Create Better Tips Videos

Today I have an excellent video for you. Bill Myers has created a video covering 7 tips for “how-to-do” videos.

Billy cover areas like transitions, text, background, music and more in 2:25 minutes.

For your convenience I have included a summary of the video below.

OK Billy, take it away…

Hello Friends!

As we continue to master Camtasia Studio, today I will show you a tip in producing a screencast that will surely capture your viewer’s attention and at the same time deliver your key points!

Add an extra kick to your screencast by using Title Clip. Title Clips, allow you to add graphic/text to introduce a video, set chapters or display relevant information like credits or video resources.

Here’s the step-by-step instructions on how to create a basic Title Clip:

1. Open Camtasia Studio and Record or Open and existing Video.

2. Once you’re done select ‘Title Clips’ from the Task List.

3. On the Title Clips pane, enter your desired text for the clip.

4. If you want to add background image to your clip, click on ‘Image’ option, then hit ‘Browse’ and locate your desired image to add.

5. If you want to change the background color, simply click on Color button and select your preferred color.

6. For additional texts, you can just type within the box in the pane.

To change the size of the text box, simply drag the handles of the green rectangle in the Preview Window.

To move the position of the text, simply drag the green rectangle in the Preview Window then click Finished!

Your title clip will be automatically added to the Clip Bin where you can conveniently use in the future with the drag-and-drop function.

How to Change Duration of Your Title Clip

Just drag the title clip onto the Timeline in your video. By default, the duration of the Title Clips on a Timeline is five seconds, to change the duration, you may do the following:

1. Select Tools

2. Go to Options

3. Click Programs Tab

4. Choose Title Clips

5. Set the amount of time for your Title Clips to display.

That’s all there is to it, I hope you find this tip very handy in your next Camtasia Studio screencast.

Until Next Time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Camtasia Studio “No Codec” Error

Hi There,

As I continue to master Camtasia Studio, I will also continue to provide answers to the most the frequently asked questions.

Have you ever tried importing a video in Camtasia Studio and then it produces an error message which says, “Error: No codec available to render this file”?

Well, there are five possible causes and I have provided for you solutions for each scenario.

1. Importing MP4 file

One known cause is because of the DirectShow Filters installed on your computer.

Please use the following diagnostic tool to provide us with the information needed to resolve this problem:

Download this program called Graph Edit.

After the download and installation, do the following:

- Run Graphic Edit

- Click on File

- Click on Render Media File

- Choose the MP4 file that’s getting the problem

- No Error: It says, graph could not be created.

- Error: It creates a graph which shows the filter that’s causing the problem.

- Submit graph by taking a screenshot of it and send it to the Support Team, together with diagnostics, which can be produced by clicking on Help > Support > Save to File.

2. The codec that the video is compressed with is either not installed or its installation has become corrupted.

To solve this, you can re/install the codec by running the TSCC file. It is located in the folder where the Camtasia Studio is installed in.

tscc

3. The components of DirectShow is not properly registered.

► qedit.dll

- Click Start button

- Click Run

- Paste this commands into the Run box:

regsvr32 “%windir%\system32\qedit.dll

- Click OK

► quartz.dll

- Click Start button

- Click Run

- Paste this commands into the Run box:

regsvr32 “%windir%\system32\quartz.dll”

- Click OK

4. On versions 4 and 5, A DirectShow filter is interfering with the recorded file.

Try to disable the recording preview so that you can see if the recording works properly.

To disable the recording preview.

Alternatively you may request an upgrade to Camtasia Studio 6.0.
5. Extracting the AVI from the CAMREC

To extract the AVI correctly , follow these instructions:

- Browse to the CAMREC file saved on your computer

- Right-click on it

- choose Extract, this will extract the AVI from the CAMREC

- Play the AVI in the Camtasia Studio

- If it won’t play in Camtasia Studio, then try playing it using Windows Media Player.

- If still, it won’t work in Windows Media Player, it could be corrupted.

- Record a new one and follow the solution provided in method 3.

That’s all there is to it, hope you find this useful .

