You are getting ready to record your first content using WebStudio, and you want to get to grips with this tool before you start. Then this article is for you ! In these lines, we are going to focus on this simple, intuitive tool, and, together, we will take a tour of its possibilities.

TABLE OF CONTENT

GENERAL INFORMATION

WebStudio is a video and audio content recording tool designed so that you can quickly and easily capture your lessons and presentations from your computer. To do this, you need four things in addition to access to Nudgis :

A computer that is compatible with WebStudio : as video capture is fairly resource-intensive, a powerful machine will ensure a better frame rate. We recommend an Intel i5 or i7 processor for best performance, but operation is possible with an Intel Core i5-3230M CPU @ 2.60GHz / 8GB RAM. Please note that if the computer is overloaded (by third-party applications), optimum results cannot be guaranteed.
A stable and, if possible, up-to-date version of a standard browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox). WebStudio is incompatible with some browsers, and the live streaming function is not available everywhere. Refer to the browser compatibility table to find out which browser to choose.
A stable network
A good knowledge of your lecture

If your user account does not have the right to add media, you will not be able to use WebStudio.

These four points are essential for successful recordings with our online tool. A sufficiently powerful computer equipped with a compatible and stable browser in a recent version is the guarantee of optimal operation of the application, which remains a tool accessible online, and will therefore perform better and be more secure in a browser that is updated. For the same reasons, a stable and sufficiently powerful network is vital, especially as a network interruption can seriously compromise your recording, leading in most cases to an incomplete or non-existent file. Unfortunately, you won't realize this until you have finished recording, so you will have to start all over again, which is bound to be frustrating. So make sure you are in a network environment that will allow you to record serenely. As for the last point, it may seem obvious, but even if it is possible to pause the recording, your video will be more fluid if you are comfortable with your presentation.

If these must-have are met, you can start using WebStudio with complete peace of mind.

Do not forget to plug your computer into the mains before you start recording.

To use WebStudio, log in to your Nudgis account, and click on the "Add content" button at the top right of the page, then on "Record" in the drop-down menu that appears :

A new tab/window opens in your browser, offering you several sources for your recording :

Note that you can now give your recording a title, which will be included in the metadata. Now let's look in more detail at the choice of sources. There are three main ones :

"Camera", which allows you to record only the signal from your webcam or any other video capture device connected to the computer and recognized by the browser you are using
"My screen", which captures the contents of your computer display
"Both", which is a simultaneous capture of the camera and screen. This mode is the most frequently used.

The other choices are "Settings", which we will look at in more detail later in this article, and "Help", which will redirect you to our online tutorials site, where you will find a number of useful videos on using and administering Nudgis.

Let's now take an in-depth look at how to control and set up your sources.

SETTING UP THE SOURCES

By clicking on "Camera", your browser will open a window asking you to authorize the site to use your camera and microphone. Note that each browser has its own way of managing these settings, but that you will be asked to do this each time you use WebStudio for the first time on a new browser. In this example, we will display the Chrome controls :

Some browsers may also be prevented from recording by your computer's operating system. To authorize them, go to Preferences/System Settings > Privacy and Security. In the list, make sure that your browser is authorized to record your system in "Camera", "Microphone" and "Screen recording".

In the case of Chrome, once you have authorized the site to access the camera and microphone, a window will open displaying the selected video source, as well as a meter for checking the audio recording level. If the bar on the meter turns red, you need to adjust the microphone input volume in your operating system settings, otherwise the sound will be saturated. On the other hand, if the meter does not change when you speak, this means that the microphone is not selected.

If the camera displayed by the browser is not the right one, or the desired microphone is not selected, you can click on the small camera icon at the top right of the URL bar. This will open the window for checking the authorized sources for the site. Click on "Manage" to access Chrome's privacy and security settings, where you can modify the sources to be captured.

Choose "Camera" or " Microphone" depending on the source you wish to change. In this case, we will go for "Camera".

You can then select the camera used by the browser. Note that you can also control the list of sites authorized to use the camera. We have used Chrome as an example here and, with a few variations, you will find these functions in the settings of all compatible browsers.

Version 12.2.0 and more of Nudgis makes it even easier to select your recording sources. Once you are on the recording screen, you can change the camera and/or microphone used directly using two dedicated buttons :

Once your source has been selected and calibrated, you can start your "Camera" recording and, if you want, your live streaming as well by pressing the corresponding button.

Unless changed by your administration team, recordings and live broadcasts will be created in your personal channel by default.

Clicking on "My screen" in the source selection window will take you to another choice, that of the part of your computer display that you wish to share in the recording :

You can choose between one of your browser's tabs if you want to focus on a single page and hide the rest of your activity, a window in your display (browser, software), or the whole screen if you want to be able to navigate from one window to another.

Finally, if you choose "Both" in the source selection window, you will record the camera and the selected screen/window/tab simultaneously, with both streams appearing side by side in the player. This mode, which is the most frequently used, contains a few subtleties, which we will explore in the next chapter.

