Explore Camtasia Studio

Remember the Greek myth about Sisyphus? He did something to anger the gods and his punishment was to roll a big boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down...and repeat. Forever.

Well, we just finished a major task (Camtasia Studio 5) and our developers are already thinking about what's next! Fortunately, this is not repetitive, meaningless work. It's fun! Because every version of the software does more of the things you want—better and faster.

Please take a moment to steer us in the right direction by telling us what you'd do next if you were a Camtasia Studio product manager.

And if you want to work at TechSmith for real, check out the job openings. We're looking for an associate product manager, Mac developer, writer, and more.

Don't worry, it's not boulder-rolling. We have a lot of fun and great benefits. I, for one, am taking the rest of the week off...happy (American) Thanksgiving!

Sure, Camtasia Studio makes movies (we call 'em screencasts)...but sometimes during those movies you want to show and maybe talk about a still image. The image could be a fancy title slide. Or a chart. Or perhaps a photo of yourself.

If you use SnagIt for screen capture you can download a new (free) accessory that makes it easy to send images directly from SnagIt to Camtasia Studio.

The accessory adds a button to the toolbar inside SnagIt's Capture Preview window. Click the button and your image is sent directly to Camtasia Studio's clip bin.

(To learn more about using still images in Camtasia Studio, check out the tutorial below.)

Jing makes visual conversation quick and easy. You can capture a screenshot or brief video and share it without ever having to touch the files. Click, click, click and a URL is on your clipboard, ready to share with a friend or co-worker via email or IM.

We launched Jing as an experiment: to see how people would use it and whether we could turn it into a product someday.

We're a few months into the experiment now. College students are using Jing to show profs how they got the answer, design teams use it to collaborate at a distance, and people use it as a diagnostic tool to help a family member or get help from a developer.

If you don't follow the Jing blog, you might want to check in on some of the latest news in Jing-land. There's a video showing the newest Jing features and some cool desktop wallpapers and buttons.

Also, product manager Tony Dunckel recently tipped his hand on some of the new features being added soon to Jing. Top of the list is the ability to output to an FTP site or Flickr.

Give Jing a try and let us know what you think!

Bill Myers could be called the "how to" king. As a copywriter, online entrepreneur, software developer, and producer of more than 60 how-to videos on disc, Bill knows a thing or two about screen recording. He can even teach you how to get into the how-to business!

So when Bill wrote in to TechSmith with one of the first testimonials about Camtasia Studio 5, it caught our attention:

"I've used it to create two videos so far-both are on my site and on YouTube, and people are raving about the new features and quality of the videos."

What would cause people to take note of the videos' production values? And what can Bill tell us about Camtasia Studio and DVD? I interviewed him to ask these questions and more...

In addition to the great video tutorials in this newsletter every month and at the Learning Center, you can attend live training events conducted by TechSmith partners.

Mastering Camtasia 5 Hands-On Workshop (U.S.)
"In this in-depth, two-day workshop you'll master Camtasia Studio with hands-on exercises and expert instruction from Chris Austin, owner of MasteringCamtasia.com."

    Upcoming dates in Irvine, Orlando, and New York.

WebNomad Camtasia Studio Training (U.K.)
"An intensive 1-day course in Camtasia Studio for those in a hurry to get results fast."

    Upcoming dates in Glasgow and London.

Check the TechSmith calendar for dates and details...

(Since the release of the new SnagIt output for Camtasia Studio is focusing attention on using still images in Camtasia Studio, we asked Ryan to put together this quick, unscripted tutorial just for newsletter subscribers. –Ed.)

Whether or not you're a SnagIt user, you can add still images to spice up your video projects. This video tutorial shows you the basics of how to:

• import images into Camtasia (without using the SnagIt output)
• adjust the duration of your images, and
• edit out unwanted borders that may show up in some instances.

Callouts are images (optionally combined with text) that can be laid over your screen recording during the editing phase. They're a great way to call attention to something on the screen or provide a little more detail. Did you know that Camtasia Studio lets you create a custom callout from any image that is a .bmp, .gif, .png, or .jpeg?

Once created, your custom callout will appear alongside all the standard callouts that come with the product.

If you have SnagIt or another screen capture program you can capture menus, dialog windows, and message boxes...then use those images as custom callouts in your Camtasia Studio productions. Here are some ideas for how to use custom callouts in your videos:

• Include a dialog window to show a program's options without needing to open the window while recording.
• A screen capture of a button (such as "OK" or "Save") is a great visual cue to accompany voice narration when giving directions.
• Numbered stamps, keyboard keys, and logos are just some of many ideas to use as custom callouts.

The bottom line is: if it's an image, you can add it to your Camtasia Studio video!

To add a custom callout:

1. Select Callouts from the Task List in Camtasia Studio.

2. Click Add Callout and then click the Custom Callouts button.

3. Click New Custom Callout and select a .bmp, .gif, .png, or .jpeg file from your hard drive.

4. Optionally, give your callout a name in the Description field. Click OK.

5. Select your new callout from the Callout type dropdown list.

(Please note that bringing a callout image into Camtasia Studio does not involve the new SnagIt output)

Watch this screencast to see some of these techniques in action...

(This is an advanced tutorial, intended for those who are comfortable editing the contents of an XML file. –Ed.) The table of contents (TOC) appears next to your video when you have inserted markers into the timeline. When the viewer clicks an item in the TOC, the video jumps ahead to that marker. For previous versions of Camtasia Studio, customizing a Flash TOC involved "hacking" the config.xml file that was created with each production.

With the release of Camtasia Studio 5, we offer a "packed" single-file SWF called ExpressShow that has no dependency on external files like the config.xml file.

But you can still edit the ExpressShow TOC—you just have to edit the template instead of the produced files. And there's a new transparency variable you should be aware of. This tutorial shows you the ropes...

 
Have questions about this tutorial? Discuss in the user-to-use forums!