Sneak peek of Camtasia Studio v5 and Introducing SmartFocus
Posted on Sunday September 30, 2007 by Betsy Weber
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Pssssst…I've got a secret to share. As a thank you for reading the blog, I wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the new features in our upcoming release of Camtasia Studio v5. And, you, my fellow blog readers, get to see the inside scoop first!
The Camtasia Studio team has been hard at work and we're gearing up to release Camtasia Studio v5 on October 9. Since I'm a fan of top ten lists, I thought I'd take the next ten days before the release to off what's new in this release.
One of the major goals of Camtasia Studio v5 was to make it so any user – novice or expert – could create a high quality screencasts faster and with less effort.
You'll see over the next ten days how we’ve added major new features during each of the three stages of production - recording, editing and production – that have benefits for both the screencast creator and the viewers.
With that in mind, let's get started. Up first in our top ten countdown is a feature we've added on the editing side - SmartFocus!
SmartFocus intelligently tracks activity on the screen and zooms in to keep your viewers focused. This feature enables users to create smooth automatic zoom-n-pan action with the click of a mouse button, It focuses the viewer’s attention on important points of interest. This feature is nice because you record large areas of your screen and scale your screencast for smaller playback windows (think blogs and Apple iPods) and still provide visual clarity. There's a screenshot below of Camtasia Studio's timeline with the SmartFocus button below.
It is best to see SmartFocus in action. Troy Stein, the Camtasia Studio Product Manager, made this short screencast that runs a little over 4 minutes. You'll get more information about SmartFocus as well as see a comparison of a video with SmartFocus vs one without.
You'll be able to get your hands on Camtasia Studio v5 in two weeks and use SmartFocus yourself. But, fear not…until then, you can purchase and use Camtasia Studio v4 today. If you purchase Camtasia Studio 4 now, you will be sent a key that works for Camtasia Studio v5 (it will work with Camtasia Studio v4 too). That means you'll get a free upgrade on October 9 when Camtasia Studio v5 comes out.
Are we off to a good start? What do you think?
Comments (6)
I love it! Good work TechSmith!
Posted by Jeff | October 3, 2007 11:07 AM
Posted on October 3, 2007 11:07
I spent nearly an hour setting up a bunch of zoom and pans for a simple proof-of-concept video that I did a week ago. From what I've seen here, that would be completely unnecessary with the new version. I've not even used it and I know it'll save me hours of work. That's one guaranteed upgrade.
Good job - very cool!
Posted by Tim S | October 3, 2007 4:36 PM
Posted on October 3, 2007 16:36
Great Stuff, I now need the ability to produce for Video and small devices and just as I do you make my life hours easier a week, great product keep up the good work.
Posted by Nick Hampson | October 7, 2007 8:32 AM
Posted on October 7, 2007 08:32
Hi,
Does the "buy v4 and get v5 for free" only apply to purchases following this announcement? I'm curious because I bought Camtasia on 14th September
Cheers,
Henrik
Posted by Henrik Jaeger | October 8, 2007 10:23 AM
Posted on October 8, 2007 10:23
Very nice but I just bought version 4 about 3 months ago and I'm told to bad gotta pay the $150. I'm ready for Camtasia as a service, anyone know of such a beast?
Love the tool.
Posted by Dennis Jeske | October 9, 2007 6:00 PM
Posted on October 9, 2007 18:00
What about general stability? I record a lot of full screen video (1280x1024 and larger) and Camtasia has a difficult time with the longer videos (50-75 minutes videos) during editing. Its not a resource issue but seems to be something in the memory not being handled well.
Posted by Brian Immel | October 17, 2007 8:07 PM
Posted on October 17, 2007 20:07