Tag: techsmith

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TechSmith Camtasia 2025: Two Updates Add Features and Fix Bugs

TechSmith has released two updates to Camtasia in the past week. All updates are available on the Home screen, appearing automatically after the program starts.

UpdateMessage

2025.1.1, released May 1, 2025, fixes a startup crash that could occur when using a graphics processor that does not support Direct3D Feature Level 12_0.

2025.1.0, released April 29, 2025, adds new features and enhances others.

New Features

  • Added Onboarding Tooltips that will appear on hover for specific controls to help guide your Camtasia experience. This setting must be toggled on.
  • Added new Cursor Effects: Cursor Isolation, Gradient, Lens, and Negative.
  • Added new Click Effects: Burst 1, Burst 2, Burst 3, Burst 4, and Zoom.
  • New visual effects were added: CRT Monitor, Static Noise, and Torn Edge.

Feature Updates

  • Added Angle property to Slide Right and Gradient Wipe transitions.
  • Updated the placeholder look and text.
  • The Camtasia free trial no longer has a time constraint: users can explore editing and features at their own pace, with watermarked exports.
  • Smart Focus can now create animations for recordings with dimensions smaller than the canvas dimensions.
  • Modifications were also made to Smart Focus's ability to add zoom and pan animations.
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TechSmith Camtasia: 2024 Version Now Available

Camtasia2024_frontcoverTechSmith rolled out Camtasia 2024 today, and our step-by-step book, "TechSmith Camtasia 2024: The Essentials" is not far behind.

New in Camtasia 2024:

  • A new recording engine for higher frame rate and resolution screen captures
  • AI-powered dynamic captions. (I saw a demonstration of this, and it's a very cool feature. Powered by AI, every word onscreen can automatically be highlighted as spoken. Meaning, no manually creating closed captions… no importing SRT files.)
  • New effects
  • New filters
  • New transitions
  • More integrated assets featuring more than 100 million royalty-free images, videos, and audio files

TechSmith also announced three product plans: Camtasia Essentials, Camtasia Create, and Camtasia Pro. The product plans include Camtasia’s AI-assisted Rev, simplifying and speeding up video creation through quick layout and design choices.

“The updates to Camtasia 2024 are focused on further reducing the friction of the editing process and empowering users to unleash their creativity and go beyond what they thought possible with a video editor,” said Tony Lambert, CTO of TechSmith. “As we continue incorporating advanced AI into Camtasia to achieve this, our new product plans are designed to provide customers with the most cost-effective way to select our breadth of new features based on their unique creative needs.”

If you need Camtasia support, training, or mentoring, we've got you covered.

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TechSmith Camtasia: JKL to Speed Up Preview Playback Speeds

You've been tasked with editing a multi-hour video in TechSmith Camtasia. Specifically, you need to add annotations, remove distracting audio such as breath sounds and lip smacks, and remove unnecessary video portions.

Face it: If a video has a runtime of three hours, you will be at your computer for at least every minute of those three hours. Add the time it will take to rewind, make edits, and review them; your level of effort can be two to three times the video's playtime.

Previewing a video at regular speed could be time-consuming and futile. Never fear; faster playback is possible by pressing the following keys on your keyboard: J, K, and L.

Jkl

The three keys are conveniently located together on most keyboards.

Pressing the L key once increases the video's playback speed twofold.

If you can press the L key again, the playhead will hum along the timeline at six times the speed.

Not fast enough? Press the L key again, and you'll hum along the timeline at eight times the speed.

Press the J key, and the playhead will move in reverse.

Want to stop the Playhead? Press the K key. 

Looking for TechSmith Camtasia training? We've got you covered with three live, online vILT courses. If our scheduled classes don't work for your schedule, you can purchase and attend the classes via pre-recorded versions of the courses. If you prefer private group training or one-on-one Camtasia mentoring, email us to discuss your specific needs.

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TechSmith Camtasia: Audiate = Awesomeness!

I always include voiceover audio when I record my software video demonstrations with Camtasia. That audio always needs editing. Typical editing tasks include removing fillers such as "um," silencing breath sounds, removing background noise, and removing long pauses. I also create closed captions manually or import them via closed caption files I've created through transcription services. Of course, all of this effort takes time. Creating the closed captions is particularly labor intensive if I haven't first created a voiceover script.

Along comes TechSmith Audiate, which integrates wonderfully with TechSmith Camtasia, and I have to say, I'm impressed.

