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!
We don't usually give codenames to minor releases but if we did, this one would be called Dr. Who. That's because it's all about transcending the barriers of space and time. You read that right. Time. And Space.
Camtasia for Mac 2.1 delivers clip speed, the #1 feature request from Camtasia for Mac users--as voted by our user community. It's a tool for speeding up or stretching out video clips (without making you sound like a chipmunk or Darth Vader). For some thoughts on why this is a useful feature to have in screencasting software, jump down below the video.
So much for bending time. What about space?
That's where green screen (aka chroma key) comes in. Use your smartphone or a digitcal camcorder to shoot some video in front of a solid-color backdrop (pick a wall or get a $30 backdrop), apply the new remove a color effect in Camtasia, and make the backdrop disappear. Once it's gone, you can be virtually anywhere! (Heh.) That means you can play weather man, Superman, or just engage more naturally with your content.
So you're watching a movie and there's a scene where the clouds are racing overhead at an impossible rate...and cars are streaming along the freeway like a solid river of light. These effects are created with time-lapse. Time-lapse makes glacial change look like continuous motion...and normal motion looks like frenetic activity.
It's also a handy technique to have in your bag of tricks for screen recording!
You might use time-lapse to wow your viewers and create buzz for your artistic abilities or new product. Or you could simply shrink 40 seconds of screen video to fit a 30-second music track on your timeline. Handy, indeed.
Here are three example videos to get your creative wheels turning... They weren't made with Camtasia for Mac but give you an idea of what's possible.
Show construction - Minecraft Timelapse shows how to create a structure.
Compress time - Snagit demo
Speeds up the action slightly to show a multi-step process.
Speed painting - Mary Doodles
Turn a lengthy process into something entertaining to watch.
Have fun with the new features! If you make a video using clip speed, remove a color, or both...please share a link in the comments below or tweet it to us @camtasiamac!
Daniel Foster is the "social media guy" for TechSmith. He enjoys iceboating, ice cream socials, and isosceles triangles. Tweet him up @fosteronomo or put him in a Google+ Circle.
What have you discovered during your fourth and final week of the test drive?
This week we started down a road that will hopefully provide a new revenue opportunity for us - training. We've often considered doing live SEO and pay per click management training, but given how time intensive that can be, it didn't really make sense from a business standpoint. Camtasia's ease of use makes training modules very easy to make, so we're actually exploring the possibility with a few corporate partners of creating subscription online marketing materials for niche industries (see sample below).
In the future we'll walk through specific tools and strategies for increasing Google rankings specific to businesses in regional niches. Historically, this wouldn't have been a possibility because most of these customers' price points wouldn't have made it profitable for us. But with Camtasia we can quickly update videos based on the ever changing Google landscape with minimal resource commitment on our end, making inexpensive training models a sensible solution for smaller niche businesses, and providing enough volume for us to be profitable supporting them. This is an exciting and scalable new opportunity for our business.
As far as using the software, it's been a slow and steady improvement on my part. For me, there was a bit of an initial learning curve for editing, as my background is using Avid/Final Cut Pro/Media 100 in the video editing world. So the controls (by comparison to these robust systems) were so minimal I wasn't quite sure what I was doing initially. Once I got a handle on it, though, things went quite smoothly.
Moving forward, I'd like a bit more precise controls as far as audio editing goes. For longer videos I've noticed that even if someone's mic'd up properly (we used a wired lavaliere microphone) that they become fatigued and their volume fades towards the end of a presentation. It would be nice to be able to finely adjust a sentence here or there (or maybe I just haven't figured out how to do this yet).
Bottom line? Another week, more exciting opportunities made possible by Camtasia!
Watch Netvantage's sample training on photography SEO:
Andrea Poole is a customer content specialist at TechSmith. She enjoys singing and playing the ukulele, a cappella music, running, and a good game of Euchre. Tweet her up @andiepoole or put her in a Google+ Circle.
Camtasia Small Business Test Drive: Gravity Works, Week 4
Posted on Thursday March 22, 2012
In the final week of the Camtasia test drive, Lauren Colton, Information Architect and Editor at Gravity Works Design & Development, reflected back on their month of screencasting.
What are some of the lessons learned during this test drive? Our team enjoyed the chance to use and give feedback on Camtasia for Mac software. I learned about the benefits of having a longer recording time than with Jing, and I could add an extra bit of polish in client tutorials and documentation.
Usable, efficient software fits the needs of intended audiences. Gravity Works loves the challenge of pulling complex business rules from systems of disorganized data, recently working in partnership with the Michigan Public Health Institute and the Michigan Department of Community Health on an internal case management system. We built the system to track independently-living, elderly people, as well as MDCH funding for nonprofits that care for these community members. Extreme caution with sensitive information guided the creation of this web-based application. Our solution increased stakeholder-estimated productivity by two man-hours per case, saving taxpayer dollars on a statewide level.
Our custom development work has given us more first-hand experience of how great stakeholder communication is the basis of great solutions. Dave Smith, Director of Business Development for Gravity Works, has said that screencasting is fun, and it is easy to get caught up using fun tools as a solution to problems that aren't there (like a five minute video when a sentence would do). But screencapture is certainly an important communication tool.
Every person in the office uses USB-connected monitors, for the extra screen real estate. So moving forward, I do not personally expect to invest time (in tutorials) or money (for a more-advanced microphone) until the software can run in my preferred environment, which includes USB-connected monitors.
Andrea Poole is a customer content specialist at TechSmith. She enjoys singing and playing the ukulele, a cappella music, running, and a good game of Euchre. Tweet her up @andiepoole or put her in a Google+ Circle.
Don't let a lack of professional equipment stop you from filming a video or screencast. Effective use of a webcam can lead to a high quality video if used correctly.
This week's video is posted below and presents three tips that will help you avoid common hiccups when filming a video with a webcam.
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com.
Using music can add an extra element to your video or end up distracting the viewer. Don't let the latter be true when trying to enhance a video with music.
This week's video is posted below and presents three tips that will help you effectively use music in screencasts.
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com.
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com.
Video Tip Series - Part three: Holding Viewers' Attention
Posted on Monday April 2, 2012
Viewers' minds tend to wander when the subject material isn't "fun". So what do you do when your content is instructional or otherwise not exciting? This week's video presents some tips and tricks including effectively using transitions and editing down scripts.
The video is posted below and will present three tips designed to keep your audiences engaged.
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com.
So you have your audio and video recorded but don't know how to take it to that next level? No worries. Week two brings you tips on how to reinforce your audio instructions using editing tools such as annotations, callouts and zooms.
The video is posted below and presents three tips that will help you utilize editing tools to enhance your final product.
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com.
Check out a new Video Tip Series - Part one: Recording Videos
Posted on Monday March 19, 2012
Creating videos from stratch can be tricky if you are a newcomer to the game. From camera placement to recording and editing techniques, we have you covered.
A new video tip series will be sent out via Twitter and published weekly to our blog for the next 6 weeks. The first video is posted below and will present four tips that will help you record your video right the first time around.
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com.
What are some of the lessons learned during this test drive?
Using Camtasia for screencasting really got us thinking about how we can improve our processes and communications. We love process, and a solid screencast certainly helps us to create a process around our sales and training. Rather than go through the same motions each time we work with someone new, we can use screencasts to streamline everything.
Do you see yourself looking into screencasting tutorials, or maybe more advanced equipment like a nice microphone?
We already use a pro mic and Pro Tools for recording. We're hoping to use screencasting as a sales tool going forward - both to demo our products to existing leads before we meet and to create educational content that we can use for inbound marketing. We also see it as a valuable internal training tool that we can integrate into our hiring process. We're already seeing so so much potential!
Watch a sample screencast from Loudpixel on how their process works for clients:
Loudpixel: Analyzing Sentiment and Context in Social Media from Loudpixel on Vimeo.
Andrea Poole is a customer content specialist at TechSmith. She enjoys singing and playing the ukulele, a cappella music, running, and a good game of Euchre. Tweet her up @andiepoole or put her in a Google+ Circle.
It's the third week of the Camtasia Small Business Test Drive! You can also catch up on the first and second week blog posts.
This week each business gave us their persepctive on how things were going with Camtasia today versus during the first week. Are they using it in ways different than they originally thought they would? Are there new barriers that popped up? What's been the initial reaction to their finished screencasts, both internally and from their clients?
CiesaDesign consists of 16 staff members with a wide range of skills in print and digital communications. Chris VanWyck and Thomas Ro gave us their perspective on week three.
Have you thought of new ways you might use screencasting in your business? Thomas: Our training-oriented screencasts feature a lot of in depth demonstration on the use of our sites and technology. Visually, this could also contribute to capabilities demostrations or self-promotion--not just for web-based applications, but the use of any visually striking software such as graphics and animations tools.
Chris: We have almost exlusively used screencasting for technical training in the past. From the creative side of the business, I will be looking to use it in a much braoder sense as a story-telling tool. As brand development experts, we are tasked with positioning our clients' brands in the most authentic and consistent ways possible. I see adding screencasting to our list of tactical communication vehicles.
From a time management/people management perspective, do you feel like screencasting will be a realistic addition to your arsenal? Thomas: We've found great value in being able to record on-screen activity because it makes our message easier to understand for our clients. When demostrating a particular process, there is no longer the abstraction of written instruction, because the process itself is unfolding for the viewer. For us, it also saves time in preparing this communication, because it's now a matter of doing the thing and not having to write and proof large paragraphs of text about it.
Chris: Yes, as our client base becomes more and more international in scope, we have a greater need to use tools that allow us to communicate at a distance without losing that personal touch. Screencasting allows us to bring our process to clients in a more efficient and effective way.
Would you recommend this software to another small business professional? Thomas: As one whose duties are primarily focused on technology and development, I would recommend it because it allows me to represent myslef and communicate without the effort of 'translating' for those not familiar with said technology.
Chris: Yes, I can see this software being used for everything from technical training to community outreach.
Have you shared any of your screencast work so far? What's been the initial reaction? Thomas: We've shared screencasts with many clients and with one another, and the reactions have been very positive. The level of understanding between every party has been markedly better than when we've done verbal, in-person, or written demonstrations.
Chris: Clients also love that they can go back and use screencasts as tutorials whenever they need reference.
What other software have you recommended to other small business professionals? Thomas: For those that use Tickspot for time tracking, Tick Desktop Timer is an essential tool for professionals that find tracking their time to be a hassle.
Chris:BaseCamp from 37 Signals for better team organization and transparency in process and workflow and Skype and Google + Hangout for more authentic personal interaction. Additionally, I use an online tool called WhatTheFont to identify unknown fonts quickly.
