Introducing : Sketchcasting
Comments
Great idea - writing on the whiteboard is the most natural and easy way to convey an idea... that was lost when trying to convey an idea to a larger / digital audience. Until now, that is!
I think to catch on effectively a client specifically for the purposes of sketchcasting would need to be made.
It might even be able to be a flash app itself. I'm not sure how flash apps can interact with microphones, etc.
Also, how about transcripts with screencaps interspersed? Reasons for this:
- Random Access - people can skim
- Searchability - google can't scrape video (yet)
- Accessibility - disabilities, etc.
All excellent points Chris.
I actually thought about some sort of tweaked-out Flash client that did all this. That would be damn cool.
I like it very much. But this is still a proof of concept, right? Because this can't really take off until there's an easy-to-use toolkit for actually making these. Seems like a WP or MT plugin with a bundled Flash/Flex interface for recording and posting sketchcasts would be a fairly seamless way to get people started actually making and publishing them.
Also: Comic Sans? Nooooooooo!!
Heheh. All excellent suggestions Avi. It would be great if someone actually built something around this.
As for Comic Sans, I dunno it's a love/hate thing I guess. :P
Neat idea. This would be terribly useful in a bunch of situations. I'd also love to see a client that lowered the cost of entry and allowed easy generation and submission of the sketchcast.
What typeface are you using for "Introducing: Sketchcasting"?
Love the idea, i think it would work well for me since my audience are made up of artists (face painters) and people who want to be artists, so they'll enjoy the visuals :-)
Cool idea. How do I do it? Are you going to have a DIY blog/sketch. Are there issues about someone being artistically challenged - me? Is there some way that you could create an interactive sketch where participants could collaborate in much the same way as they do at the pub on the back of the drinks coaster?
BRILLIANT IDEA, RICH! I'm a (not too technical)cartoonist and ideas person living in Cape Town, South Africa and was forwarded this by a friend. Off the top of my head I can think of about - let's see... a jillion uses for this application. Perhaps the most viable use would be for rough storyboarding (for advertising and film), but I can also imagine games and cartoons being presented this way. I look forward to exploring its many uses when you post a version that can be played with... and would love to contribute whatever I can to ensure sketchcasting's success.
What a great idea! I'll look forward to your tutorial and perhaps some sketchcasting tools. Thank you!
I want this tool! I think it has great potential for doing a single frame comic strip that changes and has voice over.
A very good ideea...
As a guy who writes about football, I was wondering just how to schemes, assignments etc ... tackle concepts like this ... I have thought about using Madden and uploading it to YouTube, but I don't have the equipment ... this is a perfect way to get going.
Wow. Some great suggestions here:
- single frame comic strip.
- football game plans.
- drawing lessons.
All very, very cool ideas. I'm going to be putting up another sketchcast that shows exactly how to do this...soon. For now, subscribe to the RSS or iTunes feed...or check back often.
@John Curtis - Thanks for the kind words. Hopefully it's something that will catch on b/c watching these things is actually really engaging and fun.
The barrier will be the mix of tools needed to create them. More on that later...
For now, spread the word!
This is a very cool idea. I have been working with Articulate to sync voice and longer powerpoint presentations. However, I like this as a way of easily adding visuals to shorter podcasts.
When will this technology be available to bloggers like me?
All the best,
Bud Bilanich
The Common Sense Guy
www.CommonSenseGuy.com
Great tool. Great idea
You may have just created the next new wave in internet conversation. Great thinking! I had never heard of you before you were linked to by Problogger, but I'll be keeping an eye on you from now on.
@ Jeremy:
Thanks very much. The reaction has been great so far. Let's see if it catches on...heheh.
I'm really curious how this is going to turn out, but I love the idea!
Rich,
Fantastic job! Can't explain why but the natural interaction of the sketching kept my attention, throughout the whole presentation. Would love to hear more details, or perhaps a sketch presentation of how it was done.
I agree this is a great idea. Now that we are teased, what are the tools you used. Are they proprietary or a combination of tools.
Thanks for opening up a new vista.
