iTunes U - Camtasia

Camtasia Studio is a program capable of screen recording and audio and video editing and producing.

Other options exist for creating content for iTunes U. See the iTunes U page for more information.

Acquiring Camtasia

• A free 30 day trial version of the program is available from http://www.techsmith.com.
• A full version is available for use in the Tech Center.
• Contact Edison Online or your department if you would like the program on your own computer.

General Usage

With Camtasia Studio, you will usually be working with at least three different file types.

• camrec - a large file containing the video of the screen recording.
• camproj - a small file containing a pointer to the camrec file and work you have done to it. The camrec file goes into the Clip Bin in the camproj file. The Clip Bin could also contain additional audio or video files.
• final production file - one file or a collection of files in a sharable format that you post to iTunes U or WebCT or the portal. This file is created after you chose Produce file as... in the camproj. Depending on how you choose to produce the file, the final production file could be a flash video file, a m4v file, a mov file, or whatever else you choose. You can produce several different final production files and choose the one you like the best. See below for more information.

One Time Tasks

Changing QuickTime Options

1. Click Produce video as...
2. Select Custom production settings
3. Click Next
4. Select MOV - QuickTime movie
5. Click Next
6. Click QuickTime Options...
7. In the Video box, click Settings
8. Make the following changes in the Motion box
   1. Frame Rate: 30
   2. Key Frames: Every 24
   3. Click OK
9. In the Sound box, click Settings
   1. Use: Stereo
   2. Click Options...
      1. Bit Rate: 128 kbits/second
      2. Click OK
   3. Click OK
10. Click OK

Recommended Production Settings

Camtasia offers a dizzying number of production options. The correct choice for you depends on the type of content you want to provide and how you want to provide it.

If you want to post to iTunes U, your only options are the MOV QuickTime format or iPod/iTunes format.

There will be a trade-off between resolution and file size.  Try to keep your file size as small as possible while still readable. iTunes U has a maximum file size of 500 MB.

First try the iPod production preset and then check the quality of the m4v file created.  If your fonts were large in the original PowerPoint, the quality won't be too bad.  The benefit of this format will be smaller size and ability to play on iTunes and iPods. 

If that format is too blurry, try the MOV format.  Be sure to change your QuickTime Options as noted to the left. During the Production Wizard choose Standard Video Size 640x480.  This file size will be larger but more clear.  It will be compatible with iTunes but not iPods.  You can however, use iTunes to convert the mov to a m4v which will make the file smaller and compatible with iPods and the resolution is usually much better than if you create the m4v in Camtasia.  To do this, drag the mov file into the iTunes library on your computer (or set the iTunes folder as your default ouput folder for Camtasia), click on the video within the Movies folder in iTunes to select it, click Advanced in the Menu Bar and then Create iPod or iPhone version, play the new file that is created and check the quality, if it is good, right click it and choose Show in Windows Explorer, then upload that m4v file to iTunes U, WebCT, or the portal. 

If the mov and the m4v are too blurry or if the file size is too large, use the Web production preset.  You will not be able to use the resulting file in iTunes U, instead you would post to WebCT.