by Russ Aaronson

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

There's something deeply satisfying about reviewing products intended to replace or expand upon the utilities Apple provides with each operating system. Whether the software in question challenges one of the showcase iApps or simply adds a killer feature to one of the little desk accessories that could, the effort is valuable. After all, customizing stock systems is a hallmark activity of Apple users everywhere – it's our best way to offer constructive criticism to he-the-black-turtlenecked-one. Just vote with your wallet, and he'll eventually see the light.

After comparing Toast 5 Titanium to its counterpart in iTunes and Disc Burner a few months ago, I decided to focus on one of the most venerable utilities ever to grace the Mac: SnapzPro X. In fact, when I first heard of Ambrosia's screen capture utility a few years ago, I was astonished. Having only recently converted to the Mac, I knew full well how much harder it was to take screen shots on a Wintel box, and I couldn't imagine anyone needing anything beyond a simple Control-Shift-3/4/5 for my own needs. The thought of paying an extra thirty bucks for a few more bells and whistles seemed preposterous. I scoffed. I was a non-believer. Now I've seen the light.

SnapzPro X is Ambrosia software's shareware utility that helps you take screen shots in a variety of interesting and useful ways. Now, before you read any further, we must cover the standard disclaimer I've developed for reviews of software built to replace stuff that came “free of charge” with your computer:

If you do not use this type of product (in this case, screen capture software), or find no foreseeable need for this product (again, for this review, screen capture software), you may disagree with my conclusions about this software. Also, if you're the kind of person who is constantly looking for a way to do things for free, even if it involves considerable inconvenience on your part, then you probably aren't in the market for this type of product. Finally, realize that, at some point, the cost of the “free” software that came with your computer was factored into the overall price, so you've essentially purchased the original, “free” software anyway.

Grab, Apple's free utility, provides four key combinations that allow you to take a snapshot of the whole screen, a selection of the screen, a window, or a timed screen, and that's about it. This situation still beats the pants off of its Windows equivalent, but anyone who has used Grab more than a few times knows what happens: maybe you need to take a snapshot of a menu; or perhaps that selection shot you made needs some pixel pushing in Graphic Converter in order to make it look just so; then again, you may need to create a movie snapshot to show cousin Earl just how cool it looked when you nailed him with a long distance head shot in Unreal Tournament. Sooner or later, most users simply outgrow Grab.

When that day comes, your task is simple. Just download the SnapzPro X demo from Ambrosia, or one of the other gazillion websites with shareware for the taking. Heck, one or both of the major Mac magazines puts a copy of SnapzPro on its disc every few months, so you may actually have it lying around in your house right now (just make sure that you're using the latest version, or your mileage may vary). Installation is simple, and if you're really smart, you'll let SnapzPro insinuate itself into your LogIn Items folder so that it'll be ready when you are without fail.

Now when you hit the old Control-Shift-3 button combo on your keyboard (don't worry, you can change the invoke keystrokes to whatever your heart fancies at any time), you'll be treated to a delightful little camera shutter noise, followed by this image on your screen.

This is the powerful little interface box. Click this image to see the entire SnapzPro X window.

You have four main choices, and the most commonly used element of Snapz is still the basic Screen shot. The first thing you'll notice is that Snapz stops all screen movement dead in its tracks to wait for you to tell it what to do (unlike Grab, which just makes a little click noise before sending your Mac back on its way). This situation works great, giving you the opportunity to change any aspect of the program preferences before moving further. For screen shots, Snapz beats Grab by allowing multiple monitor shots, and a variety of picture formats that will save you conversion time in the future (currently available choices include bmp, tiff, jpg, gif, pict, psd, pdf, and png). Once you have things the way you like them, just click the “Screen” button, or hit “1”, or hit the “esc” button if you've changed your mind. Now Snapz makes another clicking noice, and then, like that butler played by Anthony Hopkins in Remains of the Day, it dismisses itself promptly (and without even taking up valuable real estate on your dock, either).

This all sounds pretty ho-hum, but you wouldn't believe how efficient and accurate SnapzPro X can be. Take the Object capture, for example. SnapzPro lets you choose the dock, individual desktop folders, or any combination of any of the junk you've got lying around for everyone to see. For the anal-retentive users out there, there's the ability to fine tune your results to include drop shadows or alter the clipping border.

A snapshot of the minimized iTunes player window, with enough border for the drop shadows.

