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The new Project Settings dialog box allows you to access several predetermined settings for output, including recommended file types. For reference, here's a table that offers a summary of the default settings.
| Presets | Output Size in pixels | File Type |
| Web | 640 x 480 | ExpressShow (Single SWF) |
| CD-ROM | 800 x 600 | AVI |
| Blog | 400 x 300 | ExpressShow (Single SWF) |
| iPod | 320 x 240 | M4V |
As noted in the last article, when you choose any one of these settings, you'll see an output preview of your video. Also, as mentioned previously, you can make use of SmartFocus, which is really handy if you're reducing your video from one format to another (more on that later).
Clicking on the All icon at the far right of the presets section brings up the following popup.
When you decide to produce your video, you need to think about how your project will be viewed and in what environment. Additional considerations are distribution, the type of content in your video, whether you need to optimize your file sizes, and/or audio/video quality, multiple different outputs, etc. Below is a guide you can use when producing your video.
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In this section, we take a closer look at SmartFocus and how it can help your recordings. As mentioned in the previous article, you would use it when you've made a recording at a large size and you want to output the video to a smaller format. SmartFocus creates keyframes that zoom and pan in your image, highlighting certain sections, such as menus. To illustrate how it works, I've recorded a short video (which you can view at the end of this section) where I'm moving around in an application, opening menus, etc. For my output, I've used the Blog settings.
Here's what the timeline looks like after the recording is complete. You'll notice several blue markers at the bottom of the timeline. These indicate where keyframes have been placed and where SmartFocus is being used. When it comes time to produce your video, you can leave all these keyframes as they are, without adjusting them, but it's likely that you'll want to fine-tune the presentation. To do so, double-click on any one of the keyframes to edit the zoom level of the video and this will bring up the Zoom-n-Pan properties.
There are several options to choose from. You can click on the Assist Me button which will take you to the Help menu for additional information, or you can jump right in and start editing. In the screen shot above you'll notice a green box. This indicates the area that is viewable in your video and is seen on the right side of your working area as in the screen shot below.
This is what the entire working area looks like, including the zoomed in part of the dog in the preview pane on the right. If not enough of the image is displayed, you can resize the view by adjusting any one of the eight black squares in the green frame. Additionally, you can pan that frame as well. Other options include a slider that controls the size of the green frame, as well as the time it takes to zoom in and out. Below that is a list of the various zooms that you can select, edit and/or delete. On the far right of this list are five icons. These are: add a new keyframe, remove the selected keyframe(s), expand the selected keyframe(s) to full screen, apply SmartFocus to entire timeline and open zoom options. Immediately below this section is an advanced pane which I've opened. This offers precise numerical coordinates for the placement of the frame as well as its width and height.
Here's a short ExpressShow video illustrating the use of SmartFocus. I've chosen the blog format (400 x 300) for the output.
The Camtasia Studio video content presented here requires JavaScript to be enabled and the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player. If you're you using a browser with JavaScript disabled please enable it now. Otherwise, please update your version of the free Flash Player by downloading it here.
Here are a few tips for getting the best results:
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In our next article we're going to discuss the stability improvements, take a look at editing procedures, clip storage options, work with callouts and the new transitions. If you have any questions or comments, please write to me.
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Created: June 5, 2003
Revised: November 8, 2007
URL: http://webreference.com/video/column6/1
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