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Wow great! Posted this wonderful news on CGDigg:
http://www.cgdigg.com/story.php?title=camtasia-for-mac-1-0-released

Hey Bets--
Thrilled that it's released! YIPPEE!
I must admit that I'm surprised that it doesn't have some of the basic features of the windows version--particularly the ability to PAUSE the recording. Why wouldn't they give us that ability? I mean, if I want to simply take a phone call or let the dog out, that would mean I'd have to stop the presentation and start a new one? And then merge 'em later? Seems like a lot of work...

In the product comparison, it looks like the windows version is much more powerful--almost like we're getting short-changed as mac users...just a feeling--I don't want to be a wet blanket. What are athe plans to equalize the 2 columns?

@ Ken. Thanks for taking it for a spin and for the feedback!

One thing we heard loud-n-clear from our mac advisory board, beta testers and focus groups was that they wanted something sooner rather than later... and they didn't want us to port over our Windows product. So we listened to what their priorities were and built accordingly.

I think we've built awesome functionality into 1.0 for Camtasia for Mac. There's certainly room for growth, **but we won't know that direction for future versions without your suggestions.** So, I'm not blowing smoke, when I say that its critical that we know things like "I gotta have a pause" feature.

The same goes for our Windows users. If you see things in Camtasia for Mac that you'd like to see us incorporate on Windows, by all means let us know!

We built Camtasia Studio based on the needs of the Windows users. We've done the same for our Mac users. If those needs overlap... great! If they diverge, we're ok with that. We figure we'll be successful if we listen carefully.

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

Great! :) Thank you to everyone at TechSmith for bringing us this product! Can't wait to try it out!

Although I do have to echo Ken's sentiments on the absence of the PAUSE recording functionality. That was one of the features I was hoping for. The other one was the VOICE NARRATION ONLY feature, which sadly isn't available as well. But at least we do have the ability to separate the audio and video, which I guess is just like having the voice only feature with that one extra step of having to delete the video track.

Also, what is ScreenDraw? I'm assuming that's the ability to draw on the desktop while you record (using some kind of brush or pencil tool?). Is that what it does?

But anyway, the app does look great and I will be giving it a try soon! Congratulations on the launch! :)

@ Albert: Thanks for the well-wishes! Pause and Voice Narration functionality. Roger that. Duly noted. We'll keep tabs on these requests to understand the global popularity of them. And, btw, you're spot on about the separating audio and video making things a lot more flexible.

ScreenDraw is part of Camtasia Studio's Recorder which allows you to draw while you're recording. Here's a short video: http://bit.ly/4G3ac

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

I am so happy to have camtasia for mac. I've been using so and so for screencast and they have not been up to the windows version. I tried using camtasia in windows through vmware but it was so sluggish and basically the only reason i did it was to show others on a mac how great it was and i wish we had it on the mac.

This for a first version on the mac looks polished and ready. It might not have all the features the windows version does but I'm glad, cause if it did people might say it was bloatware and who wants that. This is a good baby step and I'm glad you guys are taking feedback. Thank you so much for releasing this. Keep improving and giving more features. We definitely need more but this is way better than nothing.

I'm still playing around with the trial, but I definitely agree there has to be a pause feature. The so and so doesn't have this either and I always hated them for that, please don't let it become that way with you. On windows I love you. I'll try and send more feedback once I have made a few screencast and played around with the features enough.

Thanks, Troy!

ScreenDraw looks like a great feature. I see how useful it can be if you are pressed for time and need to make a quick screen cast and be able to highlight certain areas on the fly so you won't have to fix them during editing. If you could kindly at that to the list as well please. Haha! :)

Congratulations again on the release of Camtasia for Mac.

I understand that you wanted to release a product for Mac sooner than later and that's why this version is limited in features.

Hence also de $99.00 price tag.

I was really hoping you would have added the Pause button. It takes less work later on the editing

The only reason why I was still using a PC was because of Camtasia and another software that I use for investing purposes.

I wanted to move completely to Camtasia for Mac. But here are the reasons why I think I wont do it with this release. Please include the following features in your next release.

-Pause button

-Adding Markers while recording

-Recording Powerpoint presentations, which automatically adds a marker with the slide name

-Producing videos with Table of contents based on the markers

-Drawing on the screen while recordings.