RECORDING TWO SOURCES SIMULTANEOUSLY

As we saw in the previous chapter, it is very easy to select your camera and data sources with WebStudio. In "Both" mode, you will display these two streams simultaneously in the player.

They can be resized and configured in the "Player settings" tab of the Edit mode of your video, available in your Nudgis once the recording is complete. But you can change them before recording. Once your sources have been selected, a preview window opens, allowing you to check that everything is in order before starting the recording and possibly the live broadcast.

If you have selected "Both", you will be able to resize, move or even delete your sources. Select one of the streams : it will be surrounded by a red border whose junctions, symbolised by the squares in the border, allow you to resize the image freehand, using your mouse. You can also change the position of the stream manually, using the mouse or keyboard arrows. This gives you total control over the layout of your sources in the final rendering :

Other operations are also possible, by right-clicking on the stream. You can :

Move the stream forwards or backwards in the frame (in the event of an overlap, for example)
Automatically position the stream within the rendering frame (top, bottom, centred, etc...)
Switch the stream to full screen
Reset modifications by type (zoom, position, or both)
Order the extraction of slides from this stream
Obtain source and resolution information
Delete the stream

So you can change the layout of your streams to your liking to get the exact look you want. Once all this is in place, all you have to do is press "Record" or "Record and live stream" to start your capture and create your personalised media in just a few clicks.

Press the button of your choice, and a five-second countdown begins on the screen. Once the countdown is over, the recording starts.

In the case of recording without live streaming, a "Pause" button is available next to the "Stop" button. This allows you to stop the recording momentarily, and resume it at your convenience, while retaining a single output file. If you have a long presentation to make, or if you're uncomfortable in front of the camera, pausing allows you to segment your presentation while getting a single media output, instead of having to make a continuous lecture, as in a live session.

To interrupt the recording, simply press "Stop". The media is immediately created in your personal channel, and WebStudio will automatically open the corresponding page.

Note that in the case of a live streaming, a small pop-up window will appear at the bottom of your screen, inviting you to share the URL of the live broadcast with your colleagues. Click "Copy" to save the permanent link to your clipboard, and paste it into a message to your viewers. You can also see that a small red window is visible in the top right-hand corner of the screen, showing you the status of the live streaming.

Recording media using WebStudio is now something you have mastered perfectly, but we still have one last detail to look at together : the "Settings", which you can open in the source selection window.

ADVANCED AND EXPERIMENTAL SETTINGS

This chapter title may be slightly frightening, but stay with us, as this menu will allow you to fine-tune the output parameters of your recording, and adapt them to your needs and creativity. Let's discover it together :

Clicking on "Settings" in the source selection window opens a pop-up window allowing you to change a number of options. These "Settings" are divided into three sub-groups :

General settings
Audio options
Experimental settings

There is very little to say about "Audio Options" in Chrome, as it simply allows you to choose whether or not to display the sound control meter during recording. Although we recommend its use to avoid unpleasant surprises at the end of the recording, you may find that the movement of the meter disturbs you during your presentation. You can therefore remove it from the display.

In Firefox, the menu is more extensive, offering echo suppression, background noise suppression and automatic control of the recording level, in addition to the options available in Chrome.

The "General settings" allow you to automatically use the date of the recording as the media title. Note that this will be the default if you have not filled in the "Title" field before starting the recording. It is also possible to publish the media in the background during the recording (which is the default option), and activate or deactivate the countdown mentioned above. You can also choose to enable moving and resizing of sources during capture. This is a risky choice that requires a good knowledge of the source modification options described at the end of the previous chapter. Be careful, however, as this option disables slide detection, but you will be able to run this task after recording in the "Slides" tab of your media's Edit mode. Finally, in the "General settings", you can set a time limit for your recording. The default setting is four hours.

The "Experimental settings" require a minimum knowledge of audio/video formats and resolution. Here you can adjust the audio bit rate, the video bit rate and the frame rate. It is also possible to change the capture resolution of your camera stream, if the latter offers a higher (or lower) quality. In addition, you can adjust the output resolution of your video to produce resources of varying quality in the Nudgis media. It is possible to go up to 4K resolution, which will create the corresponding file in your personal channel (provided that this level of quality has been authorized in the site's transcoding settings by your administration team). Please note, however, that this last option only works with the "Both" mode. Finally, "Enable debug" will enable the WebStudio logs in the browser console.

Be careful not to go too heavy with the resolutions and options in these "Settings", as high quality will require more resources and may affect the smooth running of WebStudio if your computer or network are not powerful enough.

We have reached the end of this article, in which you have learned the finer points of using WebStudio. We hope that this simple, fun tool will suit all your content creation needs, and help you to spread your knowledge easily and widely. We wish you a pleasant experience using Webstudio !

To continue: "The Nudgis Dynamic Rich Media player".

The WebStudio