The Logical Blog by IconLogic

TechSmith Camtasia Studio: Creating Branching Scenarios via Hotspots

by Kevin Siegel   

 

To maximize the effectiveness of your Camtasia Studio projects, you can add interactivity via a hotspot. The hotspots can allow your learners to jump to specific markers within a video, add hyperlinks to websites, and more.

 

To begin, open the Markers panel via View > Show Marker View. Position the Playhead on the Timeline where you would like a marker and either press the letter M on your keyboard or choose Edit > Markers > Add a Timeline Marker. Once the marker appears, you can name it (I've named the two markers below Home and Lesson 1: Creating New Folders).

 

 

Select a callout already on the Timeline and, on the Callouts panel, click Make hotspot. Alternatively, on the Callout panel, add a hotspot manually by clicking Transparent Hotspot. 

 

  

 

On the Callouts panel, click the Hotspot properties button to open the Hotspot properties dialog box.

 

 

 

You'll find the following options on the dialog box:

 

Pause at end of callout: Once clicked, the video stops based on the callout's end time on the Timeline.  

 

Click to continue: The learner must click the callout to continue viewing the video. 

 

Go to frame at time: The video jumps to a specific frame. You can enter the destination in hours, minutes, seconds, or frames.

 

Go to marker: The video jumps to a specific Timeline marker.  

 

Jump to URL: Opens a web page (enable the Open URL in a new browser window option to open the web page in a separate window).

 

Because my goal was to create a branching scenario where the learner decides which part of the lesson to take, I chose one of my markers from the Go to marker drop-down menu and then clicked the OK button.

 

 

And that's it! To test a hotspot choose File > Produce and Share and select an output that includes the Smart Player.

 

 

 

Two of my major beefs with Camtasia over the years has been 1) the snail-like pace of rendering a video (it would take so long I would frequently drink a few cups of coffee during the rendering process because I certainly couldn't do anything else in Camtasia while a project is rendering); 2) the inability to test a hotspot without first uploading the video to a web server.

 

I'm happy to report that TechSmith has removed my beefs and lowered my coffee consumption. Rendering speeds seem to be at least 50% faster in Studio 8.6 then previous versions; and you can now test a hotspot locally (no need to upload to a web server). If you find that you are unable to test without getting an error message or your production speeds are slow, ensure you're using the latest and greatest version of Camtasia (you can check for free updates via the Help menu).

 

 

 

You can see in the image below that the callout containing the number 1 is interactive. If clicked, it will take the learner to the marker I specified in the steps above.

 

 

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Looking for Camtasia Studio, Articulate Storyline, or Adobe Captivate training? Check out these live, online classes.

TechSmith Camtasia: Cursor Effects

by Kevin Siegel

 

If you attend my introduction to TechSmith Camtasia mini course, you learn how to use the Camtasia Recorder tool to create a software demonstration pretty early. During the recording process you will, of course, capture every click you make with your mouse. Later, in the Studio, you can elect to hide the mouse completely, or add some nifty cursor effects that can enhance the learner experience. 

 

To add Cursor Effects, record a video using the Recorder and add it to a Camtasia Studio project. (Don't forget to also add the video to the Timeline.)

 

Double-click the video you added to the Timeline to move the Playhead to the beginning of the video and then Preview.

 

As the video plays, pay particular attention to the mouse cursor. It's moving around the screen just fine, but you can't hear or see any visual mouse clicks. 

 

To add a click sound and visual effect, on the Timeline, double-click the video object again to move the Playhead back to the beginning of the video. Then choose Tools > Cursor Effects.

 

The Cursor Properties appear. From here you can hide the Mouse cursor or add effects. For instance, from the Left-click effect drop-down menu, choose Rings.

 

 

 

Preview the video. And just like that, Camtasia adds a nifty effect every time the mouse was clicked during the recording process. How cool is that?

 

You can add click sound effects to the cursor just as easily. From the Cursor effects panel (Tools > Cursor effects), click the arrow to the left of Click sound effect to expand the options. From the Left click drop-down menu, choose Mouse click.

 

 

You can click the yellow speaker icon at the right to hear the sound effect. And as with the visual effects, you can preview the video to hear the mouse click sound you just added.

