
The next panel to the right will display tools or components that are related to the tool you select.On the left edge of the interface, under the Record button, you'll find a list of tools: The media bin, the library (kind of like a media bin on steroids), annotations, transitions, behaviors, animations, cursor effects, and more.After you press the big red button, Camtasia reminds you about which button to push when you want to stop recording and then starts a 5-second countdown to showtime.Ĭamtasia's interface is similar to that of most video editors. Audio is on by default and you can select the appropriate audio input if your computer has more than one. If your computer has a webcam, you can turn it on. Recording captures the full screen of your primary monitor by default, but it's easy to change this if you want to capture just a small part of the screen. For this review, I'll limit the topics to what you might reasonably expect to master after watching the 5 introductory videos.

TechSmith also offers a complete series of instructional videos that address using the program's more advanced features - and there are a lot of those.

Those who have experience with other video editors or an earlier version of Camtasia will make a quick transition to the 2018 version. But if you spend 30 minutes watching TechSmith's introductory tutorials and another hour or so experimenting, you should expect to be able to create basic documentation videos within a day or two. To dismiss the larger image, press ESC or tap outside the image.Īlthough Camtasia is more basic than Premiere and therefore easier to learn, it's not an application that you can open for the first time and master in a day. Camtasia is a tool that's designed for documentation specialists.Ĭlick any of the smaller images for a full-size view. It's important to understand that Camtasia is not Adobe Premiere, which is intended to edit and produce video sequences from a camera. Camtasia captures, edits, produces, and exports video sequences. In this version, TechSmith has improved the library functionality in the Windows version and added it to the MacOS version. That decision makes a lot of sense because TechSmith was late to MacOS, so Windows versions had one number and the MacOS version had a lower number. Although SnagIt has limited video capture capabilities, advanced video documentation is best done with TechSmith's other primary application, Camtasia.įollowing the lead of many other software companies, TechSmith has abandoned version numbers. TechSmith's SnagIt application is essential for anyone who needs to document on-screen processes on websites or in any kind of on-line or print publication.

Camtasia Continues to Perfect Video Documentation
