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…

Create Better Tips Videos Summary

1) Choose a video background

You can find video (moving) backgrounds at for example movietools.

2) Choose a music backing track

Create the right ambiance with the right background music. Here you find a great collection of Royalty free music suitable for videos here.

3) Use easy to read fonts

4) To enhance readability – use shadow on your text.

In Camtasia you find the Shadow function for text here:

5) Use simple transitions between your scenes

And finally, keep your tips brief and don’t include too many tips.

And a bonus tip from me, narrate your video reading your tips out to your viewers.

I hope you enjoyed the video. Until next time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Resources
Bill Myers Online
Royalty Free Music

Related posts:

1. Import Callouts into Camtasia
2. Camtasia for Mac v1 Launced

If that’s the case it can be good to include your own custom callouts into your Camtasia Video. It’s not difficult, but can be a little confusing the first time you do it so I did a two minute video covering the subject.

I hope you will like it.

The “clapper” callout is included in our free SuperStamps package. You can download SuperStamps Free pack here. The SuperStamps work very well as Camtasia Callouts.

I also got some questions about the background music. This is a royalty free score from Producer’s pack.

Until next time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Related posts:

1. Camtasia Callout GiveAway

Morae 3.2 was released just a few days ago. It’s a free update from version 3—brings these new capabilities:

• Open architecture: plug-ins for Morae
Developers can now write their own Recorder and Manager plug-ins, customizing Morae to capture, integrate, search, and visualize data streams from all kinds of sources. We provide a couple of useful plug-ins and plenty of documentation to get you started.

“Morae’s new pluggable architecture will make it possible for us to integrate diverse, third-party data streams such as eye tracking and heart rate when we’re testing participant response to things like video games, advertisements, movies, and the other media stimuli we research in our program.” –Dr. Corey Bohil, Media Interface and Network Design (M.I.N.D.) lab, Michigan State University

• An improved interface for real-time task scoring
• Greater variety of transition effects for highlight videos
• Screen dimming to focus attention during automated user testing

Read more about Morae 3.2

Until next time

Peter – Your Camtasia and Morae Guide

Related posts:

1. Morae 3.0 Usability Software

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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

Related posts:

1. Camtasia Studio Blurry Screen Video
2. Camtasia Studio “No Codec” Error
3. Camtasia Studio First Time User

Hello Friends,

Finally I am proud to give you some great news that many of you  have been waiting for or know someone who would appreciate that Camtasia for Mac has been released!

TechSmith  the leading provider of screen-capture and screen-recording solutions never disappoint their clients they are always ready to listen to you and provide what you the consumer needs.

If you are a Snagit fan no worries the Snagit for Mac is in development but in the mean time we have an alternative screen capture software that works with Mac ‘Voila‘. If you would like to be updated on the development of Snagit for mac you may subscribe here.

As a  Windows user who recently purchased an  iMac I downloaded the 30-day trial version to try Camtasia for Mac myself and truly it offers super cool things any Mac user would not want to miss.

I will give you a sneak preview of my findings…

SmartFocus®

TechSmith’s proprietary technology that keeps track of every detail that I use when editing, details such as window size, location, typing and mouse clicks – that sure saved me a “wholatta” time!

Camera Recording

Lets me capture a video from my iSight or a DV camera connected via firewire.

Production Wizard

The Production Wizard allowed me to choose  which program I want to use to share, export or upload my work. With a bunch of options to choose including – upload to Screencast.com or Youtube.com, share export to iTunes, produce it into an MPEG-4, QuickTime Movie, AVI, DV Stream, 3G, and audio-only formats AIFF and AU.

Advanced Export

It gives me option to change the settings and export it to all standard formats.
IMAGE

Familiar Timeline

Good thing, the timeline still looks and functions the way it is in Camtasia Studio for windows where I can add, rearrange and drag-and-drop videos and images. Thus, less confusion and no adjustment needed on this part (that is if you’re already a Camtasia Studio user).

So what didn’t I like about Camtasia for Mac.. it does not offer all the features that Camtasia Studio for windows offers but is still bound to create a stir among the top video recording mac software already available in the market.

Before I forget the price is another plus Camtasia for Mac is  currently offered at a very low introductory price of $97.00 . Apparently its a limited offer so be warned.

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

No related posts.

Hello Friends,

I’m back with another Tutorial series for Camtasia Studio, answering the frequently asked questions from Camtasia Studio fans!

Have you tried recording an on-screen video and  when you played it back, the video appears blurry or has poor quality?

What Causes Blurry Screen Video in Camtasia?

There are two general causes of blurry videos in Camtasia Studio, but first a little  about  Camtasia Studio Codec….

Codecs are the algorithms being used to compress a video, most of the time installed as a software embedded within a hardware. They are of the same idea as in compressing files using a program like WinZip.

Video codecs are categorized into two types of compression:

Lossless codecs/compression - you lose nothing, but you can’t compress much.
Lossy codecs/compression - you lose quality in return, you achieve great downsizing.

Camtasia is equipped with a TSCC video codec that is lossless, thus, compressed videos with TSCC have great quality!

Having said that there is no reason why your Camtasia Videos should lose any quality unless you are doing something wrong.

Moving on, here are the general causes of blurry videos.

SCALING YOUR VIDEO IN A PLAYER OR IN THE CAMTASIA DURING VIDEO PRODUCTION

• If you scale the video during playback to other sizes than the original size, quality will lessen.

