WSU Technology Knowledge Base:Camtasia
About this article
This article includes instructions for downloading, installing, and configuring TechSmith Camtasia. It is intended for instructors.
What's Camtasia?
TechSmith's Camtasia is a software application that gets installed on your laptop that allows you to record your screen activity and save it in the form of a video. Your movies include all mouse movements, pen and key strokes, any software application activity, and even web browsing activity. You can also choose to record audio from both system output (i.e., what's coming out of your speakers) and microphone input (e.g., your narration of a PowerPoint slide show). Camtaisia also includes a set of tools for editing your video, adding instructional and interactive elements such as callouts, transitions, and quizzes, adding audio tracks, Closed Captioning, and publishing your video in multiple formats, both locally and online (e.g., to YouTube or MediaSpace). TechSmith offers both PC (Version 9) and Mac (Version 3)of Camtaisia.
Installing Camtasia
Many have grown accustom to downloading Camtasia directly from TechSmith, but we are moving away from this method and ask you to simply contact TLT (tlt@winona.edu) for a direct link to the software link and license code for your version of Camtasia.
Getting started
TechSmith has produced a series of tutorials called Getting Started with Camtasia 9 & 3 for both Mac and Windows that are effective for becoming familiar with this tool. The three basic functions of Camtasia are recording, editing, and sharing.
Record
Basic recording of your screen, audio, and video with your laptop webcam can all be active by opening Camtasia and clicking on the Record button 
in the upper left corner of the application. To record, you will first need to adjust the following settings.
1. Set your screen recording area (Full to Custom)
2. Adjust camera options
3. Set microphone and levels
4. Start Recording (see rec button on PC).
Edit
The features for editing your recordings are best learned on your own by going to the Lynda Essential Training courses found below.
- Camtasia 9 for Windows Essential Training: Editing Your Story
- Camtasia 3 for Mac Essential Training: Editing in Camtasia
Share
This functionality is where we make your videos into final products that will be streamed on YouTube or MediaSpace or played from a laptop locally. If you are planning to produce and share these videos for your courses in BrightSpace we recommend saving these as a Local File and using the MP4 (Windows users will need to save the as MP4 Only at 720p) option. To learn more about this functionality you can go directly to the Lynda resources below.
- Camtasia 9 for Windows Essential Training: Sharing Your Story
- Camtasia 3 for Mac Essential Training: Sharing
Related Articles
- MediaSpace
- Uploading Media into MediaSpace and Embedding into D2L Brightspace
- Getting Started with Camtasia 9 & 3
We also have comprehensive Camtasia courses found in Lynda.