| Making Screen Capture Movies with Camtasia and HyperCam | |
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By Tanya K. Metaksa
Both the HyperCam and Camtasia recording window can remain "on top" so that as one operates the software it is possible to record the activity. Since Techsmith's Producer and Dubit are integrated into Camtasia, they are accessible from the toolbar and Producer also can be accessed from the blue video icon, or the Options menu. If one is using HyperCam in conjunction with Vframer the Edit menu option loads Vframer automatically.
Camtasia's
main screen with all the toolbars visible.
The
main screen for HyperCam.
Both programs allow the user ultimate flexibility in choosing what part of the screen to capture. Similarly both programs give the user a method of automating file naming so that several takes or several sequential clips would have the same name followed by an automatic ascending numerical suffix. Additionally the Hot Keys to play, pause, stop, etc. are configurable in both programs. Hot Keys make the programs easier to use than by clicking on menu items.
The cursor can be highlighted in both programs and when the cursor is clicked a highlight or starburst can be added. Camtasia also offers the option of just highlighting cursor clicks. While both programs include the option of using the sound of the cursor clicking as well, Camtasia also includes the option of adding the sound of the keyboard tapping away.
Each
program implements the adding of text slightly differently.
HyperCam uses a Notes feature to implement the addition of plain
text notes, while Camtasia adds annotations, date and time,
and even has a small annotation note tool separate from the
Annotation menu, which allows the user to add drawings and graphic
notations to the video.
The Help menus of the two programs are pretty equivalent. I found that using Help in learning to operate both programs worked well. However, the support given by Techsmith went beyond the Help system in the programs. Techsmith supplied 3 tutorial files in AVI format. Although the tutorials were based on an earlier version of Camtasia, they were very useful in learning the basics. Additionally Techsmith has a Camtasia Features Archives web page, which includes downloadable videos of tips on producing better videos with Camtasia.