Thanks and congratulations again for the great effort.

Awesome! I'm just diving into it now. So far it's working great for me. No more excuses for not recording more content for the Mac. ;-)

Speaking to the website layout (particularly the Free tutorials --> Getting Started, etc.), it would really save the user a lot of time if the list of videos were in a format that allowed for either continuous viewing (automatically play the next video in the series) or have a list of videos all on the same frame, rather than the current experience where I have to close the popup video window, click the next tutorial, click "View Instantly" and then click play... Way too many clicks to view the tutorials. =D

Keep up the good work!

iBrent

@iBrent: Thanks for the feedback about the layout for the videos on our website! We tried something similar to what I think you're describing on the Camtasia:mac product page.

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasiamac/

If you click the "See It in Action" button, you get the Overview video, and then a number of Quick Clip videos below to choose from. How do you feel about this particular interaction? Is it less of a hassle?

Thanks again!

Kelly Rush
Video Production Specialist
TechSmith Corporation

@Kelly, Yes that makes it much easier with the videos listed as thumbnails in the same frame. =D

iBrent

I think that Camtasia for Mac is excellent but I think you should be able to choose where you want to record instead of just being able to record the whole screen and editing it.

Super feedback, folks! Thanks!

@ Josh. Thanks a bunch for the kind words! I really appreciate it!

@ Albert, re: screendraw. Can't wait to see what Apple might do w/ a tablet. Could make screendraw really interesting on the mac.

@ Alan: Thanks a bunch for the list. We'll track each request individually. Question: how do you use or want to use markers during your recording?

@ iBrent: I hope you find it easier than ever to create content and be creative. FWIW, that's been my experience.

@ Cameron: You bet. Especially if you are recording a portion of a big monitor. That being said, we do have smart focus, which makes it easy to focus in on that one window. But, tell me about your goal. What do you want to accomplish w/ a region recording?

Thanks one and all for pushing us in the right direction and the encouragement!

Troy

I installed the trial version and though I'm more experienced with using Windows and the Camtasia version for Windows, I was able to install it (easy on a Mac), update the Soundflower drivers (easy) and create a first recording.

The result (in Dutch) can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/nar3jp

Most features were very self explanatory, though for the option to change the canvas size I had to use the online tutorials.

Like the others, I missed the PAUSE button during recording.

I also couldn't find an option to hide the PiP for parts of the recording.

Unlike the Windows version, it isn't possible to type text directly into call-out. I appreciate the extra flexibility of text placement, 9 out 10 of the call-outs I create just have the text centered in the call-out.

I wasn't able to center the text (currently the text *box* is centered on the screen)

I also couldn't find the option to change the fill color of callouts. Is it possible?

first attempt to upload to youtube of longer video resulted in error. When I retried it, it also started rendering again.

All in all, a nice 1.0 version. :)

And C4M contains NO flash support. I cannot create an FLV. This is the ONE feature I need - the ability to output as a pure flash movie. If I had know that this feature was not present I would not have purchased the product. You guys have known what the feature comparison chart looked like weeks ago. To have NOT shared it is downright fraud, IMHO. This has taught me to never trust Techsmith again.

The product you have delivered offers nothing for me that Screenflow doesn't already have.

I want my money back.

@Dave: The trial version is 100% feature complete and can be used to evaluate the product for 30 days. Why didn't you just try that first before buying the product?

(note: I don't work for Techsmith, but your anger just surprised me, hence my repsonse)

For a 1.0 version you guys rock. Yes, no pause button, but I am sure this will be added subsequent versions.

I posted a smart-focus review on my blog.
http://cuthut.com/B1a

Chip

@Dave Barnhart - Sorry you are unhappy with your purchase. We want you to be happy and have a 30 day money back guarantee.

Visit here for your return: http://www.techsmith.com/company/contact/return.asp

I've made sure the product team knows your feedback so we can review for subsequent releases.

Betsy Weber | Chief Evangelist | TechSmith
+1 (517) 410-0030 | b.weber@techsmith.com
blog: http://visuallounge.techsmith.com
twitter: @betsyweber and @techsmith

I downloaded the demo this afternoon and I like it! I'm curious if there is a feature available that I'm not finding? Is there a method for designating a certain point in the timeline with some sort of a marking point that might appear in the chapter view in Quicktime, for example? In the absence of a table of contents, I'm wondering if there is some other way to make it so that viewers can quickly jump to a specific point in a presentation?