Lauren Colton, Information Architect and Editor at Gravity Works Design & Development, gave us her thoughts.
Looking back on the past few weeks, have you come across of new ways you might use screencasting, different than what you originally thought?
Everyone at Gravity Works is constantly looking to learn new things. We're approaching the Camtasia Challenge with the same drive that has us developing Android, iPhone, and iPad applications the very month new devices hit the market.
Gravity Works Design & Development has a very open and collaborative environment, so I am most likely to walk over and talk to team members about where this button should go or how that menu should appear. And things move quickly: in a given day, I could be working with a local business (American Flooring), statewide organization (Michigan Society of Anesthesiologists), and a national advocacy group (Lupus Foundation of America).
Camtasia isn't as helpful for internal design collaboration as I had expected. But for quality assurance, Camtasia has a few benefits I am starting to tap. Even if an error is simple to replicate, I give developers more to work with by recording quality assurance tests. Instead of creating multiple Jing videos—once I have replicated a bug—I can create one Camtasia recording of my tests, and edit that video to share highlights with developers.
We know that every client deserves a personalized answer. If two clients ask how to add an image to their website, they will receive a personalized answer. While Jing has been my go-to option for quickly responding to questions, Camtasia does seem to offer more polish. For initial training documentation especially, we are always pushing for more clear and precise communication.
It was very useful to embed screencasts in my talk, Your English Teacher was Wrong, which I gave in February at Refresh Detroit. Words connect people in phenomenal ways, but it's easy to get distracted by compound modifiers or gerunds. I can use Camtasia to help engage people with the concepts of plain language.
Jeff Siarto, Co-Founder and Director of Analytics, told us a little more about their third week of the test drive.
Have you thought of new ways you might use screencasting in your business, different than what you originally thought?
Screencasting remains our primary method for demoing software to new and potential clients. As we grow our business, I see us pushing more screencasts internally to help train new employees. Given how much of our work is in the browser, screencasts remain the best way to quickly build high-quality training.
From a time management perspective, do you feel like screencasting will be a realistic addition to yoru arsenal?
Definitely. Our only other option for training is in-person--and while this is fine for our local team--we have employees all over country (and the world, occasionally) so face-to-face training would become cost prohibitive. Screencasting is also a very powerful internal communication tool. Given the low barrier to entry, everyone on the team can quickly share ideas via video without a ton of training overhead.
Would you recommend this software to another small business professional? How would you introduce and encourage screencasting to someone else?
Yes, in particular small businesses that have a web presence or rely on web traffic for business. I think the best way to introduce someone to the concept of screencasting is to just make one. Sit down at the computer and record a video of yourself buying something on Amazon, quickly edit the piece and publish. You could probably do this in less than 10 minutes, and I can't think of a better way to convince someone that this is an important communication medium for their business.
Have you shared any of your screencast work so far? What has been the initial reaction?
We have shared our videos both internally and with our clients--the feedback is always good. I know our developers appreciate the clarity of seeing bugs actually happen instead of having to decrypt a sometimes vague description of the problem. Also, our clients are busy people and screencasting remains the quickest way to demo software or explain new features.
What's in your professional "toolbox?"
Including analysts, programmers and designers, here is our top 5:
1) Skype -- Video, voice and especially chat. This is the lifeline of our business. 2) EchoSign-- Paper contracts were so last decade. Saves tons of time and paper, and we get our contracts signed a whole lot faster. 3) Basecamp -- Not that this needs any introduction, but we use Basecamp for some project management and posting invoices to our bookkeeper source. 4) GitHub -- This is where we keep all our code (closed and open source). 5) Radian6 -- One of the top providers of raw social media data. We've tried almost every aggregator and social media dashboard out there and nothing holds a flame to the quality and quantity of Radian6's data.
Adam Henige, Co-Founder of Netvantage Marketing, gave us some insight into their third week of the test drive.
In your third week of the test drive, what new ideas have come about, knowing that screencasting is an option for you?
This week we were discussing some ways to improve the services pages on our website, and amongst our ideas was to make them less wordy and more visual. One of the difficult things about what we do is that it can be hard to explain, so I started thinking about doing a case study using Camtasia. I assembled a handful of opened web pages for a case study for one of our clients - Swimtown Pools.
It took me a couple of takes to get through everything, and for the first time I dove into the editing features. I was able to add emphasis to key points in my presentation and zoom in to highlight the relevant areas of the screen. The more I worked with it, I realized what an effective sales tool this could be. After discussing it internally, we love the idea of following up with people at networking events with a link to check out our case studies. It can be hard for us to get people to understand how we build links and what type of results they can get from using our services, but a screencast makes this incredibly easy.
Our first attempt is still a bit rough around the edges, but we will likely be assembling these to go along with a variety of other case studies we will soon be adding to our website. Again, the more we use Camtasia the more exciting possibilities we find for our business. I would definitely recommend this to other small business owners, as I think it provides the ability to quickly and easily produce professional looking educational and sales presentations. Not everyone small business has someone with the skills to shoot and edit video, but anyone can create a screencast. Though, if you pick up software pretty quickly and aren't afraid of video and audio equipment, I would definitely recommend picking up Final Cut Pro if you wanted to combine professional video editing with your screencasting, as I think that will be our next video venture.
Andrea Poole is a customer content specialist at TechSmith. She enjoys singing and playing the ukulele, a cappella music, running, and a good game of Euchre. Tweet her up @andiepoole or put her in a Google+ Circle.
We're turning the corner to the second week of the Camtasia Small Business Test Drive! If you missed out on the first week, catch up here.
This week each business created their first (or in some cases, second or third) screencast and sent us an exmaple. They also shared with us a little about their process, how they prepare and edit their videos, what challenges they faced, etc.
CiesaDesign consists of 16 staff members with a wide range of skills in print and digital communications. Thomas Ro is a developer at Ciesa and one of their heaviest users when it comes to screencasting. Thomas shared with us more about his process.
Do you like to prepare a script before recording?
We generally make a list of the things that need to be demonstrated or mentioned in the recording. Since the narrative style tends to be similar between each screencast, an actual script isn't necessary.
However, it's important to prepare the software you'll be using so that only the relevant items for the screencast are visible in the recording.
Do you have multiple takes, or just try to nail it one take and edit out errors?
Our screencasts tend to be done in takes. Sometimes that can mean one take or ten.
What's your editing process like?
For our purposes, the most interesting editing aspects of Camtasia are the callouts and the overlay abilities, to further highlight the things being discussed by our narrator.
How much time has it taken you, on average, to complete a screencast from start to finish?
This depends. Even a five-minute piece can take an hour or more, depending on the number of takes that are necessary. We also upload finished videos and share links from screencast.com.
What's your favorite thing about screencasting so far?
Screencasting allows us to communicate with client on detailed training and tech subjects. We've found that this is far more effective than written instructions or one-time live demonstrations. Screencasts create a lasting resource that clients respond well to, and can continue to refer to long after the video has been shared.
What's your least favorite thing about screencasting so far?
Doing multiple takes can be frustrating, especially with longer screencasts. Before using Camtasia, we recorded with Jing, which had a five minute time limit per video. This presented additional challenges for dividing up the subject matter across multiple pieces.
David Silva Smith, Business Development Manager at Gravity Works, spoke with us about using Camtasia for Mac to communicate deliverables with stakeholders.
Tell us about your first experiences with screencasting.What was your process like?
Gravity Works launched an intuitive application for MSU researchers to replace programmable watches with an Android application while collecting survey data from research participants. We wanted to create a video showing off this cool project! Sitting down to create the demonstration video for prospective clients I thought of the message I wanted the audience to come away with, “this seemingly simple application serving up surveys has complex code running behind it.” Next, I thought how could I convey those two ideas: the complex code and the end solution.
So you had two different goals for the video. How did each one work?
Demonstrating the code was the hardest part. What does the audience care about? What should I show them? I got away from my original goal of wanting to show code and ended up focusing on the video. Getting away from the original goal of demonstrating complex code ended up hurting the messaging quality of the video, since the code is in there taking up half of the video real estate, but is not communicating effectively.
Demonstrating the software was easy. Launching our survey creation application I created a custom survey for the demo to show a sampling of the breadth of survey response types the application supports. It only took one recording to record the survey application. Camtasia enabled me to trim the beginning and end of the video to highlight the action, as well as extend the first frame so viewers could take in the scene before the survey goes off.
What did you think of the final product?
I was not happy with how the code recording turned out, but was happy with the application demonstration. I focused on the video strengths, using the Window Spotlight feature to highlight the application window and focus viewers on the action, while taking their focus away from the code area of the video. Camtasia’s Window Spotlight feature changes instantly which is jarring to the viewers. Splitting the clip onto a second track and adding a fade transition smoothed out the viewing experience.
What is your favorite thing about screencasting so far?
As a software development company, Gravity Works functions in an abstract world with clients ranging from expert computers to people who hate computers. Screencasts help us replace complex training instructions and technical terminology, with a video that everyone can understand. Instead of telling our users how the Android device goes off at a scheduled time, we show them a video. Can you describe what a word processor does to someone who has never used one? As software creators, we run into that communication issue every day. Instead of explaining our software for five minutes for a general idea of what the end product, we can show clients a short video, and they understand exactly what it does.
What is your least favorite thing about screencasting so far?
My least favorite thing about screencasting are the differences between the Mac and PC versions. When creating a project, I feel like I have to pick my “favorite child.” Some things the Mac version does well, like all the Video FX; some things the PC version does well, like being able to change the video framerate. If I had recorded the MSU Survey project in Camtasia for Windows, I would have adjusted the video speed during the survey demo to speed the clip up. In Camtasia for Mac, adjusting frames would have taken too long to be practical. In the PC version, I miss some of the cool Mac video FX like the Window Spotlight used in the MSU Survey video. I’d like to have all the features in both versions and be able to work on my videos in both versions.
Allie Siarto, Co-Founder and Director of Analytics, told us a little more about her screencasting process.
What's your screencasting process like?
90%
of the screencasts I've created so far have been personalized and more "on the fly" to walk my clients through a part of our software that is set up just for them. For these, I use the screencasts in lieu of complex emails--it's so much easier to walk them through visually rather than trying to describe these processes in words.
In these cases, I simply open Camtasia, select my custom region (I'm almost always working in a browser) and start walking through the processes. I spend about ten seconds editing the video (I remove the last few seconds of the mouse moving up to stop recording), then I export the video to screencast.com and send the link to the client via email. I can literally have a screencast created and sent in less than five minutes from start to finish.
What's your editing process like?
