WHAT IS CAMTASIA?

Camtasia is a software suite, created and published by TechSmith, for creating and recording video tutorials and presentations directly via screencast, or via a direct recording plug-in to Microsoft PowerPoint

Camtasia ( formerly Camtasia Studio ) is a software suite , It is created & published by TechSmith , It is used for creating video tutorials & presentations directly via the screen-cast or via the direct recording plug-in to Microsoft powerpoint , It is available to all Windows & Mac users and it is a premium product .

Camtasia consists of two main components which are Camtasia Recorder & Camtasia editor , Camtasia Recorder is a separate tool for capturing screen audio & video , Camtasia editor is the component for which the entire product is named , that is a multimedia authoring tool with the industry standard “timeline” interface for managing multiple clips in a stacked track form plus many enhancements 

What are the features of Camtasia?Camtasia 2019 new features

• Automatic audio leveling. Your videos will sound better than ever, no matter how many audio files you add to the timeline with Automatic Audio Leveling. …
• Mouse cursor smoothing. …
• Editable keyboard shortcuts. …
• Support for themes with logos or other images.

Camtasia advantages

Camtasia looks professional , It offers Picture in Picture (PiP) , It can export in many different file types , It is more customizable , It has bells & whistles , It presents multiple audio tracks , It has many features in the interface that makes creating screen videos & processing them , You can choose to record your entire screen or only a portion of it that you preset before recording begins .

You can utilize various tools included in the program to complete your video , These contain multiple Transition Options , Voice Narration , a Zoom and Pan effect , Cursor Effects , Captions , Quizzing & more , You can use built-in tools to enhance and improve the audio quality of your voice recording .

Camtasia offers a higher level of flexibility in the number of media types that are available when producing a presentation , The developers using Camtasia can save the presentations asadobe flash , Windows Media streaming video , Quicktime movie , DVD-ready AVI video, iPod/iTunes video , RealMedia streaming media , mp3 audio & animated GIF formats .

Camtasia disadvantages

Camtasia’s procedure of creating a presentation through an individual movie works best for the developers who are familiar with video applications , The developers unfamiliar with the procedure may have increased difficulty with the editing procedure in Camtasia because screen captures occur in real time .

Frame synchronization of video resulting from modification or deletion of errors including audio misspeaking or incorrect mouse movements can be tedious in Camtasia , The script outlining the elements of the screen capture can help alleviate errors during recordings .

Camtasia is not free , You could get lost working on a project , It is more complex , Not web-based/requires installation , It can be intimidating to look at on first glance , You can get yourself into trouble if you don’t quite know what you are doing .

Camtasia is not perfect & it has a few minor flaws  , It requires software , To record videos & capture your computer screen , you have to download Camtasia software which requires specific system requirements for Windows and Mac operating system , As of right now , they do not offer a web based version of the software .

You only allowed to update your software to a new version of your current version , if you have Camtasia Studio 9 and version 9.2 comes out , you will be able to update for free , However , if version 10 is released , you will have to pay to upgrade to the new version .

The main disadvantage is the difficulty in editing the content in the video & deleting errors that occurred during the recording , When deleting one or more frames in the video & audio tracks , It is difficult to match up frames so that the video & audio flow smoothly , The production of a project as a Word document is not found in Camtasia , which is useful for the printouts .

Camtasia lacks any video-clip manipulation or integration with other packages that have such capabilities , Audio handling has minimal capabilities and no integration with the other packages compared to some competitors in this price range .

The rotation of objects is applied via a dialog rather than interactively , though many lower-priced video editors do provide interactive rotation and manipulation of objects such as text and video frames , Recording live from a DV camera is not supported , Camtasia can crash , But you can remedy these situations by closing the app & opening it again to start fresh .

What is Interactive Video?

Interactive video is a new form of media many top brands are using to engage consumers and reach their digital marketing goals. While new, this media has already proven to be very effective; 70% of marketers say interactive video engages audiences “well” or “very well,” and 68% of marketers believe it will continue to become a more important component of modern marketing mixes.

