Camtasia Studio 2 for Mac: A Brief Overview
Once you have installed Camtasia onto your machine, open the application and you will see the following window appear in the middle of your screen…
You will be see three input options; (1) screen capture, (2) video capture, and (3) audio capture.
- Selecting the drop down menu for any of these three items will display available options for that input.
Once you have your desired input selected you may now press RECord. A countdown timer will then commence.
At this point you will conduct your lecture as planned and the program will record whatever inputs you have elected to utilize.
Once you have finished your lecture and are ready to stop recording, you may do so by selecting the red reel button in the top right of your screen or selecting the command listed in the countdown timer.
After stopping a recording, the Camtasia editing software will immediately open and will automatically add your recording.
The first time you open the software, a number of learning resources are presented to you. They are great videos to watch and we highly encourage you check them out to get you started.
Once you have closed the tutorial box you will see the Camtasia program with your recording loaded and ready to be edited. The diagram below labels the basic parts of the Camtasia software layout.
EDITING
Before you begin editing your recording you will want to familiarize yourself with the tools available to you. For basic edits (removing long pauses, trimming the beginning and end of videos, etc.) you will most likely want to use the “Split at Playhead features”. This allows you to target specific portions of your recording and then delete them. We will show you how to accomplish this below. *Advanced editing techniques can be learned in the Camtasia online tutorials presented at the beginning or through 1-on-1 training with the Hive Instructional Technology Support Team.
To accomplish simple trimming edits, as described above, you will be primarily using the timeline portion of the Camtasia editing software.
To select an area of your recording which you would like to trim or remove, first you will find the beginning of that section using your playhead. Drag the playhead to the beginning of the portion you wish to remove. Once you have pinpointed the beginning of the section you wish to remove navigate to the “edit” menu, as shown above and select the appropriate split tool [if you have multiple files in the timeline (e.g. audio and video and screen capture) you will want to use the “Split All at Playhead” tool so that all files are edited together). Once you have selected the split tool you will see that file(s) are now separated where you playhead was positioned.
To complete the edit, you will now find the end of the portion that you wish to remove in the same way you just found the beginning. Once you have positioned the playhead at that location you will select the appropriate split tool from the “Edit” menu just like you did before. You will now have isolated the portion of the recording you wish remove. To delete the section, select the isolated portion with your mouse then press “Delete” on your keyboard.
To re-combine the remaining portions of your recording, simply select the file on the right of the space created by your deletion with your mouse and drag it to the left. The software will automatically ensure try and pull the files together once you have dragged them close enough. Camtasia calls the “snapping” it is helpful in making sure your recordings still play smoothly.
This editing technique is great for making quick trims to your recordings. If you are trying to remove very small amounts of time (e.g. verbal ticks, sneezes etc.) you should note the zoom tool in the bottom left of the screen. The closer you zoom in to your timeline, the more accurate you can be with your edits.
PRODUCING
Once you have finished editing your project you are ready to save and share it with others. In the top left of your screen you will see a “Share” button. Click it and the following menu appears.
If you completing an advanced export for Blackboard use, you will see the following screen after selecting “Advanced Export”. First, you will name the file and select where you want it stored on your computer.
Next you will select “Export to MP4” from this drop down menu. Then you will select the “Options” menu.
In the Options menu you will set your frame rate to 30, and slide the Quality slider here. It’s that simple! Click OK.
You will now be ready to select “Export”. After doing so you will see the following window. This is a meter showing Camtasia’s progress in rendering your project. Depending on the size of your file and the speed of your computer, this process could take an hour or two. Be sure to allot the proper time as the file will not be ready until it is rendered.