iShowU Instant Tips

This article contains a collection of useful tips for using iShowU Instant. If you are looking for answers to questions, see the FAQ.

Recording

• Global Shortcuts

  

  As long as iShowU Instant is running, you can start recording with the current preset at any point, even from another app! Just use the start recording keyboard shortcut ⌘⇧1 (customizable in Preferences) to start the recording and ⌘⇧2 (also customizable) to stop it.

• Show Capture Guide

  

  If you're recording an area that isn't a full screen it might be handy to know where the edges are during recording. This is easily done by enabling the capture guide in Preferences. You can even customize the width and color for different stages of recording but don't worry, none of that will show up in your recording - it's just there for you to see.

• Abort/Pause/Retake Recordings

  

  As well as shortcuts for starting and stopping recordings, there are also shortcuts to abort a recording (⌘⇧⌫), pause (and resume) a recording (⌘⇧P), or abort the current recording and retake it (⌘⇧R).

• Change Camera Position

  

  The camera isn't just limited to where it's shown in the preview; you can change the position while you're recording using keyboard shortcuts. Press ⌃⌘1 to make the camera full screen, ⌃⌘2 to show the camera picture-in-picture (its default position), or ⌃⌘3 to hide it completely (all shortcuts customizable in Preferences). The Record Camera checkbox must be checked for these shortcuts to work.

• Camera Position Indicator

  

  Can't remember which position the camera is currently in? The iShowU Instant menu bar icon includes an indicator to show you if the camera is full screen, picture-in-picture, or hidden. The Record Camera checkbox must be checked for this indicator to be present.

• Recording Control Panel

  

  Did you know that iShowU Instant has a built-in recording control panel? You can enable this with ⌘⌥. (customizable in Preferences) in order to see just what's happening while you're recording and to easier take control of your recording.

Recording Selection

• Recording Area Selection

  

  The recording area selection comes in three modes: Full Screen where you just click the screen you wish to record, Application Window where you just click the application window you wish to record, and Select Area which allows you full control over choosing the area to record.

• Adjust Selection Area

  

  Get your selection area just right by adjusting it using the arrow keys. While in select area mode pressing the arrow keys will move the selection one pixel, holding ⌘ while pressing the arrow keys will resize the selection by one pixel, and holding down ⇧ will increase the movement to ten pixels.

• Enter Selection Size

  

  While in select area mode you don't need to click and drag to get the area you want; you can select one of the preset sizes, or specify the width and height yourself.

• Show Recording Area

  

  If you need to be reminded which area of the screen will be recorded, you can click the Show Area button in Basic mode or on the Video tab of Advanced mode. This will draw a green rectangle around the area of the screen that will be recorded.

Preview

• Detachable Preview Window

  

  Did you know that the recording preview can be detached into its own window? You can do this by clicking the Detach button in the Visuals tab in Advanced mode, or by using the keyboard shortcut ⌘⌥0. This allows you to switch modes, tabs, and presets while still seeing a live preview of what the recording will look like.

• Customize Objects

  

  Any object that you can move around and resize in the recording preview also has a bunch of other properties that can be changed. Just double-click on an object (such as camera, watermark, or keypress visualization) to bring up options for changing the position, scale, rotation, opacity, background, color, border, shadow, and reflection.

• Select Keypress Visualization

  

  If you're having trouble selecting the keypress visualization in the recording preview (due to it not being shown when no keys are pressed), just right-click on the preview and select Select Keypress Visualization.

• Select Multiple Objects

  

  In the recording preview you can select multiple objects at once by clicking and dragging or by holding ⇧ while clicking on them. You can then move the objects together or modify properties for the group of them.

• Deleting Objects

  

  You can delete an object from the recording preview by selecting it and pressing the ⌫ key or by right-click it and selecting Delete. Doing this won't really delete the object, it will just disable it for that preset. e.g. Deleting the camera object will untick the Record Camera checkbox.

• Reposition Out-of-bounds Objects

  

  Accidentally dragged an object out of the recording preview and now you can't get it back? Just right-click on the preview and select Reposition Out-of-bounds Objects.

