Camtasia brings demos to life on your Web site

As the Web matures, video showing how products are used or pitching ideas are features that your Web site can’t be without. Today I have a slick product that is focused on just that: creating, editing and enhancing, and publishing videos online.

Camtasia from TechSmith is designed to record live PowerPoint presentations, full-motion video, picture-in-picture presentations along with audio and narration (see the full features list).

Camtasia’s editing allows cut, paste, and insert of both video and audio and the addition of quizzing and feedback through interactive test questions or feedback fields at any point during the video. Answers can be reported back to SCORM-compliant learning management systems, or to your e-mail inbox.

Clips with graphics and text can be added as titles, introductions, chapters titles, transitions, and as credits along with callouts and hot spots. Hot spots are clickable and provide onscreen navigation so users can jump to a specific place in the video or open a Web page while “Zoom-n-Pan” effects allow highlighting.

Camtasia’s editing uses a timeline model with multiple video and audio tracks that can be edited at frame level precision.

Camtasia Studio can save edited content in various formats including Macromedia Flash (SWF and FLV), AVI, WMV, QuickTime (MOV), RealMedia (RM), animated GIF and even an executable (EXE) file with user controllable quality, frame rate, color depth and inclusion or exclusion of special effects.

Camtasia Studio videos delivered by Web or CD can include navigation through a clickable table of contents, which can apply to a single video or provide navigation through a series of videos.

The demos of Camtasia Studio videos are impressive (in particular see Roxio’s tutorials).

Camtasia Studio is priced at $299 per seat.