Wow. I wish I had control over the timeline of my life like the video editor in Camtasia® for Lectora. I’d love to be able to clip out the history of stupid things I’ve said, a fender bender or two and some expensive downtown parking tickets. With Camtasia for Lectora, it’s easy to edit and add special effects – even for a beginner like me. I decided to watch the video tutorials to learn about the interface and how to get started, and then experimented on my own.
Back at my favorite web site, NASA, I captured a recording and started editing to see what kind of visual graphic capabilities were available with Camtasia. With this sample, I was able to quickly figure out how to do a custom-sized video recording, add title pages, transitions, edit some of the original video to shorten the length, and add callouts. When done, I was presented with the option to produce my movie to the Lectora preferred output format, FLV, and I was done. Once in my Lectora Inspire course, I simply dragged the movie onto the desired page. I also used the properties setting to change the “skin,” or the look of the video controls.Adding Video to Camtasia for LectoraFor eLearning course authors, this software gives you several options for getting video into your Lectora Inspire project:
The recording control panel is very easy and intuitive, and the video tutorials are helpful if you get stuck.Editing VideoThe video editing studio offers a full range of options to create a polished and informative video presentation:
CalloutsCamtasia for Lectora features a library of pre-drawn objects you can use to capture attention or highlight specific information. Callouts are shapes like arrows, circles, rectangles, or speech clouds. The objects can be re-sized and can be customized by adjusting borders, fills, drop shadows, transparency level, text and rotation. You can also adjust fade in and fade out and duration.Title ClipsTitle clips are pages you can add that can be used as a title page or introduction to a section, between chapters or to wrap up a video. Once you click on the title clip icon, you simply type in your text and then adjust the font settings and background. You also have the option of adding your own image or background for the clips. You can adjust the transitions for clips and the duration in the timeline. Once the object is in the timeline, you can make adjustments easily by dragging the edge of the icon back and forth.
TransitionsCamtasia for Lectora offers cool transitions that can be added to make the switch between clips smoother and more professional. There are 25 different transitions, including fades, dissolves, wipes and even cube rotation.Adding Your Movie to Lectora InspireWhen you create a new screen recording using Camtasia, you will need to produce the screen recording to FLV video. As I mentioned earlier, you can drag and drop the produced FLV file directly into your title. If at a later time, you need to edit your screen recording, right-click the recording within your Lectora Inspire title, and select Edit. Camtasia will automatically launch your project so you can begin making changes. Reproduce your video when you’re done – the video is automatically updated within your course.Other Powerful FeaturesThere are many other powerful capabilities available for authors creating movies for eLearning courses. You can do things like add zoom and pan effects; record or add audio files; adjust volume; create cursor effects; and add captioning through speech-to-text.If you want to try Camtasia for Lectora yourself, download the free trial of Lectora Inspire here.
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