• Blogs
• Forums
• Tradeshows
• Partners
• White Papers
• Podcast Show Notes
• Events

 

Edit Expertise: Screencam Production

Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer

TechSmith Camtasia Studio features one-source recording, editing, and encoding capabilities.

Editing your recording

Once you finish recording, click Stop in the recording controls. Camtasia will play the recorded file and ask if you want to save or delete the recording. If it's a keeper, click Save, then name the file and save it. Next, click Edit My Recording in the Post-Save Options window to start editing.

The first screen you’ll see is the Project Settings window shown in Figure 4. Here's where you choose your target output resolution, either by clicking the Web, CD, Blog, or iPod button — which all have fixed resolutions — or by choosing a resolution from the All dropdown list, which includes the original resolution. As mentioned above, I'll produce this video at 640×480.

Because we captured at 1024×768, however, now we'll have to tell Camtasia how to squeeze the video into the output window. You have two resizing options: Change the video dimensions and apply SmartFocus, or simply change the video dimensions.

SmartFocus is another new feature of version 5. In situations such as this one, where I captured at a larger resolution than I'll distribute, SmartFocus pans and zooms the video around the display window in an attempt to present your video within the smaller window most effectively. It works by analyzing input such as cursor movements, mouse clicks, text entry, and windows opening and closing. It's applied during editing, so you don't have to do anything special while recording in order to employ this feature.

Although it's not perfect, SmartFocus is a total win-win. Give it a try, and if it works well, you're that much closer to being done. My major complaint is that SmartFocus didn't always include critical screen controls, so viewers sometimes couldn't see critical regions. It often cut off program windows and other obvious edges in the video, which looks haphazard. I've uploaded two files to digitalcontentproducer.com/videos/dcptv: one video with SmartFocus and the other with manual focus, so you can see the difference.

Again, you have two options in the Project Settings window: either give SmartFocus a try and adjust the results, or start from scratch and manually set all pans and zooms as I demonstrate below. Whichever option you choose, once you click OK, you end up in the Camtasia Studio editor (Figure 1).

Camtasia Studio looks just like a video editor, which is exactly what it is. In fact, it bears a striking resemblance to Microsoft Movie Maker 2, hinting at some kind of shared parentage. As an editor, you can perform all the normal functions — such as splitting; trimming; joining multiple clips; editing audio; and adding callouts, titles, and transitions. You can even insert a picture-in-picture or add a quiz, which is way beyond the scope of this simple project.

Alternatively, you can edit the captured videos in your typical editor, and I've used both Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro with great success. While the editing controls are more extensive and more precise in your video editor, it probably won't come close to matching the breadth and richness of Camtasia's output capabilities.

Before describing these, let's have a quick look at Camtasia's pan and zoom controls. In most projects, I would start by showing the entire program squeezed into the display window as an establishing shot, then pan and zoom around to follow the action. In Camtasia Studio, move the playhead indicator to the desired spot and click Zoom-n-Pan in the middle box of the Edit Task List on the top left side of the screen (Figure 6). This opens the Zoom-n-Pan Properties window.

A green box in the upper-left-hand corner of the Squeeze interface represents the video shown in the display window, which you resize using the Scale slider and position by dragging the box to the desired location. The duration control determines how long it takes Camtasia to transition from the previous view to the new view. I usually accept the 1-second default.

Once you add and configure the first effect, scroll through Camtasia's preview window to the next location and click the green plus sign to the right of the effect list to add a new effect. Customize that effect and then move to the next one; when you're done, close the window by clicking the Finished button on the top right.

In terms of other editing features, on either video I uploaded to digitalcontentproducer.com/videos/dcptv, you'll notice that I added a title, several callouts, and other effects offered by Camtasia.

Rendering in Camtasia

Again, Camtasia's rendering options are quite extensive, so I'll just cover two. First, you can produce your screencam to all relevant formats — including Flash, Windows Media, QuickTime, and RealVideo — and for devices such an the iPod. A simple wizard walks you through the process, and Camtasia creates the compressed video file and all HTML, Java, XML, and other files necessary to play the resulting video from a website. Camtasia can even upload the files to the target website for you.

The other noteworthy option is Camtasia Theater, which is a simple way to link multiple files into a single cohesive presentation (Figure 7). Just select the videos you'd like to include in the presentation and customize the look, and then Camtasia will produce all files necessary to post the project to a website.

That's Camtasia Studio — the fastest and easiest way to record, produce, and distribute screencam-based video.

---

To comment on this article, email the Digital Content Producer staff at feedback@digitalcontentproducer.com.

Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.
© 2012 NewBay Media, LLC.