As an IT Trainer I currently see a growing demand for Microsoft Office 2008 training in our company. So Camtasia:Mac will be a very helpful tool for me in delivering short tutorials for the most common tasks.
Having to get up to speed with the Mac version quickly, the first thing I did today was to visit the Training website. And I was impressed by the TONS of material I already found there! That will make my first steps a lot easier. ("I'm a PC!" - but I have to work and teach on a Mac sometimes ;-) )

Best regards from Germany,
Ute

On Macworld's blog anouncing the launch, I offered these comments:

"I'm a Mac guy who is also a Windows Camtasia (Wintasia) user at work. Techsmith has done a great job of bringing a top notch screen recording/editing/publishing product to the Mac; but at v 1.0, it is a different product in some important ways--both good and bad. Rob's [promised] review will go into the detail I'm sure but, in my working with the new Mac product, I think it is a great addition to the Mac community. It isn't just a port of a Windows app...they rewrote it from the ground up with Wintasia as the model...so it looks and feels like a Mac app but does most of the familiar things of Wintasia. That said, for Mac folk looking for parity with Wintasia, you may need to wait for a future version of Mactasia. But overall, I am very impressed and am playing with taking Wintasia and Mactasia source files and seeing how they play together (or not.) It's worth getting the free 30day demo...and TechSmith is top notch in customer learning and technical support."

I followed your recommendations for extracting the .avi video from the Wintasia .camproj file; extracts fine, but when imported into Mactasia, you cannot add SmartFocus markers. That is a big problem. Do I need to convert the file to a .mov? What codec do you recommend?

Thanks...LOVE the new product. Good luck!

(So I don't confuse anyone, I meant to say I extracted the .avi from the **.camrec** file.)

Any ideas on if Camtasia for Mac will be compatible with Snow Leopard coming out on Friday?

@lucky Lindy - If you extract the .avi file you will lose the data for smart focus. Take a look inside the camrec file and you'll notice over files there. They are what capture the cursor data. The best thing I can think you could do is to do all the Smart Focus markers in Camtasia Studio, and produce it as an mov file. Then bring the mov file to the mac and import it into Camtasia:Mac.

Hope that helps!

@ Pierre.

Love the Dutch video! Thanks for taking the pains to write up your experience, in perfect English, no less!

Glad you found the 'Change Canvas Settings". Probably need to make that more findable, if you had to look for a tutorial.

Thanks for the vote for the pause button.

Re: hiding the PiP, here you go: http://screencast.com/t/LrBiM0gN

You can't currently type text directly into the callouts.

But centering the text should be assisted by using the yellow guides: http://screencast.com/t/p7L9dCp8t

To change the color of the callout, drag a Colorize Filter (from the Video Effects tab) onto the callout.

So did the YouTube video work well for you the 2nd time?

Thanks a bunch for sharing so much information with us!

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

@John Thanks. Yeah, I knew the markers would be lost, but I was surprised I could not add NEW markers to the video file inside Mactasia (Video Effects>Actions>Smart Focus at Time).

BTW, all, one of the sweet things I just noticed is that when you drag the beginning or end of a video or audio element on the timeline to trim it, the playhead doesn't move to where you click; it stays put...and the drag-trim snaps to the playhead. Much smoother than Wintasia.

Anyone know if there is a keyboard combo to move the playhead from marker to marker?

@ Len. We don't currently have a table of contents output. But we'll gladly keep tabs on that request. Makes good sense!

@ Lucky Linda. Thanks for the generous review! John is right about transferring recordings. You *can* transfer recordings over once they are extracted, but the extraction process looses SmartFocus data. We'll add that to the ideas for future release: make it easier to share recordings and projects. There's no markers in Camtasia:mac, but you can use the keyboard to jump to the next clip. (Command-Right Arrow)

@ John. Wicked smart.

@ Mike. Yep, we expect to be Snow Leopard compatible. We were, when we brought our CD to the duplication house. But, Apple tends to change things last minute. So, if by some small chance we need to change to adapt to a late minute change from the Apple OS, we certainly will.