I've played with the callout arrows to draw attention to specific actions on the screen, and I've added simple transitions between my title slides and screen actions. I've found everything to be quite intuitive so far.
Are you running into any difficulties/confusing steps?
The only thing that has been tricky is geting my dimensions right for YouTube. I like that Camtasia has a preset for YouTube, but I want to expand the dimensions to fill my entire screen then have the video format accordingly (rather than being tied to a specific screen portion during recording).
How much time has it taken you, on average, to complete a screencast from start to finish?
For my quick client videos, I'll spend less than five minutes. For more formal training videos, I might put 45 minutes to an hour or more into a polished three minute video (including setting up my mic and editing the audio in Pro Tools).
What is your favorite thing about screencasting so far?
I love that I can export my videos to screencast.com with a few clicks and share them with clients within a matter of minutes. Our company works in a fast-paced industry--we're always looking for quick and easy wasy to communicate, so we appreciate that there aren't a lot of barriers to entry. Camtasia is easy to use (no steep learning curve), and it allows us to get our point across quickly and clearly.
What is your least favorite thing about the process so far?
When I do write a script, I have a hard time saying everything I've written in the script while recording the actions, which is why I typically end up recording my audio after the video.
Jerod Karam, Director of Online Marketing for Netvantage Marketing, gave us an inside look at his process of creating his first and second screencasts.
Tell us about your process as you created your first screencast.
This week I completed my first and second screencasts using Camtasia Studio and became quite familiar with the software in the process. Since the inception of this project, we’ve always thought that Camtasia would be fantastic for creating client tutorials. In our world things get complicated quickly and trying to talk a client through an issue on the phone can be difficult. That’s where this week’s lesson comes into play.
For my first screencast, I demonstrated to a client how to set up a custom desktop background and then resize their browser window. This can be useful when our client is designing their website on a 24” monitor but most of their website visitors are viewing the site on a 19” monitor or perhaps even 13” to 15” laptops.
Watch Jerod's screencast demonstration for a client:
How much time did it take you to complete the screencast from start to finish?
This was the very first screencast I attempted with the software. From the time I began playing with it until the time this 4.5 minute video was up on YouTube was approximately 75 minutes. I already had the custom background prepared but that 75 minutes includes learning time, a “do-over” or two, and the video rendering and upload time. It was a very quick process. All of the videos I have produced thus far have been speaking without a script and recorded all in one take.
(ASIDE: After learning the software and how to use it, I produced and uploaded another video--2.5 minutes--within 30 minutes beginning to end.)
What are your favorite things about the process so far?
The software itself seems pretty intuitive and pretty full-featured at the same time. You can knock out a quick tutorial as I did above and have it online very fast. This ease of use and quickness to produce a solid video is one of the things that makes me really enjoy working with this software. I also love the automatic zoom in feature that helps track and focus on your mouse movements. Those are unedited in this video and they work out very well.
I'm also looking forward to working with some of the advanced editing features. I think splicing together several clips, recording voice-overs, and perhaps adding a sound track will be fun and open a new avenue for more professional-looking video production.
What are some things you found to be lacking?
There are a few points of improvement that I can already see are needed. First, immediately after recording the program opens a viewer window and auto-plays the recently-recorded video. I'd really like to be able to see the entire captured video, even if it's not a maximum resolution. Also, in the same preview window, you can "save and edit" the just-recorded video or you can "save as." In the "save as" option, I'd like to be able to save the mouse pointer movements when I go to save it as an .avi. Finally, I'd love to see additional options for transitions. The only one I'd use for professional videos at this time would be the "fade to black" option.
Having said that, the library effects, backgrounds, and intro sequences I stumbled upon are seriously cool. I will be using those perhaps with green screen in future screencasts.
Andrea Poole is a customer content specialist at TechSmith. She enjoys singing and playing the ukulele, a cappella music, running, and a good game of Euchre. Tweet her up @andiepoole or put her in a Google+ Circle.
Introducing...the Camtasia Small Business Test Drive!
Posted on Monday January 30, 2012
We're excited to introduce a fun new project we're working on this month--the Camtasia Small Business Test Drive! Starting last week, we challenged four small businesses in the Lansing, Michigan area to "test drive" Camtasia Studio and/or Camtasia for Mac in their business setting for four weeks. Each week, they will share the experience with us through written responses, screencasts, photos and video.
We're hoping to learn a lot about how our software fits in to the small business setting and in turn, share with you valuable lessons learned and tips for successful ways to visually communicate within your organization.
For our first week, we asked each business to give us some insight into who they are, what they do, and how screencasting might fit in with some of their goals for the year. Visual Loungers, meet Ciesa Design, Gravity Works, Loudpixel, and Netvantage!
CiesaDesign consists of 16 staff members with a wide range of skills in print and digital communications. Meet Chris VanWyck, Vice President of Creative Strategy at CiesaDesign, who shared with us the inside scoop on Ciesa:
Tell us a litte bit about CiesaDesign.
We are a full-service agency with a core focus on brand and corporate identity development. We provide every step of the branding process from marketing strategy through tactical design execution for both the print and digital realms.
What's Ciesa's mission?
To provide national quality expertise, process and creative output to solve our clients' marketing communication needs.
What are your big goals for the upcoming year?
Continued growth as a firm both in quality of work we produce and the range of service we provide to our clients.
What's an average day like at your office?
We work within a process that is largely deadline-driven. An average day covers a range of things like client communications, creative brainstorming, team collaboration, design and production. We operate as a team on our client engagements. A typical client team would include an account manager, strategic lead, design lead, and production staff.
Describe Ciesa's company culture in three words or less.
Creative problem solving.
What problems do you solve for your clients?
We strategically and tactically connect our clients with their intended audiences with award-winning visual communications. Communication with clients is open and collaborative. We believe that we should be partners in our client's success, not just another vendor. We go to great lengths to foster transparency and trust with our clients.
What challenges do you face as a business?
Probably the biggest challenge is that of education. The digital revolution has created a perception that anyone with a camera/computer can do what we do. It is our challenge to showcase the true value that a strategic marketing team provides.
Where is Ciesa at with screencasting?
I think we can certainly improve on how we use currently use screencasting. The goal will be to use it for not only training, but for many other forms of communication. I could see using this technology for things like web content development and community outreach. We've used Jing many times to produce CMS training tutorials for our clients. They have proven very useful both as reference for clients to use after one-on-one training and for remote virtual training.
What are some potential barriers/concerns you feel about screencasting at Ciesa?
We provide multi-lingual marketing communications to our clients. This type of communication can amplify cultural and language barriers at times.
Watch a sample screencast from CiesaDesign on how to use FTP:
Lauren Colton, Information Architect and Editor at Gravity Works Design & Development, gave us an inside look at what Gravity Works is all about.
Tell us a little about Gravity Works.
Gravity Works Design & Development serves clients from the heart of historic Old Town, Lansing: we turn "I have an idea" into "you should see this app" for local businesses, state government agencies, national franchises, and international non-profit organizations. For us, technology is more than ones, zeroes, and screen resolutions; our team strengthens brands and bottom lines by improving the lives of people using technology. Gravity Works creates custom solutions--graphic design, websites, and mobile applications--with detail-focused designs and leading-edge development practices.
Where are you at with screencasting?
Our first use of Camtasia for Mac was by developers, recording mobile application features as they appeared in development emulators. With a simple-to-share video, clients quickly see their application in action, and focus on improving mobile user experiences.
The pixels captured on a screen are important because we can track receipts, pass on funny cat pictures, explain ideas, and understand the people we work with every day. Gravity Works is excited to participate in the Camtasia Test Drive because we are focused on the user: from local hockey mom to German-speaking concert attendee, we are harnessing the power of technology to connect people.
Can you share with us some examples of what you do for your clients?
Mobile applications can build powerful communities, connecting people with the resources they want using the functionality they need. Gravity Works developed a custom iPad solution for the ONE Campaign to collect supporter information with engaging features, while providing a strong aesthetic connection to ONE branding.We developed localized keyboards, predictively-populating fields, and a reporting function within the secured administrative system. The application has been used on an international concert tour.
More first impressions are made on mobile devices, and frustrating menus and hard-to-reach content can lose leads. Gravity Works launched a mobile website for Molly Maid. Mobile users are now automatically detected and redirected to an action-driven, informative mobile website designed for on-the-go people with touch-screen devices. But even when clients decide on a mobile website instead of a mobile application, screen capture software can help our design team work more closely with stakeholders.
Watch a sample screencast from Gravity Works on Signing Savvy:
Signing Savvy is a video dictionary for American Sign Language (ASL) for real-time ASL learning on iPhone and Android devices created anddesigned by Gravity Works.
Allie Siarto, Co-Founder and Director of Analytics, told us a little more about Loudpixel:
What's your elevator pitch?
Loudpixel is a small company that helps companies make sense out of what's being said about them online. Our core business is based around monitoring social conversations for issues or opportunities and drawing actionable insights based around conversation trends. Watch an overview video.
What are your big goals for the upcoming year?
This is a really exciting year for us. Companies are really starting to catch on to the importance of social media listening and analysis, so we see a huge opportunity to grow our team this year.
How big is your team? How do you operate?
Our company has three founding partners (two in East Lansing, Michigan and one in Palo Alto, California). We also have analysts who are now literally around the world. One lives in Chicago, one just moved from East Lansing to Senegal,
Africa, and others work from our office or freelance from home. When we find good people, we don't want to let them go. We can make it work from anywhere, as long as there's a solid Internet connection. Since we're so spread out, we
have to get creative about how we communicate with each other.
What's an average day like at your office?
Our clients are all over the country--from East to West. We spend a lot of time on the phone, Skype or email since we can't always meet in person. Our days are typically some combination of coordinating the monitoring and reporting that we
do, catching up as a team (almost always virtually) and meeting with current or potential clients (usually virtually).
Describe your company culture in three words.
Decentralized, lean, creative
What challenges do you face as a business?
When we decided to move the business from Chicago to Michigan, we knew we would have to work a little harder on client communications, since we no longer have the option of going a mile down the street to meet with clients and talk them
through concepts in person. We deal with complex concepts that require a fair amount of explanation and visual communication.
Where are you at with screencasting?
We've already used Camtasia on a few fronts. We work with some fairly complicated software, and often it's much easier to walk our clients through specific questions visually rather than try to explain with words alone. Since we
all run busy schedules and work in different time zones, we've been able to create quick videos in a matter of minutes to walk them through step-by-step directions rather than having to set up a conference call or webinar. It's definitely
starting to save us some time.
