Video Tutorials > Guidelines, Policies and Help

Step 3: Edit

The K.I.S.S. Principle (Keep It Simple Stupid)

There are many fun ways to edit video tutorials: adding arrows, zooming in, inserting silence, etc. Don't let the details bog you down! Video tutorials aren't meant to be perfect. It's OK, and even preferred, to show your flawed human side. Keep in mind that the more editing you do, the harder it will be to quickly update or change your video. So have fun editing, but don't spend too much time on it.

Camtasia Tips for Editing

• The first time you go from recording to "Edit my project" you will be presented with this pop-up window:
  
  
  
  Select: All > Recording Dimensions > OK - this will keep your work at your orignal recording dimensions for now.
  
• In editing you can add callouts, transitions, captions, new audio and you can remove segments or move them around.
• See Camtasia Tips for help and tutorials that will walk you through the details of how to edit.

We no longer require a link to our tutorials feedback survey.

Below are the directions we used to create an end slide with a link to the survey since it may be useful if you want to create similar links to other pages or surveys of your own. If you have any questions, feel free to email tutorials-lib.

Example of how you can create an end slide that links outside of the tutorial

1. Save this file to the directory all your files for the project are in: feedback-link.camrec
   - in Firefox, right-click on link and choose "Save link as.."
   - In IE, right-click on link and choose "Save target as..."
2. Open your existing project in Camtasia Studio and select "Import media" from the options on the left.
3. Navigate to this file and select it.
4. Drag the new clip onto the end of your timeline.
5. Select the clip on the timeline (by single-clicking on it) and select "Callouts" from the options on the left.
6. Choose "Add Callout"; under Callout type choose "Transparent Hot Spot."
7. A green box will appear on the screen to your right - re-position and re-size this so it completely covers the box that says, "Click here...".
8. Click on the "Flash Hot Spot Properties" button on the left and select, "Jump to URL" and enter the URL "http://libraries.mit.edu/tutorials-feedback" (or alternative URL if you are using an altered survey).
9. Check the box for "Open URL in new browser window", also be sure "Pause at end of callout" is checked at the top, and check "OK."
10. Select "OK" in the Callout Properties menu to the left, and then "Finished" on the Callouts menu.
11. Please note this link will not work in the preview mode, but should work when it is uploaded to the server.

Also, add the title of your tutorial: putting the name of your tutorial on this slide ensures users are certain which one they watched.

1. Select the clip on the timeline again (by single-clicking on it) and select "Callouts" from the options on the left.
2. Choose "Add Callout"; this time, under Callout type choose "Text Callout."
3. A green box will appear on the screen to your right - re-position this so it is directly above the box that says, "Click here..." You probably want to make the box almost as wide as the screen so you can fit the whole title on one or two lines.
4. Enter the title of your tutorial in the Text box in teh menu on the left. The font should be Verdana - choose whatever text size fits your title and looks good. Change the color of the text so that it stands out from the rest of the text. Here's an example.
5. Select "OK" in the Callout Properties menu, and then "Finished" on the Callouts menu.

Page last modified: February 29, 2008