Speed Up or Slow Down the Speed of a Clip

This PDF is a companion for the video tutorial above. Download the PDF to follow along and take notes as you watch.

Clip Speed Video Companion (PDF | 74 KB)

Apply Clip Speed to a Video or Audio Clip

Apply Clip Speed to a video or audio clip on the timeline to speed up or slow its duration. This effect can be especially helpful when you want to show a long process or time lapse, but want to speed up the process for your viewers.

1. Select Clip Speed from the Video or Audio FX tab and drag it onto the timeline. Wait until you see the  appear, and then drop the effect onto your media clip.
   
   
   
   You will see a pop up "Added Effect" message on the timeline indicating that Clip Speed has been added to your media clip.

2. After the effect has been applied, adjust the speed of the clip using one of the following methods:

• Open the FX drawer by clicking the triangle at the bottom of the media clip. On either end of the clip is a clock icon. Click and drag the clock to the left or right to adjust the speed.
  
  
• Another way is to change the rate in the properties panel, which you can open by clicking on the Properties button . In the Clip Speed section, you can change the duration by percentage. Enter the desired percentage and press Tab or Return.
  
  
• The last way is to manually enter the duration of the clip. Again, this takes place in the Clip Speed properties. Enter the desired duration and press Tab or Return on your keyboard to apply the changes. Use this method when you know exactly how long you want the clip to last.
  
  

If, at any point, you want to reset the clip speed back to its original duration, click the Reset button in the Clip Speed properties panel.

Tips and Notes:

• When syncing up audio and video clips, you can use Clip Speed to align significant points and fill in gaps in the video instead of using extend frame.
• If you enter a speed or duration that would cause the clip to run into or bump another clip on the timeline track, it fills the available space, but does not move the other clips on the track. If you need to extend it further, move the clip to its own track on the timeline.
• Finally, Camtasia preserves the pitch of audio of modified audio speed. However, if you speed up the audio track by 350% or more (or slow it down more than 10%), it goes mute, as indicated by a grayed-out waveform.