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Camtasia v2.1

By Bart Koslow, LACS

When it comes to video recording and production on a computer, I am a complete beginner, so I approached Camtasia with some trepidation. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that using this program I could easily make a good video. Camtasia enables you to record, edit, and playback compressed videos. You can record a sequence of actions on your computer, save them to a file, later add them to other video files (either recorded by you or from other sources), string them together in a complete production, add sound, annotations and special effects, and edit them. Videos, graphics and screens from other sources may be also be used. After you do this you may play back the entire production on your computer. If necessary, the finished production can be converted into a self-executable file for others to use.  

After a routine installation, I viewed the readme file to obtain some idea of what the program does. I selected Camtasia samples from the program menu, saw a list of avi files, and clicked on camtasiaintro.avi. This video, made using Camtasia, gave me an overview of the program. There were additional instructional files on all aspects of the program. Being impatient, I decided to skip the rest of the tutorial and plunge into the program. I started Recorder, and selected Quick Help from the Help screen. I followed the suggested four steps, clicked on Capture and Record, and began recording my using Norton Clean Sweep. After a minute or two, I pressed the Record button again to stop recording and saved the recording to a file. Closing Camtasia, I used Windows Explorer to select the saved file. Camtasia supports playback by Real Networks Real Player, Windows Media Player, and other video players. In this case, Windows Media Player v7 began to play back the recording I just made. Everything I did when using Norton Clean Sweep appeared on the screen, including my moving mouse pointer. I immediately realized that this was a great way to create presentations, tutorials, demonstrations, etc., and could be a very useful tool for a computer user group. Unfortunately, the quality of the recording was poor. I went back to Recorder, read the help files and made a number of adjustments before recording another sequence. I tried automatic settings, a manual setting at 16 frames per second, and Quick Recording. Nothing seemed to do the trick. After a number of times with no success, I decided to email TechSmith tech support.

Selecting support from the Help menu brings you to instructions on contacting TechSmith, and to Camtasia Recorder diagnostics. You are instructed to save the diagnostics, and send them along with your questions to TechSmith, which I did. About a day later I received a detailed email answer, which explained that the problem of poor quality resided in deficiencies in Windows Media Player 7 during the playback. I followed the corrective procedures, and then played back my original recordings. The quality problem was completely corrected. In the reply from TechSmith, I was informed that v2.2 was now available for downloading. Among other improvements, a Camtasia video player had been released, and can be downloaded from the website. Using it should eliminate problems that other players may create.

Exploring the Recorder, I learned that you may record the entire screen, a window, or a portion of the screen. You may capture single frames, and add many special effects while recording, like zooming and panning, text annotations, audio sounds and microphone input, time-lapse recording, special cursor effects, and more. I found the manual describes these effects, but does not do a very good job of explaining in detail exactly how to use them. As a result, I decided to play the tutorials on using the Recorder. Now I had the information on how to use these features while recording. The tutorial covered all the menu functions with the exception of a ScreenPad selection on the menu. It even explained how not to record the Camtasia recording screen when using the Recorder. I did notice that the tutorials were not completely synchronized with the current menu selections, which had been changed somewhat, since the tutorial was made.

After recording a few clips and saving them in avi format, I decided to use Camtasia Producer to join the clips into a finished movie presentation. I found my avi clips in the Producer using an Explorer type file browser. Clicking on the folder that contained them made each avi file appear in a thumbnail browser. I dragged each file onto an editing screen where I was able to play and edit them. I clipped the beginning and end of each avi video to eliminate unwanted frames, and then dragged each edited file onto a storyboard above the editing screen. Here I could change the order of the clips and add transition effects. I added a left to right fade out fade in effect between each clip, and clicked on the Produce Movie icon. Camtasia made the movie, saved it in avi format, and then played it back. This was easy. Now I am a full-fledged producer. I went back to review some of the other features I did not use the first time. I was able to do a frame by frame preview and edit, add a watermark to the production, resize the movie, change the color depth and frame rates, add annotations and sound, and finally produce and save the movie in either avi, Windows Media, or Real Networks Real Media streaming formats. The DubIt Audio Editor program that comes with Camtasia allows you to add narration and WAV audio files to your clips. SnagIt, a screen capture program, is also in the package. The captured screens may be added to your video productions. 

I never knew it was so easy to make a video. I highly recommend this fine program, which permits rank beginners to make creditable video presentations, instructions, and movies. Don’t hesitate to buy a copy of Camtasia now, and get started with video production. You may download a 30 day trial copy from the Tech Smith website.