The Visual Lounge lets you find out about TechSmith behind-the-scenes. Watch screencasts and videos from other customers, meet up with your fellow TechSmith users and staff, and get more tips and tricks!

Phew...this is the 200th post on the Visual Lounge! Thanks for sticking with me on this long and exciting journey!

Here at TechSmith, we often practice the concept of the OODA Loop (Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action). So, in the spirit of learning and improving, what would you like to see in future posts? What would make the next 200 posts better? Is this blog what you thought it would be?

I'm off to celebrate the bbicentennial (blog bicentennial)...maybe at 2beer Friday!

30 Camtasia demos in 30 days! How cool is that?! Check out what Nick Hodges at Delphi is up to. He's doing just that - making a screencast a day with Camtasia Studio! You can see the screencasts here!

Nick's the product manager at Delphi''s "DevCo," the spin-off of Borland's languages division.

And for that, Nick, you're our screencast of the week! Or, should it be the screencast of the day...every day?

Fall is just around the corner so that means I'm looking forward to living out of a suitcase, drinking overpriced airport coffee (I'm addicted to the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks!), and spending hours in an aluminum tube otherwise known as an airplane. That's right - tradeshow season is starting up again!

Check out the TechSmith calendar of events here. If you live in the area or if you're attending any of the shows listed and want to meet up, drop me a line! If I'm not attending, I'll hook you up with the TechSmith person who is going.

If you want to meet up, I'll even spring for an overpriced espresso for you, too. We're going to need all the caffeine we can get.

I love it when people do something different! Camtasia Studio users never cease to amaze me!

Here's a new one...The Scene is a series of fictitious dramatic videos released weekly on the Web.

The story is about member of a pirate group called CPX. One of the characters is forced to sell the pre-release films to commercial pirates in Asia.

Each episode is filmed using Camtasia Studio to record the instant messaging, e-mail and other computer activity, and the actors on screen are filmed separately.

You can view the videos here. And, to read more about the warez scene (in other words, the pirate network communities), visit the wikipedia entry here.

Season Two came out in July 2006 and it's completely addictive! I can't wait to see what happens this week!

So, for that reason, The Scene is the screencast of the week!

Did you ever have one of those teachers in school that inspired you? That teacher that did things just a little different? Recently we headed down the road about a mile from our offices to visit a science teacher, Kelly Carrier, at my alma mater Okemos High School. Kelly is that teacher!

We interviewed Kelly about technology in the classroom. Among other things, Kelly uses a projector, WIFI, a Tablet PC and Camtasia Studio in his classroom.

Click the screenshot below to hear about Kelly's thoughts and experiences using technology in his classes. The video runs just over 11 minutes.

It was a fun visit my old high school and a walk down memory lane seeing teachers and administrators from way back in my history. And for once, on this visit to high school, I didn't have to worry about getting in trouble for talking too much in class.

I'm off to the Canadian Rockies today for CanUX, the Canadian User Experience Workshop, to learn from User Experience (UX) experts and to show off Morae and UserVue!

There are so many great speakers at the workshop - including John Morkes of Expero and Free Usability Advice, David Crow, Jess McMullin from Business+Design, Kevin Cheng from OK/Cancel, Liz Danzico from the UX Magazine, Boxes and Arrows. I'll be constantly learning from experts.

So, if you're in the Calgary or Banff area, or attending CanUX and want to meet up, e-mail or call me (517.410.0030)!

And, you gotta love that name, CanUX (pronounced 'Canucks')! That's the best name I've heard for a conference in a long time!

Do you know what a codec is? Ever try to explain what a codec is to someone else? Either way, it's not easy to understand or explain. In tech support here at TechSmith, they get lots of questions about codecs every day.

That's why I was so happy to see the latest episode of Labrats.tv. It's all about codecs! Since they're a lot more eloquent than I am, I'll let them explain it all to you. Click here to watch the video.

If you want more information about TechSmith's Screen Capture Codec (TSCC) for Camtasia Studio, you can find out more about it here.

Recently, a question was posted on the blog asking us to clarify some different terms like vlog, podcast and screencasting. If you've ever taken advantage of our free tech support, you may have talked or emailed with AJ Morris. AJ was kind enough to sit down with me for a screencast to go through the terms.

Click the screenshot below to meet AJ and watch him talk more about some new terms. It runs just over 6 minutes.

Here are some links to definitions from the screencast:

• Podcast
• Vlog
• Screencast and Jon Udell
• Webcast
• Inkshows and GottaBemobile.com

What other questions do you have for tech support? We're ready to personally record you an answer!

I can't think of anyone who knows more about SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) than Judy Brown/

Judy launched a blog, SCORM Watch, earlier this year that covers - you guessed it, all things SCORM. It's a great resource! Check it out here.

Camtasia also can make SCORM-compliant videos. If you're interested in making a SCORM-compliant video for your LMS, visit this tutorial here.

