Camtasia Studio 4: The Definitive Guide (Wordware Applications Library)

While flipping through this book for the first time, you probably noticed the CD inside the back cover. That CD-ROM actually has a veritable treasure trove of really useful stuff on it. For one thing, you’ve got a fully functional (as in not crippled in any way) trial version of Camtasia Studio 4. So if you haven’t yet bought the application, you can still work all the way through this book, and already be an expert by the time you plunk down your money. In addition to Camtasia Studio, the CD-ROM also has free or trial versions of:

• TechSmith SnagIt 8.2.2. This handy screenshot utility greatly enhances Camtasia Studio by giving you the ability to add still images of screen data for slide shows as well as the chance to effortlessly mock up your ideas prior to recording.

• BluffTitler DX9 6.08 by Outerspace Software. This fun, versatile software is billed as a titling application, though I actually find it quite good for animation in general. It offers a variety of easy-to-implement effects, and it renders your content quickly and slickly. It’s now one of my most often-used support utilities for Camtasia Studio work.

• Color Cop 5.4.3 from Datastic. A freeware multi-purpose color picker utility. Good for getting a color’s hexadecimal value (useful when editing a SWF XML document in Camtasia Studio or Theater) or RGB value (for setting Camtasia Player’s background color through a command line parameter, for example).

• GetMouse by Rick Stone. This free utility can record your current mouse location with a single keystroke. Another hotkey will bring your mouse cursor right back to that remembered location, which is wonderful for resuming a capture whenever you have to pause your recording to take care of other business.

• IconWorkshop 6.0.3 from Axialis. This comprehensive icon creation and editing solution can help you create custom icons for use with Camtasia MenuMaker, so that you’re not stuck with only the MenuMaker icon for your otherwise polished CD-ROM front end. Please see Chapter 13, “CD-based Videos with Camtasia MenuMaker,” for details.

• Sizer 3.3 from Brian Apps. Brian created this amazing freeware utility that can size any window according to set dimensions. This can be incredibly useful for making sure the application you’re recording fits exactly within your recording window.

• Total Recorder 6.1 from High Criteria, Inc. This application will allow you to record sound from your system (in other words, capture any sound made by the applications you’re recording), even if your sound card doesn’t support the recording of system sound. For more information, please see Chapter 10, “Working with Other Media: Audio, PIP, and Title Clips.”

• Visual Communicator 2.5 from Serious Magic, Inc. (an Adobe company) This comprehensive video creation and editing application lets you produce eye-popping talking-head style videos, complete with hundreds of transitions, title screens, royalty-free music, and even chroma keying.

• WildFX Pro 3.040 from Wildform. One of the best titling programs out there, this handy animation application can do things with text that have to be seen to be believed. There are 400 available text effects for making your title screens jump up and dance, including dozens of customizable effects.

The other thing your shiny CD-ROM has to offer is loads and loads of project data. At the end of each chapter (beginning with Chapter 5), you’ll find exercises that will give you hands-on experience with the program. If you proceed in a linear fashion through the book, you’ll probably find that many of these data files aren’t needed, and here’s why: Several of these exercises build on earlier exercises from the chapters before it. If you completed the exercises from the previous chapter, chances are you’ll already have a working version of the practice file in question. Note, however, that some files are not created in previous exercises, such as a sample graphic image for you to import as a custom callout. It would therefore be necessary to retrieve that file from the CD.