Camtasia Studio License Agreement TechSmith Corporation provides this manual "as is", makes no representations or warranties with respect to its contents or use, and specifically disclaims any expressed or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. TechSmith Corporation reserves the right to make changes to the content of this manual, at any time, without obligation to notify any person or entity of such changes. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement. The software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. It is against the law to copy the software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the license agreement. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval systems, for any purpose other than the purchasers personal use, without the express written permission of TechSmith Corporation. Copyright 1990-2002 TechSmith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Trademarks: TechSmith, SnagIt, and Camtasia are registered trademarks and Camtasia Studio is a trademark of TechSmith Corporation. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the property of their respective companies. All rights reserved.
Camtasia Studio
User's Guide
ContentsCamtasia Studio 1 Camtasia Studio Overview......................................................................................................1 New Features....................................................................................................................3 Installing Camtasia Studio ...............................................................................................4 Starting the Camtasia Studio LaunchPad .........................................................................5 Camtasia Studio Support ..................................................................................................6 What would you like to do with Camtasia Studio? ..........................................................7 The Making of a Great Video ...............................................................................................10 Concern for Screen Resolution & Screen Size...............................................................10 Recording Options..........................................................................................................11 Video Codecs .................................................................................................................11TechSmith Screen Capture Codec .........................................................................................................12
Audio Codecs .................................................................................................................13 The Different Media Players ..........................................................................................14 Video File Type Fundamentals ......................................................................................15 Thinking About the Frame Rate.....................................................................................16Screen Color Depth and Frame Rates ....................................................................................................16 Capture Frame Rates and Hardware Acceleration .................................................................................17
Understanding Bandwidth and Streaming Media Production........................................18File Size, Bit Rate, Bandwidth and Data Transmission .........................................................................18 Bandwidth and Streaming Media File Transmission .............................................................................19 Video Compression and Key Frames.....................................................................................................19 Movement Increases Bandwidth Requirements. ....................................................................................20 Frame Rate and Bandwidth....................................................................................................................20 Network Congestion, Bandwidth Spikes and Buffering ........................................................................20 Audio and Bandwidth ............................................................................................................................21
About the File Size.........................................................................................................21 Getting Great Sound.......................................................................................................23 Distributing your Video .................................................................................................24Use Pack and Show? ..............................................................................................................................25
Before you Record Worksheets......................................................................................26Screen Resolution Checklist ..................................................................................................................26 AVI Video Checklist..............................................................................................................................27 Video File Type/Compression Checklist ...............................................................................................27 Video Type & Playback Checklist .........................................................................................................28
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Audio Compression Checklist................................................................................................................30 Scripting and Audio Tip List..................................................................................................................30
Camtasia Recorder ................................................................................................................31 5 Quick & Easy Steps to your First Video .....................................................................33How do I Start, Pause, Stop, and Delete a Recording? ..........................................................................34
Getting Familiar with the Recorder Screen....................................................................35 Recorder Toolbar Options ..............................................................................................36Recorder Main Toolbar Description Table ............................................................................................37 Recorder Annotation Toolbar Description Table...................................................................................40 Recorder Audio Toolbar Description Table...........................................................................................42 Recorder Cursor Toolbar Description Table ..........................................................................................43 Recorder Zoom and Pan Toolbar Description Table..............................................................................44
Recorder Menu Options .................................................................................................46Recorder Capture Menu Options ...........................................................................................................46 Recorder Input Menu Options................................................................................................................47 Recorder Output Menu Options .............................................................................................................49 Recorder View Menu Options ...............................................................................................................50 Recorder Effects Menu Options.............................................................................................................51
Recorder Effects Options ...............................................................................................53Recorder Annotation Tab.......................................................................................................................54 Recorder Audio Tab...............................................................................................................................55 Recorder Cursor Tab..............................................................................................................................56 Recorder ScreenDraw Tab .....................................................................................................................56 Recorder Watermark Tab.......................................................................................................................58 Recorder Zoom Tab ...............................................................................................................................59
Recorder Tools Options .................................................................................................61Recorder Avi Tab...................................................................................................................................62 Recorder File Tab...................................................................................................................................63 Recorder Hotkeys Tab ...........................................................................................................................64 Recorder Live Tab .................................................................................................................................66 Recorder Program Tab ...........................................................................................................................67 About Recorder's Single Frame Capturing.............................................................................................69 About Recorder's Quick Capture ...........................................................................................................69
Recorder Annotation Tab Settings .................................................................................71Time/Date Format Button ......................................................................................................................73 Date/Time Format Symbols ...................................................................................................................75 System Stamp & Caption Option Buttons..............................................................................................77
Recorder Cursor Tab Settings ........................................................................................80Recorder Cursor Setup Options .............................................................................................................81 Recorder Highlight Cursor Options .......................................................................................................82 Recorder Highlight Mouse Clicks Options ............................................................................................83
Recorder Watermark Tab Settings .................................................................................84Recorder Watermark Image Path ...........................................................................................................85 Recorder Watermark Display Effects ....................................................................................................85 Recorder Watermark Image Positioning ................................................................................................87
Recorder AVI Tab Settings ............................................................................................88Recorder AVI Video Setup Button ........................................................................................................90 Recorder AVI Configure Button............................................................................................................91
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Recorder AVI Time-Lapse Capture Setup Button .................................................................................92 Recorder AVI Audio Setup Button ........................................................................................................93
ScreenPad ...............................................................................................................................95 ScreenPad Menus ...........................................................................................................96ScreenPad File Menu .............................................................................................................................96 ScreenPad Edit Menu.............................................................................................................................98 ScreenPad View Menu...........................................................................................................................99 ScreenPad Options Menu.....................................................................................................................100
Working with ScreenPad Shapes .................................................................................102Creating a New Shape..........................................................................................................................102 Creating a New ScreenPad Shape from an Existing Image File ..........................................................103 Editing a ScreenPad Library Shape......................................................................................................104 Editing a ScreenPad Instance of a Shape .............................................................................................105
Editing a ScreenPad Shapes Text ...............................................................................107ScreenPad Edit Text Options Description Table..................................................................................108
