Camtasia Studio 6.0 Techsmith s Camtasia Studio software is a video screenshot creation utility that makes it easy to create video tutorials of an on screen action. This handout is designed to get you started on creating a basic video tutorial. The best way to grasp the depth of this product is to use it. Decide on a specific computer related task you would like demonstrate and use this handout to help you create it. Techsmith offers helpful video tutorials on Camtasia Studio on their website (http://www.techsmith.com/learn/camtasia/getting-started/default.asp). PART I The Basics Recording Screen 1. Have the program you would like to capture ready before opening Camtasia. Open Camtasia Studio. 2. The Welcome - Camtasia Studio window will appear. Choose Record the Screen 2 3. The Recording Dashboard will appear. If you will be recording voice narration, have your microphone attached and select your microphone source by clicking the arrow to the right of Audio. Next, adjust recording levels by speaking into your mic and adjusting the blue slider to the right. 3-4 4. On the left you have the Select area section: Full Screen: This will select your whole monitor. Custom Select: The cursor will change to a hand with a Plus sign (+) pointer, click and drag from the starting point (upper left) to the lower right of the screen area you want and release. Note: the bigger the screen selection, the bigger your final file size will be. 5. Recording Effects draw attention to areas while recording. To enable the effects toolbar: from the dashboard select Tools>Recording Toolbars, check the box for Effects Toolbar 5 and click OK. When you record the effects toolbar will be available in pause mode for you to select: Screen Draw Add drawing effects over the screen as you record. Tools available are: Pen, arrow, line, ellipse, frame, highlight. To change Tool. Color or Width, click on the down arrow to the right of each tool. Cursor Effects focuses the viewer s attention to the movement of the mouse cursor and ensures that the cursor does not blend into the background. The effect will not appear while recording. Note: the Effects toolbar will only appear when you pause your recording. Johnstone/budiman - 1/2007 Portland Community College, 1
6. After pressing the record button on the dashboard, a countdown of 1,2 and 3 will appear. The controls for Restart, Resume, Stop, will appear. Use these controls for recording. You can also use the shortcut keys: F9 to start/pause recording F10 to stop recording. 6 7. Once the green brackets begin to flash, Camtasia is recording and you can egin your narration and screen capture. Click Stop or F10 when you have finished. 7 Tips: If you make a mistake during recording, pause your voice narration and start again without stopping the recording process. After you re finish, you can clip out that mistake during editing. Better yet, prepare a script or outline of your voice narration to help in the recording process. 8. When you press stop, the Camtasia Recorder Preview appears and your recording begins to play. You can Save or Delete the recording you have just made. Click the Save button, name the project (project1.camrec) and choose the location to save this project. If you choose Delete, a confirmation message will come up, click Yes to confirm. 8 9. Select Edit, name your file and begin editing when it opens in Camtasia. 10. Select Produce to save your recording as a.camrec file (Camtasia Recording) 11. The Project Settings window will appear, just when depends on your choice of Save, Edit or Produce. You can view presets by clicking on the down arrow. For a web delivery of content, simply choose the Web option (size: 640 x 480) 11 Johnstone, Budiman 1/30//2007 Portland Community College, 2
PART II Editing The Camtasia Studio workspace D A E C B G F a A. Preview Area B. Scrubber Bar C. Show Timeline Button D. Task List E. Clip Bin d e f F. Storyboard Viewer G. Playback Control H. Playhead Editing Timeline h g b c a. Show Storyboard Button b. Video Track c. Audio Tracks d. Zoom Buttons e. Cut Button f. Split Button g. Playhead (green triangle Johnstone, Budiman 1/30//2007 Portland Community College, 3
Adding, Rearranging and Dragging Clips 1. In Timeline mode 2. Drag any clip from the "Clip Bin" to an available space, or between two existing clips, on the "Timeline Viewer". 3. To change the order of a clip, click and drag it to the location you want it to occupy. 4. You can shorten or lengthen the time of any object in the timeline by dragging the black triangle. 4 Trimming Clips in the Timeline Mode 1. In Timeline mode 2. Play the movie until you reach the spot where you want to end your cut. 3. Move the playhead to the spot in the movie where you want to trim the clip. 4. Drag the playhead to the start of your trim. Move the second playhead to the end of the trim. The second playhead will appear when you click and drag the one that is visible. 3-4 5. Click on the "Cut" button to remove the selected area from the movie. Splitting a clip Sometimes it is desirable to split one clip in two so you can add another video or a still image in between. 1. In Timeline mode 2. Play the movie until you reach the spot where you want to make your split. 3. Click on the "Split" button to split the clip. Note: Split will chop both video and audio of your camtasia. You can t merge 2 clips after you split them, there s only the Undo button. Add a Marker Markers are used to create a Table of Contents or mark a specific spot in the timeline you would like to split or cut. 1. With the playhead on the spot you want to mark, press M on the keyboard. Type in the marker name and click OK. 2. To rename a marker, right-click on the green rhombus shape and select Set marker name. Type in the new name and click OK. PART III Add-ons Features Camtasia Help The blue question mark (?) located in the top Camtasia menu will take you to a window you can search for help on any topic you wish. 1. Click on the Import Media link in the Add section of the Task List. Adding media You can easily add another media (audio, image, or video file) into your project. Johnstone, Budiman 01/30/2007 Portland Community College, 4
2. Locate the file you want to add, select it and click Open. The new media will be added into the Clip Bin. 3. Click and drag the new media into the timeline. File types you can add: Image: bmp, gif, jpg, png. Audio: wav, mp3, wma. Video: camrec, avi, mpg, mpeg, wmv. Adding Transitions Transitions are used to affect the screen change from one movie clip to next. This works similar to the Slide Transition feature in PowerPoint. 1. Click on the Transitions link in the Edit section of the "Task List." 2. The "Transition" menu will appear. Double-click on the transition you would like to preview. 3. To choose a particular transition, click and drag it to the area between two clips. Click the Finished button. Note: transitions add to the overall file size of your finished production. Adding Narration If you did not record audio in your movie, or are not happy with the original narration, you can add/ replace narration during the editing phase. 1. Click on the "Voice Narration" link in the Add section of the "Task List." 2. If you are recording an additional track, select between Audio 1 and Audio 2 on the Voice Narration window. 3. Choose whether you want the recording until end of selection on timeline, until end of the clip or until end of timeline. Also, make sure that the input level is adjusted so that the level is in the yellow to orange area. You can use the Audio Setup Wizard to confirm this. 4. Make sure your playhead is located at the spot where you want to start your narration. 5. Click the Start Recording button to begin recording your narration. Your video will be display in the "Preview" area as you record your narration so you can see the area you are narrating for. 6. When you have finished your narration, click the 3 Stop Recording button. A window will appear asking you to save the narration. Save this file in the same location as your Camtasia project (sound1.wav). Click the Finished button. 7. You will notice that your narration has been added to a the audio track in the timeline view. You can edit this audio clip just like you edited the video track. Johnstone, Budiman - 1/30/2007 Portland Community College, 5
Adding Callouts Callouts can be used to bring attention to certain areas of your video. This is a great way to point out important aspects of the tool or program you are demonstrating. 1. Click on the Callouts link in the Edit section of the "Task List." 2. The Callout menu will appear. Click the green PLUS button to add callout. 3. In the "Callout Properties" menu, choose the specific shape and type of callout you would like to use from the Callout type list. Choose the direction you would like the callout to face. 4. Type any text you would like to appear in the callout in the "Text" window. Choose the font, style, size, color and other options. 5. In the Preview area, your callout will appear with a bright green border. You can resize and drag it to any location inside the preview area. 6. There are more options in the Properties area. Make any adjustments you feel necessary 7. All changes to the callout will be displayed in the "Preview" area. 8. When you are done click the OK button. Then click the Finished button. 5 Enter text here PART IV Producing your Video A. Producing your project as a Flash movie (.swf) using Presets Producing your tutorial as a Flash movie creates a product that is high quality with a small file size. It will also work on most modern computers. This makes it the ideal format for the web. 1. Click on the Produce video as link in the Produce section of the "Task List. This will open the Production Wizard. 2. The easiest way to produce your file will be to select the Web icon and press Next 3. In the next screen, enter the Production name and select the folder to store your files in. Click Next. 4. A summary of your selections will appear, click Finish. 5. A progress bar will appear during the rendering of your project. 6. Your produced movie will open in a browser window for you to preview. Click in the center to watch. 7. You can then close the browser and click Finish. Johnstone, Budiman - 1/30/2007 Portland Community College, 6
B. Producing your project as a Flash Movie (.swf) With a Table of Contents 1. Click on the "Produce video as" link in the Produce section of the "Task List. This will open the Production Wizard. 2. Select Custom Production Settings and click "Next". Select MP4/FLV/SWF - Flash output (Recommended) and click Next. 3. The "Flash Templates" screen will appear. a. Under Appearance, click the drop-down arrow to select One Video with TOC if you have marker set up in the timeline. TOC is for your Table of Content. Otherwise, select One Video from the list. b. Click Flash Options and select SWF under Format. Click OK c. Under Size, select 640x480 from the Fit in selection. This will produce a smaller file and will fit monitors set at lower resolutions. d. Click the Next button. 4. In the Video Options screen, we usually don t change anything here. Click the "Next" button. 5. If you selected One Video with TOC from step 3a, you will see the Marker Options screen. If you selected One Video from step 3a, skip this step and continue to step 6. To produce a separate file for each marker, check Produce multiple files based on my Markers. Otherwise, leave both check boxes blank, and click Next. 6. In the Produce Video screen, enter a project name, choose what folder you want to save your Flash movie in. It is important to note that saving your project will produce more than one file. All of these files must stay together in one place to be properly viewed. It will create a folder with the same name as the production name if you check the box Organize produced files into sub-folders. Click the "Finish" button to save the files and view the results. 7. A progress bar will appear during the rendering of your project. 3b 3a 3c 8. Your produced movie will open for you to preview. You can then close the browser and press Finish. Johnstone, Budiman - 1/30/2007 Portland Community College, 7
