user4176: I'd like to make several online language courses, and was thinking about incorporating video into a lecture.
I was looking for a way to convert presentations (PowerPoint or OpenOffice) directly to some video format, or, indirectly, maybe through Adobe Flash format.
Right now I'm on a Ubuntu.
Maybe there is some kind of tool, like FFmpeg style?
Thank you again!

user2836: What you are looking for is called a Screen Capture program or Screen Cast program.  A quick Google search turned up gtk-recordMyDesktop as an option that should work for your purposes and appears to be built in to Ubuntu.  This was the site I found that explained more detail on how it is used.  I personally have no experience working with Ubuntu, let alone screen capture on it.

user6294: This is a "very" old question, but there is a pretty simple method to do this (and something that comes up surprisingly often). So if you landed here, I do hope you find this solution helpful. 

Change the individual slides to pdf.
Turn the pdf to jpg
Turn the jpg's into a film.

To do this I have used unoconv, ghostscript, graphicsmagick and ffmpeg. 
First: Update your system.
 sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install unoconv gs graphicsmagick

Because ffmpeg is pretty complicated for beginners to install correctly, there is a page here that shows you:
https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide/Ubuntu
Then the following console command will change the ppt into a pdf:
 unoconv -f pdf presentation.ppt

The following command will turn the pdf into a series of images:
 pageNum=$(gs -q -dNODISPLAY -c "(presentation.pdf) (r) file runpdfbegin pdfpagecount = quit"); gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=jpeg -dFirstPage=1 -dLastPage=$pageNum -sOutputFile=%09d.jpg -dJPEGQ=90 -r90 presentation.pdf -c quit  

And finally turn the images into a video where every frame is 15 seconds long.
 ffmpeg -ar 48000 -ac 2 -f s16le -i /dev/zero -r 1/15 -f image2 -i %09d.jpg -c:a libfdk_aac -c:v libx264 -vf "fps=fps=25" -shortest presentation.mp4

Of course if you are smart (and need to do this often) you'd turn it into a bash script. Good luck.

4176: <p>I'd like to make several online language courses, and was thinking about incorporating video into a lecture.</p>

<p>I was looking for a way to convert presentations (PowerPoint or OpenOffice) directly to some video format, or, indirectly, maybe through Adobe Flash format.</p>

<p>Right now I'm on a Ubuntu.</p>

<p>Maybe there is some kind of tool, like FFmpeg style?</p>

<p>Thank you again!</p>
 2836: <p>What you are looking for is called a Screen Capture program or Screen Cast program.  A quick Google search turned up gtk-recordMyDesktop as an option that should work for your purposes and appears to be built in to Ubuntu.  <a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/24742/record-screen-activity-in-ubuntu-with-recordmydesktop/">This</a> was the site I found that explained more detail on how it is used.  I personally have no experience working with Ubuntu, let alone screen capture on it.</p>
 6294: <p>This is a "very" old question, but there is a pretty <strong>simple</strong> method to do this (and something that comes up surprisingly often). So if you landed here, I do hope you find this solution helpful. </p>

<ol>
<li>Change the individual slides to pdf.</li>
<li>Turn the pdf to jpg</li>
<li>Turn the jpg's into a film.</li>
</ol>

<p>To do this I have used unoconv, ghostscript, graphicsmagick and ffmpeg. </p>

<p>First: Update your system.</p>

<pre><code> sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install unoconv gs graphicsmagick
</code></pre>

<p>Because ffmpeg is pretty complicated for beginners to install correctly, there is a page here that shows you:</p>

<p><a href="https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide/Ubuntu" rel="nofollow">https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/CompilationGuide/Ubuntu</a></p>

<p>Then the following console command will change the ppt into a pdf:</p>

<pre><code> unoconv -f pdf presentation.ppt
</code></pre>

<p>The following command will turn the pdf into a series of images:</p>

<pre><code> pageNum=$(gs -q -dNODISPLAY -c "(presentation.pdf) (r) file runpdfbegin pdfpagecount = quit"); gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=jpeg -dFirstPage=1 -dLastPage=$pageNum -sOutputFile=%09d.jpg -dJPEGQ=90 -r90 presentation.pdf -c quit  
</code></pre>

<p>And finally turn the images into a video where every frame is 15 seconds long.</p>

<pre><code> ffmpeg -ar 48000 -ac 2 -f s16le -i /dev/zero -r 1/15 -f image2 -i %09d.jpg -c:a libfdk_aac -c:v libx264 -vf "fps=fps=25" -shortest presentation.mp4
</code></pre>

<p>Of course if you are smart (and need to do this often) you'd turn it into a bash script. Good luck.</p>
