The Jing Project is an experiment from TechSmith, the screen capture/recording people, who are best known for SnagIt & Camtasia. It offers a little of each product in a slick, easy to use, form for both Windows (XP/Vista) & Mac OS X users.
Jing aims to make grabbing a screen capture easy and sharing it a snap, or should I say a Jing! You can grab and use a capture in seconds to get the message across. It’s great if, like me, you are the family computer support help-desk. Capture the solution and share it in a click. If “a picture paints a thousand words” a Jing can save thousands of keystrokes!
Jing is a “project” and is free to use in this form. TechSmith are keen to see how it’s used and get feedback from users.
“It’s something we want to give you, along with some online media hosting, to see how you use it. The project will eventually turn into something else. Tell us what you think so we can figure out what that is.”
That feedback & response is already happening via the Jing Blog. The first version of Jing, released yesterday, wouldn’t run with my regional settings but overnight an update was posted which works fine!
Using Jing: It lives as a small docked “Orb” which grows three “rays” when you mouse over it. They allow instant access to capture, history and settings.
To grab a screen-shot image or audio/video: Click 
capture and you are presented with a “glowing frame”. It automatically finds window elements (toolbars, frames, windows) or allows you to define a rectangular capture area. I like how areas outside the capture window fade to mono while the capture frame glows.
Enhance the capture:
Click Image and the capture is transferred to an editing window which allows arrows, text, and highlights to be added. Video captures are loaded into a preview player window.
The result (below) can be automatically shared via TechSmith’s Screencast file share site or saved locally (.png image or .swf video file).
Share your capture:
You get a Screencast account for Jing use while the project is running.
Jing uploads the file and places a URL, the capture above is seen at http://www.screencast.com/t/6lgmSCnjD1d, ready to paste into your email, blog or IM conversation.
Try the Jing Project yourself or see a video of it in action: http://www.jingproject.com/
Read the Jing Project Blog: http://blog.jingproject.com/
PS: Wondering how I captured Jing while using it? The interface images in this post were captured with SnagIt, the capture example is all Jing
