Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast

ffscreencast - ffmpeg screencast/desktop-recording with video overlay and multi monitor support
https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast

camera-overlay ffmpeg ffmpeg-command ffmpeg-wrapper screen-recorder screencast

Last synced: about 2 months ago
JSON representation

ffscreencast - ffmpeg screencast/desktop-recording with video overlay and multi monitor support

Lists

README 

        
# ffscreencast



[Features](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#1-features) |

[Installation](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#2-installation) |

[Usage](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#3-usage) |

[Screenshots](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#4-screenshots) |

[FAQ](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#5-faq) |

[Todo](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#6-todo) |

[Contribution](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#7-contribution) |

[License](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#8-license) |

[Version](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#9-version) |

[Awesome](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast#10-awesome)



[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/cytopia/ffscreencast.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/cytopia/ffscreencast)

[![Latest Stable Version](https://poser.pugx.org/cytopia/ffscreencast/v/stable)](https://packagist.org/packages/cytopia/ffscreencast) [![Total Downloads](https://poser.pugx.org/cytopia/ffscreencast/downloads)](https://packagist.org/packages/cytopia/ffscreencast) [![Latest Unstable Version](https://poser.pugx.org/cytopia/ffscreencast/v/unstable)](https://packagist.org/packages/cytopia/ffscreencast) [![License](https://poser.pugx.org/cytopia/ffscreencast/license)](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)

[![Type](https://img.shields.io/badge/type-bash-red.svg)](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/)



**About**



`ffscreencast` is a shell wrapper for `ffmpeg` that allows fool-proof screen recording via the command line. It will auto-detect all available monitors, cameras and microphones and is able to interactively or manually choose the desired recording device(s). Additionally `ffscreencast` will let you overlay the camera stream on top of the desktop session.



Besides that `ffscreencast` can act as an ffmpeg command generator. Every available option can also just show the corresponding ffmpeg command instead of executing it. Non-ffmpeg commands, such as how the camera resolution is pulled and others can also be shown instead of being executed.



![Screencast](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/ffscreencast/master/doc/img/ffscreencast.png)



**Supported platforms**



| OSX    | Linux | FreeBSD | Windows |

| :----: | :----: | :----: | :----: |

| [![OSX](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/icons/master/64x64/osx.png)](https://www.apple.com/osx) | ![Linux](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/icons/master/64x64/linux.png) | [![FreeBSD](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/icons/master/64x64/freebsd.png)](https://www.freebsd.org) | [![Windows](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/icons/master/64x64/windows.png)](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows) |

| via [AVFoundation](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devices.html#avfoundation) | via [x11grab](https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-devices.html#x11grab) | coming soon | coming soon |



**Requirements**



| Program  | Required | Description |

| ------------- | ------------- | -------- |

| [bash](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/)  | yes  | The whole script is written in bash and might not be 100% Posix compliant |

| [ffmpeg](https://www.ffmpeg.org/)  | yes  | The ffmpeg binary must be present |

| [v4l2-ctl](http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/V4l-utils) | Linux | Required for linux to list camera devices |

| [arecord](http://linux.die.net/man/1/arecord) | Linux | Required for linux to list sound devices |

| [xdpyinfo](http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.6/doc/man/man1/xdpyinfo.1.xhtml) | Linux | Required for linux to list screends |



## 1. Features



* Config file for default configuration

* Screen recording

* Camera overlay

* Audio support

* Allows to manually (parameter) or interactively choose monitor

* Allows to manually (parameter) or interactively choose camera

* Allows to manually (parameter) or interactively choose sound device

* ffmpeg command generation



## 2. Installation



### 2.1 OSX



```shell

brew install cytopia/tap/ffscreencast

```



### 2.2 Linux/BSD

```shell

git clone https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast

cd ffscreencast

sudo cp bin/ffscreencast /usr/local/bin

```



## 3. Usage



### 3.1 Overview



To simply start desktop recording your screen call the program without any arguments `ffscreencast` and it will use the default screen without camera overlay and without sound.



```shell

$ ffscreencast



Usage: ffscreencast [-s[num]] [--sargs=] [-a[num]] [--aargs=] [-c[num] [--cargs=] [--oargs=] [-e] [--dry]

       ffscreencast --slist [--dry]

       ffscreencast --alist [--dry]

       ffscreencast --clist [--dry]

       ffscreencast --help

       ffscreencast --version

       ffscreencast --test



When invoked without any arguments, it will start screen recording

on the default screen without sound and without camera overlay.



Input options:

-s[num]           (Default) Enable screen capturing [with device number X].

                  If no device number is specified it will use the default, if only

                  one device is present, otherwise it will ask you to choose one

                  Use: -s or -s1



--sargs=          Additional screen arguments.

                  Specify additional ffmpeg arguments for the screen input device.

                  Use: --sargs="-framerate 30"

                  Default: ''



-a[num]           Enable audio capturing [with device number X]

                  If no device number is specified it will use the default, if only

                  one device is present, otherwise it will ask you to choose one

                  Use: -a or -a1



--aargs=          Additional audio arguments.

                  Specify additional ffmpeg arguments for the audio input device.

                  Use: --aargs="-ac 1"

                  Default: '-ac 2'



-c[num]           Add camera overlay [with device number X]

                  If no device number is specified it will use the default, if only

                  one device is present, otherwise it will ask you to choose one

                  Use: -c or -c1



--cargs=          Additional camera arguments

                  Specify additional ffmpeg arguments for the camera input device.

                  Use: --cargs="-video_size 1280x720"

                  Default: ''



Output options:

-e           Output video format extension (Default: mkv)

                  E.g.: -emkv, or -eavi, or -emp4



-oargs=           Additional output arguments

                  Specify additional ffmpeg arguments for the output encoding.

                  Use: --oargs="-crf 0"

                  Default: '-crf 0 -preset ultrafast'



Behavior options:

--dry             Show the command (without executing)



List options:

--list            List all devices

--slist           Only list screen capturing devices (monitors)

--alist           Only list audio capturing devices (microphones)

--clist           Only list camera capturing devices (cams)



System information:

--help            Show this help screen

--version         Show version information

--test            Test requirements



```



The `num` (device numbers) can be omitted. If there is only one device of its type available, `ffscreencast` will automatically default to this device, otherwise it will ask interactively which device to use for recording.



