Thanks, Sam/Samuel. Sorry, but this will be long (I tend to be too detailed, but I think that's better than not enough). Under each video on YouTube are links to the tools involved, so I won't repeat the links here.
First is to get a good Android emulator. I use a PC, and found that Genymotion's emulator was the only one I could get to work well (I tried the two most popular - per google - and they stink by comparison, IMO). It would be nice if I could get the Google play store on it (I think I could side-load it, but that looks like a lot of work), but at least I can side-load the Gospel Library (which is easy - drag and drop the GL apk file from a Windows Explorer window into the open Android instance, and it installs).
Next is the screen-recording software. I decided to go with Camtasia from TechSmith mostly because they've been around a long time, and have extensive training videos. (I watched all those before buying, to be sure the tool would do what I want.)
The really important part is to plan out each video, step by step, in a script (learned this in the Camtasia videos, and downloaded their template for that - MS Word doc with one column for what you do, another column for what you say). This took a long time to write. (It helped that I watched the iOS videos linked-to on my site, which gave me an idea how to organize the training; and then did an in-person training, which helped me learn what works and doesn't.) Once I had these down, it was time to start recording.
I put the emulator full-screen on a 1680x1050 monitor, then have Camtasia record 1680x945 (as I recall - same aspect ratio as 1280x720). You can adjust which part of the screen it records, or just record full screen (but I didn't want the Windows title-bar for the emulator, so I did a specific part of the screen). When you start recording, it counts down, and then you just run through your script. I actually have my script as a PDF on my Android tablet so that I can scroll through it without needing the mouse / cursor / focus to leave my Android emulator (one hand to navigate the emulator, the other to scroll the PDF doc). I use a USB headset to record audio (though one or two of the videos so far may have used by built-in webcam mic without me intending that - I need a new headset).
I frequently pause during recording and then repeat a section (either because I read the script wrong, or a dog made too much noise). When I'm done recording, I load the recording into Camtasia and begin the editing process. This mostly consists of cropping out parts where I goofed (just highlight the start and end of the part to cut and click the cut icon). Once, I simply turned the sound down because I was navigating in Android and the dog was making noise.
Once the editing is done, I have Camtasia output a 720p MP4 and I upload it to YouTube. I could add fancy stuff to the video (zooming, pointers, text, other audio, etc.), but I feel like it's more important to get them out there sooner, than to add all that, and I don't think they really need it. Even at 480p I can still read the text...
Anywho, that's the idea. Let me know if I missed anything you were curious about.
Thanks,
Liz
