Prep For Recording

Camtasia Screen Recording Tips

Complete video may have one to four parts:

1. Title Screen (Text and Text Effect)
2. Intro (Webcam)
3. Main Video (Video, Annotations, etc.)
4. Outro (Webcam)

PRO TIP: Right-click on the Intro and paste it as the outro at the end of the video, and change what you need so that the Intro and outro will be consistent.
When writing a script, do the following:

• Give Outline (Say (or show) what you are going to say (show))
• Create Main Content (Explain what you said (shown) in the outline)
• Give Summary (Summarize what you said earlier again)

Below are some steps that you can take BEFORE you start recording:

Create a Script

It is important to create a script so that you don't waste time fumbling over what you need to say which can frustrate a user and it will allow you to condense your conversation.

• A training script should include:
  • the words that will be spoken
  • information about the words and where and how they are said
• Keep your script conversational.
• Think about what need to be said from a visual aspect and the audience knowledge
• Avoid buzz words, acronyms unless you are writing to a target audience.
• Read script out load to see how it flows.
• Have someone else review your scripts to get a second opinion.
• Cut,  clarify,  or enhance your script content as needed based on feedback from others.

Prep for Audio

• PRO TIP: Add audio track first, remove any unwanted area, and then lock the track to prevent it from being edited.
• When adding a sound effect (e.g., swoosh), align the peak of the sound effect with the peak of the action (e.g., lower third fly in).
• Audio clips are edited the same way as video clips. You can trim, cut, split, or add effects.
• To get a better view of an audio track, expand its height by dragging it from the top.
• Each audio clip has its own volume setting. To adjust it, select the track and drag to line to adjust the volume. To adjust the volume in a part of an audio track, double-click several times to add audio points and then adjust the volume on either side.
• PRO TIP: Use a USB microphone that records digitally, which removes a lot of noises, instead of using an analog signal via an old connector on a microphone. Don't use the built-in microphone. If possible, get a high-quality microphone, but
• PRO TIP: If the audio is from several locations, make sure to normalize the audio level.
• Ensure that your audio levels stay out of the red. If it is consistently in the red, change the audio settings.
• Keep the audio settings the SAME for the entire duration of a project so that the audio sounds consistent. Try to do all the recordings in one sitting. If you do it on a different day, your voice may be at a different level (higher or lower).
• If you must edit the system audio that is part of the main video track, you will have to click the clip and select Separate Audio and Video.
  
• As you ADD AUDIO, Camtasia AUTOMATICALLY ADJUST the audio loudness to an industry-standard so that all audio will have the same LOUDNESS before they are edited.
• If you make a MISTAKE when recording, PAUSE and then make a noise (clap, snap, or use a trainer clapper) to add a "spike" on the audio waveform so that it can be easily identified for editing (e.g., cutting). Then, start recording again at the beginning of the last sentence.
• Capture all system recordings and then delete ones that are not needed.
• Make sure you have the rights or permission to the music that you use. Also, select the right music for the right mood.
• Use a headphone or earbud to prevent the microphone from picking up speaker sound which can create delays or feedback.

Create a StoryBoard

A storyboard is a tool that can be used to plan each video scene and what they will look like to see how the video flows before it is created. it can include:

• A sequence of images or sketches when each scene changes
• camera location, movement, and focus
• on-screen movement of people and things
• notes to self

Sound Environment

If you don't have a sound booth, you have to do as much as possible to reduce that amount of noise that may be captured in your video:
TIP: If you can hear it, it is a good chance that your microphone will pick it up. Also, capture about 15-30 seconds of recording without narrating, to see what noises are being picked up by the microphone.

• Clap your hands to see where an echo is coming from.
• Eliminate most of the hard surfaces by using:
  • Books
  • Curtains
  • Blankets
  • Acoustic material (sound dampening panel, acoustic form)
• Eliminate other noises:
• Florescent lights
• Fans
• A/C or heating
• Street traffics
• Pets
• Family or co-workers
• Keyboard

Desktop

• Remove all unnecessary icons from desktop. 
• TIP: See menus on setting up a dedicated accounts and setting preferences for Windows and Mac.

Browser / App

• Hide bookmarks (View > Toolbars > Bookmark Toolbar) and clear any Search field with text in it.
• Clear Download folder if necessary so that you can easily get to a file that you need to download in your project by clicking the Clear List button.
• Click the Rewind button to set a video to beginning, if necessary.
• Scroll to the top of the app or web page you will be using unless you want to start somewhere else on purpose.
• Set initial zoom level for all apps or web pages, etc.
• Set the app to full screen if necessary by clicking the top right full screen icon.
• Set screen resolution to an appropriate size (1280 x 720 and 1024 x 768 are two options) so that content will not be too small or two large for viewing.
• Hide favorites bar (View > Hide Favorites Bar) in Safari on the Mac
• Set up browser tabs in advance of your presentation instead of typing in URLs that is time-consuming and ignoring.
• Setup your apps that you are going to use in your presentation in advanced so that you don’t have to fumble over opening apps, etc. This includes closing all unnecessary windows, tabs, and icons.  

