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 !

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 !

Howdy Ya’All,

Just wanted to share the good news with users from other countries or who want a German or French Version of SnagIt 10. TechSmith is stepping up the game and offering it in these two languages for reaching out to the users in other countries. Anton Bollen (He is the newest member of the TechSmith evangelist team based in Berlin) and has a blog for the German version of SnagIt 10 and if you want to read it in that language just click here. If you would like to learn more about Anton then just click here.

Here is the links for the German 30-Day Trial Download of SnagIt 10.

And Here is the link for the French 30-Day Trial Download of SnagIt 10.

Well, I hope you all enjoy this post.

Thanks from your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

Ya’All Come Back Now Ya’Hear !

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.

A lot of Camtasia Studio users have expressed the need to record video interviews.  They usually want the participants video window to be side by side.  Some want to be able to interview multiple people on video at the same time.  Well, Skype announced in May 2010 it is working on its latest version, which focuses on video chat.  Skype 5 will allow video conferencing for up to 5 people.  That is a great improvement.  Currently, you would have to use a Webinar system to do this at a great cost.

Here are the improvements made:

New Features:
* Up to 5-way group video call
* Redesigned calling experience
* Improved video snapshots gallery
* Improved browser plugins performance on some websites.
* Reduced false positives on browser plugin phone number recognition.

Changes:
* Call host is not displayed anymore in the user interface
* Windows 2000 is not supported in this Beta version

It is unclear whether you will have to pay to use the video conferencing or not.  I will say from reading the comments posted there are a lot of unhappy people.  Mostly, they seem to be unhappy about the voice and chat side of the program.  The new version hides this area to streamline the video experience.

I have yet to test Skype 5 Beta, but if you would like to visit the Skype Garage Blog.  I know one thing, I am looking forward to a Skype that is more video conferencing savvy.  The thought of being able to record multiple video chats using Camtasia Studio excites me.  Now, if PowerGramo can catch up so it can record Skype 5 we will really be in business.

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

Today the great people at TechSmith are at it again. They are staying up for another 24 Hours to do a Live Stream about SnagIt. If you would like to chat with them or other users about this product just click on the chat button under the video and you will be taken to a LiveStream in a new Window.

Well, this event has ended. If you missed out on it you can still view what went on by clicking here.

Every once in awhile you might see it say Offline. Do not worry, they are restarting their stream to get better connections. This stream is only for today May 25th, 2010. After that I will try to embed some videos for the new features they share with us. Thanks for viewing.

I hope Ya’All enjoy this and learn a lot.

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

This video will show you how to use the ThickBox plugin to open a video.  ThickBoxes are used to create an attractive look that is an alternative to the standard plugins that play videos with in your post.  Why not use them?  Well I have found most are very limited to the size they will show your video.  By having the video open in a ThickBox you are not limited to the size constraints.  This is most important when you are creating videos that need to show fine detail such as these training videos.

For this tutorial you will need to have installed the ThickBox plugin By Christian Schenk.  You will also need a video produced using Camtasia Studio with the embedded HTML file.

At the end of your video link you will add the following code:

?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=550&width=650

You can change the height and width to fit your needs by changing it in the code above.  The height and width is measured in pixels which 100 pixels = 1 inch.

For more information about using ThickBox visit http://jquery.com/demo/thickbox/

You can Also download the “Click to Watch Image” for your use.

Howdy Ya’All !,

Today at the ranch we would like to announce that we have been listed as a Third Party Service Provider on TechSmith website. We are very excited to have this honor. We will be bringing some new and exciting things to Poderosa Ranch in the near future. Below is an image from the TechSmith website:

To look at it on their site and verify it is there. Just click here. I always recommend checking things out because of all the scams on the internet. You will not find any of that B.S. here. If you have any questions or need some help and consultation with using Camtasia Studio please feel free to Contact Us anytime for our rates. If we are not available at the time we will get back with you. We are busy working on our clients projects and our own projects.

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

Your Ranch Hand Tour Guide

Fred Grover

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