Video Tutorials > Guidelines, Policies and Help

Step 2: Record

• Camtasia Tips for Recording
• Prepare Your Computer
• What to Record (Region/Window/Screen)
• What Size to Record (Resolution, Dimensions)
• Recording Audio

Camtasia Tips for Recording

• If you are recording the same window or screen area that you have already selected for a previous recording, choose "last area" on the Camtasia recorder tool.
• You can manually type the dimensions of the recording in the "Selection area" box, but you can also adjust the dimensionas later when producing.
• Remember the shortcuts: F9 to pause and un-pause, F10 to stop recording.
• When you save your first recording, be sure to create a folder for the project and save it and all other files in that folder. For help with managing your files, see Camtasia Tips: Saving the Recording.
• See "Edit" for what options to choose when going to edit your recording.
• See Camtasia Tips for help and tutorials that will walk you through the details of how to record.

Prepare Your Computer

• Simplify your screen: remove clutter and extra toolbars from browsers (FireFox: View > Toolbars; IE: Tools > Toolbars). Choose a flat unobtrusive color for the desktop background if it is going to show in the recording.
• Make sure there are no unexpected interruptions. Disable unwanted pop-ups and noises: calendar pop-ups, stretch breaks, alert sounds, etc. Close other programs.
• If pop-ups are part of the presentation, make a dry run to see that pop-ups appear in a desired position – adjust pop-up window locations if necessary.

What to Record (Region/Window/Screen)

• As a general rule, don't record a larger area of the screen than necessary. It is preferable to capture your clip from a region or window rather than from the entire screen. Recording unnecessary screen area results in larger file sizes which is bad for file storage and playback. Capture the smallest amount of the screen that still reveals everything you want to show. If you are using a web browser, be sure all pages/sites that you view will fit into that size without excessive scrolling (particularly horizonally).
• If the use of the toolbars is part of the instruction then be sure to capture the entire window. Camtasia allows you to capture just what is inside a window, or you can capture the entire window, including the "chrome" - toolbars, menus, buttons, etc.
• If the capture involves multiple applications or windows within one application, capture a region of the screen.

What Size to Record

• Recommended recording size: You may record at any size and reduce the size later when producing the video. However, when you shrink the video, the text and details may become too small or blurry to read, so you don't want to record too much larger than the final size. It is advisable to have the final video (including the controller) to be no larger than 550 pixels tall, in order that laptop users (with smaller screens) can see the controller without scrolling.
  
  

  Width is not usually as much of an issue, but should not be more than 950 pixels total. Table of contents are optional, but are usually ~150 pixels wide (although this is adjustable).

• You may consider changing the font size or the resolution of your screen to help fit more on a screen. Someone who starts with a higher screen resolution will fit more into a video than someone with a lower screen resolution.
  
• If you want to record a window at a specific size, use Sizer, freeware that can change a window to a specified size. See TechSmith's tutorial on how to use it (select "Recording Tool: Sizer" from sidebar). Sizer is also helpful if you need to re-record parts of a video, to make sure the window is the same size as was captured earlier.
• When loaded into TechTV, the in-window resolution will be reduced to ~244 x 323. The larger your original resolution, the smaller the content will look in TechTV. There is a full-screen mode in TechTV which will display your video, so use judgement as to how this affects your choice in screen resolution.
• If you include multiple screen captures in the same video that are different ratios, Camtasia will fill in the difference with a black background (similar to watching wide screen movies on your TV).

Recording Audio

• Your first decision is whether to use audio at all in your presentation.
• You may choose to record the audio while you are recording the screen capture, or you may add it later. However, it's usually a good idea to record the audio while you are recording the screen, since that helps you know how much time to linger on each screen and each action. If you wish, you can record over this audio later in a more polished manner, or with someone else's voice.
• Position the microphone away from your mouth to avoid popping and breathing sounds. Record in a quiet environment.
• Avoid abrupt starts and endings - waiting a few moments before stopping and starting allows some room for editing that can always be removed later if needed.
• If you make a mistake in your audio, stop speaking for a few moments and then start over from a place before the mistake. It may be possible to simply edit out the mistake later and this is easier to do if there is a obvious silent segment in the audio track.

Page last modified: February 29, 2008