Explore Camtasia Studio

Can't get enough screencasting tips and video examples? Check out the Visual Lounge blog, hosted by TechSmith evangelist Betsy Weber!

Every week, Betsy shows and talks about a new made-with-Camtasia screencast that she's discovered online. It might be a demo of Aviary or a tour of StyleFeeder.com.

You'll benefit from Betsy's comments about screencasting technique. And the occasional user tip, such as "Hockey Pucks & Big, Red Pointers"...which shows how to change your mouse cursor to make it easier to follow on-screen.

You'll also get to know Betsy, who is a wonderful person and a voice of the customer inside TechSmith. She loves to receive user comments, questions, suggestions.

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Happy screencasting!

Daniel Foster
Newsletter Editor

Have you heard the news? An update to Camtasia Studio was just released! Watch the video to see it for yourself! The update includes things like new callout styles, a third audio track, iPhone preset, ExpressShow for FLV videos, and a rebuilt, cooler-than-ever Camtasia Theater. Read the details.

Watch video | Upgrade now

Of course, being a "dot-one" release, you'll also get a lot of important bug fixes and small enhancements.

The update is free if you own a license to version 5.0 or greater. Running an older version? Now's a great time to buy the upgrade for half the price of a new installation.

The easiest way to upgrade is to open Camtasia Studio and click Help > Check for Upgrade. You can also use our online Upgrade Center.

What does a video tutorial rockstar look like? Turns out he's pink and green, and lives in and around Second Life.

Second Life is a virtual world where you can build stuff, buy stuff, hang out with people, and fly. Torley, who really, really loves watermelons, started out as a "resident" of Second Life and now works for its owner, Linden Lab.

He creates video tutorials (77 so far this year, with nearly 2 million total views on YouTube) that show Second Life residents how to do everything from find stuff buried in the ground to drive a vehicle to remove body parts. (Well, you can't do that last thing.) Torley is part of an informal "knowledge group" at Linden Lab that is focused on improving community education. His tutorials are used in marketing, PR, training, and customer support.

Treasure hunting in Second Life? This tutorial shows how to find stuff buried in the ground.

"For such a vibrant, vivacious world as Second Life, it often doesn't suffice to write at length about it when the experience is better communicated through a comfy 'over-my-shoulder' view, and that's exactly what I'm continuing to do," said Torley.

Most of his tutorials are largely unscripted.

"I write down key points of what I want to cover but the majority is improvised. That lets me keep it lively while retaining focus on main stuff to cover," he said.

Torley recently posted his 13 Rules to Making Good Video Tutorials, which include some unconventional instructions like: improvise (don't script), no faking, and leave bugs in. As you can see by watching his tutorials, this approach results in a very fun, informal style (Torley calls it "exuberant and flamboyant")...well suited to the subject matter.

Not only are the video tutorials recorded "inworld" using Camtasia Studio...they are played back on virtual screens inside Second Life, too! Residents who visit Torley's island can sit their avatar (character) in front of a screen and follow along with the video instructions on the spot.

(Tip: If you would like to stream a video inside Second Life, use Camtasia Studio to save it as QuickTime...then follow these instructions for Parcel Media.)

One final key to being a video tutorial rockstar...Torley actively solicits suggestions for new tutorials and even holds regular "office hours" inside Second Life to talk with residents (a.k.a., customers) about what they want covered in future tutorials.

"I get so much overwhelmingly positive feedback it's amazing...I've received 100s of personal messages from Second Lifers who want me to make more, or do specific topics — yes, I take requests, and there's no shortage of ideas in sight."

You may not end up with thousands of raving fans, but if you use videos to engage and train in a fresh, genuine way...you'll be a rockstar, too.

Everyone seems to have an iPhone or iPod Touch these days. Using the brand-new version of Camtasia Studio, you can produce videos that look fantastic on these devices. That means people can view your screencasts anywhere: on a bus, at the doctor's office, during a boring meeting. Or while sitting at their desk...with the mobile device substituting as a second monitor!

See how to produce your video for iPhone

This 3-minute video tutorial shows how to use the new iPhone production preset within Camtasia Studio to achieve just the right dimensions and video format for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

I also show how to use SmartFocus to zoom in on the action, so all the details are preserved—even on small screens.

It's really quite easy, but you will need to update to Camtasia Studio 5.1 if you haven't already.

If you have Camtasia Studio...you also have Camtasia Theater. Theater makes it simple to build a Web "menu" for your videos. So you can create a playlist of videos that play through in a certain order...while viewers can still jump to the content they want. You don't need to know any HTML...just drag and drop video files into Theater, move them around, and customize the colors and styles if you please.

Bundle your videos with Theater

Watch this video that Ryan and I created to see how...

(To get the rebuilt Theater, you'll need to update to Camtasia Studio 5.1. And stay tuned for more videos in this series that will show how to do other cool things with Theater...)