• 3D Rotation

  

  The rotation steppers in the properties window allow you to rotate objects not just left and right, but in all three dimensions!

Recent Recordings

• Recent Recordings

  

  A list of your recent recordings is always available by clicking the Recent Recordings icon at the top-right of the main window. From there you can view the recording file, edit the recording (Advanced Features only), or share it with someone else.

• Find a Missing Recording

  

  If you move or rename a file, sometimes iShowU Instant won't be able to find it and it will show up as a question mark in the Recent Recordings list. To fix this, just click the Share button next to the recording and click Find Recording File.

• Reusing Recording Settings

  

  Want to do another recording with the exact same settings as a previous one? Find the recording in the Recent Recordings drop-down, click on the Share button, and select New Recording to begin a new recording with the same settings.

• Recent Recordings Shortcuts

  

  To open the list of recent recordings press ⌘⌥R, and to edit the most recent recording press ⌘⌥E.

• Easy Recording Access

  

  You can get easy access to your recent recordings by opening the Recent Recordings drop-down and clicking and dragging the recording to there you want to use it: a folder, an email, or anywhere else!

Presets

• Basic Mode Preset

  

  You may have noticed that one of your presets is labelled BASIC; this is because it is the preset that is used when starting a recording from Basic mode. You can change which preset this is by right-clicking on a preset and selecting Use as Basic Preset or by using the keyboard shortcut ⌘B while the preset is selected.

• Restore Built-In Presets

  

  Accidentally deleted a built-in preset you needed? You can restore all of the built-in presets by right-clicking on the preset list and selecting Add Built-In Presets or by selecting the same item from the Presets menu.

• Duplicate Presets

  

  Ever find yourself constantly changing one option on a preset back and forth? Why not just duplicate the preset and save yourself the hassle. You can duplicate a preset by right-clicking on it and selecting Duplicate and a new preset will be created with all the same settings. Alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut ⌘D while the preset is selected.

Mouse and Keyboard

• Accessibility Access

  

  In order to visualize keypresses and mouse clicks iShowU Instant needs to be allowed accessibility access. Just open System Preferences, select Security & Privacy, select Accessibility and check the box next to iShowU Instant. For more information about enabling accessibility access in iShowU Instant see this article.

• Change Mouse Animation

  

  Don't like the default green circles used for mouse animation? You can change the shape and color of them in the Visuals tab of Advanced mode next to Animate mouse clicks.

Navigation

• Switch Modes Easily

  

  Clicking the buttons in the title bar isn't the only way to switch between Basic and Advanced mode. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts ⌘[ and ⌘] to switch to Basic and Advanced Mode respectively.

• Switch Advanced Mode Tabs

  

  Just like the keyboard shortcuts to switch between modes, there are also keyboard shortcuts to switch between tabs. Press ⌘⌥1 – ⌘⌥6 to switch advanced mode tabs, or look in the View menu. Pressing one of these shortcuts during Basic mode will automatically switch you into Advanced mode.

Sharing

• Open/Edit/Share Automatically After Recording

  

  Already know what you want to do once you've finished recording? In the After recording drop-down in Basic mode or the Sharing tab of Advanced mode you can choose an app to automatically open your recording once it's done, a service to share the recording to, to enter editing mode, or to do nothing at all!

• Upload to YouTube

  

  While OS X doesn't have YouTube sharing built-in, iShowU Instant does. Simply select YouTube in the sharing menu and sign in to your YouTube account to be able to upload your recordings without leaving the app.

• Create Animated GIFs

  

  Want to create a short animated GIF of your screen? Create a new recording and then select Animated GIF from the sharing menu.

Output

• Custom Frame Rate

  

  Need a custom frame rate that isn't available in the default options? Go to the Video tab in Advanced Mode and select Custom... in the Capture Frame Rate drop down and you'll be able to enter a custom frame rate between 60 frames per second and 1 frame per minute.

