Poderosa Ranch

Fred Grover | June 24, 2011

Howdy Ya’All! It has been awhile since I made a post and I am sorry for that. I have been rather busy and occupied lately. I am planning on uploading some free videos to start teaching how to use Camtasia Studio 7 from Beginning to End. Let me know if there are things you would like to learn and thanks for viewing this site today.

TechSmith is having a great event coming up soon called Screencast Camp. No worries, you do not need a huge checkbook for this event. Just some camping stuff unless you want to stay in a Motel/Hotel.

The first Screencast Camp will be held August 12 – 14, 2011 at TechSmith headquarters in Okemos, Michigan. There is no charge to attend, but you do need to register! All food and drink is provided for you. They even provide you with a nice patch of land to camp on, or there are other lodging options listed on the Essential Info page.

Learn more here and register today if you would like to attend. Spots are going fast. You can find out more information by visiting screencastcamp.com

I am going if nothing gets in my way. Register today and there is no charge. Heck, TechSmith is even covering the food and beverages for you. Below is a partial of what they had to say and I appreciate the dietary considerations for people who attend this event.

Meals

Your meals and beverages Friday evening through Sunday lunch are free and provided by TechSmith during ScreencastCamp. If you have any dietary restrictions, please be sure to let us know on the online registration form.

What to bring

Tent and tarp
Sleeping bag & pillow
Air mattress
Toiletries
Bug spray
Sunscreen
Change of clothes (yes, you’ll need to be clothed!)
Laptop computer or tablet (we’ll provide the wireless connection)
Smart phone
Power cords
Webcams and mics
Camera

Well, I hope to see you there along with all the other users and screencasters both present and future screencasters of the world.

Thanks from your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Hear !

Category: Camtasia Studio, Events, Fred's Recommendations, Poderosa Ranch Campfire Training | No Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio, Camtasia Studio 7, Screencast Camp, screencasting, TechSmith, Video Creation

Fred Grover | October 12, 2010

Howdy Ya’All,

Just wanted to announce that TechSmith has released it’s latest version of Camtasia Studio Today. Try it out for free for 30 days by downloading a free fully functional 30 day test ride. Find out about the newest features and you will not regret it. The link to the site is below:

TechSmith Camtasia Studio 7.1

I hope you enjoy this and if so please let us know.

Thanks from your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Hear !

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
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Jason Clemens | September 12, 2010

Audio issues are probably the biggest questions we get on Techsmith’s User to User Forum. Unfortunately there are so many variables to getting great sound it is hard to answer each questions. Here are the things I know that create bad sound:

1. If you are using a laptop your microphone, whether using a headset or not, will pick up the computer’s fan and processor noise. It can only be avoided if you use a long cord and move the computer across the room. Not workable for most.
2. The mic itself. USB mics tend to work better than ones with 3m jacks.
3. Computer sound cards. Unless you built your own computer or purchased a high end computer for recording video and audio your sound card is probably very basic.
4. The lack of using a pop filter. You know that filter that hangs in front of your microphone to stop the bad S and P sounds.
5. Running to many programs at once can slow down the recording process.
6. Your operating system. Vista seems to have the worst audio problems, because Vista is where Microsoft started changing how the audio is listened to and recorded. I don’t have a computer with Vista so I don’t know all of the ins and outs of those problem, I just know I have seen a lot of problems in the forum.
7. The room you record in can affect your audio quality. Does sound bounce around the room? Are there other sounds your mic is picking up?

Now that I have listed some of the problems now for somethings that can help:

1. Ensure all setting for your mic are set the same. I mean the settings in Camtasia Studio, Camtasia Recorder, and your operating systems audio settings.
2. Use a USB mic over a 3m to avoid using the poor sound cards.
3. Record your audio separate from the video if possible.
4. Look at using a digital recorder rather than the computer itself and then import the audio into Camtasia Studio. Adding a mixer and sound gate can also help.
5. Use a pop filter or take an old foam ear piece from a set of head phone and wrap that around your headset’s boom mic. Also ensure the mic is not right in front of your mouth.
6. Hang items on the walls of your room that will absorb sounds like blankets or acoustic foam.
7. Before you start talking let the mic record the room sound for 3-5 seconds. This will allow you to use audio editing software to better clean up the bad sounds. By recording the room sounds you can then isolate them better.

I hope that helps. Of course look around for more helpful information on audio recording.

Category: Audio Recording, Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: audio recording, Camtasia Studio

Fred Grover | June 12, 2010

Howdy Ya’All !. Thanks for riding into the Ranch today. Today we have a special Camtasia Studio Tips & Tricks Video for you. We are going to show you how to remove your Recent Projects from Camtasia Studio. This works for versions 4 through 7 in which I have tried and confirm it does work. You can download the file from here. Watch the video below to see how to complete this task. I hope you enjoy and please feel free to post your comment if this video has helped you at all. Also, feel free to add suggestions for a future video you would like to see. We enjoy the feedback and are much obliged for you taking the time to leave your comments. Please keep in mind that this video is best viewed in Full Screen. You can accomplish this by left mouse clicking once on the little box with the 4 arrows.

UPDATE:
When you are done you will have two files. The original notepad file which you will want to save for later use when an upgrade becomes available to Camtasia Studio. And another file that you will make and save for your Windows Registry. Save them both in a safe place you can remember.

