Camtasia--Getting a Capture

Camtasia--Getting a Capture

1) Bring up Camtasia and click on the link Record the Screen from the task list on the left-hand side of the screen. (This will open a wizard to help you set up your capture.)

2) Select the Region, Window or Entire Screen for Camtasia to record, then click next.
If you selected region, you may type the specifications or click Select Window to click and drag the cursor over the area you wish to select.

3) Select whether you want to record camera (video), Audio (voiceover, etc.), and if you wish to see a preview while recording. Then select next.

4) Make sure that the microphone you are using is working properly. If it is not, you may need to change the audio device, by selecting a different source from the drop-down menu. Then click next.

5) Your camera settings should set up by default, click next.

6) Click the Finish button.

You are now ready to begin recording with Camtasia. You will see a small box on your screen, if this is in the way of the area you are recording, you can minimize it. If you selected the option you wanted to preview your work while recording, it will appear here.

7) Use the F9 key to start or pause your recording at any time.

8) Use the F10 key to stop your recording and finalize it for Camtasia.

9) A preview will pop up, if you are satisfied with your recording, click on the save button at the bottom of the preview box. If you would like to discard it click delete.

10) If you wish to record again, simply press the F9 key again to begin, but remember that Camtasia will record the same area you have set up for your last recording unless you change your settings.
(You can change your settings by choosing wizard from the drop down menu Capture in your preview box. Or selecting Record the Screen again from the Camtasia studio screen.)


[Stay Tuned for more tips and guides about how to use Camtasia!]

Camtasia & Moodle

For those of you who are regular readers of this blog, you will know that I have been working for some time with the program Jing, a video capture program, to create video tutorials about adding content to your class page(s) on Moodle.
More recently, I have begun to familiarize myself with a similar capture program: Camtasia. One of the benefits of using Camtasia, is in i's being able to record longer video captures (Jing videos cannot exceed 5-minutes), and it's adaptability.
While Jing offers the ability to project your videos online, via Screencast, it saves any files to your computer as Shockwave Flash Objects by default. Camtasia, on the other hand, offers the user a variety of formats in which to save their videos, which opens up the possibility of using your captures in video editing programs such as Windows Movie-Maker or the Mac equivalent, iMovie. Camtasia also provides it's own easily navigable editing studio. This provides users with security in the knowledge they can make a mistake in their capture, audio or otherwise, without the necessity of re-recording as they might be required to with Jing.
Similarly to iMovie or Windows Movie-Maker, Camtasia offers the ability to import other types of video files and images than the captures you have made with Camtasia, a variety of transitions, adding audio tracks such as music, or even post production narrations, and the capability of adding titles, or credits to your new movie. Offering an intuitive sidebar task list, Camtasia is an easy way to create longer video captures and simple videos. And in being able to save in other formats, provides users with the capability to upload easily to Youtube, a common complaint amongst Jing users.


[Please stay-tuned for future blogs about how to use Camtasia to get video captures, edit and upload video.]