Explore Camtasia Studio

I've been snowboarding three times in my life. Each time I start out as a beginner, but by the end of the day, I've progressed a little beyond where I ended last time. Two steps forward, one step back.

You might feel the same way about your Camtasia Studio skills. Lots of users tell us they'll open up the software every day for a week when working on a video project...then won't open it again until another project rolls around, perhaps months later.

Here are three quick tips to help you get "back on the slopes" quicker each time...

• Found the perfect production settings that you'd like to use again? Don't write them on a sticky note—instead save them as a custom preset.
• Before diving into the new project, open up your last project (File > Recent Projects) and look at how you put things together last time.
• If you're really rusty, watch the 8-minute Getting Started video again (find it here or under Help > Quick Start Videos).

The bottom line is you shouldn't worry about mastering the whole application all at once. Instead, follow the wise example of Ken Burgin and try to use one new feature with each video you make. Pretty soon you'll be a Camtasia pro...

Happy screencasting!

Daniel Foster
Newsletter Editor

The Jing Project, launched in July of last year, is still going strong. As you may recall, Jing is a handy, little utility that lets you share anything on your screen—fast—as a simple screenshot or brief video. And since Jing's an experimental project...it's currently free!

The most recent Jing updates enable you to share directly to Flickr or your FTP site. So if you haven't given it a try, download Jing today. And if you wonder whether we eat our own dog food around here, two recent posts at the Jing Blog reveal that, yep, we use Jing all the time...and hope you will, too!

We all love to eat at restaurants...but how often do you think about what goes on behind the kitchen—in the back office?

Ken Burgin, a former restaurateur in Sydney, Australia, advises restaurants, cafes, hotels, and clubs on how to operate profitably, and with less stress.

"Explaining cost and profit concepts to chefs and restaurant managers is difficult—they don't love figures!" Ken said."I've developed several simple spreadsheets to explain concepts, and use them in workshops."

With the help of Camtasia Studio, Ken follows the same approach in a weekly e-newsletter and on his Web site. His Video Tip of the Week teaches concepts like Calculating Return on Investment Calculator and How to Improve Sales When Times are Tough (scroll down those pages to see videos). They also help grow his business!

"...since adding a weekly video segment to the newsletters, the click-through rate has increased quite noticeably and I've had some great email responses. There has been a small but noticeable increase in memberships," said Ken.

And by posting his videos to YouTube and Ning-powered industry forums, Ken reaches more people.

"Once you have some good video content you can turn up with an interesting story in lots more places!"

What has Ken learned about working with Camtasia Studio so far?

"Talk faster (we Aussies don't like to rush things) and make it as concise as possible. Haven't got them down to 30 seconds yet but working on it. Now improving my skills on the pan and zoom and adding music to the intros—I try to use one new feature each video I make. I love this stuff!"

This month, think about how you can do more with your videos by using them in email or posting them at relevant sites online.

What if you could invest $600 in a piece of software that would save your company $20 million per year?

That's what happened a few years ago when Roxio bought two copies of Camtasia Studio and started creating online tutorials for their Easy Media Creator application. Within 14 months, the company hit its target of moving 60% of support inquiries to online video tutorials, saving millions and keeping customers happy.

Click the thumbnail above to watch one of the Roxio videos. Notice that the video is brief (1:23) and concise. The audio is clear and well-paced. The callouts in the lower-right corner support the message being delivered. And by using pan and zoom, the overall dimensions are kept to just 720x480 for clear, easy viewing even on a small monitor.

How would you like a free consultation with a professional screencaster?

We've asked Daniel Park, author of Camtasia Studio 5: The Definitive Guide, to provide a 5 to 10 minute video critique of one reader's screencast for an upcoming newsletter. He promises to keep it "tactful and fun"...we won't pull a Simon Cowell on you.

We're looking for videos under one hour in length; preference will be given to screencasts that are primarily screen recordings...not primarily camera video. It should be your original work and we'll need permission for the screencast to be shared and critiqued.

Remember: this isn't a contest to pick the best project, but a chance to get some free advice on how you can improve in terms of content and technique!

To submit your screencast for consideration, please email newsletter@techsmith.com and provide the URL where we can view your video. (If it's not yet posted on the Web, we can work with you to get the files.)

Oh, and we'll have a little prize pack for the person whose screencast we select...

Sometimes when you add a text callout it doesn't "pop" the way you want it to. The problem could be that the background is competing with the callout for attention. So how can you reduce the visual clutter and put the focus on your text callout?

One method is to dim a single frame of your video by editing that frame with SnagIt (or another image editor)...then using that dimmed frame as a background. Aaahhh...much better!


It's a technique I use in my own training projects. Watch this 5-minute video to learn my secrets!