Microsoft Office Reference Guide

Mar 26, 2004

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I haven't gotten really excited about a new version of an existing program in a long time. Even after Camtasia introduced Picture in Picture it wasn't the breakthrough I anticipated.

But with the proliferation of many formats of web video I have to say that whether you want to begin with PowerPoint or just do video editing for the web this is now an amazing product.

We've covered Camtasia before, mainly as a way of matching the Mac's ability to turn PowerPoint files into movies. As you may recall, creating such movies lets us put our presentations online, and also use them in DVD projects.

While you might be thinking, okay — another update on PowerPoint — keep in mind that this tool is excellent for any training or help desk situation, because capturing a series of screens with corresponding narration, and annotating those screens effectively can cut down on the need to physically assist users of any Office or other programs.

In addition, the myriad of output options supported by Camtasia 5, along with the ability to generate web pages with links to the video files and complete supporting media folders, for applications from iPod to YouTube, is probably enough to justify the $299 retail price of the product. If you need to try it out first, you can, for 30 days.

So let's go through some of the features that really set Camtasia apart. The only thing this version seems to lack, because it is by definition a screen capture tool, is the ability to download or capture footage from a camcorder. But you have the free Windows MovieMaker for that — and you can import just about any video clip you want into Camtasia 5.0 to produce it, or combine it with a screen capture.

Smart Presets in the production wizard show the full gamut of output options, and also enable you to take advantage of hints on the proper settings for a particular application — like the iPod.

Figure 1422

When you bring in a PowerPoint file, Camtasia automatically provides Markers between the individual slide segments, making it easy to locate important segments to edit more precisely.

Here the green carats are key frame markers differentiating the slides. (The blue circles are caption key frames for closed captioning — another option described in more detail below).

Figure 1423

You can keep the markers as they are set — automatic between slides — or remove them if you prefer. And you can add a marker manually if you prefer.

Figure 1424

Probably the most powerful command here is the one to Split at all Markers. By using this command you literally break up the Timeline into segments per slide. Now if you switch to Storyboard view, and open another panel like Transitions, you can easily drag and drop new effects, or even new video clips and segments, into the gaps between the split segments.

Figure 1425

Probably the most amazing tool that I have discovered in Camtasia 5 so far is the SmartFocus command, that lets you apply Zoom and Pan effects to the screen captured video (or any video for that matter).

This solves the problem of recording at a high resolution, like 1280 x 800, and then having to show a tiny screen for an iPod.

Instead of having every part of the screen reduced to an illegible degree, you can apply SmartFocus to expand a portion of your screen for maximum effect.

This can even be applied to small videos that play within a PowerPoint slide — by using the zoom feature you can make the smaller video fill the screen while the audio for the file plays, making the subject much easier to follow.

By selecting the area of the screen on which you wish to focus in the Zoom and Pan panel, by putting a green rectangle around it, you can then set a start key frame for when you want the effect to begin.

Figure 1426

Now when you produce this segment for an iPod, your zoomed portion fills the iPod screen instead of being relegated to a tiny portion of the window.

Figure 1427

Another feature — there are so many — is that you can add hotspots to the video — for example conclude the segment with a web link for more information — so that the user can click the link when watching the movie in a browser and go to the URL that you designate.

Before you output your production, you can also do some very cool things — once you have completed the Camtasia project in the editor.

Fixing mistakes is one nifty feature if you've narrated a PowerPoint. First select the portion with the error on the timeline and cut it. Split the video at that point, and drag and drop a newly recorded video into it. You can also just add a new voice narration to overwrite the audio portion for a selected part of the timeline.

If you happen to be producing a presentation for Slideshare.net, all you need to do to create the audio portion for the PowerPoint is to export it as an.mp3 audio file, that you can post on a streaming or hosting site for podcasts or to accompany your Slideshare.net presentation.

Wait, there's more...

If you produce your video in Flash format, you can even add closed caption functionality to your final output — allowing viewers to choose to see captioned text or forego this option.

Section 508 compliant captions — which will appear underneath or overlaid over your final movie — can be imported automatically from your Slide Notes when you open a PowerPoint recording for editing. Or you can write an actual script (in Word) and then paste the text into the caption creation text panel. TechSmith has some very good tutorials and if you want to learn more about captions, here is the link.

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