Screen Capture Is Blurry

[Giannis]

I'm putting together a tech book on a particular music software and general music production technique. When I'm trying to capture on screen graphics by hitting 'Print Screen' and then pasting and saving in Paint I get blurry pictures. They're not at all up with all the illustrations I see in books that cover software.

Is there a particular program which can do it better than the Windows Print Screen feature or am I missing something?

[jyoung]

Since you are doing a tech manual, I would suggest Snag-It by Techsmith. Fairly inexpensive - $40 US and will provide clear pics. Also try "screen capture" in google as there are some free ones, but I don't know how good they are.

[Giannis]

Thank you, Joe!

That application works great. Wonderful.

[steve.ledger]

I'd be lost without Fastone Capture. Although it's now shareware, the last freeware version is still available on the web.

[-=Drifter=-]

While I love SnagIt and have no desire for another prg to replace I thought I'd check out your favorite, Sledger, but your link gives me this:

[steve.ledger]

Sorry Bob, that was the direct dl, obviously wrong referrer

Here's the page link

[Giannis]

Which file format would be the best touse if I intend to get it into print? I've been saving a few pictures as .png - is that good?

[steve.ledger]

Bearing in mind that you are capturing from an already exisiting image via the use of a *screen-capture* - the best format would be probably PNG for general purpose printing as JPG would potentially cause more loss of detail that is apparent with the on-screen original.

Magazines I've had anything to do with are quite happy with PNG and even JPG provided the quality is high and the resolution (size) is high.

Others will have varying experiences and recommendations to be sure.

[Giannis]

Yeah, the PNG pictures I've taken with SnagIt are really good. I'll stick to that.

Thanks,

Giannis