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

@Troy--we have to stop meeting like this! :-) Thanks for the reply...I know these are heady days for you and the team. This really is a wonderful 1.0 release. very exciting features and performance.

When I said key combo to go from marker to marker (above), I really meant Smart Focus to Smart Focus...that would be helpful.

And what about the inability to add "Smart Focus on Time" action to .avi files imported from Wintasia .camrec files (as I described above)? I appreciate that the Smart Focus markers are lost in the extraction, but what makes it mpossible to add them once imported, whereas we can do so with screen cam video captured from Mactasia?

uh...duh...the excellent 'Zooming in with Smart Focus' tutorial gave me my answer: use 'Custom Video Action'. Sorry. Should have known youse guys would have covered it (both as a feature and in the Support area.) TechSmith rocks!

@ Lucky Lindy. the recordings which we make w/ Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac are basically a movie (either an AVI or MOV) plus some data about on screen activity. This data, about where the cursor is and what size certain windows are, is all lost when the movie (AVI or MOV) is extracted from the Camrec or Cmrec file.

If you brought in a QuickTime movie trailer, for example, that movie would have no data about cursor or window sizes. And our standard AVI's and MOV's don't either. That's why we bundle our recordings with the data and call it something new: Camrec or Cmrec on the mac.

Hope that helps.

troy

@ Ute. Thanks for the kind words. The support, training and documentation teams have made an *amazing* amount of really valuable content for switchers and first time users. Really great stuff. Schoene Gruesse an Frankfurt!

There doesn't seem to be an option to record voice narration?

Is this something that you guys are planning on adding this is kind of a deal breaker for me. I don't want to have to record the script and narrating the movie at the same time.

Here again, still bruising the demo up.

I don't see an option to choose which monitor to record from. I have two monitors on my mac, can't seem to record from the secondary monitor. I don't want to have to switch which one is primary :(. My primary is 30 inches and secondary is 20, boo. ;).

And I still need a pause button. that's it for now i'll keep coming back, is there an email or forum for this ? I don't know if there is a better way of giving feedback info. Although i trust it will get to you from here. :D

Take care!

@ Troy

Thanks for you response, I recorded a follow up using Jing: http://screencast.com/t/SaMr0wRlGP

Pierre

The app looks *great* so far. A few quibbles, including:

1) Needs more extensive keyboard navigation in the timeline. Shift-arrow to jump X frames. Home key takes you to beginning of timeline. End takes you to end of timeline. Etc.

2) Text rendering is slightly flawed - text appears with a slight gray stroke and some jaggies. Not good.

Full review (and bug report) to come, but I'm very impressed with this app. Nice work TechSmith!

@ Tony. You are correct. We do have a number of folks who've used Audacity (free) to do voice narrations independent of the video recording. FWIW, they noted that the multiple tracks (and the ability to save a frame and later extend it) made it fairly easy to assemble/synch videos that way.

@ Josh. You bruiser, you. :) We default to recording the monitor which has the menu bars. Sounds like we need to allow you to choose the monitor or a region? I'll add another vote for a pause button! This is a great way to provide feedback! You are always welcome to send it to me directly (t dot stein at techsmith dot com) as well.

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

Hey Troy, RE: the monitor issue. I've got 2 24" monitors hooked up through a Matrox box which recognizes them as 1 single monitor. Here's a demo, http://www.screencast.com/t/Q4x9xtpJa. It's not too difficult for me to change which monitor (the 2 24" or my 15" laptop screen) has the menu bar, but it would definitely be nice to do a region. More to come. :)

-AJ

One more feature request for the YouTube upload: when I upload a screencast that is HD, I set it to "private" first until YouTube has rendered the HD version of the screencast.

I think it is better to let the viewers wait just a couple of minutes longer then to offer them the SD version only.

I would be nice if that was an option ("make private") during the upload.

Pierre

First of all, thank you so much for bringing Camtasia to the Mac platform. Camtasia for Mac, version 1.0.0, is an awesome release! A "must-buy" for all the Mac-screencasters out there, me included.

I have some suggestions for enhancements though.

The first thing that hit me when I watched your "Overview" video, was the aliasing (jagged edges) of the skewed video. I was also a bit surprised to see the low quality downscaling of the fullscreen recording. Menus and menu items look pretty bad, compared to the results you would get using a good quality downscaler like the one found in JES Deinterlacer or MPEG Streamclip for Mac. See example files.

