Camtasia for Mac looks like a screencasting powerhouse
It hasn't exactly been a secret that I (and several others at TUAW) have been big fans of ScreenFlow since its release. Up until yesterday, I didn't really think it had much serious competition in the professional screencasting field. That seems to have changed with the release of Camtasia for Mac. At the same $99US price tag as ScreenFlow, Camtasia is offering a very similar interface with some impressive capabilities.
Camtasia has long been considered a heavyweight in the PC world, and its Mac debut has been anxiously awaited. While it hasn't exactly reached feature-parity with the PC version, it's been quite a pleasure to try out. Some of the features it's lacking in comparison to its PC counterpart include region recording, narration-only recording and ScreenDraw. However, its capabilities in the area of direct media manipulation are quite well-developed. For a complete feature comparison, check the TechSmith website or grab the comparison PDF.
A quick run-through with a review copy convinced me that this is some serious competition for ScreenFlow. One of the coolest features I played with was the SmartFocus action, which can be applied to an entire clip or just a region in the editor. It automatically determines what the point of focus at any given time should be, and zooms that area. Additionally, you can highlight the foreground window, add text and shape callouts, and work with imported media. The only problem I noticed immediately was with changing colors of library elements (arrows, etc.). I haven't figured that out in my brief trial, and haven't had a chance to ask yet. I'm hoping that's not a missing feature, as it seems relatively important to me.
A complete array of QuickTime formats can be exported, and presets for YouTube, Screencast.com and iTunes are included. There's a default export which gave me a 10.5MB QuickTime file for a 47-second clip, at a 960x600 resolution. The "Advanced Export" option provides the opportunity to tweak settings and export to all the standard formats. There's some mismatch between the PC and Mac export capabilities, though, making cross-platform projects difficult (file format comparison).
Camtasia for Mac requires that all of your video cards be Quartz Extreme-enabled. If you run any USB->DVI hardware, be sure to disconnect it before you launch the application. Also, TechSmith warns against running Perian with Camtasia. I tried it and didn't have any problems -- but it was for a short record/export experiment and I'm guessing they have good reason for pointing out the potential conflict. I would probably heed that advice when working on a more important project. Camtasia for Mac is currently available at the Camtasia website as a free trial, and can be purchased for $99US, or a 5-pack for $495US.
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It hasn't exactly been a secret that I (and several others at TUAW) have been big fans of ScreenFlow since its release. Up until yesterday,...
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One major area in which Camatasia for Mac is holding the lead for now is preset transitions. These are immensely valuable to an editor. Having no cursor actions in the new app is rough. Hoping for mouse callouts in an update soon. Scraster's full review is here: http://bit.ly/1a2zrL
September 03 2009 at 11:27 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyActiculate on the PC (www.articulate.com) has a PowerPoint plug in which allows you to record an audio track for a presentation and then quickly make a flash based presentation. Fully clickable menus, navigable etc.
It looks like Adobe's Captivate will do something similar - think will wait for native Mac version to arrive. Soon I hope.
Thanks - I have ProfCast, but don't think that does enough.
wouldn't worry about it...
snow leopard has screen capture built in
it also has picture in picture and editing
so screenflow and camtasia and snapz pro and ishowU...
ihave them all...snow leopard is already better
they had a window, it's now been shut!!
couple with podcast producer on an xserve, then screen capture is now just too easy!!!
There is still a lot missing from that list of features. You don't have the ability to do advanced layer-based editing, importing of other media, and many other important features. It will work for many simple uses, but doesn't replace ScreenFlow for me.
August 27 2009 at 12:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNo matter what software you use we the consumer wins--it makes for better software for us. See my blog post below.
http://www.absolutepresence.com/2009/08/camtasia-verus-screenflow-and-more/
After reading their comparison chart I'm left puzzled. This is from TechSmith the same guys that do Jing which has been out for years, and yet somehow there's features in Jing that's not in Camtasia??? Like the FTP, region grab, export to flash, and even pause recording. Are they stripping these features out, forcing us to buy both Camtasia and Jing Pro? I think I'll go to ScreenFlow!
August 27 2009 at 6:55 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyGreat question! Why make it different?
I'm the product manager for Camtasia for mac. Allow me to share a bit of the back story. We heard a few things loud-n-clear from our mac customers:
1. Make it truly a mac-like experience. Easy workflow, intuitive, flexible.
2. Give us something sooner, rather than later.
We were determined _not_ to port our Windows app over. We've got 10 years of features built into Camtasia Studio on Windows. First, there's no way to play catch up in one release. And second, many of our mac customers have different needs than Windows users. So we curtailed the features of 1.0 to the feedback of our customers, advisory boar and beta testers.
There may continue to be differences between Mac and Windows products as they express unique needs. They may become the same. But, we'll only know as we continue to listen. So we appreciate any and all feedback.
Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager
@Troy I understand that this is version one, and that your goals were not to have every feature the Windows version has, but the features that mentioned were features which are already available from another application which guys created long ago. Why not at least incorporate them into Jing's sucessor Camtasia?
August 27 2009 at 10:06 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI am looking for a solution that allows me to export a Keynote / Powerpoint presentation into a Flash format for the web complete with audio and an index.
Articulate on Windows does this; the approach is to export the screencast from within the application rather than just taking a bitmapped screenshot of the presentation. Articulate also allows for a navigable table of context - users can skip ahead or replay a slide from the ToC.
The architecture here is that it authors from within the app and therefore captures more metadata.
Any suggestions around a Mac alternative? I understand Adobe Captivate will be released soon for the Mac... does this achieve something similar to Articulate?
My money is on ScreenFlow
August 26 2009 at 9:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyLooking forward to trying this out. Anyone know if you can make a given freeze frame play for a set duration. That's something I wanted in screenflow...
August 26 2009 at 8:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou can do that with both Screenflow and Camtasia. Just screencap that moment (either live while recording, or from the playback later), import that screencap as a media element, and then insert it where you need it (setting the duration to whatever you want).
Bit of a work-around, but is a very usable solution.
In Camtasia for Mac simply save a frame. Here's how
http://screencast.com/t/UsfH68zfyd (1 min video).
I agree with Rick. It seems to be a step back if you ask me. Still it would be interesting to see how this progresses. Still ScreenFlow is better then this. Just my opinion.
http://iphoneapplications4life.com/?p=42565
Yeah, I actually waited for Camtasia to be released before buying my legit copy of Screenflow... temporarily used a "free" copy to tide me over ;).
After trying them both out for a few sample projects... I got my license for Screenflow. Much cleaner "mac-like" interface, easier to set animation points, and better export results. Looking forward to v2.0 due out soon.
They better hurry and sell a bunch before the new cat comes out on Friday....
"Record your screen.
Catch the action taking place on your screen with screen recording. Start recording and QuickTime Player captures the activity on your screen and creates a movie file. It’s perfect for creating instructional media or when you need more than a simple screen shot."
"Save for the web.
QuickTime Player makes it easy to prepare media files for the web. It converts your media to optimized movies for uploading to YouTube or MobileMe and for playback on a Mac, PC, or iPhone."
http://www.apple.com/macosx/refinements/enhancements-refinements.html
This will work well for some basic demos, but if you want to do more advanced stuff like: full window zoom-ins, single app window zoom ins, animated effects, voice-over instruction, background-music, splicing-scenes-together, multi-layer editing, iSight video overlay, etc.... you'll need a full solution like Camtasia or Screenflow.
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