As Ryan from TechSmith asked and I did not point out in the video keep in mind that you will have to double click that Registry file every time you want to clear the Recent Projects/Recordings from Camtasia Studio. I cannot say if this works on a Mac because I do not own one to try it or know how things are done on that end..

Just right click here Clear Recent History Notepad file and choose save as and save it to a place on your computer where you can easily remember it.

Thanks again for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio, Podcast Episodes, Video Podcast | 13 Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio 7, TechSmith, training, Video Creation

Fred Grover | March 30, 2010

Howdy Ya’All ! Thanks again for riding in. Today at the ranch we have a very special thing. First is the Camtasia Studio 7 Overview Video. Secondly is a great Behind the scenes video showing you how it was done. In the behind the scenes video you will see the faces of Kelly Rush (Marketing Video Producer) for TechSmith, Daniel Parks (TechSmith Newsletter Writer) sign up for that here. TechSmith Newsletter you will be happy to receive it. It has excellent information. Ann Morgan (Graphic Artist at TechSmith) was also a behind the scenes helper for the creation of this video. All of them look like they were having a great time. A dream job of mine! Well, lets get all saddled up and ready to wrangle the screencast they made for our viewing pleasure. Thanks to all the great people at TechSmith.

Camtasia Studio 7 – Overview Video

TechSmith Behind the Scenes – Making the Camtasia Studio 7 Overview Video

More videos will be released showing functionality and some cool new features later. So hold on to your horses this is going to be great. We hope you enjoy these videos.

Thanks again for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio 7, TechSmith, training, Video Creation

Fred Grover | March 27, 2010

Howdy Ya’All,

Today at the ranch we are giving you the newest sneak peek from TechSmith on the new and all improved Camtasia Studio 7. It has to do with the audio enhancements. I am sure you will find these new features a big plus. Once again TechSmith comes through for us end-users by listening to what we asked for on certain things. But, I am sure there will still be more requests for changes as always in new versions of any software. There is always room for improvements but this is an excellent starting point and should satisfy a lot of end-users. I will once again let there video do the talking. Take a look at it now.

Oh!, I almost forgot to tell ya. Hold on to your horses because in just a few short days you will be able to take hold of the reins and try these new features out for yourself. Also, a message for Bets at The Visual Lounge Blog. Get better and you sure know how to put a new meaning to one arm bandit lol.

Thanks again for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: Better Quality Audio, Camtasia Studio 7, TechSmith, training, Video Creation

Fred Grover | March 25, 2010

Howdy Ya’All,

Today at the ranch we will be letting the kind people of TechSmith show you the latest about Camtasia Studio 7 Version. It sure makes life easier for all of you YouTube Watchers and Uploaders out there. It can even do the HQ (High Quality) Videos. I think you will truly enjoy this new feature.

Hold on to your horses partner. I forgot to tell you that with Camtasia Studio 7 you will now be able to upload from right within the software after producing your video. It is gonna be great to see this new version. Remember, it will be soon that you will get to try this new version. Just a few more days as Bets from TechSmith said. It should be around the end of the month. Hope you find this information helpful and fun to read and watch.

Thanks again for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio 7, TechSmith, training, Video Creation, YouTube

Fred Grover | March 24, 2010

Howdy Ya’All and thanks for riding in to the ranch. Grab a cup of coffee and sit right down and enjoy your stay. Today TechSmith reveals another Sneak Peek at the latest additions added to the new and improved Camtasia Studio 7 Version. This is a feature I am darn sure everyone will enjoy. I sure know I will like rustling up the dust and creating a storm of screencasts with the new things coming. Here is the latest video put out by TechSmith about the new Keystroke Callouts Feature. I will let them explain it as they do it rather well. Feel free to post your comment today about what you think of it.

Ooops! Hold on their partner! I almost forgot to tell you that the best way to view these videos is in the Full Screen Mode. For those of you not sure of how to wrangle that one up I will tell you how. Just right click your little mouse button on the box in the video with the four little corner arrows and it will take you to the full screen mode. If you wan to get out of the full screen mode then just click it again or hit the Escape (Get me out of here, just kidding!) button on your keyboard. Hope this helps Ya’All.

Thanks again for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio, Custom Callouts, TechSmith, training, Video Creation

Fred Grover | March 23, 2010

Howdy Ya’All,

Thanks for riding in and checking the ranch for new updates. Today we will show you the newest sneak peek of Camtasia Studio 7 from TechSmith. Yippy! They have added some new cursor effects options while in the edit mode only, not live while recording, maybe next version. This will definitely help your viewers follow along better and also make things nicer in the editing mode for us end-users (Video Content Creators). Things like visualizing clicks, enlarging the mouse cursor, and one of my favorites, making the cursor a spotlight. Check the video out below for the new options and the sneak peek:

Hold on partner! I forgot to tell you that they added a new feature to the timeline for the cursor. Great idea, it will allow us to place the cursor effects more precisely on our video creations. You can also choose not to have the cursor appear at all.

Thanks to the Great People at TechSmith for listening to us end-users and the quick responses from their most excellent support department. That is what makes them right out #1 to myself and my ranch hands here. Keep up the great work Ya’All!

Thanks again for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio 7, New Cursor Effects, Video Creation

Fred Grover | March 22, 2010

Just giving you an update and a sneak peak at the new Callouts in Camtasia Studio 7. I cannot wait to use these and make some new tutorials showing you how to do the same.

Thanks for riding in and Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Here!

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Category: Camtasia Studio | No Comments »
Tags: Camtasia Studio 7, Custom Callouts