For my money, the Selection screen capture is the real Grab-killer in this package. Sure, you can choose any size or shape you want, just like Grab, but Snapz lets you tinker with it until you get it right: pull it, push it, move it around, or change it back again. Snapz will even grey out everything outside of the desired area (as opposed to Grab, which does the opposite, preventing a truly clear image of what you're trying to capture).

If all this Silly Putty-like manipulation still leaves you wanting more, just hold down the Control button to bring up what Ambrosia affectionately calls the “fatbits” window.

This demonstrates the greyed-out area outside the selection box, along with the Fatbits box.

Now you have a close-up of the selection, along with image size and cursor location. When you're putting together shots for the web, you'll appreciate the ability to apply the carpenter's maxim of “measure twice, cut once.” This feature alone is enough of a timesaver to help SnapzPro earn its keep.

Of course, there's plenty of room to customize your work with the first three capture options. One little menu change and you can make the cursor invisible, change the color range for your capture, and use any one of a number of border options (including the downright goofy reverse-drop shadow). Click a few more times and SnapzPro will automatically create a thumbnail image for each shot you take. You can even create custom watermarks for each snapshot by taking a graphic of your choosing and dropping it in the watermark folder associated with SnapzPro.

Simply click this thumbnail (made with a SnapzPro Slide border) to see my lousy watermark.

The sum of all this is a software package that gives you plenty of value for twenty-nine dollars. Nevertheless, I can hear some of you out there saying “Hey Russ, I've got another twenty bucks to burn. Do these Ambrosia guys have any other screen capture goodies I can buy?”

Enter the fourth component of SnapzPro: Movie Capture. Your extra cash will buy you the ability to capture almost anything that plays on your Mac's screen and save it as a QuickTime movie. When most people hear the term “Movie Capture,” they tend to think of movies and, consequently, DVD's. Before you run out and try to begin your career as the RIAA's public enemy number one, you should know that SnapzPro can only capture DVD video run through an Nvidia card, and not an ATI card. Also, your only hope of capturing audio for a movie are to run a cord from your audio out to an audio input device like the Griffin iMic. Even if you do have the right card, I'm thinking that it would only take a few minutes of low quality Matrix dubbing before your Mac would supernova. Basically, this sort of activity falls beyond the scope of SnapzPro's mission, not to mention the fact that it's illegal (fair use and all logic be damned).

What you can do with Movie Capture is make great QuickTime tutorials for every reason imaginable. Simply decide whether you want a fixed camera (which only films the area of the screen you've specified), a camera that follows the cursor, or Smooth Pan, which does pretty much what it says. Provided you keep color and framerate settings slow, and that you limit the length of your captures, this feature was incredibly easy to use, and the results were quite good. I don't know if I have enough of a need for this feature to warrant spending an additional twenty dollars, but if reading this review gives you one of those light bulb moments, don't waste your time comparison shopping – this is the only game in town.

All of these features are clearly explained in the forty-page PDF manual that comes with the software. With the possible exception of Movie Capture, and some of the more advanced features here, you'll probably never even need the manual. SnapzPro's interface is both economical and intuitive, and you'll find a thriving online forum and support community for SnapzPro at Ambrosia's website.

In case you couldn't already tell, I had a hard time finding bad things to say about this product. I suppose that twenty bucks is a steep price to pay for Movie Capture, and the trial period for SnapzPro (fifteen days or 100 captures) might be a bit stringent, but these are minor quibbles. Ambrosia makes great software, and SnapzPro is the pick of the litter. If you haven't already discovered a need for the basic version, you soon will. The Movie Capture component is a great piece of software, but it's not for everyone, so play with the trial before you spring for the full registration (and decide before you buy – you'll pay the full forty-nine dollars to add Movie Capture if you've already purchased the basic version).

Once you've played with SnapzPro for a few days, using Grab will make you feel as uncivilized as its name suggests.

Product	SnapzPro X
Company	Ambrosia Software
MSRP	$29.00 w/o Movie Capture ($19.00 for upgrade from previous version), $49.00 w/ Movie Capture (no upgrade discount for MC alone)
Hits	Makes every conceivable screen capture task simple and effective. Makes Apple's Grab utility look anemic.
Misses	Movie Capture option is a bit too pricey. Doesn't tend to your every wish like a nineteenth-century British butler.
Rating	(5 possible)
Requirements	Mac OS X (newest version optimized for Jaguar), runs on any system capable of running OS X.

Russ Aaronson

English Teacher,Pompano Beach, FL