But what is interactive video? If you’ve heard of this new form of video media but don’t know exactly what it is or how you can use it, we’ve put together this simple guide to understanding it.

Interactive video vs linear video

Traditional video, or linear video, is the type of video you’re probably most used to. When you view a linear video, you click “play” to start to the content, with the options to pause, rewind, fast forward and restart the video during the experience. Aside from those limited functions, there isn’t much you can do to interact with a linear video.

An interactive video, gives the viewer the ability to interact with the video content itself through a variety of tools. Users can click, drag, scroll, hover, gesture and complete other digital actions to interact with the video’s content, similar to the way they’d interact with web content.

There are several different functionalities you can build into an interactive video, but the most commonly used options include:

• Hotspots: clickable areas within a video; these buttons can take a viewer to a separate web page or reveal content directly within the video, like merchandise pricing
• 360 views: the ability for a user to drag the screen within a video frame to see in all directions
• Branches: different paths a user can take to control and customise the content they see
• Data inputs: form fields through which a user can enter information like their name, age, etc.
• Quizzes: combining buttons and branching to deliver an assessment and reveal a personalised result at the end of the video  

These tools create a more fun and engaging experience for the viewer and turn a potentially static video into something more memorable, enjoyable and interactive.

Why use interactive video?

Interactive video has quickly become a well-established and widely used marketing tool. 20% of marketers say they’ve used it, and of those marketers, 78% have found it to be an effective strategy. On top of that, 28% of marketers plan to use interactive video in 2018. Those numbers will continue to increase as brands explore different tactics and figure out which resonate most with their target audience.

As you contemplate whether interactive video is right for your brand, consider the main reasons many companies are adding it to their digital media toolbox.

It’s popular

The best marketing strategies incorporate media that consumers want to interface with – and right now, that’s interactive video. Its popularity is shown by both brand and consumer behaviour. Brands are producing interactive video at an astonishing rate; in fact, it already accounts for 36% of all video content that’s produced. On the other side, consumers are responding to interactive video with increased engagement rates; viewers watch them 44% longer than linear video.

It’s trackable

For a long time, the only way marketers could track a video’s success was through view rates. This was a problem for many people who found it difficult to prove the value of their video efforts; without data to show a correlation between video activity and conversions, it can be hard to prove a video’s impact.

Interactive video has enabled much more powerful video metric tracking. You can now track clicks within a video, analyse different paths taken with branching, collect data with video form fields, and much more. There are several tools you can use to track these metrics. Some well-known tools include:

• WIREWAX, a leading interactive video creation platform that tracks a wide range of metrics from the moment a video is published, including dwell time, interactions, shares and ‘add to carts’.
• Rapt, a cloud-based interactive video creation and publishing tool with a built-in analytics dashboard to track user demographics information, plays, user paths and more
• DilogR, a video hosting platform that integrates with CRM and email marketing platforms to analyse how interactive video impacts the end-to-end user experience
• Spotful, an interactive video management tool and video player with analytics to track engagement, conversion rates and completion rates

It’s more engaging

When a user is watching a linear video, it can be easy to get distracted. 87% of viewers use more than one device at a time, meaning you’re already vying for your audience’s attention. Interactive video makes viewing active instead of passive, creating a game-like experience that grabs and keeps a user’s attention and results in a 591% lift in user activity – a huge increase most marketers can’t afford to pass up.  

It converts

Interactive videos convert at significantly higher rates than many other types of digital video ads. Specifically, banner ads, Google display ads and Youtube Annotations convert at rates of less than 1%. Interactive video blows all of those out of the water, converting at a rate of more than 11%.

It’s more memorable

It turns out the sheer ability to engage with content in an interactive video makes a user more likely to remember your brand. Even if a viewer doesn’t interact with the video itself, interactive video ads are 32% more memorable than linear video ads.

It delights the user

On top of the hard data points above, interactive video is simply more enjoyable than linear video. It’s a great way to add a moment of delight to the user experience as your viewers explore an interactive story and learn more about your brand, all while having fun.

How To Create Interactive Videos With Camtasia

Most videos are passive. A viewer just sits back and watches whatever the creator put together. But with Camtasia, you can make interactive videos where users can click on different places in your video and have something happen.