Here is a small list of ehancements I would love to see in an update or a future release:

- Much higher quality downscaling on export
- 25 fps option (for us in the PAL world), maybe even a custom fps option?
- Ability to choose what screen to record when using multiple screens
- Ability to define custom recording areas
- Ability to pause recording
- Support for custom made export presets
- Display project duration in timeline
- Display clip duration on each clip in the timeline
- Support for adjusting fading/falloff on reflections (see Apple's Motion 4 for example)
- Support for adjusting blur on reflections (see Apple's Motion 4 for example)

Thanks again for an outstanding 1.0.0 release!

Troy since you asked. Region would be nice but for my needs I don't mind simply choosing the secondary screen and then later in editing, changing canvas size or zooming in. With the other so and so software, I do it in editing. Its just a matter of choosing which screen to record. Unfortunately I don't like the moving of my menu bars around. Without the menu bars and dock i can get more screen real estate to just focus on the app and use the main screen to do any changes to the system or settings while still running smoothly on the second screen without creating an issue for the user and cutting editing time for me in the end.

Region screen is nice and I used to use it in windows , it is my preferred way. Its just a way to cut editing time if you can do it initially from the start. But I've gotten used to canvas resizing and zooming in if it never comes. So this is no longer a big priority for me. The screen choice is at the top.

Will you guys support snow leopard? I tried soundflower on a test machine but doesn't seem to be working too well with snow leopard, haven't figured out why but hopefully soundflower can keep working to record audio from the apps. system says its unable to use soundflower.kext :(.

@ AJ. What!? Knowing you, I'd expected 2 30" Cinema displays. ☺ Thanks, mate! Well, at least I know what to get your for Christmas. ;0)

@ Pierre. Cool idea. I often want to 'check' to see how YouTube videos look before I let them out into the wild. Nice suggestions! Thanks!

@ Thomas. I'm a huge fan of MPEG Streamclip, but never thought to see its affect on Screencasts. (I confess, that I try to use SmartFocus to keep the quality high and the scaling to a minimum). All the same, very impressive. Thanks a ton for the sample files! Very cool.

Thanks, also, for the bullet list. If you get a minute, can you make a quick recording / screenshot of the features that you like in Motion 4?

Great feedback folks! I can't thank you enough!!

And a big thanks to Betsy, for allowing us to continue the conversation on her blog!

Troy,

Here is how I use markers while recording. (It saves me a lot of time in the editing phase)

My recordings are usually 30 -60 mins long and I record combinations of powerpoint presentations, web pages and software

1. I set up a hot key for a marker. (F7 in my case)

2. Whenever I start talking about a new section in my presentation, I hit the F7 key to add a marker. I try that each section is no longer than 10-15 min.

3. At the same time, I have Notepad open and I type the title of that particular section (the name of the marker, so I don't forget afterwards while editing, since most of the time, I don't do the editing right after the recording)

4.When I am editing the recording. I can see all the markers in the timeline and I open my Notepad text file and I just copy and paste the names of all markers.

5. I then produce the video with multiple files based on my markers and with a TOC so that my audience can easily navigate throughout the presentation

6. I also have my own marker codes. For example, during recording, if I part of my presentation would need a callout, then I hit F7 twice to add 2 markers. Then when I am editing, and I see 2 markers side by side, I know that I need to add a callout/flash hotspot, etc at that point in the timeline.

7. When I make a mistake during recording, for example, I switch to the wrong application window, or I showed some personal data in my recording, for example, I switched accidentally to a window with my Gmail account, etc, then I hit F7 3 times, so when I see 3 consecutive markers in my timeline, I know that I have to delete that section.

That is the main reason why I really need to use the markers while recording.

@ Josh. Yep. We're planning on being Snow Leopard compatible on Friday with the version you already have. :) Thanks a bunch for sharing the insights about your set up and preferred method of working.

@ Alan. Great details! Thanks a bunch for sharing. FWIW, I do something similar when I make mistakes. I simply clap in front of the microphone and this puts visible spikes on the audio timeline for me. Anyway, you make a good case. Thanks a ton for detailing the workflow. These are really great ideas for everyone to hear!