We're also in the testing stage for a huge upgrade to our software. Since our lead developer is in Palo Alto, we've used Camtasia to walk him through areas in the software where we find bugs or have trouble. That way, he has the reference later when he goes to make the fixes.
Watch a sample screencast from Loudpixel on how they solve problems for clients:
Adam Henige, Co-Founder of Netvantage Marketing, gave us insight into who they are and what they do:
What is your mission?
At Netvantage Marketing our goals are simple, to provide our clients with search engine marketing and social media solutions that provide them a positive ROI.
What problems do you solve for your clients?
Problem statements clients come to us with are typically, "We need more traffic to our website" or "Our rankings have really fallen on Google." I'd say those issues are what bring 80 percent of clients to us.
What's an average day like at your office?
While there's no such thing as a "typical" day at Netvantage, there are some noticeable similarities between everyone's tasks. Our office operates largely independently. People get trained for their position and then are largely given the room to manage their clients. We're less collaborative than most tech companies seem to be, largely because of the task based nature of most of our work. Actually, our office is pretty quiet as most of our internal communication comes via instant messages and the majority of our client communication is through email. So the internet is vital to our day to day activities.
What are some of the ideas you have for ways you might use screencasting in your business?
Camtasia is an exciting product in my eyes as I think there are an enormous number of ways we can use this both internally and externally. Off the top of my head, three uses spring to mind:
The first and most obvious one is as a supplement to our blog. We do a lot of tutorial type stuff on the blog and being able to quickly make a screencast to add into it makes a lot of sense.
We're launching a new Google Chrome extension and we've put together a walkthrough of it to help explain how it works. That can be found at www.domainhunterplus.com.
We're looking to partner with another online service and we may be able to create subscription based SEO tutorials leveraging screencasts.
In the past we've done some video for our website as I have my own video equipment, a degree in film and video production and 4 years of experience in that industry. However, it was limited to standard talking head and graphic-type content because we didn't have any real screencasting software, so that limited our ability to make internal tutorials for staff or leverage it properly for educational pieces on our blog. That is all about to change, however. Truthfully, I'm looking forward to having this available as we continue to grow and find more creative ways to leverage Camtasia both internally and externally.
Watch a sample screencast from Netvantage on their new Google Chrome extension:
Andrea Poole is a customer content specialist at TechSmith. She enjoys singing and playing the ukulele, a cappella music, running, and a good game of Euchre. Tweet her up @andiepoole or put her in a Google+ Circle.
One of the best parts of being an evangelist is that I get to share the good news with you. Today is one of those days! Camtasia for Mac 2 is here! You spoke up. We listened. We've redesigned and rebuilt Camtasia for Mac to help you create engaging, high-quality videos...faster, easier, and with more consistency.
What's new in Camtasia for Mac 2?
Editor tweaks - The editor interface has been redesigned so it's easier and faster to find what you need.
Extend Frame - this makes it easier to lengthen individual frames of a video to give yourself more time to highlight specific points of interest, or add more time for narration.
Custom annotations - you can easily copy and paste them into your timeline and reuse the effects throughout your video, or for a future project.
Annotations - you can point out specific features throughout your video. Easily add speech bubbles, arrows, shapes, lines and more. Additionally, callouts can easily be animated, including the tails of the callouts, to follow certain points of emphasis in the video.
Tilt and restore animations - these make it easy for users to manipulate video into a more effective display.
Mobile device frames - now you have a simple and effective way to demonstrate your mobile device apps! Record video of your app in a simulator and showcase the device your app runs on by adding a frame around your videos!
Cursor FX - Draw attention to mouse clicks by highlighting, magnifying or spotlighting the point of emphasis.
Blur Effect - now you can easily hide private information on the screen.
Production tweaks - Produce your videos 40-60% faster with higher quality output. Export an HD-quality file with a flash wrapper and HTML 5 fallback, so no matter where your viewers watch your video, even from a browser that is not Flash-enabled, your content will work.
Download a free, 30-day trial of Camtasia for Mac 2. New users can purchase the software for $99. Already have Camtasia for Mac version 1? Current users can upgrade to version 2 for $49. Camtasia for Mac 2 will also be available in the Mac App Store soon.
And, as always, we want to know what you think about the new release. Feel free to share your thoughts here on the blog or on our new community site. We need to hear what you'd like to see in the next version!
Camtasia for Mac users may have noticed something different in your screencast projects after installing our free Lion-ready update a couple of weeks ago. It's the good kind of different, not the other kind.
The version history for Camtasia for Mac 1.2.2 includes this rather modest item: "Overall improved recording performance." What, in fact, happened is that our development team rewrote the TechSmith Capture Codec, a core element of our recording engine.
And with today's release of Camtasia Relay 3.1, users of our enterprise product on both Mac and Windows get this new, under-the-hood technology too!
How does this benefit you? First, by making your content look better than ever. Second, by saving you time and hard drive space when working with project files.
Smoother recordings
Any high-motion content you capture will look smoother. High motion content being things like PowerPoint or Keynote animations, a Flash game, a movie trailer (for educational or journalistic purposes, please), and even everyday screen recordings that have lots of activity going on. And because the new recording engine demands less of your system resources (CPU), desktop applications that you're recording should behave much more responsively—more like they do when you're not recording them.
So go nuts and add a little more motion to your screencast projects!
Camtasia already did a great job of maintaining visual clarity or sharpness of shapes and text on screen. So the noticeable improvement here is in higher frame rates, resulting in smooth motion that more closely mirrors the original content. Take a look at 00:09, for example, and notice the difference in Captain Jing's hands.
To make this comparison video, our instructional designer, Conan (a.k.a., @camtasiamac), played back a Captain Jing video at 1440 x 900 (a common resolution for laptops) and captured it off the screen. He captured it once with Camtasia for Mac 1.2 and once with Camtasia for Mac 1.2.2, then put both clips together on the canvas at reduced dimensions and produced an MP4. Conan used a MacBook Pro with
2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and
4GB of RAM on
OS X 10.6.8, in case you were wondering.
With your own projects, expect to see increased benefit from the new codec as you capture content with more motion and at larger dimensions. The differences can become very extreme at the highest dimensions, as illustrated by another capture Conan did at 1920 x 1200.
Faster transport of recordings
Normally when you boost video quality or framerate, the file size also increases. But somehow our dev team managed to suspend one of the laws of nature and dramatically decreased the file sizes of recordings.
The graph shows comparative recording file sizes for various types of content we tested. Every recording is unique (which is why we left off the units) but the point is, your recording files should be a lot smaller now. By way of example, the Captain Jing capture above was 304MB using the old codec and 94MB using the new one.
If you're using Camtasia Relay, this means it takes less time for the raw recording to upload from your computer to the server. And people using the portable recorder can fit more minutes of recording on a thumb drive.
And Camtasia for Mac users will save a lot of time and hard drive space when storing, backing up, or transporting project files. Handy when you're working with a team or storing your stuff in the cloud.
We realize that this kind of under-the-hood improvement may not seem sexy, but we knew it would help you deliver higher quality videos to your viewers and spend less time doing it...which seemed to us like a win!
Please let us know what kind of impact you see on your own projects, both in terms of smoother motion and smaller recording files. Leave a comment on this post or find us on Twitter, Facebook, or our new Q&A forum.
Daniel Foster is the "social media guy" for TechSmith. He enjoys iceboating, ice cream socials, and isosceles triangles. Tweet him up @fosteronomo or put him in a Google+ Circle.
Our superstar development teams have updated Camtasia, Jing, and Snagit to work on the soon-to-be-released Apple OS X 10.7 (aka "Lion"). Why is this necessary? Because there are serious incompatibilities between Lion and Camtasia, Jing, Camtasia Relay, and, to a lesser degree, Snagit. (More info...)
You can download these free maintenance releases now--they will work on your current operating system AND on Lion when it's released.
We received some great entries for our Les Paul Guitar Google Doodle screencast contest. And, I'm happy to announce the winner!
I love, love, love Ellen Hinton's (Ellen Once Again) entry, "I'm Feeling Lucky"! She is our winner! Not only did Ellen create a fantastic screencast of the Google Doodle Les Paul guitar, but she also wrote her own lyrics and added more tracks in GarageBand. She made great use of the webcam by showing herself singing and playing the keyboard. You can read more about Ellen's screencast video here.
Check out Ellen's screencast below. I hope you're feeling lucky too! Thanks to everyone who entered!
We caught up with Ellen and she shared with us more about herself and her music!
What do you do for a living?
I currently live in Grand Prairie, Texas (near Dallas). I am more of a singer- songwriter and make "indie-pop music". I love working on ideas, music whenever I get a chance. I sometimes get my husband involved in the process as well. When asked to describe my music, I say I'm one part vintage and two parts bubbly with a shot of Pop Soul. Hopefully, that narrows it down, maybe? Hopefully, one day my Pandora station would be the likes of Ingrid Michaelson, Adele, Colbie Caillat and Sara Bareilles.
Tell us a little about your music!
I teach elementary music and was inspired to use the Google doodle after I opened the search engine and saw that it actually played. I love making music with tech-related instruments. My hubby loves computers and has a lot to with getting me hooked.
What inspired you to join the contest?
I initially made a tweet about the video earlier so i decided to do a search on #googledoodle and saw that TechSmith was having a contest. I figured I might as well tag the link and take the risk and put it out to the public. I definitely wasn't expecting this, but I am so glad I did this.
Are you a long-time TechSmith customer?
I currently only have a trial copy of Camtasia for Mac. First time users! My husband is familiar with Snagit but it was the perfect solution for getting the best screen cast quality for what we wanted for the video. Especially for capturing audio coming from the browser/CPU.
Record your GoogleDoodle and Win a Copy of Camtasia
Posted on Thursday June 9, 2011
Take your air guitar to the next level! Have you seen the Les Paul guitar on Google's homepage today? Bring out your inner rockstar and hammer out some tunes! This has to be one of my favorite Google Doodles!
Want to add a video of you singing along on your webcam or preserve your video for all time? Live outside the US? I've heard the Google Doodle doesn't record your song if you live outside the US. That's where Camtasia can help! Use Camtasia to record your GoogleDoodle song!
I have a challenge for you! Record a song with the Les Paul guitar on GoogleDoodle today with Camtasia and share it. Make sure you record system audio. Then tweet a link to your screencast and tag your tweet with the hashtag #doodlecast so we can find it. We'll award our favorite rock star a copy of Camtasia (Mac or PC). The deadline is June 10, 12:00pm EST.
Show us what you got!
Need some inspiration? Check out the video Daniel Foster made.
Read more about the GoogleDoodle and Les Paul story below on Storify.