A simple example would be placing your website at the end of a video and when users click the video, a new tab opens in their browser and takes them to your site. 

A more complex example would be if you created a non-linear video. In other words, viewers could click and have the video go to another part of your video. Viewers could move forward if they wanted to skip something they already knew or they could review part of the video that they needed to hear a second time.

In this video, we’ll look at:

• How to Add Interactive Hotspots
• How to Configure Hotspots
• How to Produce Your Video
• Where to Host the Files

How to Add Interactive Hotspots

There are two ways to add interactive hotspots. You can add a hotspot to a specific clip, like a text box, image, or video; or you can add a hotspot as an “invisible” annotation that you can resize to any rectangle you want.

Before adding a hotspot, it’s important to note that you want your hotspot on a top track. If the hotspot is below another track, then it won’t work as expected.

To add a hotspot to an entire clip, like a text box, click the Visual Effects tool from the Tools menu or press “L”. Drag the Interactive Hotspot effect from the tools panel to your clip. You should see the Interactive Hotspot effect at the bottom of your clip and in your Properties panel.

To add a hotspot as an invisible object on your video, click the Annotations tool or press N, and click the Special tab which looks like a drop. Drag the Interactive Hotspot tool to the canvas.

How to Configure Hotspots

For the hotspot annotation, you can resize the rectangle to be larger or smaller. Click and drag the resizing handles around the hotspot and the hotspot will resize. Hotspots applied to a clip cannot be resized. They stay the size of the clip.

Select the hotspot annotation or the clip with the hotspot effect and look at the first tab in the Properties panel. At the bottom, you’ll see the Interactive Hotspot effect.

By default, it has “Pause at End” and “Click to Continue” selected. This just means that the video will pause when it gets to the end of the clip or annotation. The video will continue playing when the viewer clicks the hotspot.

“URL” lets you go to any website you enter. You probably want to leave “Open in new browser tab” selected so viewers can easily bounce between your video and the new website.

“Marker” lets viewers go to a specific place in the video. For example, you could add a marker at the beginning of your video. When you get to this point in the video, you can give viewers an option to click the hotspot to restart the video.

“Time” lets you specify a specific place in your video without having a marker. Enter the timestamp in minutes:seconds;frames. You could also place your playhead on the timeline. When you click the “Current position” button, it’ll enter the timestamp of your playhead.

Last, you can click the “Test” button to see what happens when a viewer clicks the hotspot.

How to Produce Your Video with the Smart Player

The most important thing to understand with interactive video, is that it requires separate video hosting. Interactive video isn’t possible on YouTube or with a standard MP4 file. Instead, you need to create your video and include additional files that provide the interactivity.

When it comes time to produce or share your video, you’ll need to choose an option that includes the Smart Player, like “MP4 with Smart Player (up to 1080p).” Producing your video with the Smart Player will create several additional files. Produce everything within a folder to keep it organized.

If you know you want the size of the video to be a specific width, choose Custom Production. When you get to the Smart Player Options page, be sure that “Produce with controller” is checked. When you go to the Size tab, you can choose how wide you want the video to appear. This is important so your video fits on your page.

Where to Host your Interactive Video

Instead of producing video files, you can choose the Screencast.com option from the Share menu. Screencast.com is owned by TechSmith – the makers of Camtasia.

Screencast.com requires an account. You can sign up for a free or paid account at, you guessed it, Screencast.com. Once you have your username and password, enter those in the Screencast.com production wizard in Camtasia.

If you’re hosting your own website or if your customer is hosting their own website, then you have a couple options for adding the video.

The first option is the easier of the two. You can just upload the files and directories to Amazon S3. If it’s a public video, set read permissions for Everybody. After uploading it, all you need is the link to the HTML file. Provide viewers with that link and they should be able to watch the video and interact with it.

The second option requires a webmaster to embed the Smart Player on their site. Sites are different in the way they host files. Most webmasters will have to copy the files to their site and set the permissions so the right people can view the video. They might also have to edit the HTML code to point to the file locations and set the right permissions.

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