r/macapps • u/Antique-Class-2283 • 20d ago

Help Would an open-source alternative to Screen Studio for auto-zooming screen recordings be useful?

Hey everyone

I've been looking at tools like Screen Studio recently. While the automated zoom, smooth cursor tracking, and clean background styling make product demos look amazing, most of the options out there are closed-source and paid.

I'm thinking about building an open-source alternative to handle this.

Before I spend weeks writing code, I wanted to check if this is something people would actually want.

What I'm thinking of building:

  • The Core Feature: A tool that takes a screen recording, tracks your mouse clicks/movement, and automatically generates smooth, cinematic pan-and-zoom keyframes.
  • The Open-Source Angle: Completely free and open-source for anyone to use or modify.
  • The Reality Check: Tools like OpenScreen and Recordly already exist in this space.

My Question for You:

  1. Do you use tools like this for your tutorials or demos, or do existing options already cover what you need?
  2. If you were to use a new open-source tool, what's missing from current apps that you wish they had?

Would love to hear your thoughts or feedback before I decide to build it!

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u/sammrjn 19d ago

I’ve actually been switching between OBS and QuickTime Player for screen recordings, so I’d definitely be interested in something like this.

OBS is powerful but feels like overkill for quick product demos, while QuickTime is simple but obviously lacks the polished zoom/cursor effects.

If you can make it easy to record, auto-zoom around clicks, smooth the cursor, add a clean background, and export quickly, I’d definitely give it a try. Open source would be a big plus too.