To celebrate the continued success of Camtasia in the Mac App Store we're giving away one Mac App Store code each day (at a random time) for seven days: May 21-27.
We'll post the codes to the Camtasia Facebook wall, so be sure to Like us so it shows up in your news feed! Each code is good for one use only and will unlock the full version of Camtasia for Mac to the first person who redeems it in the Mac App Store.
...Mac App Store meet Camtasia for Mac! I'm happy to announce that Camtasia for Mac is now available in Mac App Store!
One of the best things about purchasing through the Mac App Store is that whenever we update Camtasia for Mac, the Mac App Store will let you know when an update is available. That way you always have the latest version of Camtasia for Mac! The other nice benefit is that if you buy a new Mac, you can load it with apps you already own. So, it's easy to have Camtasia for Mac on your new computer.
You can click on the image below to see a preview of Camtasia for Mac in the store. You'll also note that there is a place for reviews. I'd really appreciate you to leaving your review of Camtasia for Mac to help others with their purchase decision.
I was recently at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Besides meeting one of Bob Marley's sons, Rohan Marley, the highlights for me were the miles of gadgets and equipment.
A few products I saw on the show floor stood out that looked useful for screencasters... Here's my top 5 list of products for screencasters from CES!
Cinemin Slice from WowWee - This handy little pico projector turns your iPad into a 60 inch projection screen. So, load up your Camtasia screencasts and show them off to the crowd. Added bonus - it has stereo sound. Your screencasts should look and sound great.
Mikey for Flip by Blue Microphones (shown in pic above) - Adding camera video to your screencasts can make them dynamic and give them that personal touch. It can be difficult to get great audio on video cameras using the built in microphone. The clever people at Blue Microphones have solved this problem with Mikey for Flip. This microphone will give you professional sounding audio with your Flip video camera. Your screencasts will sound better and your viewers will thank you.
KODAK PLAYTOUCH video camera - What can I say? This is my camera of choice for any screencasts I do. It can capture full 1080p HD video and it has an external microphone jack so I can get great sounding professional audio. And, it uses SD cards so I can quickly reload memory cards if I run out of space.
Wacom Intuos 4 Wireless Pen Tablet - Using something like a Wacom tablet in your screencast can make your screencast more interesting and dynamic. Wacom's Intuos 4 tablet is now wireless. So, if you're in a classroom or presenting, you're not tied to your computer. You're free to move around the room with it.
iPad Stand from Griffin - An iPad or Tablet can be a very useful tool for screencasters. It's great to have the extra screen for notes or to use as a teleprompter. Griffin has several nice stands for iPads and Tablets. The Arrowhead looks useful for all tablets plus small enough to travel with. I've also been enjoying the Loop stand.
You can see more pics from my trip to CES here.
What gadgets and products have you seen lately that would be useful for a screencaster?
I need your help! It's that time of year! What would you get your favorite screencaster as a gift? What are essential tools that you need to make great screencasts? Maybe it's a camera? Or, storyboard paper? Or, a particular microphone?
I need your input to compile a list of gifts to get your favorite screencaster. Here are the past lists from 2009, 2008, and 2006 (looks like I skipped 2007!). Anton Bollen, our German Evangelist, has started his list which you can see here (in German, but you can see which products he picks).
Feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments or email me! I'll post the list later this month. Thanks for your help! Can't wait to hear what's on your list!
Exclusive Gift for Camtasia Users from Digital Juice
Posted on Thursday December 2, 2010
'Tis the season for giving! As you may have heard on The Forge earlier today, Digital Juice has an exclusive digital gift for Camtasia users to celebrate the holidays!
Digital Juice is giving you 70 High Impact SoundFX and 3 Full-length MusicBOX songs.
What do you have to do? Just sign up here and they will email you download instructions.
The promotion will expire on 12/9/10. So, signup for this offer quickly!
I have a favor to ask of you. If you like the music, please let Digital Juice know and leave a comment here as a thank you for this nice digital gift.
UPDATE: Tune in to The Forge - Live Today at 2pm EST (Recording Available)
Posted on Thursday December 2, 2010
Today is the day! You're in the right spot to tune in live for our December episode of The Forge. To watch the show live, just visit this blog post on the Visual Lounge at 2pm EST to join us! Note: you may need to refresh your browser at 2pm.
What will we be talking about on The Forge today? Mostly music! You'll learn where you can find music that you can use for free and legally in your screencast. Snagit Product Manager, Tiffany Wood, will show you how to build a digital card. We'll look at gifts you can get for screencasters. And, Kevin McAuliffe from Digital Juice will share some music tips with us. We'll also have a few surprises too!
Update: Digital Juice has an exclusive offer for Camtasia users. They're offering 70 High Impact SoundFX and 3 Full-length MusicBOX songs for free! See more details here.
Missed the live show? The recording is below. It runs about 40 minutes.
Our hashtag for the show is: #tscforge
Can't join us live? Don't worry. We'll post the recording here on the blog and on our YouTube channel later.
Screencast of the Week - Behind the Scenes of a Screencast
Posted on Monday November 29, 2010
This week's screencast is from Mel Aclaro. I have to say the title of his blog post about his screencast caught my eye right away - "Camtasia Isn't Just For Screencasting".
I picked this screencast for several reasons. Mel recorded his editing session and narrates over it to explain his workflow in Camtasia for Mac. I love how he shares his tips with us. I feel like I'm learning by looking over Mel's shoulder. Mel also shows how he uses branding and captioning and why they are important. The video is full of lots of great tips and runs just over 14 minutes.
I think Scott Skibell's (from MacScreencasting) comment sums it up. "This is a great way for people to get the most out of their screencast software investment."
Who do you nominate for next Screencast of the Week?
One of my favorite quotes is, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."
And, we've been busy at TechSmith listening to your feedback. I'm happy to share the good news that all products in the Camtasia family are getting upgrades! This includes Camtasia Studio (Windows), Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Relay (server-based).
Available today are upgrades to TechSmith Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2. They both now work more seamlessly with Camtasia Relay. For example, users can now record a camera stream with Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac, edit it on their desktop and send to Camtasia Relay for publishing/distribution.
What else is new in Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2? New features include:
Simplified captioning support
Multiple language support
Speech-to-text transcription (Camtasia Studio)
Importing common caption file formats (SRT and SAMI) and sync with video
Ability to search the content within the videos you create
Screencast.com support for closed captions, caption-based video search, and HTML5-enabled mobile device playback for an end-to-end hosted solution
iPad production presets (Camtasia Studio)
64 bit Codec Support (Camtasia Studio)
See Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2 for a complete list of what's new complete with tutorial videos
The updates to Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac are available today and you can download the upgrades here.
Also, Camtasia Relay 3 (server-based) is getting an upgrade soon. The Camtasia Relay 3 server software is designed for lecture capture and distribution - capturing a variety of lectures on video and distributing them to many people in different formats.
Some of Camtasia Relay's new features include:
Full editing capability offered through a free license of Camtasia Studio 7.1 and Camtasia for Mac 1.2 with every purchase of Camtasia Relay 3
Transcribing audio into closed captions for both Flash and Silverlight
Integrated caption editor to expedite the correction process
iPad production presets
Improved searchable video features
Screencast.com support for closed captions, HTML5-enabled mobile device playback and improved Silverlight support for an end-to-end hosted solution
The Camtasia Relay 3 upgrade is coming soon. You can see what's new here . I'll post here on the blog as soon as it is available.
What do you think about the new features? Will you use them?
I'm a DIY kinda person. In my spare time, I'm knitting, crafting, cooking... making something... anything!
That's why I'm so excited that this weekend, Maker Faire is coming to Detroit, Michigan! Maker Faire is described as the ultimate DIY festival - "It's county fair meets science fair meets farmers market meets burning man for families! ..."
And, that got me thinking about how screencaptures and screencasts bring Maker projects to life by not just telling people about a project, but also showing.
I compiled a list of ways you can use Snagit, Jing, Camtasia and Screencast.com to make your DIY projects more visual. I'd love for some additional ideas. Please chime in on the comments with ways you're using screencaptures and screencasts with your DIY projects.
Aim your Web camera at your hands for a true hands-on demonstration that is easily posted to your blog or website.
Watermark and copyright your demonstrations and images with just a few clicks.
Send your instructional screencast video directly to your YouTube channel.
Archive an in-depth project step-by-step with screen captures and screen recordings.
Narrate a video for online customers to navigate your online store.
Annotate patterns and schematics with Snagit, the world's leading screen capture software.
Use Snagit to convert your annotated pattern into a PDF to sell on Etsy.
Use Snagit or Jing to collect and archive projects, tutorials and ideas on Screencast.com, TechSmith's free hosting solution.
Here are some great examples of Makers making projects visual:
Sandal Woods moves to a 21st Century Toolbench with Camtasia Studio.
Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams from Woodland Park High School in Woodland Park, CO use Camtasia's Picture-in-Picture feature to highlight lab experiments for their class in their screencasts.
Nico DiMattia uses Camtasia to screencast his speed painting.
Use Snagit or Jing to annotate a step-by-step recipe.
Capture Online Templates for Pumpkin Carving Project.
And, if you're going to Maker Faire this weekend, please contact me (email or call/text 517.410.0030)! There will be lots of TechSmithies there. I'd love to meet-up. And, I'll have plenty TechSmith sporks to share. :-) You know you want one! Come find me!
I may have a new addiction. I'm pretty smitten with my iPad. I even bought a new purse that the iPad would fit in so I can carry it around with me all the time. :-) Yes, I have a weakness for gadgets.
One of the reasons I got the iPad was so I could watch and show Camtasia videos on it - the larger 9.7 inch screen is perfect for viewing screencasts. I've heard from several people wonderfing if you can view Camtasia videos on the iPad and how to do it. Well, the good news is that is it possible to play Camtasia Studio, Camtasia for Mac and Jing screencasts on the iPad! There are some tricks. Mike Curtis, an Information Developer at TechSmith has created a screencast that will show you how to successfully create a screencast for your iPad.
Check out the 4 minute screencast below. Mike will walk you through recording dimensions, file formats, codecs, settings and more.
There is also a help topic here that deals with a range of mobile issues. It also explaines how to get from Camtasia for Mac to the iPad.
And, in case you're wondering, Jing Pro MP4 videos will play on the iPad. We recommend you use 1024×768 (hold control key for Jing to snap to the dimension). Jing videos will not play if they exceed the number of pixels in 1280 × 720. Basically, if the video does not work, you will need to make it smaller.