All these files must be in the same place to be properly viewed. Production name = folder name. PART V Camtasia from within PowerPoint When you install Camtasia Studio 6, you are prompted by the installation wizard to add a toolbar to PowerPoint, allowing you to record Camtasia movies straight from within the PowerPoint environment, with just a mouse click or keyboard command. The first time you start MS PowerPoint a Camtasia Studio PowerPoint Add-In pop-up will appear. Click Show me how to record PowerPoint if you want to view the presentation. Otherwise, the PowerPoint that automatically opens is very thorough. Using Office 2007, you need to be in the Add-Ins tab for the menu to be visible. To begin a Camtasia recording: 1. Open your PowerPoint presentation on Camtasia Toolbar a computer that has had Camtasia installed. 2. Click the Record button on the record toolbar: 3. Camtasia will launch a window with controls for adjusting your volume control, a Click to begin recording button and the shortcut keys for pausing or stopping your recording. Johnstone, Budiman - 1/30/2007 Portland Community College, 8
4. Click to begin recording and record your narration to the PowerPoint. This will launch your PPT to full screen. Note: if you want to record your PPT at less than full screen size, see the instruction on the next page. 5. Use the microphone attached to your PC and walk through your PowerPoint presentation as if you were presenting to an audience. 6. When you are finished presenting, use the keyboard key ( Esc ) to stop your recording. You will be asked if you want to stop or continue recording. Choose Stop Recording. 7. Name the project (project2.camrec), select a location to store your files, and click Save. 8. Next you will be prompted to select whether or not you want to produce or edit your video. If you choose the default Produce Your Recording and click OK, please go to PART IV section B step #5 for instruction. If you choose Edit your recording and click OK, it will ask if you want to import your PowerPoint slide notes as captions, choose either Yes or No. Go to PART II - IV for further instructions. PowerPoint Recording Tips Use Sans Serif Fonts. Best Font: 32 Arial. Use High Contrast: Light background with dark font or Dark background with light font. Use simple background. Spell check before recording. Use Notes (will be import into Camtasia as captions). Use Title Placeholders (will be import into Camtasia as Table of Contents Markers). Use well-cropped images. Use simple animations. If you use Transitions, add inside PowerPoint, not Camtasia. Use the same transition throughout the entire presentation. STEPS TO CHANGE YOUR FULL SCREEN SIZE FOR RECORDING POWERPOINT: 1. Click on the Start menu Control Panel. Double-click on Display. Recommended resolution: 800 by 600 pixels 2. Click on Settings tab inside Display Properties. Change the Screen Resolution by dragging the needle to the left until we have the resolution of: 800 by 600 pixels. This is a low resolution and if you have a higher resolution before, this setting will make your icons disorganized. This resolution is needed for a lower file size and faster loading output file. You can change the resolution back by repeating these steps. Johnstone, Budiman - 1/30/2007 Portland Community College, 9
Other Production Options There are number of other ways that you can save your video tutorial. Below are a few of the most commonly used types and the reason you might choose them. Audio Video Interleave (AVI) video file: AVI files retain the highest quality and are editable by Camtasia Studio or other video editing programs. AVI files can also be converted into almost any other file format. These features make AVI files the ideal format for your original high quality recordings. This is an excellent format to choose if you plan to do further editing of your tutorial in Windows Movie Maker or any other Windows based video editor. This is the best format if you want to produce your project in a CD. QuickTime (MOV) movie file: QuickTime is a cross-platform movie file format with many video and audio compression options. QuickTime movies playback in the standard Apple QuickTime Player on Windows and Mac computers. This may be the format to choose if you plan to do further editing using Apple s imovie or any other Macintosh based video editor. Windows Movie Maker (WMV) file format is the latest Microsoft streaming file format. WMV files play in Microsoft's Windows Media Player. A variety of audio and video compressors are available, including the Windows Media Screen video codec which is optimized for screen recordings. You may want to use this format if you plan to stream your tutorial on a Windows streaming server. Real Media (RM) streaming media file: The RealMedia streaming file format uses the standard RealVideo and RealAudio codecs. Choose this file format for "real world" video content with many color gradients, high motion, and where lossy video quality is acceptable. You may wan to use this format if you plan to stream your tutorial on a Real Media streaming server. Johnstone, Budiman - 1/30/2007 Portland Community College, 10