 

If you'd like to see how to add Cursor Effects in Camtasia, check out this video that I created on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

Camtasia Studio: Locking Tracks

by Kevin Siegel   

 

You know that saying that the cobbler's kids have the worst shoes? Or perhaps the one where the doctor's kids are always the sickest... something like that anyway. It's sort of the same thing for trainers... there's never time to attend training. When it comes to software, we're often on our own and have to learn via the "click and a prayer" methodology.

 

When I first started using Camtasia, I "clicked and prayed" as I tried to figure how things worked. (Mind you that this was long before I'd figured things out and written several books on Camtasia.)

 

I was like any new user--I was developing eLearning content with zero training. Nevertheless, what I lacked in training I made up for with an abundance of energy and hope (hope that I was doing things correctly and the button I was about to click wasn't going to delete my project).

 

At one point, I wanted to delete part of an audio clip on the Timeline. I'd figured how to make a selection by dragging the green and red Playhead ports. (Shown below. The green icon is known as the "in-port" (or "in-point"), the red icon is known as the "out-port" (or "out-point").

 

 

 

Once I had a segment selected, I clicked the Cut tool on the Timeline and successfully deleted the segment. 

 

 

 

It certainly seemed like all that praying had paid off, and I went on and did about a million other things to the project.

 

It wasn't until much later that I realized, much to my horror, that while I had deleted the selected audio as intended, I'd also deleted video segments, images, and other parts of my project. Apparently, when you make a selection on the Timeline, items above and below the selection are also selected... in every track. 

 

Because I had saved several times (I'm a very efficient saver) and closed and reopened my project, the Undo command wasn't a viable option. Sadly, I had pretty much trashed much of my work.

 

Lesson learned! If you need to delete part of segment on the Camtasia Timeline, make a selection using the ports on the Playhead. But prior to clicking Cut, lock the tracks you don't want to alter prior to using the Cut tool.

 

 

 

Once a track is locked, it will gain diagonal lines across the entire track. While you can still use the ports to seemingly select part of a locked track, clicking the Cut tool won't harm the track. Crisis averted!

 

If you'd like to see the process of locking Camtasia tracks and then deleting content, check out this video demo on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training or help with Camtasia? Check out this live, online mini course.

An eLearning Workflow

by Sally Cox  

I spent more than 15 years as an Adobe trainer, teaching people the latest features of new products. One of the things I have learned from this experience is that people don't just want to learn what's new in an application... they need guidance on incorporating the application into their workflow. They need to see the entire development process that will enable them to get their jobs done. With this in mind, the article focuses on the workflow I use when I create my eLearning courses.

 

From Paper to Adobe Illustrator

 

My eLearning courses begin life on paper (where I've sketched some ideas). I am a designer at heart, so Adobe Illustrator is a natural starting point for me. I use Illustrator to lay out the basic look and feel of my eLearning course, choose colors and fonts, and solve my design dilemmas. 

 

I start with the client's brand guidelines (or style guide), an important part of the design process. If you want to keep a client for the long term, respecting their brand is key. I work within the brand guidelines for colors, fonts, general look and feel, logo placement rules, etc.

 

I then begin laying out the cover/transition slides for my courses and a sample content slide. The image below is an example of a recent project I did. I did not have brand guidelines to work with here so I had a lot of freedom. I created these two slides in Illustrator, using swatches from the Swatches library to choose harmonious colors. I work out headers and footers, if there are any, and start to think about the interactions I will be using.

 

 

The Swatches in Illustrator have amazing color combinations. My favorite Swatch library? Baroque! Look at these rich colors... they typically show up in all of my projects.

 

 

 

I export my Illustrator graphics as transparent high-resolution PNG files for easy import into Microsoft PowerPoint, Articulate Storyline, or Adobe Captivate. To create the transparent PNG's, build the graphic on a separate artboard and note the artboard number.

 

 

Next, choose File > Export, select the appropriate artboard, and then select PNG as the output.

 

 

Illustrator shows you a preview of the artboard, and here you set options. I change the Resolution to High 300 PPI and Background color to Transparent. These settings allow the image to import beautifully into just about any application.

