Quickly get up to speed with TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8 using this easy-to-follow quick start workbook. Learn how to create and edit screencasts, add voice narration, create animations, insert transitions between clips, add callouts and captions, capture webcam input, add a table of contents, quiz or survey, capture PowerPoint presentations, plus much more.

All of the projects in this book are based on a real online application and are presented using a friendly tutorial style approach, gently introducing you to the powerful features of the Camtasia Studio suite of software products. A separate website contains all the book's sample videos and associated project files, freely available for download.

The idea of the book isn't to simply run through the menu options and commands available with Camtasia Studio, but rather to provide you with worked examples that show you how to perform tasks with the software.

The best way to learn how to use any software application is to do just that – use it. Reading about it helps, but you need to use it in order to quickly build up your skill level and proficiency with the software. That's why this book takes a very “hands on” practical approach to learning how to use Camtasia Studio effectively; have the book open on your tablet while using the software on your PC or laptop at the same time.

Who this Book is for

This book assumes that you are new to the enjoyable art of using Camtasia Studio to create videos; perhaps you have just been tasked by your manager at work to create a video that presents your company's latest software product, or maybe you want to start your own YouTube channel and have been told that Camtasia Studio is a great application to enable you to do this … which it is. Or perhaps you've just downloaded a trial version of the software and you want to get up to speed quickly with it to see what its capabilities are before you buy the software.

Whatever your reason is for needing to create videos with Camtasia Studio, this book will help you.

The Accompanying Website

To help you to get the most out of this book, there is an accompanying website that contains the video clips that are introduced throughout the book. As well as being able to view the videos on the website, you can download the associated Camtasia Studio project files so you can use, modify, and generally play around with the video clips yourself to see how they work and the effect of making changes to them. Links to the downloadable files are included at the end of each chapter.

The Software Application

To make the whole experience of working through this book more “real”, all of the projects use an actual software application as the subject for the videos.

The Quick Start Workbook YouTube Channel

All the sample videos and video tutorials that correspond to this quick start workbook are available on the Quick Start Workbook YouTube channel.

A Bit About Camtasia Studio

Camtasia Studio is a software suite for Microsoft Windows that basically enables you to create videos by recording computer screen output and/or by importing media files into a Camtasia project. The software is created and published by TechSmith.

There are two main components to Camtasia Studio: Camtasia Recorder which, as name suggests, allows you to record your computer's screen, and Camtasia Editor, which enables you to edit your video(s).

A typical Camtasia Studio video will be made up of several tracks layered on top of each other, with each track containing content for your video, for example, a screen recording, background music, voice narration, and callouts, all set against a timeline.

Like any powerful piece of software, becoming an 'expert' in the use of Camtasia Studio takes time and you will no doubt learn lessons with every video you create. Having said that, grasping the basics is very easy and you should be up and running and creating simple videos within a few minutes of lau