Until Next Time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Camtasia Videos with Chipmunks Audio

Hi There,

As I continue to master Camtasia Studio, I can describe it in a few words Smart, Friendly and the most Powerful screen recording software I have ever used.

One of the frequently asked questions is a problem with the sound that some of you may have already encountered after producing your videos.

Have you ever experienced this scenario?

You were recording and everything was going well until the video is produced, that’s when the audio suddenly starts to sound really weird. The sound goes faster and at times takes on a higher tone, more likely compared to a talking chipmunk.

If you have, worry not.

This problem is not related to Camtasia but by your sound device. This can happen mostly on computers running on Windows XP but can also occur in other operating systems. Some people experience the problem because the Sound scheme is by default set on “Windows default”. Thus, during a recording process whenever a button is pressed, a Windows sound is being generated.

Wanna know how to resolve this? Well, read on…..

Simple turn off the default Windows sound scheme, to do so, please follow these instructions:

1. On your desktop, click on Start button.

2. Go to Control Panel

3. Click on Sounds and Audio Devices.

4. Go to the Sounds tab, this will bring up the Sound and Audio Devices Properties dialog box.

5. Under Sound Scheme, click on the drop-down arrow, then select No Sounds. See image below to clearly follow the instruction.

nosounds

6. Apply

7. Then Click on OK

Now, you are all set and chipmunk-talking-free!

As for recorded audio, sorry this can’t be fixed, you could do the recording again or if not you can remove the chipmunk-like audio and add a newly recorded sound clip.

If you have been sitting on the fence undecided about whether to upgrade your Camtasia Studio I can tell you through experience the upgrade is well worth it. You can checkout the new features of Camtasia Studio 6 that simplify alot of tasks and make you look like a pro.

To proceed and request for the special upgrade price go here.

I hope this has been helpful to you!

Until Next Time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

12 Top Camtasia Tutorials and Resources

I know a lot of people are looking for references on how to use Camtasia Studio software. As a new user, you would want to know the basic features of the product. As an experienced user, you want to know if there are product upgrades or new tricks for you to use. I have stumbled on a few good websites that should be good sources for Camtasia tips.

Please include any other references you find helpful in the comments section below and I will be sure to include them.

This list is in no particular order. OK, here we go – websites that offer Camtasia Studio tutorials and tips.

1) Help may be closer than you think. Just bring up Camtasia Studio on your desktop and press your [F1]-key. Up pops the Camtasia help file. It covers many of the topics we get questions on a day to day basis.

2) Camtasia Forums – a great way for fellow users to interact. Users could help each answer each others questions by discussing it here at TechSmith forum.

3) TechSmith FAQ Page – Check this page out for some common questions that users ask about the product.

4) Camtasia Video Tutorials – Step by step video tutorial about the software.

5) The Visual Lounge – A Camtasia community. Great source of information.

6) Camtasia Guide – Not a complete guide if we didn’t mention yours truly We have a lot of plans to increase the content, especially with more Camtasia tutorials and good stuff. Sign up to the newsletter and I will keep you posted.

7) Camtasia Tutorial Video Compilation – A video compilation uploaded by different users. It has a lot of great videos on how to use Camtasia.

8 ) Video tutorial from webreference – A video tutorial from webreference site. Very detailed video tutorials divided in 6 parts.

9) E learning at Virginia Tech – An online distance education. Offers lessons on How to use Camtasia Studio.

10) Instructional Technology Development Program - More on Camtasia tutorial topics

11) Camtasia Tutorial by Joe Liaw – A detailed tutorial made by a high school teacher. It is an audio and video tutorial.

12) Pierce College Tutorial on Camtasia – Another informative site about Camtasia.

Camtasia Studio is screen recording software with full-motion recording capability. It records the screen, voice and camera video. It is a great tool for making tutorials, presentations and advertisements and really good demonstrations.

If you don’t have this software you can buy Camtasia here.

I hope this information is helpful to all Camtasia users. If you have additional references and other websites that have great Camtasia Tutorials/Guides, please include them in the comment area below.

Until next time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide