Morae 3 Preview - Product Usability Testing Capabilities

Last week I attended a demo of the beta version of Techsmith's Morae 3 (hosted by PhillyCHI & UPA Delaware Valley) .  The latest version of the usability software product is expected to be launched  late summer/early fall this year.  Based on the demo, it looks like it's close to being operational, but there are still bugs to work out.

For those unfamiliar, Morae is a software-based usability testing tool that was launched in 2004.  It replaces traditional usability labs that relied on hardware video cameras, scan converters and video tape with web cams, screen capture software and basic digital video editing/presentation capabilities.  Morae 2 provided some improvements and feature enhancements.

While Morae/Morae 2 is excellent for software/web usability testing, it has limited applicability to 3D product testing.  While you could test on-screen simulations of products (especially interfaces) and capture off-screen action via a the web cam, off-screen video capture is not its strong suit.  For one notable, exception, I used the original version of Morae to conduct ride-along usability testing of an in-car GPS.

Morae 3 is a step in the direction of supporting product research.  Shane Lovellette's presentation highlighted features including:

• Support for simultaneous recording of up to two external digital video and/or web cameras - for example, one recording the user's face, the other focused on the hands.
• Ability to capture from multipe monitors simultaneously - for example to study a multi-screen financial workstation.
• Automatic task delivery to guide a user through a series of tasks without a moderator

The use of dual external video cameras will be most benefical for product research.  Video is saved in Morae at up to 720x440 resolution, fine for most situations, but not where detailed imagery is required.

On the anaysis and editing side, Morae 3 allows the facilitator to add comments and notations during the recording and review video at up to 4x speed.  It also has built-in integration with PowerPoint and Word for efficient output generation.

While the demo focused on mobile phone/pda usability testing, it may be useful for a wide range of product testing situations, as well as for field research where movement/portability is not a factor (e.g. observing from a stationery position), as your cameras will be tied to the laptop during recording.