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GimmeCapture!!

The one tool to snip, record, translate, and pin your screen with style.


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Overview

GimmeCapture!! is a cross-platform desktop capture tool built with Avalonia on .NET 10, running on Windows and Linux (X11). It combines fast snipping, screen recording, OCR-assisted translation, floating pin windows, in-process video compression, and local AI tools (OCR, background removal, smart selection, translation) in one app.

The project name is a tribute to BABYMETAL and the song "Gimme chocolate!!". The visual style follows that same bold, high-contrast energy.

Highlights

  • Snip mode: Capture a region quickly, then copy, save, annotate, or pin it.
  • Record mode: Record your screen with system + microphone audio, webcam picture-in-picture, a keystroke overlay, and live toolbar controls.
  • Scrolling capture: Stitch a long page or chat into one tall image while you scroll.
  • Translate mode: OCR-assisted region selection with local translation overlays.
  • Compress tab: Re-encode any video smaller (H.264/H.265) with a batch queue and an advanced editor.
  • Pin windows: Keep images and videos on top as floating reference windows.
  • AI tools: Background removal, smart object/region selection, and OCR — all local, downloaded on demand.
  • Annotation tools: Boxes, arrows, lines, text, mosaic/blur redaction, highlighter, callouts, and step markers.
  • Custom hotkeys and visual customization (theme colors, border thickness, mask opacity, decorations).
  • In-app auto-update: Downloads and installs new releases without leaving the app.

Platform support

GimmeCapture runs on Windows 10/11 and Linux (X11).

  • Windows — full feature set, including per-window GPU capture (Windows Graphics Capture), a native system-tray, and an optional installer.
  • Linux (X11) — developed and tested on Linux Mint (Ubuntu-based). Snip/capture, recording (screen via x11grab + system/mic audio via PulseAudio + webcam PiP via V4L2), translation, pin playback, compress, scrolling capture, and in-app auto-update all work. Per-window (WGC) recording has no Linux equivalent and is hidden — the capture-scope picker keeps monitor selection. Global hotkeys use X11 (they work under XWayland; native Wayland global hotkeys are not yet supported).

Recording

Recording mode supports:

  • Screen recording with desktop/system audio and optional microphone mixing
  • Webcam picture-in-picture (corner, size, and rectangular/circular shape)
  • Keystroke overlay and cursor/click visualization
  • Multiple export formats: MP4, MKV, GIF, WebM, MOV (high-quality palette-based GIF)
  • Capture-scope picker — record a specific monitor (both platforms) or window (Windows/WGC)
  • Live recording toolbar, audio-level feedback, mute toggle, and a global stop hotkey

Scrolling capture

Capture content taller than the screen — a long web page, document, or chat log:

  • Select a region, then scroll the target by hand while frames are captured and stitched
  • Automatic vertical/horizontal direction detection (or lock a direction)
  • The capture region outline stays out of the stitched image and passes your scrolling through

Translation Mode

Translation mode is designed for fast OCR-to-translation workflows on desktop UI, documents, comics, and screenshots.

  • Select one or more regions manually, or use OCR-assisted quick selection.
  • The OCR helper appears while holding the configured selection modifier.
  • Translate results stay as movable, resizable overlay boxes.
  • OCR/original text can be toggled separately for inspection.
  • Translation runs locally through LlamaSharp (GGUF).

Curated local translation models

The current user-facing local translation model list is:

  • TranslateGemma 4B: primary recommended model
  • Gemma 3 4B: stable general fallback

Compress

Import any video and re-encode it smaller, entirely in-process (libav):

  • H.264 / H.265, compress-to-target-size (true two-pass for H.264), resolution downscale, frame-rate cap, encoder preset, CRF, and audio bitrate / mono-stereo mixdown or drop-audio.
  • Batch queue with parallel encoding, per-item settings + presets, and a live output-size estimate.
  • Advanced video editor: trim / speed / crop / rotate plus annotations, redaction, and freeze-frame, with an inline side-by-side quality compare.

AI Modules

AI resources are downloaded on demand from the Modules tab.

Current module groups include:

  • ONNX Runtime & U2Net: background removal runtime and model
  • SAM2 Model: smart object/region selection
  • PaddleOCR v5: OCR detection and recognition
  • Llama Models: local GGUF translation models

Pin Windows

Pinned windows are meant for quick reference while you work.

  • Pin captured images as floating windows
  • Pin video clips with playback controls (audio included)
  • Keep windows on top while preserving lightweight interaction

Updates

  • The app checks for new releases and can download and install updates in place, then relaunch.
  • On Windows the update is a portable .zip; on Linux it is a self-contained single-file .tar.gz.
  • Downloads are verified against the release SHA256SUMS.txt before being applied.

Notes

  • This project is actively iterated, so translation and AI workflows may evolve across releases.
  • The Modules tab is the expected place to install or update optional AI resources.

Third-Party Components

  • FFmpeg / FFmpeg.AutoGen: media recording, playback, probing, and processing (x11grab / PulseAudio / V4L2 / dshow / gdigrab)
  • NAudio: system audio capture on Windows (WASAPI)
  • ONNX Runtime: local AI inference runtime
  • PaddleOCR: OCR pipeline
  • LlamaSharp: local GGUF inference for translation
  • SkiaSharp: imaging, annotation, and compositing

Requirements

  • Windows 10 / Windows 11 (x64), or
  • Linux (x86-64) with an X11 session and PulseAudio. Developed and tested on Linux Mint; it runs on modern glibc-based Ubuntu/Debian-family distributions (for example Ubuntu 22.04+ or Debian 12+). On Wayland desktops it runs under XWayland. It is not built for musl/Alpine or ARM.

The Linux build ships as a self-contained single-file .tar.gz (no .NET install required) with the FFmpeg .so libraries bundled; the Windows build ships as a portable .zip and an optional installer.

License

Released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

GimmeCapture links against and bundles FFmpeg built with --enable-gpl — including the GPL-licensed x264 and x265 encoders it uses for H.264/H.265 — so the application as distributed is a combined work licensed under the GPL. See THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md for third-party component licenses and corresponding-source information.

About

The One Tool to Snip & Record. A sleek, high-performance desktop utility built with Avalonia for capturing your screen with style.

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