Using Camtasia with PowerPoint - Page 2

Using Camtasia in PowerPoint

Before TechSmith created a Camtasia add-in for PowerPoint, one had to tweak all capture settings including sound capture to do a video capture of a PowerPoint presentation. It was certainly doable, but not too easy. With this new add-in, TechSmith has made the entire process a no-brainer.

Here's how you could use the add-in:

1. Open or create a new PowerPoint presentation - click the third icon on the Camtasia toolbar within PowerPoint to change any options if required. I changed the option to not capture any mouse cursor activity.
   
   
2. Click the first icon on the toolbar that allows you to launch the presentation and start recording (capturing) at the same time. You might be presented with one or two dialog boxes before the actual recording begins - choose options as required.
   
   
3. Play your presentation as required - if it does not have automatic slide timings you might have to proceed one slide at a time. All activities are recorded including the clicked links to outside applications.
4. Once your presentation has finished, press the Esc key and Camtasia springs up to life prompting you to provide a name for the unsaved Camtasia project. Save as required - you can now close your PowerPoint presentation if required.
5. Back in the Camtasia Studio environment, you'll be provided with several options including the choice to output the presentation capture as a video file.
   
   
6. For this example, I chose the first option that lets me produce my recording straight-away to several video file formats - I selected Windows Media (WMV).
   
   
7. Camtasia thereafter presents a series of screens including the option to include an index based on markers. By default Camtasia creates a marker after each captured slide from PowerPoint.
   
   
8. After this, Camtasia renders the output.
   
   

If you want to do more advanced editing, Camtasia Studio provides a video editing environment that allows you to edit and add audio, include video transitions and do much more.

Pricing & Support

Camtasia Studio works on Windows 2000 and XP. The online price of the product is US$299 and purchases can be made thriough credit card on a secure server site.

Support is exemplary - detailed tutorials and FAQs supplement the help files. You can also email Customer Support directly.

Back

Conclusion

I love using Camtasia Studio for all my video captures of on-screen activity including presentations. The fact that it works so well with PowerPoint only makes it more attractive.

I still wish they had a more direct way to burn VCDs and DVDs but that's still doable using Camtasia captured output within the software that came with your DVD burner.

Back

Related Link: Camtasia Creates Movies From PowerPoint