Making movies
We will be making two types of movies with Camtasia: real –time and slide show. There are pros and cons to both. I will briefly explain below.
Real-time
Real-time movies can be made in several ways. It will be easier for you to watch the tutorial videos online (or on the CD). But I wanted to give you something in writing to get you started.
Camtasia comes with a “screen-capture” recorder. This will capture in real time everything that you do on the screen. You can also import in movies from a video recorder[1] and edit them with Camtasia. I will now show you the steps to make a real-time recording and publish it with Camtasia.
Before recording anything with Camtasia, you will want to look at and possibly adjust some of your settings.
1. Input options. Here you have a choice between Screen, Window, Region, and Fixed Region. I will usually choose one of the last two (Region for live capture; Fixed Region for slide show). (Screen captures the entire screen, which is usually too big.)
2. Output options. Be sure that file is selected.
3. View options. This allows one to see different elements on the Camtasia Recorder itself. I normally only have the standard one selected.
4. Effects. This will allow you to jazz up your presentation. If you want to record audio while you are recording the motion, be sure that the Record Audio is checked. I also have cursor sound and Keyboard sound selected. When these are selected, the listener will hear a clicking noise and typing noise that correspond to your clicking while making the recording.
5. Tools. If you go under tools, then options, you will see some options you may want to change. Unless you are making professionally done “Hollywood-type” movies, you can set the video setup to 5 frames/sec. It is usually a good idea to have the audio set high (as shown here). When producing the videos, which will be shown later, you can add compression to make the file smaller.
Recording
To record you may click on the red circle or go under “Capture” and choose “Record.”
As an alternative, you may wish to use the hotkeys that are explained below.
A hotkey allows you to quickly activate an action by the keyboard without selecting menus or clicking on-screen buttons.
Camtasia Recorder offers hotkeys for the following actions under Tools > Options > Hotkeys tab.
· Record/Pause Hotkey (Default -- <F9>)
- Stop Hotkey (Default -- <F10>)
So to begin recording, hit F9. If you want to pause, hit F9. When you are done with the recording, hit F10.
I will now outline how to create a “real-time” video. Below are the steps to create a tutorial for the TI-83.
Step 1. Download the Virtual TI (http://www.mtsu.edu/~smcdanie/CSS_Site/VisualAlgebra/VirtualTI.zip)
Step 2. Once the Virtual TI is download and installed, select the appropriate ROM (right-click on the default calculator to view your options).
Step 3. Open the Camtasia Recorder. For the live mode, I usually use “Region” (under Capture).
Step 4. Hit the F9 key and select the calculator’s entire region. It will begin to record as soon as you select it.
Step 5. Once you think your are done, hit the F9 key (pause). If you are certain you are done, hit the F10 key (stop).
Step6. Save your file. It will default as an AVI.
Step 7. You will need to compress the file in the production stage.
Slide Show Presentations (Snag-IT)
An alternative to using real-time capturing is creating a slideshow with or without audio. The same message is generally conveyed (unless you are demonstrating actual moving objects, like animating a parabola) in a smaller file size[2]. The downside is that it takes much longer to make. You must first use Snag-it to capture the static image. Then record the audio separately. And finally produce it. However, if you are going to want your students to view your videos over a less than broadband[3] connection, you may want to take the extra time. Another benefit is when you need to type in long equations. It may not benefit the student to watch you (struggling to) type in each symbol of each expression.
Suppose
we want to create a slide show video that demonstrates how to solve the
equation 
Step 1. Open up Word (or whatever program you use to create math). Go ahead and type up the problem and complete solution. (It would be wise to save this problem as a Word document.) We will go in reverse. That is, we will delete the last step n times where n is the number of steps. So in my problem I will first snag the completed solution shown below (The image is a little blurred because I have reduced it slightly to fit it on the page.):
Step 2. Open Snag-it. We will first “snag” the images.
Step 3. Select the “fixed region” under input. In the output option I will usually select file or clipboard. I also have the preview window checked. Click on properties under output to change your image file to gif.
Step 4. Since we have selected Fixed Region, let’s go ahead and “fix” it. We want to fix it so that the entire solution is selected. So under Input, go to properties and click on the “Fixed Region” tab.
