You’re probably looking for all-in-one video editing software if you’re making training videos. Software that can record your screen, is easy to use, and comes with a large library of built-in effects.
It can be difficult to find the best software for your needs. We’ve tried a lot of different training video programmes and have settled on a few that cover all of our bases.
What is TechSmith Camtasia?
Camtasia by Techsmith is a straightforward video editing and screen recording application. Camtasia was created with beginners in mind, allowing designers to quickly and easily create professional training videos. It’s compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X.
Techsmith offers a 30-day free trial to try out the software at the time of this writing. However, any exported files will include a watermark. The full version of Camtasia must be purchased in order to use it. Camtasia will be available for a one-time fee of $249.00 in 2020.
Let’s get started with the review now that we’ve covered the basics. Is Camtasia worth the money? Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using Camtasia to create training videos:
Camtasia Pros
- Simple to learn: Camtasia is designed for video-editing beginners, with a clean setup and simple user interface.
If you’ve never edited a video before, Camtasia is a great place to start. The buttons for visual effects are large and clearly labelled. A simple drag-and-drop operation can be used to apply effects. The timeline includes an automatic snap feature that makes editing quick and easy.
Camtasia, while not as powerful as professional video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro, will suffice for 70% of your training video needs.
- Fantastic screen capture feature: We’ve tried and tested every piece of screen capture software available.
What’s the verdict? With the best screen recording feature, Camtasia blows the competition out of the water.
Not only is the resolution excellent, but it is also simple to use. When you open the programme, a screen capture icon appears in the top toolbar. As a result, you can select the icon and begin recording your screen in just a few clicks.
- User interaction: Training videos frequently lack user interaction, which is critical for learning.
You can use Camtasia to add interactive quizzes to your videos. At the start, the end, or all the way through the video. For quizzes to be useful, you’ll need to be aware of your export settings (only helpful for embedding into eLearning modules). Camtasia, on the other hand, is ahead of the curve by offering this feature, which combines video learning with sluggish interactivity. Quizzes embedded in videos will undoubtedly become more popular in the future of education. Camtasia is the best tool for getting started right away.
- Awe-inspiring cursor effects: Camtasia’s built-in effects are, on the whole, limited. Their cursor effects, on the other hand, are incredible. These cursor effects provide automated effects that can really bring your video edit to life.
Cursor smoothing is one of our favourite cursor effects. Drag and drop this effect onto your clip to magically remove jerky mouse movements, leaving only smooth and seamless mouse movements. You can also edit and connect different clips together, and the programme will (most of the time) sew them together seamlessly, preventing the mouse from “jumping” to different parts of the screen.
- Comprehensive asset library: If you’re short on time and need to find assets quickly, Camtasia has a lot of them. Icons, intro templates, motion backgrounds, music tracks, and more are all included.
While many of the assets aren’t directly customizable, they provide a good starting point for creating training videos for beginners.
- Low price: Some people consider Camtasia’s price to be too high.
We believe Camtasia is well worth the money when compared to other video editing and eLearning authoring software. Adobe and Articulate 360 charge on a monthly or annual basis, which is significantly more expensive. Camtasia is a steal for everything you get!
Camtasia Cons
– Constant crashes and bugs: When compared to other programmes, Camtasia has a lot more crashes and bugs. We edit our videos on the most recent iMacs and have had very few crashes with any other software. Camtasia goes through phases for some reason. Some of them are truly amazing. Others appear to be buggy, causing the programme to crash repeatedly.
Camtasia’s team is known for being quick to release updates to new versions. Their autosave feature also works well, ensuring that your work is not lost. But it’s worth noting as you consider whether Camtasia is a good fit for creating your training videos.
Limited customization: Because Camtasia is designed for beginners, it does not allow for extensive customization. While annotations, transitions, and behaviours are useful in general, they cannot be customised for specific purposes.
The built-in effects will suffice for most individuals or businesses creating training videos. If you need to customise your effects, you’ll need to use a more powerful video editing programme like Adobe Premiere Pro.
– No keyframe tracking: In Camtasia, moving and animating objects is difficult. This is due to Camtasia’s lack of keyframe tracking capabilities.
There are ways to move objects on the screen using hacks. However, they frequently appear flat and are difficult to control. We recommend moving your files into Premiere Pro if you’re making videos that require keyframing.Ineffective keyboard controls: Adobe has mastered keyboard controls. Techsmith? Not at all. Many commands are missing, despite the fact that they have limited keyboard controls.
For tasks like clip slicing, changing clip speed, and zooming on the timeline, we’d love to see keyboard commands. Camtasia currently restricts keyboard commands to saving, copying, and playing video.
Export issues: While this hasn’t been reported in all versions, some users have reported problems encoding and exporting Camtasia videos. Some exported.mov or.mp4 files from Camtasia fail to open in Premiere Pro, stating that the “file encoded with an unsupported format.” Camtasia’s software stability (export issues and constant crashing) is a major issue that we’re hoping they can address soon.