Camtasia Studio Tips

Camtasia is great software for recording audio/screen presentations.  Here are some tips and standards we've used:

Recording

  • Change the recording options to record to ''AVI format'' (the CAMREC format can lose audio/video sync over a long recording)
  • Recorded movies should be 800x600 or less unless there is a specific reason to record larger.  Using the smallest capture size possible improves the readability and reduces the file size.
  • All videos should start with an announcement of what is being demonstrated (e.g. "This is a demonstration of the Device Capture System introduced in Cashwise 3.7)
  • Don't record the application window; set one of your screens to 800x600 and record the screen.  This ensures that any popup windows or menus remain within the recorded region.
  • If recording other than the primary screen, select 'region' and select then entire alternate screen
  • Hide any toolbars or other desktop clutter.
  • Run a short test to be sure that audio/video are working before recording a long demo

Storage

  • Files should be recorded to AVI format. Recommend settings:
     Video Codec:    TechSmith Screen Capture Codec
     Audio Codec:    MPEG Layer-3 Codec
     Audio Format:    32 kBit/s, 24000Hz, mono, 3KB/s

Content

  • Before delving into details, give a high-level description of the purpose of the feature and a high-level description of the components of the feature.
  • Consider dividing the topic into multiple videos if it is possible that someone might wish to view topics separately
  • Try to keep videos under 10 minutes long
  • Don't script out the content.  If necessary, create a brief outline to ensure each important facet is discussed.  It's hard to listen to scripted speech.
  • If you realize that some topic is missing from a video, record an addendum rather than re-record the whole thing (unless there is a mess of addendums)
  • Keep a reasonably fast pace.  A video says even more than a thousand words.  The viewer can always pause or rewind.
  • Try to keep the content timeless; e.g. do not say things like "this is a new feature".
  • Try to spend more time on abstract concepts, gotchas and special cases that might not be readily apparent rather than mundane descriptions of the obvious.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Great tips, thanks!

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