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

First off thanks for getting this out. I want to be a 100% Mac but this version if forcing me to stay PC..

I need the Flash compatibility. For my interaction and instructional media the Table of Contents and the ability to add Quizzes on the fly is of major importance. The ability to go straight to a .swf file makes it easy for me to upload into our Learning Management System (BlackBoard). Please let us know when and if these feature will be possible with Camtasia for Mac. Until then I have to hold off buying this version. I'll try creating some material on my Mac, then add the markers, TOC and quizzes on the PC.?.?

Mark M.

I'm a Windows-User but I like what I see. Really cool features like "Movie in a Movie".

Pleeeeaaaase - I want this for Camtasia Studio 7 ;-)

Regards
Christian

@ Mark M. Thanks, Mark. We don't have TOC or Quizzing in version 1. But we're tracking those request. Might be worth checking on whether your LMS supports MPEG4 files. Even Camtasia Studio is standardizing on this flash format b/c it compresses camera video and screen video so well. Even better than our standard SWF files.

@ Christian. Is it the multi-track video editing that you like?

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

I just completed my first screencast with your software.

http://www.absolutepresence.com/2009/08/first-screencast/

Good stuff, I love the smart focus and ripple delete and integration with screencast and youtube.

@ Troy

yes, multi-track video editing is what I really like. At least 2 video tracks in CS 7 would be nice. To to something like it happens in the "Overview-Video" (The Video with Collin, which get smaller to the right corner, and the second Video starts in the left corner). Looks pretty cool and has potential.

Christian

Having tried Camtasia for Mac I have to say you've produced a very handy training and learning tool. Looking at all the comments above, you've got a few busy weeks ahead.

Please may I add my vote for:
a pause button,
export as flash movie with contol bar
and
addition of flash question maker
(like Articulates Quizmaker)

Well done chaps, for a v 1.0 this is pretty damned good.

@ Bruce,
thanks for the kind words. Yeah, not bad for a 1.0. :)
Your votes are cast! Pause, Flash output w/ controller (ToC?) and Flash quizzing. Quizmaker is pretty sweet.

Thanks a ton for the guidance and suggestions!

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

@ Christian... Thanks for taking the time to check out the mac version. We've built the mac and windows versions different to address the unique needs of the users. We need this kind of feedback to remind us in which ways we need to keep the overlaps and consistency. We've got a lot of listening to do. So keep talking. ☺ Thanks a ton!

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

Love the new product ... BUT ... we educators need the Camtesia Theater functions - TOC, text synch, etc.

Please hurry! :))

I would really like to have the ability to mark the in and out points for ripple deletes with the keyboard. For example, hitting the i and o key would be awesome.

Also, I would like to be able to hide the mouse cursor or change it's size, not necessarily during recording but during editing.

Hi, as others have noted this is a great 1.0 release, and while it's not as feature rich as many (myself included) have hoped for, I'll just say thanks for bringing Camtasia to the Mac!

Please add my vote for a Pause button, voice-only recording, flash export (incl. HTML output for automatic redirects etc). What I *really* want to see though is a way to visualize mouseclicks. Right now I'm using a 3rd party app to do just that so my viewers can see AND hear whenever a click happened. I'd love to see that built right into C4M!

Other that that: *great* 1.0 release!

I was so excited about the Mac version. BUT... for the way that I record camtasia vids to accompany books that I write, it's pretty close to unusable without the ability to pause during recording. I'm HUGELY disappointed and frankly quite puzzled by the lack of this simple feature. Sadly, however, that's the least of my worries. My publisher requires videos in flash format, so the mac version is TOTALLY unusable for me. Sigh.

Eeek! No Pause Button!

I feel like a jerk. This is embarrassing... I'm such a fan of TechSmith (use their products on windows) that I didn't even try the software before recommending to my employer that we buy it for Mac. I figure anything has to be better than iShowU (sorry, iShowU, great price point, but I love editing, all in one go).

But... I *need* a pause button. I often have to wait for things to load, and make alterations in between "takes" it's best to edit as you're going, rather and needing to edit after the fact. (Just like with video production you do as much editing as you shoot, on the camera).

Is there any news about this? I feel a bit embarrassed to say I trust the brand so much, and love their products so much.

Are you planning an update anytime soon?