Editing a ScreenPad Shapes Opacity & Transparency ...............................................110ScreenPad's Opacity Overview ............................................................................................................110 Applying ScreenPad's Opacity to a Shape ...........................................................................................111 ScreenPad's Transparency Overview ...................................................................................................111 Applying ScreenPad's Transparency to a Shape ..................................................................................112
Editing a ScreenPad Image ..........................................................................................115ScreenPad Image Editor.......................................................................................................................115
Working with ScreenPad Text Notes ...........................................................................120Creating a New ScreenPad Library Text Note.....................................................................................121 ScreenPad Text Note Dialog Box ........................................................................................................122 Editing a ScreenPad Library Text Note ...............................................................................................125 Editing an Instance of a ScreenPad Text Note .....................................................................................127 ScreenPad Text Note Edit Options while in Edit Mode.......................................................................128 Editing a ScreenPad Text Notes Opacity............................................................................................129
Working with ScreenPad Library Icons .......................................................................130Editing Icons Using the ScreenPad Icon Editor ...................................................................................131
Camtasia Player ...................................................................................................................133Making Camtasia Player your Default Player......................................................................................134
Getting Familiar with the Player Screen ......................................................................135 Player Playback Controls .............................................................................................136 Player Menu Options....................................................................................................137Player File Menu Options ....................................................................................................................137 Player Play Menu Options ...................................................................................................................137
Player Command Line Customizations........................................................................138Player Background Color Command ...................................................................................................140
Camtasia Producer ..............................................................................................................141 Getting Familiar with the Producer Screen ..................................................................143 Producer Toolbar Options ............................................................................................144Producer Toolbar Description Table ....................................................................................................144
About the Producer Storyboard & Thumbnail Pane ....................................................146
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Producer Timeline ........................................................................................................148Producer Playback Toolbar Description Table ....................................................................................148 Producer Timeline Editing Toolbar Description Table ........................................................................149
Working with the Producer Timeline...........................................................................154Searching the Video .............................................................................................................................154 Defining a Selection for Editing ..........................................................................................................155 Cutting a Selection from the Video......................................................................................................155 Viewing the Cuts..................................................................................................................................156
Producer Menu Options ...............................................................................................157Producer File Menu Options ................................................................................................................157 Producer Edit Menu Options................................................................................................................160 Producer View Menu Options..............................................................................................................164 Producer Clip Menu Options ...............................................................................................................165 Transition Effect Dialog Box ...............................................................................................................167 Clip Speed Dialog Box ........................................................................................................................170 Producer Tools Menu Options .............................................................................................................171 Producer Help Menu Options...............................................................................................................172
Pack and Show .............................................................................................................173 Producing a Video ........................................................................................................175Produce Movie Dialog Box..................................................................................................................176
Movie File Format Options ..........................................................................................178Producer AVI Options Tab ..................................................................................................................178 Producer GIF Options Tab ...................................................................................................................180 Producer Macromedia Flash Options Tab............................................................................................182 Producer Camtasia for RealPlayer Streaming Media File Options Tab ...............................................185 Target Bitrate Settings Dialog Box ......................................................................................................188 Target Audience Settings Tab..............................................................................................................190 Producer Real Media Options Tab .......................................................................................................190 Producer QuickTime Options Tab .......................................................................................................192 QuickTime Audio Setup Settings Dialog Box .....................................................................................194 QuickTime Compression Settings Dialog Box ....................................................................................195 Producer Windows Media Options Tab ...............................................................................................196 Windows Media Edit Options Screen ..................................................................................................199 Windows Media Manage Options Dialog Box ....................................................................................200 Producer Size Tab ................................................................................................................................202 Producer Info Tab ................................................................................................................................204 Producer Watermark Tab .....................................................................................................................205 Produce Movie .....................................................................................................................................207
Production Wizard........................................................................................................208Production Wizard: Choose File Format..............................................................................................209 Production Wizard: Choose Video Encoding Options.........................................................................210
Audio Editor .........................................................................................................................212 The Audio Editor Welcome Screen .............................................................................213 5 Quick & Easy Steps to your First Audio File............................................................214 Getting Familiar with the Audio Editor Screen ...........................................................215Audio Editor Playback Toolbar Options..............................................................................................216 Waveline Edit Toolbar Description Table ...........................................................................................217
Working with the Waveline .........................................................................................219
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Searching the Audio Waveline.............................................................................................................219 Defining a Selection of the Waveline for Editing ................................................................................219 Cutting a Selection from the Waveline ................................................................................................220
Audio Editor Menu Options .........................................................................................221Audio Editor File Menu Options..........................................................................................................221 Audio Editor Edit Menu Options .........................................................................................................222 Audio Editor View Menu Options .......................................................................................................226
Audio Properties...........................................................................................................227 Audio Editor Options ...................................................................................................229Audio Editor Program Tab...................................................................................................................229 Audio Editor Audio Tab ......................................................................................................................230 Audio Editor Info Tab..........................................................................................................................231 Audio Editor AVI Tab .........................................................................................................................232
Camtasia Effects...................................................................................................................234 The Effects Welcome Screen .......................................................................................236 7 Quick and Easy Steps to Creating a New Effects Project .........................................237 Getting Familiar with the Effects Screen .....................................................................241 Effects Toolbar Options ...............................................................................................242Effects File Toolbar Description Table................................................................................................243 Effects Color Toolbar Description Table .............................................................................................244 Effects Text Toolbar Description Table...............................................................................................245 Effects Layout Toolbar Description Table...........................................................................................246 Effects Object Toolbar Description Table ...........................................................................................247
The Effects Timeline ....................................................................................................250Effects Timeline Toolbar Descriptions ................................................................................................250