After recording the software simulation in the recorder and adding it to the Timeline, I would typically use the Camtasia audio tools to edit the audio. However, because I have a subscription to Audiate, I can right-click the audio media on the timeline and choose Edit in Audiate. Alternatively, I can click the Edit in Audiate button on the Properties panel.

Edit in Audiate

Edit in Audiate 2

The media is sent to Audiate, where a transcript is automatically created.

Audio Transcribing

On the transcript, I can see that I said "um" several times. I could edit the transcript myself or, even better, ask Audiate to lend a hand.

Um

In the upper left of the Audiate window, there is an icon with some editing suggestions.

Suggested edits

Clicking the drop-down menu displays several suggested edits.

Suggested edits list

I accepted all of the suggested edits with a click, and, poof, my transcript and the audio file are both edited.

Um removed

Next, I located the effects icon in the lower right of the Audiate window and clicked the add effect icon.

Audio Effects

Effect panel

Specifically, I removed background noise and breath sounds (plosives) from my audio.

Multiple effects added

I clicked the Sync drop-down menu in the upper right of the Audiate window.

Sync drop down menu

I selected Edit Media Only and Default Captions from the Captions drop-down menu.

Synching with camtasia

Then I clicked Sync.

Sync

Back in Camtasia, my audio media has been cleaned up, and the closed captions have been automatically added!

Captions added audio edited

I'm unsure what to do with all the time Audiate saved me. Perhaps a new project? Maybe golf. Time to ponder my options.

If you'd like Camtasia training, here are some fantastic options. I also offer one-on-one Camtasia mentoring. Otherwise, perhaps I'll see you on the course.

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TechSmith Camtasia 2023: New Integrated Assets

TechSmith has integrated some fantastic assets with Camtasia update 23.3.2.

You will need to ensure that you are running the latest Camtasia update. To find that update, choose Help > Check for Updates. To check your version, choose Help > About Camtasia. (If you’re on a Mac, choose Camtasia 2023 > About Camtasia.)

Camtasia Check for updates
Camtasia Check for updates

Using the assets is simple. Visit the Media tool at the left and click the Camtasia Assets icon.

Camtasia assets icon

Scroll through the list or, even better, use the Search feature to find what you're looking for. (There are videos, images, and sound assets… millions of them.)

Right-click the asset you'd like and choose Add to Timeline at Playhead.

Add media to the Camtasia Timeline

Alternatively, drag the asset directly onto the Canvas. Either way, the asset will be downloaded from the TechSmith website and added to your project.

Note that if you are using a virtual machine such as Parallels, the download process does not work. Instead, visit the https://library.techsmith.com/en and download the assets manually.

Here's a quick video demonstrating the integrated assets (some are free, and some require a subscription to the assets at https://library.techsmith.com/en).

For Camtasia training, check out our certificate program at https://www.iconlogic.com/techsmith-camtasia-certificate-live-online-course.html. For Camtasia development support, visit https://www.iconlogic.com/basic-development-services.html.

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TechSmith Camtasia: Get Certified as an IconLogic Camtasia Developer

Get certified by the people who wrote the book on Camtasia via our popular “TechSmith Camtasia 2023: The Essentials.”  

The ideal path to certification starts with TechSmith Camtasia training through our virtual instructor-led courses. After completing all three classes, you will be well-positioned for the exam.

If you feel like you already have extensive experience with eLearning and TechSmith Camtasia, you can bypass the classes and head straight for the certification exam.

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TECHSMITH CAMTASIA 2022: Cursor Path Creator

I'm hard at work on my new Camtasia book, "TechSmith Camtasia 2022: The Essentials." As I poke around the new features, I'm loving one that I just found: Cursor Path Creator.

If you create videos using Camtasia, the cursor in the resulting TREC files can be modified in the Camtasia Editor (you can add highlights, sounds, etc.). However, if you create a video demo in another recording tool and forget to turn on the mouse pointer, you're out of luck… until now.

Using the Cursor Path Creator in Camtasia 2022, you can now add a mouse and control its path even if the cursor wasn't in the original video.

Check out a recording I made of the process in the video below.

 

 

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TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: Sharing Projects with Fellow Developers

If you work with other Camtasia developers, it’s likely that you will be asked to share your project with team members so they can edit the project. Sharing projects among Camtasia developers is not the same as using the Export menu to create output for a learner. To share Camtasia production files with other Camtasia developers, follow these steps:

Mac to Windows: If you want to share a Mac-based Camtasia project with someone who is using Camtasia 2021 for the PC, choose File > Export > Project for Windows.

