Research Report: Screencasting in Camtasia Studio
By Brianna Paulson, The Emigrants Project
Screencasting in Camtasia Studio
Abstract
As one of the leading screencasting software programs in the world to date, Camtasia Studio pushes the limits of what a screencast is able to accomplish in effectiveness for its users and viewers. Given a description of both Camtasia Studio and its screencasting tools, as well as the background of its company and its progressive endeavors towards the future, one is presented with a well-organized and innovative screencasting product. With additional commentary on this software program as well as resources for further study, this research report aims to inform its reader about screencasting in Camtasia Studio in addition to finding possible opportunities and or limitations for project purposes in this class.
Description
Camtasia Studio is one of the most well-known and extensive software programs that specializes in screen recording tools. One such tool is referred to as screencasting, which is defined by Camtasia Studio’s website as “recording your desktop computer action with narration and sharing it as a video. It can sometimes also be called a vodcast, videocast, video podcast, or v
cast.” In essence, by using this program a user is able to record whatever is on his or her computer’s screen without compromise between quality of the image or its file size. And while Camtasia’s screencasting may appear to be a simple recording device, it in fact offers a plethora of unique tools that help create more complex and interesting final products.
One of these effective features in Camtasia’s screencasting program is called SmartFocus, a tool in which Camtasia states “keeps track of where the action happens during your recording. Then it produces a video that zooms in on the parts you need to show, keeping viewers mesmerized...even on iPod-size screens.” Another such tool allows sound to be edited into the screencast after it is recorded. Whether it is a voice-recorded narrative, sound effects, or even music, the audio feature is essential to creating an easy to follow, interactive screencast for its viewer. A final example of one of the many possible options available to utilize in Camtasia’s screencasting is converting it into the already popular program PowerPoint. According to Camtasia’s website, the program is able to be downloaded into PowerPoint creating a “Camtasia toolbar inside of PowerPoint making it a one-click-easy to record presentation, either live or from the comfort of one’s desk. Camtasia Studio captures everything; exact slide timing, animations, sound effects, narration, webcam video, and any Web pages or applications displayed onscreen during the presentation.” SmartFocus, sound editing, and its ability to be converted into other programs such as PowerPoint, are only a handful of the many possibilities of screencasting in Camtasia. As Camtasia Studio has released new and improved versions of its product at a rapid pace in recent years, it is a product that has not only made an impact in the past, but more importantly is considered to have endless potential for the future.
The history behind screencasting in Camtasia is based on the founding of its manufacturer, TechSmith Corporation, by William Hamilton in 1987 who remains president today. When the company responded to a market demand for “screen capture tools” it launched a number of successful programs, ultimately leading to Camtasia Studio’s final release in October of 2002. TechSmith Corporation’s proud mission statement for their product reads, “Camtasia is the world’s leading provider of screen capture and recording software for individual and professional use. People everywhere use our product to capture content from their screens in ways that help them communicate more clearly, create engaging presentations for diverse audiences, and analyze product usability and costumer experience.” There is little doubt from TechSmith Corporations, as well as its many users and supporters, that Camtasia Studio will continue to develop and expand as a program, and that screencasting in particular, has a bright future in the world of computer software.
Commentary
It is evident after analyzing Camtasia Studio that its program and screencasting capabilities provide much room for opportunity in my group; The Emigrants project. The goal of my team’s project is to map the four extensive narratives in W.G. Sebald’s novel The Emigrants. We plan to do so by using the program Google Earth in addition to a tutorial guide to mapping literature called Google Lit Trips. While my group and I are confident that our mapping project will generate an interesting alternate literary interpretation in of itself, we agree that presenting our project may pose somewhat of a dilemma. The problem lies in that even though the mapping project will have taken much time and effort to complete, and our group will no doubt be proud and excited about the end result, there is a strong possibility that it will be considered a little dull to our audience. As opposed to manually clicking the dozens of computer screens to show parts of our project, we have decided to utilize the features of screencasting in Camtasia Studio to screencast our project, and hopefully create a more enjoyable presentation to watch. While we are open to using any of Camtasia’s tools that work well with our screencast, the two that will, in my opinion, benefit our project the most will be the fusing of computer screens into a movie-like quality as well as the audio component that we will use to narrate our video screencast. I think that not only will screencasting our final mapping project create a more cohesive and polished element to our final project, but also add an additional component of complexity to our project, demonstrating our efforts to experiment with new software to create the most refined project we are able to in the time restrictions of this course.
In contrast, there are also limitations of screencasting in Camtasia Studio as applied to our intended project. The first and most understandable constraint is our limited knowledge of the Camtasia software. Complex software of this kind usually requires time and energy spent in learning the program itself, however, because we have neither time nor energy to spare on anything but our foremost mapping project, this lack of software knowledge could be a potential problem. The second potential limitation, and less obvious, is the fact that because Camtasia Studio is a well-respected and popular software it does come with a price, and an arguably expensive one at that. Though prices range in relation to how extensive a program is desired, as college students asked to create a course project, we are not required nor do we necessarily have the means to pay for a program like Camtasia Studio. Though there is a free-trial period, which we will no doubt take full advantage of, this does not guarantee that it will offer all we need to complete our screencast or that it will be enough time to complete it. Nevertheless, though there are both many opportunities as well as limitations that our group will consider while using screencasting in Camtasia Studio, it is ultimately our goal to stay positive, focus on the benefits of using screencasting, and create the most informative and interesting project we can.
Resources for Further Study
Camtasia Studio Screencasting
Camtasia Studio General Information
Camtasia Studio Screencasting Features Tour
Camtasia Studio Screencast Download Center
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.