Effects Menu Options...................................................................................................252Effects File Menu Options ...................................................................................................................252 Effects Edit Menu Options...................................................................................................................254 Effects View Menu Options.................................................................................................................254 Effects Object Menu Options...............................................................................................................256 Effects Layout Menu Options ..............................................................................................................259 Effects Tools Menu Options ................................................................................................................261 Effects Help Menu Options..................................................................................................................263
Effects Properties .........................................................................................................265Effects Properties Dialog Box Options ................................................................................................266
Camtasia MenuMaker.........................................................................................................272 The MenuMaker Welcome Screen...............................................................................274 6 Quick and Easy Steps to Creating a Menu................................................................275 About the Menu Creation Process................................................................................276 Getting Familiar with the MenuMaker Screen.............................................................277 Create a New Menu Project Using the MenuMaker Wizard .......................................278MenuMaker Wizard: Choose Template ...............................................................................................278 MenuMaker Wizard: Choose Files ......................................................................................................279 MenuMaker Wizard: Enter Title ..........................................................................................................282
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MenuMaker Toolbar Options.......................................................................................283 MenuMaker Menu Options ..........................................................................................285MenuMaker File Menu Options...........................................................................................................285 MenuMaker Edit Menu Options ..........................................................................................................287 MenuMaker View Menu Options ........................................................................................................287 MenuMaker Tools Menu Options........................................................................................................288 MenuMaker Help Menu Options .........................................................................................................289
Menu Properties ...........................................................................................................291MenuMaker General Tab .....................................................................................................................292 MenuMaker Options for Camtasia Player Dialog Box ........................................................................294 MenuMaker List Tab ...........................................................................................................................295 MenuMaker Content Tab .....................................................................................................................298 MenuMaker Resources Tab .................................................................................................................301
Create the Menu Using the MenuMaker Wizard .........................................................303MenuMaker Wizard: Create Menu Folder ...........................................................................................303 MenuMaker Wizard: Creating Menu ...................................................................................................304 MenuMaker Wizard: Finish .................................................................................................................305
How Do I? Putting it all Together ......................................................................................306 Converting AVIs to Macromedia Flash (SWF) Videos ...............................................306 Chain Your Macromedia Flash (SWF) Files Together Using Producer ......................307 Adding Titles and Credits to your Video .....................................................................308 Camtasia Recorder and PowerPoint .............................................................................309Record a PowerPoint Presentation .......................................................................................................309 Embed a Camtasia Video in Your PowerPoint Presentation................................................................309 Save a PowerPoint Slide as a Still Image.............................................................................................310 Use Camtasia Player to Payback Videos in Your PowerPoint Presentation ........................................310
Making Drag-and-Drop and Microsoft Agent Videos .................................................311 Recover an Interrupted Recorder Session ....................................................................312 Index 315
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Camtasia Studio OverviewOverview There are many ways moving images influence our lives today. Anyone who has used a video camcorder knows the value of moving images compared to snapshots. Moreover, if you have gone to the movies lately or even rented a video, you can see the results of computer-enhanced moving images in animation and special effects. Imagine using some of this power on your own computer. Overall, Camtasia Studio is a professional quality video production studio designed to anticipate your every need. Camtasia Recorder can capture the moving action on your computer screen and save it as a computer video file. If you type text, move the cursor, click buttons, or select menus, Recorder records a video of it that you can save and play back later. In addition, there are many, many different and creative ways that you can use this capability. Camtasia Recorder supports the AVI format and standard video for Windows audio and video codecs. You can modify videos created by Recorder with other AVI editors and use AVI files from any source in the Camtasia Producer. From the vendor neutral AVI format, you can produce Macromedia Flash, Microsoft, or RealNetworks streaming media files. Then explore Player - an easy to use, standalone video player that guarantees high quality playback of your AVI videos. Or, play your videos with many different media players. Only Camtasia Studio offers exact video renderings of desktop activity and superior file compression in industry standard formats. TechSmith accomplished this by developing the TSCC codec expressly for screen recording. Unlike lossy video codecs designed for videos, the TSCC codec provides exact video renderings coupled with excellent compression ratios and performance. Clips encoded by TSCC preserve image quality through multiple decompression / recompression cycles. We recommend always using the TSCC Codec for screen recording and editing -- no other codec can give its results. Of course, Camtasia Studio is fully compliant with the Video for Windows specification, so you can choose the TechSmith codec or any other video codec for final distribution. Camtasia Studio also allows you to use the audio codec of your choice. Camtasia Studio is perfect for: Producing web site content. Create a video of an application and publish it on the web with Flash. Training, Education and Distance Learning: Capture, share and manage knowledge. Make and share how-to videos. Help Desk, Online Help, Help Systems: Handle error recording and reporting. Desktop Monitoring: Monitor desktop activities, process control and live content. Video and Voice Annotation: Annotate documents with voice and video for applications like CAD designs, medical images and web sites. Documentation: Preserve and archive desktop activities. Conferencing: Record, share and archive conference content. CAD and Simulation: Record and share animation, CAD designs, and annotation.
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With Camtasia Studio, you can: Record screen activity as videos, edit and narrate the clips, and publish the finished presentation in standard formats. Create Macromedia Flash videos. Distribute the videos as standard AVI files or as streaming presentations from a website. Apply real-time effects such as annotations and watermarks to recordings. Recorder can act as a software camera feed to live productions (for example, broadcasting the computer desktop in a live "webcast" using a streaming media encoder). Record web sites beforehand and playback the recordings of the web sites during a presentation. This way, you create an online experience for the audience - it looks like you are online and you can show all the Internet information, but you do not need a connection. Showcase software or a web site. Use Camtasia Recorder to ensure that your exhibition will be free of errors. You do not have to worry about encountering a problem during your public presentation if you use Recorder to pre-record the software or site in a controlled environment. Document an occurrence such as a web meeting or a conference. If you do not use Recorder to record it, you have lost the one-time event and information. Control the length of the video, modify the size and content, and take advantage of Producer's many timesaving features. Producer allows you to correct a minor mistake without having to redo the whole video. Instead, you can easily cut out the faulty frames - or even splice in new frames. Capture cursor movements, menu selections, pop-up windows, layered windows, typing and everything else you see on your screen. Use Camtasia ScreenDraw to draw on your desktop while you record a video -- just like television sportscasters! Use Recorders powerful ScreenPad annotation feature to add callouts, logos and graphics as you record your video. Use Camtasia Effects to add callouts, arrows, and images to your video. Use Camtasia MenuMaker to create a menu for launching your videos and other media files. Apply real-time effects like cursor and object highlighting, graphic and image annotations, watermarks, time stamps, captioning and audible mouse clicks. Move in for a closer look with Zoom. Pan the capture frame across the screen to show more detail. Narrate your video while you record. Produce Flash and industry-standard AVI video files, as well as Microsoft Windows Media, RealNetworks RealMedia, Apple QuickTime streaming formats, Real Player Plug-In videos, or Animated GIFs with Producer. Compress your videos into an e-mail friendly executable using Pack and Show. For more information on what is new in Camtasia Studio, see "New Features" on page 3.
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New FeaturesThe following is a list of exciting new features that you will find in Camtasia Studio. Camtasia Studio LaunchPad Added Camtasia Studio LaunchPad for easy navigation of all Camtasia tools. Camtasia Recorder Text Notes & ScreenPad Enhancements. Support for new type of text object that is easily edited and resized. ScreenPad has many improvements including opacity. Mute Audio hotkey. System stamp, elapsed time stamps now available. Camtasia Producer Expanded Camtasia's output options to include Flash output (*.SWF). Added ability to add a second audio track. UI Improvements for Camtasia Producer - zoom in/out on the timeline, keyboard access. Integrated and Enhanced Audio Editing. Camtasia Audio Editor Create and use audio annotations in your video production using the Audio editor. Camtasia Audio Editor is the perfect tool to quickly add voice annotation and sound effects to a video since Audio Editor uses the familiar Camtasia Player interface and is found in Camtasia Producer. Camtasia Effects A new postproduction and video effects tool. Easy to add text, callouts, and effects after record time. Camtasia MenuMaker A new custom menu creation tool that allows users to quickly create menus to organize and share Camtasia videos and other media. Camtasia Player TSCC codec is now built in to Camtasia Player so that you can distribute Camtasia Player without the need to install the TSCC codec. Improved seek functionality. Added volume controls. For more information on what you can do with Camtasia Studio, see "What would you like to do with Camtasia Studio?" on page 7.
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Installing Camtasia StudioSystem Requirements To run Camtasia Studio, your system must meet these specifications: Microsoft Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, XP or later version Windows. Windows NT 4.0 requires Internet Explorer 4.01 or later. 200 MHz processor (500 MHz recommended). 32 MB RAM (64 MB recommended). 30 MB of hard-disk space for program installation. For audio recording and playback, a Windows-supported sound card and microphone. Installing Camtasia Studio from CD-ROM Start Windows. 1. Insert the Camtasia Studio CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. Camtasia Studio setup will automatically start when you close the drive. 2. Simply follow the install prompts using the default options if desired. 3. Once the install program has run, restart Windows before using the Camtasia Studio application. Note: If the setup program does not automatically start, perform the following steps: 1. Find the program names Setup.exe on the CD. Double-click it. Camtasia Studio setup starts. 2. Follow the setup wizards instructions for installing the program. 3. Once the install program has run, restart Windows before using the Camtasia Studio application.
