http://www.viddler.com/





2. Screencast-O-Matic
   
   Screencast-O-Matic is a Java-based application that anyone can use to create screencasts of their screen with no additional software. Without even registering to the site, you can record anything that happens on your screen just by deciding the capture size, pick if you want audio included, and click go. When done, you can publish the screencast online or download it in mov format. Free to use.
   http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/





3. UnPlug
   
   UnPlug is a free Firefox extension that you can use to download embedded videos. UnPlug scans web pages and tells you where media players are getting their data from, and displays it as a simple hyperlink: you can then follow the simple download link to save the media file or use an online video conversion website to get the file. Free to download and use.
   https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2254

 

Visual Communication Tools

4. Phrasr
   
   Phrasr is a free Flickr API that allows you to enter any string of words and to transform any word into a series of pictures from Flickr's extensive catalog. All you have to do is to type any phrase and click a button: any word of the phrase will get an image, that you will be able to change with many options just by clicking on it. The service is free to use, with no registration needed.
   http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/





5. Thumbalizer
   
   Thumbalizer is an easy-to-use web-application that enables you to take screenshots of any web-page. Just enter the target-URL and press the "thumb it"-button. You can choose between a screenshot with a fixed height of the screen or the complete webpage. When done. just click one of the resolution-links (320, 640, 800, 1024 or 1280 pixel width) to download your screenshot. Free with no registration needed.
   http://www.thumbalizr.com/





6. EveryStockPhoto
   
   EveryStockPhoto is an online image search engine that gathers pictures with different licenses from multiple websites at once. After you submit a query, results will begin to show from Flickr, StockXchng, Wikipedia, NASA, and more...When you find a picture that you like, you can click on it and you will be redirected to the picture's individual page for downloading/buying it. Free.
   http://www.everystockphoto.com/





7. Animoto
   
   Animoto is a web-based slideshow creator that anyone can use to arrange pictures into video presentations. Just decide the images you want to include in the video, select the music or audio soundtrack, and click create. Videos up to 30 seconds are free for everyone. If you want to create longer videos, you have to pay a fee for either each video produced ($3) or get a one-year full pass ($30).
   http://animoto.com/





8. MagMyPic
   
   MagMyPic is a free service that allows you to create fake magazine covers with your own images. After you upload a picture, you can select one of the most famous magazines around (Maxim, Vogue, Life, GQ...) and put your picture in it automatically. Then, you just have to choose the output size of the final image and download it locally on your PC. Free to use, no registration needed.
   http://www.magmypic.com/

Originally written by Nico Canali De Rossi for Master New Media and first published on March 16th 2008 as "Visual Communication And Video Publishing - Selected Tools And Web Services - Sharewood Picnic Mar16 08"