Camtasia Studio
Version 5

Camtasia Studio is a screen recorder program that allows you to show exactly what's on your screen to anyone, anywhere. With this software you can make anything from training videos to PowerPoint presentations to lectures look better, reach more people, and pack more punch.

This help document uses Camtasia Studio version 5. If you have an older version the concepts are basically the same, but some of the screens might look different. To view the older version of the help file, Click Here

1. Record

• To begin, start up Camtasia studio. You will be presented with the following screen.

• The welcome box should pop up.
• For the purposes of this demonstration, we'll record the screen, so click on New Screen Recording.

• If you want to record audio, check the box next to Microphone. Talk into the microphone and make sure your levels are in the green and/or yellow zone. Adjust the volume control or click on the link for Audio options... if necessary.
• If you want to record video, check the box next to camera. Click on the link for Camera options... to be sure your camera is setup and working properly.
• Once you have the correct settings, click on Select area to record.
• If you are recording your desktop, place your mouse at the top of the screen so that your entire screen is selected, then click the button. If you are recording just a part of an application, place the mouse in that window so only the window is selected and then click the button.

• The Camtasia Recorder Area Selection box will pop up.
• Before you start recording with Camtasia, you want to think about what you want to do with the final product. Will this presentation go online? Will it be burned to a CD or made into a DVD? Depending on what your intended audience is you'll choose a different option at the beginning of recording. If you're producing for the web, pick something small like 640x480 or 800x600. If you're producing for a CD or DVD you might want to choose Full Screen to get better quality.

• You can resize the window you are recording on, but be sure to click the Lock to application box so that the dimensions stay the same.
• Click on the Record button start recording.

• Once you begin recording the area will be highlighted and you'll get a control box below to control the recording. Click on the buttons to pause or click F9 to pause and F10 to finish recording.

• After recording is stopped, your recording will play back automatically. At the end, choose Save or Delete in the lower right hand corner. You will then have a chance to edit your saved project by clicking on Edit my recording and OK.

2. Edit

• Select the type of project you want in the project settings box. If this is to be produced for the web, they suggest a 640x480 size. If a CD, you can have it a bit bigger. Then click OK.

• In the Timeline Editor, you may edit the audio. The .avi file of the screen images is one file, so you would have to split it and insert another avi file if you wanted to edit the screen shots.
• You may also add slide transitions, call-outs, zoom and pan, Flash quiz, and captions.

• Drag the playhead back and forth to select an area of the audio file. You can play the recording by clicking on the play button to find an area to cut. Once you have selected an area between 2 playheads, go to Edit and Cut Selection. Or select an area of the .avi file and go to Edit and Split. Only do this if you want to insert another (correct) avi file between the two split files.

3. Callouts

• In the menu, click Edit > Callouts.
• Click on Add Callout. An arrow will be added to your screenshot and to the timeline below, so that you can specify how long you want the arrow to stay on screen. You can change the shape, color, and add text to any of the callouts.

4. Save--Produce a Video

• When you are finished editing your video, in the menu, click File > Produce Video As...

• The Production Wizard will come up, asking you to choose your settings. If you already set this up with the project settings box, you can click the next button.

• Give your project a name and look at the names of the files that will be created. All of these files must be zipped together and uploaded to the web. If you upload them to Moodle, create a folder to put them in before you unzip them. When linking to the homepage, choose the html file.

• Click Next, then Finish. The video will render and replay.