With Android 4.4 KitKat you can now record video directly on the device. But working with the device is not always easy. Moreover the recording is not available in the emulator, it misses the neccessary hardware. Genymotion offers direct recording only in the paid licenses and if you just need the recording capability, it is pricy.
So what can we do? We will still use Genymotion Free and use couple of great programmes to capture its screen.
Note: These tutorials are created for Windows. But some of the software might be available on multiple platforms.
Genymotion
Genymotion is the best emulator for Android there is. Genymotion offers the latest Android 4 images and also an image of the latest Android 2, which makes it a perfect replacement for BlueStacks.Install Genymotion and any image you wish. Android 4.4 Kitkat is optimized for lower memories and I can recommend using it. Start the image and install your APK. Maybe change the image's default resolution settings to something lower than the default.
GifCam
GifCam is an amazing tool from BharaniApps. It allows you to record anything on the screen as an animated GIF or export the recording to AVI. Both options are viable and working perfectly. GifCam allows you to position its window over another window, resize it to requested size and simply start recording. It will record everything that fits inside GifCam window. Its window is see-through and click-through :) Just be careful, GIFs tend to become pretty big...I am going to record a short video from my own game, Mr. Dandelion's Adventures:
And here is the result:
If you have any problems with GifCam, try LICEcap as an alternative.
Summary
GIFs are great because they can be shared easily. Using Genymotion + GifCam, you can create small promotinal videos for social media in few simple steps.In the next part of the tutorial, I will show you few more tricks how to record high quality videos in Genymotion Free.
