Last year in November I created my youtube channel. I wanted to show different tricks in graphic designs and also wanted to make some series of tutorials. I started to do so. But soon I figured out that I need to highlight some parts while making videos. This would make my video excellent.
I searched for screen magnifier and focusing tool on the internet. For magnifier I still use windows magnifier or zoom too. It quite fast and needs not any software to open and consequently super easy to use. I just clicked windows logo key+ plus key for starting it and windows logo key+esc exit.
And for focusing device I got PointerFocus. I chose it because it has a lot of functionalities and also it was free. That time I installed version 1.3. Now latest versions are available on the internet and you can directly download it from pointerfocus.com.
The download and the installation parts are very easy. The application is not large too. So, after installing pointer focus of this version, I simply clicked on it and it started. Then I got a lot of features to do with my videos.
I could quit it and also can make it jump in the system tray. It's a better option because I don't need to reopen the application frequently. And just a click on it in the tray, it will come to the screen again.
When I open it, primarily I can see these following features.
Highlight Cursor
Show Keystrokes
Mouse Spotlight
Pen
Screen Magnifier
These are the main functions and there are some other function like:
Options (settings)
Minimize to System Tray Icon
Exit
Register
If you want to visit the homepage anytime, click on the Visit Homepage and you will be directing to the website of pointerfocus. And if you hover over the functions, you will get the name of the function. And if you click on the icons, it will start and click again to quit the function.
Now let's discuss about the functions in details.
Highlight Cursor
Sometimes we need our cursors and mouse be larger or to have something on it so that it is highlighted on the screen. I have faced it because my cursor is is small in proportion with my screen. So, sometimes I badly needed to highlight my cursor. And this tool helped me much. When I on it, a yellow circle is being created around it and then it is easier to see where my cursor actually is and what it is doing. The shortcut key for it in windows is F8.
Show Keystrokes
For graphic design and while using adobe softwires I always needed a keystrokes tool. Because it was not possible for me to tell every shortcut I had used. And in this case show keystrokes is a blessing. You just press the shortcut keys and you need not to tell the audience what you are doing. If this function is on, it will automatically show the shortcuts. And the shortcut key for this is F9.
Mouse Spotlight
If you need more focus on a word or topic you can use this feature. When you on this feature, the whole screen will be darken automatically and will spot a light around the mouse. This would help you to focus in one place and also your audience would understand which topic you are talking about. I mostly like this feature because sometimes in design I have to talk about some specific things and if that parts are only on the screen it is good for me. The shortcut for mouse spotlight is F10
Pen
I love this. We often need to write something on the screen. But it's quite boring to have and open different software for this. This small software allows to do this too as well as with other features. You can write, draw and underline anything and can use the pen as you need.
And don't worry about how to remove this all because there is no erasing option. It's super simple! Just off the Pen or click esc and it will remove all of your drawings. The shortcut for pen is F11.
Screen Magnifier
This is the screen magnifier tool. Clicking on it will create a circle and the magnifying part will be showed here. But in version 1.3 I personally don't like the tool. Because it doesn't magnify the parts that are near or under the cursor, it instead does for another part.
I have tried to show the problem with it in the picture. The yellow focusing part is my cursor which lies in two lines lower of the item Pen. But it still magnifies that part, not the part surrounds the cursor.
I am not sure if they have developed this in the latest versions. And so, I would like to recommend you to use windows magnifying tool because it's super easy as I mentioned before.
Option
It's actually the settings option. You will get lots of property changing options for the features discussed before. You can change the highlight cursor's color, size, show keystrokes' text time display and font size, spotlight's size and screen dim opacity, pen's size, opacity and color and for magnifier the magnifying size and zoom factor.
This is very good and make your using flexible. You get much comfort when you can customize your software.
The other options are minimize to system tray, exit and register. The first one would remove the application from the screen and take it to the system tray. The second one will end the application. And the third one will lead you to get the license of the software.
So, this was in shortcut about my journey and review about these tools. I have been using them for last 6 months and I am satisfied with it.