Once you create your videos, you'll need to load your videos onto the iPad. First, you need iTunes. Then you need to sync your iPad with iTunes. Once the iPad is connected to your computer, use the Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and iTunes U panes to select which videos to sync. There is a more detailed tutorial here (look for the sections on Syncing and Syncing Videos). This can be a lot of work. If you don't want to do that, Screencast.com is a good option. You can enable the download link if you want people to have the native viewing experience.
And, if you decide you want to make lots of videos for your iPad. Save your production settings up as a Preset - that way you set it up just once and re-use the settings over and over. Here's how you set one up.
Anyone making screencasts for the iPad? I'd love to see them! Have any tips to share?
Winters can be very long in Michigan. One bright spot when we're knee deep in snow is when the seed and plant catalogs start arriving. That's when I start planning for spring and plotting my garden beds. And, being a techie, I like doing this on the computer.
I recently heard from GrowVeg.com about a series of screencasts they made with Camtasia for Mac. GrowVeg.com is web-based software to help gardeners plan their fruit and vegetable patches. I love that they made a demo screencast of their software so I could check it out before trying out their software. And, they recently launched a major new version of their software. Their screencasts make it easier for people to understand the features of the software without having to read through instructions. They actually embedded a series of short screencasts into the software itself!
GrowVeg.com mentioned that they used SmartFocus because they needed to keep the video size down so that it would fit in the embedded window. They could still show the detail on dialog boxes so they are clear and easy to read. Perfect use of SmartFocus. If you want to see how to use SmartFocus for Camtasia for Mac, here's a tutorial.
Click on the pic below to see GrowVeg.com's Quick Start screencast. It's a quick one that runs 3:32. You can see all their screencasts on their YouTube channel.
Any nominations for next week's Screencast of the Week? Email or post your nomination in the comments.
24 Screencasts About Camtasia in 24 Hours... Starts Now!
Posted on Tuesday July 13, 2010
Here we go! It's time to kick off our marathon of 24 Screencasts about Camtasia in 24 hours!
Tune in live here. We will also have a chat room going in there as well. And, you can follow us on Twitter as well @techsmith and @betsyweber. We'll be giving some fun prizes throughout the day too! The hash tag we're using today is #camtasia24
I will post the videos on this blog post as soon as we finish producing them (I figured you didn't want 24 different blog posts). :-) We plan on recording close to the top of the hour if you'd like to tune in.
Matt Pierce, our Customer Engagement Manager, is the host of the videos so you'll see him in most of the screencasts we make. Plus, we'll have several guests throughout the day.
You can see some pics from behind the scenes here.
I hope you'll pick up some new tips and tricks throughout the day. And, please come ask us questions in our chat room. We're happy to post some bonus videos in addition to the ones listed above. Plus, we'll need you to help keep us awake throughout the night!
The countdown is on and it's almost time... I'm ready for one last night of good sleep before we pull our all-nighter starting tomorrow morning for 24 hours of Camtasia! I'm really excited because we'll have a few guests stopping by to share their knowledge with you. And, I have a treat for you - Bil Moore is one of those people.
Stories are how we learn. They're how we pass information from one generation to the next. Want to capture someone's attention? Tell a good story. Any topic can be enhanced through the use of a story. Your screencast included. As part of our 24 hour Camtasia marathon, Bil Moore will share the basics of creating a story and why it will help you to communicate an idea.
Tune in to the TechSmith LiveStream Channel at 11:00am ET to hear Bil talk about storytelling. We'll also record Bil's segment if you can't join us live.
Bil is one of my favorite storytellers. He has presented at two Ignite Lansing events. His presentations are engaging, entertaining, informative and tell a great story. To get a taste of Bil's style and storytelling, check out 2 examples below from his Ignite Lansing presentations. They run 5 minutes each.
Clunkers for Cash
Need a job? Cluck like a Chicken!
Who is Bil Moore? He is an award-winning speaker, salesperson and communicator. His expertise includes customer loyalty, personal development and branding. He helps companies create a memorable customer service experience and increase their sales. You can find out more about Bil here.
Count Down to 24 Camtasia Screencasts in 24 Hours...
Posted on Saturday July 10, 2010
Our 24 hour marathon for Camtasia is just around the corner. I'm wrapping up all the last minute details and rounding up all items we'll need. Microphones? Check! Webcams and cameras? Check! Midnight snacks? Check! Prizes?! Check!
Yes, we'll have lots of prizes that we will give away during our 24 hour Camtasia Marathon starting on Tuesday, July 13 at 8:00am ET.
What do you have to do for a chance to win? Simply tune in to the TechSmith LiveStream Channel and follow the @TechSmith twitter feed throughout our 24 hour marathon - day or night. You'll have a chance to win copies of Camtasia Studio and Camtasia for Mac as well as some fun things like microphones, books, TechSmith t-shirts, mugs, the coveted TechSmith spork and more!
We'll have a wide selection of books that are perfect for any screencaster that you could win, including:
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery by Garr Reynolds
Presentation Zen Design: Simple Design Principles and Techniques to Enhance Your Presentations by Garr Reynolds
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte
Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire by Cliff Atkinson
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam
Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun
Designing Interfaces: Patterns for Effective Interaction Design by Jenifer Tidwell
Visual Language for Designers: Principles for Creating Graphics That People Understand by Connie Malamed
You can see all the books on my 'Suggested Reading list for Screencasters'.
Brush up on your TechSmith and Camtasia trivia and you could win some prizes!
Meet Dan Spencer - Using Screencasts Effectively in the Classroom
Posted on Thursday July 8, 2010
We're gearing up for the 24 hour screencast marathon about Camtasia next week. One of the things that I'm most excited about is that we have some guests coming in to share how they're using Camtasia in the field.
Meet Dan Spencer - he's a fellow Michigander who has taught chemistry, physics and engineering at Michigan Center High School for the past several years.
Dan's classroom is no ordinary classroom. Dan uses Camtasia for Mac in his classroom to create screencasts of his lectures and then he loads them onto iPod Touches so his students can learn the material at a pace that works for them. Dan will share how he uses Camtasia for Mac and screencasts effectively in the classroom. Plus he'll share how "flipped" his classroom around so the screencast lectures became homework and he could be available for his students when they needed his help the most during class.
Tune in at Noon ET on July 13 on our live stream here to learn more from Dan and chat with him. Can't join us live? We will be recording Dan's segment and posting it on the blog as soon as we produce it on Tuesday.
Hi, my name is Betsy and I don't need any sleep. Well, really, I do, but we had so much fun pulling an all-nighter for Snagit that we're going to do it again for Camtasia!
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, July 13. We will make 24 screencasts in 24 hours about Camtasia! You can tune in here on our LiveStream Channel starting at 8:00am ET (GMT - 4:00). You'll get to meet many people on the Camtasia team including Shane Lovellette, the Product Manager, Camtasia developers, members of our training and tech support teams and a few special guests.
You'll get loads of insider tips and tricks for Camtasia Studio, Camtasia for Mac and screencasting. And, don't fear - if you cannot tune-in live, we'll be recording each segment and posting the produced videos throughout the day here on the blog.
I'll also have a variety of prizes to give away on our LiveStream Channel and on Twitter - @techsmith. So, brush up on your Camtasia and TechSmith trivia!
We'll hit on a variety of topics including:
The History of Camtasia
Use Cursor data to change the cursor AFTER you record
Playhead improvements
Direct upload to Screencast.com
The new User Interface - why the change?
System audio - it's finally here!
Understanding editing tracks on the Camtasia for Mac timeline
Aspect ratios and alternate dimensions
Recording and codecs
YouTube - What's the best format?
The art of storytelling
Getting great sound
The power of Hotkeys
All about the Library
Microphone and Webcam Roundup
Things you never thought to do with screen recording
Ignite your screencast - recording live events.
Using Camtasia in Education
Sketch Motion Callouts and how to use them
More details to come! Oh, and I have slots open for 'Viewer's Choice'. That's where I need your help! What would you like to see us cover? Chime in on the comments...
Need Special Effects for Camtasia for Mac Screencasts?
Posted on Thursday April 15, 2010
Sometimes you need to focus your users attention in your screencast.to certain areas of the screen or you need them to follow your cursor. Or, maybe you want to add a little pizzaz to your video.
I've found a great app that compliments Camtasia for Mac nicely. If you'd like to add some screen effects to your screencast, check out OmniDazzle.
OmniDazzle offers a wide array of options to add some nice visuals to your Mac screencasts - like a flashlight effect that illuminates your cursor and follows it around the screen while also dimming your background. Or there is a bullseye effect that follows your mouse cursor around the screen.
OmniDazzle has several screen and cursor effects, including:
Pixie Dust
Flashlight
Cutout
Sonar
Focal Point
Scribble
Bullseye
Waves
Comic
Footprints
Zoom
Best of all, the price is right! OmniDazzle is free!
What other tools do you like to use with Camtasia Studio or Camtasia for Mac?
The day is finally here! And, I'm excited to report two good pieces of news! Not only do we have a new version of Camtasia Studio 7 available today, but we also have a new release for Camtasia for Mac 1.1! You can download trials of each here.
Over the past few days, I've shared with you some of the new features coming in Camtasia Studio 7. The last one I wanted to share with you was Camtasia Studio's new library. The library makes your videos look awesome - it comes stocked with a range of professionally-designed assets like audio effects, background images, and more from Digital Juice. You can find additional free library content here. The library makes it easy to store your callouts, title slides and other assets so you can use them again in your next project or even share them with colleagues.
Check out the quick video below to see the new library in action. It runs less than a minute long.
What's new in Camtasia Studio 7? Here's a quick list:
Library for reusable content
New callouts (including sketch motion and keystrokes)
New cursor effects and workflow
Copy and Paste functionality on timeline
Improved SmartFocus performance
Improved recording performance
Improved YouTube integration
Improved Audio Enhancements
If you want to see the entire list of what's new, please visit here.
And, while you talked and shared feedback, we listened and took notes. Camtasia for Mac 1.1 is also available today with your top feature requests added! It's a free upgrade for all Camtasia for Mac 1.0 owners.
Included in the update to Camtasia for Mac is the option to do a region recording. You can select a custom area or from preset dimensions to record only a part of your screen. This can eliminate the need to crop and zoom. Use multiple displays? You can also choose which monitor you'd like to record.
Also added in Camtasia for Mac 1.1 is the ability to pause your recording. Perfect if you take a breather or recompose yourself. Plus, there were several audio enhancements as well. You can do a voice-only recording and capture the microphone audio only (skip recording the screen video). It allows you to record a voiceover. You can also scrub your audio clean from distractions like keyboard clicks, fan noise, and overly loud or uneven voice levels. Effects include clipping reduction, clicking reduction, dynamics processor, noise reduction and pitch adjustment.