Outside of Camtasia

• Download needed assets (animated background, icon, motion graphics, and music) for free from TechSmith.
  1. Go to library
  2. Click the Plus sign
  3. Select Get Media Online…. 
• To get additional free music, etc., go to:

• https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music
• Storyblocks: Audioblocks
• Storyblocks: VideoBlocks
• http://graphicstock.com
• http://market.envato.com
• http://www.howtosellyourvideos.com/
• http://www.freesound.org (need to set up an account)
• Obtain or create B-roll screencasts or images to supplement your project.
• Create a set of template folders for various assets and resources (images, video, script, outline, pictures, etc.) used in your project. When you start Camtasia, set the recording folder to your new set of folders that you created from your template.
  TIP: If there are assets (logo, intro, outro) that you will use in ALL your projects, add these assets to the Library so that they can be available for ALL projects.
• Step through each of the actions (menu selection, dialog box options, etc.) that you will be performing and know where the menu items and options are. Nothing is more distracting than seeing the mouse move back and forth to a menu or option that you need to select.
• Create an outline of your project in a text editor.
• Install an app called PromptSmart Pro that convert your iOS device into a teleprompter that listens to you as you speak and it will pause if you go off track and resume when you get back on track.
• If possible, use a wireless mouse with a mouse pad to reduce the mouse sound movement.

Inside of Camtasia

• In Edit > Preferences under the Program tab, select the Add Smart Focus to added clips to automate the zoom and pan.
• In the Recording Options of the Recorder, click the Audio Settings… button and change the audio format to 44.100KHz, 16Bit, Mono to produce higher quality audio output.
• Set the canvas size in advanced of creating your project. Select Edit > Preferences…. then in the Canvas tab, select Canvas Dimensions from the drop-down menu. A good choice is Maximum 1080p.
• In the Tools Options’ Program tab of the Recorder, ensure that the Restore cursor location after pause checkbox is selected. This will ensure that your cursor move back to where you left off even if you moved your cursor after pausing.
• If possible, import assets before creating your video in your project. There are several ways to import assets (video, audio, images) to the Media Bin:
• Drag-and-drop from your computer to the Media Bin
• Select File > Import > Media from the menu.
• Press CMD + I (Mac) orCTRL + I  (PC).
• Click the Import Media icon at the bottom of the Media Bin and select either Import Media… or Import From Google Drive…
• Right-click (PC) or Control-click (Mac) inside of the Media Bin and select one of the following:
• Import Media
• Import From Google Drive…
• Sign into your account and click the Allow button
• Navigate to the file you want to import and click the Import button
• Import From My Places… (PC)
• Import from the Fuse app. (VERIFY IS STILL AVAILABLE)
• You can also use the Fuse app to transfer pictures and videos DIRECTLY from your phone to Camtasia when connected by a cable and if they are connected to the same wireless network:
  • Install the Fuse app onto your iOS or Android phone.
  • On the Mac, select Camtasia > Preferences… and on the General tab, click the Turn on Mobile Sharing button.
  • CHECK POINT: A green light should appear when Mobile Sharing is turned on.
  • Select File > Connect Mobile Device…

Prep PowerPoint For Camtasia (Windows Only)

You can use PowerPoint footage in Camtasia.

1. Once you install Camtasia and open PowerPoint, you will be prompted with a Camtasia PowerPoint Add-in dialog box. Click the OK button.
2. Click the Add-ins tab at the top of PowerPoint and you will see a list of icon:
   
   
   
   - The Record icon - will record the PowerPoint presentation
   - The Record Audio icon
   - The Record Camera icon
   - The WebCam Preview icon
   - The Preferences icon - similar options to the the Camtasia recorder
3. Click the Record icon to begin recording
   NOTE: CTRL+SHIFT+F9 to pause/record capture and CTRL+SHIFT+F10 will Stop the capture (Notice this is the same as Camtasia except for the modifier keys.)
4. Work your way through your presentation and then stop the capture (CTRL+SHIFT+F10) or once you end your presentation you will be presented with a dialog box to Stop recording. Click the Stop Recording button.
5. Save your file to your project folder as a *.trec file so that it can be used in your Camtasia project.
6. In the Camtasia for PowerPoint dialog box that appears, click the Edit your recording radio button and then click the OK button to launch Camtasia for editing.
7. Drag recording to the timeline and you will be presented with the Import PowerPoint Slide Notes dialog box. Click the Yes button. This will import the PowerPoint Notes as captions. How cool is that!!!
8. CHECK POINT: If you have slide notes in your PowerPoint presentation, you should see that Camtasia created a track for it and you can scrub the playback head to see the notes displayed as captions. Notice that you also can see some tiny blue triangles on the video track. These triangles represent slide titles from the PowerPoint presentation that comes in as markers in Camtasia. They are not full proof so you will have to check each one and make edits as necessary. These markers can be used later to create a Table of Contents for your video.
   
   To see the marker names, press CTRL+M or select it from the drop-down on the left side of the timeline.