Camtasia for Mac - Sneak Peek, Canvas
Posted on Wednesday August 19, 2009 by Betsy Weber
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We're on day three of our sneak peek series for Camtasia for Mac. In just a few days, you'll be able to take Camtasia for Mac for a test drive and 'kick the tires'!
Today's sneak peek is about Camtasia for Mac's 'Canvas'. The Canvas is where you get to show off your creativity. You can resize your screencast by manipulating the canvas. Adding images and graphics to your screencast? You can drag them around the canvas to change the placement and resize them.
Camtasia for Mac always records at full screen, but you can easily resize your screencasts with the Canvas. And, with a click of the mouse you can easily hide everything but the desired window.
Check out the Canvas in action in the video below. The screencast runs less than a minute long.
Look good?
Comments (10)
Very nice so far, as soon as I see that we can create Flash quizzes to integrate into the video or presentation, I will polish off the credit card ready to purchase on the 25th. The flash quiz questions is the deal breaker.
Posted by Bruce Robinson | August 19, 2009 4:37 PM
Posted on August 19, 2009 16:37
"Camtasia for mac always records at full screen" Is that true?
I'm on a 30" Cinema display, so 2560x1600, that's a lot of pixels to grab, and a lot of hard drive space to store. The vast majority of the time I only want to be grabbing a sensible portion of the screen to record.
Posted by Paul Reinheimer | August 19, 2009 5:25 PM
Posted on August 19, 2009 17:25
Camtasia for Mac is looking better by the day. I can't wait to get my hands on it (and watch the Camtasia for Windows folks (of which I am one also) simmer with jealousy). :)
Posted by eQuixotic | August 19, 2009 7:09 PM
Posted on August 19, 2009 19:09
@ Paul. One way in which we've made the Mac version really intuitive and easy to you -- at least according to our usability studies -- is by having a streamlined recorder interface that ensures success for everyone. We do that, in part, by recording the full screen.
While this does record a lot of pixels it also has the added bonus of being a great safety net for you, when you need to grab menus, which may be outside your region, or when your app extends beyond your originally desired area. Here's a quick example w/ an explanatory video (less than a minute):
http://screencast.com/t/HvxpNjq7M8TE
Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager
Posted by Troy Stein | August 20, 2009 8:22 AM
Posted on August 20, 2009 08:22
Troy, almost make me want a MAC ;)
Posted by John | August 20, 2009 11:04 AM
Posted on August 20, 2009 11:04
Thanks, Troy. Assuming the extra pixel grabbing doesn't slow down the processor, then I think this approach is a good one. Smart Focus is wonderful.
A couple of blog posts ago, I asked if the same codecs are being used on both Camtasia platforms so that .camrec and .camproj files (and their Mac equivalents) can be used on either platform. Do I need to wait until the spec sheet on the 25th before you can answer that? Thanks.
Posted by Lucky Lindy | August 20, 2009 11:05 AM
Posted on August 20, 2009 11:05
Now we're talking. This looks incredibly right--exactly the feature I've hoped to see in Camtasia:Mac. 5 days.
Ok...so maybe the next preview could show us what kind of output options you've cooked up?
Posted by Noel | August 20, 2009 4:52 PM
Posted on August 20, 2009 16:52
The FLASH quiz aspect is really important - IS IT GONG TO BE THERE?
Why is this such a secret?
I have asked several times!
Posted by Peter Fletcher | August 21, 2009 12:02 AM
Posted on August 21, 2009 00:02
I have found out the answer to my question... ... ... in another post
@ Michael GT. We've built Camtasia for mac based on years of Mac focus group, customer visits, beta group feedback, surveys, multiple rounds of user testing, etc. We've built this app specific to their needs. To date, quizzing and scorm were not high on their list. The great thing about getting Camtasia for mac to the general public, is now we can expand that conversation with more customers to find out how globally popular various feature requests are.
I am very sad
The beta testers must not have been educational people : (
No interactive videos : (
I am VERY SAD : (
Posted by Peter Fletcher | August 21, 2009 12:22 AM
Posted on August 21, 2009 00:22
@ Peter and Bruce. We had quite a few educators in our beta group, focus groups, etc. And a few of them did ask for quizzing and hotspots.
As we were debating which features to put into the product, we asked almost a thousand potential customers a basic question:
"Would you prefer to get a subset of Camtasia Studio's functionality sooner, or wait for all its functionality."
The *resounding* feedback from all market segments was: give us something NOW.
So we set to work, with the help of our potential customers defining what had to be in the first release.
This will NOT be the only release of Camtasia for Mac. We see our software development as a conversation with our customers. That's why your comments are really valuable. I appreciate the passion and tenor of your comments. It helps us know what's important and guides us in future releases.
I can't say what's going to be in the next release, because we haven't had time for you to use the software and tell us what else you'd like to see. Getting that feedback is really important to us.
I've been at TechSmith and in the software industry for a long time. I can say that this is the most impressive version 1 software applications I've seen.
Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager
Posted by Troy Stein | August 21, 2009 10:29 AM
Posted on August 21, 2009 10:29