Camtasia Studio Playback Controls
Posted on Monday March 20, 2006 by Betsy Weber
We've gotten some flack here for taking away the old playback controls.
This is our fault and we apologize.
The good news is... we're listening.
We're bringing back the old playback controls in 3.1.1 (due out April -- I'll post an exact date when it becomes available).
But, if you like 3.1.0, and wish to use the playback controls from 3.0 now, rest assured there is a workaround that may meet your needs.
Please note: this is a temporary fix. This is not supported by technical support, but it should get you up and running with the old controllers plus give you the benefits of the 3.1 features.
Troy Stein, the Camtasia Studio Product Manager, has made a great video. Follow along!
View the how-to video http://www.projectstreamer.com/users/troystein/CS3_controllers/
Also, if your Flash file plays back in a Web page with a non-white background, see step 4 below for instructions.
The following steps will help you use the old controllers.
- Close Camtasia Studio.
- Make a back-up of the original playback controllers and config_template files:
- Create back-up copies of three (3) files.
- The first two can be found in:
- C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia Studio 3\Media\Studio\SWF
- Select these two files: fp7_controller.swf and fp8_controller.swf.
- Rename them to: Original_fp7_controller.swf and Original_fp8_controller.swf.
- The third file can be found in:
- C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia Studio 3\Media\Studio\HTML
- Select the following file: config_template.xml
- and rename it to: Original_config_template.xml
- This will allow you to revert back to the old controllers and xml file if this workaround does not meet your needs.
- Download the Modified Files
- Download a zip file containing the new controllers and config files from:
- http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/replacements.zip
- Unzip the folder to your desktop.
- Open the folder on your desktop and copy these files: fp7_controller.swf and fp8_controller.swf
- To the following location: C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia Studio 3\Media\Studio\SWF
- Open the folder on your desktop and copy the following file: Config_template.xml
- Paste it to the following location:
- C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia Studio 3\Media\Studio\HTML
- Produce a Flash file
Open Camtasia Studio. Add a short clip to the timeline for testing purposes. When you publish your files, choose Flash (SWF and FLV). The flash file will produce with the modified controllers. You'll notice that we've added a volume control to the old controller. See step 6 below to change this setting. - Changing the Background Color (optional)
If your videos are playing from within a white HTML page, disregard this step.
If your videos play inside a non-white HTML page, you will need to modify Camtasia Studio's output. - Open the source of the HTML page you produced.
- From the edit menu, choose Replace or Control-H.
- Under Find What: enter FFFFFF (six F's)
- Under Replace With, enter the value that matches your pages background color. For example "00000" for black.
- Save the HTML file - be sure to save it as an HTML page and not as TXT file.
- Double click the HTML file to view the changes. You may have to reload your browser page to get the color changes to be accepted.
- Removing the Volume Controls (optional)
If you would rather not have the volume controls as part of any of your HTML pages you produce, then you'll need to go to:- C:\Program Files\TechSmith\Camtasia Studio 3\Media\Studio\HTML
- modify the following file: Config_template.xml
- Right-click it and choose to Open With and select Notepad.
- The fifth line down should read: <HasAudio type="Boolean">$SWFHasAudio</HasAudio>
- Remove the following: $SWFHasAudio
- And replace it with a zero, so that it reads: <HasAudio type="Boolean">0</HasAudio>
So, this brings us to another point: if you ever have feedback about the products, please feel free to e-mail me and I'll send it to the appropriate teams. Comment here on the blog, or use the feedback form on our Web site - http://www.techsmith.com/company/contact/productfeedback.asp
What else do you want changed or updated? We're listening!