You can see more information about what's new in Camtasia for Mac 1.1 here.
Enough talk about the new releases! Go try them out. I'd love to hear what you think and your feedback! Enjoy!
Suggestions Needed - Screencaster Suggested Reading List
Posted on Sunday January 31, 2010
I recently had a request by email to share a list of suggested books for screencasters. So, I asked a few people around the office like Daniel Foster, our newsletter editor, Matt Pierce, our Customer Engagement Manager, and Dave McCollom, TechSmith's Education Evangelist.
And, I was also thinking about different elements of a screencast: preparation, planning, writing, graphics, presentation, storytelling and promotion.
Based on that, here are some of the books we came up on our suggested reading list for screencasters:
The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam - A picture is worth a thousand words. This book helps you create compelling graphics and visuals for your screencasts.
Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson - learn how to use storytelling and graphics to effectively communicate. I've seen Cliff speak several times - he has wonderful advice!
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte - effective visual communication for your screencasts. Make great graphics especially when recording PowerPoint. I've seen Nancy present several times - every time I see her speak, I am in awe.
Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun - learn techniques behind what great communicators do and how to effectively present ideas. Use these tricks to make better screencasts.
The Screencasting Handbook by Ian Ozsvald - Ian has created hundreds of screencasts and his handbook reviews software and microphones, processes and techniques.
Promotion:
Get Seenby Steve Garfield - now that you've created your screencast, make sure your screencasts are promoted and seen!
We recently had our first DemoCamp in Lansing, Michigan. It was a great event where developers, designers, students and entrepreneurs come show cool stuff they have created and have been working on.
One of the presenters, Daniel J. Hogan, shared how he records his podcast, The Magic of Eyri.
And, he gave a great tip that could help all you screencasters and save you time editing.
When recording audio, I've learned it's not a matter of if I'll make a mistake in my narration, but rather when I'll make a mistake. For me, it's going to happen and I will have to edit that audio. Daniel had a great technique for editing audio. When he makes a mistake, he clicks one of those dog training clickers by the microphone. That spikes the audio so when you need to edit, you can easily see where on the audio timeline you need to focus on since you can see the spikes on the audio wave.
Don't have time to get a dog training clicker? You could also tap the microphone if you make a mistake.
See how you can easily find the section of audio you need to focus on? Makes editing a lot faster, especially if you're making a longer screencast.
What's On Your Screencast Gift Wish List for 2009?
Posted on Thursday December 10, 2009
It's that time of year... And, I need your help! In the past, we've done gift lists for Screencasters in 2006 and 2008. It's time to compile the list for what to get your favorite screencaster for 2009.
I'll get the list started for the screencasters on your 'nice' list:
Storyboard graph paper - perfect for planning your screencasts and stories. I like that one side of the paper is a story board and the back side is just a dot grid if you need to map out bigger ideas without the constraint of the storyboard.
Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera I just switched to this video camera because it has an external audio jack. I can use my own microphone with this camera and get awesome audio even when I'm recording in at a tradeshow or other event. It is a nice camera if I want to mix real world video with my screencast.
And, here's where I need your help. Chime in! What equipment, software or other items would you get for your favorite screencaster? What if they are on the naughty list?!
Be the Camtasia for Mac Product Manager for a Day...
Posted on Wednesday November 18, 2009
If you could take Troy Stein's job as the Camtasia for Mac Product Manager for one day... what would you do with the product?
Camtasia for Mac was released a little over 2 months ago. And, as you know, we're always looking for feedback and ways to improve. Our software is better because of you and your input.
As the Product Manager, part of Troy's job is to set the roadmap for Camtasia for Mac, select new features and functionality, see trends and steer the product.
So, if you were the Camtasia for Mac Product Manager job for a day, what would you do? What features and functionality would you add? What problems would you solve? What would you change?
We owe you a big thank you for the last 10 years... This month we're celebrating Camtasia's 10th birthday thanks to you and your support. Camtasia was launched at Comdex in November 1999.
A lot has happened over the last 10 years. Camtasia now supports both the PC and Mac. Camtasia Relay joined the Camtasia family. We've added support for many different file formats like SWF, MP4, WMV and MOV. And, we're always working on new features and functionality.
Jon Udell gave the 'video screencapture' medium a name and coined the term, Screencast. Technology keeps changing over the last 10 years. Hard drives keep getting bigger, internet connections get faster by the day, YouTube arrived, and iPods and other mobile devices showed up on the scene.
We compiled a fun timeline below that shows some Camtasia milestones, advertising and logos, reviews, feature releases and technology milestones. Check out the timeline below.
I went on a hunt around the office to find some old Camtasia memorabilia. We snapped some pictures with some fellow TechSmithies having fun with Camtasia's old logos and boxes. I made a video below showing them off. It's a short video that runs less than 2 minutes long.
;
And, I need your help... If you have a few minutes to spare, please send me a photo with yourself holding a sign about Camtasia (I heart Camtasia or similar sign) or a Camtasia box. I'd love to make a video showing off all of you! Email the pics to me.
Also, to celebrate, Sales is having a sale on Camtasia Studio. For a limited time, save an extra 10% on already-discounted volume licenses of Camtasia Studio, Snagit, or both in a bundle. Details are here.
I hope you'll join us in the celebration! Where would you like to see Camtasia go in the next 10 years?!
We asked, you responded! Remember last month when I asked for your tips to share with a new screencaster here? We compiled all of your comments from this blog post, as well as comments from the Education blog and our Newsletter. Big thanks to the 40 people who responded. I appreciate it!
From your responses and tips, we created a booklet "What would you tell a new screencaster?". Download your free copy here. If you left us a comment, your name will be listed in the booklet! Now, if I could just meet up with all the contributors and get a signed copy, I'd be all set!
The booklet has several sections including: General Tips, Content & Planning, Before Recording, During Recording, and Editing & Production.
The top tips (by number of mentions):
* plan out screencast &
do practice takes
* create a script/storyboard
* shut down apps to free up memory & avoid pop-up notifications
* use a good mic
Download your free copy here and feel free to share the PDF with others you think would find it useful.
Thanks to all who shared their knowledge and tips! What else would you like to learn from others about?
This week's Screencast of the Week is a great one! How many of you take pictures? If you're like me, you love taking pictures to document travels, capture milestones and fun times with friends, family and co-workers. What if you took those pics, added some background music and turned it into a video to share with your friends and family? It's a great way to commemorate good times!
John Basile (aka Scraster) did that for his good friends who had chronicled the progress of their pregnancy with a photo session every Sunday morning. The baby, (John's Goddaughter) was born September 13th. Around that time, John's friends handed off the Sunday morning photo series and a fitting Velvet Underground song on a Flash drive. John put together the following slideshow using Camtasia for Mac.
I asked John how he created the screencast with Camtasia for Mac. Here's what he shared with me:
"In Pro Tools, I edited the Velvet Underground's track Sunday Morning to include the intro, an instrumental break, and the fade out ending. I brought the audio into Camtasia for Mac, along with all the images (as JPGs). In the Timeline preferences, I set the Default Image Duration to 3 seconds and the Default Transition Duration to .05 seconds. I had to fine-tune a lot of the clip and transition durations, but having the drag-and-drop fade-in/fade-out actions is a huge time saver. I enjoy using Camtasia for Mac over than other slideshow softwares I've worked with because it allows for more control and detail when timing images to audio."
Check out the screencast below. It runs just under a minute long.
All About Screencasting - Meet Scrast and Camtasia Users Group
Posted on Wednesday September 30, 2009
Calling all Camtasia users! There have been some great resources cropping up on the internet for screencasters and Camtasia users that I wanted to share with all of you.
First up, check out Scrast. Scrast is a site all about screencasting. Scrast launched earlier this year and they've been adding more content, tips and tricks and tutorials all the time. They have a nice section with 'Tips for better Screencasts' and a section dedicated to Camtasia.
Also, Camtasia Studio expert, Lon Naylor has set up the Camtasia Users Group. There are already 155 members sharing tips, tricks and techniques in the group. I love the tagline for the group, "Simply useful Camtasia stuff!".
Have you found other useful sites for Camtasia users and screencasters?
Camtasia for Mac - Resizing Applications Screencast
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2009
We've received a fair number of requests to capture a specific window or region with Camtasia for Mac. As we've talked with customers who've asked for this functionality, we've come to understand that some of the primary goals are to minimize the editing (and zooms) and produce specific dimensions, for example an HD video for YouTube. Camtasia for Mac Product Manager, Troy Stein, has created a 3 minute video showing how to resize applications and browser windows and produce the videos at the same dimensions. Check it out below.
Troy also shows two complimentary applications: setmy.browsersize.com and Mercury Mover.
Troy and I will be making some more screencasts over the next few weeks. Any requests on what you'd like to see or learn? Or, maybe you could help me convince him to pull another all nighter and make 24 Camtasia for Mac screencasts in 24 hours? What do you think?!?
Troy Stein, the Camtasia for Mac Product Manager, and I need your help.
We are going to do some screencasts on Thursday to give you some tips and tricks about Camtasia for Mac. And, we want to make sure we're answering your questions. What questions did you have, what would you like us to talk about, or show you about Camtasia for Mac?
Screencast of the Week - Tom Green Bends Flash Video
Posted on Sunday August 30, 2009
This week's Screencast of the Week comes from the wonderful Mr. Tom Green.
Tom made a screencast for Layers Magazine - The How-To Magazine For Everything Adobe about 'Bending Flash Video in After Effects'. You can read the article and see his screencast here, or click the screenshot below.
I picked this screencast for a couple of reasons - Tom made this screencast with Camtasia for Mac and it is a great example of Camtasia for Mac in action. I like his use of zooming and panning to direct my attention where the action is in the screencast. His audio and the pace of the screencast was good - I felt like I was looking over Tom's shoulder and learning from him. Very informative tutorial!
Congrats on being this week's Screencast of the Week, Tom! When Tom is not busy getting into trouble, he is a Professor of Interactive Multimedia at the Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning in Toronto. You can read more about him here!
Any nominations for next week's Screencast of the Week?
Today is the day that many of you have been waiting for! I'm really happy and pleased to finally be able to share Camtasia for Mac v1.0 with you! Thank you for supporting us on this fun journey! We built Camtasia for Mac from the ground up. We conducted focus groups, surveys, and received great feedback from a good number of very early beta testers, and did lots of usability testing. I hope you enjoy the product as much as we enjoyed creating it.