Installing an Evaluation Copy of Camtasia Studio from the TechSmith Web Site You can download an evaluation copy of Camtasia Studio or purchase additional copies of Camtasia Studio from our web site. Go to http://www.techsmith.com/ and follow the directions for downloading a copy of the software. Its quick and easy!
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Starting the Camtasia Studio LaunchPadOverview Camtasia Studio is comprised of five component applications: Camtasia Recorder, Camtasia Producer, Camtasia Effects, Camtasia MenuMaker, and Camtasia Player. Each of these applications can be easily opened from the Camtasia Studio LaunchPad. To start the Camtasia Studio LaunchPad, on the desktop, double-click on the Camtasia Studio icon.
The LaunchPad will open. To open a Camtasia Studio component application, simply click on the desired icon. Note: Each of the Camtasia Studio component applications can also be opened from the Start menu without using the LaunchPad. To open a Camtasia Studio component application go to Start > Programs > Camtasia Studio > Applications. From the menu, click on the desired icon to launch that application.
Getting Familiar with the LaunchPad Screen The Camtasia Studio LaunchPad screen has a very intuitive, easy to use interface. Below, you will find an overview of the different components of the Camtasia Studio LaunchPad screen. Before you begin to use Camtasia Studio, take a few minutes to get familiar with the LaunchPad screen.
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Camtasia Studio SupportContacting TechSmith Technical Support If at any time you experience problems with Camtasia Studio, we encourage you to contact TechSmith Technical Support. Technical support is offered free of charge. Mailing Address TechSmith Corporation 2405 Woodlake Drive Okemos, MI 48864 USA Telephone Toll free: 800.517.3001 (USA Only) Voice: 517.381.2300 Fax: 517.381.2336 TechSmith Support Links For more information on Camtasia Studio, visit our homepage at http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/sftw/camstudio/home/default.asp. For the most up to date FAQs, visit http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/sftw/camstudio/faq/default.asp. For information on TechSmith's upgrade policy, visit http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/sftw/camstudio/multiupgrade/default.asp. To find out about TechSmith's products, visit http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/sftw/camstudio/tsproducts/default.asp. For Frequently Asked Questions, visit http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/sftw/camstudio/faq/default.asp. Download a free evaluation copy of Camtasia Studio at http://www.techsmith.com/rdr/sftw/camstudio/order/default.asp.
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What would you like to do with Camtasia Studio?Overview There are so many unique, creative, and interesting things that you can do with Camtasia Studio. But where do you begin? Use the following section in much the same way that you would a road map to help you get around Camtasia Studio.
Camtasia Recorder Camtasia Recorder allows you to capture cursor movements, menu selections, pop-up windows, layered windows, typing, and everything else you see on your screen. Start with Camtasia Recorder to: Record on-screen activity. Capture cursor movements, menu selections, pop-up windows, layered windows, typing and everything else you see on your screen. Apply real-time effects like object highlighting, text, graphic and image annotations, or add these effects after recording your video with Camtasia Effects. Add watermarks, time stamps, captioning and cursor highlighting and audible mouse clicks. Use ScreenDraw to draw on your desktop while you record a video. (You can also use Camtasia Effects to add annotations after record time.) Use Recorder's powerful ScreenPad annotation feature to add callouts, logos and graphics as you record your video or use. (You can also use Camtasia Effects to add annotations after record time.) Move in for a closer look with Zoom. Pan the capture frame across the screen to show more detail. Narrate your video while you record or narrate your video after recording with Camtasia Producer. Act as a software camera feed to live productions (for example, broadcasting the computer desktop in a live "webcast" using a streaming media encoder). To learn how to perform each of these tasks, see these related topics: "The Making of a Great Video" on page 10. "Camtasia Recorder" on page 31. "5 Quick & Easy Steps to your First Video" on page 33. "Getting Familiar with the Recorder Screen" on page 35. "Recorder Toolbar Options" on page 36. "Recorder ScreenDraw Tab" on page 56. "ScreenPad" on page 95. "Camtasia Recorder and PowerPoint" on page 309. "Making Drag-and-Drop and Microsoft Agent Videos" on page 311. "Recover an Interrupted Recorder Session" on page 312.
Camtasia Producer Camtasia Producer is used to assemble, edit, and create professional-quality video productions. Camtasia Producer is especially helpful when creating longer productions consisting of many video clips captured by the Recorder. After editing, the Production Wizard walks you through the basic steps involved in creating a video from the items sitting in your storyboard. Producer even shows you how to customize your movie using various options such as color depth, watermarking, frame size, compression and copyright information. Producer features the TechSmith codec, ensuring crisp, clear imagery and was specially designed for files created with Camtasia Recorder.
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Developers of documentation and desktop based presentations can use Producer to: Quickly create AVI or streaming formats from a collection of video clips, narration and audio clips. Edit and enhance your AVI videos. Control the length of the video, modify the size and the content. Correct a minor mistake without having to redo the whole video. Instead, you can easily cut out the faulty frames or splice in new frames. Add transitions in-between clips. Narrate your video, edit the audio or add a second audio track with background music or narration. Produce industry-standard video files such as Flash (*.SWF), Microsoft Windows Media (*.WMV), RealNetworks RealMedia (*.RM), Apple QuickTime streaming formats (*.MOV) or Animated GIFs. Compress your videos into an e-mail friendly executable using Pack and Show so you can easily share your Camtasia videos with anyone. (Or, share you videos with custom menu with Camtasia MenuMaker.) To learn how to perform each of these tasks, see these related topics: "Camtasia Producer" on page 141. "Producer Toolbar Options" on page 144. "Producer Timeline" on page 148. "Pack and Show" on page 173. "Producing a Video" on page 175. "Movie File Format Options" on page 178. "Converting AVIs to Macromedia Flash (SWF) Videos" on page 306. "Chain Your Macromedia Flash (SWF) Files Together Using Producer" on page 307. "Adding Titles and Credits to your Video" on page 308. "Audio Editor" on page 212.
Camtasia Effects Camtasia Effects allows you to add objects, such as callouts, arrows, text, and WMF images to an AVI video. When adding objects, each object is given a time duration for viewing which can be viewed on the timeline. Additionally, the objects drawn with the Effects drawing tools can be edited in numerous ways such as line width and color, fill style and color, ordered with other objects, grouped, etc. When the objects are all placed correctly, the video is produced. During the production process, the objects are permanently rendered and saved with the video. Once an Effects video is produced, the video can be viewed with most players that support AVI format. Use Camtasia Effects to: Easily add special effects such as editable callouts, text and images to your AVI videos after recording. Draw annotations and highlights on your videos. To learn how to perform each of these tasks, see these related topics: "Camtasia Effects" on page 234. "7 Quick and Easy Steps to Creating a New Effects Project" on page 237. "Getting Familiar with the Effects Screen" on page 241. "Effects Toolbar Options" on page 242. "The Effects Timeline" on page 250.
