Motion Blur PRO TIP: Like After Effects, the amount of motion blur applied to a clip depends on the clip's SPEED.
Video effects are for both images and videos (color, shadow, borders, tint, etc.)
Like transitions, when you drag a visual effect to the timeline, clips that it can be applied to will be highlighted in blue, once you hover over a clip, it will highlight in green.
You can adjust the starting and ending frames of an effect by dragging the effect on either end of the visual effect bar in the timeline.
If the CLIP is selected, the effect properties will be at the bottom of the Properties panel, if the effect bar is selected, only the effect properties will be shown in the Properties panel.
You can copy and paste effects between clips by right-clicking on the effect bar and selecting Copy Selected Effects and then select Paste Effects either by clicking on the clip or by right-clicking on the asset on the canvas.
You can add multiple effects to a single clip.
If you want to apply the Drop Shadow effect to a callout delete the default shadow for the callout first. You have more control over the drop shadow using an effect than you do using the default drop shadow that comes with a callout.
You can add a device frame (desktop, iMac,) to give your movie a professional look and feel. All device frames fit a 16:9 aspect ratio with match standard video dimensions (720p, 1080p). To add a device frame:
From the visual effect panel, drag-and-drop the device frame to a clip on the timeline. The default is a desktop monitor with a looping background video. However, you can change it to another device frame (iPhone, MacBook Pro or Google Pixel) in the Properties panel.
If you add an animation to a media clip that has a device frame, the both will animate together.
If you want to jump from the device frame to full screen, place the playhead where you want to change to take place and then split the clip there. Then remove the device frame from the second clip by clicking on the effect tray at the bottom of the tract and selecting delete.
You can add the Clip Speed effect to speed up or slow down a portion of a video OR audio. This effect is typically useful to SPEED UP
the video when showing a progress bar
a file being downloaded
typing a large amount of text (e.g., a long URL in a browser)
long page scrolling
Track Matte / Media Matte Effect
Like Adobe After Effect Track Matte, you can use them to create some fantastic visual effects. Camtasia 2021 allows you to drag-and-drop a Media Matte from the Visual Effects panel to an asset (e.g., a shape you want to make a matte). There are four different matte modes:
Alpha (most common)
Inverted Alpha
Luminosity
Inverted Luminosity
PRO TIP: Once you added a shape to create a matte, you can temporarily decrease the opacity to see the area that will be affected BELOW it and then increase the opacity back to the original value BEFORE applying the matte type.
Device Frames
Device frames are clips made to appear as though they are inside a device (e.g., desktop, laptop, or mobile).
To add a Device Frame, open the Virtual Effects panel, drag-and-drop the Device Frame effect to a clip, and then change its type in the Properties panel.
All the Device Frames fit a 16:9 aspect ratio. If the device frame does fit, drag its edges until they snap to the edges of the canvas. To remove a Device Frame, delete it from the Properties panel by clicking on the "x" or delete it from the effect tray.
PRO TIP: To create a zoom-in effect on a device frame, add an animation to a clip with a Device Frame, and they both will animate together. If you would like to JUMP from a Device Frame to Full Screen, move the CTI where you want the clip to JUMP and then split the clip, and then delete the Device Frame Effect tray on the right side of the split.
3D LUT
• 3D LUT – are gradient Look Up Tables that can be added to your video.
Spotlight
The Spotlight effect (currently Mac only) is practical when you want to emphasize a portion of the screen or hide areas that are distractions.
Clip Speed
Clip Speed affects the video and audio of the selected track. There are three ways to add it after selecting a clip:
Drag-and-drop a Clip Speed icon from the Visual Effects panel and then open the effect tray and then open the Effect tray and drag the bar IN to speed up the clip or drag the bar OUT to slow down the clip or make the necessary adjustments in the Properties Panel.
Right-click on a track and select Add Clip Speed and make adjustment in the Properties panel.
Choose Modify > Add Effects > Visual Effects > Clip Speed from the menu and then drag the bar at the bottom of the track to increase or decrease speed.
Remove a Color
Before you can do a green screen removal, you need to shoot a video against a solid green screen (or any color, but green is the most common).
When creating a video against a green screen, consider the following:
Shadows are the leading causes of green screen problem. Ensure the background is well lit on your green or blue screen. Also, avoid wrinkles on the green/blue screen.
The subject needs to a minimum of 6 feet from the screen.
Subject and screen need to be properly lit with 3-point lighting:
Main light (Key Front light)
Fill Light (Light on the side)
Back Light (Light from the back of subject)
Keep hands in front of your body so that they do not get cut off if they extend past the screen.
To add video with green/blue screen to your project:
Add it to the Timeline.
Drag-and-drop the Remove a Color from the Video Effects panel
In the Properties panel, use the color-picker to select the color (green/blue).
Adjust the Tolerance, Softness, Hue, and Defringe as needed.
Add background/image UNDER the screen track.
Below are some TIPS when using screen screens:
Try several areas of the screen to see if you can get a better result.
Crop areas of the video where there is no movement since it will be may transparent anyway.
Add the background video or image BEFORE adjusting the sliders.
Adjust the Hue setting AFTER you added the background video/image to allow you to preview the video WHILE fine-tuning the effect.
TIP: You can use the invert option to create an animation silhouette.
On the Mac, you can also: (VERIFY)
You have a Device Frame effect that you can use to simulate an iPad, iPhone or Mac device.
You have the Freeze Region effect that you can add to “freeze” a region until some unwanted action takes place and then you can release it so that you don’t have to re-record a clip. For example, if a notification occurred while you were recording, you can hide the notification.
You have the Glow effect that you can add to a clip.
You can use the Keystroke effect to AUTOMATICALLY create key stroke callouts. Then, if you open the effect bar, you will see dot that represents where the keystrokes will be added. The keystrokes callout will appear at the bottom/center of the screen; however, you can move it to wherever you want and change it style if you want to.
You have the Mask effect that you can add to your clip to “mask” unwanted areas from your scene. For example, if you have a movie with an unwanted object in it, you can mask it out of the video if it is at the same location throughout the video:
Duplicate the clip that you want to mask.
On the top layer, move and resize the bounding box that represents the mask.
You have the Reflection effect that you can use to add a “reflection” to your clip.
You have the Spot Light effect that you can use to create a spot light effect in your scene. You can also animate the spotlight.
You have the Windows Spot Light effect that allows you to AUTOMATICALLY create a spotlight effect on an active window. You can also zoom into the area of the spot light in the Properties panel while retaining the normal zoom level of the rest of the screen. If you scrub the playback head, focus will be set to the next active window if there are any other opened.
You have the Sepia effect that you can use to add a “sepia” effect to your clip. This will give your movie an old-movie time look and feel.