I'm fortunate that a lot of our users e-mail me links to their screencasts, tutorials and other content created with our products. As you know, I try to share a lot of that on the blog. I was thinking of other ways to share this valuable content from you and connect our community together. So, with that in mind, we started bookmarking all these great resources in del.icio.us to share with you! You can view them here. http://del.icio.us/TechSmith. Be sure to visit often as we will be adding new links several times a week.

There's a group of us from several departments at TechSmith adding new links several times a week. Carla Wardin, our Newsletter editor, Brooks Andrus, from Development, Tiffany Wood and Rachel Clark from Documentation and I are working especially hard on this experiment.

If you'd like suggest items for us to add, please e-mail us at bookmark@techsmith.com. If you're a del.icio.us user already, add us to your network!

And, if you want more information about del.icio.us, check out these great screencasts made with Camtasia Studio:

View Jon Udell's screencast here.

View Raymond Kristiansen's screencast here, complete with Picture-in-Picture (PIP)!

View Phosita's screencast about all about del.icio.us.

Remember Nick Hodges from Delphi? He was making 30 Camtasia Studio videos in 30 days. Well, he's inspired us to do the same! Troy Stein, the Camtasia Studio Product Manager, is making 30 videos in 30 days about Camtasia Studio!

Up this week topics will range from recording tips to recording Vista and PowerPoint to editing with precision. Tune in each day for a new, exciting video.

So, let's get started. Today's video is all about recording tips like highlighting the cursor and smoothing it, as well as learning about "Take 2" markers and using F9 to pause...Click the screenshot below to start the video.

Any topic or feature you'd like to see covered in the next 29 videos?

We're having a party at TechSmith today. Why? UserVue has launched! You may be wondering, 'What is UserVue?' It's a Web-based service that enables you to connect remotely with your customers in their natural environment (like their office or home), using their own computers, to conduct research on desktop applications and Web sites. Also, you can have several observers watch the customer's live interaction and listen to what she says in real time.

Shane Lovellette, the UserVue Product Manager, sat down and gave me a quick demo of UserVue too. Click the screenshot below to watch. In about 12 minutes, you'll know everything you wanted to know...

If you don't feel like watching a video, you can find out more about UserVue here. What questions do you have? Post them here and we'll get them answered...

I've seen some great videos made with Camtasia showing off Vista like this one and this one.

Wondering how to best make your own videos of Vista? Troy Stein has made a video doing just that. Check out today's video by clicking on the screenshot below.

Two down, 28 videos to go!

One of the best tips I got from Troy for making Camtasia Studio videos was about this great little freeware app called 'Sizer'.

When making videos, often you want a uniform window size for the screens you're recording. You can do this easily with Sizer. Sizer allows you set a resize your app, Web page or any window to a predefined size. It's great when record your video, because you can make the windows in your videos a consistent size.

Check out video #3 all about using Sizer with Camtasia Studio. Click the screenshot below to start the video.

Download Sizer here. Hope you like it...

I recently read a blog post here on Robert Scoble's blog, Scobleizer, about John Hartman using videos created in Second Life (some recorded with Camtasia) and using them for corporate training!

If you're not familiar with Second Life it is an online society within a 3D world, where "users can explore, build, socialize, and participate in their own economy." Find out more it here at Wikipedia or here at the Linden Lab site.

This piqued my curiosity about Second Life, so I took the plunge and signed up! It was fascinating. So, I started looking for other Camtasia Studio videos of Second Life (videos are also called Machinima). So, that brings me to our Screencasts of the Week...

I found Andy Dunn's website, Taunt, that had not only Second Life Camtasia Studio video tutorials, but also tutorials on PhotoShop and other apps.

Here's a pic of Andy in his first life and in Second Life!

Andy doesn't play Second Life socially, he has a business in Second Life that makes money! His business is basically "hair design" so you can buy hair he's designed for your avatar. He mentioned since 90% of the hair market is for women, it's easier for his Second Life character to be a female. He makes Camtasia Studio video tutorials to support his business!

Check out his website here. His tutorials are listed on the left hand side.

What's the best of Second Life for me? I finally get to have that pink hair I always wanted! It's not as permanent as dying my hair in my first life, but just as satisfying.

How many of you out there play Second Life? Anyone recording videos in there with Camtasia Studio or taking screenshots with SnagIt?

Anyone want to meet-up in Second Life? Maybe we can script and shoot some videos. Check me out - I'm the one with pink hair!

I'm jealous of John Madden. I think it's cool how on Monday Night football, he gets to draw all the Xs and Os on the screen. It's a nice way to draw attention and illustrate examples on the screen. Plus, everyone likes a visual example to go along with words.

Well, if you'd like to imitate John Madden but don't have a Tablet PC, you can still do this in your Camtasia Studio recordings with a little feature called 'Screendraw'. You can learn more about Screendraw here.

Check out the next video in our series all about Screendraw! Click the screenshot below to watch the screencast.

As you know, I had a great time at PowerPoint Live last week (Flickr pics here). One of the questions that came up often was- obviously - recording PowerPoint.

So, Troy, made this video showing it off! Click the screenshot below to watch the video.

What else would you like to see videos about? We have 25 more to make!