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Camtasia MenuMaker Camtasia MenuMaker allows you to create an attractive menu from which to launch your files. With MenuMaker, copies of all of your files are located in one central location making it easy to open and close files or applications. This means no more searching through drives, directories, and folders when giving a presentation or teaching a class. This also allows you to easily create a CD-ROM that will launch with the menu displayed, a perfect way to distribute information to customers, students, workgroups, and more. You can make your menu from a number of different templates that are included with MenuMaker or you can make your own customized template. Additionally, you can include all types of files in your menu such as document files, graphic files, multimedia files, etc. The only stipulation for the inclusion of files is that the host application necessary to run the files resides on the PC that used to launch the files. When you're ready to share your video and other content with others, quickly create great looking custom menus to organize, share and deliver your videos and other media with Camtasia MenuMaker. You can even create your own templates! To learn how to perform each of these tasks, see these related topics: "Camtasia MenuMaker" on page 272. "6 Quick and Easy Steps to Creating a Menu" on page 275. "About the Menu Creation Process" on page 276. "Getting Familiar with the MenuMaker Screen" on page 277. "Create a New Menu Project Using the MenuMaker Wizard" on page 278. "Distributing your Video" on page 24.
Camtasia Player Camtasia Player is a simple, standalone video player, optimized for playing screen recordings. The TSCC is now built into the Camtasia Player. Player always plays back videos at 100% of their original size so that they remain readable. It runs on any 32-bit Windows platform, with no dependencies on runtime libraries, OS version, or DirectX. The Player is a single .EXE file that does not need any setup, nor does it use the registry or any configuration files. Player is designed to be as easy to use as possible. Command line options are provided which allow Player to be invoked in various ways from CD-ROMs, multimedia authoring tools, and scripting languages or batch files. Player only plays AVI video files. Any audio or video codecs required by the AVI file must be installed before Player can play the video. The basic Windows multimedia support for playing AVI files must be installed. To learn how to perform each of these tasks, see these related topics: "Camtasia Player" on page 133. "Making Camtasia Player your Default Player" on page 134. "Getting Familiar with the Player Screen" on page 135.
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The Making of a Great VideoOverview The following chapter gives you some very important information regarding the information that you will need and the processes that should take place before you begin to make a video. These topics include information on screen resolution, codecs, media players, frame rates, and much more. There is even a worksheet at the end of the chapter that will help you organize your ideas, requirements, and technical information before you being to make your video.
Concern for Screen Resolution & Screen SizeThe first question to consider before recording a video of your computer screen is, will the dimensions of the video easily fit on the screen for my entire viewing audience? If, for example, you create a video that is 1024x768, people who have a lower screen resolution such as 640x480 will not be able to view your videos very well. They could scale the video down in Windows Media Player, but scaling videos results in image quality degradation that makes characters unreadable and your video may look like a blurry mess. To ensure the best playback screen resolution, follow these tips: Determine the lowest screen resolution that your video will be played back on, and then, to save room for the player window frame and controls, record your video at slightly less than that lowest screen resolution. When recording your video, you will need to consider the player window, the area of the screen used to display controls, and the actual window frame into consideration when determining the final size. If the video dimensions equal the resolution of the monitor, then the player will have to be configured to play in full screen mode in order to play the video without scaling. In full screen mode the player will have no visible controls to start, stop, pause the video or exit the player. It's a fairly safe assumption that most people are now running at 800x600 or better. The video should be small enough to be completely displayed on the screen without scaling, and still have room for the player window frame and controls. As a general rule, never record a larger area of the screen than necessary. If you are recording an application, record just the application window and not the entire desktop. Recording unnecessary screen area, aside from the aforementioned considerations, also results in larger file sizes, reduced capture frame rates, and in some cases can cause playback problems on slower systems. If you need to record the entire screen, try setting your monitor resolution to a lower resolution than the target audience screen. If your audience is using 800x600, set your screen to 640x480 for the recording. For example, if you are recording a fixed region of 640x480, it does not make any difference what the overall screen resolution is set to. Recording a fixed region of 640x480 will create a video that is 640x480, whether the screen resolution is set to 640x480 or set to 1280x1024. If a 640x480 video is played back on a monitor set to 640x480, it would have to be played in full screen mode. If it is played back on a 1024x768 or higher monitor resolution, the video could be played in a player window without scaling.
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Recording OptionsCamtasia Recorder only records and outputs AVI files. Conversion to other video file formats, as well as other video and audio codecs, is performed in Camtasia Producer. When recording, keep these tips in mind: By default, Recorder is configured to use the TechSmith Screen Capture Codec (TSCC) for lossless video compression, and PCM uncompressed mono audio. The default audio setting is PCM, 22.050 kHz, 16 bit mono. For general voice recording this is a good setting. PCM uncompressed audio creates large file sizes. However it is the best quality and should be used for making the master video. For the final distribution video, a copy of the master video can be created in the Producer with compressed audio. For voice, stereo is generally not necessary and will double the size of the file. If you need higher quality audio you can increase the sample rate, but keep in mind that it will dramatically increase the file size. Unless you have a compelling reason not to, always record using the TSCC codec and uncompressed (PCM) audio. Because TSCC is lossless and PCM is uncompressed you can edit the video and create reproductions indefinitely and not lose quality. If you start out with a video made using either a lossy audio or video codec, each time you reproduce the video the quality will degrade. It's exactly like making a copy of videotape and then making a copy from that copy. The video quality of the second copy is severely degraded, and the third becomes almost too difficult to view. Use TSCC and PCM audio for original recording, and continue using these through the entire production and editing process. Then, when the video is finished, make copies of your perfect original master video into other file formats, or audio or video compression types, if you so desire. Important Note: The TSCC is now built into the Camtasia Player. The benefits of having a built-in TSCC include: The ability to playback videos on the host PC without having to install the TSCC. Lossless preservation of 100% of the image quality, even through multiple decompression/recompression cycles that are typical during the production process. Optimization for screen capture so that the resulting files are small and highly compressed. Exceptional compression speed at all color depths.
Video CodecsOverview AVI files are compressed using video codecs to reduce file size. When an AVI file is compressed with any particular codec, that codec must be installed on any machine that is going to view the video. Much the same way that if a file is Zipped, you must have some ZIP program to unzip the file before you can use it. Basically a video codec is an algorithm used to compress the video data to reduce file size, and also to decompresses it for viewing. Just like a Zip file must be unzipped before you can use it, a video must be decompressed before it can be viewed. Over the years many different compression algorithms have been invented and implemented as codecs. Some compress more than others, some have better image quality but compress less etc. The various codecs each have strengths and weaknesses. When a video is compressed with any particular codec, that same codec must on installed on the machine that is going to view the video, because the video must be decompressed with the same codec that it was compressed with. By default, Recorder uses the TechSmith Screen Capture Codec (TSCC). Therefore, unless you select a different codec your videos will be compressed using TSCC. For more information on the different codecs that are available for use within Recorder, see "Video Codecs" on page 11. Unlike most other Windows codecs, TSCC is lossless, meaning that its compression technology does not lose any quality whatsoever when the video is compressed. When played, videos compressed with TSCC will look exactly like the screen that was recorded.