• If you use the default setup of Camtasia Recorder and produce videos with the TSCC codec, the playback should have a very good quality and looks similar to the screen.

• If video is played in a Media Player, the quality is lessened due to the “skins” mode of Media Player causing the video to be played back at a different size than the required 100% original size. Trying to change the video size will still not work.

How to Fix Camtasia Studio Blurry Screen Videos

SOLUTION 1 – Configure Media Player to avoid videos from scaling.

For Media Player 11:

1. Open Windows Media Player.
2. Go to View.
3. Choose Video Size.
4. Fit PLAYER to video on Start.

For Media Player 9 or 10:

1. Change your Media Player’s skin mode to “Classic” mode, to do so, just press Skin Chooser button and select “Classic”.
2. Go to View.
3. Choose Video Size then set it to 100%
4. Run the player to Compact mode.
5. Select View, then choose Skin Mode.
6. Run it in 6.4 mode.

How to use Media Player in v6.4 mode:

1. Go to Program Files, then choose Windows Media Player.
2. Run MPLAYER2.EXE file.
3. On v6.4 mode  select View > Options > Formats, select All > Apply > OK.
4. Select View > Options > Playback , then set the Zoom level to 100%.

SOLUTION 2 – use  Camtasia Player or other player that doesn’t scale videos.

PRODUCING THE VIDEO USING A “LOSSY” CODEC

By default, Camtasia Studio will now scale the video. For you to be able to produce video with the same good quality,  simply follow these steps:

1. Once you’re done with your captures screencast, click on Produce.
2. Choose your desired output, click Next.
3. Select your desired format, click Next.
4. On the Fit in field, click on the drop-down arrow and choose the largest video size, click Next.
5. Click Next.
6. Select the output location, click Finish.

That’s all there is to it. I hope this has been again helpful to you!

Until Next Time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Related posts:

1. Camtasia Studio “No Codec” Error
2. Camtasia Studio Title Clips

Camtasia for Mac is Screen Recorder and Presentation Software for Mac ! – record your screen with audio, webcam video, and more to create presentations, product demos, training, and online lectures.

What is Camtasia for Mac?

Software for making a movie from content you record off your computer screen. There’s no easier way to create videos that are effective and fun to watch. Use it to make:

* training videos

* on-demand presentations

* marketing demos

* how-to screencasts

To celebrate the launch of Camtasia for Mac SoftwareCasa has put together a special offer. You will get $52 off the suggested price (SRP $149.00) and you will also get a FREE copy of Producers Pack 3 Royalty Free Music. This is a great addon for the videos you create. The offer is valid until midnight 4th of September 2009 on SoftwareCasa only. Check out Camtasia Mac Introduction Offer here!
(Please note: This offer is ONLY valid on SoftwareCasa)

Until next time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Related posts:

1. Import Callouts into Camtasia

Hello Friends,

Camtasia Studio Guide is normally focused on Camtasia Studio.  With Camtasia Studio you can connect with your audience by creating interactive video tutorials, training, software demos and presentations.

Camtasia Studio has full-motion recording capability that records the screen, webcam video and voice, so you can produce professional-quality video presentations with small file sizes to post on the Internet, burn on CD-ROM, or deliver any way you choose in all the popular file formats.

However today I thought I’d step away from Camtasia Studio for a while and introduce you to a closely related but  more advanced title Morae Usability Software.

So what is Morae ? Morae is the premier software for deeply understanding customer experiences and sharing those insights clearly and powerfully.

From usability testing to focus groups and beyond, Morae helps you transform designs and marketing to make things that people will love.

Using these kind of software as an evaluation tool has been considered an essential part during the development process or even in improving a product, method, and many more, in relation to meeting the customer’s needs, wants and most importantly, their satisfaction.

What Can You Do with Morae?

With Morae 3.0 you can record exactly what customers do and say about a particular product, website, idea, etc., discover patterns in the data, key in significant moments, and build compelling presentation on how to improve the customer experience.

Doing Market Research?

Here is a clear and simple example to have a better understanding on what Morae can do:

Casts:

You – owner of a mobile device company.

Manager – the manager of the development process.

Developer – the person who develops your product which are mobile devices.

X, Y and Z – a customer/participant partaking in the testing/evaluation process.

*where a participant is someone of your target audience that you’ll be testing, interviewing, or otherwise observing.

You can then schedule a product try-out session with X, Y and Z. During the actual session, you capture the session automatically with Morae while X is using and talking about the product on a computer via webcam or perhaps right in front of you with a webcam. Meanwhile, Morae recorder is recording everything from the session and the manager and developer are watching them live using the Morae observer.

All the recorded sessions are put up with audio, computer data and notes into one file.

Using the Morae manager, you can view the recordings, do analysis of trends, gather insights and prepare to share your findings or study with others, like manager and developer.

As a result, the product goes through some changes and improvements that would eventually make X, Y and Z a very satisfied customer.

Do you still find it difficult what Morae is about and what it can do for you, your company, product and customer? Then read more about Morae 3.0 here.

Take your recording one step further with Morae Usability Software!

Until Next Time

Peter – Your Camtasia Guide

Related posts:

1. Morae 3.2

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.

3. The components of DirectShow is not properly registered.

Register qedit.dll and quartz.dll, to do so, follow the instructions below:

► 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

Related posts:

1. Camtasia Studio Blurry Screen Video
2. Camtasia Studio Title Clips
3. Camtasia Videos with Chipmunks Audio