Creating screencasts that are animated – instead of being recorded live – can be very beneficial.

We thought we collect and share with you some of the biggest advantages based on our own production experience.

So, here are the benefits of an animated screencast compared to a live recorded screencast:

• It’s easier and more cost-effective to update/alter

The goals, needs, specifications, happenings and timings of videos can change, even during the video development phase. It’s no different with screencast videos.
In the case of an animated screencast, it’s not necessary to record the whole video again whenever there is a change or something to update; it’s enough to update the relevant parts only.

• It’ll look more professional plus it reduces viewer frustration

When someone navigates a mouse pointer live, it can move in an unpredictable manner, it can be too fast and it can shake.
In the case of an animated screencast, the mouse pointer and its movement is precise and smooth.

• It’ll have better quality with clearer happenings

Zooming on website parts is great, pixelation of these parts are not. Animated screencasts can be prepared in a way to hide these effects.
Also, unlike a regular recorded screencast, the scrolling of a website won’t look jumpy/jittery, so it won’t ruin the viewer experience.
As a bonus, the mouse pointer icons (arrow, clicker hand, type tool) can be made larger, so the mouse movement becomes more traceable – even when viewed from smaller devices, or when embedded into a site. Viewers that don’t have perfect vision will thank you for this too.

• It can be boosted!

If needed, more powerful and more interesting animations can be created.

With an animated screencast, every element is under the animator’s control, so the visions can be more advanced, as well as the results.

To prove our points, we brought you these great examples from our portfolio. Be sure to check them out:

Conclusion

We think that the benefits speak for themselves: those who like to please their target group viewers and seek more professional appearance, should definitely think about choosing the animated screencast way, even if creating the first version of it costs a bit more in terms of time and money.
It’s worth mentioning that surely there are situations when going with a recorded screencast IS a better option. Whether it is better or not can depend on a number of things: type(s) of the screencast content, its length, and most of all: how desirable and important are the benefits listed above.

Get in touch with us and let’s explore your video (and video strategy) needs via a free half-hour consultation.

<< Back to the blog