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TSCC produces very small file sizes compared to other Windows codecs. TSCC is optimized for recording application screens such as Microsoft's Word. It does not, however, produce small file sizes on videos containing real world photography and gradient fills. But for videos where you are recording your desktop, such as training or product demonstration videos, TSCC is the best choice. All of the other file formats other than AVI require a specific player. Real (.RM) and CAMV files require RealNetworks Real Player. WMV requires Microsoft Windows Media Player, MOV requires Apple QuickTime. AVI files can be played in the Windows Media Player, Real Player, the Camtasia Player and most of the time in Apple QuickTime. QuickTime does not use standard installed Windows codecs and has instead hard coded codec support in the QuickTime application. Because Apple has not hard coded TSCC into their player, QuickTime cannot view videos compressed with TSCC. It can, however, view AVI files compress with Microsoft Video 1 or RLE. For videos containing real world photography, the Microsoft Video 1 codec may be a good choice. For screen recordings of applications, TSCC is a better choice. Video 1 does pretty well for text, but on colored surfaces color banding can occur. For videos of applications, Video 1 will produce videos of greater file size than TSCC. The RLE codec is, like TSCC, lossless. Its drawback is that it is limited to 256 colors and does not compress all that well. RLE in most cases produces larger file sizes than does TSCC. Important Note: The TSCC is now built into the Camtasia Player. The benefits of having a built-in TSCC include: The ability to playback videos on the host PC without having to install the TSCC. Lossless preservation of 100% of the image quality, even through multiple decompression/recompression cycles that are typical during the production process. Optimization for screen capture so that the resulting files are small and highly compressed. Exceptional compression speed at all color depths.
TechSmith Screen Capture CodecTSCC stands for TechSmith Screen Capture Codec. It is a video encoder-decoder that takes advantage of the unique characteristics of desktop video and produces a superior quality video at reasonable compression rates. It is the default method of encoding in Camtasia Recorder, which can easily be changed to any of the standard Windows codecs when recording. But we recommend TSCC as a high quality, lossless video codec that is especially well suited for desktop videos. When using TSCC to encode a final production for distribution, you must also distribute the free codec to any users who will view the video. There are no charges, royalties, or licensing requirements involved in distributing videos encoded with TSCC or with distributing the codec to others for viewing. If you do not want to distribute your video encoded with TSCC, we recommend you still use TSCC during capture with Camtasia Recorder. Also, select the uncompressed PCM audio format. Then, when the video is produced in Camtasia Producer, select another codec and audio format for distribution (such as a standard Windows video codec, compressed audio, or a streaming file format). This approach trims the final file size while maintaining some of the quality of the original. To make distribution of TSCC-encoded videos easier, we have created a codec installer and have included it on the Camtasia CD-ROM. It is also always available at our web site, www.techsmith.com. Look for the file named TSCC.EXE. Copy TSCC.EXE onto the same media where your video distribution resides and either have your installer run it at installation time or instruct the user to do so. Important Note: The TSCC is now built into the Camtasia Player. The benefits of having a built-in TSCC include: The ability to playback videos on the host PC without having to install the TSCC. Lossless preservation of 100% of the image quality, even through multiple decompression/recompression cycles that are typical during the production process. Optimization for screen capture so that the resulting files are small and highly compressed. Exceptional compression speed at all color depths. Note: You can also ship the TSCC as part of a Pack and Show EXE file that can be created in the Producer using File > Pack and Show. See also "Use Pack and Show?" on page 25 and "Pack and Show" on page 173.
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Audio CodecsOverview Depending on the audio configuration, the audio portion of the AVI may be 150 times or more times larger than the video portion. For instance, a 464x412, 62 second video compressed with TSCC and containing no audio was 64K. The same video with PCM uncompressed audio, 48 kHz 16bit stereo was 11.6MB! In the same way that video files are compressed with video codecs, audio is compressed using audio codecs. The choice of audio codec will not only be a major determining factor in the size of the video, but also affect the audio quality. Remember that for voice recording, stereo is generally not needed, and will double the size of the audio portion of the file. Consider the following AVI. The only difference is the audio compression used. Note how the file size varies when the file is compressed with various audio codecs. Audio Setting No Audio PCM 22.050kHz, 16 bit, Mono Uncompressed Audio (Camtasia Recorder's default settings) CCITT u-Law 11.25kHz, 8 bit, Mono Compressed Audio Mpeg Layer-3 24.00 kHz, Mono Compressed Audio File Size 300 KBytes 2.7 MBytes 911 KBytes 471 KBytes
When using audio, keep these tips in mind: MPEG Layer 3 is an excellent audio codec. It produces small files sizes and maintains good audio quality. MPEG Layer 3 does have some drawbacks. It may not be installed on all computers. The only way that we know of making sure it is installed is to install Media Encoder from Microsoft. This may be a daunting task to some users. Windows Media Player 8 on XP cannot play MPEG Layer 3 encoded AVIs. It thinks that the AVI is a MP3 file and only plays the audio. One workaround for this problem is to distribute the Camtasia Player with your videos. CCITT u-Law is another good choice for audio compression. It is distributed with Windows and should be on most Windows machines. This is the audio codec that we have used for the AVI tutorial videos on our web site. It maintains good audio quality but does not compress quite as well as MPEG Layer 3, so the file sizes are larger. Some audio codecs produce horrible sounding audio -- from scratchy static noise to sounding like you are the Tin Man talking into a drain pipe. Camtasia Studio supports all audio codecs installed on your computer. Be aware that some of the audio codecs Camtasia finds and displays cannot be used when producing new videos due to licensing restrictions by the owners/authors of the codec. If you try to use one of these restricted audio codecs, Camtasia will display a dialog saying that you must choose a different codec. To find the best audio codec for your video, experiment by making a short video using PCM at the Camtasia Recorder's default configuration. Then in Camtasia Producer, try saving your video using various audio codecs at different sample rates. Important Note: The TSCC is now built into the Camtasia Player. The benefits of having a built-in TSCC include: The ability to playback videos on the host PC without having to install the TSCC. Lossless preservation of 100% of the image quality, even through multiple decompression/recompression cycles that are typical during the production process. Optimization for screen capture so that the resulting files are small and highly compressed. Exceptional compression speed at all color depths.
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The Different Media PlayersWhen sharing videos, you must consider the number of video players that are available for use and which of these players your audience is likely to have installed on their desktop. Unless you distribute Camtasia Player with your videos, you have no control over what application your viewers will use to watch your video. Instead, playback is entirely dependent on what video player is currently configured to open AVI files on each viewer's computer. In general, all the different companies that produce players want you to use their player as the default player. This means that their player will be the one that opens up automatically when you open any multimedia file. Typically each video player, when installed, will automatically set itself as the default application for AVI playback. So, when Microsoft Windows is first installed, Windows Media Player is configured to be the default AVI player. If another player is installed, chances are good that during the installation the new player will reconfigure Windows so that it is now the default AVI player. The net effect is that you have no control over what application is configured to be the default player on a user's machine, and it might even change over time. For more information on this topic, see "Video File Type Fundamentals" on page 15 and "Movie File Format Options" on page 178. Windows Media Player and Camtasia Studio AVI Files Microsoft Windows Media Player should be installed on most machines because it is included with Windows. Windows Media Player can play AVI, WMV, and GIF animation files. Windows Media Player v7 and v8 may scale videos when they are played. This scaling results in severe image quality degradation. Configuring Windows Media Player to use the "Classic" skin solves the problem in most cases. AVI Files and Camtasia Player TechSmith's Camtasia Player (CAMPLAY.EXE) is a simple, reliable AVI only player that is included with the Camtasia download and available for download from the TechSmith web site. You may freely distribute it with your videos. By distributing the Camtasia Player with your AVI files, you can be sure that your users will have a lightweight player that displays AVI files properly with no scaling. Additionally, the Camtasia Player user interface (UI) is configurable. Using command line arguments, Camtasia Player can be set up to display controls or not, title bar or not, etc. The command line syntax for the Player is detailed in the file CAMPLAY.TXT that is included with Camtasia Player. Camtasia Player has internal support for TSCC decoding. Users can play TSCC encoded videos using the Camtasia Player without having to install the TSCC video codec on their systems. Important Note: The TSCC is now built into the Camtasia Player. The benefits of having a built-in TSCC include: The ability to playback videos on the host PC without having to install the TSCC. Lossless preservation of 100% of the image quality, even through multiple decompression/recompression cycles that are typical during the production process. Optimization for screen capture so that the resulting files are small and highly compressed. Exceptional compression speed at all color depths. Pack and Show Exe Creation In Camtasia Producer Another option to consider when sharing your videos is to use Camtasia Producer's Pack and Show feature. Pack and Show allows you to wrap your videos with the TSCC codec and/or Camtasia Player into a ZIP-like EXE file. By sharing this Pack and Show .EXE, it will automatically install the TSCC codec and/or automatically playback your production with Camtasia Player. How does Pack and Show work on the viewer's computer? When the user runs the Pack and Show EXE, the EXE is unpacked to a temporary folder on the computer. If TSCC has been included, it will be automatically and silently installed. If the Camtasia Player has also been included, the video will start playing automatically in Camtasia Player. See also "Use Pack and Show?" on page 25 and "Pack and Show" on page 173.
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Video File Type FundamentalsCamtasia Producer is capable of converting your AVI into several video file formats. Before you choose which video type to share, here are some fundamentals of each Producer-supported file type. For more information on this topic, see "Video Type & Playback Checklist" on page 28 and Movie File Format Options" on page 178. Video File Type Table The following table gives you a comparison of the different file formats available to you in Camtasia Producer. File Type AVI Macromedia Flash SWF WMV Description Editable and easily converted into other movie formats. Embed in web page. Plays in most browsers with no additional software required. Cross platform. Requires Macromedia Flash PlugIn which is normally installed by default. Not editable. Windows Media Video is the current Microsoft streaming file format that replaces the legacy ASF files. WMV files can be streamed or played locally from the hard disk. WMV can produce very small file sizes and if the videos contain real world photography, dithering or gradient fills, the file size may be significantly smaller than TSCC-encoded AVI files. Playing WMV files requires Windows Media Player. Unless the Windows Media Player is a very current version, Windows Media Player will have to (automatically) contact Microsoft and download new codecs. As a result, the computer playing the video will, in most cases, have to have Internet connectivity. While not as perfect quality as lossless TSCC videos, WMV produces very good image quality. Creating WMV files has a steeper learning curve than understanding how to create AVI files. Producing WMV files requires understanding bandwidth. If you don't set the production bandwidth high enough, during playback the video may turn out black, or blocky or the image may freeze during playback. It is more difficult to produce WMV files than it is to make AVIs. RM CAMV Small file size media. It is not downloadable to the computer. Plays in RealPlayer and browser with PlugIn. Great audio compression. Camtasia Studio for Real Media files require Real Player, and can be streamed or played back locally from a hard disk. The first time a CAMV file is played, the Real Player will contact Real Networks and automatically download a CAMV PlugIn for the player. This means that the user must have Real Player installed and have a connection to the Internet. The CAMV PlugIn may be manually installed, but may turn off many members of your audience from watching your video. CAMV, like TSCC is lossless and will produce perfect quality, highly compressed videos with small file sizes. However, if file size is a primary consideration, and your video contains real world photography, dithered surfaces or gradient fills then CAMV may not be the best choice. MOV Requires Apple QuickTime. This is one possible choice if you must produce videos that will be played on both Windows and Apple operating systems. QuickTime can also play AVI files, but cannot play AVI files that are TSCC-encoded. Can be played in image viewing programs, web browsers, Windows Media Player, Real Player and other applications. It is not a streaming format. Animated GIF is highly compressed and lossless. It cannot contain audio and is 8 bit, 256 colors. It is generally not used for long videos, but rather for short clips.
ANIMATED GIF
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Thinking About the Frame RateOverview With video production use the most powerful hardware that you have available. Basically, the faster the better. Because of slower video and hard disk subsystems as well as on-board audio, laptops are not the best platform for multimedia production. Overall, the most important hardware consideration is the operating system. TechSmith recommends that you use Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP. How Auto Configure works Auto Configure (Tools > Options > AVI tab) attempts to automatically configure Recorder to record at the optimal frame rate. If the Recorder has Auto Configure enabled, when you start recording, Recorder will attempt to record with the highest frame rate possible, but limit the frame rate to 15 fps or 90% CPU utilization. If background applications are running too slowly, or mouse movement is jerky, disable Auto Configure and lower the frame rate. Because every time you start recording Auto Configure will attempt to resolve the best recording frame rate, if you are having performance problems, it's a good idea to do a test under that same conditions that will be occurring when you are doing the actual recording. This is especially true if the application that you are going to record is very demanding on your system. If you start recording and then start the other application that you are going to record, Auto Configure will have already resolved the best frame rate before the other application that is very demanding on the system has started. This could mean that Auto Configure has set a frame rate that is too high. In this case when the actual recording begins the Recorder will drop frames because it can't keep up at the configured frame rate. So, if you believe that you are having performance issues, start the application that you are going to record, then start the Recorder recording and leave the Recorder maximized on the screen. Observe the actual frame reported in the Recorder Statistics view. Then stop recording, disable Auto Configure and manually set the frame rate.
Screen Color Depth and Frame RatesScreen recording works by reading bytes of data from screen memory. The higher the color depth, the more data must be read for each pixel on the screen. With screen color depth set to 256 colors, one byte of data represents one pixel. With 16 bit color, 2 bytes, 24 bit color requires the 3 bytes of data are read for each pixel. So, recording a screen with 24 bit color requires the computer to do 3 times as much work as 8 bit color. If possible, never record at 32 bit color depth. Always use a lower color depth. Only use 256 colors if performance is really a problem. 256 color AVIs can be problematic in playback. If you must record at 256 color depth due to performance issues, you can convert the video to 16 or 24 bit color depth for the final production using the Camtasia Producer. 16 or 24 bit color is recommended for your AVI files.
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Capture Frame Rates and Hardware AccelerationBy turning off hardware acceleration, you can dramatically increase frame capture rates on Windows 2000 and Windows XP and/or seriously reduce CPU utilization. The following table gives you a side-by-side comparison of the fps achieved with and without the use of hardware acceleration. Video Capture Settings 32-bit color, 1280x1024 16-bit color, 1280x1024 16-bit color, 800x600 Frame rate per second (fps), with hardware acceleration 9 fps 2 fps 6 fps Frame rate per second (fps), without hardware acceleration 12 fps 20 fps 50 fps
When thinking about the video frame rate, keep these tips in mind: There are two places where you can turn off the hardware acceleration. The first is in Camtasia Recorder (version 2.2. and up) under Tools > Options > Program: The hardware acceleration will be disabled only during recording. As soon as you stop Camtasia Recorder, the acceleration will be turned on again. Disabling the acceleration shortly causes a black screen, which can be annoying during a multi-take recording. The second way to turn off hardware acceleration is to turn it off system-wide in the Control Panel Display applet. Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced>Troubleshooting and slide the hardware acceleration slider to None. You can repeatedly record the screen without being interrupted by black screens. However, there are applications which need hardware acceleration to run properly. For example, many DVD players, 3-dimensional CAD displays, and video games. In these recording scenarios, you would want to try other methods to improve the video quality like: reducing the capture area, limiting zoom and pan, or using a decreased color resolution. Note: Disabling the hardware acceleration is crucial if you want to record videos from a media player such as Windows Media Player, RealPlayer or QuickTime. Otherwise you'll get nothing but a blank screen.
Frame Rates for most software demos and/or training videos, 5-10 frames per second (fps) is perfectly adequate. Faster frame rates will only result in larger video file size, increased bandwidth requirements and can cause slower computers to have playback problems. If Camtasia Recorder has Auto Configure enabled, it will attempt to record at the fastest frame rate possible. Many times this results in ridiculously high frame rates. This will cause CPU utilization to reach 100%, which can cause both background applications to run very slowly and/or jerky mouse movement. If background application performance is too slow or mouse movement is jerky, try lowering the screen color depth. By manually configuring the Recorder for a lower frame rate, CPU utilization is reduced and your application will run smoothly. Be careful that when you produce the final video in Camtasia Producer, your frame rate settings match. Go to "Produce Video > Production Options > AVI tab" and choose "Automatic" as frame rate setting.
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Understanding Bandwidth and Streaming Media ProductionOverview Understanding bandwidth is really quite simple, and it is necessary to have a fundamental grasp of what bandwidth is if you are creating streaming media files such as WMV, RM, or CAMV etc. Basically, bandwidth is simply a measure of how much data can be transmitted through a connection over a given period of time. For example, a 28.8 kbps dialup modem connection is much slower than a cable modem connection. The cable modem connection can download more data than the 28.8 kbps dialup modem connection can over the same period of time. The cable modem has a higher bandwidth connection than the 28.8 kbps dialup connection does. Its like comparing a garden hose to a fire hose. More water can pass through the fire hose in a minute than a garden hose. So, in an odd sort of way, you could say that the fire hose is a higher bandwidth hose than the garden hose
File Size, Bit Rate, Bandwidth and Data TransmissionFile size is measured in bytes. For example, a small image file might be 20K (K or KB is the abbreviation for kilobyte), or about 20,000 bytes in size. One kilobyte = about 1,000 bytes. If a computer could receive 5,000 bytes per second or 5K bytes per second, it would take 4 seconds for it to receive a file 20K in length. But bandwidth is not measured in bytes it is measured in bits. One byte contains eight bits. So, if a computer can receive 5K (5,000) bytes in one second, another way to put it is to say that it can receive 40,000 (5,000 x 8) bits per second, or 40 kbps. Data transmission measured in bits per second is called the baud rate or bit rate and is the measure of bandwidth. It is commonly measured in thousands of bits per second or kilobits per second. The abbreviation for kilobits per second is kbps or Kbps or simply k. One kilobit = about 1,000 bits. If a computer connects to the Internet using a 56 kbps dialup modem, in theory, it means that the computer could receive 56,000 bits (56kbps) per second. That would mean that the computer could receive about 7,000 bytes per second. Remember that a byte is 8 bits, so 56,000bps / 8 = 7,000 bytes. So, to receive the 20K image file, the 56 kbps dialup connection would require slightly less than 3 seconds to receive the file. Data transmission measured in bits per second is the bandwidth of the connection. In this case the bandwidth is 56 kbps. Note: A 56 kbps modem cannot actually communicate at 56 kbps. In reality its more like 35-45 kbps. A 56 kbps modem connection generally only provides 35-45 kbps of bandwidth.
Continue this topic with Bandwidth and Streaming Media File Transmission on page 19.
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Bandwidth and Streaming Media File TransmissionComputer video files are basically a number of still images called frames that are combined sequentially into one file. When the file is played, the player, Windows Media Player for example, goes through the AVI file and displays each consecutive image in the same way that video film rolling through a projector displays a video. When a file is streamed, frames are continuously delivered from the computer that is streaming the video to the computer that is playing it. Each frame is displayed as it is received.
Consider a computer connected to the Internet using a dialup modem. If the modem connected at 40 kbps, that would mean that it could receive 5,000 bytes of data per second. If each frame of the video was only 5KB then the modem could only receive 1 frame per second. Commercial motion pictures are 24 fps (frames per second), television is 30 frames per second. So, a 1 fps video is a very slow and choppy video. But with a higher bandwidth connection, more frames per second could be received. With a 128 kbps ISDN connection for example, 32 5K frames could be delivered per second. But, a 5K image or frame is not very big. A small 320x200, 16 bit JPEG file can easily be 20K in size. So, for the beleaguered modem connected with only 40 kbps of bandwidth, would take 4 seconds to receive only one frame of the video! At that rate, the video would degrade into a slide show, and not be a video at all. This is the reason why many videos that you see on-line or on news sites are very small, and why a dialup Internet connection just does not have enough bandwidth to enjoy a very rich multimedia experience.
Video Compression and Key FramesAs static image files are compressed using various compression algorithms such as JPEG, the video and audio data in streaming media files is compressed. This reduces the number of bytes in each frame thus reducing the bandwidth requirement to deliver the video. While data compression helps a considerably, another step is taken to reduce bandwidth requirements. Video files are simply a number of still images called frames that are combined sequentially into one file. Each frame is displayed at some given number of frames per second to create the illusion of movement. But many times there is no movement or change in the video between one frame and the next. A video demonstration of an application for example, may show the opening of a new window in the application, and then not change for several minutes while the audio narration explains the application. If nothing changes, there is no reason to send a new frame of video data. The player can just sit there and display the same frame. This of course hugely reduces bandwidth requirements. But consider a video that is a demonstration of an application. Perhaps, all that is changing in the video is the mouse pointer moving around the application as the author of the video points out different areas of the application by using the mouse pointer as a pointing device. Instead of sending the entire frame, only the changes to the new frame are sent. If the
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