TechSmith Camtasia Studio 7

Reviewed way back in issue 38 of Photoshop Creative, and scoring a cracking 8/10, we highly rated Camtasia Studio 5 for beginners looking to capture their Photoshop workflow on video. Now TechSmith annouces the new version, Studio 7, offering multiple upgrades and improvements. www.techsmith.com/camtasia

Press release

Lucky Number 7: TechSmith Announces Camtasia Studio 7

• New effects, asset library and editing options make professional standard screencast videos easy to create.
• Overhauled Camtasia Recorder improves performance dramatically, with a 40-50% improvement in screen capture rate.
• Updated SmartFocus improves video recording clarity.

London, UK – 30^th March 2010 – TechSmith Corp. today announces the introduction of Camtasia Studio 7.

Camtasia Studio 7 is designed to be as intuitive as possible, so users with limited technical knowledge can easily create highly professional videos. A short video overview of the product can be viewed at here.

Users can record exactly what they see on their computer screen, including all visual elements, from mouse movements to data entry, with the option to add audio, such as a music track or a voice over, as well as web cam video. This recording, known as a screencast, can then be edited and shared across a variety of platforms; from online hosting sites such as YouTube, to portable devices including the iPhone and iPod Touch.

New features within version 7 include:

• Library Media: Additional assets and templates will be available from the Library Media section of the TechSmith website. Previously recorded content, such as a branded title or credits sequence, can be saved and reused in future projects. This is very helpful when creating a series of videos that need to look the same.
• Digital Juice assets: Professionally designed media assets created by Digital Juice, including animated backgrounds, music tracks, sound effects and title backgrounds, are included within Camtasia Studio 7. Users now have a wider variety of assets to use when editing a screencast recording.
• Copy and paste on editing timeline: Specific sections of the screencast can be copied and pasted into another part of the presentation for easy referral. Drag and drop functionality for call-outs an animations has also been added.
• Improved recorder: The Camtasia Recorder has been overhauled to improve efficiently. Users of Windows XP will see an immediate improvement in recording smoothness, while those running a dual-core Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC will see a 40-50% improvement in capture frame rate.
• New Callout and Cursor Effects: Callouts can now be rotated 360 degrees and effects added, such as a sketch motion that looks like the callout has been drawn in by hand. Cursor effects can now be edited after the recording to add variety to the screencast. These effects make presentations look more professional and make the content visually appealing.
• Improved SmartFocus: The SmartFocus feature of Camtasia Studio has been improved to make it more accurate than previous versions, cutting down editing time.
• YouTube Upload: An improved uploader makes publishing screencasts on YouTube quicker and easier than previously.

Shane Lovellette, Camtasia Studio Product Manager comments, “The launch of Camtasia Studio 7 is a huge milestone. We have revamped the user interface to deliver a slicker experience and overhauled the recording engine to enhance the quality of the end video. Camtasia Studio is the leading choice for screencasting software across many educational, training and small business organisations, with a recent survey showing 90% of our customers would recommend Camtasia Studio to a friend.”