 

 

Microsoft PowerPoint

 

When it comes to eLearning development, I use PowerPoint as my "heavy hitter." It's the place I gather all my graphics, content and interaction ideas.

 

Why PowerPoint for eLearning? 

1. Most everyone has it--clients like to be able to make minor edits, so giving them something they can actually use is key
2. PowerPoint imports into Adobe Connect, Articulate Storyline, and Adobe Captivate easily
3. I can create custom colors using the Eyedropper tool
4. You are only limited by your imagination--think of PowerPoint as a "delivery tool," nothing more. My work doesn't LOOK like it was created in PowerPoint and yours doesn't have to either! (If you're looking to ensure your PowerPoint slides are optimized for eLearning, check out AJ's Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning & Presentations class!)

Here's an example of how I grab colors from the artwork using the Eyedropper tool in PowerPoint.

 

 

Articulate Storyline

 

Storyline is my preferred authoring tool for creating eLearning courses.  My PowerPoint presentations import beautifully into Storyline which allows me to quickly get my courses up and running. Storyline recognizes PowerPoint's Master Slides, and every slide element comes in as a separate piece so I can quickly add transitions, set object timing, add Triggers, and a quiz in Storyline. Then I can quickly publish my content as HTML5 and I'm done!

 

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If you'd like to attend some awesome 3-hour mini courses that focus on eLearning, check these out.

eLearning: When Should You Record Your Voiceover Audio?

by Kevin Siegel   

Adding voiceover audio to eLearning enhances the learner experience. And before you spend thousands of dollars hiring voiceover talent to record your audio, you should know: your voice is fine (nobody likes their own voice so trust me on this, yours will do nicely). I've been creating eLearning for years (and years and years). I've found that the voiceover audio does not have to be highly produced to be effective. In fact, home-grown audio works fine provided the audio doesn't contain loud, annoying, distracting background noise, or the narrator has a very thick accent that hinders learner comprehension.

 

But when should you record your audio? If you're creating a software demonstration or interactive simulation, should the audio be recorded while you're recording the screen actions? Perhaps it's best to record the audio later (after the screen actions have been recorded)?

 

The answer to when it's best to record audio is... wait for it... it depends.

 

When I create video demos with Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, or TechSmith Camtasia Studio, I tend to record my voice at the same time that I'm recording the screen. I find that if I try to record my audio after-the-fact (in the tool itself or in an external program), it's more difficult to synchronize my audio with what's happening in the video. 

 

I find that my "off-the-cuff" video demos sound more natural when I record my voice during the recording process... more informal. You can listen to samples of my audio in videos I've posted to the IconLogic YouTube channel. The audio on my YouTube videos isn't perfect... there's some flubs here and there. But perfect audio wasn't my goal. I was trying to create quick video demos to share with fellow eLearning developers. There wasn't time to go back over the audio or the videos again and again to make things perfect. The videos I've posted to YouTube are known as "just-in-time" videos. In other words, since there isn't time to make them perfect, I record the video, do some minor edits, and just get them out there.

 

So what about interactive software simulations or soft-skills learning? With those kinds of eLearning, when should the audio be created? Since simulations or soft skills lessons are typically produced slide-by-slide (in Captivate, Storyline, PowerPoint, or Presenter), I think it's best to record or import the audio directly onto the slide once the slide is done. All of the eLearning tools will let you record audio on-the-fly... it's really easy to do.

 

On the other hand, easy doesn't necessarily translate to quality. Because none of the off-the-shelf eLearning development tools are great at recording and editing audio files (they'll do the job of course, but they're lacking a lot of essential audio editing options that you'll find in more robust audio software), consider recording your audio externally in tools such as Audacity, a free and really powerful.

 

So what's your audio workflow? What tools do you use for audio? Is there a particular microphone you use? (I've recently picked up a Blue Yeti... it's awesome!) Please feel free to share your thoughts via comments or email me directly at [email protected].

 

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? Check out these awesome live, online Captivate classes.

