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    Review: TechSmith Camtasia 2018 continues to lead the industry

    TechSmith’s latest screen recording utility Camtasia is back for another year with the 2018 edition adding some very nice new features. Whether you’re capturing the screen to creating training material at work, or capturing how-to videos for your YouTube channel, you want the best tool for the job. While there’s other tools out there, the free or cheaper alternatives lack in one important way, speed.

    This release builds on an already great platform and refines the offering to accommodate the growing needs of editors. In 2018, there’s a new high frame rate option, which is particularly useful if you’re project leverages some new high frame rate video from your shiny new smartphone. There’s also new library assets like intros, lower thirds, music and more, as well as new theming that delivers rapid consistency to your project.

    All of these features along with the long list of keyboard shortcuts, combine to create a video capture, edit and publishing workflow that’s faster than ever before. Anyone who’s spent time cutting together a decent number of videos, understands time is money and any improvements to time comes greatly appreciated. The speed improvements to the editing process are also met by the engineering effort to dramatically reduce video rendering time by up to 50%.

    When recording the screen you of course get to turn on your webcam and microphone and capture everything at once. When you hit stop, your job is basically done, however if you want to go to the next level of professionalism with your productions, then you can use the multi-layer timeline to layer components like annotations, effects, transitions, text effects and yes, even audio together to make your slice of Hollywood.

    What TechSmith has done is created a product that’s intuitive and powerful, a UX combination rarely seen in software. It’s approachable, but capable and that means all users who sit in front of it are able to get up and running quickly, while providing enough capability to really get the job done in one piece of software. In years gone by I had produced content in Camtasia, then exported to take it to Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Audition, where I got the real work done. Now there’s none of that.

     

    Features

    Camtasia’s new features include:

    Library: Easily organise media and assets by different video types and brands to speed future video creation and ensure consistency. Camtasia brings this useful feature to Mac users for the first time, and provides an upgraded library for Window users, improving organisation and ease of use.

    Theming: Give your video a consistent look and feel by creating, saving and applying themes with custom color and font preferences. Create multiple sets of themes for different types of videos or projects, saving time and increasing brand efficiency.

    60fps Editing and Production: Provide a smoother viewing experience for your audience with Camtasia’s improved frame rate editing capabilities, allowing you to edit and produce videos at 60 frames per second.

    TechSmith Assets (Free): Jump start your creative juices with new royalty-free video assets in Camtasia 2018. Instantly add professional elements to your video with a quick drag and drop from your library to the timeline. New assets include; customisable intros, outros, and lower thirds, plus animated backgrounds, icons, and music tracks.

    TechSmith Assets (Subscription): Feeling like your videos could use a little extra polish? We’ve got you covered with TechSmith Assets. Find exactly what you need for your Camtasia videos with unlimited access to over 600,000 royalty-free stock assets including; customisable intros, video backgrounds, lower thirds, photos, music, and more for US$199 per year. Unlike with other royalty-free asset sites, Camtasia customers pay once for unlimited commercial use, instead of paying a premium for each individual asset you need.

    Video

    If you’ve never used Camtasia before, then this video is something you definitely want to watch. It showcases just how the new features improve the experience, while also showing how the product works.

    Issues

    The list of items requiring attention is seriously short. Given its 2018 and our phones, displays and video cameras are creating 4K content, I would like to see some 4K templates, rather than just the 1080 ones. That said, the custom option does allow you to create one for yourself.

     

    Price and Availability

    TechSmith’s Camtasia 2018 is available today from shop.techsmith.com. Available for both Windows and Mac it’ll set you back US$249.00 for the full version, or previous users can grab an update for just US$99.00.

     

    Overall

    This version of Camtasia is easily the best yet. It seems as an industry there’s a renewed focus on refining and improving the products you have rather than allow the scope to creep past the point of sensibility. TechSmith has done a great job at the engineering under the hood, evidenced by the improved performance, while the designers should continue to receive massive pats on the back for delivering software so easy that we can all use.

    For the price, it’s money well spent for anyone who wants to record screen recordings and tutorials.

    Jason Cartwright
    Jason Cartwrighthttps://techau.com.au/author/jason/
    Creator of techAU, Jason has spent the dozen+ years covering technology in Australia and around the world. Bringing a background in multimedia and passion for technology to the job, Cartwright delivers detailed product reviews, event coverage and industry news on a daily basis. Disclaimer: Tesla Shareholder from 20/01/2021

    1 COMMENT

    1. Hello Jason,

      I love camtasia in my mac. Recently saw their Media library subscription plan. I wish they reduce the price of it sometime soon. Going to buy the single license now for my mac. 🙂 Thank you for the detailed review.

      Robin.

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