We explored in a previous tutorial how straightforward it is to record anything on your Desktop using ScreenFlow. Unlike other applications of this type, ScreenFlow’s strength lies in the versatility of its editing tools once the recording has been made: You don’t need to use any other software to trim your recording or even add special visual effects to help the viewer focus on the important parts of the interface.

This application is incredibly versatile, and in this how-to we’ll show you how to turn your screencasts into very polished productions with effects like fades, cross-dissolves and animations. If you don’t already own ScreenFlow, you can download a free full-featured trial version to test out.

Difficulty level:
Medium

What you need:
>> ScreenFlow 1.2 or later ($99, www.flip4mac.com, free trial available)
>> 30 minutes of your time

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1. Cutting It

Use ScreenFlow to record some events on your Desktop (move folders around, open and switch between applications, and so on—see our first how-to for more on Screenflow’s basic recording features). Once you’re done, the editing interface launches and the footage you took is automatically placed in the Timeline, ready to be modified. Start by trimming the beginning to just before something interesting happens. To do that, click on the clip to select it (it gets highlighted in yellow), then drag the playhead to the desired place on the Timeline. Next, go to Edit > Trim Front To Scrubber (or use the keyboard shortcut W).

Step 1: Here's how to trim some unwanted footage from the beginning of your screencast. Click to embiggen!

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2. Fade Away

Rather than have the footage start immediately, making it gradually appear from a dark background would create a gentler introduction. With the footage still selected, go to the panel on the right and choose the Video tab (the first icon, top left of that section). Click the Add Video Action button. A yellow rectangle is added where the playhead had been located. Move the playhead to the start of that rectangle and change the Opacity slider located in the Video tab to 0% to create your first fade-from-black transition.

Step 2: Fade in for a more professional opening. Click to embiggen!

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3. Stretch It Out

Altering the length of the effect is very straightforward: Move the cursor to the end of the effect, and it turns into a resize tool. When that happens, click and drag the rectangle’s edge to either lengthen or shorten the effect. You can also choose to reposition it somewhere else on the clip by clicking and dragging it.

Step 3: Lengthening your fade-in effect is no problem. Click to embiggen!

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4. The Cutting-Room Floor

There might be a section in the middle of your footage that you’d rather not use, in order to speed up your screencast, for instance, or to remove a glitch. To do so, move the playhead to the beginning of the part you want to trim. Go to Edit > Split Clip (or use the Shift-Command-T keyboard shortcut). Move to the end of the unwanted clip, click on it to select it, and perform the same action. Hit the Delete key to remove the middle part from the Timeline.

Step 4: We're using Split Clip to isolate a portion of our screencast that we want to delete. Click to embiggen!

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5. Non-Destructive Editing

Should you change your mind, the deleted footage isn’t lost. To fill the gap, mouse over to the edit point present before or after the gap—the cursor turns into a resize tool. Drag it into the gap to stretch the remaining clip and reveal the previously cut footage. This also applies to the cut we performed in step 1.

Step 5: The "deleted" footage isn't really gone; you can recover it by dragging the next clip's edge back into the void. Click to embiggen!

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Next... Working with layers, animating special effects, cross-dissolves, and more!

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6. Get on Top

Now that we have two clips in the Timeline, let’s work with multiple layers. Click on the second part and drag it straight down to place it on another layer. Then, drag it so that about a second of it overlaps the one above. Next, click on the first clip’s fade effect from step 2 to select it. Copy that effect (Edit > Copy or Command-C).

Step 6: By dragging our second clip down to a new layer, we can make them overlap to set the stage for a transition effect. Click to embiggen!

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7. Cloning Away

Move the playhead so that it is at the start of the second clip (the playhead should snap to the edit point as you near it; if it doesn’t, go to View > Snapping). Select both clips by clicking on one and Shift-clicking on the other. Then, paste the copied effect (Edit > Paste or Command-V) to add it to both clips at the same time.

Step 7: We're pasting our fade effect onto the end of the first clip and the beginning of the second one. Click to embiggen!

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8. Effect Alteration

With the playhead still in the same place, select the new top effect (make sure it’s the only selected item in the Timeline). Its Opacity slider should be at 100%. Select the bottom effect; set that Opacity to 0%. Move the playhead to the end of the top clip. Change the top effect’s Opacity to 0% and the bottom effect to 100%. You’ve just created a cross-dissolve.

Step 8: We're making a cool-looking cross-dissolve by fiddling with the Opacity slider. Click to embiggen!

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9. Step into 3D

Move the playhead to the right of the cross-dissolve. Select the last clip and use the keyboard shortcut Command-K to create a new Video Action. Use the panel on the right to change the Scale to 40-50% and the Y rotation to -45 degrees. Play back the effect and watch your Desktop shrink and rotate clockwise.

Step 9: This Video Action  rescales and rotates the Desktop image in your screencast. Click to embiggen!

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10. Animate Anything

You can use actions to animate absolutely anything. For instance, move the cursor so that it’s a second or so after the rotation effect. Create a new Video Action. This time, tick the Reflection box and move the slider until it reaches 70%. Next, drag the new effect until it touches the previous one (actions cannot overlap each other). As you play the effect back, the reflection increases over time.

Step 10: Video Actions let you "animate" anything by changing it over time. Click to embiggen!

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11. In and Out

Deleting specific segments, like an action or an entire clip, is easy: Click it to highlight it and press the Delete key. However, things can get a little bit more complex when you’re working with multiple layers. If the section you want to remove spans multiple clips, the easiest and quickest way to delete it is by using In and Out points. Move the playhead to the start of the section you want to remove and press the I key (or go to Edit > Mark In Point). Everything to the right of that point turns blue. You can then move the playhead to another location inside that blue zone and hit the O key (or use Edit > Mark Out Point).

Step 11: Set the In and Out points if you want to cut a portion of your screencast that exists on two layers. Click to embiggen!

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12. Making Ripples as You Delete

Once the Out point has been set, dragging the blue zone’s edges alters the selected area’s dimensions, helping you be precise and only delete the section you want to get rid of. When ready, you must either use the Edit > Ripple Delete command or the Command-Delete keyboard shortcut to remove all the selected footage from the Timeline.

Step 12: Edit > Ripple Delete is the command you're looking for. Click to embiggen!