@ Warren. Great suggestion. TOC/Theater. We'll add your vote for it. Good stuff.

@ Kevin. Thanks for the request for cursor FX and more keyboard shortcuts. Any other shortcuts you'd use a lot?

@ Mike. Cool, another good vote for cursor FX, pause button and SWF output (see more on this below) and the ability to record voice separately.

@ Dave. Sorry we don't have the pause functionality in there just yet. FWIW, an easy workaround is to keep recording, then just remove the silence or even tap your mic so you can see when your narration begins again.

As it relates to Flash output, you may not know that our default is Flash output. When you go to Share/Export, we produce an MP4 file which is compatible w/ Flash player 9 and 10 (which have 95% penetration). We go an extra step to ensure the playability of the MP4 file by wrapping that MP4 within a Flash playback controller and an HTML page. Its the same defaults we use on CS 6 and should work pretty well.

@ Heather. Thanks for the background info on how and why the pausing would be helpful. We won't comment on what's coming in the future releases. But, I can say that we've heard a lot of request for pausing and we are good listeners. :)

Best regards,

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

I love the features and ease of use. The user experience and UI is truly outstanding. Unfortunately, I'm having huge problems. I cannot successfully save files or export them. I'm consistently getting errors. It's turning into an "other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?" situation for me.

Please contact me. I'd like to help you guys trouble-shoot this problem. It is making your otherwise fantastic product completely unusable for me.

Thank you.

- Justin

Just wanted to add something I figured out through some research about using multiple monitors in case anyone didn't know. Support says that they have the recording defaulted to the screen with the menu bar. Well I use a Macbook Pro 15" and an external 24" monitor. So aside from mirroring my displays I was unsure what I could do. Then I found that you can just move the menu bar from one display to another by opening up the Display preferences and click on the thin white menu bar on the main display and drag that to the other display. It will move that bar and all your desktop icons over to the other display.

When you disconnect your external monitor your menu bar and icons move back to the original display but when you reconnect your external monitor it will automatically move the menu bar and icons over to the external monitor again. So hopefully this helps some people here.

Bottom-line...Need Pause button in Mac version, please.

Hi team, I really owe Mike Spink on your support engineers a really large apology.

I have never had any product like this before. Never used any editing software or something like Photoshop, absolutely nothing, so when my son very kindly bought this for me to help my internet marketing business, I was kind of Mmm, ok, how do I start.

I spent 6 hours getting a 1 minute 20 second intro. I then watched some tutorials, got them confused with Camtasia Studio (which is what I thought I had), put some questions on your help board filling in the Camtasia Studio box and got answers back, but obviously, because I had Camtasia:Mac I thought you didn’t know what I was going on about.

Then Mike Spink replied, “We best just check what version you have. I looked at the receipt, and then looked again, noooooooooooooo was heard all around, as I replied that I had got it wrong.

I felt so sorry for Mike; all he was trying to do was help and replied to my posts within minutes. Your after sales service is totally brilliant, your team have patience that could fill 10 hospitals and your product is absolutely brilliant.

I am 48 and like I say have never, ever used a tool like this before. Do I think it is user friendly, well take a look at my 1st ever video. 6.5 minutes long, over 60 colleagues have gave wicked replies, the back ground was black till I found out how to change it to a blue, have only today (not this linked version) used the custom video action to manually zoom.

Guys, obviously from what I hear, some require changes that Camtasia studio has and Camtasia Mac does not, but it’s earl days. Would we of wanted the product to be perfect BEFORE releasing it, no. Lets use it to the capabilities that it can perform and just be grateful that we have it.

Think of it this way, if I can put a 6.5 minute video together the way I have and yep I know, I still need to polish it up, User friendliness has to be top of the list and like I say, lets be grateful that we have something to start with.

Mike I am very sorry for raising my voice before checking my details first.

My 6.5-minute FIRST EVER video… http://www.screencast.com/t/OTNjOTk5M2

Techsmith, I take my hat off to you… Brilliant.

Terry Bass
www.createanddesignwebsites.com
terrybass@createanddesignwebsites.com

Stupidly skipped trial and went straight to purchase without knowing I couldn't add VoiceOver. Love the program but need to add voice to tutorials. Is this feature coming in an update? Or is there an easy workaround?