Tom
Nice work! I really like the format! I hope you will do more stuff than to describe how to do a sketchcast :)
I've always loved the idea of screencasts, so to me, "sketchcasting" is just another variation of the same idea -- a great idea! There are screencasts that teach you how to draw, how to do quick arithmetic, how to use a programming language... anything you can think of!
All you really need is a microphone, a screencasting program (I used CamStudio, which is free), and an image editor to use as your whiteboard. I don't know what program you're using here, but the marker effect is pretty awesome. :)
And there are already programs and websites that let you use an interactive whiteboard with a number of people... I'll have to look up those links later.
Rich
This is a great way to get an concept across to a visual learner. Please keep us updated on this remarkable tool.
Wow. The response has been a lot louder than I thought - and everyone seems very curious as to how its done. I've already got that sketchcast cued up for later on - but I'll bump it up to be sooner.
Check back soon!
It would be great if you could share how to make sketchcasts I think they are great and you hit the nail on the head - they're a great tool and ideal to convey a complex message
Thanks !
This is wonderful,I'll love it.
wow, thats really cool, thanks for schering. It ist realy amazing how much informations we could communicate that way.
For some Projects it is realy better to draw this was instead to write.
It is like in a real life - one picture like that ist about 1000 words to write.
Why didn'd I thought about it earlier??!!!
Sketchcasting - it is like think out of the box for me.
I think this is a great idea! - as a writer, I know how much easier it is for humans to relate and learn from Visual (we are very visual)faster than from words...
I am a webmaster and writer and have many websites...
{I lost all my 2-yrs of wordpress blogs recently which was very stressful}
If I can do any JV projects or links or --- with / for you please email me to discuss.
Again, A very innovative niche Idea! that should
take off with everyone saying
"now why didn't I think of that?" :)
Kind REgards,
William Blake {moved from USA to Ireland}
Rich I love it! I want my very own, I'll be waiting for the DIY sketchcast.
Fascinating concept; and a terrific tease! Can't wait for you to start wading into the how-to, to see if this might be something we mere mortals could try... Thanks much for breaking down an invisible wall.
This is a very VERY nice idea, and I want to try it too!
I'll do so this week if I can :)
really a nice idea. visual movements make the presentation a lot more better.
This is a great idea! Some of the more complex subjects that we get in to on my mortgage blog could really stand to use this type of explanation. It could convey pages worth of dense text quickly and in a much easier-to-digest manner.
Sweet!
What a great idea. I love it. Can't wait to use it. Keep us updated on the how-to. Thanks
This is fantastic. I am looking forward to the how-to. This will be excellent for conveying design ideas or explaining processes to customers.
I can see just having a lot of fun with it, too. Thanks, Rich.
Awesome idea! I can not wait for a good tutorial to make sure I'm doing it right. Could be an awesome way to create really original funny content for my website.
Everyone:
A sketchcast on how to sketchcast is now available.
This is wonderful. I see that there may be disability issues (esp. since, as I watched this, I imagined a post *about* disability) -- but I love it.
What a great idea!
Sketchcasting sounds like another addition to the current PC-TV, syndicated publishing, i-podcasting multi-media platforms we offer to drive traffic to our automated finance portal called
www.GlobalCrossroadsCapital.com
in Las Vegas
This rocks! It's so easy to create your own on www.sketchcast.com
This is awesome - i can't wait to use this with my students when i teach them about google adwords and internet marketing - love it! well done.
adam davis.
With all due respect to Kurt Vonnegut:
If this isn't cool, I don't know what is.
Thank you so much; you just showed me another way to see the world.
RLA
Fun tool.
I'm not saying this would be easy, or even possible, but what would make this thousands of times more useful (and fun):
*Pressure sensitivity for Wacom users.
*Different brush types
*Opacity options, ideally pressure sensitive as well.
*Ability to layer, meaning I can add more drawing on top of what I already recorded.
Richard, thank you so much for doing this. You've inspired me to use this method for my company blog. :) I went out and bought a wacom intous just to do this. I've setup my first sketchast here. I need to fix the framerate on the recording software. Other than that, everything looks golden!! Thanks again!
@randm: I use photoshop to draw and you can layers there :). as well as pressure sensitive lines,etc
Fantastic idea, Rich.