Live, Interactive Online Class: Getting Started with TechSmith Camtasia Studio

Using Techsmith Camtasia Studio, you can quickly create videos of just about anything (computer software or PowerPoint presentations) and post your completed lessons on the web, YouTube, Vimeo, or Screencast.com. Your lessons can include videos of actions taken on your computer, animations, audio, quizzes, and surveys.

IconLogic's Kevin Siegel will lead this live, 100% hands-on course where you'll be introduced to the essential Camtasia Studio skills you need to know to get up and running with Camtasia as quickly as possible.

By the time you have completed this course, you will be able to record screen actions on your computer using the Camtasia Recorder. You'll take the recording into the Camtasia Studio and learn how to use the Timeline, add assets from the Clip Bin and Library, and how to publish content for the widest possible audience.

• Learn to record screen actions
• Learn to create projects in the Camtasia Studio
• Learn about the Clip Bin and Library
• Learn how to add audio Learn
• Learn how to add a quiz
• Learn how to Produce and Share content

Sign up here.

Development Corner: Image Formats

by Sally Cox  

When it comes to adding images to websites, PowerPoint presentations, or eLearning projects, you will likely be given JPEGs, GIFs, or PNGs. Let's review the three most common image formats and why/when to use them.

JPEG

JPEG is short for "Joint Photographer's Experts Group." It is one of the most popular formats used on the web and in eLearning. JPEG compression (the act of making the image as small as possible while retaining as much quality as possible) is "lossy" compression, which means every time you save an image as a JPEG, it loses quality.

 

The first image above is a JPEG taken with my iPhone. In the second image, I have opened the file in Photoshop and zoomed in on the child's face.

 

 

 

  

 

The little squares you see in the closeup image are called "pixels." Every time you save an image as a JPEG, it loses some quality by throwing out pixels. So if you are editing an image in Photoshop, always save it as the native format first, which is a PSD (Photoshop Document).

 

In the Save As dialog box in Photoshop, choose "Photoshop" as the file format. This saves as a PSD and preserves all details. Then after you finish your edits, do another Save As and choose "JPEG." The original PSD remains fully intact.

 

The image below is an example of the same photo saved multiple times as a low-quality JPEG. Notice that that there is a squarish effect happening and details are lost. This effect is known as "JPEG artifact."

 

 

 

JPEGs use the "RGB colorspace," which has more than 16 million colors. This allows for beautiful continuous-tone images with fluid gradations and a full range of colors. It's a good choice for continuous-tone, but does not allow transparency or animation.

GIF

The "Graphic Interchange Format" (GIF) works in the "Indexed colorspace," so its color palette is quite limited--just 256 colors. GIFs do, however, support transparency and animation (the once-hated animated GIF is making a comeback; I see it every day on Facebook). The oldest format on the web (created in 1989), GIFs are saved as "lossless" compression.

In the image below, I have saved the image as a GIF and it contains just 256 colors. You can see that the image has lost some of its detail.

 

 

Here is an example of an image containing just 8 colors--all detail is gone and the image has a "posterized" effect.

 

 

 

GIFs are perfect for "flat color," i.e., logos or flat design graphics that don't have gradations or continuous-tone (remember: only 256 colors). 

 

PNG

 

The "Portable Network Graphic" was created (approved as a web standard in 1996) to provide high quality continuous-tone but also allow for transparency and animation.

PNGs are saved in the RGB colorspace, so they have the full range of 16 million+ colors. What I like best about PNGs is the ability to save transparency, which I use every day in my workflow. I save my graphics as high-quality PNGs and allow transparency (a checkbox I choose in Adobe Illustrator when I export a graphic to PNG).

In a recent project I wanted to use an image of a headset, and I needed the background to be transparent. I opened the image in Adobe Illustrator and set the Export PNG options to High Quality and set the Background Color to Transparency.

 

 

 

Thanks to the Transparency option, I had the freedom to overlay the headset on the green background shown below.

 

To Recap:

	JPEG	GIF	"PNG"
COLORS	16 MILLION +	256	16 MILLION +
TRANSPARENCY	NO	YES	YES
ANIMATION	NO	YES	YES
CONTINUOUS-TONE	YES	NO	YES
FLAT COLOR	NO	YES	YES

 

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If you'd like to attend some awesome 3-hour mini courses that focus on eLearning, check these out.