Windows to Mac: If you want to share a PC-based project with someone who is using Camtasia 2021 for the Mac, choose File > Export > Project for Mac.

Share Projects Mac to Mac: Sharing a project with other Mac developers is simple. When saving the project, ensure that you select Create standalone project.

CreateStandalone_Mac

Send a team member the project file (the cmproj file), and you’re set. The cmproj file is a self-contained collection of all project assets. If team members have the same or newer version of Camtasia as you, they’ll be able to open and edit the project.

Share Projects PC to PC: When saving the Camtasia project, ensure that you select Create standalone project.

CreateStandalone_PC

Send the resulting folder to the other Camtasia developer. The folder will likely contain several assets so zipping the project is suggested. Those steps follow.

The steps below are for PC users only. Mac users can save and close the project and then skip ahead to the next module which begins on page 115.

  1. Choose File > Export > Zipped Project.
  2. Browse to an appropriate Save destination.
  3. Click the Save button

The resulting zip file contains the Camtasia project and all of the project’s assets. Assuming the recipient of the zip file has the same version of Camtasia as you, developers can extract the zipped contents, open, edit, and export the project as needed.

2021-05-21_09-30-43

Looking for Camtasia training, check out these live, online TechSmith Camtasia classes.

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TechSmith Camtasia: A favorite new feature

 
While there's plenty to love about Camtasia 2020, the feature I'm highlighting this time is Favorites.
 
Camtasia is loaded with tools. If you think I'm exaggerating, here's a list of the tools available in Camtasia 2020, Mac:
 
There are so many tools, you might need to click "More" to see all of them (the "More" option automatically appears if your window size is too small to display all of the tools or your screen resolution is low).
 
And clicking a tool, such as Annotations, often leads to multiple categories leading to even more tools. In the image below you can see what I'm talking about when it comes to the Annotations tool. There are 6 related tools (Callouts) grouped with the main Annotations tool.
 
I am not suggesting that TechSmith should remove tools from Camtasia. I say bring on more tools, TechSmith (I look forward to seeing a dozen more tools in Camtasia 2021). However, if you're like me and you use several eLearning development tools, remembering where your "go-to" Camtasia tools are located can be a challenge.
 
Which brings me to Favorites.
 
Find a tool you use frequently (any tool). Right-click the tool and choose Add to Favorites.
 
Once a tool has been added as a Favorite, the tool gets a gold star. And from now on, the tool will be shown in the Favorites area of the toolbar.
 
 
Right-clicking a Favorite is going to be the easiest and fastest way to work with the tool. And should you no longer want a tool as a Favorite, a quick right-click allows you to delete the tool as a Favorite (but does not remove the tool from Camtasia).
 
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TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: From Mobile Device to Camtasia in a Snap!

I was recently tasked with creating some video demos of an app on my iPhone and using them in TechSmith Camtasia 2019. To make the process as seamless as possible, I visited the App Store while on my phone and downloaded TechSmith Capture. (The app is free.)
 
I started the Capture app and recorded several videos simply by tapping TechSmith Capture on the initial screen.
 
 
When I was ready to transfer the videos to Camtasia on my computer, I started Camtasia and chose File > Connect Mobile Device. There are four simple steps in the Connect Mobile Device dialog box. I had already completed step 1 when I downloaded Capture and then used the tool to record a video on my phone.
 
Step 2, as shown below, required both my computer and my iPhone to be on the same wireless network.
 
 
Back on my iPhone, I opened one of the videos using Capture and, from the bottom left of the app, tapped Share.
 
 
From the Export to area, I tapped Camtasia.
 
 
I pointed my iPhone's camera at the barcode in the Connect Mobile Device screen on my computer and a few seconds later, like magic, the video imported to my computer, into Camtasia, and into the Media Bin. From there, it was a simple matter to add the media to the Timeline, edit, and share.
 
 
I had similar good luck exporting regular-old videos and pictures from my roll from Capture (both videos recorded using Capture and other videos that I imported into Capture) to TechSmith SnagIt and TechSmith Relay.
 
Kudos to TechSmith for making this a truly simple and seamless process!
 
 
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Looking for Camtasia training, consulting, mentoring, or development? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. We've got an awesome collection of live, online classes and we offer private, one-on-one online mentoring. You can learn more about our Camtasia classes on the IconLogic website.