Screencast App Becomes Full-Scale Video Editor

Review by Erik Vlietinck 

For presentations and tutorials, ScreenFlow has been the app of choice for Mac users who create screencasts for a living. Version 10 works with macOS Catalina, includes full support for M1 Macs and Big Sur, and adds a whole slew of new features. 

ScreenFlow 10 can now capture audio from Mac applications separately, ensuring that system and other app sounds can be separated from the desired audio capture without distractions. It can also act as an output device for any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Professional audio engineers and sound buffs won’t settle for less. 

An eye-catcher is ScreenFlow 10’s all-new titler engine with more than two dozen professionally designed lower thirds and titles with motion graphics. The automatic Background Removal filter is another eye-popper. It’s powered by advanced machine learning algorithms and optimized for Apple’s M1 Neural Engine. 

ScreenFlow 10 now has an option to smoothen mouse cursor motion. I first thought that wouldn’t matter much, but it does, because it allows you to focus on the content with less effort. Furthermore, you can now have an attention disc to more easily locate the mouse and radar or other click effects. 

In the area of user experience, now when you Right-click on elements on the canvas, you can alter their properties without having to scroll through the timeline, thus saving a lot of time. 

Other improvements include a destructive archive option that stores what’s being used in the final recording and nothing more. 

Even on my mid-2017 iMac with 40-GB RAM, I could record my Mac’s screen, an iPad, separate audio for each app, my voice via an Apogee Element 24, and the GoPro HERO 8 or 9 via the Webcam driver. On my low-end Mac, that did affect the audio recording negatively, but the editing environment stayed responsive and fast. ■