• Timelapses

  

  As well as changing the capture frame rate, you can change the output frame rate too, allowing you to create timelapse recordings. Set the capture frame rate to something low like 1 frame per second, and the Output Frame Rate on the Output tab in Advanced Mode to 30 frames per second, and you'll see that your recording will be 30 times faster!

• Generated File Names

  

  The file name of your recording doesn't have to simply be a name followed by a number, it can be much more advanced that that. In the Output tab of Advanced mode you can click the Configure button to customize the recording's file name using placeholders for date, time, video size, frame rate, codec, and more.

Audio

• iShowU Audio Capture

  

  In order to include application audio in your recordings, you'll need to download and install iShowU Audio Capture if you don't already have it installed. For more information about recording application audio in iShowU Instant see this article.

• Turn Off Application Audio on Window Close

  

  By default, application audio capture (via iShowU Audio Capture) will remain active while iShowU Instant is open. If you want it to turn off when the main recording settings window has closed, you can enable this by going to Preferences, General.

Miscellaneous

• Configure Keyboard Shortcuts

  

  If you don't like the default keyboard shortcuts for recording or changing the camera position or if they conflict with another app, you can change them by going to Preferences, Shortcuts and then clicking on the shortcut to change it.

• Hide Warnings

  

  By default, iShowU Instant has a bunch of warnings to prevent you doing something you might not want to do. However we realize that these can get annoying after a while so have added the option to disable them by going to Preferences, Warnings.

• Schedule Recording

  

  Did you know that you can schedule iShowU Instant to start recording at a specific time? Or to stop recording after a certain duration? All of these options, and more, are available in the Timer tab of Advanced mode.

• Precision Scheduling

  

  If you need more precision when scheduling the start or stop time of a recording try specifying the time in seconds instead of minutes (or minutes instead of hours). This lets you say "90 seconds" for a minute and a half or "210 minutes" for three and a half hours.

• Hide the iShowU Instant Menu Bar

  

  To hide the iShowU Instant menu bar (the thing that shows the recording status and how long you've been recording for) go to Preferences, General, and untick the Show iShowU Instant menu bar checkbox. Note that if you do this then you will have to stop recordings using keyboard shortcuts or by right-clicking on iShowU Instant's dock icon.

• Disable Mode-switching Animations

  

  If the mode-switching animations are slow and clunky on your machine (more likely on OS X Yosemite) then you might want to disable them. You can do this by going to Preferences, General and ticking the Disable animations when switching modes checkbox.

• Send Information to Support

  

  If you encounter something weird in iShowU Instant or you don't think that it's behaving as it should, you can select Send Information to Support from the Help menu to generate a bunch of useful information. See this article for more information about sending that information to shinywhitebox support.

Advanced Features Only

The following tips only apply to those users who have purchased the Advanced Features In-App purchase.

• Edit Recordings

  

  You can edit a finished recording at any time by find the recording in the Recent Recordings drop-down, clicking the Share button, and clicking Edit.

• Reset Edited Recording to Original Media

  

  If you've edited a recording but want to reset the edits to the original recording, you can do so by selecting Reset to Original Media... from the Edit menu. Be aware that this will cause all edits you've made to be lost.

• iOS Recording

  

  iOS recording in iShowU Instant is very simple: plug in your iOS device via Lightning cable, select From an iOS Device in Basic mode or on the Video tab of Advanced mode, select your iOS device from the drop-down and start recording.

• Show Keypresses Near Mouse Cursor

  

  As well as visualizing keypresses all together in their own object, you can also show the latest keypress next to the mouse cursor. Just go to the Visuals tab in Advanced mode and check the Show keypresses near cursor checkbox.

• Multi-channel Audio Layout

  

  If you've selected a multi-channel audio output format in the Output tab in Advanced mode, you can configure which channel from your input audio device gets mapped to which output channel (and adjust the volume per channel) by clicking the Configure Channels button on the Audio.

• Audio Filters

  

  iShowU Instant comes with advanced audio filters built-in: a dynamics processor, a multiband compressor, and a graphical equalizer. All of these can be accessed in the Filters section of the Audio tab in Advanced mode.