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: Embedding Multimedia from Camtasia Studio

by Willam van Weelden  

 

Integration between RoboHelp and Adobe Captivate has always worked well. Kevin taught you this integration some time ago. Using multimedia from other applications such as Camtasia used to be much harder. A recent patch for RoboHelp 2015 makes using media from Camtasia and other applications easy.

To be able to follow these steps, ensure you have the latest RoboHelp 2015 patch installed. You can check this by clicking the help icon in the right top of RoboHelp and choosing Updates.

1. Use Camtasia to create an MP4 file.
2. Open your RoboHelp project.
3. Open the topic where you want to include the MP4 file.
4. On the Insert tab, Media group, click Multimedia.
   
5. Click the yellow folder to the right of Source and open the MP4 file you created with Camtasia.
     
6. Click the OK button.
7. Save and generate your project.

The multimedia is embedded in the output.

 

 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? Come join me for my live, two-day online RoboHelp class (held once each month). And if you'd like to learn more about Dynamic Filters, check out my new 3-hour mini course: Adobe RoboHelp: Advanced Content Reuse.

TechSmith Camtasia Studio: The Clip Bin and The Library

by Kevin Siegel   

As you add assets to your Camtasia Studio project (such as images, animations, and audio), those assets appear in the Clip Bin.

 

 

Once objects appear in the Clip Bin, you can add them to the Timeline by simply dragging and dropping. (Or you can right-click a Clip Bin object and add it to the Timeline at the Playhead position.) Each Camtasia project contains its own Clip Bin and the Clip Bin moves with the project as you back up the project to a server or other drive.

Unfortunately, you cannot share assets found in one project's Clip Bin with another project. That's where the Library comes in.

 

 

If you need to use project assets over and over, consider adding those assets to the Library. Once an asset is added to the Library, the asset is available to any Camtasia project on your computer.

 

When I teach Camtasia, I'm almost always surprised to learn that even veteran Camtasia developers ignore the awesome array of assets available in the Library. (Or perhaps they just didn't know about the Library's role.) Sure some of the music and effects can be a bit, shall we say, corny, but there's plenty of stuff you can really use in your projects. The assets are free from copyright restrictions so check them out. (As with Clip Bin assets, you can add them to the Timeline by dragging or right-clicking. And you can preview a Library asset by double-clicking... the asset will display in the Preview window at the right.)

 

If you cannot find a Library asset that you like, don't give up. TechSmith provides access to several additional assets online... free. In the image above, did you notice the Get more media link? If you click the link, you'll be taken to a TechSmith site where you can download a ton of additional Library Media. Did I mention it was all free?

 

 

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Looking to learn all things eLearning? Check out these live, online eLearning mini-courses (including a 3-hour introduction to Camtasia).

TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8: A Stitch in Time

by Kevin Siegel   

 

If you select portions of a video clip on the Camtasia Studio Timeline and cut, you have historically ended up with multiple clips. At that point, it's possible to drag the split portions on the Timeline as needed or apply Visual effects. What you cannot do with multiple clips is apply an effect that spans multiple splits. I've always found that shortcoming to be an annoyance when working with Camtasia.

 

Fortunately, TechSmith addressed the issue in Camtasia 8 with a feature known as Stitching.

 

Stitching is enabled by default. You can confirm this by choosing Tools > Options. Select the Program tab and ensure that Enable auto-stitching is selected.

 

 

 

With Stitching enabled, I've selected a portion of a video on my Timeline and Cut it.

 

 

 

When cutting content in older versions of Camtasia, the cut portion of the video would be replaced by a split (two video segments). In Camtasia 8, instead of multiple segments you'll see a stitch between what would normally be two segments. 

 

 

 

And here is where the Stitch feature pays dividends: I added an animation at the beginning of a video. In the image below, you can see that I've actually stretched the animation across the stitch itself (something that isn't possible when you're working with splits). 

 

 

 

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Looking to learn all things eLearning? Check out these live, online eLearning mini-courses (including a 3-hour introduction to Camtasia).