### 3.2 Examples



Do a screencast on the default screen (without explicitly choosing the monitor)



```shell

$ ffscreencast

```



List monitors and record on monitor 2 (`Capture screen 0`)



```shell

$ ffscreencast --slist

Available screen recording devices (monitors):



[2] Capture screen 0    Color LCD: Resolution: 2880 x 1800 Retina

[3] Capture screen 1    S2431W: Resolution: 1920 x 1200

[4] Capture screen 2    Thunderbolt Display: Resolution: 2560 x 1440



$ ffscreencast -s2

```



List cameras



```shell

$ ffscreencast --clist

Available camera recording devices:



[0] FaceTime HD Camera (Display) ([email protected] 160x120@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 176x144@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 320x240@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 352x288@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 640x480@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 960x540@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1024x576@25 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1280x720@25 [email protected] [email protected])



[1] FaceTime HD Camera (1280x720@30 640x480@30 320x240@30)



```



Start a screencast with camera overlay (only one camera present)



```shell

$ ffscreencast -c

```



or select the camera device



```shell

$ ffscreencast -c0

```



Show the ffmpeg command for camera recording



```shell

$ ffscreencast -c --dry



ffmpeg -hide_banner -loglevel info -f avfoundation   -i "1" -f avfoundation  -i "0" -c:v libx264 -crf 0 -preset ultrafast -filter_complex 'overlay=main_w-overlay_w-10:main_h-overlay_h-10' "/Users/cytopia/Desktop/Screencast 2015-10-06 at 21.28.01.mkv"



```



## 4. Screenshots



Showing screen recording with and without camera overlay.



![Screencast](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/ffscreencast/master/doc/img/ffscreencast.png)

![Screencast](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cytopia/ffscreencast/master/doc/img/ffscreencast2.png)



## 5. FAQ



This section will be updated whenever questions arise that are worth mentioning here



### 5.1 How to convert to other formats?



There is currently no built-in gif support, mainly because it will not produce such a good quality. It is recommended to first create your screencast with the best possible quality and least possible resources (you are obviously going to do something and will not want to consume all your cpu for the encoding) and afterwards convert it to a high quality gif or other formats.



See [contrib](contrib/) for converters and feel free to add more.



### 5.2 How to enable cursor capturing on OSX?



By default `ffmpeg` on OSX (using `AVFoundation`) does not capture the mouse (on Linux it does). You can however pass this as a custom option to `ffscreencast`



In order to capture the mouse pointer itself add the following `--sargs`:



```shell

ffscreencast --sargs="-capture_cursor 1"

```



If you also want to *see* when you actually click the mouse, do it like this:

```shell

ffscreencast --sargs="-capture_cursor 1 -capture_mouse_clicks 1"

```



### 5.3 How to hide the cursor on Linux/BSD?



By default `ffmpeg` on Linux/BSD (using `x11grab`) does show the mouse pointer by default (OSX does not). You can however pass this as a custom option to `ffscreencast` in order to hide the mouse pointer:



```shell

ffscreencast --sargs="-draw_mouse 0"

```



### 5.4 How to alter the *default* options (config file)?



When you run `ffscreencast` for the first time, it will create a configuration file in `~/.config/ffscreencast/ffscreencastrc`. Everything specified in this file will be applied when you run `ffscreencast` without any arguments. So if you have your own nice defaults you always need to enter, you can simply add them to the config file. 



## 6. Todo



### 6.1 Bugs



* [ ] **General:** Sound is still behind one second when using camera overlay

* [X] **OSX:** ~~USB Monitors (see [#1](https://github.com/cytopia/ffscreencast/issues/1))~~



### 6.2 Enhancements



* [ ] **BSD:** Support for [Free]BSD (needs testing)

* [ ] **Windows:** Support for Windows (via cygwin and dshow)

* [ ] **Linux:** set sound options via cmd (alsa vs pulse)

* [ ] **Linux:** Get default resolution/framerate for camera

* [X] **OSX:** Get default resolution/framerate for camera

* [X] **General:** ~~Set camera resolution via cmd~~ use `--cargs`

* [ ] **General:** Set camera position via cmd

* [ ] **General:** Be able to record one or multiple screens (monitors)



## 7. Contribution



Contributors are welcome.



## 8. License



[![license](https://poser.pugx.org/cytopia/ffscreencast/license)](http://opensource.org/licenses/mit)



## 9. Version



For a complete list of verion see [CHANGELOG](CHANGELOG.md)



## 10. Awesome



Added by the following [![Awesome](https://cdn.rawgit.com/sindresorhus/awesome/d7305f38d29fed78fa85652e3a63e154dd8e8829/media/badge.svg)](https://github.com/sindresorhus/awesome) lists:



* [awesome-cli](https://github.com/aharris88/awesome-cli)