Step 5. Once you click on select, you will see some “cross-hairs” appear. Select the problem and full solution if it all fits. If it is going to be too big, select a portion of the problem. You will need to make some adjustments later. Click Apply and then OK. Now the next time you click control + shift + p (the command to snag something), you should get the region you selected.
Step 6. So from here, don’t change adjust the layout. Otherwise you will have to select it again. The reason for fixing the images is simple. We don’t want to have to select the same image multiple times. Also, if we did select it several times, if would create tiny irritating “jumps” when the movie was produced. It is too difficult to select EXACLTY the same area.
Step 7. Have the full solution shown on the screen and hit Control-Shift-P. Once you capture the first image, realize that this is actually are last image. It is important to note that you should create some scheme for naming the files (gifs). I am going to call my first screen capture (which is actually the last) sect2_2prob2shot8. I think it is obvious why I do this. This is the 2nd problem from the Chapter 2 section 2. I also determined (by mentally going backwards) that this would be the 8th shot. It is much easier if you keep the shots in order. If you are going to have more than 10 shots you will need to name the ones below 10 …shot09, shot08, in order to keep the problems ordered correctly. It would also be prudent to keep these images in an appropriately named folder. My directory looks something like this rawmovies/chapter2/section2.
Note: Here is where it gets a little tricky to tell you how to take all of the shots. It is much easier to either show you in person or show you via video (which is kind of the point of learning how to make these videos in the first place: some things are better learned by watching a demonstration.)
Step 8. Now we delete the
last step, which in our problem was the 
. So in Word, delete that
part of the solution. Remember that the completed solution should have already
been saved (see Step 1). Now hit the shortcut capture key Control-Shift-p.
It should capture the exact same region it did on Steps 5-7. We will name
this one sect2_2prob2shot7. An easy way to do this is to select the
previously captured image. Its name should show up in the save box. Change
the 8 to a 7. Repeat this process until you to get to the beginning. If you
happened to undercount the number of steps by 1 you can call it shot 0 without
hurting anything. If you miscounted by more than this, you should rename all
of the files so that they are numbered correctly. This will pay off in the long
run.
Step 9. After each image is captured, you have the option of exporting it to snag-it studio. If you want to annotate it, it is easiest to do this after each image. You may do some basic annotations within Snagit if you want. Below are the 8 screen shots (reduced size):
Our capturing is done. Now all we do is add audio and produce. This will be done in the next lesson on producing movies.
Good links
- Checklists – the links below are good when you are fist beginning to explore all of Camtasia options. Not everyone will want the same options. It will be based on you institutions current technology and your audience’s needs. I have provided links with my comments beside them. I am only giving a partial listing of all the checklists that Camtasia provides. Use the others if you need to.
a. Screen resolution checklist (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/worksheet2.asp) –You probably don’t want to set your resolution above 1024 x 768. To set resolution right click the desktop, go to properties, then settings. Most people will not have their resolution above that. If you need to record the entire screen, try setting your monitor resolution to a lower resolution than the target audience screen. If your audience is using 800x600, set your screen to 640x480 for the recording.
b. Video File Type/Compression Checklist (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/worksheet4.asp) –It is good to do this for your first few videos. Afterwards you should keep many of these items in mind when making and producing videos.
c. Video Type & Playback Checklist (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/worksheet5.asp) –This gives a breakdown of the advantages and disadvantages of the different file types.
d. Hardware Acceleration (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/worksheet8.asp) – You may need to disable the hardware accelerator on your computer when making real-time recordings.
- Written tutorial (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/fundamentals.asp) This gives a good overview of the concerns you may have when producing movies.
- Video Tutorials (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/examplevideos.asp) This gives some of the fundamentals via avi or flash videos. This is an excellent place to see some of what Camtasia can do.
- Embedding Camtasia videos into a webpage (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/embedinwebpage.asp) This written tutorial will show you how to embed the Camtasia videos into a web page rather than have them pop up in a separate player.
- Technotes (http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/tutorials/featuresarchive.asp) This will give you more in-depth tutorials.
- Higher Education Toolbox (http://www.techsmith.com/solutions/highedtoolbox.asp) Gives some good tutorials pertaining to those in Higher Education.
- Snag-It Tutorials (http://www.techsmith.com/products/snagit/tutorials/featuresarchive.asp) These are written tutorials specifically made for Snag-IT.