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Once you've finished editing your production and getting just the look you want, you're ready to produce it. This is another area where Camtasia 4 has improved in numerous ways. You can let Camtasia recommend production settings based on where you are publishing your production as shown in Figure 4. For example, if you are producing your video for an iPod, Camtasia will configure all of the production settings appropriately for that platform.
Figure 4 - Camtasia can recommend production settings based on the platform you are producing for.
Speaking of the iPod, Camtasia is the perfect platform for publishing your video podcasts. Not only will it produce video files in fantastic quality, but it will also allow you to generate all of the iTunes information for your production right within the Camtasia interface as shown in Figure 5. The information you enter is added as metadata to the movie file.
Figure 5 - Camtasia can add metadata to the movie file for use by iTunes.
Camtasia also provides the unique ability to preview the result of your choices before you spend the time encoding the entire production. To do so, it renders out a small portion of your
productions using the defined settings and lets you preview it to see how it looks. This is a great time saver and ensures that you get exactly the results you want every time.
Windows Vista Support
The release version of Camtasia doesn't work well in Vista at all. TechSmith is currently working on Camtasia 4.0.1 and it is fully Vista compatible. TechSmith tells me that they anticipate releasing the Vista-compatible version of Camtasia sometime early this year, hopefully in the January/February timeframe.
What Makes Camtasia Special?
After seeing all of that, you might wonder why Camtasia is that much better than any other screen recording applications that are available. The answer to that is plain to see if you've ever viewed a Camtasia production. TechSmith's incredible TSCC code (TechSmith Screen Capture Codec) produces gorgeous, lossless screen captures with full motion video. Many other applications create a series of snapshots and add falsely animated cursors to make it look like video. The result is not the same by any means. Even applications that do record the screen in full video don't produce results that can match Camtasia's.
The TSCC codec is also great for post-production work. For example, you can render out your production using the TSCC codec, edit it in your favorite editing application, and then render it from your editing application using the TSCC codec. Camtasia can then be used to render the final video and the results are outstanding. For an example of video tutorials using this method, you can view my tutorials at the Jimco Books Web site. I did a fair amount of editing in Vegas before rendering the final video.
It's important that you not get the impression that editing in an external video editing application is necessary. In fact, Camtasia includes some powerful tools such as pan and zoom, callouts, etc. to produce excellent, professional-quality output without ever leaving the Camtasia interface.
Conclusion
There are many more great features to Camtasia 4 that I haven't covered here. The best way for you to get a feel for just what a pleasure this application is to use, you really must try it yourself. Fortunately, TechSmith offers a generous free trial that is fully-features and lasts 30 days. I encourage you to give it a shot and I think you'll find that Camtasia is the only logical choice for screen recording.
As if that weren't enough, you can feel good about doing business with TechSmith. Not only are all of the folks I've ever had contact with there great people, but the company itself is involved in plenty of charitable activities. They don't publicize it on their Web site. From what I can tell, they do it because they are just plain decent folks. There's no other type I'd rather give my hard earned dollars to, and you get excellent software in return.
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