Get comfortable, this is a long blog post! I wanted to show you what is new in Camtasia for Mac as well as answer some question I've been hearing lately.
So, on with the show!
Tour
Last week I shared with you some sneak peek screencasts about some of the features in Camtasia for Mac. Want to see Camtasia for Mac in action? Check out this useful Overview Video. Or, you can read our product tour here.
Getting Started
Ready to take Camtasia for Mac v1.0 on a test drive and kick the tires? Download a fully functional, 30 day copy of Camtasia for Mac here!
You'll find hours of free training here. And, like all TechSmith products, we offer free tech support here whether you're using the eval or whether you've purchased Camtasia for Mac. We stand by our products.
Making the Switch
Are you a veteran Camtasia Studio user and want to make the switch to Camtasia for Mac? You can check out some training videos to help you transition to Camtasia for Mac here.
One of the questions I've been hearing a lot is if you can share your recordings from Camtasia Studio on the PC with Camtasia for Mac? You can share your source files across products and platforms. Make sure you check out this tutorial about the Camtasia for Mac file formats and how to share files across computers here.
Another question I've heard is if you will be able to use the same license on both platforms, transfer it over or get credit? Well, Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Studio are separate products that require separate licenses. As a special for our PC users, for a limited time, customers who already own a valid license for Camtasia Studio 6.0 or later are eligible for an additional discount on Camtasia for Mac. And, new customers purchasing Camtasia for both platforms are eligible for the same discount. If you have questions or are a Camtasia Studio v6 user that needs to request your discount, contact our Sales Department here
Is there a difference between Camtasia for Mac and Camtasia Studio?
Yes, Camtasia Studio for the PC and Camtasia for Mac are different. You can see what is different between the products here. Each product has some features the other doesn't. Why? Well, Camtasia for Mac is a new product. Camtasia Studio is over nine years old with years of growth and development under its belt. Camtasia for Mac has been and will continue to be built on to meet the specific needs of our users on the Mac platform. Since Camtasia for Mac seeks to solve the specific problems and needs of our Mac users, there are and will likely continue to be distinct differences between the features in the two products. However, you'll also notice some similarities. As always, developing our products is an ongoing conversation with you, our customer, so that we offer the best products to meet your needs. We are working very hard to ensure that our Mac versions of our products are not just PC software made for the Mac - we want our products to be the best in the market for visual communication solutions for the Mac.
System Requirements
Required:
• Mac computer with an Intel processor
• Mac OS X v10.5.6 or later
• Quartz Extreme support
• 1GB of RAM
• Approximately 4GB of available disk space
• QuickTime 7.5.5 or later
• CD drive required for installation
Recommended:
• Mac computer with an Intel processor (dual core 2.0GHz or faster)
• 2GB of RAM or greater
• At least 4GB of disk space available for subsequent recordings
What's the word on the street?
Our beta testers put Camtasia for Mac through the paces. Here's what they had to say about Camtasia for Mac and some of their screencasts.
"Camtasia for Mac is as intuitive as a professional-grade screencasting software can be," said John Basile, team leader at Scraster Professional Screencasting. "It's amazingly well thought out and its performance--even since its beta stage--has proved flawless. Camtasia for Mac is a very welcomed game-changer in the world of screencasting." A Scraster screencast created with Camtasia for Mac can be viewed here.
"Camtasia for Mac has already been key to iPhone app marketing for Bickbot," said John Ellenich, lead designer for Bickbot.com. "It creates stunning screencasts of our apps, which helps us rise above other developers." A Bickbot.com screencast created with Camtasia for Mac of their new iPhone application, Strokes, can be viewed here.
I'd love to see what you create with Camtasia for Mac. Email me with a link to your screencast or post it in the blog comments!
We need your help
What next? Well, you tell us. That's where we need your help. We cannot develop products without you. Give Camtasia for Mac v1.0 a try and let us know what you think. We're listening - we need to know what you want and need in future versions. Please comment on the blog or send us feedback here.
Camtasia for Mac - Sneak Peek, Production & Sharing
Posted on Friday August 21, 2009
Welcome to Day 5 of our sneak peeks of Camtasia for Mac. I heard my fellow TechSmithies celebrated the upcoming release back at our home office with a cake! I hope someone saved me a piece! :-)
After you've created your screencast in Camtasia for Mac, chances are that you want to share your masterpiece. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can share your screencasts on the web, Screencast.com, on YouTube or on an iPod or iPhone.
Camtasia for Mac produces files with all the options that QuickTime currently supports including the playback of high quality H.264 MOV videos in the Flash player that are great looking, accommodate mobile and Web playback, and handles both screen content as well as camera video.
Want to share your screencasts on YouTube? Camtasia for Mac screen recording can be automatically uploaded to your YouTube account for normal, high-quality or HD playback when created and produced with the appropriate specifications.
Camtasia for Mac is also integrated with Screencast.com so you can host and share your videos exactly how you created them with no-recompressing or reformatting and you retain complete control and ownership of all your content.
Tired of reading about it? Let's see it in action! Check out this screencast! It runs 45 seconds long.
And, I wanted to thank everyone - I appreciate all the comments and feedback so far. Keep the questions coming. Unfortunately, I cannot answer some of your questions until we launch on Tuesday, August 25. All will be revealed on that day. :-) And, you'll be able to try out Camtasia for Mac yourself. I can't wait to see what you create!
I've been bouncing around the country on planes, trains and automobiles today trying to get to Seattle for Gnomedex. Thankfully I eventually made it to Seattle, but unfortunately my luggage did not. :-) So, I'll keep the sneak peek for Camtasia for Mac short and sweet tonight.
Sometimes you need to draw your viewers attention to a particular area of the screen. Or, you need to provide them with additional instruction. There's a way to easily do this with Camtasia for Mac. You can add text annotations, shapes and arrows to your screencasts. You can title and credit clips throughout your screencast and brand your video before sharing it.
Check out this screencast to see Camtasia for Mac's Text and Shape options in action. The screencast runs less than a minute.
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.
It's time for another sneak peek all about Camtasia for Mac!
One of the things that sets a good screencast apart from a great screencast is a little polish. After you've recorded your screencast, you can use Camtasia for Mac's sophisticated editing options to make your screencasts standout from the rest.
Whether you're new to screencasting or are an expert, Camtasia for Mac has great features and options for you. Camtasia for Mac gives you the freedom to add new content to your project and has the ability to add multiple audio tracks, and virtually unlimited video tracks to layer on images and additional video for depth, understanding and entertainment so your audience is engaged. And, the multiple audio and video tracks can be moved and edited independently so it's easy to update and add new elements while maintaining maximum creative control.
And, in Camtasia for Mac, you can use more advanced editing functions without having to worry about your existing audio, video and images getting out of sync.
Check out this screencast that shows you how to add polish to your screencasts with Camtasia for Mac. It's a short video that runs less than 40 seconds.
I've never been good at keeping secrets. Even to this day, I still have a hard time keeping holiday gifts or other news as a secret - I just get so excited and have to share the good news!
So, blog readers, you get the benefit from my weakness! I'm going to let you in on a few secrets as we get closer to the launch of Camtasia for Mac on August 25.
Up first is a sneak peek of one of the new features in Camtasia for Mac - SmartFocus. Those of you familiar with Camtasia Studio on Windows will recognize this feature. Camtasia for Mac will also include TechSmith's patented SmartFocus technology.
How does SmartFocus work? You can record the whole screen while the SmartFocus technology keeps track where all the action happens during the recording behind the scenes. Then, when it's time to edit the video, SmartFocus automatically zooms in on the parts of the screen that I need to show which helps focus viewers attention. That means I can record full screen and deliver my screen recorded videos at any dimension with superb clarity at any size - whether it's for my blog, website, or an Apple mobile device like an iPhone.
SmartFocus is completely automatic, but if I choose, I can add and edit SmartFocus key frames for greater precision over zoom and pans, as well as edit key frames of any element on the timeline and change its location and properties over time. So, it can be automatic or customizable. Your choice.
It's great for creating dynamic screencasts or to highlight a particular section of your screen, or create a fly-over effect, or focus your viewer's attention for greater detail.
Want to see it in action? Check out this quick screencast. It is less than a minute long.
Look like a feature you'll use? What do you think?
We're busy working behind the scenes at TechSmith gearing up for the launch of Camtasia for Mac later this month! We're excited and hope you are too!
In the interim, I thought you might be curious about what kind of videos you'll be able to easily make with Camtasia for Mac. So, roll out the red carpet, grab some popcorn, and get comfortable... check out a screencast, Troy Stein, recently made using Camtasia for Mac.
Stay tuned... I'll be sharing more information and additional screencasts as we count down to the release of Camtasia for Mac on August 25!
You have probably already heard that we've been working on Camtasia for Mac. I'm happy to say that the wait is finally over ...well almost :-)
Camtasia for Mac will be available on August 25! Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing more information and details with you about the release.
Camtasia for Mac will have a special introductory price of $99, through the end of 2009. After that, the MSRP will be $149.
I've posted some preview screenshots of the UI (user interface) of Camtasia for Mac at the end of this blog post.
In the meantime, if you'd like to be alerted the minute Camtasia for Mac is available, please sign up here and we'll get the news to you as soon as possible. And, you can follow the news here on the blog and on twitter too.
Are you excited? Because we are! Thanks for all your feedback at tradeshows, events, via email, twitter, and blogs about Camtasia for Mac. We could not have created it without your input and help! And, we look forward to more feedback from you - you make our products better!
This page contains an archive of all entries posted to The Visual Lounge in the “Camtasia for Mac” category. The blog entries are listed from oldest to newest.
What have you discovered during your fourth and final week of the test drive?
In the future we'll walk through specific tools and strategies for increasing Google rankings specific to businesses in regional niches. Historically, this wouldn't have been a possibility because most of these customers' price points wouldn't have made it profitable for us. But with Camtasia we can quickly update videos based on the ever changing Google landscape with minimal resource commitment on our end, making inexpensive training models a sensible solution for smaller niche businesses, and providing enough volume for us to be profitable supporting them. This is an exciting and scalable new opportunity for our business.
What are some of the lessons learned during this test drive?
Jaclyn Nagel is a digital media intern at TechSmith. She goes to Michigan State University and enjoys road trips, going to sporting events, music and bike riding. Email her at j.nagel@techsmith.com. 
What are some of the lessons learned during this test drive?
CiesaDesign consists of 16 staff members with a wide range of skills in print and digital communications. Chris VanWyck and Thomas Ro gave us their perspective on week three.
Jerod Karam, Director of Online Marketing for Netvantage Marketing, gave us an inside look at his process of creating his first and second screencasts.
