What size to choose to record Camtasia?

3 replies
Hey!

I am having some difficulties when recording my Powerpoint presentation using camtasia. What size should I choose to record the camera?

Thanks!
#camtasia #choose #record #size
  • Profile picture of the author sannyman
    Hi Laura!
    Is it possible to give a more detailed description of the problem? You are saying about "the camera", do you refer to the webcam or similar device?

    Before giving us the answers, here are some thoughts:

    With Camtasia, you can (also) define a screen area / region to be recorded (so not only the "full screen").

    Also, take a look to the proposed file format(s) that you can use later, in order to "produce" your final work. For example, the "web" preset has a resolution of 640x480 (but you can also change it to 800x600 and so on) while the "blog" preset keeps the resolution unchanged. Obviously, the bigger the resolution, the bigger the size of the final file. The size will increase if you will increase the number of frames per second, as well.

    So, you will first have to decide about the distribution media for your file. If it is a CD, large file sizes are not an issue. If you plan to make it available over a download link, it will be no problem again, but if you will want to have it in a player using "progressive download", it may create discomfort for some of your users (those with a small bandwidth).

    Once you know it, simply start a new "screen record" project. You can select "full screen" or just an area. Use F9 for "Start rec / Pause" and F10 for "Stop record". Play your Powerpoint presentation (in projector mode) and record it (F9/F10).

    The "Produce video as" stage will deal with resizing too, but do not use, while recording, screen resolutions bigger then 1024x768.

    Is this helpful? I hope so.
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  • Profile picture of the author LonNaylor
    I actually never record Powerpoint presentations full screen using the Camtasia built-in PPT function.

    I set Powerpoint to show the slide show in a window (Slideshow...Set Up Show...Browsed by an Individual Window).

    Then, I start the Camtasia recorder to record a window size of whatever I want my final video to be (640x480 for example).

    Next, resize the Powerpoint window to fit inside the recording window (but only the slideshow part, not the whole app)...start the slide show...hit RECORD.

    Your end result video quality will always be better IF you record at the same size that you will be producing to.
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    • Profile picture of the author lauraajel7
      Thanks, very useful information
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